caulfield12

So Santiago is left now as the best option for Sunday. Still wouldn't get too upset if they started Axelrod against CY CHEN and Santiago against Guthrie. Could it get any worse than the last sweep for us against KC?

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 07:57 PM) I'd rather see Veal be LH setup to take Thornton's place. Give that $5.5 million to AJ or Youk as part of their package. Coming off this season, Crain would be much harder to deal...but the idea of getting anything decent for Thornton has left the barn, along with getting anything back for Crede/Jenks. Held onto him TOO long, to the point where his trade value completely eroded.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 07:54 PM) He looked good there, but there's no doubt Veal should be the LOOGY for next year. And one would think Santos Rodriguez has an outside shot based on his AFL and Spring Training showing. But yeah, Veal has been one of our underrated and underutilized assets.

Is Chris Perez available tonight for the Indians?

I just hope they let Santiago start Sunday...he deserves another shot. Meanwhile, the White Sox offense doesn't respond at all to the crooked number.

Defenders who actually catch balls. Thank god the Royals have two stellar CFers in Dyson and Cain or we'd be behind the Tigers now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 07:03 PM) Well, this definitely overshadows that inning in KC on a Saturday a few weeks ago. How many 2 strike hits can our flamethrowers allow this inning? Reminiscent of the 9th inning against the Mariners in that craziest game of the season. If only Ramirez could have fielded that ball and turned a DP, that whole inning....sigh. Almost half the defense made mistakes in a single inning.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 07:01 PM) This might be the worst defensive inning in history for there to be no errors given to the defense. I thought the Morneau ball to YOUK was ruled an error?

Great, and the Tigers just made it a 3-2 Indians lead. Everything turned in about 15-20 minutes. Another Cabrera homer, what new? He has to be the MVP if the Tigers take the division.

QUOTE (Real @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 06:59 PM) time to shut down Quintana, no reason to pitch him anymore this year The irony is that a "control" pitcher in Quintana is throwing 92-93 MPH in September, and Sales' giving 110% to get it in the 90-91 range these days...ever since he maxxed out in that strong start against the Yankees.

Comedy show now. Axelrod doesn't have the stuff to get behind in the count, either.

Starting to remind me of 2000. Just don't have enough pitching to survive in the playoffs. Theoretically, Sale/Peavy/Liriano....but both Sale and Peavy have been slowly wearing down the 2nd half, especially Sale. They could have been out of the inning, sure, but Quintana just doesn't have the type of stuff to blow away hitters and get out of innings with K's. His problems in the 2nd half are reminiscent of John Danks'.

Could very easily have been a double play and out of the inning.

There's just no way they can start Quintana against the Tigers next week.

Dammit. You simply can't lose a 1-2 count like that.

Quintana has the velocity still, but his command has gone with the innings overload.

Atta boy Dayan. This is getting to be like Big 10 basketball, win at home, lose on the road against the good teams and hope to play .500 or above against the weaker teams on the road.

The run with RISP was 2/32 before the two late Konerko and Beckham hits last night. Now we've had 4 in about 6-7 AB's in the same situation. Meanwhile, Balt threatens to tie up the Yankees. Who do you give Manager of the Year to....Showalter, Melvin or Ventura? Melvin, probably, by a neck.

Almost nobody in the bleachers tonight. Lots of empty seats (rare sight) in Detroit as well.

1 1/2 game lead (thanks to the blown Red Sox Thursday night game the night before, should have been 2 1/2) the first time we got swept, 3 this last time... Leadoff Avila double stranded, 3-0 going to top of the 4th...survived liner to 2B and back to Masterson

Then you have another poll question... Who do you most trust to beat Justin Verlander in Game 4? A) Chris Sale B) Hector Santiago C) Dylan Axelrod D) Jose Quintana E) Phil Humber Those are our five options, realistically.

Of course, it's Mendoza/Chen/Guthrie against us, haha. Wouldn't have it any other way. But going.... Sale vs. Porcello Peavy vs. Fister Liriano vs. Scherzer (rematch) Quintana vs. Verlander Might be the better option. It all depends on how Quintana looks tonight, and Santiago/Axelrod this weekend. I wouldn't be 100% opposed to Santiago getting that start in Game 4 over Quintana if he beats the Royals this weekend. You have to go with the livest arm. The only concern I would have is using Liriano and Santiago back to back. They're a lot more similar than going Liriano and Quintana. Then again, if Axelrod pitches another gem, you could change things up by using him, but I still am not ready to trust Axelrod against Verlander YET. Want to see how all 3 guys look the next time out first.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2012 -> 09:43 AM) Why? It's not like the other starters in our rotation have beaten up KC lately, and it's not like Axe and Santiago have been automatic losses lately either. Therein lies the dilemma. Have Sale start the opener, and then you can push Quintana back. Do we trust Quintana at this point in the season to go out and beat the Tigers and set the tone in the all-important Game 1 Monday? That means Liriano (coming off a couple of shaky starts), Santiago and Axelrod against the Royals. Or Liriano, then Axelrod, then Santiago, so you don't have 2 lefties two days in a row with similar fastballs. Then Sale/Peavy/Liriano/???? (Quintana/Santiago/Axelrod/Humber) against the Tigers. Dangerous to go into the match-up with Verlander throwing our 5th/6th/7th/8th starter. But maybe a better strategy than using Sale against him again.

Axelrod has 5 ab's against him by current Royals hitters. 0/5 with BB and 2 K's. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_...hector-santiago Current Royals hitters are 0/11 against Hector in his career.

TUES Quintana WED Peavy THUR Off day FRI Liriano (extra day of rest) SAT Sale (extra day of rest) SUN Axelrod or Santiago MON Quintana TUES Peavy WED Liriano THUR Sale Maybe you pitch him (SALE) Monday in the opening game of the series against DET with 7 days of rest (3 extra)...and avoid matching him with Verlander on Thursday, in order to try to get an early victory in the series. That would also allow you to push Quintana back or out of facing the Tigers. Of course, the downside is you end up losing two games to KC with Axelrod and Santiago both starting. Which puts even more pressure on Sale and Peavy to win in Games 1 and 2 before facing Scherzer and Verlander in Games 3 and 4.