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Gritty For The Weekend: Tigs Win In Familiar Ways · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: And welcome to another episode of Tiger Territory, a Tiger's podcast.
0:11
Speaker 1: I'm Kieren Sepleys, always the man who's writing has more
0:15
Speaker 1: flavors than Doctor Pepper.
0:17
Speaker 2: He's comin, David Egan. How you doing?
0:18
Speaker 3: Are you doing good? Kieren? Uh?
0:20
Speaker 4: Pretty nice weekend for the Tigers. I guess wasn't all perfect,
0:24
Speaker 4: but a series win, which we haven't seen a lot
0:27
Speaker 4: of here in recent days. Are things trending back up?
0:31
Speaker 4: The division lead is six games. When it hit five
0:34
Speaker 4: on Saturday, I think everyone was ready to fully panake,
0:37
Speaker 4: and now six something about six just feels better than five.
0:41
Speaker 4: That's that's my scientific analysis for the Ale Central race.
0:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
0:46
Speaker 1: You know, the way I kind of think about it
0:50
Speaker 1: in my mind is was this series something that saved
0:54
Speaker 1: their season? I would say no, because you still have
0:58
Speaker 1: a what is actually sizeable lead in the division. You're
1:02
Speaker 1: still right there for seeding and all that stuff, and
1:05
Speaker 1: there's still plenty of games we played. But I think
1:10
Speaker 1: it's a fair statement to say it might have been
1:14
Speaker 1: an identity saving series, and more specifically, an identity saving
1:22
Speaker 1: Friday Night, because you want to talk about sky falling
1:25
Speaker 1: like there if there is a way for like things
1:28
Speaker 1: to unravel and make one game seem like huge. It's
1:31
Speaker 1: when it's all right, hey, we got schoopble on the
1:32
Speaker 1: mound and he's gonna take care of business. This is
1:35
Speaker 1: not an offense that we should really be all that
1:37
Speaker 1: concerned about. And then he does something that he has
1:40
Speaker 1: not done in four years and gives up back to
1:42
Speaker 1: back home runs. You see what I'm saying in two
1:44
Speaker 1: in and any for the first time in three years,
1:46
Speaker 1: and like all these like random stats that they're just like,
1:48
Speaker 1: oh God, if that's happening right now, what are.
1:51
Speaker 2: We going to rely on?
1:52
Speaker 1: Well, it turns out you kind of rely on the
1:55
Speaker 1: grit like that. That was like for the first time
1:58
Speaker 1: in a while, with the moment and in the guy
2:01
Speaker 1: stepping up. That was a gritty win Friday, captivated obviously
2:05
Speaker 1: by Matt vier Lane's three run home run in the
2:08
Speaker 1: eighth inning. That to me felt big. That felt big,
2:13
Speaker 1: and two days later it still feels big. But obviously
2:16
Speaker 1: you were there, you wrote about it, you know, can
2:18
Speaker 1: you kind of take us to Friday and what that
2:21
Speaker 1: and what that was like, especially for a guy like
2:23
Speaker 1: vier Lane that you know we're gonna have to talk
2:25
Speaker 1: about for other reasons here in a second, but had
2:27
Speaker 1: really been like struggling to be himself this season.
2:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there was a reason there seemed to
2:34
Speaker 4: be a strong emotional reaction to that victory from fans,
2:37
Speaker 4: and the reason it was probably the sixth seventh inning.
2:40
Speaker 4: I had a colleague messaged me what happened to the
2:43
Speaker 4: gritty tikes. I think a lot of people were kind
2:46
Speaker 4: of feeling that way.
2:46
Speaker 3: Right.
2:47
Speaker 4: It's like, I don't know, they're losing again, even scoobles
2:50
Speaker 4: getting beat now, and they they don't really do that
2:53
Speaker 4: whole comeback thing anymore, right, They're not really scrapping in
2:57
Speaker 4: clawing for every ninety feet anymore. We just haven't seen
3:00
Speaker 4: that style of play. Maybe haven't seen quite that emotion.
3:04
Speaker 4: Certainly haven't seen that flair for the dramatic in a while.
3:09
Speaker 4: It was pretty easy to look at this team, look
3:11
Speaker 4: at the construction of the bullpen, and be like, oh, yep,
3:15
Speaker 4: this one's probably over. Then up comes Matt Vierling, who
3:20
Speaker 4: had zero home runs all season, who had not gotten going,
3:24
Speaker 4: who I have been pointing to is like a pretty
3:27
Speaker 4: key player for the Tigers down the stretch. Someone you
3:30
Speaker 4: gotta get some production out of boom, one swing in
3:33
Speaker 4: the bat, a huge home run, a little bit.
3:37
Speaker 3: Of the human side of my job.
3:40
Speaker 4: My mom and her husband were actually in town, so
3:43
Speaker 4: I was out watching with them in the stands, and
3:46
Speaker 4: everyone's going crazy, losing their minds, and I'm just like,
3:50
Speaker 4: I have to write now, like I have to, Like
3:52
Speaker 4: I had a Riley Green story already to go. It's like,
3:54
Speaker 4: all right, I'm gonnailot. We can get out here, we
3:57
Speaker 4: can go do whatever. No, sorry, I'm gonna have to
4:00
Speaker 4: I don't really know how we're I don't know what's
4:02
Speaker 4: happening now. So that was my reaction as the rest
4:05
Speaker 4: of America Park was completely losing its mind and then
4:08
Speaker 4: even talking, I mean even a J. Hinch, the master
4:12
Speaker 4: of win Today's Game, said after that game that, well,
4:16
Speaker 4: some of them kind of mean more than others, and
4:18
Speaker 4: Matt Vierling said it felt more like more than just
4:21
Speaker 4: a normal August win. Something about it did something about
4:25
Speaker 4: it seemed, I think, to remind everyone that, oh, yeah,
4:27
Speaker 4: this team can do that, this team can thrive in
4:30
Speaker 4: that sort of setting, this team can come up big,
4:34
Speaker 4: It can have unexpected contributors like Troy Melton helped them
4:38
Speaker 4: to a win and that just maybe it was the
4:40
Speaker 4: type of swing that could get Matt Virling going. I
4:43
Speaker 4: guess that leads us to a more unfortunate conversation because
4:46
Speaker 4: Tigers lost Saturday and Sunday morning, they lost Virling. But
4:50
Speaker 4: for at least one night there, the gritty Tigs did
4:53
Speaker 4: indeed feel back.
4:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, and sticking sticking with Friday for a second, Like
4:58
Speaker 1: it brought me back to last year when Vera Laine.
5:02
Speaker 1: I mean it was in the City Connect uniforms. It
5:03
Speaker 1: almost looked the same, except this one was a little
5:05
Speaker 1: bit more of a of a moonshot comparatively, especially for Beverly.
5:08
Speaker 1: But it brought me back to his walk off home
5:10
Speaker 1: run last year against Toronto. And I know this wasn't
5:13
Speaker 1: a walkout, but you see what I'm saying, And like
5:15
Speaker 1: that was a that that was a moment of the season,
5:18
Speaker 1: like we like if you remember the twenty four tags,
5:21
Speaker 1: that will be in that montage, and this one very
5:24
Speaker 1: well could be if the Tigers go on to you know,
5:28
Speaker 1: whatever CS World Series, whatever, any sort of heights. I
5:33
Speaker 1: do believe this will be on the montage of moments
5:35
Speaker 1: for the team. Uh, because it was it was it
5:40
Speaker 1: felt like the climb back of momentum.
5:44
Speaker 2: That's what it felt like.
5:45
Speaker 1: It felt like this is who we are, Like I said,
5:47
Speaker 1: the identity aspect of it, and and it felt it
5:51
Speaker 1: felt very important because it's school day. You gotta win,
5:53
Speaker 1: even if school bol doesn't have you know, hit his
5:56
Speaker 1: best stuff. Uh well, well let's get back, let's let's
5:59
Speaker 1: go to the Verlin injury. That thing, it's an oblique.
6:05
Speaker 1: We know, obliques are weird. Reading some of the coverage
6:09
Speaker 1: about it, it seems like, I don't know, could that
6:14
Speaker 1: could that Vielein home run be the last we like
6:16
Speaker 1: really see of Matt Erling this year. I feel like
6:19
Speaker 1: there between the lines, it feels like it's in the cars.
6:21
Speaker 2: But I don't know what. What did AJ and all
6:22
Speaker 2: of them have to say about it?
6:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think the big thing was no
6:27
Speaker 4: one really was coming into the clubhouse that morning expecting
6:31
Speaker 4: Matt Vierling to be injured. We saw Trey Sweeney show up.
6:34
Speaker 4: Talked to Terrey Sweeney a little bit and he was like, yeah,
6:36
Speaker 4: I got the call last night, it wasn't official until
6:40
Speaker 4: this morning. It was easy. I think that would be
6:42
Speaker 4: related to Winsle Perez, who had injured his foot the
6:45
Speaker 4: night before and then aj Hinch gets up at the
6:50
Speaker 4: dayas for his interview and Nope, it ain't Wintle, It's
6:53
Speaker 4: Matt Verling. And I think everyone in the room just
6:56
Speaker 4: kind of went like, oh, like, oh, are you really
7:00
Speaker 4: because right after he finally gets going, right after a
7:03
Speaker 4: big hit, the guy's back on the IL, his third
7:05
Speaker 4: eye el stend of the year. He's missed the vast
7:08
Speaker 4: majority of this season dealing with the shoulder injury, never
7:11
Speaker 4: fully got going, and then here it is again. Something
7:14
Speaker 4: aj Hinch said he wasn't even really aware of it
7:17
Speaker 4: until after the game he got word that feeling had
7:20
Speaker 4: gone in for testing. Turns out he had been playing
7:23
Speaker 4: through this for a while. Felt like, I guess a
7:25
Speaker 4: minimal pain, something he could manage, something that was really
7:28
Speaker 4: only affecting him if he whiffed. But turns out he's
7:32
Speaker 4: going on the injured list. Showed that he needed it
7:36
Speaker 4: and said the severity of it is mild, but he
7:38
Speaker 4: clearly needs to go on the IL. And aj was
7:41
Speaker 4: the one who brought up, like, we've not eliminated the
7:44
Speaker 4: chance for him to come back. Talking about this season,
7:47
Speaker 4: this regular season or maybe even the postseason. He kind
7:50
Speaker 4: of said that unprompted, which I guess you should take
7:53
Speaker 4: his good news, but the fact he brought up like
7:55
Speaker 4: this could be season ending, I think also planted that
7:58
Speaker 4: seed in everyone's mind. And let's be real, obliques mild
8:02
Speaker 4: or not can often take four to six weeks just
8:05
Speaker 4: for a hitter to be back active again. And you
8:08
Speaker 4: start looking at the calendar and you do some math,
8:10
Speaker 4: and there's a world in which this could indeed be
8:13
Speaker 4: dicey for Matt Erling season. That'd be real, a real shame.
8:17
Speaker 4: Obviously he's a huge part of this, but he's only
8:19
Speaker 4: played thirty one games this year.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, just an unfortunate, you know, year for
8:27
Speaker 1: him for many aspects. I'm sure it's very frustrating to
8:30
Speaker 1: be out number one and then watch the team do
8:32
Speaker 1: so well, and then when it struggles, you're not being
8:34
Speaker 1: able to contribute, and then yeah, again you have the
8:37
Speaker 1: moment and then and then this happens. It's just just
8:41
Speaker 1: it's a cruel game. It's it's a tough sport and
8:45
Speaker 1: it's a cruel game. And we're gonna talk about Sunday's game, which,
8:48
Speaker 1: if you're a Tigers fan, was really not that cruel.
8:51
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Speaker 1: All right, coming back here, you know I'm not going
10:00
Speaker 1: to talk much about Saturday because I feel like I've
10:02
Speaker 1: said the Charlie Morton thing a couple.
10:03
Speaker 2: Of times now.
10:05
Speaker 1: But in regards to Sunday's game, that again is part
10:09
Speaker 1: of the whole series picture where you had the gritty
10:12
Speaker 1: win and then you just have the you know, we're
10:15
Speaker 1: just better than you outing and and it's and it's
10:18
Speaker 1: led by Riley Green, it's read by led by Kerry Carpenter.
10:22
Speaker 2: It's Zak mcissry doing his thing.
10:23
Speaker 1: It was like a lot a lot of key elements
10:26
Speaker 1: that you are looking for this team to go over
10:28
Speaker 1: the top contributed to it. So that had to be
10:31
Speaker 1: a pretty good clubhouse Sunday afternoon.
10:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a good way day.
10:36
Speaker 4: So the guys were kind of filing out quickly. But
10:39
Speaker 4: you know, the interfacing Angels starter Jack Kachanowitz, he had
10:43
Speaker 4: a four eight five era. He had not been very good.
10:46
Speaker 4: His stuff on paper, it's just not very good. It's
10:49
Speaker 4: easy to look at that and be like, Tigers might
10:51
Speaker 4: have a nice day. It was also easy to look
10:53
Speaker 4: at that and be like, how many times have we
10:55
Speaker 4: kind of said that? This year they're facing some no
10:58
Speaker 4: name picture or a guy who's struck and what if
11:02
Speaker 4: they get shut down. They that didn't happen. They jumped
11:05
Speaker 4: on him early. I think eight of nine guys in
11:07
Speaker 4: the order had hits. AVII Bays at one point had
11:10
Speaker 4: a hit that was later changed to an error. Kerry
11:13
Speaker 4: Carpenter contributed. Riley Green contributed. Certainly nice to see, even
11:19
Speaker 4: had enough of a pad to withstand a rough bullpin
11:23
Speaker 4: showing from our friend Rafael Montero's But they got they
11:27
Speaker 4: got the job done. I think it was good just
11:29
Speaker 4: to al right. They didn't play down to the level
11:31
Speaker 4: of the opponent. They had good at bats, they worked
11:34
Speaker 4: a few walks. Believe it or not, there were just
11:38
Speaker 4: some good things that happened in the Sunday game all around.
11:42
Speaker 4: Myz was far from stellar, but kind of an old
11:45
Speaker 4: school like gritty, to use that word again. Casey Maiz
11:48
Speaker 4: outing he wasn't using the splitter a lot. He said
11:51
Speaker 4: that was actually more a function of their lineups, seven
11:54
Speaker 4: right handed hitters. He thought he could get them chasing
11:58
Speaker 4: the slider the slurve, and he didn't get a ton
12:00
Speaker 4: of swinging miss. Stuff wasn't great, But you look at
12:03
Speaker 4: the line five innings, two runs, you'll kind of take
12:05
Speaker 4: that inside.
12:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, as soon as they got up seven to nothing,
12:10
Speaker 1: my first thought was we're gonna see Montero. I was like,
12:15
Speaker 1: it's about to be Montero time. You know, there's money
12:17
Speaker 1: time and there's Montero time. But but another element that
12:22
Speaker 1: I actually didn't want to overlook about Sunday was, you know,
12:25
Speaker 1: you get you get vest in there, and I almost,
12:28
Speaker 1: I almost think the four run lead might be like
12:33
Speaker 1: the ideal will Vest like sweet Spot, where like we
12:37
Speaker 1: know AJ views the four runs as as safe situations
12:42
Speaker 1: in his mind, and in Vest is a guy that
12:45
Speaker 1: he can he it's close enough that the adrenaline is there, right,
12:50
Speaker 1: and then also there's enough of a cushion that if
12:53
Speaker 1: his fastball is just a little less zip, he can
12:56
Speaker 1: withstand a little a little bit of damage and still
12:58
Speaker 1: zero win on time. So it was nice to see
13:00
Speaker 1: best kind of in that closer ish role and do
13:05
Speaker 1: his thing there too. So I thought that, so I'm
13:07
Speaker 1: banking to know of that right now. Four runs that
13:10
Speaker 1: might be the best. I don't I don't know if
13:12
Speaker 1: stats back it up, but that might be the ideal
13:13
Speaker 1: will Vest ninth inning or eighth inning really cushion for
13:17
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that he is.
13:18
Speaker 2: So I just want to make that of that.
13:21
Speaker 4: Can you believe that there were people on the internet
13:23
Speaker 4: like basically saying Kerry Carpenter is not any good not
13:27
Speaker 4: that long ago, or that he's not like an important
13:30
Speaker 4: part of the team, And now we're all the way
13:33
Speaker 4: back to people like Carry's got to play every day,
13:34
Speaker 4: He's got to play against lefties. Oh yeah, hard to
13:37
Speaker 4: have rational takes. But Carry Carpenter has continued to emerge.
13:40
Speaker 4: He has five home runs since he's come off the
13:43
Speaker 4: injured list. He's hitting above three point fifty. He's just
13:47
Speaker 4: been really good. We've talked before how he kind of
13:50
Speaker 4: has this this intrinsic value or just the value of
13:53
Speaker 4: his presence and how it forces in game decisions for
13:57
Speaker 4: other managers. Well, it's not just been the press, the
14:00
Speaker 4: name on a piece of paper.
14:01
Speaker 3: Lately.
14:02
Speaker 4: It's been pretty close to the best version of Carrie.
14:05
Speaker 4: Carpenter really gotten going. He actually said he found something
14:08
Speaker 4: a slight mechanical tweak about a week before he went
14:11
Speaker 4: on the injured list, And if you look back, he
14:13
Speaker 4: did have a couple of big hits right there before
14:16
Speaker 4: going on the IL. Said he spent the whole time
14:18
Speaker 4: he was injured, Just trying to make sure you know,
14:20
Speaker 4: he's still had that locked in. So sure enough, he's
14:24
Speaker 4: come off the il, he has played quite well. He's
14:27
Speaker 4: been a complete difference maker, changes the complexion of this lineup.
14:31
Speaker 4: We've said it time and time again, but we're really
14:33
Speaker 4: seeing it here lately, and we're seeing it, let's be
14:36
Speaker 4: real out a time where the team needs it.
14:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's the presence aspect of it. It
14:43
Speaker 1: plays itself out in ways that you know the AJ phrase,
14:47
Speaker 1: the moves that don't happen.
14:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like I.
14:49
Speaker 2: Don't know if Kakuchi throws.
14:52
Speaker 1: Over a hundred pitches on Saturday, if it trying to
14:56
Speaker 1: get me.
14:57
Speaker 2: Without the Carpenter element there.
14:59
Speaker 1: Now, obviously that's a loss, but you understand what I'm saying,
15:01
Speaker 1: Like that was a that was a piece of the game.
15:04
Speaker 1: And just to put in perspective on this homestand seven
15:06
Speaker 1: of twenty nine ribis and in three home runs he
15:10
Speaker 1: Now I believe it's a career high for carry Carpenter
15:13
Speaker 1: twenty one home runs and and if and it does
15:16
Speaker 1: feel as though there is like getting hot at the
15:20
Speaker 1: right time piece to to carry Carpenter. And also I
15:24
Speaker 1: don't know if this is something that he's doing or
15:27
Speaker 1: he's gonna do more, but the uh, the the freeze
15:31
Speaker 1: at the end of the follow.
15:33
Speaker 3: Through, Yeah, I like it.
15:36
Speaker 2: It's kind of cool. It's kind of cool.
15:38
Speaker 1: And and I think that that might be a new
15:41
Speaker 1: thing that might be part of the tweak two is that, like,
15:43
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna I'm.
15:44
Speaker 2: Gonna let this hang there for a second.
15:47
Speaker 1: And and then also Riley green get get gets going
15:51
Speaker 1: uh there as well. So uh, that was as good
15:54
Speaker 1: to see it as anything too. And and by the way,
15:56
Speaker 1: for everyone who harps on you know the swing path,
16:02
Speaker 1: is he getting that home run out today without without
16:05
Speaker 1: that uppercut?
16:06
Speaker 2: Probably not?
16:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I no know.
16:09
Speaker 4: Hey, three line drive or three balls in the air
16:11
Speaker 4: one hundred miles an hour or more, two of them
16:13
Speaker 4: really really pure line drives. Again, needed We've rode this
16:18
Speaker 4: roller coaster with Riley all season, So I don't want
16:21
Speaker 4: to say he's back or he's not back, But I
16:25
Speaker 4: think it felt good. I think he was maybe really
16:27
Speaker 4: starting to feel the slump and feeling the strikeouts add up.
16:32
Speaker 4: You look, and he's on pace to finish this year
16:36
Speaker 4: in the top ten for single season strikeouts and If
16:38
Speaker 4: he strikes out like he has over the past month
16:40
Speaker 4: or so, he could break that record, which belongs to
16:43
Speaker 4: Mark Reynolds at two twenty three. He's on pace for
16:46
Speaker 4: about two twelve right now. Even this weekend, it was
16:50
Speaker 4: a better weekend. He did punch once in all three games.
16:54
Speaker 4: I thought it was interesting he did not start Saturday
16:57
Speaker 4: against a lefty. His numbers against lefties this year not
17:01
Speaker 4: too good, despite a reputation as being a lefty who
17:04
Speaker 4: can handle lefties. I'm not sure Karp is gonna magically
17:08
Speaker 4: get all those at bats, but I'm gonna be a
17:09
Speaker 4: little bit curious to see how Aj handles that going forward.
17:13
Speaker 4: Riley's hitting two O nine with only a five seventy
17:16
Speaker 4: eight OPS against left handed pitching this year, only two
17:20
Speaker 4: home runs. That's kind of a real concern. But let's
17:24
Speaker 4: hope the worst of kind of this real dry spell
17:27
Speaker 4: from Riley is over.
17:29
Speaker 1: Any anything that you heard or said about Wentzel. You
17:34
Speaker 1: mentioned the you know the foot, and obviously we all find.
17:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know a ton about it. Aj claimed
17:41
Speaker 4: he was he would be ready to go if needed,
17:43
Speaker 4: said he saw him in the morning and when Sol
17:45
Speaker 4: was upbeat as ever, I saw onceil walking around a
17:48
Speaker 4: little bit, he looked okay to me, doesn't necessarily mean
17:52
Speaker 4: anything that's far from any sort of medical report, but
17:56
Speaker 4: five seem good for now.
17:58
Speaker 2: How about Tray?
17:59
Speaker 5: How is?
17:59
Speaker 2: How was?
18:00
Speaker 1: Because here's the thing, Yeah, like with this Verlin injury,
18:06
Speaker 1: this we don't know about Parker, this might be your
18:09
Speaker 1: squad here for a second, Cody.
18:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's interesting too that the Tigers brought
18:13
Speaker 4: up Tray Sweeney when it was when we thought it
18:16
Speaker 4: was Winsle who was going on the IL. It was
18:18
Speaker 4: kind of like, okay, switch hitter guy, who's gonna play
18:20
Speaker 4: some center, and then it's Veerling. And they did trade
18:25
Speaker 4: a right handed bat for a left handed bat. I
18:28
Speaker 4: think Aj had really been liking kind of having the
18:30
Speaker 4: extra righty off the bench. That played a big factor
18:33
Speaker 4: in Vierling getting that pinch hit at bat Friday. Andy
18:36
Speaker 4: A Banyas could have been available, but he kind of
18:39
Speaker 4: had more options at his disposal, and Matt slides more
18:42
Speaker 4: naturally into the outfield and maybe handles philosophy a little
18:46
Speaker 4: bit better. I kind of like that if it feels
18:49
Speaker 4: to me, there have been a lot of times this
18:51
Speaker 4: year here and where suddenly there's a lefty in the game,
18:55
Speaker 4: and the Tigers maybe they've already used a Jami Jones,
18:58
Speaker 4: and they could really kind to use another trustworthy right
19:02
Speaker 4: handed option off that bench. They hadn't had that until recently.
19:05
Speaker 4: Now you don't have it again. They brought up Tray
19:08
Speaker 4: Sweeney instead of someone like Justin Henry malloy. It's a
19:12
Speaker 4: little bit unclear, at least to me, how all these
19:15
Speaker 4: parts are gonna match. I assume we're gonna see some
19:17
Speaker 4: more Hobby and center and thus maybe some Trey at short.
19:22
Speaker 4: But I do think you could have got by even
19:26
Speaker 4: I had you brought up a guy like mlloy, because
19:30
Speaker 4: you could play Hobby and center and mckintrey at short,
19:33
Speaker 4: which we've seen a lot more of recently. You could
19:36
Speaker 4: still play some Winsle in center, Hobby at short. I
19:39
Speaker 4: think the thing with malloy is just how are you
19:42
Speaker 4: going to get him guaranteed at bats Sweeney, you're gonna
19:45
Speaker 4: have the platoon advantage a little more often. Maybe that's
19:48
Speaker 4: what plays into it, But the Tigers are gonna need
19:52
Speaker 4: to see something from Tray Sweeney in this this stretch here,
19:55
Speaker 4: because you said, like maybe this is the team you're
19:57
Speaker 4: gonna take and do kind of the rest of the
19:59
Speaker 4: Sea season. That doesn't necessarily get me fired up. Just
20:02
Speaker 4: because Tray Sweeney has not been very good this year.
20:05
Speaker 4: Seemed like he had a productive time in Toledo, made
20:07
Speaker 4: a couple of little little adjustments, had been singing the
20:11
Speaker 4: ball well. I believe his last few games down there.
20:15
Speaker 4: There's there's gonna be some pressure on him to produce
20:17
Speaker 4: for We'll see what the playing time ends up being.
20:19
Speaker 4: But he can't just be a black hole. The Tigers
20:22
Speaker 4: kind of can't afford that.
20:25
Speaker 1: No, for uh, definitely, And like I'm about at the
20:31
Speaker 1: end of the line for me with not necessarily Trey
20:34
Speaker 1: the player, but Trey the you know, the front office
20:38
Speaker 1: really likes you know, X y Z about Trey Sweeney.
20:41
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, that's fine, but we now we have
20:44
Speaker 1: a pretty good sample size of just like closer to
20:47
Speaker 1: a black hole than not.
20:48
Speaker 2: In a lot of areas.
20:50
Speaker 1: Offensively, even even defensively, he was not as sharp as
20:53
Speaker 1: I believe he is.
20:55
Speaker 3: He's graded out slightly negative. Think.
20:57
Speaker 4: I mean, if you want to get way ahead and
20:58
Speaker 4: think toward next year, who's your shortstop? So I'm not
21:03
Speaker 4: sure you're feeling good about Hobby being your everyday shortstop,
21:06
Speaker 4: but I'm not sure you're feeling good about tray Sweeney
21:08
Speaker 4: being your best alternative either. This is a time for
21:11
Speaker 4: Tray Sweeney to show something that could influence the what
21:16
Speaker 4: the Tigers do this offseason and the construction next year's team.
21:19
Speaker 2: For sure.
21:20
Speaker 1: And I would love to see Jay Haang get another
21:23
Speaker 1: shot too. I just was looking at his stats, nearly
21:25
Speaker 1: nine hundred ops in Toledo this year, and you know,
21:30
Speaker 1: I want to say wasting away, but they I just
21:33
Speaker 1: don't think it's tough.
21:34
Speaker 3: It's tough when you don't have a position.
21:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, whether it's fair or not, that Tigers clearly don't
21:38
Speaker 4: like him playing a lot of outfield.
21:40
Speaker 3: It's easy to get squeezed into a.
21:43
Speaker 4: Spot like that where you're just not getting the opportunity,
21:45
Speaker 4: and that's clearly where Jay hn is at right now.
21:48
Speaker 4: I think the defense and just kind of his limitations
21:51
Speaker 4: there explains it as much as anything. I don't know
21:54
Speaker 4: if that's right or wrong.
21:55
Speaker 3: I'd kind of.
21:55
Speaker 4: Prefer to see Jay Hin over Trey personally, but I
21:58
Speaker 4: think that's what it's about.
22:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, seeing Jami Jones go after that
22:05
Speaker 1: ball and left field on Saturday.
22:06
Speaker 2: It makes me think, Okay, can really that bad? Is
22:09
Speaker 2: it really that bad? I know it's not that simple.
22:11
Speaker 3: But that might be part of it too.
22:13
Speaker 4: You're gonna have Jahan and Jemi and Andy all on
22:18
Speaker 4: the same roster. Maybe that gets to be a little
22:20
Speaker 4: too duplicate there.
22:21
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, you're up the middle. Athletes are.
22:27
Speaker 1: All right, We're gonna get to a funny little trend
22:30
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23:37
Speaker 1: All right, coming back here this weekend, Cody obviously several
23:42
Speaker 1: emotionally uplifting events for the Tigers in the series win,
23:48
Speaker 1: and pretty.
23:48
Speaker 2: Much exclusively all the emotional were Angels home runs.
23:55
Speaker 1: Man, they hit three on Friday and three on Saturday,
23:59
Speaker 1: and too on Sunday, and it seems like this is
24:04
Speaker 1: a little bit of an uptick for the Tigers. Pitching
24:07
Speaker 1: now in the American League and in Major League Baseball
24:10
Speaker 1: in general, they're pretty close to middle of the pack
24:12
Speaker 1: or right at middle of the pack in terms of
24:14
Speaker 1: home runs allowed. So it's not like this is a
24:17
Speaker 1: debilitating trait for the team, but it does seem like
24:22
Speaker 1: it's happening more, and apparently statistically some stats at least
24:27
Speaker 1: back that up.
24:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know how to explain all the homers
24:31
Speaker 4: we saw this weekend. It did seem like the ball
24:33
Speaker 4: was flying. It felt like the ball has been flying
24:35
Speaker 4: a little bit at Comerica lately. I think of the
24:38
Speaker 4: Kerry Carpenter homer what early in the homestand that had
24:42
Speaker 4: a forty two degree launch angle, and it's like, how
24:44
Speaker 4: did that thing get out of here? I didn't think
24:46
Speaker 4: it fooled me. I think a lot of these pitches,
24:50
Speaker 4: with the exception of the Shine Whill home run on Sunday,
24:54
Speaker 4: we're kind of down the middle. So that's as close
24:58
Speaker 4: to an explanation as I'm gonna Although, to quote Jim Leland,
25:02
Speaker 4: like pictures make mistakes all the time, we only talk
25:04
Speaker 4: about when it gets hit. For whatever reason. They sure
25:06
Speaker 4: got hit, or at least a lot of them did
25:09
Speaker 4: in this series. But something Dan Dickerson pointed out that
25:13
Speaker 4: kind of blows my mind, k America Park been pretty
25:16
Speaker 4: favorable for home run hitters. I don't know if you
25:19
Speaker 4: guys can see this, it's a little bit small here
25:21
Speaker 4: on our YouTube, but America is playing above league average
25:25
Speaker 4: in terms of its park factor for home runs this year.
25:28
Speaker 4: That has not happened very often in the history of
25:31
Speaker 4: the ballpark. It has not happened since twenty sixteen. I
25:36
Speaker 4: believe at all, k America rings eighth in terms of
25:40
Speaker 4: park factor for home runs. For some reason, this is
25:44
Speaker 4: for both home and away teams. For some reason, the
25:47
Speaker 4: ball is traveling at k America this year and it's
25:49
Speaker 4: been more friendly to home run hitters.
25:52
Speaker 1: Well, this should be a handy dandy chart for any
25:56
Speaker 1: slugger that is offered a contract by the Tigers, maybe
26:01
Speaker 1: maybe a third baseman who's playing in Boston, who knows
26:04
Speaker 1: that it is uncanny and sometimes we what let reputations
26:10
Speaker 1: or what.
26:12
Speaker 2: Intentions were.
26:12
Speaker 1: It was obviously intended to be a pitcher's park, and
26:15
Speaker 1: it just doesn't always play out that way.
26:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
26:18
Speaker 1: So like they at this point for this year, you
26:21
Speaker 1: have to re examine what you think of k America
26:24
Speaker 1: in terms of home runs, because I mean, the numbers
26:26
Speaker 1: are the numbers you are muted.
26:33
Speaker 3: There are a few interesting things.
26:34
Speaker 4: Some of the parks you would think would be, you know,
26:38
Speaker 4: a haven for home run hitters haven't necessarily played that
26:41
Speaker 4: way as much this year. I mean, Great American Ballpark
26:45
Speaker 4: is twelfth, CA America is more favorable for homers than
26:48
Speaker 4: Great American Ballpark? Like, what is going on here? I
26:52
Speaker 4: don't have any explanation for that one, but I think
26:55
Speaker 4: it's it's highly interesting.
26:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, it might be a really fun off season, a
27:00
Speaker 1: deep dive project there and get get some people that
27:03
Speaker 1: are smarter than you and I to explain that, because
27:06
Speaker 1: I think that would be a lot of fun. Oh
27:09
Speaker 1: all right, Cody, anything else before we jet out of here?
27:13
Speaker 3: No? I think that's that's all I got.
27:17
Speaker 4: Well, road trip coming up always helps to play the
27:19
Speaker 4: White Sox, right, that can be uplifting for the Spirits.
27:22
Speaker 4: One thing to remember, the Tigers have a pretty weak
27:25
Speaker 4: schedule from here on out, but the back into that
27:28
Speaker 4: road trip is in Minnesota. The Twins maybe have figured
27:31
Speaker 4: something out, or at least they've been playing well of late.
27:34
Speaker 3: So is that actually an easy series?
27:37
Speaker 4: I'm really excited to watch that one based on how
27:39
Speaker 4: the Twins played not long ago in Detroit.
27:43
Speaker 1: I entered the week saying it was a potential get
27:47
Speaker 1: right weak and obviously Minnesota series not so much Angel series.
27:53
Speaker 1: Like like, we talked about a lot of factors in
27:56
Speaker 1: the get right category for this team, so you would
27:59
Speaker 1: help that the White Sox would continue that trend.
28:02
Speaker 2: But it's a tough sport.
28:04
Speaker 3: All right.
28:05
Speaker 1: You can follow us on x firmly known as Twitter
28:07
Speaker 1: at Cody saman Hagen. I'm a Kieran Unerscore sectly pod
28:09
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28:12
Speaker 1: our YouTube channel. We are only ninety eight thousand away
28:16
Speaker 1: from one hundred thousand, Cody, so like, let's get there
28:18
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28:32
Speaker 1: So for Toby Stavenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have great day,