GDT: 9/15/11 - DET (87-62) AT OAK (67-82) - 10:05 p.m. ET ---
AT ---
Detroit Tigers AT Oakland AthleticsThursday, September 15, 2011
Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA
Game Time - 10:05 p.m. EDT REMEMBERING SPARKYThe Tigers are wearing a patch on their right
sleeves this season in the shape of a home
plate emblazoned with the name SPARKY, to
honor Hall of Fame manager Sparky
Anderson who passed away on November 4,
2010. Anderson’s number 11 was retired
in a pre-game ceremony on June 26.
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Preview Tigers on the hunt for 13th straight win against A'sBy Jon Star / MLB.com | 9/14/2011 7:45 PM ET
The Tigers entered September with a relatively comfortable 5 1/2-game lead in the American League Central. Two weeks later, Detroit has run away with the division thanks to a 12-game winning streak -- the franchise's longest since 1934 -- with their rivals shrinking in the rearview mirror and their magic number down to two.
The winning streak means that Jim Leyland's club is closing in on a chance to clinch the franchise's first postseason berth since 2006 and its first divisional title since 1987 when it was a member of the AL East.
With a clinching celebration potentially this weekend in Oakland, the Tigers have the flexibility to gain valuble rest down the stretch. However, Leyland is not ready to take his foot off the accelerator.
"We've got a little something going, we've got to keep it going. We'll have to work [hard] to keep it going, but it's been a lot of fun."Victor Martinez has been a significant part of the Tigers' September surge. Martinez, who went 2-for-4 with a walk on Wednesday, is hitting .386 (17-for-44) with three home runs, 17 RBIs and six multihit games in his last 11 starts.
"It's a long season, obviously, and there's a lot of ups and downs, and you just don't know what's going to happen the rest of the season, so I'll definitely enjoy it and keep playing the game," Martinez explained.
He and the rest of the Tigers will aim to exend the win streak to 13 games behind Max Scherzer, who has put together back-to-back strong starts. Scherzer has allowed just two earned runs on 10 hits in 14 innings (seven per start) with 12 strikeouts. The right-hander has not faced Oakland this season, but blanked the A's for 5 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts on May 30, 2010.
Countering Scherzer in the series opener will be Brandon McCarthy, who is also riding a hot hand. Though 2-2 in his previous four outings, McCarthy has posted a 2.35 ERA and kept the opposition to a .196 batting average (22 hits in 30 2/3 innings). Oakland will not only look for the win behind McCarthy, but a chance to snap the Tigers' streak and keep them from celebrating a division title in the Coliseum.
"Certainly you don't want them celebrating on your field and in your clubhouses, but having said that, I've seen that happen before," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "I think the younger players, the catch-22 is they get to see something that we would like to do. But if you have the opportunity to hold them off and not have them do it at your place, that's probably the better of the two outcomes."
Tigers: Cabrera nearing rare club milestoneMiguel Cabrera has battered AL pitching since Aug. 1, hitting .387 (60-for-155) with four home runs, 29 RBIs and 18 doubles in that stretch. In addition to his summer surge, the magic number for Cabrera appears to be 100. The first baseman needs three RBIs and two walks to go with his 102 runs scored to become the fifth player in Tigers history to eclipse 100 in those three categories. The other Tigers to accomplish the feat were Rocky Colavito and Norm Cash, both in 1961, Hank Greenberg ('37, '38) and Charlie Gehringer ('38).
Athletics: Crisp's timetable clears up• Coco Crisp, who is nursing a sore right ankle, could potentially return during the Tigers series barring any further setbacks. He was set to try hitting in the cages on Wednesday morning and Melvin said that, if all went well, he wouldn't be surprised if the center fielder was back in action by this weekend.
• Josh Willingham has provided needed thunder to the A's lineup. Over the last 11 games, Willingham is hitting .371 (13-for-35) with four home runs, 13 RBIs, six runs scored and three doubles. With his two RBIs on Tuesday, Willingham set a new career high, surpassing his previous best of 89 RBIs, which he reached in 2007 with the Marlins. Willingham extended his 2011 RBI total to 91 with his solo home run on Wednesday.
Worth noting:• The A's have used 48 different players this season. Oakland has not used fewer than 49 players over the course of a season since 2006 (40 players). The A's have used 26 pitchers, tying the most used by the franchise since its move to Oakland. The franchise record is 27 pitchers by the 1915 Philadelphia A's and the 1955 Kansas City A's.
• The Tigers bullpen has a 2.04 ERA (27 ER in 119 innings) and 112 strikeouts since Aug. 4, including four shutout innings on Wednesday.
Tigers: RHP Max Scherzer (14-8, 4.27 ERA)While opponents are batting .301 off Scherzer with the bases empty, he has limited his damage by holding them to .182 with runners in scoring position. His slider, once his third-best pitch, has become a big source for outs.
Athletics: RHP Brandon McCarthy (8-8, 3.39 ERA)McCarthy is 7-3 since the All-Star break and had been on a roll until the Rangers tagged him with a loss on Friday. He allowed four runs -- two earned -- on five hits and one walk.
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Tiger's MLB Game Notes
Game InformationINJURY UPDATE: •
OF Brennan Boesch (right thumb surgery,
15-day disabled list on September 9).
•
RHP Joel Zumaya (right elbow olecranon fracture surgery,
60-day disabled list on March 30).
•
LHP Brad Thomas (left elbow inflammation,
60-day DL on May 11)
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To track MLB play-by-play, to help post GDT outcomes: http://m.mlb.com/scores/On the Internet MLB.TV Gameday Audio•
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XM Channel Schedule______________________________________
Up next (Probable Pitchers) • Friday, September 16: Tigers (RHP
Doug Fister (5-1, 2.28 ERA))
AT Athletics (RHP
Trevor Cahill (11-13, 4.32 ERA)),
10:05 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / WXYT 97.1 FM & 1270 AM)• Saturday, September 17: Tigers (RHP
Rick Porcello (14-8, 4.83 ERA))
AT Athletics (LHP
Gio Gonzalez (13-12, 3.41 ERA)),
4:05 p.m. ET (FOX? / WXYT 97.1 FM & 1270 AM)• Sunday, September 18: Tigers (RHP
Justin Verlander (23-5, 2.36 ERA))
AT Athletics (RHP
Guillermo Moscoso (8-8, 3.44 ERA)),
4:05 p.m. ET (FS-D HD / WXYT 97.1 FM & 1270 AM)