Tiger Geist

A much needed win for the Tigers, both the game and the series — have to win at home.  Porcello looked great (though as Kurt mentions, ran out of gas).  Alex Avila also looked pretty good in his first action.  Magglio Ordonez’s new batting stance seems to give him more ‘pull’ on the ball.

The story here (to me) is still Avila.  Here’s what I thought:

• Certainly passes the ‘eye’ test for a catcher.
• has a great approach at the plate; sees a lot of pitches
• Had two hits in his first game;  Matt Treanor / Dane Sardinha / Dusty Ryan have a combined 7 hits this year.
• First two-hit game from Detroit’s catcher since July 8; first 2 hit game from a backup catcher this year
• Looks like he gets his hair cut by the same barber as Dusty Ryan
• Uses the old-school catchers mask, which I like.

Don’t want to get too excited; Dusty Ryan had a hit in each of his first two games (and was a few inches from homering in his first game).  But we also learned why he was demoted:  Leyland didn’t seem to trust Ryan.  Jason Beck reports that Avila will catch Galarraga and Porcello for a while… which i will assume is a lack of confidence in Dusty.

Last, I learned one more thing:  the vowels are all ’soft’ in Avila.  Though, the way Mario kept pronouncing it on the telecast, it sounded more like a female reproductive organ.  So Alex has that going for him.

Today will be Alex Avila’s first start; its actually a pretty exciting time for Detroit and the Avila family.  Note:  FIVE, count them FIVE, catchers have started a game for Detroit this year (Gerald Laird, Matt “Misty-May” Treanor, Dane Sardinha, Dusty Ryan, and now Avila).  Thats not exactly murderer’s row, and its depressing since Treanor is the only player to bow-out due to injury.

I thought Matt at Take 75 North pretty well summed up the Avila promotion — its not that I’m against it, its just that it doesn’t make sense.  Its like Tiger management looked at the roster and said “hey, I really really like this roster, its playoff ready.  You know, however, if we ONLY had a left handed backup catcher… is there one in the Org?  Hey, Al, your son is a catcher right?  What?  He bats left handed? No shit?  How’s he doing these days?”

I hope Avila is able to play enough to make this move work for his continued development;  I think he’s a talent.  I commented on J Ellet’s blog last month that I still thought Dusty Ryan’s ceiling was more likely to be a backup to Avila, or if he can hit, a Victor Martinez type 1B / C split due to his size.