A's vs. Tigers Breakdown

Note* I meant to get this up prior to the actual game, but I clicked save as draft instead of post as I was going out the door. So read this as though game 1 didn't happen!

Also* Pander, your comments got moved here...sort of

Time to do an in-depth breakdown

First Base

Tigers - Sean Casey ain't the sweetest swinger of the bunch, hitting .245 for the Tigers since coming over. He won't hit the ball out of the park (8 HR), but he'll put it in play for you. He seems to be a nice guy, that's all I can really say positive about him. Oh yah, he's the joker that got thrown out from left field, I forgot about that!

A's - Nick Swisher has quietly been racking up the dingers. He has 35! The average is lacking, at .254, but it's no worse that Casey's performance in the AL.

Edge - A's

Second Base

Tigers - Placido Polanco has a solid average, hitting .295 this season. He doesn't have much power, but then again not everyone is a Tadahito Iguchi. He isn't the swiftest of fellas, but he did bat .412 against the Yanks, so he is going well at the moment.

A's - Mark Ellis broke his finger in the ALDS, so now what? D'Angelo Jimenez? Yes, D'Angelo Jimenez who was on the Sox! I suppose they could turn to Matt Ginter, nope don't know who he is either.

Edge - Tigers

Shortstop

Tigers - Carlos Guillen is damn good. He's no Juan Uribe, and I mean that in a good way; .320 AVG with 19 HR's shows he can hit for average and power. He did have 28 errors this season, but his .571 AVG against the Yanks will help you forget about that.

A's - Bobby -erm, oh right he's hurt. The A's shifted Marco Scutaro (making Italians everywhere proud) to SS and he's done decently. His numbers won't make you forget Crosby, but he's a good fill-in.

Edge - Tigers

Third Base

Tigers - Detroit has Inge manning the hot corner. It seems anytime Inge is mentioned it needs to be brought up that he's a former catcher, so now that we got that out of the way, the fact that he hit .253 is much more relevant. He'll hit the occasional dinger though; he had 27.

A's - Chavez struggled mightily with injuries this year. He could only scrape together a .241 AVG with a career low 22 dingers. (I'm excluding non-full seasons). Still, I'd rather take a dinged up Chavez with his good glove than Inge. So...

Edge - A's

Catcher

Tigers - Now that Pudge has slimmed down to, damn what do we call him now? Husky? Not-so-pudge (NSP for short?). So now that NSP has slimmed down to improve his defense (ahem, steroids, ahem) he has seemed to have lost his power stroke. NSP's hitting ability is still there though, hitting .300 on the dot.

A's - Somehow the fact that he leads off is flying under the radar. I dare you to name one other catcher that leads off...while you're thinking read on...Kendall is a contact hitter. He hit .295 and was decently good at getting on base and good at avoiding K's.

Edge - Tigers

Left Field

Tigers - Just call Monroe the Nick Swisher of the Tigers. He hit .255 with 28 HR's; not as good as Swisher but the stat line looks similar. Just throw Monroe a curveball and he's D-U-N, done.

A's - He's a slapper! Not like A-Rod (geez, no even I'm piling on him. That's it, I vow, if A-Rod continues to take a beating to defend him on my modest site, but back to Payton). He doesn't hit for power but he does slap in some doubles, (10 dingers vs. 32 doubles) and hits for a good avg (.295)

Edge - A's

Centerfield

Tigers - Granderson went cold down the stretch and ended up hitting .260 for the year. He's fast, but doesn't steal a lot of bases. The Tigers should work on that with him.

A's - Kotsay hit better that Granderson (.275) but hit 12 less homers (7-19).

I like the A's more so...

Edge - A's to a neutral party, you would probably go with tie.

Right Field

Tigers - Oh-we-oh...Maaaagglio. Mags came on strong down the stretch hitting .327. On the year he hit 24 long balls with 101 RBI's. Not bad for someone wearing a clown wig underneath his cap.

A's - Milton Bradley, seriously, what were his parents thinking? He had 1 hit in the ALDS, but if he gets hot he could rack up some hits. If he gets hot, he could also punch someone, but that's because he's craaaaaaaaazy.

Edge - Tigers

DH

Tigers - Marcus Thames

A's - Two words: Big Hurt

'Nuff said

Edge - A's

Bench

Tigers - Omar Infante ain't half bad, but Neifi Perez negates any of his goodness. Beyond Infante who's left?

A's - Bobby Kielty is pretty solid and Dan Johnson can take some AB's, but the A's better hope no one else gets hurt.

Edge - Chicago White Sox

Defense

Tigers - The Tigers have been garnering a lot of comparisons to my beloved '05 Sox, but the one department they lack in his defense. Pudge is decent, but nowhere near his Texas days. Everyone else is mediocre to bad.

A's - Chavez is the man continually standing between Joe Clutch and a Gold Glove. For a 2baseman playing SS, Scutaro is pretty good. No one is glaringly bad.

Edge - A's

Starting Pitching

Here's the question you have to ask yourself, will the Tigers young pitchers continue to roll? Or will they get tired/let the magnitude of the playoffs get to them?

Tigers - Their young guns are fantastic. Bonderman, Verlander, and game 1 starter for the ALCS Nate Robertson. Kenny Rogers looked like a completely different pitcher against the Yanks. He was bringing (relative) heat. I saw him clock 93 MPH!

A's - The A's have the bigger names, but will they perform? Zito was magnificient against the Twins, but will this continue? He let the Twins get themselves out, which is usually a good thing but can be a bad thing. He only had one K vs the Twinks. He may need a higher total against the Tigers. Loaiza is pretty good and Haren is solid. Harden makes or breaks this staff, this series. We're either going to get soon-to-be-ace-of-the-staff Haren or clearly coming off of injury Haren. Until I see Haren...

Edge - Tigers, but not decisively

Bullpen

Tigers - Zumaya throws gaaaaaaaaas, of the Bobby Jenks variety. Todd Jones is somehow effective. I don't know how, but he gets the job done.

A's - The A's pen is really solid. Calero, Duchscherererererer, and Street are great.

Edge - A's

So the totals...Tigers win 5 categories with a bonus point for getting the nod among the starters for a total of 6 points. A's win 7 categories and get a bonus point for being Jeeves' team for the playoffs for a total of 8.

So there you have it with a score of 8-6, the A's get the edge. I say A's in 6.