2012 AL Central Watch - May

[MtGrnwdSoxFan]

As of May 5th:

CLE 14-11
DET 13-13, 1.5 GB
SOX 13-14, 2 GB
KC 9-17, 5.5 GB
MIN 7-19, 7.5 GB

The Twins almost got no-hit again, this time by King Felix and the Mariners. Denard Span did manage to scratch out a hit, the Twins' only one. They are bad. I think a big part of that is because all the crappy scrubs they used to call up and somehow became God's gift to baseball - Valencia, Casilla, et al. - are finally playing like scrubs again.

The Wahoos lost in extras to the Rangers.

The Royals defeated the Yanks.

Of course, we know what happened to the Tigers...

[Twins_Morneau]

Worst record in the majors, and word is ownership is steaming. Gardenhire could be scapegoated very soon, even though its not his fault he's playing with a AA roster.

[hawkjt]

Gardsy did not get dumb over the last season or so, so this would be an uncharacteristicly knee-jerk move by Twins management.

It is interesting that now that the Twins are rolling in dough,with the new Taj Mahal stadium, they are actually struggling. Maybe operating on a shoestring was part of their successful formula? Or was it that cursed plastic ballpark? Or a temporary blip?

It is a long season,and the Twins usually mount a charge after July 1,so I will hesitate to kick dirt on them yet.

[BigHurt3515]

Indians lose
Tigers down 8-2 to the A's

[hawkjt]

Tigers lose.

Go A's,go Red Sox...lets get back in this thing by next week.

[Lip Man 1]

I think the Metrodome was so bizarre, so unusual that it gave the Twins a significant advantage in half of their games, that coupled with the talent they certainly had in that stretch of time was enough to give them good records.

Lip

[vinny]

Detroit, Cleveland, and Minny all lost tonight. ****ty night for the AL Central save for the Royals.

[Zakath]

Originally Posted by vinny

Detroit, Cleveland, and Minny all lost tonight. ****ty night for the AL Central save for the Royals.

****ty divisions routinely have ****ty nights, and frankly this division blows. It's not surprising that no one in the division is over .500 at home.

[hawkjt]

New week, same ole story...crappy division.

Tribe 18-16
Tigers 17-17 1.0
Sox 16-19 2. 5

Sox entertain the Tigers for two,starting tonite.
Tigers coming off of a 2-5 road trip to Seattle and Oakland.
Verlander got the win yesterday vs the A's,but had to come out in the 8th with blister problems on his fingers.
Smylie is going tonite,and leads MLB in ERA at 1.something.

Sox have to trip out to LA for two vs the slumping Angels on Wed and Thursday,then back to Chicago for the annual trek to Wrigley on the weekend.

Hey Sox...go 7-0 this week and all is forgiven!!

[hawkjt]

AL Central ruled tonite.

Cy Chen of KC beats the mighty Rangers in Texas.
Indians beat the Twins.
Sox beat the Tigers.

Sox still 2.5 back,but only .5 behind the mighty Tigers.

Looking ahead at pitching matchups for Sox/Cubs series...a bit worried.
Humber vs Smarja
Danks vs Dempster
Peavy vs Molholland

Those Cubs starters have all been going very good lately. Yikes.

[TDog]

Originally Posted by hawkjt

New week, same ole story...crappy division. ...

The Tigers are coming off of a great season where they took control in August and blew away the division in September. Fans and analysts expected them to pick up where they left off, esepecially after signig Fielder. But last year, they were undefeated in every game where they held the lead after eight. This year, not so much.

I have heard some say the Tigers "haven't found themselves yet." That may be true, although it's so vague enough statement that it might be meaningless in that it could mean different things to different people. But it is true that Leyland might be managing with the way the team was playing last year and hasn't found what will work this year.

The White Sox could be a team that is coming together in that it is learning how to play under a new manager with a new manager learning how to play the team. All the starting pitchers have had tremendous highs and all but Peavy have had deep lows. Ventura has been accused of staying with his starters too long, but a loss to the Royals could well be atributed to Ventura pulling Humber too early. The bullpen has potential, and it may be a matter of Ventura figuring out how to manage it. But if you look at the Tigers, Leyland hasn't been any more successful managing his.

I don't know that it's a crappy division. It has the least amount of wins in the league, but I don't know that a couple of teams in the division won't find themselves and start winning more.

[BigHurt3515]

Those damn Indians keep winning. Scoring 3 in the 8th inning and then winning in extras
But the Tigers lost to the Twins

[TDog]

Originally Posted by BigHurt3515

Those damn Indians keep winning. Scoring 3 in the 8th inning and then winning in extras
But the Tigers lost to the Twins

The Mariners are undefeated against the Tigers and winless against the White Sox and Indians. I really thought the Mariners had today's game, though. The starter the White Sox knocked out early in the first game in Seattle shut down the Indians offense, even though he's a righty. The bullpen blew it though. And even after the Mariners grabbed the extra-inning lead, the Indians came back to win it. This has not been a good year for closers.

It seems odd that the Royals won two games in Texas after winning the last two in Chicago, but they came home to be swept by the Orioles. They're still ahead to the Twins, who won two games in Detroit this week.

I wonder if Tigers fans are angry that the Tigers were swept at home by a last-last place team. And today the deciding run scored on a sacrifice fly after an error put a runner on third.

[hawkjt]

These relievers like the M's League,sometimes cannot throw strikes. He came in to close the game with the one run lead and he proceeds to walk 3 Indians and then give up two hits.

The Tribe are hot right now,just like last year when they raced out to the top of the division....hard to trust that they will maintain this all year,but Lowe has certainly given them another arm to help carry their starting staff. Big pickup. Their offense is good. Their closer has been pretty good. If they get starting pitching...maybe this is their year after all? Long way to go.

[BigHurt3515]

Indians finally lose and the Sox pick up a game