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Tigers show true grit again in Game 3 victory over the Rangers
posted by Pat Caputo at
2:54 AM
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
About Me
- Name: Pat Caputo
- Location: Pontiac, Michigan, United States
Pat Caputo is a sports columnist for The Oakland Press. Caputo covered the Tigers from 1986-98, and Lions from 1998-2002 for The Oakland Press before becoming a columnist. Caputo was raised in Birmingham and played baseball and football at Groves High School. His photograph playing high school sports appeared in The Oakland Press. He has won numerous writing awards, including first place in column writing from the Michigan Associated Press and the Michigan Press Association, and from the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been named among the Top Ten sports columnists in the nation by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE), and has won honors in four of the APSE's six national award categories. He has garnered top national honors for his column writing and sports writing from the Local Media Association. Caputo, who has resided in Oakland County since he was nine years old, currently lives in Lake Orion. Caputo has a radio show weeknights and weekends on 97.1 FM, The Ticket, which is the flagship station for the Tigers, Lions and Red Wings. He also appears regularly on FOX 2 television on "SportsWorks."
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4 Comments:
Geez, Pat, you really seem to pick favorites.
Peralta and Martinez have "done nothing but come through for the Tigers this season" and Cabrera has been the problem, even though those two have struggled much worse than Cabrera has in the playoffs.
And in every post you're raving about how important Delmon Young is. You even said yesterday, "Seldom has one bat ever meant so much to one team."
Do you realize that Young had an OPS of .695 this season? That's about the same as Austin Jackson's, minus his speed and defense. His career OPS is .749, which is well lower than Raburn's career OPS. And he's AWFUL defensively. So bad that is WAR is actually in the negative in his career. There's a reason Minnesota gave him away for nothing. (He's not worth his salary)
He's probably the worst #3 hitter in the league. Meanwhile we have the best cleanup hitter in baseball, and yet you seem to take every opportunity you have to sing the praises of the former while bashing the latter for not doing enough. It's odd.
I'm not sure how Cabrera was a problem in a season he hit 344, Mike - save the pre-season Florida incident. But I do bang on agree that Perralta & Martinez have been as brilliant and as important. But you gotta admit that this lineup didn't really gel till Young got here - and that he is indeed missed.
But IMHO - the truest hero on this squad - who now is almost getting boo'd - is Avila. This is a guy who gets in the shower and tries to avoid the water drops because his body is so badly beaten and worn by this season. And he is still throwing darts - triple twenties no less - to catch guys at second even after sliding behind the ump to feld a breaking curve off the plate before throwing.
This guy deserves a memorial. And I'm the A**h*** that said before the season that he wasn't a major league catcher and the Tigers had no chance with him behind the plate.
Avila - if he survives this season - has the potential to become the next great catcher of this generation.
one down - three to go
We had better show our "true grit" the rest of the series because we have substantial injuries and Avila is lost at the plate.
Fred, I was quoting Pat there. My argument was that he's been blaming the Tigers' struggles on Cabrera even though Martinez and Peralta have struggled a lot worse in the playoffs.
Young has been a nice addition. I just don't agree that he's one of our most important parts. I honestly think Raburn is a better all around player, but neither is among the best 5 position players on this team, and neither is really suited to play in the 3 hole when they aren't riding a hot streak. (which both have been recently)
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