"I'm wondering, is anybody on base when Fielder gets a hit?"

Good question

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=fieldpr01&year=2012&t=b#bases

Yes, actually, but not the majority of the time.

76 total PA's in 2012

43 with no one on, 33 with men on

Of those 33, only 12 with runners in scoring position

Hits average under these situations:

Bases empty: .275, .726 OPS
Men on: .407, .929 OPS
RISP: .500, 1.083 OPS

I know it sure doesn't feel that way, but the facts are the facts.

Prince is earning his paycheck it would appear.

In baseball, if there is one constant, its that the team with the best talent going into the season doesn;t always win the WS. Quite to opposite.'

Getting to the playoffs, sure, the good teams get there more than the bad teams.

But winning it all, and having the best talent is not even close to a guaranteed thing.

"IT'S TIME TO PANIC! "

Wrong! It's time to chew up a bag of Skittles and defecate rainbows after watching these guys play!

BOTH actions are silly.

Pretty much every team in the majors will go through a stretch like the one our team is going through right now, no matter who the manager is.

Without looking, I would bet a large pile of money that at this same time last year you were saying the same exact things about Leyland and the team.

Are you trying to tell me that Leyland has reverted to last years first half managing tactics? You know, the tactics that he cast aside and replaced with the better ones that he keeps hidden away until they're really needed?

AJ has done a pretty good job getting on base but why are they reluctant to use his speed(SB, hit and run). Boesch is not your prototype second place hitter, too many SO's. He should be dropped down in the order.

There is nobody that fits the bill for the second hole. We need a contact hitter there and no one fits except Andy Dirks. He needs to play on a regular basis.

The constant platooning of LF, 2B, and DH is frustrating. Most players are not going to hit well if they are in and out of the lineup everyday.

You don't need a "contact" hitter at Number Two. You need a good hitter period, with at least decent power. The notion that the ideal Two is a wimpy Polanco-esque contact hitter with "bat control" who can "hit behind the runner" and blah blah blah has been thoroughly debunked.

"good hitters in #2"

*looks at team roster*

Found him:
Player (A)
.245/.327/.490/.817

followed by
Player (B)
.304/.333/.435/.768

and finally ...
Player (C)
.400/.438/.667/1.104

I would not mind Player A at all.

I wanted Player A there last year as well.

I think that Avila could be a very good Number Two, and he could also be a fine leadoff man, at least against righthanded pitchers, as he had an On-Base over .400 against righties last year.

But Leyland thinks that catchers belong down in the order, so no matter how much Avila outhits Boesch, look for the Coot to just keep doing the same thing.

Leyland used to hit Pudge #3 and #2.

I remember Pudge leading off.

He played most of his later time in Detroit at #5 and 6,

But in 2004-2006 he logged quite a few PA's at #2 and especially #3.

Yeah, he will put a guy in a different spot as long as he doesn't belong there. Pudge batted mostly third in 2006 despite an OPS in the mid-.700s. He also led off and batted second a fair amount. In 2007 he batted mostly sixth with a few games at leadoff, and in 2008 he batted mostly eighth.

http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/2007/03/leyland-sets-lineup-and-leadoff-platoon/

Of course, its also been proven over and over, by many sites, that the order of the lineup is far less important than the people in it.

Right now, all of a "good" people are hitting very bad.

Lineup shuffling might be likened to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

I'm sorry.

Who isn't hitting at the moment? Let's trade him...or all of them!

There's no team chemistry! There's no 2nd baseman! That's a reflection on Leyland! It has to be! Fire him, or make him play 2nd base!

Yer only as good as yer last at-bat round these here parts right now! Inge? After his double, he was golden.

Until the next time he came to bat, that is. It appears that he has a glove of steel now, also.

Here's a great trade for a 2nd baseman: Brandon Inge and Daniel Schlereth to the Yanks for Robinson Cano. We'll even throw in a couple hundred thousand dollars to sweeten the deal! I don't see why they wouldn't bite!

Our pitchers could get everyone out if they'd just hammer it in, knee high, on the outside and inside corners - all game long. Alls they've got to do is make impossible strikes every pitch and we'll win.

I don't see a problem with that.

Is that better?

Ah, nevermind, it's easier to say that Leyland has lost the team.

The way to fix this whole thing is to fire Leyland and let Cabrera take over as player/manager.

Whatever Jaydub.

I appreciate you not being as annoying with your usual off topic nonsense about poker and junk, and that you are sticking to baseball.

However, I still don't agree with your assessment of what is wrong with this team. I think you are looking too deep and trying to over hype things that either aren't there, or that are relatively minor issues (again, just to instill fear into Tiger fans, because I have NEVER seen you not complain about this team).

Even if we "optimized" this batting order, having 6 guys hitting at or below .250 isn't going to score many more runs if you bat them all before the good hitters, or vice versa.

Over the course of a full season, I think the stat I last read was that you get only about 1 extra win using an optimized lineup vs a not optimized lineup (assuming you used the same players in each lineup).

The biggest factor in scoring runs is WHO is in the lineup, not WHERE they are in the lineup.

He's never had the team to begin with.

Call Terry Francona now.