It was an eventful weekend in Detroit. The Tigers won the first two games of their ALDS match-up with the Oakland A’s, and the manner in which they did so was pure theater. A lot happened at Comerica Park between six p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Some of it was predictable — Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander showed why they’re leading candidates to capture the MVP and Cy Young — but much of it was downright remarkable. Here are looks at five of the notable storylines.

THE KISS

“It was just emotion. I was happy. When you do something good, you feel happy.” — Al Alburquerque

By now, everyone knows that 26-year-old Tigers’ reliever Al Alburquerque planted a kiss on the baseball before under-handing it to first base to end the top half of a pressure-packed ninth inning. It was a key play in a wild-and-wacky Game Two and opinions are mixed on whether his actions were a case of innocent, youthful exuberance or just as under-handed as his toss.

Not surprisingly, reactions followed party lines. Asked about it after the game, Gerald Laird said “He’s just young and was excited. He didn’t mean anything by it.” Phil Coke’s response was, “I don’t think it’s something that should be viewed as somebody getting showed up. I didn’t think that at all.” Another teammate, Max Scherzer, said, “He’s on a different planet sometimes. I think that’s evident, with him kissing a ball during a game, during the playoffs. It’s just his personality.”

The opposition saw it differently. Read the rest of this entry »

LaTroy Hawkins might have pitched in his last big-league game. The right-hander was effective out of the Los Angeles Angels bullpen this season — with a 3.64 ERA in 48 appearances — but he isn‘t getting any younger. A veteran of 871 games in 18 major league seasons, he’ll celebrate his 40th birthday in December.

Drafted out of a Gary, Ind., high school by the Twins, in 1991, Hawkins spent nine years in a Minnesota uniform and has since played for eight other teams. He has never been a star, but he does have 65 wins and 88 saves during his career. Whether he’ll add to those totals will remain to be seen, but it’s been a long  journey.

Hawkins talked about the evolution of his career during an August visit to Fenway Park.

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Hawkins on his early evolution as a pitcher: “When I broke into pro ball, I threw a fastball and a slurve, which was a high school pitch I had learned. My pitching coach got rid of it the first week I was in professional baseball. He turned it into a real slider. I didn’t have much command of it, but he told me that I would over time. He said that if I kept practicing it, it would get better. He always told me that. In high school, I threw a one finger up. I had one finger on the ball — one pitching finger on the ball — but I think the bigger change was maturity.

“Over the next couple of years, I got bigger and stronger and was pitching on a full-time basis. I was pitching from spring training until October. I had only pitched a little bit in high school and a little bit in the summertime. I never had any extensive time on the mound, or instruction. Actually, I didn’t have any instruction. The first time I ever had a pitching coach was in professional baseball. Read the rest of this entry »

Francisco Lindor is the Cleveland Indians’ shortstop of the future and the top prospect in the system. At the age of 18, he also likely several years away from the big leagues. Drafted eighth overall in 2011, the switch-hitting native of Puerto Rico spent the season with low-A Lake County where he hit .257/.352/.355. An outstanding defensive infielder, he is rated by Baseball America as the game’s 14th-best prospect. Lindor talked about his development — on both sides of the ball — in early August.

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David Laurila: Scouts speak highly of your defense.

Francisco Lindor: I’m proud of that and pretty confident about my defensive game. I work hard on it and take great pride in it. I try to get better every day. I come out here and get my ground balls and double plays. It’s been a big part of my game since I was little, and it will be for the rest of my career.

DL: How much of defensive ability is instinctual?

FL: You need to have the instincts to play shortstop, because you have to anticipate all the time. You also have to prepare yourself. You have to anticipate and prepare yourself for what will happen next. It’s a big combination of both.

[Reading a hitter] depends on the swing and how we’re working him, whether we’re working him inside or away, or with off-speed pitches. You have to know. You have to be alert on every pitch — where the catcher is and where [the pitcher] is going to throw — and you also have to know the player’s swing. And on two strikes, they change their swing, sometimes. You have to read that. You have to think, and anticipate what he’s trying to do, whether he wants to move the runner from second to third or hit something in the gap — drive it. You have to anticipate and know the game.

DL: Do you position yourself or is that the responsibility of the coaching staff?

FL: I kind of know the hitters here, from playing against them all year, so I pretty much locate myself. Read the rest of this entry »

This interview was conducted in July, and originally ran on the site then – it is being re-posted now that Porter has been hired to be the manager of the Houston Astros.

Bo Porter is in his second season as the Washington Nationals third base coach. It might be his last. The 40-year-old has already been considered for a couple big-league managerial positions, and that opportunity is likely to come again this winter. Highly regarded for his leadership skills, Porter has a degree in communications studies from the University of Iowa, where he was All-Big 10 in two sports.

Porter talked about the approach he’d bring to the manager’s job — and his willingness to go against conventional wisdom — when the Nationals visited Fenway Park in June.

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Porter on defensive positioning and shifts: “It all starts with the guy you have on the mound. Based on your pitcher and the hitter’s history, you factor in the probability of the ball being hit to a particular area of the field. You always have to defend that area first, and go from there.

‘Sometimes managers don’t shift because they don’t want to give up a portion of the field. But why not give up a portion of the field if the probability of the ball being hit there is one percent?

“I think my football background has a lot to do with my approach to the game and my thought process. As coach Fry would say, ‘You have to scratch where it itches.’ Playing football for Hayden Fry at the University of Iowa, you learned that if someone shows you something that you can take advantage of — whether it’s conventional or not — you’re doing your team an injustice by not taking advantage of it.”

On lineup construction: Read the rest of this entry »

Albert Almora is both young and extremely talented. The 18-year-old outfielder was taken sixth overall in this year’s amateur draft, and upon signing became one of the top prospects in the Chicago Cubs system. A right-handed hitting outfielder, he hit .321 between rookie ball and low-A Boise. Showing his inexperience, he logged 15 extra-base hits but walked just twice in 123 plate appearances. Almora, who is lauded by scouts for his instincts and work ethic, talked about his introduction to professional baseball during the final week of the minor-league season.

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Almora on instincts and learning the game: “A lot of my instincts come from having played the game all my life. I’ve played since I was three or four years old. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of smart people, and a lot of good players, come by. They’ve given me a lot of hints and worked with me on my game. I’ve been really lucky that way.

“The first thing you have to do is respect the game. That’s first and foremost. A big piece of advice has been that things aren’t always going to be the way you want them to end up. You just have to play the game 100 percent at all times, because you can’t control the rest.”

On studying the opposing pitcher: “We have video here and watch it constantly, every day. I have an iPad Read the rest of this entry »

For Manny Machado, it’s all about adjustments. The Baltimore Orioles infielder has a lot of them to make. Just 20 years old, he is acclimating to the big leagues — in the middle of a pennant race, no less — after being promoted from Double-A in early August. He is doing so at the hot corner, a position he played just twice in 208 minor-league games.

The third-overall pick in the 2010 draft, Machado was rated the ninth-best prospect in the game by Baseball America in their mid-season Top 50. Since joining the Orioles, he has hit .266/.278.424, with 4 home runs, in 163 plate appearances. He talked about his adjustments prior to Saturday’s game at Fenway Park.

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Read the rest of this entry »

From April through July, Mike Olt was the most prodigious slugger in the minor leagues. The former University of Connecticut star hit .288/.398.579, with 28 home runs, for Double-A Frisco. His power explosion helped prompt Baseball America to rank the right-handed-hitting corner infielder 11th on its midseason top-prospect list. It also prompted a call-up to the big leagues.

Since debuting for the Texas Rangers, on Aug. 2, the 24-year-old has mostly languished on the bench, logging just 39 plate appearances. There is little doubt that he has a bright future. Whether his development was advanced or hindered by riding the Texas pine — instead of getting regular playing time in Triple-A — is the question.

Olt talked about his whirlwind season, including the call-up and his emergence as a power hitter, when the Rangers visited Fenway Park in August.

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Olt on playing in this summer’s All-Star Futures Game: “It was obviously a great game to be a part of. There was a lot of talent on that field, and being there, competing with them, gives you the confidence that you belong. I hit the ball hard three out of four times and that had me feeling like I could compete at any level.

“I knew that I was getting closer to the big leagues, but I still felt that I had some things to work on. Playing in the Futures Game definitely had me making sure to keep pushing myself every day to get better.”

On hearing his name in trade-deadline rumors: “Everyone was saying that it must be hard to deal with that, but it really wasn’t. I knew that it was a win-win for me. If I got traded, there was going to be something good for me in that organization. And if it didn’t, I knew that I was already in a great organization with a winning atmosphere. If I stayed here, I was going to be a part of something special, and whatever happened was going to happen. I mostly just blocked it all out.”

On getting promoted from Double-A: “I was very surprised, despite the fact that some things were happening in Frisco. Read the rest of this entry »

Jameson Taillon has the raw stuff to become a frontline starter. He also has the mentality. The 20-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates prospect has an advanced feel for pitching, which is a reason he could reach the big leagues as soon as next year. Drafted second overall in 2010, the 6-foot-6 right-hander finished the season with Double-A Altoona after spending most of it in High-A. In 142 innings, he logged a 3.55 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .230 average. He came in at No. 15 on Baseball America’s mid-season ranking of the game’s top prospects.

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Taillon on becoming a complete pitcher: “I’m in that process right now. From what I can tell, it’s kind of a never-ending process. All the way through your career, you can never stop trying to get better, never stop trying to become more of a complete pitcher. When I got drafted, I had a pretty good idea of what to do on the mound — but since then, I’ve taken huge steps.

“This has been the biggest year of my life, baseball-wise, as far as learning the intricacies of the game. I’ve learned a lot about feel and what to do with the ball, and different mentalities of how to set up hitters.

“Coming into the year, I had a pretty good breaking ball and an OK changeup. Obviously, a good fastball. Read the rest of this entry »

Delino DeShields, Jr. was clearly overshadowed this season. The 20-year-old Houston Astros prospect stole 101 bases, but thanks to Billy Hamilton‘s record-setting 155, his own thievery went largely unnoticed. Despite the relative lack of attention, DeShields may ultimately prove to be the better player.

Taken eighth overall in the 2010 draft, the right-handed-hitting second baseman had a breakout campaign between low-A Lexington and high-A Lancaster. Along with his pilferage, he hit .287/.389/.428, with 12 home runs.

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David Laurila: Outside of the stolen bases, what was your biggest accomplishment this season?

Delino DeShields: I don’t even know, man. Last year, I knew that I had the ability and everything; it was just a rough year for me. I had the position change and I know that a lot of people doubted me. This year, I knew that I had it in me and just went out there and played. I played like I always used to play.

DL: Have the biggest adjustments been physical or mental?

DD: They’ve been more mental. Last year, the plan was to get me comfortable at second base. I had never played there in my entire life. I got pretty comfortable at that and this year I just put everything together. The defensive part is there, and I guess that the offensive side is probably what I’m most proud of, besides my stolen bases. I’ve walked a lot more, been patient at the plate, and got on base a lot more.

I’ve had a more consistent approach. I haven’t been going up to the plate without a plan. I having a plan now, and know the situation a lot better. I’ve worked really hard to polish everything up. I’ve still got a lot more polishing to do — I know that — but I’ve come a long way from last year.

DL: Players who steal a lot of bases often excel at small ball. Do you see that as your game?

DD: I look at myself as more of an all-around hitter. I can bunt when I need to, but I can also hit the ball over the fence. Read the rest of this entry »

When Ned Yost fills out his lineup card, he sees a future that is more promising than the present. His Kansas City Royals are near the bottom of the American League in runs scored, but five of the nine starters are 25 or younger, and none is older than 28. Several have all-star potential.

The former Milwaukee Brewers manager — now in his third year at the helm in KC — has more than the future in mind when he puts together his batting order. He’s also looking to optimize his team’s chances to score runs. Yost discussed his approach to lineup construction during a recent series at Fenway Park.

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Ned Yost: “I try to stay consistent in my lineup construction. I try to set a lineup and keep it there as long as I can — as long as we’re getting production out of each individual spot. I don’t believe that it is productive to have a floating lineup. I don’t want guys coming into the locker room thinking that because they went 0-for-4 the day before, they’re going to be hitting eighth. Or that because they went 4-for-4, they’re going to be hitting third. I think it takes pressure off of them to know that they’re going to consistently stay in a spot.

“When I construct my lineup, I want a high-on-base-percentage guy leading off. I’m looking for a guy that gets on base. Alex Gordon fit that bill for us tremendously well over the course of the year. I think that Alex, though, changes his approach in the one-spot and focuses more on on-base percentage. Alex is a run producer. He’s a guy who has the capacity to hit 30 home runs a year. Ideally, I would like him in the middle of our lineup somewhere.

“We don’t have a prototypical leadoff hitter. Read the rest of this entry »