Larry Brown Sports

Umpire Dan Iassogna deserves credit for making the correct call on a difficult play to judge at home plate during Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday.

Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder was trying to score from first on a double down the left field line by Delmon Young in the second inning. Left fielder Gregor Blanco threw in to home as Prince Fielder was rounding third, and the relay throw in to catcher Buster Posey barely beat Fielder.

Fielder slid into home, which slowed down his momentum. As his body was dragging through the dirt to the plate, Posey used a sweep tag to get him on the behind. Though Fielder was upset with the call, and manager Jim Leyland came out to ask Iassogna about it, there is little doubt the correct call was made.

The next two Detroit batters made outs — Jhonny Peralta popped up to the infield, and Avisail Garcia struck out — so the game remained scoreless. What a great relay by the Giants, and what a great call by Iassogna.

Coco Crisp robbed Prince Fielder in the second inning of Game 3 of the ALDS to help keep the Tigers off the board on Tuesday.

Crisp raced back and perfectly timed a jump at the wall in right center to rob Fielder of a potential extra-base hit.

The catch helped the A’s maintain their 1-0 lead. The play was redemption for Crisp, who committed a costly two-run error in a Game 2 loss on Sunday:

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Prince Fielder is an outstanding hitter, but baserunning isn’t exactly his forte. That truth was on display Saturday when Fielder hit a shot into the right field corner off Dan Haren during the Angels-Tigers game.

Prince seemed like he was worried about the throw from right field hitting him, so he didn’t remember to slide until it was too late. By the time he chose to get dirty, he had rolled past the bag and Erick Aybar was able to tag him out.

Fielder’s blunder actually cost the Tigers a run because Delmon Young followed with a double, but it didn’t matter because Detroit came back from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3. And even though we’re picking on Prince for the embarrassing play, we want to point out that he’s actually somewhat fast and agile for his size. Oh yeah, he also crushed the ball to get into position to be thrown out at second. He’s still a baller.

You know what they say: You never know if you’re going to like your new life until you see it in a video game. Prince Fielder can appreciate that, which is why he had to make a little gaming adjustment when he signed his new $214 million contract with the Tigers a few weeks ago. According to MLive.com, Fielder recently traded himself from the Milwaukee to Detroit in MLB 11 The Show.

Some Detroit Tigers followers have said having Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder hitting back-to-back seems more like something from a video game than reality.

Fielder wanted an early glance at what it might be like, too. So he recently traded his virtual self from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Tigers.

“I just did that at home,” he said. “Me and my boys, we just traded me over. It’s MLB11, but I was on the Brewers, so we just had to make a trade.

Doesn’t this dude have his system hooked up to the internet? That’s what updating rosters is for. It’s one thing if he made a fair trade, but I’m guessing Prince turned on the “accept all trades” setting and shafted the Brew Crew.

As for the damage Fielder and Miguel Cabrera could do hitting back-to-back, video game numbers could very well be on the horizon. The only thing that might take more abuse than the opposing pitchers that have to face these two is the buffet spread in the locker room after the games — assuming there’s a vegan section.

No matter how they order it, the Detroit Tigers will have one of the best 3-4 lineup combinations in baseball. They already had Miguel Cabrera batting fourth last season behind Magglio Ordonez. Mags won’t be back, but they are replacing him with Prince Fielder.

During an interview with ESPN’s Karl Ravech Thursday, Prince said he’d prefer to bat in front of Miggy. He likely prefers to bat third because the guy hitting in front has the protection and generally sees better pitches.

Unfortunately for Prince, it does not look like he’ll get his preference. Tigers manager Jim Leyland already has a batting lineup in mind:

1. Austin Jackson
2. Brennan Boesch
3. Miggy Cabrera
4. Prince Fielder
5. Delmon Young
6. Alex Avila
7. Jhonny Peralta
8. Andy Dirks, Clete Thomas, or Don Kelly
9. Ryan Rayburn

Outside of Cabrera and Prince, it’s not too intimidating, but they should have enough support to put up some good numbers. The thing that worries me about the rest of their lineup is that many of their guys had career seasons last year (Avila, Peralta, Boesch) and I’d be worried about a natural dropoff in production.

The Detroit Tigers shocked the baseball world by stepping in to sign Prince Fielder Tuesday. The deal is as hefty as the bulky first baseman — 9 years for $214 million, according to reports. The terms of the contract, as well as the structure of the Tigers’ current roster, makes the signing a surprise.

Detroit already has Miguel Cabrera signed for four more years with $86 million remaining on his contract. He played outfield and third base for the Marlins, but has played first base almost exclusively for the Tigers. Cabrera reportedly told a Venezuelan newspaper he expects to play third base to accommodate Prince, and a few other reporters confirmed those plans.

On top of Cabrera and Prince manning the corners, the Tigers will have Victor Martinez back after next season. Martinez’s torn ACL, which took him out for the season, is probably the reason the Tigers jumped into the Fielder contract talks. Victor is set to make $25 million from 2013-14 and he was already DHing most of the time with Alex Avila catching. If Miggy can’t work at third base, the Tigers will have three sluggers with only two positions to play them in a few years. I suppose they will wait for that time to come before worrying.

The good news for Tigers fans is that they will have one of the strongest power lineups in baseball. The bad news is they may have more sluggers than they have positions on the field. Oh yeah, they also have Prince signed until his 36. Hopefully for their sake there is an opt out clause.

Since August, the Milwaukee Brewers have been riding a “beast mode” theme to their offense. When players get hits, they put their arms up like they’re monsters scaring children in the movie Monsters, Inc.

Prince Fielder is the player who started the whole “beast mode” theme for the Brewers (read the entire story behind it here). When his team faced a do-or-die Game 5 against the D-Backs, they broke out all the stops. They dressed a stuffed animal of “Sully” from Monsters, Inc. in a Brewers jersey and celebrated with it on the field and in the clubhouse following the Game 5 win over Arizona.

The entire idea may seem silly — and it is — but it’s fun little things like this that help teams build chemistry. The Angels had the Rally Monkey, the Cardinals have a rally squirrel, and the Brewers have their beast mode. Hey, it works.