Something to consider
Here’s something to think about while readying for a long day for baseball: With the doubleheader today and no off day anytime soon, the Tigers have a decision to make for their Sunday night game against the Angels. Do they start Nate Robertson or Wilfredo Ledezma on short rest, do they give Zach Miner a spot start, or do they see if Mike Maroth (who was slated to throw in the bullpen this morning) is ready for a start by then? Keep in mind, Robertson is 0-3 with an 8.13 ERA in six career starts against the Angels.
Jason Beck
Top of the 8th now–ist game:
Guillen having a rough day-almost had trouble with the force out off Cano’s bat too.
Club is playing “polite” again today.
Sure hope they can pull one out for Robertson–he has had far too many of these type of outcomes. Piches well gives up a couple and loses because of lack of run support.
1st pitching hitting contines. Drives me nuts.
Well two dumb moves. First Leyland takes out Gomez and 2nd Magglio swings at the VERY first pitch–2 runs down late innings, 2 RISP, struggling at the plate, a new pitcher and he swings at the first pitch! C’mon Leyland smarten yourself up and then the hitters.
Can anyone summon a possible rationale for pinch-hitting Ordonez with the game on the line??? I was so proud of Granderson for coming through and then…sigh, Ordonez pinch-hits and goes down on the very first pitch agaainst a brand new reliever? If Gomez is good enough to start then let him hit.
Guillen was embarrassing today, you’re right Dan he almost dropped that grounder in the 8th. Is it me or even by Perez standerds he justs looks awful??? There is something profoundly disconcerting about how slow and awkward his footwork is.
I’m glad Dimitri has turned his life around but is he really a 3rd place hitter on a playoff team??? He had the same at-bat three timrs today — no adjustments whatsoever.Then Mariano comes in and I couldn’t even watch — I knew — first pitch swing, groundout to second.
Robertson really pitched his heart out today. Tremendous effort and guts to overcome some deeply shoddy defense. He really deserves better. As for Leyland, he flat out threw this one away.
Clarification, my footwork comments are directed at Perez.
The Angels have a better record against lefties than righties. Throw Miner.
Perez doesn’t look good defensively (or offensively).
I too think he looks awkward and I think his flip to Guillen was a bit of changeup for Carlos. I hope we see Infante tonight. OrDONEz looks like he needs divine intervention at this point. Play Thames.
I thought the same thing on the botched doubleplay. Perez needs to make a clean toss. Looked like the ball got stuck in his glove.
I’d like to see Maroth if he’s ready.
While I’d love to see Maroth back in action, the Angels love to swing early in the count and Miner might do very well against them.
DY swinging on first pitch again. If he does this again tonight (especially if it is a close game and particularly if behind)–I predict Lelyand will bench him. Ditto OrDONEz
As for pinch-hitting Ordonez, Leyland is probably trying to show confidence and help him bust out of his slump. In my poinion, Magglio’s slump is the biggest problem that the Tigers have. I know everyone is happy with Monroe’s recent surge, but he’s starting to cool off already. We need a hot Magglio!
Bottom of 6. Ledezma has looked good but this is the crucial inning for him.
Let’s hope he can punch out the difficult #9 albatross before the top of the order.
Bottom of 6. Ledezma has looked good but this is the crucial inning for him.
Let’s hope he can punch out the difficult #9 albatross before the top of the order.
There you go–predictable as war in the Middle East.
The Tigers are their own worst enemy right now and you can bet this game is going in the L column.
Holy Smoke! Thank you Curtis for your great at bat.
Clutch swing by Monroe.
Unexpected turnaround and quite possibly pivotal as the team was on the brink in my opinion.
They finally made a pitcher work and it paid off. Hopefully they can do better at this in the future. Not sruprising, but nobody complains about Monroe’s first pitch swinging when it is a 3run homer!
Monroe came through in the clutch again. He has really stepped up the second half. The key was the walk before the homerun. Good job by Granderson to draw the walk and not try to do too much. We need more of that. The walk extended the inning, gave us two runners on, and after the homerun gave us a two run lead. Nothing like some insurance as well.
Unfortunately I had a bad feeling when Leyland brought Rodney in during the 6th inning. Somehow I knew he would blow it. He did good in key save situations in April but showed he isn’t ready for the big situations.
Still a great finish to the game!
Well, the Twinkies made a nice run, but they have now lost three in a row. I’m betting on Chicago to win the wild card. Minnesota just spent too much energy getting to where they are now. Chicago, on the other hand, is looking like they are getting things together. I bet Chicago makes it close for the division title, too.
The same Tiger fans calling for the benching of Ordonez are probably the same ones that would have benched Kenny Rogers a month ago. The guy has driven in over 80 runs this year, has batted right around .300 all year and all anybody can suggest is to get him out of the lineup. I’m sorry, but not too many hitters work out of a slump by sitting on the bench for extended periods. I’m glad Leyland is managing as opposed to some fans.
Wow! It came down to the last out. I agree, you make a very good point Dan. We don’t complain about first ball hitting when it works, and I’m guilty of that. Fortunately Brandon and Curtis had terrific at bats, making the Yankee pitcher work hard eventually walking both of them. This is what really set up Craig. The pitcher knew he had to throw strikes and Craig knew it too. So all three get equal kudos. (If Craig would have drawn a walk, DY was up next.) Hey Dan, did you say that Soriano was your favorite player, and you had hoped the Tigers would have picked him up? I guess I wasn’t too keen on trading for him, but only because I was afraid of what the Tigers would have to give up, and I was assuming Placido would eventually come back…but… Soriano would be a tremendous impact player on any team’s roster, including the Tiger’s, and he probably would have assured them at least a playoff spot.
For just this one time I’m sure glad Monroe was hitting 2nd TONIGHT, but please Jim, bat him 4th. Thanks for the great Earnie responses. Go Tigers!
Holy cow, I misspelled Ernie’s name! Please forgive.
Ok, great win tonight! Much needed! Two questions for you all…. First, does Infante still play for the Tigers, and could he have played a game at second? After all, isn’t the knock on him that he makes the tough plays and nonchalants the easy ones. Seems to me in game one today, he would have made the play Perez could not have made and maybe saved a run in that two run Yankee “rally.” We might have gotten lucky and played ourselves into a win in a one run game. Secondly, does anyone have a good reason to not play Thames in one of these games? I mean, if anyone could have hit a long ball with two on and two out in the eighth of game one, it certainly statistically is Thames. We send up a slumping Ordonez and he swings at the first pitch of a reliever’s? What is that about?
I agree jebbo, we tend to get pretty rough on slumping players. Ordonez has been a major contributor to the Tiger’s success this year, albeit in the first half. They will need him in the stretch. All I wish is that Leyland would bat him 6th until he gets out of the slump. Be flexible.
By the way, I think the Tigers would be well-advised to let DY go at the end of the season. The bucks they spend on him could be better spent on a left handed hitter who can field a positon as well as hit .260 swinging at every pitch thrown his way.
Yeah. They were both curiously missing today. What gives? Good thing Rivera was also curiously missing tonight.
As for the Angels, why start Robertson early? We need to keep our starters fresh. Why not give Minor a start. He thinks he has his delivery straightened out. If we can get 5 or 6 competitive innings out of him, we might pull the game out in the late innings. Nate can go the next day. Maroth is a no go for at least a couple weeks, but apparently for the year by the looks of it. We have won with the pitching we have now, so as much as I would like the innings Maroth could eat up when healthy, it appears to be a fantasy at best now.
Miner has not impressed me when he has started this year. However, out of our options on the major league roster I would start him Sunday ahead of a somewhat struggling Robertson or Ledezma. Go ahead and give them at least one more day of rest. I am also glad that I am not the only one wondering why Infante or Thames did not start in at least one of the games. I would rather have Infante at 2nd base every day than Perez. He definitely should have started one game in the doubleheader. How can you not play Thames in one of the games as well. I would have sat DY before Monroe to get Thames in the lineup today. I knew Rodriguez would not start both catching and was not surprised Ordonez sat. Only surprised who sat both games.
Well I defended Leyland for sticking with Ordonez, but I’m completely clueless as to what he’s thinking when it comes to Thames. Apparently Thames has died and nobody wants to tell Tiger fans for fear of mass hysteria setting in. I live in Florida and this reminds of when Jon Gruden took over the Bucs and for 2 or 3 years refused to give the ball to Mike (a.k.a. “Mark”) Alstott. Maybe with Thames it’s a personality issue, who knows. But it makes no sense from where I’m sitting. Same thing with Infante not getting playing time. SURELY Omar can hit even a little bit better than Perez. I’m thinking I can hit better than Perez. I’m thinking my 12 year old daughter can hit better than he can.
I,s pretty sure we will see Thames and Infante today. Thames does need to get in to face some righties every now and then. I don’t think he has done porly against them.
Infante will overtake Perez at 2nd—it’s a matter of time.
As far as 1st pitch hitting goes I think there are times when it should be an absolute no-no. Monroe’s HR was not one of them. The tying run was on 2nd (a base hit scores him) plus he is one of the 2 legitimate power hitters on the team (which he proved when he got his pitch).
The first pitch hitting issue arises when you are behind, in later innings, when you hae a pitcher who is struggling, when the batter is struggling at the plate or when you have been hitting weak outs with the first swing.
The guys that I think that should be discussing this with the staff are Ordonez, Young and, dare I say, Rodriguez. Young could (should) have been asked to lay one done after the inning starting Monroe double in the 8th. Down 1 run in Yankee Stadium in the late innings–it’s almost a given. He’s then on third with your cleanup hitter (such as it is) up where a sacfly scores him.
The only bunting we are seeing right now are the lame attempts by Perez to drag one down for a hit- (somebody should let him know that he isn’t going to beat many of those out anyway).
Seems like every game is a big one now–today’s is no exception.