Granderson leadoff, Polanco 2nd
As it turns out, Leyland is keeping his regular lineup tonight. That means Granderson leads off, Polanco second, Casey third, and so on. Left-handed hitters bat slightly better against Zito than right-handers (.260 compared to .257), plus Leyland didn’t want to bat Monroe second after his 3-for-16 series against the Yankees and his 2-for-21 history against Zito.
It’s a clear, sunny day in the Bay Area, which means the shadows should play a factor around game time. This could be a pretty good pitcher’s duel if the shadows help the starters get rolling.
Jason Beck
Thanks for the update Jason.
I hope we both enjoy the game!
I was thinking that Verlander might get the start. Must admit I am personally leaning in that direction. Robertson has had the problem with lack of support so if the guys can get the bats gling against Zito maybe he willhave the luxury of being ahead in the game. Nate can be pretty impressive when he is on but he needs to stay away from the one bad inning syndrome that seems to haunt him.
We already have an underdog, since very few people seem to think that Nate should be starting. The big guy has something to prove.
And watch out for Jay Payton in big situations.
By past history, Verlander then Rogers makes the most sense. That gives Rogers potentially two starts in Oakland. Well, Leyland always seems to know what he’s doing, so what can ya say?
I think Leylands’ attitude is just matter-of-fact, we’ve got three good pitchers and it’s Nates’ turn to pitch so he gets the ball. This is the part of the old mans’ game that I think is crafty and profound, diffusing any possible controversy before it can even arise. He pretends not to notice but these decisions are planned out with great deliberation.
Dan pointed out some time ago that Nate always has one bad inning where he seems to lose composure and get out of his rhythm, and this effects him most acutely I find in questions of location. Hes going to see plenty of dangerous right hand bats tonight so mixing his spots and speeds will be essential. He looked a little jumpy last week in New York but my hunch is those nerves have been vanquished by the Tigers performance in the rest of the series. I’m looking forward to a finely-cut gem from Nate tonight and I think were going to need one.
Just came from one of my favorite watering holes for a happy-hour nip — endless meetings today — where a bunch of very knowledgeable baseball fans hang. I was treated like an Old Testament sage because I guaranteed before the Yankee series started that Rogers would shut them down. While I certainly enjoyed this, albeit shortlived, show of admiration, I told them the simple truth that I think the Yankees have trouble with great chang-ups and Rogers’ change has been unhittable for two months. We watch Rogers pitch, they just talk about him. When you add to that the unbelievable drive and desire, the unstinting thirst for redemption that flashed out of the Gamblers eyes all night, you get one of the finest individual performances and easily one of the finest baseball games I’ve ever seen. That determination and desire made me proud to be a Tiger fan. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
For crying out loud I obviously meant to say four good pitchers. I only had one rum at the bar but…
Well wouldn’t that be nice if that were his “bad” inning. Nate threw strikes but failed to make a waste pitch or even a tough pitch on Kotsay with 0-2–he just grooved one for him. 2 strike hit to bradley and Thomas hit the ball very hard to CF. He got away with one in that inning.
Nate gets the start–”it is what it is”. Gotta make the best of it.
He had 0-2 on Kendall and threw 3 straight right down the middle? He had Bradley swinging at junk and with 2 strikes on him he threw one up and over the plate. Very fortunate that he didn’t get knocked around that inning.
Several previews of this series have given Oakland’s offense the edge because of their patience at the plate. I think people discount the fact that good pitching can negate patient hitters. Robertson has been ahead in the count of almost every hitter, maybe all them up to this point. It’s hard to be patient when you see strike one and two on the first two pitches.
So far it looks like the Tigers have stolen the A’s game plan. They’ve worked Zito for 70 pitches through 3 innings. Two out hitting is going to be huge in this series as with any playoff series. Not sure about the A’s but the Tigers have a lot of 2 out rally’s and that’ll be big if they’re gonna win. So far so good…
Things are going the Tigers way. Nate has been very fortunate tonight. He is certainly struggling and they are hitting the ball pretty hard.
I would like to see him settle down and trhor 2 more. I’d be happy with 1 really and you can bet JL has him on a short leash right now.
We’ll see Rodney tonight for sure
Yikes, they are telling me if Casey is out, then Carlos is the onl option at first!!! Is this true?
I’m pretty sure that if Casey is out for the series then they can replace him on the roster. I’m sure Shelton is the guy. I saw him in the dugout tonight. But for this game, Guillen is it.
Shelton is traveling with the team, as is Maroth. I hope that Casey is only dealing with a cramp. We can’t afford to lose his bat.
FOUR double plays! A record! Let’s hope this trend continues throughout this series!
How bout another DP to end it…
I’m so absolutely SICK of hearing reporters talk about 119 losses! If I was Brandon Inge I would walk away from every reporter from this point on that mentioned that number. These are NOT the 2003 Tigers!!
On to more positive things…I guess if tonight is a sign of how the A’s handle runners in scoring position and coming up with big 2 out hits then the Tigers should be okay as long as they continue to hit in the clutch.
Finally, what has happened to baseball game announcers? Where are today’s Vin Scully’s, George Kell’s, Joe Garrigiolla(however you spell it), etc… These baseball announcers are absolutely terrible this year. I didn’t think anybody was worse than Joe Morgan, but tonight he may have been outdone by the Fox crew (minus Pinella). At one point Brennaman says “he ran out of room chasing that foul ball.” To which LYons responds, “Yeah, but he wouldn’t have if that wall hadn’t been there.” What’s up with that?
Anyway, I guess it’s a good thing when the biggest thing to complain about after the game was the announcers.
Go Tigers!
Good game. A little troubling about Casey though. He is a pretty important cog in the machine right now–especially being one of the few LHB against all of the As RHP.
You never know with Leyland but I would think he would go with santiago at SS and Guillen at 1B. JL may get a burr in his saddle and go with Perez at SS but if he does I would suspect him of overmedication. Santiago is smoot, speedy and reliable. Perez is none of the above.
I would not be surprised to see Gomez in the lineup if Thames struggles again tomorrow. It is another LHB and if Leyland were to think about it a bit more he could DH Ordonez and put Gomez in RF.
This might become more a possibility if Thames can’t find the green against the the As righties.
It seems a bit picky but I was not pleased with the 103 MPH fastball to Bradley on the 0-2 count. Bradley had just pulled the previous pitch hard and foul and you gotta show that you have more than an arrogant fastball–especially on a wast pitch count in the first game of a long series.
Zumaya is fabulous but he if he were smart he could be sensational.
Rodnely looked good and made a real nice play on the DP ball hit to Guillen when he covered first. That was a heads up play by him.
BTW, Guillen’s error was tougher than it looked. Those spinners from th opposite side of home plate are one of the trickiest balls to handle. And that one had trouble written all over it.
If Casey can’t go (I hope that’s not the case) I think Guillen is the best choice at first. Pudge is catching well and is too darn short to playa there anyway.
Shelton is traveling with the team and if casey is injured and out for the series I think they could activate him. Not sure about that though. I’ll bet Jason will find out for us.
The bats went to sleep tonight and we really caught a break with the inability of the As to hit with RISP. A big break–and not one you can count on to get away with again.
Could be just a cramp:
“Muscle cramps generally result from overexertion and dehydration. When you don’t have enough fluid in your system, it leads to an electrolyte imbalance that causes your muscles to cramp up. Electrolytes are minerals such as sodium, magnesium, calcium and potassium that help the cells to function normally. An imbalance occurs when we have too much or too little of one or more electrolytes in our system. The main electrolytes affecting muscle cramping are potassium, sodium and calcium.”
Sean–get on the bike–drink 8 glasses of water a day and make sure you hve your Gatorade!
Let’s hope that is all it is. The MRI will tell the tale tomorrow.
This was a very enjoyable game although it was tempered quite a bit by Casey’s injury. We were just now starting to see the Casey we thought we were getting. I have the same question about roster rules in the postseason. I like Guillen at first, but we really need him over at short, so if Casey would go on the DL, does that mean we could add Shelton? Dan, I keep thinking about that “mobbing Shelton” thing you’ve brought up. It’s been that kind of year, and it wouldn’t surprise me.
One of the most intersesting points in the game, from my point of view, was the comments picked up over the microphone that Kotsay was wearing. The three A’s outfielders during the pitching change, discussing how the Tiger hitters weren’t following the script, and Kotsay discussing the sun reflection problem with Casey, I found very enlightening. That’s good stuff.
I think the radar gun in this entire postseason has been pumped up. Zumaya doesn’t really throw 103, Robertson doesn’t hit 96, nor Rodney 98. Rogers at 92 was a bit crazy, and Verlander usually dials up to 99 tops. Come on, we’ve watched this team all year on many different station feeds, and none of them showed these numbers. Too much is made of that anyway.
So we started Nate, he did well, and we got the win. He sure pitched out of that one jam. The A’s lived up to their poor RISP numbers, and things look good at this point.
I hope Casey can play.
Well, as you all know, Casey is out for at least the next game. I say that JL should put Shelton on the roster for the series if the Tigers make it. Even if Casey comes back, he could reinjure his calf. There ought to be someone he can take off. Maybe someone with the initials NP is on there.
“… for the series if the Tigers make it.” I cant believe I am saying this!!! Who woulda thunk it!
Atta boy Brandon, tonights’ recipient of the always shifting Tiger hero award. Which is only fitting given the true team nature of our success this year — though I’m sure we are all a little tiried of the cliche about having a balanced lineup, which is true but is also another way of saying we don’t have a dominating, intimidating bat. But Brandon looked fantastic at the plate, bringing the bat crisp through the zone, no hesitation just driving those off-speed pitches. And the play off Zumayas deflection was superb.
Nate’s fourth inning turnaround was remarkable — and again after a Leyland visit — my jaw hit the table on the second strikeout, and on the third, a 3-2 perfect fastball with plenty of mustard on the inside corner, I screamed out loud.. Compelling, exciting stuff. But then Nate came right back out in the fifth and pitched the same nonsense he threw earlier. There was no continuity or sense to his performance tonight. It is much better on paper than it was to watch. And the worst part of it was already identified above and is a problem most of the staff has suffered from this season, and that is the 0-2 or 1-2 pitch.
Bonderman gave a seminar for the ages Saturday on to pitch ahead in the count and keep the hitters uncomfortable. He would use his slider diving out of the zone for a strikeout or waste a pitch to set up the next one. I know it can’t be true but it looked like Robertson was continually losing his focus tonight. Dan, I don’t think your comment about Zumaya is nitpicking. After the foul ball — pulled with authority — I said out loud, here comes the curve. Now Thames didn’t seem to want a fastball at the knees tonight but most hitters like them and that pitch to Bradley was right down the MIDDLE at the knees, just begging for the sweet part of the bat. Robertson made the same kind of mistakes in the Yankee start where he didn’t pitch half as bad as the numbers indicated (Ian on the Series blog says he threw BP that day but thats not what happened) but tonight, he didn’t pitch nearly as well as the numbers indicated. There is no reason to ever give up 0-2 hits. Now Zumaya can still throw a fastball there but it needs to be up or in or somewhere other than RIGHT there.
But the double plays bailed us out and the ones from the third and the 7th were especially pretty. Yeah I also thought it was quite a play by Rodney to get to first like that. And you have to hand it to Carlito, not too many guys can turn double plays at 2 different positions like that. A 3-6-1 DP is tough for experienced players but to see **** at first base and a reliever turn it so smooth was a lot of fun.
Egregious calls again on Rodney, calls that every other pitcher on both sides got all night. That ball four was down the middle at the letters. I was glad to see Rodney get back on the horse, its been over a week since hes pitched and last time out was forgettable to say the least. You can tell that hernandez has been kicking his *** about the walks because he threw almost nothing but fastballs tonight and hard (Rich you’re absolutely right about the radar gun exaggerations but Rodney might have been throwing 97 tonight). I prefer Rodney with a little more artistry but this was good because it gave him a clear confidence boost. I love watching him throw his change-up though, it is a thing of rare beauty.
Thames and Monroe both seem to have distorted the strike zone so the pitch at or near the knees seems completely out of reach. ESpecially with Marcus’ stroke and his long arms he should love those pitches. THe A’s pitchers are smart and until those two start banging those into or over the gaps they ain’t gonna see nothing else. Marcus can get into a funk at the plate so fast, I really don’t get it. I wish I understood what hes doing a little better, but he seems to be just a little off. But he can also come out just as fast. If he had Brandons Yankee series everyone would be crying to bench him. Just like Brandon came up big tonight, Marcus will come up with a big hit tomorrow. He is so overdue for a longball.
I wasn’t just being sentimental when I said that leaving Shelton off the playoff roster was a “serious mistake”. You can talk about BIg Reds pinch-hitting misadventures all you want but carrying three middle infielders (OK, 2 1/4) and no back-up 1b is just plain stupid. I know Casey is not 50 yrs old he just runs like it but you have to carry a reserve of some kind (though every time Casey bends over at the plate between pitches I’m afraid hes not going to get back up). Casey kept saying he thought he was about to break out at the plate and he certainly has hit some nice line drives, it would really be a blow to lose him now.
As for righty/lefty, of the five A’s starters only two of them have pronounced differences in their splits and they are HUGE differentials. Both Haren and Blanton have considerably more success against left-handed hitters. I know it goes against conventional wisdom but its true nonethe less.
The Tigers left a ton of men on base tonight; hitters 3-8 all blew chances to put the game away. Oaklands bullpen is tough but we have to do a little better job of finishing the enemy off.
Rodriguez looked 10 years younger tonight and is demonstrably taking up his rightful role as team leader.
I know all of our starters are considered equal but to have Robertson beat Zito in GAme 1 on the road is a tremendous advantage for detroit. Game 2 is the other side of that coin and if we can take that too, well, that will be fine.
Rube, Guillen does play firstbase all the time in winter ball and he played first for Venenzuala in the WBC. Leyland’s idea was to have him be the backup in a game situation (pinch running for Casey and such), and I thought that was a good idea. So of course what happens but Casey gets injured. Now it could be a problem, not because of Guillen at first but because you lose his experience in the middle. If Casey is out for an extended period and you can’t add Shelton, that means Infante and Santiago and Perez would have to step up.
It’s still better than losing Polanco again. I know Guillen is the likely team MVP, but you can’t ignore the difference when Polly is in there. It’s huge.
If it becomes clear that Sean Casey cannot play again in the ALCS, is there any way for Jim Leyland to play Chris Shelton?
If it becomes clear that Casey cannot play in any World Series games (asumming the Tigers make the World Serie), is there any way for Leyland to play Shelton in the World Sereis?
Well when I saw the plethora of RHP on the As I knew Shelton would not get added.
My understanding is that there is no provision for adding a player if one is lost due to injury during a round.
The ONLY alternative I see at SS is Santiago. If you are in a position that you have your defense and team undergoing a serious alteration then if you can ADD something to the equation you should. In this case it is Santiago’s glove. He will actually outperform Guillen out there (no slight to Guillen (I love the guy)).
You also ADD some speed to your lineup and a switch hitter. He won’t hit like Casey is supposed to but you won’t get a major drop off in OBP.
Using Santiago you IMPROVE your defense. Perez; you threaten it and Infante: defense becomes only slightly more vulnerable but you don’t get the LHB in the lineup.
What I am afraid of is Nefarious. Leyland may think he wants to replace experience with experience (darn that Santiago for looking like an adolescent–he is pretty experienced himself), and may want to prove that they were so smart when they picked him up from the (gasp) Cubs and then smart to put him on the roster with 2 other utility infielders. BZZZZZT–Wrong Answer.
Perez is slow and awkward, he won’t get near anything in the hole or up the middle. He doesn’t have Santiago’s glove, arm or his legs. It’s a no brainer (I mean the decision not the bobble-head).
Pudge–It would be absurd to take him away from behind the plate.
Crash course for Monroe? Thames? Gomez? Unlikely.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Gomez can hit with power. He hit 11 HRs in Toledo in some 55-60 games and jacked 4 out in one game.
This is all so hypothetical but don’t you think that Marcus might be a possible first baseman in the future (Not now)?
These series have a way of keeping things evened up–they lost Ellis we lost Casey.
Guillen will do a great job at 1B
ogb–Yes–I think they can activate players round by round before each round starts.
This is all so hypothetical right now. For all we know, Casey has something that can be tightly wrapped. But I agree with your thinking, Dan. Santiago would be an addition. He’ll just have to do some things to help the offense. As far as sticking someone else at first, please no. Watching Sheffield at first actually hurt my firstbaseman feelings. The dude didn’t even know enough to reach out for the throw to beat the runner.
Or this could happen: “Bottom of the ninth, A’s lead by a run, and look who’s coming out of the Dodgers (I mean Tigers) dugout! Sean Casey is hobbling to the plate to pinch hit! Eckersley (I mean Street) deals and there’s a long drive! I don’t believe what I just saw!”
Good thoughts Dan. I agree, it’s a no brainer. Absolutely, Santiago at short for now. I was also wondering about the rules in replacing an injured player. If what you’re saying is true, and you have always been right to this point, then the Tigers have to finish this series as is. Course we’ll all have to wait for the official diagnosis and prognosis on Casey’s calf. Hopefully he can come back at some point. I would hope that, should the Tigers advance to the WS, JL will “correct the present roster conundrum” by switching for Shelton as insurance against Casey not returning to full health. We know what that roster change would be. But if Casey’s prognosis is 2 weeks or longer to heal, Shelton could be added for the WS (should they advance)without any subtractions. Right?
As far as tonight goes, it would be interesting to see Santiago play SS and Guillen at first, just to see how the Tigers respond to adversity and also to the baseball world that the Tigers do have versatility and defensive bench strength.
Last night was a great game to watch if you’re a Tiger fan. I think the A’s are obviously a better team than that. Errors and mental mistakes on the A’s part… 3 strikeouts in one inning with runners at 2nd and 3rd?! You can’t count on that stuff happening again. Payton scares me more than any of the other A’s. He does do extremely well against the Tigers.
It also concerned me that the Tigers could not add to the 5 – 0 lead. With all the talk of the A’s stranding runners, the Tigers did their share after innings 3 and 4. Need to pounce when the pouncin’s good.
Really, REALLY happy for Nate. I don’t know where those 3 strikeouts came from but they were beautiful! Weren’t they!?
Great to be back on this blog site, lost the Tiger home page link, but Rich got me back on track. (from ALCS blog site). Gracias Rich! You can’t get rid of me that easily…..
Just looking over what I wrote and it sounds a bit confusing. So, in a nutshell:
Best case senario: Casey can come back, but make a change in the roster adding Shelton.
Worst case: Casey can’t come back, replace him with Shelton, keeping everyone else.
This message is for Jason:
Jason can you get MLB to include “Beck’Blog” on the Tiger home page?
During the season it was always there and now it has Robertson/ Zito/ ALCS
But the REAL Tiger Blog is missing.
I second the request from Dan concerning MLB placing a link to “Beck’s Blog” on the Tiger homepage. Like Dan, I noticted it was missing from the Tiger homepage.