Good games for Seay, Casey
Obviously Pudge and Verlander were the big stories from Monday’s win, but manager Jim Leyland went out of his way to point out Sean Casey for his glovework to scoop up throws and Bobby Seay, who "possibly got the biggest out of the game."
Casey dug out at least three throws in the dirt, which is quickly becoming a habit for him this season. He’s not hitting the way fans would like, and his slowness afoot has come into question, but Casey has one of the better gloves by a first baseman. When you consider how many throwing errors came from the left side of the infield last year (Inge and Guillen combined for 50 errors total), there’s a value in what Casey provides. Coincidence or not, there have seemingly been fewer high throws sailing past first base, too.
Seay’s appearance was the first time this season that we’ve seen a situational lefty in the textbook sense. He came on, retired David DeJesus in a long at-bat, and then gave way to Joel Zumaya. I know Zumaya can hold his own against lefties, but DeJesus is 3-for-5 with a double, triple and four RBIs off of him. Plus, he’s 5-for-11 off Wilfredo Ledezma. It’s too early to say whether this is a sign of a role for Seay, but it’s a good fit for him.
On a side note, Pudge’s limp in his last at-bat is believed to be a cramp. Leyland said before the game that he’d probably rest Rodriguez for Mike Rabelo Tuesday with a night game before a day game.
Jason Beck
People at the game last night were saying the same thing about Casey, noting that he didn’t get those digs, momentum would of switch quickly.
Another thing I noticed last night was when Mesa was pitching…Pudge went out to ‘converse’ with him, and it looked like Mesa just blew him off. It looked like when Leyland seen that he pulled him out quickly.
How ’bout a question for everyone? Is it me, or have there been a LOT more broken bats this year. It seems like it was rare to have one per game, but now 2-3/game is common. Is it the cooler weather? OK…I stop blabbing now…
Don’t know about the broken bats, but here is one good sign for the Tigers’ hitting. Yes they are near the bottow for RBIs, but around the middle for runs and tied (yes tied!) for the top in walks. This is a good sign for a Tiger team that has often been too impatient and payed for it.
See? Very few posts after a win.
Casey has played an outstanding firstbase, further proving that you can’t just stick anybody over there. The leftside infielders can go deep into the hole and turn and make a good straight throw, not worrying about getting it there in the air, which would cut down on overthrows. Brooks Robinson did this.
If you’re going to carry the lefthanded specialist, Seay is as good as any. I actually thought he pitched fairly well when he was with the club last April.
This curveball Zumaya is throwing is excellent. Since he’s begun taking a little off it, it also acts as a changeup for him. He’s becoming even better than he was before.
My biggest fear with the shattered bats is that, sooner or later, someone is going to sustain a very serious injury, a horrifying injury. What was wrong with ash bats?
I’m afraid my man Rodney would have walked the first three hitters if they’d been more experienced and patient hitters. Of course, if they’d been more experienced and patient, he may have pitched them completely different, so I won’t necessarily put that down as a negative.
Okay, for the lineup guys out there: how about flip flopping Ordonez and Sheffield?
It was a good day for Seay, but, Casey needs to step up his hitting and stop running like a girl. Mesa doesn’t strike me as a team player or a good pitcher. He’s taking up valuable space!
Even girls don’t run like ol’ Sean Casey. Like the old Deere commercial, “nothing runs like a Casey.”
He’ll start hitting soon.