This is Sunday, right?
If you wanted more regulars playing on Sunday, you’ve got it. The only change is Carlos Guillen starting at first base after taking that pitch off of his shoulder last night.
- Granderson, CF
- Polanco, 2B
- Sheffield, DH
- Ordonez, RF
- Guillen, 1B
- Rodriguez, C
- Perez, LF
- Santiago, SS
- Inge, 3B
Jason Beck
Looks like JL means business with this lineup on a day game after a night game.
JJ is being taken out now by Leyland–the right move IMO. They are starting to get good swings and the play behind him in the OF may have rattled him a bit more. Perez was not keen enought on what would have been Punto’s single and Ordonez, IMO, botched up another playable ball in RF.
Ordonez is just so casual about going after balls. It is almost like he is thinking, I don’t get enough for this”.
I know his heel is bothering him and all but I will never be happy with his defensive approach out there.
Nice job by JJ and by Byrdak but 3 runs against these guys is not enough. We know how they grind you down.
Sure hope they can find a way to score a couple of more this game. Their offense seems to shut down after early spurts.
Well here we go. It just happens with certainty. Pitcher error and another error. You can’t do this against this kind of team.
I think Guillen could have dropped in front the crappy throw by Byrdak.
Poor play all around. Careless and lackadaisacal.
I have no idea why JL is leaving Byrdak in–as soon as he threw that ball away he was mentally done.
What’s scary to me is that JL will likely leave Byrdak in for the 8th to face Tyner and Kubel.
If the PH for Tyner I think you gotta pull him–forget Kubel and Morneau-it’s time to bring in Rodney.
A couple of runs here to answer the Twins festering attack would be nice.
That was the clutch hit that Carlos absolutely needed to come up with. He has really been struggling and has not been at the top of his game.
Rodney had some trouble finding the plate (along with the umpire)–interesting move to bring in Zumaya.
That’s a tough batter for Joel and he did a nice job getting him. Am a little surprised we got the call from the ump. He sure is missing a lot of balls at the knees.
This set up Jones for #300–and he likes those 3 run saves!
Jones does not look sharp today. We are gonna need a nice defensive play to get through this.
These umpires are going to cost someone an awfully important ballgame. I don’t care what strike zone they want to use, just stick with it for nine innings. Is that too much to ask? And forget the pitcher’s reputation. A strike is still a strike and a ball is still a ball.
I have to say, the end of that one drew a fist pump and a little sprint across the family room.
Congratulations, Todd.
Okay, the first part of my “win the division” trilogy is at an end, and the Tigers certainly did their part in it. Cleveland didn’t cooperate as much as I would have liked, but it is what it is. This also draws to a close the selfish part of it, as I now have my big and fun series in Cleveland.
Looks to me like Eric Wedge held Paul Byrd back a day, flip-flopping him with Laffey today, just to have him face us and Kenny tomorrow. So be it. Let’s make him sorry he did it.
It’s on now, baby.
Nice heads up play by Santiago on the single. Almost worked.
I thought the guy was ill-advised to go for a triple to lead off the 9th. He could have and maybe should have been thrown out.
Baseball axiom #107: Thou shall not be the first or last out at 3rd base!
Especially when you need base runners.
Granderson had a way better game thans his 2 x 5 indicates. He hit the ball with authority on all of his outs.
Clevelen replaced Perez in LF in the 9th–from what I have seen, that is a good move. But I would go a step further and consider pulling Ordonez (maybe not today with a possible aB coming up) too.
Rich-let us know where you are sitting and bring a something to say HI to your fellow BeckerHeads.
I hope the boys bring you a sweep, you get a foul ball, and the Indian fans around you all hate you and can’t wait for you to leave town!
Good Luck.
Yeah, that guy going for a triple there was dumb. And how about the rookie Buscher running through that stop sign and getting thrown out at home? Not your typical Twins team this time around.
We’re behind the Cleveland dugout (thirdbase side) Monday night and Wednesday afternoon, about 20 rows up. We’re behind the Tigers dugout Tuesday, again about 20 rows up. Your best chance to spot us will be during the pregame show. We’ll both be wearing Detroit jerseys, either home whites or road grays, and will have an orange sign that says “John Keating Is My Tiger.” Yeah I know, a shameless effort to get on TV and be the “Goodtime Tiger Fans of the Game.”
I’d like to ask Brandon Inge about messing up Granderson’s “unlocked” hotel room, then allowing his own “unlocked” car to be done over by Marcus and Grandy in retaliation.
It couldn’t be helped but I missed the last 2 games. Wow. I plan to watch the next 12, especially the next 3, that’s for sure. Where are all the comments when we get these sweet wins? I was so worried about the results today that instead of going to the Tiger site or mlb, I went to Beck’s Place to follow the “trail of tears” or the “trail of cheers”. Whatever the result, I needed it broken to me slowly. Thanks to Dan’s play by play I was fairly confident our Tigers had won, gathering that we were taking a 3 run lead into the bottom of the 9th with Jones going for #300. Then reading Dan’s blog “Jones does not look sharp today…”, I was left hanging. Had to go to the Tiger site after all. Wow. JJ taking a no hitter into the 6th. What a great surprise he has been! Without his addition the Tigers are arguably out of the race now. Stars sometimes get born this way.
Rich, I hope Cleveland is a great trip and experience for you. The weather should be good. Am envious but happy for ya. Hoping for a Rich sighting and 3 Tiger victories, not necessarily in that order:)
Dan, Rich, thanks for the comentary.
Well the RedSox aren’t helping us that’s for sure.
You could kind of tell the Yanks had the upper hand and the breaks going for them but to pitch to Jeter with 1st base open was a huge mistake. So was the fastball. Schilling had a devastating splitter going but didn’t throw it to Giambi and tried to smoke a fastball by Jeter. Jeter was hitting .439 with 2 out and RISP this season.
Doesn’t take a genius to figure out at least you don’t give him anything to hit.
The season is getting darn near the crying stage now and we can only wonder what things would have been like if the RedSox had played good ball this seekend.
I’m glad Jones got his 300th. Maybe that will fire him up the rest of the way–he did NOT look at all confident today.
Jonesie didn’t have good stuff today. He was missing the zone a lot, which is the sure sign. It was a good day to have a cushion for him.
Jurrjens is certainly looking like someone you can pencil into the rotation next season. It makes me wonder about management decisions. How did they not see that he was a far superior pitcher to Miller? I think they just get stars in their eyes over the radar gun. Give me a guy that throws strikes. This kid has rarely even given up a hit!
Boston let us down, caving in to the Yankees once more. They needed only one of the three, so that’s what they got. Heck, we did a better job of hitting old man Clemens last month at Yankee Stadium when the entire team had the flu! As I write this on Sunday night, it’s still a toss up over whether we have a better chance at the division or the wild card. That question will be answered in the next three days.
I’ll have the laptop in Cleveland, so I’ll try to send reports from there. See y’all later.
I have to own up to being a dissenter just 10 days ago. But the way this team has righted itself and competed. Well I give them all the credit in the world. And, JL, yea for all his stubborn moves that sometimes you have to wonder about, well give credit where credit is deserved. He has set the tone to allow this team to make this “run”. Anyway, we have a legit shot at 90 wins. I think that would be remarkable given the key injuries we have had and the underperformance of some starters. I pronounce the season a success. Next year, we are going to be a “scary” team for people to play. GO TIGERS!!
everybody ready to tackle the Tribe?
I am in total agreement with jtennant about next year. We could possibly have a starting rotation with everyone under 25. I have been a doomer and gloomer for a month. I still believe that we dug a hole that could’t be helped. These last 10 days have been glorious, and I think it is a miracle in baseball to maybe win 90 games with the adversity this team has gone through. The Tigers have so much class, much more than any other team in the american League. That’s my bias, but it’s also fact. I f we ek out a spot, I will have to be put away for peeing all over myself. But I have been content for a while, noing that my beloved team represents its fans in a truly professional way. Hope for miracles in 2007! Expect a truly good team in 2008.
I haven’t chimed in a while and the Tigers have been winning consistently. I’m hoping that they don’t lose tonight or I may not post again until the end of the year. A few quick comments:
- Rich– Give em **** in Cleveland. You’re carrying the torch for us.
- Its amazing how much respect Sheffield gets– just his presence (bum shoulder and all) completely alters our lineup.
- Timely hitting and pitching. Gotta keep it up.
- Thank God we don’t have to face Carmona. Coincidence or is Cleveland that confident?
- The Gambler is the key to this series. If he can go deep tonight, the bullpen can be saved and the momentum will be on our side.
- Next year sounds great but its next year– I don’t want to wait that long… The time is now.
Go Tigers!
Greetings from the city of light, Cleveland on the lake. No full moon rising on the Cuyahoga River, but the rest of that song is in play.
We just checked in after a tour of every construction site the PA Turnpike has to offer. We’ve already spotted two Ordonez shirts in the lobby.
You know, this is THE moment for 2007. The big series about to begin, everyone poised for action, but it hasn’t happened yet. Anything is possible at this one moment. It’s a moment to be savored, in case things don’t go as we like.
I echo the sentiments expressed above. These guys have held the Tigers banner high.