Two more Tigers

Newly aquired Matt Stairs hitting third? In the middle of a pennant race?

All I can say is "Wow", and it shows the work that needs to be done in the off season.

Also, a "day off" for Monroe? Now? Or, is he slumping enough for Leyland to seek other options? I love C-Mo, and I wonder if he thinks he needs a "day off". Probably not.

Leyland has done agrwat job giving our players rest throughout the season. I wouldn't think now is the time, with only a couple of weeks left in the seaons, for "rest". Put our best team in the lineup daily, please. The Sox are not "resting" Dye or Konerko, or Thome, or Crede, are they?

Tell it like it is, please.

I think Monroe should be out there too. Leyland is probably worried that big Cabrera might overmatch a struggling Monroe and hurt him more mentally than anything else. If he wanted to get the RHB out why wouldn't he put Gomez in? Maybe Monroe has a nagging problem or something. At any rate--I hate to see his power bat on the bench.
Perez at 2nd today. If Infante is felt to be a bad match for Carbrera then why not Pac Man?

Is it Miller time?

Let's go guys--a Miner Miracle maybe?

Neifi finally makes Leyland look like a genius! Well with all our heckling good for Neifi. Leyland leaves pitchers in too long. Yes shorten the leash. Stairs hitting 3rd. I don't get that either. If the Tigers see a lefty, let's see Shelton.

Got a feeling it's going to take 10 or more to win today.

Yes. Walk a guy and you're out. Can't be doing that. Rod has a great knowledge of the game and it shows in his commentary.

The mighty Casey comes through in the 8th!! Can you actually believe Perez came through earlier in the game?

He is starting to come around for sure. And the long ball from him is a major bonus. Nice to see.
Let's not get too carried away on Perez.

The double he got was really a lucky seeing eye single. He is not really stinging the ball.

Let's go guys take advantage of the MoMo

Dan, I was more surprised Perez hit the ball with 2 outs and the bases loaded than anything. You have to love Inge's hustle this game. Scoring from first on Perez's miracle hit, running out the single in the 8th, and diving for the ball in the field. While there are some good thirdbasemen in the American League, Inge gets to more balls than any other and makes the plays. He had a rough start in the field this year otherwise he would have about a half dozen fewer errors. Now lets finish the game off with a big 9th inning.

Too bad Stairs doesn't come through. Would've liked the storybook ending.

These games are tough. Realistcally the Tigers shouldn't be in this but they have found a way. This is the kind of game you really need on the W side as it has a cahnce to do so much besides just th Win.

Grilli in--my fingers are crossed very tightly with this move.

This is ugly.

This is ugly. I just don't know who else we could have brought in for the 10th. Grilli has pitched OK this year. No, he is not great but has gotten the job done most of the time but not today. Our other relievers we have left are Miller, Maroth, Tata, and Durbin. I figured Leyland would go with Grilli out of those choices.

I have never had any faith in Grilli. He is a margingal ML pitcher. No way he should have been thrown in in the 10th inning of a pennant race.
I figure (as unattractive as it seems) to leave Jones in and if not then we do have a fellow by the name of Mike Maroth. Grilli is optimistic thinking at best and dreaming at worst.

Didn't deserve to win this one but nevertheless it is a very difficult one to let slip away.

They had their chance in the 9th, and squandered the opportunity. Obviously didn't get a second chance. Agree with you Dan. I was hoping Jones would come out one more time. He was fairly economical in the 9th. You can't hold anything back now. Forget about tomorrow. Who knows, maybe tomorrows game is a blow out anyway, regardless of who wins. It was a mistake. Also the taller more athletic Infante gets that high feed from Inge, who, by the way, made a great play mearly stopping the ball.

I'm not happy with Leyland today. And I want to emphasize today. He's been great, but it seems there are times when it takes him too long to catch on. Stubborn, maybe, as Dan says.

First, I'm tired of this Ledezma experiment. We can work on this project next spring, not in the middle of a pennant race. The guy had a couple of lucky starts and now we're seeing his true colors. Mike Maroth was arguably the best pitcher on the team before he was injured. Is he ready to go or not? If he is, let's get him in there Friday. If not, put him back on the DL and don't ask him to pitch relief.

Then there's Perez. Every game he plays results in defeat, and he usually has something to do with it. How about getting over in the hole on that single he had to dive for? I don't care if he did get a miracle hit, how about running out that line drive in his first at bat? The Sean Casey play repeated. Is it too much to run hard till the umpire calls out? Too tired? Too old?

Pinch hitting Monroe for Granderson: Craig hasn't pinch hit all year, nor played any centerfield this year, far as I can remember. That pitcher had had more success against righties than lefties, so why make that move? And later, Perez managed to catch that bloop that Monroe was fooled on, breaking far too late.

The Bunt: a really poor pitcher comes in and walks the leadoff hitter (Inge) then goes 2-0 on Perez before finally throwing one strike, and then only because Perez was obviously told to bunt. At this point, I have to wonder if that pitcher (Hoey) can ever throw a strike, but we bunt anyway. Give up an out, Inge is stranded at second. Still down a run.

I did agree with not sending Jones out for a second inning, but again, where is Maroth? Has he joined Shelton and Santiago in the category of players we've given up on?

I'd have more, but I wasn't taking written notes.

Does anyone have answers for any of this? I realize I don't have all the facts. That was a very win-able game.

You have to play your best players if you want a chance to get the desired results. Platooning Infante and Perez makes no sense. What? Does Infante need rest or something? Matt Stairs might be an OK pickup if he's used in the right situations. (PH and spot starting against righties he has had previous success with. I suspect he might be able to help against Chicago and Kansas City right handed pitching, since he's seen these teams and especially knows their pitching. But,come on, Why was he hitting 3rd today?
Right now the Tigers have 4 good starters if Bonderman and Verlander can get consistant. The question mark 5th guy could be Maroth. Of course he has to be given a chance starting to see if he can do it. I would suggest starting him against any of the remaining teams that statistically hits worse against lefties. He could actually get at least 2 starts if he were successful on the first. Well, Mike may not be at full strength and ready this late in the season, so I won't harp on this point too much. I'm glad he didn't go into the game in the 10th, to hold a tie. I don't think that is his strength right now. But again I wish Jones would have gone out one more time. Might have given the Tigers a shot today. Minnesota keeps winning. They must be licking their chops right now, knowing the Tigers and White Sox are going to beat up on each other for 3 games.

Rich, We must have been writing at the same time, our thoughts echo one another's. I see one big difference in our opinions. I still feel Jones should have gone back out. The Tigers had no one else left that I felt was right for that pressure situation. If he would have stopped them, we would have gotten at least 2 more at bats. Forget about that no 2nd inning stuff, every win counts. This one was as important as any of the next 3.

I agree that Jones should have been pitching in the 10th. What I find interesting though is that if Jones had pitched the 10th and blown the game like Grilli did, everyone would have been saying he shouldn't have been out there for a 2nd inning. Also, I don't understand how you can question pinch hitting Monroe for Granderson when he did. Monroe started several games early in the year in centerfield. If Granderson bats and strikes out AGAIN, then you would be questioning why Monroe was sitting on the bench and Granderson batting against a lefty. That was the right move at the right time but did not work out. Now, I can't say I don't question some of the moves today particularly with the bullpen. We have a few good/great pitchers in the bullpen with Zumaya, Rodney, Walker, and Jones but we need more improvement there in the offseason. Good to see us coming back and fighting but we needed to put them away when we were ahead and we didn't do it again.

It's most likely true that, if Jones had gone out for the 10th and lost it, many people would have said Leyland shouldn't have done it.

I just want to say that, when I question things, it stems from what I thought at the time. Now short of running in here to the computer and posting my thoughts while the game is in progress, I can't prove it. I don't like second guessing, and any criticisms I post are, to the best of my ability, ones that I held at the time of the decision in question, not after.

At any rate, I maintain that Jones shouldn't have pitched the tenth. I can't think of one instance this year when that has worked out. There may be one, but I'm not looking this stuff up, just posting what I see, or think I've seen.

It would appear that the Twins will catch us at some point this week. That doesn't mean we've lost the Central, or missed the playoffs, but it does mean we have to scrap through this to win it. As they say, "it all comes down to this."

Rich, I hear what you're saying. I agree with you on the idea of taking the higher ground and not merely second guessing decisions made by Leyland or players in the act of hitting, fielding, whatever. I hope we all base our thoughts fairly (if critically) before those important decisions are being made. I think most of our criticism (and praise) is given in this fashion. General trends such as hitters' approaches, (the aggressive-patient debate), and Leyland's lineups are always fair game. I've been guilty of post facto armchair managing a time or two.
I still felt (at the time) that I wanted Jones out there in the 10th. The best part of it is that we'll never know what might have been, and that's the way it should be I guess.

I don't second guess Leyland pinch hitting Monroe for Granderson, although they're both struggling right now. In fact I applaud Leyland for at least trying something

different; with Monroe a little more power, RHB, regardless of what the statistics said. They're overrated anyway.

I thought Leyland did a good job with the bullpen actually. I wanted him to take Ledezma out a lot sooner, at the very least when the score was 4-1 but he kept him in to throw the 3rd gopher ball. But AFTER that he did what he had to do, made quick decisions based on immediate performances and matchups. The Baltimore manager to his credit did the same. Zumaya had to go in early because they needed strikeouts. They needed to shift the momentum right there. It almost never pays to hold back. So now you're in only the 6th inning and your #1 setup guy is already pitching. But I think Leyland did the right thing. Zumaya did his job that inning and he and Rodney were basically decent in the 7th and 8th. What are ya gonna do? It was tied after 9. Getting out hit like they were today, can you ask for more? I still have issues with Leyland's lineup however. Nuff said.

HAS CLEVLEN DIED AND I DID NOT HEAR ABOUT IT OR WAS HE CAUGHT DATING A COACHES DAUGHTER. I HOPE HE AND BIG RED GET TRADED NEXT YEAR AND HELP WHATEVER TEAM THEY GO TO TO A PENNANT.ALSO LET ROBERTSEN GO ON THE SAME DEAL SO HE CAN GET RUN SUPPORT-IF HE WAS BACKED LIKE BONDO IS HE WOULD BE IN THE CY YOUNG RACE.