Greetings from the Dome

Pudge and Perez still hot--Casey not. Shame on him for not getting the sacfly. we needed it.

Robertson looks like he has some Jazz tonight. BUT--he needs to shackle the LHB and also throw strikes..
If he can do that I think he will have a good game.

We caught a break in the 2nd inning. Red Sox and Royals are helping so far.

Yikes!
Robertson is having so much trouble with LHB this year.

You could kinda smell this happening.

The offense needs to pick it up

Bottom of 5 now. This is a very important inning for Nate and for the Tigers.
Can't affort to give any add on runs with the way the team is not hitting tonight.

Unbelievable! Casey Blake homers in the bottom of the 9th and Cleveland wins another one.
They were down 4-1 late and scored 4 in the last 3 innings.

We really need the relievers to come through.
Yankees are down and out (I think) so this is a big game for the Tigers.

Byrdak had a couple of bad breaks. The pitch before looked like he coaught the outside corner and the pitch that hit Mauer (Oh man a 1-2 pitch and he lost him), actually didn't look like it hit him at all. I'm surprised the call wasn't questioned.
It swas still a bad pitch though--no question.

I kinda though Seay would've been brough in--not Byrdak. Not sure why that was done--Seay has been very good.

Well, Rodney was awesome and we caught a break with Ford inexplicably going down 2 runs?
Let's just hope Jones carries over from the other day when he struck out the side in a non-save.

That's a nice win. Robertson and Perez really did the job tonight.

Holy smoke--back to back Homers at fenway for Giamb and Cano. Cano hit the stuffing out of it to dead center.
Was 7-2 now 7-4. Don't ya just hate the Yanks?

The Yankees have come all the way back. This is just horribly frustrating. And they did it against Okajima and Papelbon.
Unreal.

A lot of close calls tonight and we caught the breaks. I thought the end of Hunter's bat just flicked enough to break the plane even though he got his hands back pretty good. It was close but it wasn't a bad call. The last play on Polonco's throw was very close on the replay, though it looked like the right call the first time we saw it.

Nate pitched very well after a shaky start. These Twins seem to be really struggling at the plate. Key moment in this game was Shef's walk. He continues to unselfishly take what they give him, and it's winning ballgames. Then Guillen follows with a walk. And then the most amazing thing happens....Pudge works a count full, actually laying off balls, and then takes a walk to tie the game. The expression on his face was priceless. It was like for a second he didn't know what to do. Then Perez, a dead pull fastball hitter gets one down the middle. Kudos to him because he still had to hit it. This is the kind of patient hitting approach that will win games for them. Unfortunately Cleveland still seems to have the late inning mojo. Maybe Yankee pitching will fall apart.

This one we needed, tomorrow will be tougher.

Good win tonight. Good tough pitching by Nate, and I was actually able to foretell our rally in the sixth. I think I've been watching these guys too long. :-)

How about that Tori Hunter blowup in the eighth? X-rated lip reading there. He had a beef. They all had a beef. We continue to see the worst ball and strike calls in recent history. The same pitch is called different everytime. I don't think any one side gains an advantage from it, but I wish these umpires would do their jobs.

I'm real happy with the way the guys have played lately. It just goes to show that it was injuries, and you can call that an excuse if you want, but I won't buy it. It will be too bad if the nation is deprived the opportunity to see us in the postseason.

If I get into a conversation with any Cleveland fans next week, I have to make sure they understand that they won't get this kind of season again for years to come.

I turned to the NY-Bos game at the start of the eighth. As far as I know, it's still going on. Francona is an idiot, and both teams play an incredibly dull brand of baseball. What is it now, four and a half hours and they're in the eighth inning? Yeah, let's do this with those 8:45 postseason gametimes. Like I say, I won't be watching.

That's awful! I assumed we'd pick up a game. Too soon.

Look at this boxscore:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2007_09_14_nyamlb_bosmlb_1

Look at the number of pitches thrown and number of innings worked by both starters. Look at the time of the game, 4:43 for a nine inning game. What the heck were they doing up there tonight? I may get disagreement here, but I wish the umpires would call a few more strikes and get the game moving.

If you ask me, the Red Sox are going to blow the whole thing and THEY will be the wild card.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, KC's 4-1 lead vanished on a homer in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Not hard to do in that little ballpark.

All we can do is continue to play good baseball.

anyone else think rod allen gives too much credit to sheffield? he is still having a good year even though he is not healthy, but to give him so much credit for the year magglio is having is just not right.

"J", I agree with you on that. Sheffield is difference maker in the lineup but more in the context that he balances and improves the entire lineup.
No doubt he has helped Magglio's RBI total but as far as swinging the bat I think that is Mostly Magglio (hey that could be a book title). If anybody is "helping" Ordonez then it is Guillen hitting behind him, not Sheffield in front of him.

Boy was Papelbon ever pis$$ed (at himself) at the end of his outing. Jeter got an excuse me kind of hit to keep things going.

That was a gift that was snatched out of hands at the last instant.

The RedSox collapse was as bad as the ones we had vs. Cleveland on June 1 and Oakland 2 weeks ago.

I think you're onto something there, Dan, with that book.

Mostly Magglio

The Story of the 2007 Detroit Tigers

I'll give credit where it's due. Jeter has done that, pulled his hands in like that, for his entire career and it's one of his offensive weapons. But Francona using Papelbon for a six out save? I see that Gagne has done them no good at all.

After Boston, NY gets about six games with Baltimore. The Orioles have done surprisingly well against them, even after the Yankee hot streak began. 7-5 for the season. So I won't count on any help there either. The O's have done their damage already.

There's talk of Casey taking a pay cut and signing on again next year.
I vote NO.

While he is a great guy (he should go into PR for the Tigers, not on the field), they can't afford to keep his weak bat around. They need something else to happen at first base next year. I can't see a non power hitter taking up bench space either.

I saw this in the Free Press:

"NOTEBOOK: Leyland is unsure whether outfielder Brent Clevlen would start against Johan Santana tonight. Clevlen batted .286 (2-for-7) against Santana last year, including a double and triple."

Excuse me, but do we still have Marcus Thames and Ryan Raburn on the team?

that's a pretty inconclusive sample (c'mon SEVEN at bats) to base a left field start on.

Yeah, and I beat the best pool shooter I ever saw, but that doesn't mean I'd ever do it again. Clevlen also hit one out of Fenway Park, but I wouldn't start him there either. No, against lefties, it has to be Thames. Anything else is foolish. Stick those numbers in your pocket, Jim.

I expected some talk about resigning Casey, but we really need a homerun hitting leftfielder, if moving Guillen, or a firstbaseman, if not. I realize I'm sounding like one of those video game longball freaks, but you've got to able to pull out games on nights when you're not hitting. Wednesday night was a prime example for us, and look what Cleveland has done all year.

Big Agreement from me Rich.

Let us know where you are sitting in Cleveland--and bring a BeckerHead sign!!

I'll have info on how to spot us at some point tomorrow.

Perez and Grandy would be sitting, I presume, so your choices are among Thames, Clevlen, Infante, and Raburn for the two outfield spots. Or you put Sheff out there and DH someone like Hessman. It's a safe bet Santiago is at short with Guillen at first. Unless Guillen is at short and Hessman at first. :-)