Ledezma's travel nightmare

I have been reading this blog since right around its inception and think that for the most part the commentary here is better than most major networks, though Fox Detroit does a pretty good job. I wasn't sure about signing Gary Sheffield, but I think his approach, on and off the field, have made him one of my favorite players. I completely respect him and his sometimes abrasive comments. I don't like distractions, but you have to be yourself in order to be successful. He's our guy now and I support him 100% just like he does for those who support him. I think the Tigers support him well and hope he can retire a Tiger on his way to the Hall. Nice grand slam by the way. Excellent approach at the plate.

Bryan

That is a GOOD story, Jason, thanks for posting that. That's so Wil. Unfortunately, it appears he's struggling down there with Atlanta. I was hoping the fresh start would get him going. While I never thought he'd make it in Detroit, he seemed to be a good guy, at least from my distant perspective.

Before anyone complains of Jones allowing the tying run to come to the plate, I thought Todd had the previous guy struck out on that pitch low in the zone. Of course, Seattle thought they had Sheffield struck out on the same pitch, just before he hit the slam.

Did anyone see the pregame lineup exchange at homeplate? Looked like Leyland was stating his case on the previous night's events very firmly, complete with his patented one hand gestures. And the umpires were just listening. I'd love to have had a mic out there at that point.

The Tigers played some good D. The barehanded Inge scoop and subsequent dig out by Casey was another highlight play.

In the earlier innings, Inge was on second when Thames hit a liner over short that Betancourt leaped for. Inge stopped, as he should, to make the ball go through, but at the point where he stopped, he was dead meat anyway if Rafael makes the catch. I wish he'd just barreled on into third and scored. As it was, he never did come home. Not Brandon's fault, he made the correct play. It would take a Derek Jeter to identify his place on the basepath and make the snap decision to go.

I don't know what to think of Monroe. He's a mess. He's already pretty much lost the starting job, and I think you could be starting Casey against lefthanders. OTOH, Thames is playing a very acceptable firstbase. Way to go, Marcus.

Pretty sunsets in Seattle this weekend.

It seems to me that the Tigers aren't garnering much respect from MLB. This is one of the premiere teams in baseball, they have a large number of solid veteran players, appeared in last year's World Series, and yet........

We've had two players suspended this season for what can be described, at best, as questionable calls by umpires. Two HALL OF FAME players.

We have a commissioner who went as far as to raise the possibility of penalizing wild card teams during the postseason after the Tigers knocked off the Yankees.

Umpiring has been shaky all season long but last night, it looked to me like Mr. Froeming could given some of those corner pitches to Rogers. At least some of them? I believe Putz got those same corners called in his favor. And what's this about Mr. Froeming being rewarded for his years of service by being scheduled to call a large number of games in Seattle? I don't think any umpire should work an unequal number of games for any club.

It's admittedly difficult to be neutral with these comments, so what does everyone else think? Am I just crying the blues?

That was yet another amazing play by Inge. Too bad he had to land right in the concrete aisle instead of on top of a large comfortable lady. :-)

Dan, can't tell if I spotted you or not. There are always a great number of Tiger logos in any ballpark. I did see a guy during pregame wearing an old school 1960s style Detroit road jersey. You wouldn't actually wear that Kaline jersey, would you?

Well, Rich, at least I am not the only one that is wishing Froeming had already retired. With the calls on that unusual play on Thursday and not giving Rogers anything on the corners last night. Many of the pitches on the corners were called balls that looked like strikes to me and Yes, Putz got those calls late.

How about the steals today? Casey stealing a base again! Wow! Ok, it was on a missed swing by Rabelo on a hit and run but he still stole it. Then Thames showing some emotion after being punched out.

All in all, a split in Seattle was not bad. This is a very good team that has quietly joined Boston, Detroit, LA, and Cleveland in the playoff chase. Minnesota is coming on too.

Rich, it IS difficult to be objective watching our Tigers. I think the ump got most of the calls right, maybe Kenny should have been given a couple. To be effective he has to have that corner pitch. But for the most part I think he was just missing. As badly as I wanted those calls, most seemed fair. Seattle had a good game plan, using patience to force Kenny to throw strikes which he was struggling to do. In the inning where Johjima hit the grand slam, in the two preceding walks Kenny gave up, he really wasn't very close on most of those pitches. Then that slow hanging curve right into Johjima's "happy zone" as they say, in 20/20 hindsight, should have been a different pitch. Yeah, if Kenny gets out of that inning down 3-1 or 4-1 it's still a game. Did Putz get a more favorable strike zone? Maybe. But he does have good control. Probably the best closer this year.

Great diving catch by Inge. That kind of play is why he's so important to this team. He plays with a quiet intensity rarely displaying any emotion.

Was anyone else getting worried about Magglio's little mini slump? The home run hopefully gets his confidence back. Thames continues to contribute. If he started from here on out he'd hit 30 homers...Yeah you've got to be liking him in there right now, lefties righties, who cares? And Omar gets his first homer.

Lastly, let's hope Ichiro will be ok. Obviously Justin didn't mean to hit him, and Seattle didn't retaliate. Seattle is not the same team without him. I guess that's stating the obvious, no team would be. He's maybe the best all around player in baseball today imho. He seems to have great character; a quiet leader.

Hey Jason whats up with Rabelo?? Have you heard anything, is it anything serious?? Not to mention Rod and Mario looked a little concerned about Guillen in the later innings of the game. Please let us know if you know anything. Thankss.

I agree, I'll take that split. We've been getting some teams that are playing good ball at the time.

I'll tell ya, you've got to play Thames full time. This guy could hit 40 homers in a full season. Yesterday you've got a tight game then boom! Three run homer. That stuff is just huge. He's a perfect fit in amongst all those slashers in the lineup. Looks like he's getting comfortable too, the way he jumped that umpire.

Gary Sheffield now.....I admit I don't watch much Yankees, but it's hard to believe he did all the things with them as he's doing with the Tigers. Sheff's all around game makes him a one man wrecking crew. It's going on the end of July and I still marvel at what he does out there.

Big congrats to Mr. Curtis Granderson for being named AL Player of the Week. Most deservedly so, too.

Moving around the clubhouse, I wonder what will happen with Neifi Perez? You know, I'd just as soon have him sitting on the bench as Raburn, because Ryan may as well be getting his cuts in Toledo rather than languishing on the bench. JL is getting him in there now, though. I guess he's the emergency catcher too.

Big three at the Dome coming up. It would be good to slow down the Twins a little bit. I still think they're the team to beat. And let's hope for a sharp umpiring crew!

Road trip to Seattle:
Well we took in the last 3 games after watching the first one on TV.

Overall it was a a great treat to be able to watch the Tigers after many years of not following or appreciating MLB.

The atmosphere at the ballpark was exciting and it was nice to see so many people in one place all seemingly friendly with one another! Maybe we should be exporting baseball to other countries around the planet and not automobiles, communication devices and weapons.

The Thursday game was a weird one for sure. The botched play at 2nd lost the game. Carlos inexplicably missed the tag but the umps proceeded to abort the rule book. The run should never have scored and in fact the runner (Beltran?) should have been called out immediately for running outside of the basepaths. A good throw from Ordonez in the first place would have obviated all of the above.

Ordonez was personally, a major disappointment for me. He did not hustle at any point in the series, either in the field or running the bases. To me the mark of a good ballplayer begins with that simple concept. I know he is leading the league in hitting and all that jive but even the Mariners knew they were far better off pitching to him than Sheffield. Maybe the long HR he hit Sunday will pull him out of it but I honestly feel that he should at best be splitting time in RF and DH with Sheffield.

Sheffield is playing with intensity--I think this is a result of being pent up on the bench and having all this energy to displace. His steal of home was brilliant.

Casey was a force out there and his play at 1B was phenomenal. Inge too at 3B--he had Mariner fans talking about the line drive snag after the game. He is struggling bigtime at the plate though and just looks overmatched.

For what it's worth, the "feeling" that I got every time Thames came up was much like the feeling I would get years ago with Rocky Colavito. You just waited in anticipation for his turn at bat to come up if you had something going. He is absolutely dangerous right now and when he starts to get a few "respect" calls from the umps he is going to impact most of the games he plays in. And he should be playing full time--no question. He has good eye at the plate, he hustles, he can hit the important 3 run HR against anybody, and what really impressed about him is that he talks to himself at those times when he doesn't come through at the plate. He is not casual about his performance and this self criticism will make him a good ballplayer.

And Curtis---whoa! He had the fans oohing and ahhing and wishing he played in Seattle.

I think the only obstacle in his way is not knowing how good he really is.

I met some of the players and yakked with them before the games. I suppose it isn't kosher to comment too much about personbal impressions but I can tell you that Carlos Guillen is a class act. I spoke a bit with Jason Grilli (who I have been a critic of in the past) and he is quite obviously a real nice person with a friendly and humble manner. Just a nice guy. I spoke with (well kind of), with Bonderman. Let's just say he is good pitcher.

Leyland was very quiet but handles himself with dignity, calmly goes about his business with a determined kind of focus and at the same time has the consideration to pick up a ball near his feet and hand it to to a wide-eyd youngster in the stands next to me. he may be an old coot but he is indeed, a loveable old coot.

I hope Rodney comes back OK but there seems to be very little fire in the belly with him. Nice enough but seems to interested in something else and is so casual you want to sit down with him and just sip on a mojito.

Grandy has a great smile and is really good with the fans and particularly the kids. Well hey, he IS a kid!

It was a great trip for my wife (first time ever MLB experieince for her---she loved it) and me. We took a motorcycle (yes I was thinking of Micky Lolich at times during our ride) and travelled about 750 miles down some gorgeous roads in BC and Washington. So, I didn't bring any signs to salute my fellow "Beckerheads". I should have because all you guys have contributed to my renewed appreciation of the game of baseball. I have gotten over most of my disgust with the big contracts that these guys have. As long as they are true to the game itself and the owners are continue to contaminate the game with these absurd contracts, then they can't be blamed.

Anybody know why JL pulled Ordonez out so early on Saturday?

We still need a closer. Jones did the job that one time but I can tell ya' he had the Tiger fans all on the edge of their seats and openly talking about what it would be like if the we had a guy like Putz. There were a lot of Tiger fans there and I was able to feel mostly comfortable enough to voice my enthusiasm and catcalls without the fear of being eviscerated by Mariner fans.

After witnessing the club first hand this weekend, it is still on my wish list that we pick up a left-handed bat and a good solid relief pitcher.

BTW, Raburn looked pretty good out there. He runs the bases really well and looked solid in the outfield.

Nice trip report, Dan, sounds like you had a real good time. I figured Grilli would be likeable in person. That's why I root for him and am frustrated when he's inconsistent. So you of course told him what a bum he is? :-)

I think we've already exported baseball to other countries and I've read accounts of gunplay in the ballparks. The heavy bettors take it all very seriously......

Myself, I have more fun "wearing the colors into enemy ballparks" than I do at Comerica. Up until last year, I was often the only Tiger fan in the place. Never a problem. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were slightly confrontational but on the whole good folks. Cleveland and Baltimore have been the friendliest. Cleveland last year seemed genuinely happy to have another successful Central Division team, and also glad to see the Tigers back in things. Not sure how that will run this season. Baltimore is just a good baseball town. I get into more Norm Cash conversations there than anywhere, even Detroit.

Excellent report Dan, and welcome back. Motorcycles and the Pacific Northwest are almost synonymous as long as it doesn't rain, which it does often enough. But nowhere more beautiful when the sun shines. Nice adventure.

I find myself nodding at every observation you made. Granderson is a genuinely first class individual. My daughters were most impressed that he signed balls and then posed with each of them so I could get a couple pictures. This after a game in Lakeland when most of the players had long since left the stadium. He did this for numerous people.

So how did Ichiro's plunking look or sound live? I assume Verlander didn't make any friends on that pitch. Did you hear any comments?