Game 75: Cardinals at Tigers

PREGAME: The Tigers didn’t appear too intimidated by Chris Carpenter last night, and hopefully they can keep the sticks going as they take on Jeff Suppan. Magglio Ordonez, one of the heroes of last night’s game, is the only current Tiger with a significant number of at-bats against Suppan. Ordonez is 15 for 40 with two dingers lifetime against Suppan.

Kenny Rogers looks for win number 201 in his career, and for Detroit’s 50th. Rogers has been spectacular in June. Over 4 starts he has gone 30 innings and allowed only 6 runs, and only 25 baserunners.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: And a good time was had by all…

Well, maybe not the pitchers as home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski had a very small strike zone. For pitchers like Kenny Rogers and Jeff Suppan who don’t have overpowering stuff, the absence of all borderline strikes can make things rough.

But enough about the ump, how about Curtis Granderson. He reaches base 5 times and comes around to score 3 times including the 9th and 10th innings.

How about Marcus Thames to tie it up. This game felt very reminiscent of the Saturday night Reds game. After the dinger we just knew the Tigers would find a way.

How about Roman Colon, Jamie Walker, Jason Grilli, and Joel Zumaya shutting the door. The latter 3 recorded the last 8 outs on only 23 pitches.

How about Carlos Guillen reaching base in all 5 trips tonight. That’s beneficial when he’s hitting behind Ordonez who picked up 3 hits himself.

How about Vance Wilson going yard for the 2nd time this week.

And of course how about Placido Polanco shooting the gap, and getting official scored out of a triple.

There were a ton of stars tonight and over 42,000 on hand to witness it. A good time was had by all.

15 thoughts on “Game 75: Cardinals at Tigers”

  1. Grilli pitching to Pujols seems a mistake. We’ll see. I wish he went with Walker.

  2. the sad thing about this streak is that the white sox are matching us win for win. still, it’s great to beat one of the best teams in the national league

  3. I can’t believe they won!! St. Louis had it; this isn’t the 1st time Issy’s blown a game for ’em. Their version of Jones I guess. Polanco comes thru with the winner! Downside: 2nd game in a row our starter hasn’t pitched very well. Upside: we still won! And Thames in the bottom of the 9th! He looks bad when he strikes out, but that was beautiful! And, to quote another announcing tandem: YESSSS!!!

  4. That’s ok, Brian. They are playing a garbage Houston team, we’re playing one of the NL’s best offerings. This is so great. Another series in the books, let’s bring out the brooms, fellas.

  5. 104 on my screen was shocking, Chris, but Rod says gun was hot. I’m anxious to hear what JZ says about that pitch. All other heaters were 101. Walker and Grilli in 8th gave us a chance

  6. My son and I were part of the 42k. All I can so is: WOW!

    I love Zumaya’s intensity. When Vance hit his homerun, Z got out of his chair and tracked the ball like an outfielder. For a brief moment, I thought he was actually going to try to make the catch. At that point, it didn’t even look like he was going to get into the game, but he was still completely into it.

  7. Maybe this has been discussed, but why is Walker used so little? His ERA is 0.90, but so often he just comes in to face one batter. Is he not able to get out lefties, or what. I am a new habituate of this blog, and was just wondering.

  8. An uwavering committment to situational use of a lefty is why we don’t see Walker more. I think it’s stupid.

    At any rate he got a huge out tonight–as big if not bigger than Grilli’s–and as usual it goes largely unnoticed.

    Paul, Houston isn’t garbage and the Sox just finished beating the living crap out of the Cards. I honestly can’t believe we’re keeping up with them. They’ve been tremendous again this year.

  9. Rod said the gun was hot, but before that the gun was saying Rogers was bringing his usual 86-88 mph heat. I think Zumaya was really pumped up.

  10. why is Walker used so little? His ERA is 0.90, but so often he just comes in to face one batter.

    An uwavering committment to situational use of a lefty is why we don’t see Walker more.

    Walker is having a career year. Either he spent all winter stealing Rivera’s skills, or it is because he’s being used primarily in situations where he can be most effective. Walker has had his chance at being a general purpose reliever (heck, he was the only reliable arm in ’03) and he did a decent job. Now that we have enough depth, he’s doing a fantastic job in the situational role. I know which one I’d take.

    As a side note, 14 of his 25 appearances so far have been for an inning or more, so it’s not like Leyland is being extremely predictable about it. It’s just that in close games, he knows who he wants in what roles.

    At any rate he got a huge out tonight–as big if not bigger than Grilli’s–and as usual it goes largely unnoticed.

    Yeah, that was huge. If that ball had flown any deeper, our comeback would have come up short. Grilli had the luxury of going for the third out.

  11. A good team could win a game like this against Kansas City or Tampa Bay. To beat the Cardinals like this takes a great team. Both of my dreams came true this week-end–I got to see Albert Pujols play AND the Tigs beat him!

  12. Wow, you mean his ERA would go up if he faced more batters?

    That doesn’t preclude him from being effective against more than one batter a game.

    I am surprised by the 14 of 25 though.

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