Monthly Archives: July 2006

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 83: Tigers at Athletics

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PREGAME Interleague play is done. The DH is back, and no more pulling an effective pitcher after 5 innings for a pinch hitter. The Tigers return to Oakland for the second time this season. The first was pretty memorable in that it came on the heels of Jim Leyland ripping into his team after a lackluster effort against Cleveland. The series wrap-up also came was accomplished in dramatic come from behind fashion.

The middle game of that series featured an 11-4 drubbing. The starter in that game was Joe Blanton who the Tigers will face tonight. Placido Polanco went off for 4 hits and Carlos Guillen added 3.

The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson and his AL 5th best ERA.

POSTGAME: Not a bad effort, just a bad result. The Tigers got hits, but just not all strung together. Nate pitched okay, but for some reason couldn’t get the ball over to Jason Kendall. Also, he never got that strike on the inside corner to right handers that Joe Blanton struck Magglio Ordonez out on.

Two key situations where the Tigers failed came to mind. The first was in the first inning when with runners on 1st and 3rd, Ordonez hit a broken bat double play ball, thus circumventing a possible big inning. The second was one inning later, when with runners again at the corner, Brandon Inge swings at a 3-0 pitch and pops it up. I’m not opposed to swining 3-0, but make it count.

2006 Season

Holiday Weekend Catch-up

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I enjoyed a couple of days on Lake Huron, away from an internet connection and Fox Sports Detroit. You probably noticed there were no minor league wraps, and the game posts were pretty vanilla with no post game analysis. Fortunately there is a great group of commentors here and the community kept the site interesting (this is normally the case). So thanks for picking me up this weekend. With that, my thoughts on the Pirates series and the All Star selections

The Pirates Series

Focus? Fatigue? Luck? In any case the Tigers probably played their worst series since the 4 games against the Yankees. Fortunately, I guess, I didn’t see Sunday’s game. But from all accounts the late innings were a continutation of the previous night. So the Tigers managed 2 one-run victories and were on the losing end of a blow-out to the worst team in the National League. Definitely not good times.

But…The Tigers still took the series. The Tigers still have the best record in baseball. We’re complaining about the way they are winning games. It is a wonderful luxury. Plus they got fine outings from Jeremy Bonderman and Zach Miner. Plus Chris Shelton is showing signs of life as he went 5 for 10 with 2 walks and two homers. Plus in these 2 one-run victories, they had built up big leads and were trying to hold off the other team. I like that way better than having to come from behind.

So it was an ugly series, but complaining about taking 2 of 3 is still a pretty good deal.

The All Stars

I was stunned to see Pudge Rodriguez slide past Jason Varitek as the starter. I know that Joe Mauer is by far the best catcher this year, but with the Twins being a non-entity until the last month, Mauer didn’t have a lot of time to build cachet.

Also, I’m not surprised to see that Kenny Rogers made the team and I’m happy for him. All 4 of the Tiger starters were worthy and Jeremy Bonderman’s June was every bit as good as Liriano’s. That’s why I’m happy to see that Justin Verlander still has a shot. While I’d like to see him get rest, I’d much rather see him make the team. I’m with Eddie and I encourage you to rock the Verlander vote.

And for those that thought Magglio Ordonez deserved to go, one could certainly make a case for him. But I don’t think his slighting is near the magnitude of Travis Hafner’s. Furthermore, Danny Knobler reports that Maggs is the first alternate in the event an AL outfielder is unable to perform his All Star duties.

One minor league tidbit

Jon Connolly was promoted to Erie and made his first start yesterday. His first 5 innings were scoreless and he was touched for one run in the 6th. He started the 7th, but didn’t record an out and was charged with 5 more runs.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 82: Tigers at Pirates

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PREGAME: Ah, the rubber game. Zach Miner takes the hill for Detroit and he’ll be opposed by Ian Snell. Snell has struck out 7.15 batters per nine innings this year, but he’s only fanned 9 in his last 3 starts (16 2/3 innings).

And in the irony/coincidence department, Chris Shelton is of course facing the team that left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. The Pirates let him go because his defense wasn’t good enough for the NL. Shelton has made 3 of his 4 errors this season in the last 2 games. One can’t help but wonder if he’s pressing, or if it’s just one of those things.

Game Time 1:05pm.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 81: Tigers at Pirates

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PREGAME: The Tigers look to make it 8 in a row and they have a favorable pitching match-up. Jeremy Bonderman who loved June, will take on Tom Gorzelanny. There isn’t much to know about about Gorzelanny. He’s making only his 2nd start and 3rd appearance.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME: That was a stinker. Lot’s of guys left on base, lot’s of opportunities with men in scoring position, 3 consecutive errors leading to a 7 run 7th inning…

If you’re looking for positives there were a couple. Jeremy Bonderman looked good again. Also, the bullpen came in and did their job. They kept inducing ground balls, they just weren’t being converted to outs. Also, while the team was awful with men in scoring position, I guess the good news is that they had at one point, 10 at-bats with RISP in the first 5 innings.

An ugly loss certainly isn’t a way to cap the end of the first half of the season. However, I think I’ll choose to focus on the 55-26 record instead.