Thanks for the explanation. And yes, yes. That’s a very sober, sensible, and reasonable outlook. You’re also very correct. I’m all for the it-all-irons-out-in-the-wash theory.

However, would it also be fair to say that the games you steal from the opponent vs. the games the opponent steals from you should roughly reflect your win/loss percentage — or even 50/50? Obviously there is no way to quantify such a stat, but it seems reasonable to me that if a team is winning at a .600 clip they should take about 60% of those kind of games.

Again, there is no way to quantify, but it just seems to me the Tigers in no way take games away from opponents that they should have rightly lost at that %. Thus my frustration.

Then again, I may be completely bias and wrong about this.

But all along, I’ve said the bullpen needs upgrading. I’m sure you remember I’ve made that point repeatedly and on my blog. That doesn’t change whether the Tigers win 3-2 or lose 4-3.

So, I wasn’t bothered by that specific loss.

the thing I’d like to add is — I’ve seen all our relievers throw some good innings. We need better consistency and that’s what the radio announcers were saying too.

and what I’m looking at is maybe we are looking under the wrong rock here so to speak. If our relievers have got good arms and I think they do — then let’s figure out how to be more effective

–i’ve been reminded it ain’t easy and I respect that

but I keep thinkin’ wat Todd Jones said about his turn-around — “got to challenge the hitters”

as I see it throwing a cookie 3-0 isn’t really the problem the problem is why did you get to 3-0 ?

same is the news lamenting Zach threw the game away with that error. not all there is to it. them 3 walks that set up CWS to time the game at 3 in the previous inning is where the real trouble is

ya can’t fix problem at the surface ya gotta get into ‘em

“I wasn’t bothered by the loss, in and of itself”

I say:

If this were 2003, I wouldn’t be bothered by the loss, in and of itself. But this is 2007, the Tiger’s vying for the pennant, and I say we can’t afford to gift-wrap games.

That said, I wasn’t bothered by Tuesday’s 5-3 loss, in and of itself. The team played hard, pitched okay, and just came up short. Even had we come up short on Wednesday night (we won 13-9) I wouldn’t be too bothered, in and of itself. Tigers were down early in the game, came back twice, then managed to take the lead and hold it. It was a see-saw battle from the beginning that the Tigers so happened to end up on top of. Good break.

However, for some reason I just can’t share the same sentiment in game 3 and game 5 of the past series. In game 3 you got a rookie pitcher shuting down the opponent and our offense lighting up the board, in tandum, to the tune of a 7-1 score through six innings. Then, the bullpen comes in and the momentum immediately shifts, and shifts HARD — so hard you can’t stop the train wreak within 9 lously outs. A few batters latter you got Jim Thome at the plate with runners on 1st and 2nd and Durbin practically quaking in his shoes. He’s so afraid of Thome he refuses to throws a strike, and as a result, Durbin back peddles into a 3-0 count. Then he proceeds to throw a meat ball right down the center of the plate. Dah? If you’re that afraid of Thome, for God’s sake, throw ball four and attack Konerko per the modus operandi a la Kenny Rogers.

Perhaps the most telling stat that Durbin should have known — or Hernandez should have come out to tell him if he didn’t know — is that Thome WOULD be swinging on 3-0, and of the 33 times he’d done so in his career, 17 flew out of the park (I’m citing that stat by memory, but if it’s wrong, it’s not off by a lot. Thome literally has about a .500 homer rate swinging on 3-0 counts). I’m not suggesting Durbin should have thrown ball four (that opens up a whole new can of worms), all I’m saying is, why throw him a meatball there? Try to throw him a located strike. IMO, biggest mistake of the game.

No matter. We all know how the game turned out.

Then, in yesterday’s game, you got your hurler working through seven innings with the lead, allowing only THREE hits to his credit, and the bullpen comes in the eighth and, again, the momentum IMMEDIATELY shifts.

Result: within three recorded bullpen outs you got multiple walks, a run scored on a fielder’s choice DP (two of the outs), a base hit, an E-1 and a walk off bunt. Wow that stings. The opponent doesn’t even earn the walk off.

I know I should just consider a loss a loss, (which I think is Kurt’s point) and a win a win. I know I should just be content looking at the bigger 162 game stretch — happy to be on pace to win 6 of 10, ecstatic if we actually DO win 6 of 10. I know I shouldn’t sweat the inevitable losses and just move on. I guess some are just harder to swallow than others — and ohh-so avoidable.

http://www.baseball-reference......head.shtml

Here’s the stat I want to see for relievers: percentage of shutout innings. Jones usually gives up runs in bunches, so while his ERA and WHIP will be high, his ratio of converted saves is pretty good, which is why he can be an effective reliever with a 4.50 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. He probably has a 90% shutout inning rate. It would be a hard stat because relievers don’t pitch complete innings…but still, we have some smart guys at Elias, they could come up with something.

I think if DD pulls the trigger on a reliever trade, it will be so Miner or Durbin can go somewhere and be a starter. Does anyone have a good bullpen and lousy starters? Texas and Seattle come to mind.

Cordero would not be my first choice from Washington, I’d rather have Rauch.