PREGAME: A Metrodome sweep would be sweet for the good guys, but the series has been a success already.
Today will be Jeremy Bonderman matching up with Scott Baker. It’s actually a rematch of the Sunday night 1-0 game. The difference maker in that game was of course the Marcus Thames homer. Unfortunately Thames won’t be available today, or any time over the next 15 days as he hit the DL after blowing his hammy. Timo Perez is your newest Perez on the roster.
Perez’s last productive season was 2002. He has been raking for Toledo, but we’ll see how that translates. Hopefully this is a short term stop gap.
Game Time 1:10
DET @ MIN, Thursday, July 19, 2007 Game Preview - Baseball-Reference.com
POSTGAME: I’m writing this blind. I was at work and didn’t see the game, but I did hear parts on the radio, and saw part of the replay, and of course read all the commentary here. So take all this with a grain of salt.
- The Timo Perez era begins, and it was a rocky start. Twice he came up with runners on 1st and 2nd, and twice he failed. But his second turn was a decent at-bat with a line drive to second. He later singled and walked so it wasn’t a bad debut. Given his Major League numbers I’m still very skeptical, but if he can carry the stick he was swinging in Toledo for a couple weeks it might work out.
- Pretty impressive to scratch a run across against Joe Nathan, even if it was in his 2nd inning of work.
- The bullpen came up big again today. They’ve had narrow margins to work with as of late, and they’ve made it stand up. Including and especially Todd Jones who had to face the middle of the order with a 1 run lead each of the last 2 nights.
- Bonderman seemed pretty good today, until he started to falter that 3rd time through the lineup. Given that the bottom half of the Twins lineup was hardly intimidating today, I’d say it was a pretty average outing for Bondo.
- These 3 games were exhausting as a fan so I’m sure the players are feeling it as well. But it should be a happy flight home. Here’s hoping that there’s no let up once they are home and taking on the Royals. Gil Meche is a good pitcher, even if he is overpaid.
Billfer likes long walks in Comerica Park. Check out the 
{ 201 comments… read them below or add one }
Timo for PEREZIDENT!!!!
So Raburn can only play against lefties?!
It would have been nice if they had let Hannahan get a chance to play.
They needed an outfielder and Timo is hitting the best of any outfielders. Hessman would have been the better story…his power and average numbers in the minors are similar to a Thames/Monroe (on a good day)
Leyland used 5 relief pitchers yesterday. We need Bonderman to go deep, especially with the upcoming schedule (a doubleheader and no off days). I guarantee Zach Miner pitches today.
Tigers at the prime-time on TV ….at least here in Germany ;)(1.05 p.m ET is 7.05 p.m CET )
NASN (North American Sportsnetwork) has the FSN Detroit Broadcast with Mario and Rod. Great, not those “Sutcliff”sm
Best wishes from Germany to all
And so the Timo Perez era begins.
Does anyone know what’s up with Monroe? Is he just day-to-day with his back, or what? And is today Pudge’s suspension or is it just his ordinary day off?
If anyone starter is going to go deep into the game for us it’s my man Bondo. I predict 8 innings.
Enjoy the game everyone.
Great, Bondo has “survived” the 1st Inning 1-2-3
A’w Castillo is pouting. Makes that knee hurt even more.
Go Timo, bring Maggs home
I hope Timo and Rabello aren’t rally stoppers
I hope the combination of Timo and Rabello doesn’t stop tiger rallies
Dirk, thanks for the warm welcome from Germany. I, too, was glad to see Bonderman have an uneventful 1st inning.
Now we just need some offense. If we can get a win today with this banged up offense it would almost be like stealing.
Holy cow. Hard to believe we have all this great pitching.
Not sure we are gonna get too much from the bottom of this order.
Big Boys will have to deliver. Again.
Can’t be too upset about our bottom third with their Kubel/Jones/Punto/Tyner “Murderers Row”. It may be the worst hitting outfield I can recall ever seeing.
Maybe we’ll have to wait if this Baker-boy is 2-times through the lineup if we see the top of the order producing. Bondo has his A-Game Stuff, 9 in a row. So Anne’s Prediction of 8 Innings looks good so far
Pitch-count through 3: Baker 40, Bondo 35
No no?
Oh Ron.
SSShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
Ryan - LOL. I’ll take our bottom third vs. third any day…
…their bottom third…
Despite the out, Timo had a good at bat. I noticed from his stats he doesn’t stike out much.
Again 2 LOB’s . But we can’t complain after yesterday
Why doesn’t Leyland move Inge up in the line-up on days like this? I realize that Inge isn’t exactly Johnny McContact, but you’d think that occasionally hitting the ball far would be preferable to not really being able to hit at all.
It doesn’t make much sense to put three singles hitters in a row like Casey, Perez, and Rabelo. I’d move Inge up too.
Sheff needs to get out of his mini-slump.
So does Carlos.
if these 3 “Single Hitters” would single in a row, that’s ok
Big Strikeout against Mauer.
Miner and McBride are looking if they haven’t enough sleep last night
I’m predicting a big inning for us soon. This guy isn’t that good.
This would be an excellent time for that big inning, Kevin.
Perez has come to plate 3-times with RISP.
Result.: Nothing
Who said Rally Stopper?
Let the Timo Perez era begin…
Is this a “get out of town game”, or what?
Bottom 3 for both teams now a combined 0-13. First team who has a 7-8-9 hitter get a knock wins.
With a sweep possible, I would have put Sheff in LF, Omar in RF, and given Maggs’s knees a little rest by putting him at DH. Just saying.
I can’t believe they scored the Bartlett at bat a hit. Carlos booted that ball.
…and it cost us a run. E6
two (late) thoughts.
1) who thuoght it was a good idea to start a guy who just got off the plane?. Oh.
2) that was E6 for sure.
Meet the new Perez.
Same as the old Perez.
Huge DP. Glad it was Redmond running.
Too bad Polly is hurt now, too…
Rabelo!
Yeah, Rabelo and Inge, Tied Game
How’s that for the bottom of our order?
Nice hit and run!
Great
Morneau could have made the DP, or? But so it’s okay
The Triple! Thrilling!
baker gone. It’s about damn time.
i can’t believe rabelo’s hit two triples this year. that’s incredible.
Sheffield is every third bagger’s nightmare!
Oh sheff. Can’t have that. Little over-aggressive, cost us a run…..
Hello, guys, I have to work a little before I tuned into the game at work. Looks like a good time though.
Base hit………….. Sweet
Steve
can gardenhire avoid using Neshek for a whole game? We’ll just have to see.
Okay,
Horrible time for MLB.com to go on the fritz… somebody update me. Last time I heard, it was 2-1 with Polanco up. What happened?
polly doubled, sheff doubled, both off punto’s glove. they walked maggs, sheff got picked off, guillen singled, casey flied out (yes, it’s flied, not flew).
Thx. 3-1, right?
3-1 good guys
kubel hits home runs now?
Long ones too?
Come on B-man. He’s getting ahead then losing them.
so is it 3-2 now? espn and mlbs’ game tracker seem to be out right now!
Need to stop the bleeding
no win for you, JB
Shoot
Yeah, can i get a status update for those not watching online?
3-3. Punto scored on FC 6-4. Castillo beat the relay.
Shoot, well that’s a downer, especially for Bondo. Twinkies still batting in the 7th?
hey guys, that cricket noise during the pickoff throws stops being funny after about the 300th time
What is going on with both ESPN and MLB? They still have Guillen singling with 2 outs in the 7th.
3-3
For those of you whose gamecast is stuck - Bondo is coming out of the game. 2 on, 2 out, Bottom of the 7th, Mauer coming up.
First and third, two out. Bobby Seay on his way in.
Suck it up boys.
Oy - that doesn’t sound good. Let’s see if the bullpen can keep up the good work.
great oppurtunity for anyone who has ever wanted to do play by play!
Capellan’s warming up, but Seay is 0-2 on Mauer
Mauer grounds to short, inning over
You could also try Yahoo http://sports.yahoo.com/
Then toggle the Tigers game
Seay gets a ground out, heading to the 8th. I like our chances. We need to get through Morneau one more time, but another run should do it.
Nice work, Bobby.
I tried Yahoo as well - same problem, it appears.
I prefer living in my alternate Gameday reality where the Tigers are still ahead 3-1 and the world’s longest coaching visit to the mound is taking place.
thanks guys! I went across the street for lunch from 1-2:15 then figured I’d “watch” the rest at the office - what a day for the system to get stuck! The Detroit Free Press website is at least tracking the box score
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnf.....meID=20294
cbsportsline.com appears to be working. I don’t like it, but at least its running!
We need to get some runs.
Timo hacks around awhile before hitting a single off Reyes
Gameday just caught back up.
and here comes Neshek. Dear lord, does this guy ever get a day off?
I thought maybe sheff was fighting with umps after being picked off 2nd! how does that happen anyway!
perez with single in the 8th by 0 out. Is that right?
Yep, and Gameday is up and running for the time being. 1-1 on Rabelo.
Does Pat Neshek have a bionic arm? This is his 6th appearance in 7 days.
fyi adam dunn is rumored to have been traded to Milwaukee, which effects absolutely no one here.
Intentionally walking Granderson to get to Polanco? That’s respect.
Sean Casey broke the Internet!
Glad to hear the pen got us out of a jam. Sounds like a familiar song, which is becoming one of my favorites.
That wasn’t a strike. Low, and possibly outside.
damn, polly k’ing 2 days in a row?! unreal.
Same, Joey, I think Polly’s muscle strain injury is still bothering him.
We need a littlre help from above here
We need a K here.
Lord have Mercy!!
That was a fascinating play to listen to on the radio. I can only imagine what it must have looked like on TV.
Or a wild pitch that results in a pickoff! Unreal. Now, that was fortunate.
And God Listened
Wow Steve. You have connections.
Morneau got trapped in a run-down between 3rd and home and hilariously intentionally threw himself in front of Rabelo’s throw for some reason. Two out.
Huge moment.
Wow, that was awesome.
can’t wait to go home to my Tivo!!!
Poetic justice after Sheffield’s pick-off arguably cost us a run.
Second good action from Morneau (the other one was the missed DP )
SWEET! MLB must not know how to score that one, its frozen again. thanks for the update!!!!
Actually Dave, it was Seay that made the throw and he did it in proper Tigers’ pitching fashion. That ball would not have made it all the way to Inge at third. Morneau definitely helped us out by getting in the way of the weak toss.
Miner in to face the PHing Tori Hunter.
Keith: Seay threw a wild pitch, then Rabelo found it and threw to third.
Excellent call Dirk.
Joey, CBS sportsline appears not to have the trouble that Gameday, Yahoo, Espn are all having.
thanks for all the updates you guys, GameCast is extra frustrating today!
Rabelo threw it home to Seay.
Man, this is exhausting.
exactly. Inge threw a wild pitch that got picked out of the dirt by Casey at home, who threw to Seay at short. I’m glad we’ve got this settled.
Ah, the ol’ 5-3-1.
Dave,
Where did you catch that Dunn rumor, i can’t find it anywhere. My buddy is a huge Cubs fan and he very well may sh!t himself… so naturally I want to tell him as quickly as possible.
it’s from Milwaukee radio (who actually stated he’d been traded), apparently. I couldn’t find it at MLB either.
your friend might already be aware, but the Cubs are confirmed to have traded useless SS Marcus Izturis today for cash and a PTBNL
gotya, thanks. I’ll just tell him anyway, and assume it’s 100% accurate.
ack, err, Cesar Izturis. The Angels would probably frown on the Cubs trading their players to the Pirates.
Punto makes easy plays look hard. Inge makes hard plays look easy (and crazy plays look sane).
Yeah, I saw the Izturis thing too. He knows, his first guess was Jason Bay was the PTBNL. He was kidding, of course.
Joe Nathan is still in there at the top of the 10th. He promptly walks Perez.
So much for getting out of town….
C’mon bottom 3, make me eat my words. Again!
Inge!
Same procedure as last time. Perez on first, Rabelo sacrifies
Hopefully this time he will come around
BRANDON!!!!!!
INGE!
Inge slams a double to center-right. Perez scores! Jones is warming up. (i’ve just gotten into an updating habit now, despite its apparent lack of necessity)
Yes!!!
Go, 7-8-9! Who knew? I take back any Rally Stopper nonsense I said earlier.
Let’s get one more here boys. I like our chances with Granderson and Polanco up.
BRANDON AND THE ANGRY INGE!!!
wow, 6 posts at the same time
Inge is it worth
Alright Brando!
OK, so not exactly the start I’d hoped for from Bonderman, but it wasn’t bad, either. Let’s hold on here fellas.
This game has actually turned into a battle of the bottom third of the lineups. Who woulda thunk?
When was the last time Nathan has given up a run. Can’t remember
Great job, Brandon
LOL Dave Wagner, good job! Dan Dickerson is nervous!!
There is NO WAY Jones can make it through Mauer and Morneau with a one run lead for a third consecutive day…
Is there?
Take us home, Jonesy.
Time to use my powers of jinx for good….
Boy, they’ve got some good hitters coming up!
cib: I’m aiming for Jim Price’s spot - frankly, he seems like the more vulnerable of the pair
Wavelander: I wonder what Brandon would think of that reference LOL
Correction, Jones didn’t face Mauer last night in the 9th, but you guys get my point…
ack, I can’t key today… Walewander..sorry!
Mark, I hope your wrong
Where’s my Marlboro’s?
Maybe that should be Jonesy’s nickname? The Marlboro Man. He makes us all need a smoke.
oh man, this Gamecenter is so slow. It’s a real pity, that the transmission is off
big second out..shoulda been a DP