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PREGAME: Armando Galarraga and Barry Zito in the series finale today.
DET @ SFG, Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Game Preview - Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 3:45
POSTGAME: I saw about one inning of this game today. The Tigers scored their 7th run while I was watching so I can’t take too much credit for the victory. Not having seen the game I can just go by the box score. It was very pretty for Placido Polanco who had 4 hits and a walk.
Also enjoying a lovely day was Galarraga who had 2 walks and a sac bunt, and allowed no earned runs in 6 innings dropping is ERA to 3.03.
But what the hell was Leyland doing lifting Thames for a pinch hitter with the homer streak on the line? Come on, how often does a guy get in a position like that? And in a laugher of a game. This wasn’t a nail biter.
A nice series win with a couple hard fought games. The boys get a day off in San Diego which is a nice treat for a team that has won 10 of their last 12.
{ 314 comments… read them below or add one }
Of all games in this series, based on pitching matchups anyway, you would probably think this is the game most favored by the Tigers.
Lineup in:
Pudge still in, Grandy in Center
That is why it probably won’t go the way we think. At least Jimmy can’t put in Zumaya yet.
Full lineup, similar to yesterday:
Renteria, SS
Polanco, 2B
Guillen, 3B
Ordonez, RF
Cabrera, 1B
Thames, LF
Rodriguez, C
Granderson, CF
Galarraga, P
Also, Jason Beck reports that JL considered putting Rayburn in at catcher today. Apparently Inge’s oblique is still a problem.
Can’t wait to see Galarraga hit! And by see, I mean listen.
Best thing about this afternoon game - no Valenti and Foster on the drive home!
Why doesn’t MLB.tv give you the option of picking the home or away broadcast. I’m tired of missing Rod Allen reactions to Country Funk bombs.
Cy Young winner Barry Zito, everybody. 2-0 Tigers
It has begun.
Nice start - it’s Country Strong time!!
Thames
AB #1 vs. Zito
I heart Zito. Wish he was still in the AL.
BB
Regarding Marcus: He’ll walk if the pitchers are scared of him.
Pudge needs to bring ‘em around to keep the pressure off Armando…
Good lord Zito is terrible now. He doesn’t have the stuff to challenge hitters and he knows it. His control is so erratic that he can’t nibble at corners either
Just throw the ball at Pudge’s face if you want to strike him out.
I’ll take the two but that certainly could have been a much bigger inning.
I’m blacked out for some reason. Anyone else having problems signing into MLB.TV?
Yeah, I blame that one on pudge. I wish Inge could have come in and struck out.
No problems here Carolyn.
I decided not to be negative today, so I will not say that Pudge has become totally hopeless with runners on 3rd and less than two outs. I will not say that………I am just going to expect a good outing from the team and be positive all day.
Scoring in the first inning, nothing like it.
Sky refuses to be overcast today. All sunshine. See what I did there?…
Is Armando hurt? What’s the “Injury Delay” about?
Walk to Winn by Galarraga, who really needs a nickname considering how difficult it is to remember how to spell his name correctly
one thing that is just an extra about the streak Thames is havings he is one of the really nice guys in baseball…hopefully this streak never ends
I don’t know, Sky. Your pessimism worked out well last night. Maybe you should keep it up.
Anybody know what the injury delay was?
You’re right, Tiff. Scoring in the first inning is like getting laid on the first date. You never expected it to come that early and it takes a lot of the pressure off.
Ken…ick.
Of course, Ken, it also makes you wonder how many OTHER teams the Giants have allowed to score in the first inning.
Did I mention I hate all Molinas?
Wow, Ken. That was gold. And 100% on the money.
So I guess we got it twice on the first date in this case?
I don’t know, Mark, but Sportsline seems to think Zito is pitching for the Tigers, and ESPN Gamecast thinks Lewis is still up with an 0-2 count.
That, my friends, was a Country Strong catch
Nice, Dave…
The way the crowd reacted I thought that was a 3 run dinger for Rowand. End of the 1st, still 2-0 Tigs.
Mark it was not an injury….Gallaraga just had to clean his spikes.
Seriously, ESPN dude is asleep at the switch.
funny about Pudge hitting is last night runner on 3rd one out he grounds to one of the only two people you can’t ground out to 3rd or P…the next at bat he goes to right for a hit with no one on.????????
Galarraga is having a better than average pitcher AB
UPDATE: Yup, Zito walked him.
Armando needs to talk to pudge about working the count
is that Willis pitching???
“Of course, Ken, it also makes you wonder how many OTHER teams the Giants have allowed to score in the first inning.”
Haha. You’re right, Dave. Now you’ve got me all paranoid. It did seem a litte TOO easy, didn’t it? I feel a groin injury coming on.
Armando draws the BB!
I steaming a bit that we didn’t get more out of the 1st. I fear Zito won’t stay long enough for us to inflict severe damage.
Now he walks Renteria, too. Just keep digging that hole, Barry.
I bet Zito’s wishing the NL would join the 21st century and adopt the DH…
Zito suuuucks.
Polanco drives in Galarraga. 3-0 Tigers
Palanco hot or what…he and Country are carrying this team
Zito’s terrific. I wish the White Sox had him.
Guillen double makes it 5-0 Tigers. Now I’m starting to feel sorry for Zito.
lets take Barry with us so he can pitch against us more often
5-0 Tigs. Guillen doubles.
Severe damage inflicted!
Oh please don’t go Mr. Zito…
On the next True Hollywood Stories: How Zito went from being a Cy Young superstar to pitching prostitute.
Mario is not pleased with the characterization of Raburn as a “scrub” by the SF media
strange how a pitcher as great as he was can lose it …in a heartbeat
Alright, Yahoo looks like it’s up to date. Wow. Tigs are beating Barry to a pulp.
Zito looks like he needs a doctor.
A FUNK DOCTOR!
Dave BW: I read that story in the SF Chronicle today. Really bad.
They also said that it was Renteria who broke up the no-hitter (not) and that the Tigers win assured that the Giants would lose their third consecutive home series. I guess they already knew how bad Zito would be!
Country Strong has been very disappointing today. I say we just bring in Clevelen now…
Wrong prescription, Funk Dr.
That’s what I like to hear, Joel. Marcus is set on either walking, striking out, or hitting a bomb. Although he had two nice rips foul down the 3rd base line. Hit hard.
Don’t count out the Giants yet. I want the Tigers to pour it on as much as possible as if it was the play-offs and score was one-run lead late in game. It is so easy to see this kind of lead slip away!
did anyone send Cleveland their best wishes now that we have cought them in the standings……next
WHERE IS YOUR CONTROL.
Marcus “Three True Outcomes” Thames. K-BB-HR is known as the Rob Deer Hat Trick, in case you were curious.
On the bright side, Country Funk might get 5 ABs today!
Chris I think Dave Kingman started the “Three outcome thing”
How about Spanish Armando? It’s kind of like Spanish Armada, right? Anyone? Is this thing on?
Don’t take Zito out now — he was just getting into a groove!!
See what loss of focus does? Cabrera flubs an easy out!! 5 run leads mean nothing if you end up back on your heels like that!
jud - OK we can call it the Dave Kingman Hat Trick if you like. I’m not picky. Jack Cust has turned that into an art form in recent times…
Darn. Zito’s done.
Sky: Optimism. Didn’t you say?
I’m throwing the “Steve Balboni hat trick” out there for good measure… though you’ll have to exclude that whole BB part of the trifecta.
There is that loss of focus again..Bad wild pitch scores run for SF from 3rd! Dumb baseball I say.
I love the Three True Outcomes players. I don’t think Marcus is there, yet — he needs more walks.
I haven’t been watching the game all that closely to be honest, but the Mario/Rod commentary is making it sound like there’s some pretty sloppy Tigers defense today. 5-1 Tigers
Yes! The RBI strike out!
my gosh shades of April and May…I thought we were done with this kind of play
Chris in Dallas,
That joke was awful but I still found your post to be hilarious. That takes talent.
Oh, come on Sky! You can put away that wet blanket for one afternoon, can’t you?
Adam, I just get too into it…..like a 15 year-old I expect them to never fail when I want them to come through. The adult in me knows better……the kid in me gets pissed!LOL
How about “Mondo?” It’s lame, but it’s pretty easy to spell.
I dig the Spanish Armando nickname, though. I’m just worried he’d be especially vulnerable to batters with the last name “Nelson.”
how about some more TTO club members ..rack your brains…
Oh so the cranky pessimism is due to Sky’s inner child coming out. Huh. I had it all backwards.
why take Barry out he barely threw 50 pitches
Rob Deer’s Baseball Reference sponsor informs me that his TTO rate for his career was 49.69%. Impressive.
Joel has garnered my eternal respect and admiration for managing to bring Steve Balboni’s name into the conversation. Kudos to you my good man.
Battlestar Galarraga?
judpma –
Adam Dunn
Mike Napoli
Ryan Howard
Jack Cust
Jason Giambi
Dan Uggla
Damn Dave beat me to the punch on Adam Dunn…
did you watch that Rod Allen moment from Japan on MBL…that was great
OK here’s where we stand with the TTO All-Stars:
Dave Kingman
Rob Deer
Adam Dunn
Jim Thome
Jack Cust
Sam Horn
Mark McGwire
Gorman Thomas (yeah, I went there)
All this and more at: http://www.baseballprospectus......icleid=724
OMG…I just peed my pants. The SF announcers just talked about Rod Allen for about 15 minutes and showed the clip of him chasing a pitcher around the ballpark like a tiger chasing a gazelle for at least 30 straight seconds. That’s the funniest baseball clip I have ever seen. LOLOLOL. Why hadn’t I seen that yet.
OK Battlestar Galarraga is the leader in the clubhouse for this kid’s new name. It’s going to take a Herculean effort to beat that.
Ken: I can’t believe you never saw the Rod-ster lose his marbles. High comedy.
Here’s a BP article that pays homage to the TTO Club in 2003:
baseballprospectus DOT com/article.php?articleid=2518
(linked edited to get through the filter)
I was kind of surprised to see Jim Edmonds on the list.
We’ll have to shorten it to Battlestar. The whole point was to avoid spelling his last name, ya know?
Ken…that was a classic clip hidden somewhere in the archives…funniest baseball moment I think I have ever seen
Russ Branyan… 53.4%!
I like Battlestar
I’ve kinda got a bad feeling about this game. Maybe it’s the Mexican food I had for lunch, though.
This list:
http://reconditebaseball.blogs.....rance.html
Has Mickey Tettleton at #5, baby.
Outstanding DP by Guillen and Company!
That was a DP. OMG is he slow.
Chris in Dallas, I’m ashamed I haven’t seen that actually. I can’t stop laughing about it. That pitcher wanted NOTHING to do with Rod. Literally running for his life. Rod was weaving in and out of people, dudes were blocking for him. I’m Youtubing it so I can watch it over and over between innings.
I see Mickey Tettleton at #5 on a TTO list I’m looking at…
Pete Incaviglia is on the same list at #18
That’s two for Battlestar Galarraga,
Nice DP, now let’s pour it on!
Does Mike Hessman have enough at bats in the minors to qualify TTO
Polly man. Polly.
Bo Jackson is on that list too (I’m assuming we linked to the same article). He’s the only one on the list who is a Tecmo Bowl God, however. So he’s got that going for him.
Ken, I just looked it up on YouTube and saw it for the first time. I don’t get to watch FSN Detroit games out here in Seattle. Funny stuff.
Now is the time where I begin to wonder - who in the hell is Billy Sadler? Did the Giants sign him from a semi-pro beer league?
Do Gil and Thames go back-to-back here?
nice hustle Polly…that was a rocket Miggy hit
Thames Time.
Joel, It was actually a story set up by the SF broadcast. They made a whole drama of it. Showed the previous inning play at the plate and a much better clip than Youtube has. They said that Rod Allen gave them permission to show it this morning.
If we can score 4 and then 5 in separate innings, we’ll have a Five-Cycle.
I have never seen a a DP around the horn where the batter is not even in the TV screen when the ball gets to 1st!! LOL Is this guy slow or what??? But he did smoke the ball to 3rd and force the issue!
I’m beginning to warm up to this Miguel Cabrera that everyone’s talking about.
in that previous at bat Rod bowled over that catcher on a play at he plate,….the Utube clip is the following at bat
Either way… I’m struggling to follow the game through various Gamecasts that don’t require the latest version of Flash player (which I can’t install on my work computer).
Yeah, Sky. LOL. That’s the first thing I thought. What the hell happened to the batter?? I figured he had either ran through the bag already or broken an ankle out of the box. Never seen that.
What on earth happened? Sportsline recap of the last play:
Guillen out at second on 3rd baseman Denker´s throwing error.
I’ve heard of some strange scoring decsions, but an error that causes an out?
That’s a first.
I’m assuming you are all referring to Bengie Molina, who tears down the line like it’s made out of quicksand…
Battlestar…great one handed
greg…on that strange scoring play ..Guillen on first Gil smoked a GB to third they got the force out at second o Guillen and when they threw to first the 1b dropped it and it rolled away from him
Little known fact about Omar Vizquel: He hit a ground rule double in his first career AB. The pitcher? Satchel Paige.
Battlestar K’s to end the inning.
Beautiful barehanded grab by Gallaraga!…..We’ve seen some excellent defense this game in spite of Cabrera’s error.
I’d be more impressed if Battlestar made a no-handed grab.
Now pitching - Hinshaw. Isn’t that some sort of slow moving wicker vehicle?
Or a tractor beam grab…
Sorry, my sci-fi nerdiness begins and ends with Star Wars. I have no idea if Battlestar employs tractor beams.
I must say that BG (Battlestar Galarraga) continues to impress. He just seems to be money. Even when he’s being hit hard like today, he’s keeping it in the park, battling out of jams and playing solid defense. His stuff has a lot of movement on it too. I know we keep talking about him regressing to the norm and finishing with an 4+ ERA, but is it possible he just peaked late? Have we discovered a hidden gem who will be our #2 for the next 3 or 4 years?
You do not mess with Curtis Granderson, or else you may be mentioned in his booooooooring blog. (Sorry, Curtis, but it’s true)
Ken BG has been very consistent all year..and only 26..2-3 for years to come
Ken: I’ll be a Battlestar Believer when he improves his K/BB and K/9. Until then, he’s walking on thin ice. Remember, this is a pitchers park against an anemic offensive club. And the pitcher has to bat. At least theoretically anyway.
He’s got a good OBP too.
Maybe we should always let Galarraga bat. 1.00 OBP today with a perfect bunt to boot.
Although if Battlestar keeps this up, he may need to apply for TTO membership. He’s got the one outcome down pat anyway.
I like that, Joel. What if BG just kept evolving week after week to the point he was actually just hovering around the diamond by the All Star break.
I don’t understand this National league stuff…where you walk the pitcher to set up the DP
Most impressively, BG has already drawn more walks this season than Pudge did all last year… almost.
Joel: Thanks for saying that so I didn’t have to. And I’m shocked and awed that Renteria would fail to produce with RISP. This is an outrage. The Giants are cheating. They’re playing with confederate money, I tells ya.
Tell me….does Polly not know how to hit without 2 strikes??
Maybe we pick up Sexson when he gets released.
POLLY!
hey Polly “have a day”
Adam:
Not funny.
Hit parade continues. Every Tigers starter has been on base. 7-1 Tigers. Gal is at 50-some pitches in the 5th
Struck. Him. OUT.
If Armando is going to be Battlestar Galarraga, then we need to start calling Polly–Darth Polanco because he has been strong in the force lately.
we need Country to keep his head in there long enough to POP one more!!
For those unaware…..Granderson doubled…….Gallaraga walked…..( he is 0 for 0 in 3 times AB today….2BB and one Sacrifice) and Polly knocked a solid single to left, scoring Granderson……..7-1, bottom of 5th. Polly is 4 for 4 already.
Sky ..thanks for that recap Rod….very professional
Battlestar keeps battling……keep it in the park baby!
Richie Sexson!?! He throws his helmet like a girl. No thanks.
nice pitch…Pudge says Hey I can’t hit that pitch either but I would have swung too
Runners on first and second, one out. AG is now up against the Winn/Molina/Rowand trifecta
Maybe we could get Farny back and then convert him to an outfielder a la Ankiel. I bet he’d hit a billion home runs.
hey is that JL’s dad as the ball”gramps” down the third base line??????????
Although the score doesn’t reflect, Galarraga is getting hit pretty hard today. He’s also getting behind in counts more than usual.
Not to rain on the parade. Just sayin’.
Adam:
Now that I could get behind.
wonder if spending 10 minutes running the bases last inning for BG..he isn’t used to it …makes a difference..just sayin
Battlestar to T Smith: “Scoreboard, amigo. Scoreboard.”