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PREGAME: The Tigers rap up their road portion of interleague today in San Diego. The pitching match-up will be Justin Verlander and Randy Wolf.
Miguel Cabrera is Hungry Like A Wolf (I know, it’s awful) with 22 career plate appearances, 10 hits, 2 homers, and 3 walks against Randy. Lefties have been hitting Wolf to the rune of a 997 OPS this year so I’d like to see Granderson stay in the lineup. Wolf has been much tougher at Petco with a 2.45 ERA there and a 5.84 everywhere else.
DET @ SDP, Sunday, June 22, 2008 Game Preview - Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 4:05
POSTGAME: I like the winning. Justin Verlander had the live fastball thing working with 10 K’s. However he also had 5 walks, 2 of them intentional. That makes for a lot of pitches and he was at 115 when he was lifted with one out in the 6th.
- Very nice job by Bobby Seay coming into a 2 on, 1 out situation and getting out of it unscathed.
- Pudge Rodriguez walked twice and picked up his first unassisted homer of the season. Don’t look now, but his OBP is up to .325.
- Magglio Ordonez found his extra base groove with a double and a homer, following up on his homer last night.
- Granderson hit the ball well again today, with only one hit to show for it. But seeing him take a left hander to the warning track twice was encouraging.
- Joel Zumaya came in with the lead, and left with the lead. But he did allow a walk and a couple hits and had the tying run gunned down (closely) at the plate.
White Sox are down 6 in the 9th as I write this. Assuming the Cubs can hang on, the Tigers are only 5 games back with 87 games left on the schedule. That so seems doable.
{ 238 comments… read them below or add one }
not only did Renteria not want to bunt last night his opening at bat today he didn’t want to get a hit … ball way out of the strikezone …too hot to run the bases
That was a bad pitch by Verlander on the Gonzalez home run. He threw back-to-back ugly breaking balls and then came with a predictable fast ball right down the middle.
I hope that wasn’t the intended location.
was that a 3-0 count or did I miss something
Critical AB for Grandy and he couldn’t deliver…
JV looks shaky here. Trouble locating his fastball and hurts himself throwing the ball away…
Is there a sub 250 hitter that Rod doesn’t say is a good fastball hitter?
sometimes it is the simle things that befuddle the Tigers..first a favorable count at 2-0…even a fly ball…even a ground ball they aren’t going to double you up…or even stretching the imagination a hit Granderson
Well maybe not so shaky. Way to KO the side!
5 K’s thru 2 innings for Verlander. 44 pitches too.
Time to hit the run support button on my keyboard.
I’d like to see a showdown between Wolf and Fossum for who can throw the softest.
Rayburn nice swing
you battle a guy for 9 pitches then swing at a pitch that almost takes your head off..for a K …Rayburn
…nice job Carlos as I was typing this
Maggs 3 for 23…Sheff numbers
Verlander gets another k on a 98 mph fastball. That’s number 6.
Verlander was squeezed on the fifth pitch to Gonzalez. And look at the first pitch strike call against Miggy in the top of the inning. We’ve seen some very poor balls and strike calls this trip.
The Padres uniforms today rival those of 1984 for hilarity
Verlander’s fastball looks real good right now.
And ANOTHER k on a 97 mph fastball
that K was in a serious location with speed…great pitch
They can’t catch up to him! Bats are flying everywhere.
Paint those corners. That is so sweet to see.
And number 8! 1-1 in the third.
K-lander
ATTA boy JV
So there have been exactly 2 balls hit into the field of play against Verlander.
Amazingly, Gameday is claiming the FSN gun to be slow by about 2 mph. They have V hitting 99 on every other pitch
As nice as the K’s are for Verlander, a couple first pitch infield pop out s would be helpful.
Thames is trying to prove he can hit more than jimmy jacks.
He’s obviously bored with the the whole “home run” thing. He’ll try to hit for average for a while.
This is a sight to see. Too bad JV’s pitch count is so high, otherwise he would be on pace for 24 Ks! I would at least like to see him reach 15.
Pitch count is problematic for JV. Who can we rely on out of the pen toay?
JV needs one quick inning for sure, billfer. I agree.
Wolf throws these eephus-like curves constantly. Marcus hammers one for a single.
I will have to say. Leyland’s every other day for the catcher idea seems to be working so far. Pudge looks alot better at the plate.
Pudge walks is that counted as a hit for him!!!!
BUNT BUNT BUNT
I still would have rather seen a bunt…poor baseball…lefty lefty for Granderson…
Thames should be at 3rd base, that was a mental error.
You wanted Granderson to bunt to set up Verlander?
And a hit and run call by JL with the pitcher at the plate is just stupid. WTF!?
now we play STUPID BASEBALL fire LEYLAND…STUPID STUPID STUPID
Why would Grandy bunt? This is a NL game. Pitcher has to hit.
Wolf is clearly intimidated by the hitting prowess of Verlander
Marcus should have been able to tag and advance on the Grandy fly ball. Definitely not the place for the bunt.
why not bunt …or did you like the next play better!!!!!!!!!!!!
runner on third one out anything could have happened….and it did
I was questioning the desire for Granderson to bunt with Verlander on deck — which in my opinion is an obviosly poor decision.
Brian P
That is what I was questioning. Not a Verlander bunt attempt.
I’m requesting a Tigers extra base hit now.
K 9! 12 pitch inning this time. Still 1-1 score.
I would rather see the Tigers with the mindset that at least once every month or so a bunt is in order with a bunter at the plate runners on 1 and 2 or winning run potential late in games…JL just never does
Leyland sure likes that double-steal play with sloooooow runners on the bases. Some year he might get lucky and it will work.
Alright leadoff man on. Can we please get him in.
maybe I answered my own questioning …JL never does
The fastballs to Carlos were in the other batter’s box, not over the plate. Ugh.
Maggs please.
Thanks for answering my begging Maggs.
That will suffice.
What back spasms?
Edgar out slowed them to second they thought he was holding while he was running
MAGGLIO!!!
Maggs homers on one of those ridiculous slow curves!!! 3-1 Tigers
Maggs Maggs Maggs Maggs
Brian good beg
btw, Michael Barrett remains one of the worst defensive catchers I have ever seen in my life
A fan is wearing a 1984 Rod Allen jersey. I want one!
I would love it if the Tigers stopped walking pitchers.
A K would be nice right now.
Why did Leyland intentionally walk the go-ahead run?
Because it was Adrian Gonzalez, pretty much the scariest hitter in the NL right now.
Nice job JV.
nice work JV
Verlander gives up one run, but works out of a hell of a jam in what was probably his last inning. 3-2 Tigers
Your right on Dave. He has been the best hitter in the NL lately. Besides Larry Jones.
Who comes out of the pen to finish this game? RODNEY. Ha Ha. I’m sure Zoom will pitch later.
I guess Verlander gets one more inning. I agree with that. I’ll come out and say that right now. No second guessing billfer.
Grandy smokes 2 balls and nothing to show for it.
I’m sorry, you have to pinch hit Verlander here. He’s got very little left and a runner in scoring positioin
Leyland is an idiot.
This is madness on so many levels
I have a feeling this is going to be one of those games where Verlander does pretty good, but Leyland leaves him in 3 batters too long
Inge would have made that throw
Double play right here.
Slim chance of scoring a run there with a pinch hitter. 1 in 4 chance the way Wolf is pitching.
They are saving Polonco for something better.
Wow. If that pickoff throw doesn’t hit Green, he’s standing on second base.
Damn. I tried to call it.
I’ll take 1 chance in 4 over none at all. That’s two scoring opportunities squandered by the genius/
Bilfer’s right!
Oh my, I’m absolutely shocked that didn’t work out, Jim
And guess what - Verlander doesn’t get through the inning anyway.
great job …I just hope we don’t piss this one away 50-50 chance only cause we are ahead
To bad Verlander couldn’t have an easy inning here. With exception of the walks a good job by Verlander.
I don’t care. Two cheap hits. I know they are still hits, but it’s not like they were smoked.
Tony the Tiger comes through for us.
Didn’t someone say last night that Seay’s numbers are better against righties?
Bobby needs to join the strike-throwing bullpen sessions with Rodney.
Phew. Game-saving defense by Cabrera.
nice job miggy
Gil……….!!!!
Seay just improved his numbers against lefties!
a seay K and nice catch by Cabrera end the inning. 3-2 Tigers.
Wow. Watch a catch. I hope his eyes were open for that one. I believe Miggy is getting alot better over there. That catch, and earlier getting off the bag to save an error on Guillen.
Perfect managing there. The result really couldn’t have worked out any better.
Cla Meredith has a neat sidearm delivery
Zumaya sighting
Maggs is in fuego!!!!
MAGGLIO with another clutch hit.
Maggs………
Maggs doubles and Guillen runs from first to home. Fortunately, a bad throw got by Barrett, because Guillen would have otherwise been out easily. 4-2 Tigers
That is a huge run.
Does anybody else believe that Raburn could use a little trip down to Toledo? In the 40 games he’s played in, only twice has he had more than 1 hit. Get some confidence back in the guy.
well here we go hopefully… the start of something long and good
Zumaya in, Inge takes over at 3rd, Guillen at 1st
It would of taken a perfect throw to get Guillen, and it was almost perfect otherwise Guillen would of scored easily.
Part of Raburn’s troubles might be that he has had less than 80PA. Most of his games have been as a defensive replacement/pinch hiiter/pinch runner.
Would “have” taken… would “have” scored easily, my dear friend!
I wonder if it is required that we walk the first guy on every time we go to the bullpen to start an inning
that’s what i’m talking about Vince, he needs some more pt but where at, I don’t have the answer.
Nice catch Grandy. Thank God.
Zumaya gets an out, saints be praised!
Howe many CF make that look that easy
Lemme guess - Fossum and Rodney are warming up in the bullpen.
How many CF make that look that easy
judpma
Not too many.
Zumaya please get this drowned rat out.
Another out at home. Holy Crap!!
Zoom made that inning look easy. Way to hold the lead.
Well, that’s what I learned in my business communications class. Writing in a negative tone was prohibited in the class. For some reason I haven’t been able to change my positive tone since.
wow
Thames with an outfield assist saves the inning from getting out of hand. 4-3 Tigers
Thames doesn’t move that fast, but he sure does get good results. He pulled off the old rope a dope play.
thank you for fundemental baseball…get the ball quickly. hit your cut off …nice one bounce throw good tag,,,,helpfull call…OUT
2 for 2 even though he was safe. TOO BAD.
Oh wow. Just… wow.
Pudge hit a home run? What?
Pudge is the man!!
HR by Pudge… off Heat freakin’ Bell, of all crazy things! 5-3 Tigers
The worlds gonna end. Two walks and a homer for Pudge!
Pudge…is this still spring training!!!
Chief Monday
The positive tone post was pretty funny. I was cracking up when I read it.
Jonathan, the fact that Raburn is so versatile in the field works against him as well. He’ll get a rare start here and there, but mostly because of his status as a replacement specialist, he probably won’t ever get to string too many ABs together.
Way to go Pudge. Go Cubs.
Grandy is hitting really well right now. He had 2 hard outs, and now this hit. Very encouraging.
Chief:
Exactly. The bottom of the 7th was managed perfectly by Leyland - couldn’t have turned out better. Give credit where credit is due, I say.
Brandon is in full K mode now…he isn’t coming close to two strike contact
lets have 3 shots down to INGE so he doesn’t forget how to make those great plays at 3rd…we don’t need his stinking hittin…just make those plays
This every other game thing really seems to agree with Pudge. Of course it doesn’t seem to agree too much with Inge and means we have to witness him flailing away every other day.
Brian in T- it’s no joke though.
HBP to start the 8th for Miner. It will be a miarcle if we survive these last two innings.
too save time lets just have the other team just put there leadoff hitter on…these games are taking too long
Is this the game where Miner’s luck runs out?
What a DP.
BRANDON you the man at 3rd
And there’s one miracle!
Nice play by Brandon…
Somebody said a bad word.
I’ll take that inning home in a doggy bag please.
Miner apparently has a guardian angel watching over him.
Why did Black get tossed?
The Ump said “let me do my f’n job”, then Black said “you can’t do you’re f’n job, you’re blind.
He got tossed cuz he hurt the umpire’s feelings. No room for cold pricklies on his diamond. Only warm fuzzies will be tolerated.
Coming up in the bottom of the 9th. Jonesy! I hope everyone is tall enough to ride….
Down goes Jones.
Hopefully Jones can get another save with a 1-2-3-4-5 inning.
Vince - Black was arguing the fair ball call on Barrett’s DP ball. Barrett never left the box, pretending that the ball hit his foot and was foul. Meanwhile, the play carried on with Brandon making a great play on the grounder just barely clipping the lead runner.
Black got up in he umps face and stayed there too long.
oh crap, hope Jones is OK.
We got a problem with the rollercoaster.
Sweeeeeeeeeet!
Jones just earned alot of respect from me. I can’t believe he stays in the game and gets a DP ball next pitch.
Jones is up. Jones is up.
Jones pitches better when he is in pain. That’s why he usually loads up the bases before closing the door. Done deal..
He should get hit in the knee more often.
San Diego was 0-36 after trailing in the 9th ..
Tigers are 32-0 after leading in the ninth…tell you about that 9th inning
Nice 6 game road trip. Go Cubs. Indians already lost, to bad the twinkies won.
Get that knee iced Jonsey! Nice job.
Go Cubbies!
way to just roll and not much of a coaster!!!!!!!!
That one felt like a steal. We’ll take it, thank you very much!
Jones went down, got up and won on a K.O.
commmmme onn Cubs do your thing…Championship of Chicago on the line