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PREGAME: The Tigers and Twins with their records sufficiently padded against the NL, will do battle tonight in the Metrodome. The Tigers will be without Magglio Ordonez. But the Twins placed their right fielder on the DL yesterday as well. Of course Michael Cuddyer is hitting 252/324/376 this year so it isn’t really a fair trade off.
The Twins of course are one of the hottest teams in baseball and had a 10 game win streak snapped on Saturday. Somehow the Twins are scoring at the same rate as the Tigers. I say somehow because while the Twins have an above average batting average they have a below average OBP and as a team they are only slugging .399. In other words they are giving up 50 points of OPS to the Tigers. Their secret is a .313 batting average with runners in scoring position. That leads the AL by a ton with the White Sox second at .284.
As for the Twins pitching staff, they aren’t helped by their below average defense. Opponents are slugging .440 against the Twins which is highest in the league and they have a pretty pedestrian 5.7 K/9. But they are a half walk better per game in not allowing free passes than the next best team.
The pitching match-up tonight is lefty Glen Perkins and righty Armando Galarraga. Galarraga will be facing the Twins for the 3rd time after losing the first two match-ups. He’s also coming off his roughest start of the season. Glenn Perkins has allowed 3 runs in each of his last 4 starts, but the length of said starts ranged from 5 to 8 innings.
For more on the Twins check out Seth Speaks, Stick and Ball Guy, and Twins Geek and Twins Territory.
DET @ MIN, Monday, June 30, 2008 Game Preview - Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 8:10
POSTGAME: I think this is the definition of “gutting one out.” This game was a lot of ugly for the first 6 innings of this game from a Tigers standpoint. Armando Galarraga was pitching pretty well, but was getting little defensive support. There were 3 errors and a misplayed ball by Ryan Raburn. The Tigers also failed to cash in on an early 2nd and 3rd - 1 out situation. And they lost their clean-up hitter to injury. Yet some late inning magic leaves the orange and blue striped protagonists feeling good.
A one out single by Curtis Granderson (2 more hits off of a south paw tonight for Grandy) in the 7th mercifully chased Glen Perkins and the Tigers got busy on the parade of arms brought out of the Twins bullpen.
Matt Joyce came off the bench and tripled in the tying run in the 7th inning continuing the string of big freakin’ clutch hits from players on loan from the Mud Hens. And it was Granderson picking up his 3rd hit (which pushed his average over .300) to give the team the lead.
It was a very nice performance from the Tigers bullpen with Casey Fossum retiring 4 batters and Joel Zumaya pitching under some duress after a couple cheap hits in the 9th to get the 1.2 inning save.
{ 314 comments… read them below or add one }
I hate to throw cold water on all the excitement based on how “great” the Tigers have been playing lately, but I think it is good to temper this optimism with a bit of skepticism. After all, for the last three weeks MLB has been engaged in what I like to call the Silly Season (I hate interleague play).
Take a look at the AL standings before and after interleague play (I’m passing on the NL because, well, I don’t care. I just don’t give a hoot if Arizona takes the NL West with an 80-82 record at the end of the year):
EAST Before After
BOS —- / .5
TB 1.5 / —-
NY 4.5 / 5.5
BAL 7 / 7.5
TOR 6.5 / 10
CENT Before After
CHI —- / —-
MN 3.5 / 1.5
DET 6 / 5.5
CLE 3.5 / 9.5
KC 10.5 / 9.5
WEST Before After
LA —- / —–
OAK 4.5 / 3.5
TX 6.5 / 7.5
SEA 16.5 / 17.5
Three weeks further into the season and what major changes in the AL races do we see? In the East, TB and BOS have switched spots. In the Central, the Twins are a little better and Cleveland has tanked. And in the West - well look at that. Basically, the differences between the real contenders in each division are only a game or two at best.
Because the NL is so bad (a tick over .400 winning percentage in IL play), the results of the last three weeks of play really don’t tell much - almost all AL teams kicked butt (played “great”). All we really know is that Toronto has no chance in the East, (which isn’t a big surprise), Seattle is still bad (also not a big surprise), and Cleveland will probably be conducting a fire sale soon (somewhat of a surprise).
Pad-Your-Stats Time (especially for the AL) is now over and the Junior Circuit teams have to get back to playing really meaningful games against each other.
Have the Tigers turned the corner? On first glance it looks like so, but there are still some nagging question marks as far as the offense (many missed opportunities) and bullpen (blown responsibilities) are concerned.
I’m happy that they have pulled themselves over .500 finally, but given the quality of the recent opposition I’m just not convinced yet that they will be able to win the division, which is what they need to do, since the wild card team is likely coming from the East. Somehow they have to reverse that horrible (worst) in-division performance (10-19 as compared to CHI 21-11, a difference of 9.5 games). It all begins tonight against the Twins. Who is for real, who are the fakes?
I just talked the wife into going to this one. This will be my first Tigs game away from Detroit. (I moved to Minneapolis three weeks ago)
Vince: Good points. Remember that this all started with a sweep of the White Sox, though. So there’s that. Undoubtedly, playing the Weak Sisters of the Poor helped get the ball rolling but I think the Tigers can sustain some of this momentum. I see the Twins fading some. They’re hitting like .315 with RISP as a team, which is really hard to sustain. Outside of Mauer and Morneau there’s not really anyone that strikes fear into you in that lineup. The Sox have been playing great, but I don’t see Danks and Floyd doing what they’re doing for the entire season. Not yet anyway. The Tigers have their warts and everything, but I think their talent will prevail over the long haul. Call me a cokceyed optimist.
I meant ‘cockeyed’. It’s late…
“Their secret is a .313 batting average with runners in scoring position. That leads the AL by a ton with the White Sox second at .284.”
The stats for BA with RISP bodes well for the Tigers. Those averages tend to even out over the season. The Twins and White Sox will regress towards the mean, and if the Tigers hit like they have all season, then we have race on our hands.
Walt:
I hope you enjoy the game, but that (football) stadium really sucks. I went to see the Tigers play there back in early May with one of my die-hard Twins fan buds (who also hates it) just for old time sake, since this is the last year for the “Hump” (as it is known here amongst other things). That was the first (and last) time in about 10 years.
Watch out for any richochets off the speakers in the ceiling.
And let us know later if they turn the fans on to blow towards home when the Tigers are up
These are the stats for the 3 teams in late innings of close games. I didn’t look to see how the two terms are defined.
Team G AB R H 2B3BHRRBI TB BB SO OBP SLG AVG
Twins 28 341 36 93 13 2 9 36 137 28 67 .328 .402 .273
WSox 17 181 15 44 8 0 6 15 70 21 43 .332 .387 .243
Tigers 20 215 18 48 8 0 6 17 74 25 46 .306 .344 .223
AL Ranking
Twins 3 7 6 3
WSox 13 6 8 7
Tigers 12 10 10 11
The Tigers have to be able to do better, and the Twins will come down to Earth. The White Sox
The rankings only list Games, OBP, SLG, and AVG
The Twins shall be destroyed. Glen Perkins shall be destroyed. His feeble fastball shall pelt the outfield, and his sinker shall indeed sink — into the right and left field seats! The artificial turf shall be flooded with the tears of the Twins’ AAAA lineup, and the team will plead with Bud Selig to reconsider his earlier plan to contract the Twins’ franchise. By then the damage shall have already been done!
At last the Tigers are playing a game in the real time zone. I don’t mind the Tigers playing at home, but something needs to be done about those oddball 6:05 PM starts. Really annoying, no time in between getting home from work and the game. I’m surprised the league lets them get away this. Even the Sox start games at normal times. Well, except for that 7-11 thing.
Yea, verily, Dave.
Ah, Dave goes semi-biblical. I assume this is just a warm up for tomorrow’s prophecy. I suggest working in that line from Pulp Fiction about “going medieval,” if possible.
I love the FSN camera angle tonight. This is how all games should be broadcasted.
Great catch by Span. I hate the twins announcers.
Jeez, terrible AB by Cabrera. I guess he doesn’t like those fastballs right down the middle or inner third.
Indians up 1-0 on the Sox, top 1. Gaving Floyd, easily the luckiest pitcher on the planet, going for the Sox. Seriously, he’s ridiculously lucky. Look at his BABIP, FIP, LD %, K:BB, GB:FB peripherals. He’s going to come crashing to earth and it’s going to be fun to watch.
Gomez showed bunt before Galarraga even threw the first pitch, and was thrown out at first by Guillen easily. Rod is most displeased by Gomez’s arrogance.
Pudge seems hurt. Uh oh.
UPDATE: He’s staying in
Mauer drives in Casilla with a double. 1-0 Twins.
Yeesh, this isn’t looking good at all.
Ball right in his wheelhouse.
Is Rod the only man on earth who refers to a slider as a “slide-piece”?
Something is really bothering Pudge, he was wincing after he blocked that pitch in the dirt.
They get out of the inning with only the one run scored, but three hits.
Nice job by Galarraga to limit the damage. 1-0 after 1, but somehow it feels like 5-0.
Wheww.
COUNTRY STRONG!! Tie game
MARCUS!!!!
Yeah Marcus Yes
Hey, Marcus!!
MARCUS, OUR MAN.
Rayburn
looked awful on that play in the 1st
Are people just spelling it “Rayburn” on purpose now?
That was so clutch to answer back.
Sheff didn’t over swing, I think he’ll have more success until he gets in more of a rhythm.
Thome with a 3-run shot for the Sox, 3-1 bottom2.
Oh jeez. Guillen makes a great play and Cabrera drops the ball.
It’s irrelevant since the next batter hits into a dp.
Apparently Cabrera’s arms are a few inches longer than he realizes.
Now that he realizes this it may also help him at the plate.
Miguel has a lot to make up for in this game with that strikeout and error.
Sloppy start to this one. C’mon guys, gotta tighten up.
Cabrera’s apparently hurt. Mario/Rod say he’s leaving the game.
Wow the Smoking Man doesn’t seem amused….
Clete is pinch hitting for Miggs.
So much for Miguel.
Cabrera pulled, Twins announcers speculating that he’s hurt. Clete Thomas pinch hits, so I would assume Thames takes over at first and Thomas to left.
CLETE!!!
Clete cannot be stopped! Double.
Clete, Clete.
Well that sucks if Cabrera’s hurt, now there’s no point in him knowing how long his arms are. Tell Larish to hit the road he’s starting tomorrow…
Thomas does more than Cabrera could have, nice double!
We’re in business with Marcus at the plate and runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. Gotta cash in here.
Marcus k’s. Perkins then induces a ground out of Sheffield, ending the threat
Tigers are so bad in this situation. Seems like we always fail.
screwed the pooch there. Poor job getting zero runs out of that.
It’s 1 to 1 in the game of futility.
Actually strangely enough Thames only has 17 RBI in 36 AB with RISP (.472 RBI/AB RISP avg). not one of the better numbers on the team…
What happened to Miggy?
I think we’ll have a better time against Perkins than they’ll have against Battlestar. But that’s just my opinion.
No one knows, Dylan
Oooh, AG threw inside twice to Mauer, and the umpire issued warnings to both sides. Gardenhire got pissed that he was warned (especially since Perkins pitches inside all the time and NEEDS that pitch), and was ejected for arguing about it with the ump in an aggressive fashion. Weird.
Oooooh, this just got a little chippy. I like the feisty side of Armando.
“don’t screw with my teammate”
What just happened? With Gardenhire? I’m on Gameday over here.
Cabrera looked awful tonight. I don’t know if he’s hurt or out of it, or what. The Polanco throw he barely moved. The Guillen throw he just missed. And he looked completely perplexed on a fastball down the middle.
What on earth were those 2 first pitches to Mauer? They made Gameday freeze.
Sean, one was behind him, the other was way inside. Both benches were warned about throwing inside and Gardenhire got tossed.
The Twins announcers are speculating the Galarraga may have been instructed (or on his own) to hit Mauer. Where they got that, I’m not sure.
Cabrera has a “tight hip flexor” or some such thing.
Galarraga is afraid to throw on the inner half now. Morneau is about to flip one to left field.
Man, at least we’re not the Indians. They’re about to get blown out of the water in the third innings because they booted the ball all over the field.
Cabrera left with a tight left hip flexor, according to the Twins announcers.
I hate these two guys. M and M. Might and Magic.
Mouth and Muscle. Mug and Missile. Mud and Mumble.
Hate ‘em.
Nice call Bill
Thomas makes an error on Morneau’s single sending him to second and Mauer home. 2-1 twins
UPDATE: Swisher slam makes it 8-1 Sox.
yikes, another error; gift run for the Twins.
Not at all a satisfying effort tonight. They wasted a scoring chance, 3 errors, and a misplay by Raburn.
Got to be kidding me.
I hate the Metrodome. The worst stuff always happens to us here. It’s amazing we ever won a series here, much less a game.
Actually I take that back about Thames–last time I looked at these numbers there were several guys well over .500, and they have all dropped, leaving Thames about the best:
RBI per AB with RISP: (not including today)
Inge .571
Clete .438
Granderson .415
Raburn .412 (despite batting .176)
Cabrera .386
Ordonez .370
Guillen .366
Polanco .359
Pudge .323
Renteria .318
Sheffield .317
sloppy all around. just a mess.
I hate the twins more than any other franchise in sports. I really wish Bud’s idea to destroy the team in contraction would have followed through. They have disgraced the game by playing in that horrible dome.
Armando’s had to get 12 outs in 3 innings of work.
Gift strikeout of Kubel ends the inning.
I’ll be happy with the Metrodome trip as long as we win one.
One game.
I have a feeling we’re going to get swept again though. Please don’t let it happen.
Boy do the Tigers look awful. Contenders? Not tonight. And Galarraga is freaking me out. What is it with him and the Twins?
Gotta break on that strike.
The irony of this is that the threat of contraction was to get the Twins a new stadium and get them out of the dome. The real problem is that they have a cheap-ass owner who won’t spend any of his own money.
Pudge clearly feels like crap, but singles anyway
Another borderline pitch called a strike, touch to complain given the call that Galarraga got.
The ump has to give that outside corner now because everyone’s afraid to pitch inside.
Renteria ks, Tigers gone in 4th, 2-1 Twins. Yuk. Galarraga, throw some strikes again. Try to forget that you have no defense behind you.
A soft liner to 3B on an 0-2 pitch is a K where I come from.
It would be nice to get about an 8 or 9 pitch inning here and then run that clown Perkins out next inning, at least work their bullpen a bit.
The strike three to Kubel was 1.2 inches off the plate. The strike 3 to Granderson was 4.6 inches off the plate. Just sayin.
Wow a 7-pitch inning, that’s more like it.
Boys, it’s a long game and I’m actually encouraged at where we stand at this point. I just hope that Cabs is fine.
Three balls hit to Polanco end the 4th inning in about five seconds. Still 2-1 Twins
THEN WHY DO I FEEL LIKE THE HONEYMOON IS OVER?!
The honeymoon is over? I wasn’t even invited to the wedding!
Very clever of the Twins to have a lefty up in their rotation today with Ordonez, Inge, and now Cabrera out…
Gameday has a real attitude with me tonight. Tell me when the Tigers start to wake up. I feel I’m wasting valuable statistical research time following this game.
“Winning with the Bounce, A History of the Minnesota Twins and the Metrodome”.
They don’t pull Perkins now do they? With Thames Sheffield and Pudge coming up?
Oh no! Inge’s bat is out of the lineup. We are so screwed.
“Oh no! Inge’s bat is out of the lineup. We are so screwed.”
I wouldn’t mind his glove in the lineup…and you do know who is best on the Tigers at knocking in runs with RISP, right? (rhymes with Binge…)
I hate them so much.
Weird play but he looked out to me…
The Twins are a joke.
And how do they score?
Bloopers and bleeders,
And Justin Morneau.
God damn Mauer… I hope he breaks his arm
Again, Mark, I’ve never seen a team do so much with bounces in their favor as this team. It NEVER seems to even out.
“Oh no! Inge’s bat is out of the lineup. We are so screwed.”
Ha.
Agree, David. It never seems to even out. I really don’t think I have selective memory, this team gets the vast majority of the breaks, at least against us.
The only way to beat the Twins is to play the weird play like they do…I think we need one of those home runs right now, that takes the outfielder’s glove over the wall with it.
Of course you don’t get too many good bounces when you whiff…
The hitters look really confused tonight. You’d think it was Glavine in his prime on the mound.
Good God, Marcus and Gary making Perkins look like Cy Young this inning.
And somehow Perkins has become Santana. Woo.
Oh boy looks like Possum time soon…unggghhh
Leyland has to get ejected her right?
He caught it…that’s freaking bs
That was a catch no doubt.
Trap or no?
Eh maybe I’m wrong…it’s one of the closer traps I’ve ever seen
Leyland tried to get tossed and you could read Welke’s lips when he said “I’m not going to run you”
I think it was a trap. Damn close though.
Well gee the announcers just pronounced it’s absolutely a trap because clearly otherwise Raburn would have gotten ejected arguing it….yeah, or he knows they have nobody left on the bench !!
This is the inning in which things need to HAPPEN.
Five runs happen.
3 bloops and a blast, no problem.
It was a CRAP.
I want a play at the plate where thames runs over mauer’s pretty little mug and he drops the ball…is that weird?
Galarraga tonight… not especially good, but certainly not lucky. He got out of the 6th with only 1 run, not bad.
Boy, talk about a Futility Vibe. 6 innings of this is enough for me. I will be stunned if they can pull this one out. I’m afraid I see a bullpen meltdown turning this into a laugher.
(Filling in for Sky tonight.)
The ground can’t cause a fumble.
Forty: “I want a play at the plate where thames runs over mauer’s pretty little mug and he drops the ball…is that weird?”
No…well, besides the “pretty” part
Glad to see this guy go.
Forty: even better if it’s on an inside the park homer that bounces around the roof and baggy wall and whatever other crap that things bounce off in the Metrodumb
Rod: “Santana not pitching all that well in the National League…”
3.01 ERA, 3-1 K to BB ratio… Yeah, he’s just fallen off a cliff.
Rod is not what you’d call a sabermetrician, but he will make a comment about lefties liking to hit low balls from time to time
Come on carlos put it in the seats
Poly’s my Tiger!!
Reyes puts the bull in bullpen
I don’t think “Jesse Crain” is a real name, it sounds too much like what a waitress/screenwriter would name a character in a lame screenplay she’s trying to write…
So what’s his real name and what’s he trying to hide?
I would like a Guillen-Hit-It-As-Hard-As-You-Can-Sac-Fly-That-Turns-Into-Three-Run-Homer right now please.
Let’s all put our heads together and send Carlos some happy thoughts.
And with clete “pujols” thomas on deck, he’s going to see something :). Heck scratch that. Lean into one carlos and let thomas clear em with the granny.
Mark in Chicago, we may need you soon for one of your patented calls.
Everyone aboard the Tigers Merry-go-Round!!!
Forty: but then who flattens Mauer?
Forget the home runs, I would love about 8 consecutive ground ball singles through the hole.
So… I stepped away for dinner and it looks like I missed some events. Something about a trap? Some more Metrodome BS? Galarraga surviving?
What gives?
Come on Marcus.
I like that slide by carlos - no dp baby!
Come on country, this is your time!
Can we bribe someone to get Jose Mesa into the Twins bullpen? He’s be a mah-velous addition!
They’re going to walk Marcus, aren’t they?
Guerrier?
sorry ron, I don’t even have a clue what’s going on.
But I can see the Tigers almost have the game tied, so I’ll say that some freak-a$$ thing will occur to get the Twins out of the 7th inning with their lead intact.
Good eye country
God I hate to be nervous like this.
Strikes out looking. Wooooo!
I dont think they will walk him
Some stingy infield defense by the tigers today
Oh goodness, nice to see the sloppiness picks up right where it left off following my little break from the game.
Now it’s time to play possum
I say should have given Mauer the ol’ 1-pitch intentional walk
But coleman, it’s four balls to a walk - how do u do that
Twin killing!
It’s a phrase I believe I first heard used by Don Drysdale, if that’s any clue…
Ok last inning before nathan, rally caps on
Fossum’s ERA+ the last 5 years:
85
69
89
86
59
That’s not including the 27 he’s posted so far this year. For those unfamiliar, ERA+ is just a player’s ERA relative to the league average. 100 is considered exact