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PREGAME: I’m not big on advocating games as must-win. The term is way overused and it’s something I’ve heard thrown around at least a dozen times already this season for the Tigers. So I won’t call this a must-win. Instead I’ll call it “they better freakin’ win.” It’s not that the game holds that many ramifications. But the Tigers send out their ace against a replacement starter. A replacement starter with a 7.53 ERA and half as many homers as strikeouts. It’s time for the Tigers lineup to wake up.
Jeremy Sowers takes the mound for the Indians. The last 2 times he faced Detroit he went 4 innings and allowed 5 runs on 7 hits. I’d take that again. If you look at his splits, they are all bad except for when the hitter is down 0-2. So Tigers hitters, don’t do that.
Justin Verlander, who was moved up a spot with the off day allowing him to make 2 starts on the homestand, will look to be more efficient. He’s been racking up strikeouts, but racking up walks as well with 12 in his last 17 innings.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Prior to tonight’s game Placido Polanco will become a US citizen. So we’ll have to remember this day to check his splits by citizenship.
CLE @ DET, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Game Preview - Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 7:05
POSTGAME: Well 9-2 will certainly do. I have to admit I was worried at the outset. Verlander needed 25 pitches to get through a 2 run first inning, while it took the Tigers 9 batters before they hit a ball hard. But then it all got better.
The Tigers remembered they were facing Jeremy Sowers. Justin Verlander remembered he was a stud and the rest was gravy.
- Very happy to see Verlander have a light workload with only 99 pitches. He’d been piling up the pitch counts as of late.
- Miguel Cabrera seems to be hitting better with the bad hip flexor with a 4 hit night including a couple of sore leg friendly homers.
- Marcus Thames stopped the sucking with a double and a opposite field homer yet he still isn’t allowed to finish a game.
- And Edgar Renteria reached on an error. He seemed to like his time on base because he ripped a solid single to center his next time up snapping an “awful for his last lot of at-bats” funk.
- Aquilino Lopez looked good. Real good.
{ 301 comments… read them below or add one }
Not a Tigers comment, but the Cubs just announced they traded for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin. Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Matt Murton, and a minor league catcher going to Oakland.
The arms race in the NL Central continues.
Wow, I went back to the “Ingish” thread and it scared me back here. Who knew it would deteriorate that much during an 18-hr spaghetti-eating binge? So much talk of uranus (and no mention of Carlos Maximus?), and so much comparing of sun and moon stats, (with no mention of the sun’s effect on Tiger hitters?) such chaos! Play ball!
“the Cubs just announced they traded for Rich Harden”
Dick Pole wonders: would it have killed the guy to go by Dick Harden??
Damn, that’s a total steal on the Cubs’ part.
Their pitching is going to be incredible.
Nice hanging curve JV.
V gives up an HR to Jhonny. 2-0 Indians. Yeesh.
He gets a K to end the inning, but that was a pretty wretched start to his outing. 26 pitches already.
That HR was on the dreaded high changeup
Yes and no, IMO Dave. Harden has a loooooooong injury history and is a free agent at the end of the year.
Gallagher projects as a middle-of-the-rotation guy, Murton has good peripherals but has never played every day, and Patterson is probably a backup infielder.
I would say small advantage to the Cubs, but if Harden makes all his start for the rest of the year, I would agree it’s a bigger advantage for the Cubs.
Well there’s only so much you can do when you have to face opponents like Jhonny Peralta and Jheff Clements
Not a good start for JV. He’s not entitled to bad ones anymore, either. He used those up earlier in the year.
Here’s hoping he settles down and the lineup pounds Sowers.
No more JoBo to kick around anymore. Sigh.
I haven’t seen the numbers, so this is just a guess: But it appears that Verlander hasn’t gotten nearly as many swinging strikes this year–lots of 2 strike foul balls. And that would really run up his pitch count.
Meanwhile Sowers has an 8 pitch first inning.
It is a good contract exchange for the A’s. On the other hand, it severely curtails their chance of contention this year. I know they were intending to rebuild to begin the year, but they have a decent shot at the wild card as of right now. I suppose Beane is to be commended for sticking with his original season plan — it’s a pretty gutsy move to forsake an unexpectedly good year.
At any rate, the AL is rapidly running short of great pitchers.
Easy second inning for V. Two strikeouts and a flyout
Much better second for JV.
If the pitching in the n.l. is better than the a.l. now would it be too much to ask for edgar to hit better in the a.l. than n.l.?
I have one question — and more of a rant.
If this game is a “they better frickin win” game, why isn’t Guillen playing? The whole team just got a day off, you’d think our most consistant hitter (whose batting .500 against Sowers) would be in the lineup.
If he’s hurting, that’s one thing — but I think at this critical juncture in the season the Tigers need to put the best lineup out there — especially with Maggs out. When we’re 15 games out in September, Guillen can rest for the rest of the season, for all I care. But maybe that’s the idea, to put the team in a position to be 15 games out by Sept. 1
This lineup stinks. I hope two runs isn’t insurmountable.
Dave, I didn’t even consider contracts in my “analysis”, but it’s clearly a plus for Oakland from that perspective, as they get 3 guys that can contribute at the ML level NOW, for less than the cost of one starter. I don’t think the dropoff from Harden to Gallagher will be as big as some people think. The kid can throw.
I seem to recall the Tigers having trouble beating replacement starters. Smith-Jones or Johnson-Smith or whatever his name is in Seattle comes to mind.
T Smith, Guillen’s wife had a baby yesterday.
I’m a Cubs fan (for those keeping track, my fandom encompasses Tigers, Royals, Marlins, Cubs), and it has been much to my frustration this year that Gallagher’s ability in the majors is at this point mostly theoretical
Just how many ground balls to the shortstop can one man hit?
And the offensive coma continues……………………
Forty: The pitching isn’t better in the NL - overall, nothing is better in the NL. A few superstars here and there, but team by team a much weaker league.
T Smith: Leyland is an idiot.
Carlos isn’t hurting. His wife went into labor. Not sure if there is a baby yet or not.
Gallagher has had flashes, Dave, but definitely struggled to find consistency. His minor league numbers are promising, though, very good WHIP, good K-rate, and minimal walks. For a guy with a power arm, I like his chances at the big league level. He’s only 22. With the big ballpark in Oakland and no double-switch, he may have some longer outings than with the Cubs.
Yeah, Guillen should forget about that baby — doesn’t he know there’s kind of sort of a pennant race going on??!?
Mark: Gallagher also has perhaps the most frightening stock photo of any player in baseball today.
“Guillen’s wife had a baby yesterday” - congratulations to the new father.
It was thoughtful of Leyland to give Carlos the day off, but he is still an idiot.
Typical recent Verlander outing. Lots of pitches, lots of strikeouts
Sizemore stole second. Is that legal? Watching the Tigers I thought you had to wait until the ball was over the plate before you step off the base.
I wasn’t aware of the baby. Been out of touch the last couple days.
But yes, Leyland’s still an idiot.
Dave: on that there is no dispute.
Is Magglio so critical to our lineup that we can’t score more than 2 runs without him in it? This is getting ridiculous.
That a boy Raburn and Grandy!
Carlos says: condemnant quod non intellegunt
Raburn double followed by a Granderson RBI single.
2-1 Fundamentally Racist Franchise
Take Magglio’s hair out of the lineup and the offense has no strength.
Granderson a run scoring hit vs. a leftie. That’s something to cheer about.
Thames double makes it 2-2!
woo-hoo!! runs!!
i thought leyland was one of the most respected managers in the game…i read that somewhere…really…no really i mean it…not sure if it was in the freep or mad magazine but surely i did read it.
Holy Crap!! It’s the bizzarro Tigs.
Everytime I see Jeremy Sowers I keep thinking “how was he a 1st round pick, twice, in two separate drafts?”
Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggsssssssssssssssssssss!
Miggy is the man!!!
Cabrera HR, and it is 4-2 Good Guys.
Allow me to reiterate my season-long theme: Jeremy Sowers sucks.
and Miggy too!!
Grandy hitting .302 vs LH pitching this year now (13 for 43). Not for a high SLG, but still encouraging given last year’s results.
Miggy looked awful rounding the bases. Hopefully 3 days of doing nothing over the AS break will let him heal a bit, because it feels like the bat is heating up.
Unforunately 3 days of doing nothing over the AS break will let him eat a bit.
You have to give credit where credit is due - it was pure genius on Leyland’s part to let Miggy hit there.
Verlander cruises through the inning on 6 pitches.
Whoa. JV. That was impressive.
Nice quick inning for JV.
With the Sabbathia trade yesterday, the Indians have got to be down. Obviously management is giving up on ‘08 and the liklihood of more fire sales has to be on their minds. We need to take advantage of that and kick ‘em good two in a row.
Verlander with 7 strikeouts through 5. His curve is just ridiculous.
I joined the game on Clete’s out before the Raburn double and the fine offensive show that followed. Verlander looked “WOW” in the 4th and only slightly less in the 5th. Man is he efficient tonight. Lousy Tiger ABs in the 4th, not just because they were outs.
COUNTRY STRONG! Sowers does not look pleased. 6-2 Tigers
Country Funk strikes again.
country power
actually a pretty good pitch by sowers, but no match for marcus.
Oh, my! Just what the doctor ordered. Tigers are startin to make me feel good again.
Rod: “Miggy’s the kind of player that can give you a piggy-back ride for a week — come on fellows, hop aboard!”
I just… wow
Sweet Tigers 5th! MARCUS, my man!! Miggy is unstoppable, hitting way above the Cabrera line now. Only the sad spectacle of Sheffield’s AB dampens spirits.
Oh jeez, Sean, I totally forgot Sheffield was even on this team!
They should release Cabrera. He sucks and is going to be out of baseball in two years.
Top 6th - Wow, this is Verlander the Ace.
He’s not up yet, but… I get an Inge vibe from Raburn. He gets a hit, and all of a sudden he thinks he can hit anything, and of course then he doesn’t. Correct me if I’m wrong. Correct me with a HR, Ryan.
9-pitch inning for JV. Indians may be heading for the exits (of the season).
Mark: The great thing about Chris is that he somehow lacks the shame to accept accountability for that kind of insanity
Now this is the Verlander we know…
Man I really hope Renteria gets a hit. he must have zero confidence right now
Official scorer wouldn’t cut Edgar a break there.
Was that some sort of professional courtesy by J-honny to help a fellow shortstop down on his luck?
Mark in Chicago
I laugh every time you post that.
Sheffield-Rodriguez-Renteria=black hole no matter how you order it.
Rodriguez has been hitting the ball pretty well lately. I wouldn’t call him a black hole
Sowers is out. And he sucks.
Bottom 6th - The fine job by Raburn and Granderson with consecutive singles makes me forget the bad things I wanted to say about Pudge and Edgah. That was just nice pitching by Slocum to Polanco. Tough break. I had visions of a 2-run single there.
Top 7th - That wasn’t exactly dominant, but Verlander is pitching well enough to go the distance. Do you let him, with all the overwork concerns?
Cleveland made the most out of those lone two hits in the 1st because Verlander wasn’t going to give them anymore….
Verlander = Stingy
HR #2 for Miguel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Verlander will be out. He has to start again against the Twins. I say take him out. Rest him for the twinkies.
This is the Miggy we all were expecting back in April!
Sean C.
Pudge says take that.
Pudge!
IROD homerun, and it is 9-2. They sure do pile it on.
Vince - Rodriguez is actually having a decent year. He slumped badly in May but I have no complaints with his production.
Hey, Edgar Renteria got a line drive!
ATTN: RENTERIA BASE HIT
Even Edgar gets a hit. Don’t waste it all boys.
Chris - Do you think that Cabrera can stick around for 3 years now?
Good for E-Rent. I have defended his defense but not his bat this year. I really hope that he gets it going offensively. I think he’ll have a solid 2nd half this year when he gets some rest over the All-Star Break.
“Chris - Do you think that Cabrera can stick around for 3 years now?”
OK ,OK… He’s got my permission
And Renteria decides, since it’s a blowout, it may high be time to snap his 0-ad infinitum and pad his BA…
Royals up 4-1 in the third against the black sox. Too bad Twins are up 4-2 in 8th.
You know, before the Cabrera homer I was about to complain about the removal of Thames from the game. If they wanted to strengthen the outfield defense, why not move Thames to first and let the gimpy Cabrera rest if they thought more offense wasn’t needed.
But I like the homer too.
Bottom 7th - thmaes lifted for Joyce? Um, OK.
HR #2! Yeah Gil! Keep it up.
Before the Pudge HR, I thought, I have no confidence in 6-7-8 today at all.
Before the Renteria single, I thought, Renteria is beneath contempt.
Before the Thomas K, I thought, Thomas looks like crap at the plate today.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Nice line for Verlander. 2 hits and 1 walk. I hope we see that his next start.
Cabrera is en fuego.
The Indians are a wounded and demoralized team. Let’s not get overly excited, just yet. I want to see this kind of beating against the Twins.
Nick Blackburn shut down the Red Sox tonight. Maybe he’s good and it wasn’t just the Tigers sucking last week.
Rodriguez AVR and OBP are up a bit, but he is on a pace for a lower SLG and fewer RBI than last year (if he gets the same no of ABs which he proabably won’t). Was his production acceptable last year? It looks to be something less this year.
Top 8th - Aquilino sits ‘em down! If you’re out there, Sky, this is Rodney in 2006. Throwing strikes, getting outs. Only blemish the Raburn error. I thought he had Gutierrez on pitch 4, actually. One pitch out for Sizemore. Yes.
Baker shut down the red sox yesterday, too.
Red Sox just tied up the Twins in the 8th.
BoSox Tie it up at 5-5
On April 24th, Polanco was hitting .140. Now he’s hitting .312. Why do we ever doubt him?
Buried in this fine evening - another crappy performance from Sheff’s kitchen.
Blackburn is a typical Twins pitching prospect in the Brad Radke mold - he puts the ball over the plate and doesn’t walk anybody. Even though before tonight his BAA was .294, he had walked only 16 in 104+IP for a 1.31 WHIP. 0 walks again tonight in 6IP. Apparently good things can happen when you don’t walk anybody.
Botom 8th - did Raburn scorch it to 3B? That red dot on Gameday looked so hot. Did Curtis kinda chase pitch 2? Don’t see much of that these days. Polanco was ready for that one - I wasn’t expecting an out. Musta hit it good.
Pudge had a .294 OBP last year and he’s over 330 this year. I think that’s more than up a little. Yes he’s giving up 15 points of slugging, but I’ll sacrifice the 3.5% drop in slugging for the 12% increase in not making outs.
Last year was unacceptable. This year is acceptable.
Red sox just took the lead on the twins, black sox still losing.
Red Sox are winning!
Nice! Indians no-hit after the first inning
Boston just pulled ahead of Minn with a 4 run (and counting) 8th.
Red Sox hammered on Matt Gurrier, a weak link in the Twins bullpen.
Top 9th - Remind me not to complain about Lopez being back as a bullpen guy. 3 up, 3 down. Tigers 9, Indians 2. Feels like 99-2. What a job. 2 hitter! Yay Justin. Yay Tigers hitting. 2 errors… again. Doh.
Big game, Miguel Cabrera!
KC up 4-1 vs Black Sox. Maybe we’ll get some help tomight.
Pudge’s batting stats are particularly acceptable when you consider that he’s stepped up defensively this season. Seems like there have been at least 4-5 games where he made a defensive play that almost single-handedly kept the Tigers in a game (ala throwing out Ichiro on Sunday).
Polanco. 1 for 5. Hmmm. Rescind his citizenship. But don’t deport him.
I’ve been overly excited since the day we traded for Cabrera. This is his best day at the plate as a Tiger. Now I’m beyond over excited
They made it look easy. Do it again tomorrow.
Minnesota’s pitching is vastly over rated. The ChiSox scored something like 50 runs against them in a 4 game series not too long ago. Their days of over-achieving will soon come to end.
With Hernandez going against Beckett tomorrow, the Red Sox have an excellent opportunity to sweep the Twins.
Chief - Actually, Cabrera has had 1 or 2 better days at the plate as a Tiger. There was a 2 HR, 5 RBI game early in the season, against the White Sox, too, I think.
Really early in the season - late April i believe.
“Wow, I went back to the “Ingish” thread and it scared me back here.”
This from Coleman, Master of the Delirious. I tell you, there is no appreciation for comedy gold any more these days.
You try to entertain, and all you get is complain complain complain. Well, you asked for it. More STATS will soon be on the way.
Neither the Sox or the Twins are the same team on the road (nor are the Tigers, for that matter). The Twins have played a TON of home games.
The team that can play best on the road in the second half will probably win the division. Given that the Tigers are done going west and don’t have to go to NY or BOS, I like our chances. With any luck we catch a young TB team feeling the pressure of a pennant race when we go there.
Royals extend to 5-3 and still batting in the 6th.
Yeah, Vince. It was a while ago. I’ll settle for a game a week like this from Gil.
Hey, “pennant race” watchers. It’s July 8.
just teasing.
The Tigers have a .724 winning pct in the last 29 games. If Mike Tyson were a Tiger fan he’d be ecstatic.
IMO, the Tigers are the benchmark for other teams. The Tigers really are that good and can be better if they didn’t have so many injuries.
Hey Sean,
How’s the HDTV and broadband connection at home?
just teasing
I…I don’t even know what this means. Can someone please explain it to me?
“Oh jeez, Sean, I totally forgot Sheffield was even on this team!”
Well, I can appreciate comedy gold, anyway.
That’s just a Tysonism back in the days when he was a good boxer.
Boston beat Minny, 6-5.
“How’s the HDTV and broadband connection at home?”
Jeez, Mark, you don’t have to get mean now.
Just wait. One fine day I will have broadband, and then no game thread will be safe. I (EDIT: Can’t you tell?) am taking typing classes even now to prepare myself for out-statting and out-one-linering even Coleman and Dave BW! Billfer will gaze in wild wonder at the joy he has found.
I admit that I am glad to hear the Twins lost, and will be even happier to hear of the Sox’s demise.
Sorry, Sean. That probably was a little below the belt.
If your contributions during work hours (with access to broadband) are any indication, I think Coleman and Dave BW should be sweating for their jobs.
Their jobs are to post snarky one-liners and volumes of stats on DTW, right?
“Their jobs are to post snarky one-liners and volumes of stats on DTW, right?”
Yeah, as far as I can tell. Billfer has so far refused to divulge their actual job titles, but I’ll get to the bottom of it. I aim to be the Geraldo of DTW.
Mark In Chi:
FYI
`Contrariwise’, continued Tweedledee, `If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’
- Lewis Carroll
Sox score two in the 8th to tie it in KC, 5-5.
For some reason KC left Ron Mahay (a lefty) in to face Crede with 1 out and runners on first and third, with a very tough righty in Soria in the bullpen. This after Mahay already gave up an RBI single to Swisher. Crede hit a sac fly to tie it, but a strikeout/popout/DP grounder was a distinct possibility from Soria.
This madness of only using your closer in the 9th inning has to stop. It’s ruining baseball.
Vince in MN:
Que?
Nice night at the ballpark. Except Sheff with all those popups, looks like he did when the shoulder was hurting. Something to worry about.
Mark in Chi
“If Mike Tyson were a Tigers fan he’d be ecstatic.”
Therefore, by analogy:
`Contrariwise’, continued Tweedledee, `If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’
“This madness of only using your closer in the 9th inning has to stop. It’s ruining baseball.”
Depends on the closer. I’d rather not see Todd Jones in the 8th.
But yeah, it’s ruining my hopes for a KC win. I had no confidence in that 5-3 lead.
Oh man, Vince. You clearly have me confused with someone much smarter, because I never would have put that together.
Very clever though.
Point taken, Sean. It absolutely does depend on who the guy is.
But if he’s (supposedly) one of your best pitchers, you don’t leave him in the pen when you need a K or a ball on the infield somewhere.
“Nice night at the ballpark.:
What a great game to see, cib.
Of course you’re right about Soria, Mark. That guy eats the Tigers alive, as I recall. Is his ERA below zero yet?
On the other hand, KC recently blew a lead against the Rays and took it in extras, so there’s hope. Or?
Soria’s stats are still preposterous:
1.62 ERA in 39IP, 21H, 9BB, 44K, 95.1LOB%
He’s been a little lucky, his BABIP is .205 and his LD% is an unsustainable 8.8%, but his FIP is still a very good 3.07.
He eats everybody alive, it looks like.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, wait.
Mike Tyson was a good boxer and not just well known for assaulting women, housing tigers, and getting his face tattooed? WHO KNEW!?
Chief Monday (on Tuesday): “IMO, the Tigers are the benchmark for other teams. The Tigers really are that good and can be better if they didn’t have so many injuries.”
Hold on, Inge is back soon!
(See! Who says I lost my appreciation for comic fun. Now enjoy the new Inge thread).
Oh boy! If we’re re-starting the Inge thread, that means the “we never should have traded Jurrjens for Renteria” conversation can’t be far behind!
That’s the other one that will just not die. Please people. Let it go. You can’t undo it. Just accept it and move on.
Mark in Chicago
I’m going to all 3 TB - Tigers games. I will do my best that first weekend of August to real in 3 wins. Oh yeah why did we trade Jurrjens for Renteria?
Not funny, Brian. Don’t do it. Don’t mess with the bulls on this site or you’ll get the horns. That’s like telling your girlfirend you love her and then saying you were “just kidding”. Yeah, it’s funny for a second, but then…