Billfer likes long walks in Comerica Park. Check out the About page for more about me and the site.
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PREGAME: It seemed to take for ever for this season to get here, and even longer for it to end. Instead of a preview, I’ll just point you to Baseball Prospectus where they have a nice write up already in place, what with this being the only game on the docket and all.
God Speed Freddy Garcia.
Previous post: Position roulette, Inge and Guillen edition
Next post: Dombrowski speaks - a lot more than usual.
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as much as I don’t want to see the Twinkies in the post season…..my main concern this morning is this .,,,
..come on Freddie! STICK it to the Sox…..
Looks like there may be a bit of rain in Chicago. This season may never end!
Today’s lineup, in the faint chance that anyone is interested:
Granderson CF
Sheffield DH
Ordonez RF
Cabrera 1B
Country LF
Raburn 2B
Inge(!) 3B
Ryan C
Santiago SS
Here’s what I’m hoping for: Tigers lose (assuring a slightly, almost meaningless better draft position), Sheffield hits 500, Twins win 1-game playoff in blowout fashion.
Here’s what I’m hoping for: Tigers win, Sox sit, Sheffield hits 500 and announces retirement, Twins fail to score any runs and get smoked 3-0 in ALDS.
I’m with Loon on this one!
I’m with Loon 2
Here, here to the Loon!
I can’t believe more fans aren’t fired up to cheer the Tigers on and finish the White Sox season. No matter how poorly the season turned out if I were a player I would relish playing the role of spoiler.
Guess the bandwagon has been vacated so there’s more room for those that cheer on the Tigers through the good times (too few) and the bad times (too many).
This game against the White Sox, which might end up being a night game if they get it in at all, is the next best thing to making the playoffs. The Tigers actually have a say in who wins the AL Central. That’s pretty big, and I’m not being sarcastic.
Any word on a possible start time?
You have to root for the Twins. They’re a small mkt team on the verge of making the playoffs after losing the best pitcher in baseball. That’s kinda awesome.
There is another incentive for the Tigers to win today: NOT FINISHING ALONE IN DEAD LAST BEHIND THE ROYALS.
for the love of everything holy. I know I’m not the only one that will have to eat both of my shoes after the confidence i showed in this team at the start of the year. Dead last.. we cant let it be.
First pitch now scheduled for 5:10 p.m. which means I will miss most of the game. Cursed rain.
Go Tigers!
Hey, I better get it in gear and finish mowing the lawn. I’ll actually be able to catch the game. Sweet.
Go Tigers
Go
2 outs, Sheff on 2nd after a SB. Come on, Miguel, let’s draw first blood.
Cabrera grounds out. Time to see what Freddy’s got.
Well, walking OC isn’t a good start.
Wow. I may actually be able to get home in time to catch some of this. Go Tigers.
wow tight strike zone.
Hmmm. Another walk, 2 on and none out for Dye. Definitely not a good start. DP, please?
Doesn’t look like Freddy has much.
Ahead of Dye 0-2, Freddy yields an RBI single to Dye. Let’s hope this is one of those rain delay shake off the rust 1st innings.
Has Garcia thrown a fastball for a strike yet?
OK, there’s one to Thome.
I am just throwing it out there that I’m openly rooting for the White Sox in this game because a loss benefits the Tigers and I’m neither a Twins or White Sox fan, so i don’t care who wins the division.
Sweet play by Inge. If he was making 800 grand and was getting 140 ab’s as a spot starter and late inning defensive replacement I would be completely in love with him as a player.
blerg. come on blue!
Good point Mike R.
With a loss we are in a 3 way tie for the 8th worst record. We’re looking at either the 8th, 9th, or 10th draft pick.
With a win we are in a 3 way tie for the 11th worst record. We’re looking at either the 11th, 12th or 13th draft pick.
If that’s how it works. Does anyone know exactly how they do the draft order?
Cheif, it is important to remember that the “10th pick” is actually the 11th since the Washington Nationals have teh 9B pick since they did not sign their top pick from last year (Aaron Crow). So it is imperative to get into that 3-way tie.
BRANDON!!!!
New ballgame! All tied up thanks to next years starting 3B, Brandon Inge
Inge ties the game with a double! Take that, stephen!
Was that next years SS striking out?
Andrew, if that was our everyday short stop in 2009 that just struck out, there will be a Fire Dave Dombrowski blog a-starting immediately.
Epic Granderson AB sadly ended in a strikeout
Mike, I am hoping that isn’t the case (Santiago as everyday) as well. I was reading something today that alluded to Santiago as the starting SS. That’s the reason for my snarky comment.
Way to get us out of the inning Sheff! I thumb my nose in your general direction.
Inge - backup?
I think not
Not being behind the plate and watch him hit
Maybe he’ll duplicate 2004 hit to all fields and bat .290
Or! Inge will duplicate his 2007 third base numbers and strike out to all fields. Dude’s batting average has dropped every year since 2004.
Nice inning by Garcia.
I cant stand the thought of Hawk Harrelson getting a win and having to listen to him. If nothing else I would like to see the Who sox go down.
Nothing better than hearing the Hawk crying about losing.
We’ll take that. This game is tense!
lol Floyd just intentionally walked Inge. He doesn’t want to deal with that magic bat!
Uh-oh. Bullpen time. Garcia is in line for the win. Classy White Sox fans booing Garcia. Yep, same nice fans that jumped that 3B coach for the Royals (I think).
Seriously, Ramon Santiago and Brandon Inge might be the worst offensive left side of an infield in the last 50 years. This is absolutely terrifying to think about.
White Sox announcers whining that Detroit is taking SO LONG to change pitchers here…what’s the hurry? It’s not like you have anywhere to be tomorrow, heh heh.
Galarraga in. Jimmy really wants this game.
LOL @ Coleman
Does anyone know if Garcia managed to hurt himself? I’ve just got gameday today
That is Gallaraga pitching, right?
I’m thinking all the passed balls on Inge this season, and on Pudge before that, have more to do with the pitching this season than the catching….
Poor Dusty…
Leyland is doing his best Ozzie Guillen impression… Bobby Seay in.
Having Armando Galarraga appear in relief on a wet field is just the latest Leyland idiocy. I’m all for contesting the game since it matters, but you don’t put at risk a building block of your starting rotation in this situation. Just absolutely ridiculous.
What next? Verlander warming up?
This is shades of 2006 World Series. Wet field, poor pitching, passed balls. Ugh.
Yay, another intentional walk
Bobby is trying like hell to get that double play ball, but he can’t get Griffey to bite
Woohoo, pitching change! Team savior Gary Glover on the mound
Well, this stinks.
Kiss this one.
Goodbye.
TOP 8 PICK ON THE WAY!
I really thought I couldn’t hate the white sux any more, I guess I was wrong.
Microcosm of Tigers 2008 Season.
Grand slam by Ramirez. Have you ever awoken from a bad dream and gone back to sleep only to have that same dream… about a hundred more times?
Well, lets talk 2009 roster.
Obviously there is no love for Ryan at C and Santiago at SS.
Solutions?
only consolation this game is on ESPN so I don’t have to listen to horrible chitown announcers.
It seems like the only choices for catcher are Ryan or a trade — with the free agent catchers available, you might as well start Sardinha
http://i4.photobucket.com/albu.....by-tek.jpg
I know I’ve been watching this all year, but…
Gary Glover? How does this even happen? How on earth is it possible that this guy is a Tiger? What happened?
Is this a major league team? Walks, passed balls, Bad coaching. I know a little league team that has better fundamentals. This Tigers fan is nauseous.
God, this team sucks.
Good ol’ “Game Over Gary” does his thing…
This game ain’t over.
Curtis may be trying to reach 20 steals by the end of this game
Bring back Pudge for one year at 6 m. That sounds like fair market price.
wow worst team in the Central. Unreal. But we sure have looked like it.
lol the 6th inning was the epitomy of your 2008 tigers.
garcia tweaks his neck after dominating…galarraga came in an pitched like rick ankiel….seay decided, hey there’s still some bases with no one on them, ill put them on…glover comes in, and was like, uh oh, i cant pitch when thers ppl on base, whats the quickest solution to get rid of them…boom, grand slam…
we let floyd off the hook too, we shoulda burned him.
didnt happen, this team is cursed lol, but hey, top 8 draft pick
I seem to remember saying something last week to the tune of “it’s all about pitching”.
Yeah, we’re the worst. And I was hoping we’d win so there’d be a one game playoff with the Royals!
And it’s still a silly argument. If the team could score ten runs a game, horrendous pitching would be irrelevant. Obviously, such would be an unrealistic expectation, and obviously, this team needs better pitching, but to say “it’s ALL about pitching” (my emphasis) is ridiculous.
dave i think with decent pitching this year, they woulda won the division comofrtably….
I will rephrase . . . not ALL, but that certainly is the most important ingredient in modern baseball. And ask yourself what is sillier, expecting offensive explosions of 8-10 runs a game, or consistent pitching which doesn’t walk 6-8 hitters a game and get behind on 65-70% of the counts?
What a disappointment…
Wow. I don’t remember Casey Stengel’s Mets doing any worse than this game.
Truly painful.
I’m not really disappointed in the loss, it just means both the Twins and Sox have to have a one game playoff, that just weakens both for the first round. I’m just disappointed that Tigers couldn’t force the Sox deep into their pen in order to force them to deplete their staff.
This just in . . . rumor has it that the Tiger organization is in talks to replace DD w/ Mr. Mathew Millen. Mr. Millen, as many of you may recall, was the infamous Detroit Lions GM until last week when the Lions organization seemed a bit upset w/his 31-83 record since 2001. Mr. Millen will strongly consider the GM position if he A) Is able to bring Joey Harrington into the starting rotation as Matt feels he has a calling as an ace, and B)He is awarded four titles, one greater than Mr. Dombrowski.
When interviewed today, Mr. Millen said that he is completely confident that he will be able to get the Tigers to at least 5 games below 500 and fourth place in the AL central in 2009.
Is that the kind of Baseball you poor Tiger fans were forced to watch all year? For the fans sake, I hope not. What a pathetic display of a so-called baseball team. 4 walks, 3 wild pitches and a Grand Slam, all in the same inning (that’s all I could stomach)! They should truly be EMBARRASSED! I was embarrassed for all you Tiger fans! YUCK!!
So, moving forward to the off season . . .
Who loses their job other than the two already gone?
What does this organization focus on in the draft?
Who from the Toledo faithful will be back in 2009?
after watching every pitch of that game I fell that I owe Jim Lreyland an apology for all the bad things
I might have said about him this year……
.God couldn’t coach this team
Jim I am sorry
Bitter end to a sour season.
Ugh. Need to go wash this horrible taste out of my mouth now that the season is kaput.
Tiger with the best impact on this game: Raburn (+23.1% WPA)
Tiger with the worst impact on this game: Glover (-22.1% WPA)
Best play of the game: Raburn reaching 1st and Cabrera scoring on Floyd’s error in the 6th. (+16% WPA)
Worst play of the game: Glover giving up a grand slam to Ramirez in the 6th. (-23.5% WPA)