The Tigers announced that The Four Tops will be performing the National Anthem prior to game 3. Other stuff of note is that Al Kaline will throw out the first pitch, Ernie Harwell will be in the house on ESPN and WXYT, and the Joint Services Color Guard from Selfridge Air National Guard Base will present the colors. Here’s hoping for a fly-over also. I’m a sucker for the fly-over.
For those of you heading down, gates will open at 6pm.
I’ve finally had a chance to watch this game through the magic of ReplayTV. It was a great and thrilling win. The Tigers hit with decent power and make the most of their scoring chances.
As for Justin Verlander’s performance…I’ll just say that he survived the Yankees lineup. The 105 pitches in 6 1/3 innings and the 4 walks were probably enough to tell you that. His only “easy” inning began when Bobby Abreu just missed a home run on a line drive that was hit so hard it only resulted in a single. Fortunately it was a single because Gary Sheffield hit into a double play to follow it up. Verlander certainly had plenty of gumption on his fastball. He also threw a few tremendous curves and one that had Sheffield ducking on a pitch over the plate.
Continue reading ALDS Game 2: Aftermath
The great state of Michigan is crazy for their Tigers and can’t wait to host their first playoff game in 19 years. The great state of Michigan is also enamored with football and coincidentally the state’s 2 biggest universities are facing off on Saturday in Ann Arbor.
So of course MLB and Fox decide that it will be a good idea to make the Tigers-Yankees a 4pm start to go up against the Michigan-MSU game which is set to kick off at 4:30pm. Nevermind the 100,000+ viewers who couldn’t possibly turn in because they’ll be at a football game, do you think anyone will actually be sticking around to watch any of that precious advertising in between innings?
What’s silly is that there are 3 games scheduled for 4pm, and only 1 in the 1pm slot. The 1 o’clock game stands a good chance not to be played because Minnesota is down 2-0 and headed to Oakland. An A’s win on Friday night, and there is no 1pm game. (Thanks Paul)
Now they could have scheduled the game at 1pm instead of the Cards/Padres game which is occupying the time slot. There is also a 7:30 timeslot which would have worked nicely but the Mets get that one.
I’m grumpy because I’m going to be one of those 100k in Ann Arbor. I’m not the same kind of grumpy I was today at work because it’s hard to be too upset about going to a college football game. I’m just frustrated by senseless acts of scheduling.
PREGAME: After losing last night, tonight’s game becomes probably more “must-win” than any the Tigers have played this year.
The Tigers will send out the same lineup as last night, but with right hander Justin Verlander on the mound. Verlander faced the Yankees in June and allowed 6 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks while pitching with a cut on his throwing hand. Justin will be making his first start since the Tigers clinched the wild card on September 24th. Really, it was the last happy day for the Tigers and their fans. Of course he’s a key to the Tigers success tonight so here’s hoping he’s more rested than rusty.
The Yankees will send out Mike Mussina who dominated the Tigers in May as he was an Alex Rodriguez throwing error away from a complete game shut out. Really he’s dominated the Tigers during his entire existence. The current Tigers roster has mustered exactly 2 home runs in their careers against Mussina. What makes Mussina difficult is that he doesn’t seem to fall into typicaly patters. He’s as likely to throw breaking stuff whether he’s ahead or behind in the count. The trick is to get runners on base – which is no small feat. With the bases empty Mussina’s OPS against is a meager 587 but with runners on it is 775.
CF Granderson
2B Polanco
1B Casey
RF Ordonez
SS Guillen
C Rodriguez
LF Monroe
DH Thames
3B Inge
CF Damon
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
1B Sheffield
DH Giambi
3B Rodriguez
LF Matsui
C Posada
2B Cano
Game Time 8:09 Game Time 1:09
I can’t think of a way that bumping the game to tomorrow will materially effect much. It may mean that Joel Zumaya won’t be used 2 innings, but that’s about it. Oh yeah, and I won’t be able to see it because I’ll be at work.
POSTGAME Of all the days to have meetings all afternoon. I managed to catch the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings on the radio. When I went into a meeting to start the 8th, one of my co-workers made a point of walking by the conference room holding up the score each half inning.
I’ll have a proper wrap up in a couple hours. Thanks for all the comments keeping this place humming this afternoon.
Yes the Yankees lineup is formidable, but if you look at the final box score you see a Tiger team that nearly matched them hit for hit. The Yankees posted 14 hits, 5 for extra bases including 2 homers. The Tigers banged out 12 hits, 7 for extra bases including 2 homers. The difference tonight was execution.
The Tigers couldn’t execute a hit and run and shot themselves in the foot. While the hit and run was questionable with Ordonez as the lead runner, given Wang’s extreme ground ball tendencies it wasn’t an awful call. The problem was the swing and miss.
Nate Robertson couldn’t field 2 different comebackers (Brandon Inge picked him up on the 2nd) and the first one led to the big inning.
The Tigers had their chances but weren’t able to capitalize often enough.
I’m not saying this loss was bad luck or anything of the sort. The Tigers were beat. But they weren’t outslugged. They weren’t scared. They weren’t playing like a team that was just swept by the Royals. I’m encouraged. The Tigers deserve to be here and they played like it.
The Yankees won it because they put together quick scoring blitzes the Tigers can’t match, which is what happened when they popped Nate Robertson for five runs and six consecutive hits in the third. The Tigers have too many soft spots in their batting order to blow up a game the way New York can. One inning, six batters, and the Yankees put away a ballgame.
“Now, we’re experienced,” pitcher Nate Robertson proclaimed with a smile Tuesday night.
That’s fine, but one game into their first playoff series in 19 years, the Detroit Tigers are also one game down. They weren’t embarrassed in Tuesday night’s 8-4 loss to the New York Yankees, but could they really come away encouraged after a game where the Yankee lineup looked every bit as good as advertised?
WasWatching.com: October 3rd vs. The Tigers
Lastly, the Tigers did not look scared or tense tonight. They sure did not look like a team that just choked up a division. I expect them to show up tomorrow and play tough. The Yankees should expect that as well.
Replacement Level Yankees Weblog
This game showed me a few things. One, Detroit’s not intimidated by the Yankees and this series will not be easy. Two, the Yankee bullpen is a scary thing. Three, the Yankee offense can explode at any time. Four, Gary Sheffield made a really nice stretch on a low throw in the early innings. He doesn’t look smooth at first, but he’s looking more and more capable.
I’m trying to stay optimistic but the Yankees line-up is amazing. It’s literally an all-star line-up from top to bottom, perhaps the best line-up in the history of the game when all are healthy. They are an incredibly well disciplined team. It seems like they never swing at a bad pitch and when you give them something to hit they hit a line drive. It’s quite a contrast to the free swinging Tigers.
MICHAEL ROSENBERG: Tigers haven’t shaken late-season woes
Much has been made of the Tigers’ inexperience on the big stage. But as Leyland often says, he’ll take talent over experience. And in this series, maybe that debate is moot. The Yankees have more of both.
New York Daily News – Baseball – Bill Madden: Detroit’s slip showing
At least they showed they weren’t awed by Yankee Stadium and all its aura this time of year. But, in the end, they were unable to contain that lineup. Once again, we saw hints of a Yankee pitching staff that is beatable, and it would appear if they are to fulfill The Boss’ mandate of nothing short of a world championship, the Bombers are going to have to bludgeon their way to it.
PREGAME: Despite the prevailing wisdom that the Yankees will win the series, MLB decided to still actually play the games. Tonight it will be Nate Robertson taking on Chien Ming Wang.
The Tigers will face Wang for the 3rd time this year. They’ve had very little success posting a 250/327/273 line with all of 1 extra base hit (a double by Curtis Granderson). Wang doesn’t strike out many batters, not even Tigers, but he does force hitters to beat the ball into the ground. The high ground ball rate of course limits homer potential and Wang has allowed only 12 gopher balls. For a team that relies on the long ball this isn’t a great match-up.
Nate Robertson started twice against the Yankees. The first meeting Nate allowed 2 runs over 7 innings, and then 4 more in the last inning and 2/3. In the last meeting he only surrendered 2 runs but lost to Chien Ming Wang. For the season Yankee hitters are knocking him around at a 312/366/438 clip.
CF Granderson
2B Polanco
1B Casey
RF Ordonez
SS Guillen
C Rodriguez
LF Monroe
DH Thames
3B Inge
CF Damon
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
1B Sheffield
DH Giambi
3B Rodriguez
LF Matsui
C Posada
2B Cano
Game Time 8:19
Go Get ’em Tigers!
POSTGAME: Maybe I’m delusional, but this game seemed much closer than the score. A comebacker Robertson can’t field cleanly, a ground ball just under the glove of Placido Polanco, and this game is a lot closer. But such is baseball. The Tigers battled back and continued to get men on base but moral victories don’t get you very far in the playoffs.
What’s disappointing is that Wang was as hittable as he gets and the Tigers got into the Yankees bullpen early enough to make things interesting. But to no avail.
In my mind I kind of laid out a long preview of the upcoming series. Fortunately for me, some other bloggers already beat me to it. As it is, it will be a much shorter preview while I lean on their work.
Continue reading ALDS Preview: Tigers and Yankees
Listening to the post game show on the way home from the game it sounds like Ramon Santiago is in over Chris Shelton and Zach Miner is in over Andrew Miller.
The Miller/Miner decision seemed pretty clear cut, even with Miner’s debacle on Saturday night. Miller hadn’t been that effective that he would warrant a spot over the other guys in the bullpen.
As for the last position player, I think this move is foolish yet understandable. Chris Shelton was given a few pinch hitting opportunities in the last week and he looked awful. If he does something, or anything positive in those at-bats and he makes the roster. Instead the Tigers take the Perez/Infante/Santiago trio of back-up infielders.
So the squad is as follows:
Infielders: Casey, Polanco, Guillen, Inge, Infante, Perez, Santiago
Outfielders: Monroe, Granderson, Ordonez, Gomez, Thames
Catchers: Rodriguez, Wilson
Starting Pitchers: Robertson, Verlander, Rogers, Bonderman
Relief Pitchers: Jones, Rodney, Zumaya, Walker, Ledezma, Grilli, Miner
It was also announced that Nate Robertson would start game 1 and Justin Verlander would start game 2. Interestingly, Nate Robertson was warming up and looked to be next in line if the game continued. And with Verlander starting game 2, I won’t have to finish that Rick Ankiel article I was writing.
PREGAME: Well, this is it. For the bulk of the week the Tigers were in a terrific position to clinch the division. As the Twins continued to lose there were so many favorable scenarios for the Tigers (i.e. “they just have to win 3 of their last 5 and it won’t matter what the Twins do”). But now here we are on the last day of the season and it’s all pretty simple. Win and you win. Lose and you hope for a Twins loss.
Back in July when I bought tickets for today’s game, and even back on Sunday, and even yesterday afternoon, I didn’t expect this to be a potential clinching game. So much for a nice relaxing day with the family. But the good news is this could also be one of the most memorable Tiger games I’ve ever attended. I’ll be in the rightfield grandstand, so the out-or-town scoreboard won’t be an option for me.
Jeremy Bonderman will start, which indicates he wouldn’t be pitching until Game 3 of the playoffs at the earliest.
Lefty Odalis Perez will start for the Royals.
Game Time 1:05pm
POSTGAME: There aren’t words to express how disappointed I am right now. It was a beautiful day. There was an electric sold out crowd. There was a big early lead that yet another starting pitcher couldn’t hold onto long enough to even qualify for a win. There was another collapse by a member of the bullpen (which really turned in a very good performance outside of Rodney). There was a dramatic game tying homer. There was a walk-off grand slam that hooked foul. There was the lost opportunity as 2 hitters failed to put the ball in play with the winning run on third. There was Kenny Rogers walking in a run in relief.
I’m frustrated and disappointed, and generally miserable right now.
As was the case all weekend, the game and the division were there for the taking, and the Tigers didn’t take it.
As for collapsing or choking, you can call it what you want. Just be consistent in what you’re saying. If you’re calling this a bad team, then you can’t call what just happened a collapse or a choke because they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. If you think they’re a pretty good team that woefully underachieved down the stretch, then so be it.
I won’t disagree that the expectations for this team changed from the begining of the season, and rightfully so. There is no denying that the last week was awful. The end result is this, this team won 95 games and Comerica Park will be hosting its first playoff game this week. I have a hard time being disappointed about that.
PREGAME: I’ll get this up nice and early today in case anybody cares to comments on the Twins/White Sox game this afternoon.
As for the Comerica Park match-up it will be bullpen mishmash day. Zach Miner will take the ball for Detroit. He hasn’t thrown more than 40 pitches in a game since August 18th, and he threw 2 1/3 innings on Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see how long Leyland will let him go.
For the Royals, they will use Ambirorix Burgos who will be making his first career start after 126 relief appearances over the last 2 years.
It’s cold, rainy, and generally miserable today. But I don’t think there’s anyway Detroit wants a double header tomorrow so they’ll play it one way or another.
Game Time 7:05
UPDATE: Twins go down to the White Sox. The Magic Number is at 1. I’m sure the Royals would just assume not be part of 3 clinching celebrations in a one week span, but for everyone’s sanity please take care of this tonight.
POSTGAME: This is becoming unnecessarily stressful. I actually missed the first 4 innings of this game due to another commitment, but when you’re starting pitcher lasts 1/3 of an inning, it certainly doesn’t bode well. After Andrew Miller through 56 pitches (that seems like a lot for a guy that prized but circumstances certainly weren’t favorable), Jason Grilli and Chad Durbin pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing only 1 run. The offense tried clawing back, but like Thursday the deficit proved to be too much.
The one question is have is, where is Jordan Tata? I thought Leyland may be saving him to pitch in Bonderman’s spot today, but given how last night transpired it became pretty clear Jeremy would make his start.
PREGAME: Who would have thought that a Tigers-Royals series to end the season would mean so much back in March? Who would have thought it would have meant this much back in August?
In any case, the Tigers have used up any margin for error they had accumulated in the early part of the season. The Twins have tied them and the magic number is at 3 with 3 to go.
For the Royals it will be Runelvys Hernandez who was shelled last Sunday. He’ll be opposed by Wil Ledezma who was quite good, save for a fielding error, in his last start against the Royals. The Tigers hopefully won’t need perfection from Ledezma tonight, but a solid 6 innings would be wonderful.
Game Time 7:05
POSTGAME: Yeah, this one hurts. The Tigers blew the 5 run lead early, could have put the division away, and…yeah.
Pudge was decidedly un-clutch between the pop-up in the 9th and the double play grounder in the 11th.
The Clevlen tagging up decision was, ummm, surprising?
Taking Ledezma out after 5 effective and efficient innings when you need your whole bullpen for the next day was, ummm, curious?
I’m just pretty much speechless.
As a heads up, tomorrow’s Twins/White Sox game starts at 11:10am.
A collection of observations, links, and items of note from the last week:
How many times did we hear this year that the Tigers own the Twins, and the White Sox own the Tigers? Now a popular refrain is that the A’s are a more favorable first round opponent than the Yankees because the Yankees own the Tigers. (I’m not questioning that the A’s are more favorable, just the reasoning). Now did anybody notice that the Tigers went 7-7 over their last 14 games against those same White Sox who owned them. Or more troubling, that the Tigers went 8-8 over their last 16 games against those Twins who they owned?
As for the Tigers 2-5 record against the Yankees, keep in mind that 5 of those games were decided by 2 runs or less or went to extra innings. And as for that last series, the Tigers were outscored by a whopping 2 runs (11-9) over 3 games in the Bronx.
Since September 15th the Tigers have had 16 at-bats with the bases loaded, or a little more than one a game. During the mighty slump, spanning August 8th to September 14th (34 games) the Tigers only had 12 at-bats with the bases loaded.
I’m not even worried about how they did in those stretches. It’s all about the opporutunities.
Continue reading I’m just saying