PREGAME: Armando Galarraga makes his 3rd start in Dontrelle Willis’s spot in the rotation. In the first two he has allowed 4 hits, 4 walks, and only 2 runs in 12 innings.
For the Angels it will be Dustin Moseley. Moseley allowed 7 homers in 92 innings last year, but he’s already at 4 in 19.2 innings in 2008. He made one start against Detroit in 2007 and was knocked out in the 5th inning after allowing 4 runs.
This game is a Fox game of the week. The good news is that this is the “B” game meaning we avoid Joe Buck. The bad news for everyone not living in LA or Detroit you won’t be able to see the game.
LAA @ DET, Saturday, April 26, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 3:55pm
POSTGAME: Another game for Armando Galarraga, another rough day for opposing offenses. After a rough first inning featuring 2 walks and an error, Galarraga got out of it and carried a no hitter into the sixth inning. And like with Nate Robertson’s start the night before, he did it very efficiently getting into the 7th inning on only 80 pitches.
The Angels figured him out though in the 7th inning, or he just got rattled after an error fielding a bunt. Regardless, it was another quality start for a team that is desperate for them.
Aquilino Lopez nearly got out of the 7th with the lead, but a 2 out single plated the tying run negating the win for Galarraga.
As for the offense, it’s funny how things work out. On Friday night the Tigers had some real good at-bats and well hit balls turn into outs. Today they had some poorly hit balls go their way. Gary Sheffield hit a ball to the wall on Friday night that if it just a little harder would have been a grand slam. Today he hit a chopper over the mound that if it were hit just a little harder would have been an inning ending double play. Instead it resulted in an RBI. Curtis Granderson also benefited from a bloop double. So these things kind of resolve themselves.
Granderson also picked up a triple. And Polanco had his second consecutive multi-hit game. Things are starting to look normal at the top of the Tigers line-up.
Comments
60 responses to “Game 25: Angels at Tigers”
This is the biggest shame in sports. I shell out $120 for MLB.TV and I cannot watch the game in Chicago. Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous.
I feel your pain Frank, all Sat afternoon games are blacked out on MLB.tv – deal with Fox. Get a Slingbox for some fam back in Detroit.
I feel good about today. We played good yesterday, I can’t say enough about Granderson since he’s been back. I think it is very, very important that we get this game. We need to go into tomorrow with the opportunity to win the series.
I’m in the same boat, Frank. Not much you can do about it except maybe write Fox Sports and MLB some nasty e-mails. You won’t get anywhere, but you might feel better.
Luckily for me, we get to see this game in Toledo. Sucks to be an Indians fan. But we knew that.
Oh man, should be out of this inning. Tough start.
Man, what great composure by Galarraga. MLB gamecast (pretty screwed up in the 1st inning) showed that K pitch waaaaay outside. Any truth to that?
huge strikeout
Kevin– Nah, it was a bit outside, but the ump squeezed him on a couple of those ball calls. It evened out.
MLB Gamecast is really jacked up, can someone give me a quick synopsis of the bottom of the 1st?
Anyone know what is going on? Were getting Tribe/Yanks on the left coast. GameDay totally jacked……
Granderson popup, Polanco single, Sheff K, Placido steals second on called strike three, Maggs double down line, Cabrera line out to 3rd.
…also, try ESPN GameCast. Sometimes that works when GameDay doesn’t, and vice versa.
1-2-3 bottom 2nd, by the way.
It looks like it has fixed itself now. Gracias, Matt.
Wind gusts 20 – 30 MPH. I don’t know how some of the fans can be there with just tshirts on. The temp has dropped at least 25 degrees just overnight.
Galarraga looks pretty good after 1st inning walks. Hard not to like this guy.
I got my HD TV today and the indians are the FOX game. Bummer………. Oh well ESPN has the game Sunday .
Let’s pick both of these up PP.
HUUUUUUUUUGE.
Fourteen in a row. Nice.
Fifteen.
And this jerk announcer keeps mentioning you-know-what. Didn’t he do this the last time on the Saturday game?
I didn’t say it. I didn’t. Brennaman did. It’s his fault.
Damn.
Well, I’m not too happy with Vladi right now.
Armando Galarraga, welcome to the 2008 Tigers starting rotation. We are very pleased to have you.
Galarraga at 75 pitches coming up to 5-9. How wonderful would it be for him to get through 8? Though I’ll gladly take 7.
I’m not concerned with no-hitters (although they are fun to have) I just want to win the game.
That’s okay, go and get him. Nice game Galarraga.
God damn it! I hate it when errors lead to big innings.
Man, bummer for Galarraga. But Lopez did well there. Let’s get one back.
Two out clutch hits, we could have used one of those last night.
Curtis Grrrrrrrrrrranderson!
Man, Grandy did not miss a beat! Absolutely incredible for him to already be playing at such a high level.
IBB to get to Sheffield? OUCH. Maybe it is time to move him down in the lineup…
Oh man, come on, Sheff. Need at least a fly ball here.
Uh, okay. We’ll take that, I guess.
Wow, we’ll take it.
Boy, you really crushed that one, Sheff.
At least it got the run home. Maggs needs to pile it on here.
I’m getting tired waiting for Sheffield to actualy do something. He is supposed to be the designated hitter… He has been the designated easy out.. Time to retire Shef… Time to call it a career
This was a pretty well-played game thus far, too. I’m just glad it’s the visiting team undergoing the humiliating defensive meltdown.
This is the Tigers we all wanted to see. Coming back in the bottom of the inning after Angels tie the game up. Wonderful.
Granderson really gets this thing going.
What a weird $%^&ing inning. Especially hearing it on the radio.
OK, back up by 3, let’s shut the door and get the win.
Watching Granderson so far makes me wonder how the start of the season would have been diferent if he had been in the lineup on opening day. There is no way of knowing, but the piece of garbage pitcher who hit him in the hand probibly cost us 2-3 games.
Sheffield to DL, Guillen to DH, Inge to 3B, Sardhina to backup catcher. Now.
Okay Jones, bottom of the order, 2 run lead. Let’s try not to complicate this one. Just pitch to contact.
Yeah, at what point do the Tigers give up on Sheffield? With all the $$$ tied up on him, it must be a hard decision. But, he’s been awful. They showed that he’s hit .182 in the last 59 GAMES. Awful.
At this point, he is making such poor contact he’s either popping up or hitting weak dribblers nearly every at-bat.
Dang, Inge! What hustle even if he didn’t catch it.
Nice win for the Tigers. Now, let’s get that Sunday nighter and win another series.
Good game. Let’s take the series manana. Can’t wait.
Let’s just avoid embarassing ourselves on national TV tomorrow night. These Sunday night games never seem to turn out well.
great win today in all aspects.
The pen comes thru again….. Nice win.. BTW, this is our 1st Saturday win of the season. Tomorrow can be the 1st Sunday win.
OK Jim & Dave, it is time to set Shef on the shelf and put together the team on the field who can best win games. whether he is not hitting because he is on the pine, or if he is not hitting while being in the lineup, the money paid to him is LOST… GONE! At some point we need to recognize and avoid the trap of chasing sunk costs and just eat the money and move on.
Sheffield is the perfect example of why you never give long-term contracts to 40-year olds. Because the Tigers have so much “invested” in him, I am sure they feel obligated to let him play and hope he starts to hit. But he has just plain been sucking wind since the middle of last season.
Pretty sad if you walk Polly to get to Sheff. However, were I Scioscia, that’s exactly what I would have done, too.
Also, batting Jones behind Cabrera doesn’t exactly provide quality protection there.
Terrific game!!
I’d give Gary a few more games to get it goin. He was pretty good last year for a while. If he can’t get it goin, then they’ll have to put him on the DL or he’ll have to retire.
Sheff had some good at bats the last two games. Did you see him hit the ball to the left-center fence last night?
They weren’t walking Polanco to get to Sheff, either. They were walking Polanco to set up the double play, which is what you do when you have only 1 out and have a runner at third. It wasn’t like they thought they had a better chance at getting Sheffield out, but that they had a better chance of getting out of the inning unscathed by setting up the double play.
Eric, that may be the case; however, it’s not exactly a secret that Sheffield is struggling/injured, or whatever. No disrespect to Sheffield — but managers will often play the odds per the cycles of slumpling/streaky players — it kinda reminds me of a couple years back when A-Rod was mired in a horrible slump and pithcers were actually deliberately walking batters to get to A-Rod.
I’m with Kathy — Sheffield can still be an asset. He wasn’t exacly lighting up the bases in April last year either — yet he posted MVP-like numbers in May and June. From what I’ve seen, Sheff’s a streaky-kinda player. I’m just waiting for him to turn a corner. Provided, however, his shoulder is 100% healthy.
But they would have done the same thing if it was Sheffield and Ordonez. They would have walked Sheff to get to Maggs, because you need a DP to stop a run from scoring. You see this all the time in Boston with Ortiz getting walked to get to Manny, because Manny grounds into a lot of double plays.
Need explanation…… Scored my first game, and added up all the stats, etc. Why does Galaragga have 1 ER credited to him? I understand Hunter reached on an error in the top of the 7th, but shouldn’t the other two runs (Anderson and Izturis) count as ERs to Galarraga? Thanks.
Steve:
Izturis scored with two outs, which he obviously would not have done if Hunter had been put out. Therefore, Anderson was the only earned run of the inning. In fact, if the Angels had gone on to score ten more runs after two were out, they would also have gone down as unearned runs.
Thanks!
I don’t want Sheff to go to the 60 day DL because he’s been terrible, but to try to just get the shoulders healthy down the stretch. Obviously we don’t need him in this lineup, but his plate discipline is always a welcomed addition, but only if he’s not hitting weak dribblers or popping up on the infield. I think a 60 day DL stint can help him more then it hurts him — even if it makes him frustrated.
I don’t think the shoulders are going to get any healthier than they are right now with 3 cortisone shots in them, MikeR. This is probably the best he’s gonna be. If he has no pain, he’ll start to hit…that’s a given just like he did last year until the shoulder injury again. He’s not going to have surgery again so this is the last hurrah for him. Obviously, he’ll have to come out if there’s no improvement but let’s give a few games. He was fabulous last year for those few months.