PREGAME: Theoretically Jon Garland will pitch for the Angels and Zach Miner will pitch for the Tigers. But a storm was kicking up as I was leaving Detroit tonight (and this is a real storm, not the metaphorical cloud that has been hanging over Kwame Kilpatrick). Not sure if they’ll get this one in. If they do play, Mike Hessman starts at third base.
LAA @ DET, Wednesday, September 3, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
POSTGAME: Hey, we got a good one.
As an aside, I want to apologize for the lack of attention to the site. I was out of town this weekend, and went to the game Tuesday, and it’s back to school time, and some more excuses like that. I’m not bailing on the season or anything.
Some bulletized thougts on the game:
- The top of the order appears to be clicking again. Granderson hasn’t really stopped since the end of June, but Polanco, Ordonez, and Cabrera have had some ups and downs. Never prolonged mind you, but enough to hamper the offense nonetheless.
- We’re stuck rooting for things like 3rd place (half game out) and .500 (5 games under), but there are some individual accomplishments to cheer on. One that hasn’t gotten attention is that Granderson could get to a .400 OBP. He’s cracked the top 10 in the AL.
- And did you see Granderson score from first on a double that didn’t even reach the wall? Aweseom.
- Speaking of hop in the step, the team has looked faster the last 2 nights. Polanco, Ordonez, and Renteria all seem to have more giddy-up than they’ve had this year. Don’t know where it’s coming from, or where it was until now.
- Mike Hessman had himself a game, with every other ball hit to him and he vacuumed them all. Oh yeah, and a monster homer too.
- Zach Miner wasn’t awful, but not as good as he’s been either. As for the bullpen, they got the job done-ish. Rodney was shaky for the second game in a row.
- Chris Guccione did not have a good game behind the plate. I’m not saying it hurt one team more than the other, but that strike zone was an absolute joke.
- And speaking of not good games, how many catchable balls is Inge going to have go off his glove. The passed balls, 8 of them now, are simply ridiculous.
Comments
53 responses to “Game 139: Angels at Tigers”
Any update on tonight s starting time. Radar looks bad.
I know this is about the lions, but this story is too awesome to miss.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/SPORTS0101/809030437/1004/SPORTS
Proof that Curtis Granderson reads this blog: he has changed his at-bat music from “I wanna sexx u up” to some other song after us making fun of that song when we were posting from Saturday night’s game.
I was expecting this game to provide a distraction from my history methodology class — this season just continues to disappoint.
Uh oh, injury delay. Anyone care to update?
That’s not good.
The Ham Sandwich seems to have a separated crust…
it was when Garland was pitching… it doesn’t seem to have affected the lineups at all
What was with the AFLAC trivia question tonight? Name the 4 AL with 8 or more Gold Gloves.
Pudge was not on that list and he has 11, all in the AL. Not quite sure I understood the question correctly then?
rough inning.
Dave BW – what’s history methodology? Is there another way of doing it? Would it be called “present” or maybe “future?”
That doesn’t make sense, I think Pudge is the ONLY AL active player with 8 or more, I think Ichiro has 7.
The Present is History’s “We Got Next.”
It was AL outfielders with 8 or more gold gloves.
Also, I wanted to add that I love the USA chant for Hessman.
Kevin de Austin:
It’s regarding methods of research in the academic field of history. Please contain your jealousy of my awesome history department grad school curriculum.
I’ve had just about enough of this Arredondo fellow.
Hmm, well the obvious one is Al Kaline, so that satisfies the rule that the trivia question answer has to be related to one of the teams playing. Ichiro only has 7…does Tori Hunter have 8? Kirby Puckett? Dwight Evans?
GRANDERSON TRIPLE and we is tied!
Polanco single and we is winning!
I take it back — Arredondo is all right in my book.
Boy, that does sound fantastic. What was the first chapter – “reading books?”
Don’t worry, grad school is a great idea. I just ran the numbers. I should have my grad school loans paid off by the time Denny McClain gets out of jail.
Kevin in Austin: “I just ran the numbers. I should have my grad school loans paid off by the time Denny McClain gets out of jail.”
Well as long as you’re “running numbers” Denny may want in on the action…
Kevin: Oh, but there’s so much more!!! I’d be happy to send you a precis on the specifics!!!
Coleman: He just walked into that one 🙂
Coleman, genius.
If any of you out there (and by “any of you” I mean Coleman and Dave BW) have an iPhone, the updated MLB At Bat app has added Gameday. It’s fantastic.
I’m at home now, so I’m able to watch the hot Farnsworth action, thank god
Tigers bullpen saves a lead… for a whole inning!
Looking at Speier’s numbers, I’m astounded he’s not in our bullpen
That was Granderson’s 49th career triple, which ties him with, among others, Reggie Jackson (that’s a lot of triples for a guy with 560 HR; on the other hand, Hank Aaron had 98!!) and Gary Pettis…tied for 693rd on the all-time list (that triples list is a @#!! to climb).
Interestingly, this season he passed by Carlos Guillen and Pudge Rodriguez on the list.
Hey wait a minute are you SURE that’s not our bullpen? We’ll probably sign this guy in the offseason then.
JOYCE HOMERUN!!!! 9-6.
Rodney, I swear to god.
Hessman makes a nice catch on a popup that may well save the game
Strikeout of the strikeout-prone Napoli ends the game!
Well, the Angels will never get anywhere this season with a strikeout-prone .215-hitting catcher–they’re doomed!
Nice 🙂
Semi-relatedly, I’ve always liked Napoli… some real Three True Outcomes potential
I’ve been on vacation for 2 weeks, did I miss anything?!
Wowie Zowie! Tigers win, a really good win, too, against a really good team. Ahead, behind, tied, behind, ahead, win. You probably won’t find 5 other games from 2008 like that. Good, good win.
Miner walks ZERO in 6. Only 2 walks allowed by the staff in 9. You probably won’t find 10 other games like that in 2008.
Hope is alive for my 19-6 September. Hey, I called the 11-17 August at the beginning of August, and I was only one off from my early June prediction of 56-52 by August 1 (55-53), so I’m building a track record of wild predictions that materialize.
Go Hessman! Curtis Granderson for President! Don’t trade Magglio – no way, no how. Love that guy.
And now it’s Guillen vs. Sheffield for DH in 2009, even if the Tigers don’t know it yet. Gotta go with Guillen. Sheff isn’t happy in Detroit. Maybe there’s a team out there willing to pick up a wee bit of his contract and give him a shot in LF and make him happy.
Taking 2 of 3 from the Angels would be huge. Then it’s on to the Metrodome to rock someone’s world. Oh yeah.
My flabber has been officially gasted. Once they went down 5-3, I wrote the words “Game Over” in my notebook. OK I stole that last sentence from Gregg Easterbrook and I don’t have a notebook but if I did I would have written that.
Rough game for Joyce, I see. Not much of a showing by Rapada, either. Rodneycoaster.
Not bad when 15 words can encapsulate all the negatives in a game. Then again, a number of bad games this season could be captured in one word, so…
I could be wrong, but I think the chances for the 2 DPs turned were enhanced by the absence of Messrs. Guillen and (by happenstance) Renteria. In any case, a game with a 5-4-3 DP and no errors anywhere is another rarity for the 2008 Tigers.
“My flabber has been officially gasted.”
That’s the sentence I like. Yours, right? Pretty darn good. It’s going to spawn imitations.
My flum has been officially moxed.
My whelm has been officially overed.
My away has been officially blown.
OK, that last one wasn’t so good.
The Cubs are going to regret not giving the Tigers Henry Blanco for Gary Sheffield when they had the chance.
Sean, you forgot that your dum has been founded.
This is entirely unrelated to the Tigers, and I’m not even a Lions fan but this whole Rudi Johnson/Tatum Bell story is the leader in the clubhouse for Retardedest Sports Story of 2008. You Detroit people need to give me the inside dope.
“Sean, you forgot that your dum[b] has been founded.”
D’oh! Obviously, I need even more caffeine even earlier.
I’m waiting – with great suspense – to hear what Victor DeGrate has to say, assuming he hasn’t left the country already.
Why did I click on a link pertaining to the Lions? I feel cheap and violated. Had. Thanks, Stephen.
Kenny Roger’s last start against the Angels (May 26, in Anaheim) was arguably his best start of the year, and it was the beginning of an incredible run for him: 11 starts, 8 quality starts, WHIP of 1.34, 4-2 with a 2.92 ERA.
Does Kenny turn it around again today? I say yes.
Then again… Ervin Santana. The Tigers haven’t hit him so far this season. Start Thames. He’s about due for some kind of big hit. I want 2 HR from Sheffield and at least 1 from Thames.
Oh, I noticed a similarity between E. Santana and Verlander in season by season career numbers. Maybe superficial. But it would be nice to see Justin come back with a Santana-like season in 2009.
Look at Santana’s home/road splits prior to this year. Let’s hope he reverts to that form. Wait, what am I saying? He’s on my fake baseball team. I need the Tigers to eke out a 1-0 victory for ERA and WHIP purposes.
OK nevermind. I’ll do the heavy lifting for you. Ervin Santana likes Angel Stadium. A lot. Elsewhere not so much.
2005: (H) 9-3, 3.18 (A) 3-5, 7.43
2006: (H) 10-2, 3.02 (A) 6-6, 5.95
2007: (H) 6-4, 3.27 (A) 1-10, 8.38
This year his splits are almost identical, but the previous three seasons were quite wacky. Someone change the calendar in the visitors clubhouse to read ‘2007’ posthaste.
More good news. Career at CoPa for Magic Santana. Look at it. It screams at me. Like a valkyrie. Wow, that rhymed.
1-2, 10.29 ERA, 14 IP, 20 H, 4 HRA.
By all means, Country Strong needs to get the chance to get his jimmy jack on.
I’m getting more excited about this matchup by the second. I’m talking like poop-my-pants excited. Ervin Santana under the mean old sun in 2008: 2-2, 5.23 ERA. For his career, UV rays inflate his ERA to 5.68. Interestingly, though, his career ERA on grass is 4.21. He should be subjected to a drug test. Sorry, I’ve been waiting to use that joke all season.
Looks like there’s fair chance of rain throughout the game. Current conditions are supposedly clear, but I’m not in Detroit right now. Surprisingly enough.
Wow, Chris. You’ve spun the matchup more masterfully than I could have – I only took a superficial look at Santana’s numbers and said “uh-oh.” Now I’m pooping my pants, too. Valkyrie maidens cry!