After a promising start to the road trip, the Tigers ran into some problems in Los Angeles. Now they are looking at the unpleasant end of a sweep unless Rick Porcello can muster a strong performance and the offense can find their way against Hiroki Kuroda.
Porcello has been making some progress in his last two starts, one a gem against the Yankees and the other an “OK” type outing against the White Sox where he gave up 4 runs but lasted 7 innings.
Kuroda is yet another Dodgers starter with strong numbers. He doesn’t have significant platoon splits, though the opposition has hit him a little better at Dodger Stadium.
Austin Jackson is out of the lineup again today due to his beaning. While tests were negative Jim Leyland decided he was going to be spelled regardless.
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 23, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
Comments
58 responses to “Game 2010.044: Tigers at Dodgers”
Wow, Jose Lima passed away…
R.I.P Lima Time
Sad news.
I feel that if everything is physically ok ….. it would be psychologically better for AJ to get back into action right away.
Miggy!
MC Hammers it!
I guess the offense is finding their way against Hiroki Kuroda…
Why anyone would pitch to Cabrera with this lineup is a mystery to me. I just wouldn’t give him anything to hit and let someone else beat me, like…….., like……., oh yeah, Inge, Laird, Worth.
I like how that 1st inning worked out.
I’ll take a DP every inning. Porcello looks to have some good velocity and movement today. If he can continue to keep the ball down, we’ll be doing alright.
He was doing fine for a while, but he started trying to nibble and got behind on counts. You have to go after someone like Martin with a lefty on deck, not pull a Zach Miner.
Hopefully the Brew Crew can close out the Twins in the 9th. Unlike last night.
Well the Brewers took care of business, but not before making it a one run game and loading the bases. We’ve got a good chance to cut the division lead back to 1 game.
It was just a matter of time. Not very efficient and a lot of line drives.
He’s got a lot of ground ball outs. 10-3 ground outs to fly outs so far. I thought he was pretty effecient… until he started nibbling.
Not sure if anyone is listening to the Dodgers broadcast, but Vin Scully loves Brandon Inge. Maybe he’ll talk to management.
It must be in the game notes, about Inge’s not baseball prowess. Scully is the second or third broadcaster to babble on about Inge as Bunyan.
It was more about Inge dunking a basketball, pulling plows with his teeth and taking rockets off of his shin, and less about his career OPS as compared to Mauer’s careeer batting average.
With Porcello due up 2nd in the 7th, this should be his last inning. Make it a good one kid.
I’ll take it. I like our chances with our bullpen.
Yeah, Kevin, I’m watching the Dodgers broadcast, and you’re right. This guy has a total mancrush on Brandon Inge. “Inge can dunk a basketball, high jump, shoot for par, kick a 60 yard field goal, hit the top of the roof with a fungo bat….” I bet he would trade all that away if he could hit above .250 for the year.
And he can check his swing harder than any player perhaps ever.
Looks like it is up to the bullpen again, ’cause I think the Tigers are done scoring for the day.
Big run there, Maggs.
Thanks Maggs, we needed that one
that was a bullet by Maggs, nice. Extra runs are key.
wow the Tigers scored and it isn’t even the first or ninth inning ……Lets go pen close this down
D-Train at the plate!
Darn. We get Everett instead.
Great move to bring Dontrelle in for either the hit or bluff. Finally Jim is starting to use his brain out there to get creative in a positive way.
It was a gag and Torre fell for it. Now we get the real “pinch batter” – “hitter” is a misnomer in the case of Everett.
Good time to call the squeeze.
Oh my God and now he lets Adam hit! Oh good grief!
I can’t believe the squeeze worked!! Holy cow!
By my count, Everett should have 20 suicide attempts on the year at least by now. He and Laird are the best bunters we have and that’s the only thing they can do anyhow, so put 2 and 2 together and just go into auto-suicide mode for both guys.
Pffffffffftttttttttt. LOL
Leyland catches a lot of heat (especially around these parts) but he gets an A+ for his work so far here in the 9th inning. Using Dontrelle to force Torre to go to the lefty was a master stroke.
Wow, I’m impressed
It all began with the masterful Inge checked-swing walk.
Yeah he’s good at that. 😉
C’mon Papa Grande. Let’s have a quick 123. Lost starts in 7 minutes.
One hundred and 23 batters? Thanks for the jinx.
1-2-3 Mr. Literal.
Oh just making sure weren’t a Dodgers fan with a witty pep talk!
You really going to watch the pre-show? Aren’t they just going to go through the hullaballoo about nothing again and say nothing again and waste our time? Shoot, I don’t think I’m going to be watching that. Although I will DVR just in case it is cool. 😉
I’ve been watching for 6 season. I won’t miss a second of tonight’s episode(s). Plus — WE WIN!!!!
When was the last time Willis actually had a bat in his hands? Torre got snookered there. Remember shortly after the trade which brought Willis to Detroit, when Leyland said he would never use him in a PH role? And he has kept his word – ha! The biggest PH gag since the Eddie Geddell episode way back when.
I’m liking what I see with how Worth handles the 2B position
He’s really got some quick feet, doesn’t he? That boy can play…
He’s doing good so far, but his history has shown him to be a failure with the bat. Maybe he has just arrived at a new level and let’s see how long this magic can last, but we shouldn’t bank on it.
Maybe he can be our version of Nick Punto.
I hate Nick Punto.
You do realize Everett has bad range, no speed, no power + doens’t walk. The last year he had an OBP higher than .290 was 2004 and that was in AAAA in a hitters part which he still managed for 3 full years .290 and under. I have no idea why he is even on the roster, I don’t think another team would even take him as a backup.
So if he can have an OBP of 300 with more range and speed he is 10x better and that isn’t exactly difficult, plus he can play 2nd which Everett can’t.
Raz,
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=worth-001dan
he’s better than Everett, I saw his numbers in minors know he isn’t greatest hitter but Everett is worse starter in baseball, he is negative VORP, he has been the worse by every measurement for the last few years he has started so I think it is safe to say he isn’t getting any better. He isn’t even very good defensively, he makes the routine plays but his range sucks. I doubt you could find a worse offensive player, even Laird at least has some speed. Everett was worse in NL 4 years ago. I think his upside is 280 OBP, more than likely will be lower to go along with no power or speed. He lost his speed in 2005 and is worthless now, well actually he is below worthless or replacement level.
Just the fact worth has range, speed and can play second makes him better, it really is difficult to be lower than 280 OBP.
“it really is difficult to be lower than 280 OBP”
Not so difficult that Worth didn’t manage that last year during his stint in AAA.
I think its a little early to say what Worth’s going to be worth offensively (har har har), what with a grand total of 18 PAs. Its not like he’s shown to be better defensively either: in just under 300 minor league games he sported a .968 fielding % and a 4.31 RF/g, which would be below average for MLB SS.
With Santiago getting the bulk of the starts at SS, I don’t see this as being a huge issue anyways, unless Sizemore doesn’t make it back up to the bigs.
as I sat bat Dodger stadium all weekend I kept thinking to myself
1. wish the Tigers would have done more in innings 2-3-4-5-6-7-8
2.why with only 10 minutes before each of the 3 games are only Santiago-Worth-Ordonez and Boesch and twice Damon the only Tigers out stretching and warming up while the entire Dodger team was out there before each game
3. Can Worth play third
4. Is DD actively trying got find us a catcher. I’ll take Ramon 2 out of 3 games at SS.
5. How long will Boesch keep crushing the ball
6. I would like to see Willis pinch hit for Everett or Laird or Avila often
……………………………with the Tiger lack of scoring there was a lot of thinking time….
GO TIGERS
Cabrera out of the Seattle series to be with his wife, who is having their 2nd child.
That’s not so good for the Tigers, but good for them, especially after last September…I’m not sure where we’ll find the offense, but I’ll trust that the light-hitting series will be outweighed by the long-term benefits of Cabrera family happiness
maybe a split would be good with no Cabrerra and the fact that Verlander goes in one of those games