Do you rememer the last time the Tigers went to Seattle? It was in July of last year. The team had just finished a big homestand in which they took 3 out of 5 games from the Twins to evelvate their record to 49-49. While still not in the thick of th wild card race, there weren’t any teams pulling away at that point so the Tigers were one of 7 or 8 teams with some sort of shot. They went into Seattle looking minimally to take two of three, and ideally a sweep from a team that was struggling. After splitting the first two games of the series, The Tigers took the field for the rubber game.
Mike Maroth was on the mound, and Craig Monroe was in center. Mike Maroth struggled early and staked the Mariners to a three run lead in the first inning. The Mariners came back in the second inning and loaded the bases with two outs. Adrian Beltre hit a routine flyball to Monroe that should have ended the inning. Instead it bounced out of his glove, 3 runs scored, and the Tigers went on to lose 9-3. After another defeat, this time to Oakland, Pudge got himself ejected and suspended. The Tigers were swept by Oakland, eliminated from any sort of contention, and Kyle Farnsworth was traded. The players gave up, Pudge took his suspension/vacation, the lockerroom went into disarray, and Trammell was fired.
So I was a litle nervous when I saw that Maroth would be pitching and Craig Monroe would be in centerfield. Alas, my fears were overblown and you were forced to read the longest intro ever to a game recap.
Mike Maroth kept the other team from scoring for the 3rd consecutive game and now leads the majors in ERA. He has yet to be overpowering, he’s allowed some baserunner, but none of them come home. The Mike Maroth phenomenon really deserves a whole post of its own. David Pinto noticed that the heart of the order has been particularly stymied by Maroth.
The three through six hitters are 4 for 32 against Mike with no walks, five strikeouts and three GDPs. He’s yet to allow a hit with a runner past first base. It’s great to see a former 20 game loser off to such a good start.
The offense was held in check by a strong outing by Washburn, but managed to score after a Brandon Inge leadoff double. A groundball after a 10 pitch at-bat by Vance Wilson moved Inge to third so he could score on a Placido Polanco flyball. Pudge added what proved to be an important insurance run with a solo shot in the 9th.
As strong as Maroth has been, I don’t think anyone has looked as impressive as Joel Zumaya. Zumaya pitched two scoreless innings striking out 4, and frankly looking untouchable. One could have made the case that Zumaya pitch the 9th inning as well. Instead, Leyland turned the ball to Todd Jones who was making his first appearance. Jones managed to stay ahead in the count, but still loaded the bases with one out before a sac fly and ground out by Suzuki preserved a one run victory.
As always, Fangraphs has the WPA information if you are so inclined.
Monroe made a great catch in Centerfield also with runners on base. So even more full circle stuff.
Jones certainly earned his nickname of “the rollercoaster” again last night.
Is it me, or does Jones (ability-wise anyway) not belong in our bullpen? I like Jonesy, but I think that a Zumaya-Rodney combo will be much more effective in the long run.
I’m looking pretty smart right now in my fantasy keeper league because I drafted Zumaya. Jones certainly hasn’t changed at all since his last stint in Detroit either. sheesh. I do agree with you, Tony. It seems like Zumaya–>Rodney would be just as good as what we have with Jones.
I do see a possible upside to this. If Detroit gets to be out of the race when it comes to the trade deadline, maybe we could unload Jones to a team in need of help at closer. I feel terribly pessimistic saying something like that when Detroit’s 3 games over .500 in late April, but I’m starting to think Detroit might not have needed the bullpen help as much as everyone thought in the offseason.
Out of the race? I think we should deal him regardless – Zumaya/Rodney is much better, and the whole pen has looked solid so far. Finally got to see Joel last night (living in Canada sucks sometimes), and wow. He was awesome.
I agree Z and Rodney look good, but a month does not make a season, Z is young and we have had our share of the injury bug over the last couple years. Lets make the best of what we have.
Its nice now being in every game and seeing a little fire in their bellies. Does anyone think that a new manager is the difference or is it team chemistry.
I agree with Steve. There’s nothing wrong with depth. Jones probably isn’t the best pitcher in the bullpen, but he’s still an above average reliever. Think about it this way… If you trade Jones, who would they call up? That’s right, Spurling. End of discussion.
I too would like to trade Jones. Though, DD F-ed up b/c his contract is too big to trade. Other GMs are too smart to trade for a guy that had one great year in the last 5. Why give large contracts to guys around 40 years old, Jones and Rogers?!
Could we trade Jones to get Farnsworth back? 😉 I know we can’t, but a man can dream…
I would hope that Leyland would be open minded enough to see just how dominant Rodney and Zumaya have been. Todd Jones has never in his career looked as dominant as those 2 have these past 3 weeks. But we all know how managers fall in love with that designated “closer”, once a man earns that title he never loses it.
I hate when managers get in that, “this guy is the closer” mindset. It’s great when they’re pitching well, but man is it costly when they’re not. I was furious with Trammell last year with his insistence on throwing Urbina out there when he clearly wasn’t getting the job done.
Jones’ contract is indeed way too big. I don’t think the Gambler’s is such a bad contract though. We probably paid him more than he’s worth on the surface, but look at what other starters were getting this offseason and I think we have to count our lucky-stars that we didn’t end up with Albatross contracts like Burnett, Milwood, or Washburn. Those are terrible.
The News reminded its readers today that the Tigers got off to an 11-7 start two years ago and we know how that season ended. Let’s try to keep our enthusiasm in check lest we jinx ourselves!
Although this does feel different…
1) After last night’s efficient and dominant performance, I have to believe Leyland will keep using Rodney as the closer. If he doesn’t, then I’m going to start to believe his old school stubborness is outweighing his old school motivational techniques in terms of benefit to the team.
2) Another comment after last night’s (Saturday night’s) game: Speaking of stubborness, how can Leyland not move Shelton up to the fifth spot in the lineup? Last night, Ordonez comes up in the sixth with two outs and men on first and third. He’s hit three balls hard so far in the game. The Mariners pitch around him to get to Gomez, who strikes out. Does anyone think they would have pitched around Ordonez if Shelton were coming up next?
– Rodney has done really well, but it’s still a small sample size. Few managers will take a player’s job away due to injury. The job is Jones’ to lose, but Leyland now knows that he has other options if Jones isn’t effective.
– Shelton should be hitting behind our two best OBA guys. I’m tired of solo shots.