2006 Season

The sweep thread – Detroit takes down Seattle

14 Comments

For a few minutes there in the 8th inning, I thought I might be titling this post “Sweepless in Seattle.” Fortunately the Tigers held onto the lead and Detroit heads into Anaheim wiht their second 5 game winning streak of the season. In the process of knocking off the Mariners, Detroit guaranteed themselves a winning record on the road trip. When the team left Detroit last Monday, I think everyone would have been content coming back 5-4. But thanks to their recent play I can enthusiastically say a 5 win trip would be disappointing.

I’ll post a full series wrap up tomorrow. In the meantime, a few bulletized thoughts on the game

  • The Verlander/Hernandez match up lived up to the expectations. Even though Verlander got the win, and was certainly the more efficient pitcher today, Hernandez seemed more dominant. He even had Detroit’s better hitters shaking their heads with 9 K’s.
  • I was happy to see Verlander pulled when he was. Ninety-three pitches was plenty after his last 121 pitch outing. Fortunately there didn’t seem to be any short term ramifications. Verlander seemed to have his full velocity, and touched 101mph.
  • I couldn’t help but feel bad for Rene Rivera. He threw two balls into centerfield and had a passed ball that allowed a run to score. And he struck out twice.
  • Our back-up catcher certainly was up to the task. Vance Wilson’s biggest play came when he short hopped a throw from Santiago while blocking the plate to tag out Ichiro Suzuki. Plus he reached base in 3 of his 4 plate appearances.
  • I was very happy to see the win, especially given the lineup. With Omar Infante, Ramon Santiago, and Vance Wilson all starting, it wasn’t the teams optimal configuration. Yet all 3 of the subs found ways to contribute offensively and defensively.
  • Joel Zumaya proved to be human. Maybe he isn’t as shocking coming in after Verlander as opposed to Rogers/Maroth/Robertson. Maybe Seattle had a chance to figure him out since they saw him on Friday. Maybe it was just one of those things. Fortunately he picked the right game to struggle.
  • There was probably lots of second guessing of bringing in Todd Jones to pitch the 9th instead of Fernando Rodney. I’m okay with it, and not just in retrospect. Rodney got through that last out of the 8th, but it wasn’t graceful. If Jones weren’t available I’m sure Rodney would have come back out, but why not take advantage of the bullpen depth? Plus, for those worried about who the closer should be, Rodney drew the much more critical situation. Whether or not it was Leyland’s intention, Fernando Rodney filled the true role of closer today.

14 thoughts on “The sweep thread – Detroit takes down Seattle”

  1. King Felix seemed dominant today with 9 K’s, but remember that it was against our “B” team. Also, I think that Felix will continue to struggle like this until he really learns how to pitch. No question he has great stuff, but he needs to learn that a ground-out is just as good as a strike-out. Of course, this is the same problem that Zumaya is facing, IMO, especially the 2nd time a line-up sees him. I think that Verlander’s experience in college is what makes him a superior (and smarter) pitcher to Hernandez and Zumaya right now; He’s learning to pitch effectively without K’s.

  2. I’m not that convinced that the B lineup played much of a factor in how dominant King Felix looked. What impressed me most was his strikeouts of Ordonez and Shelton–arguably our two best hitters.

  3. I was at the game today and lucked into a front row seat. Took some notes and thought I would share. (I’m a Red Sox fan, but root for the Tigers in the Central-AL East blood.)

    I watched Verlander warm up and the Tigers take BP. Granderson and Monroe looked impressive in the cage with some serious pokes into the bullpens. It was cool to see Leyland. About one-third of the way through BP, he went to LF with two coaches and smoked a few right out there in the OF. The guy has a presence. You could just see it with the way people listened to him and when others like Fernando Rodney interacted with him.

    Before Verlander warmed, I saw Todd Jones and asked how his hammy was. He nodded in approval, so he must be ok.

    Verlander was tough. He was throwing gas. I did not realize how tall and lanky he was. I was curious to see how he would respond after throwing 117 pitches in his last outing. Damn good was how he responded. He hit 101 once, and was around 95-98 the whole game. He did not surrender a hit until the 5th. He was not striking many out, (finished with only 2 Ks), but the Ms were off balance while he was in there. Many pitches were just barely fouled off behind the plate. I had him at 10 pitches after 1, 42 after 3, 53 after 4, 75 after 5, and he was done after 7 innings and 83 pitches.

    Shelton was still batting sixth, after DH Carlos Guillen. I don’t get it, but Detroit is winning, so whatever…Craig Monroe hit a three bomb off Clint Nageotte in the 8th. Earlier, Monroe had an assist as he Infante who gunned Ichiro at the plate. It looked like a noodle throw to the cut off man from where I was, but Infante made a great throw to the plate and Wilson had excellent positioning and held on to the ball as he was nailed. It paid off because Joel Zumaya was bad.

    I was psyched to see Zumaya come in to start the 8th, but he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks. He was consistently at 95-98 on the gun, but he was not getting the change or curve over. The M’s capitalized. Only Sexson hit it hard off of him, and it looked like a 2-2 change that was hammered to right center. The rest of the hits were bloops, including Beltre’s double. Rodney came on to K old friend Roberto Petagine with the sacks loaded on a 3-2 fastball.

    Todd Jones pitched the 9th and looked damn good. He Ked Ichiro on 3 straight, and was dominating in spotting his fastball that read 93 on the gun. The Ms had no chance. Detroit swept the three game series.

    I do not know how long Detroit can play at this level, and it was the Mariners, but they look good. I watched Robertson shut down Seattle yesterday, and if their starters can be consistent, who knows. The pen is solid and they can hit.

    Verlander looks like an ace in the making.

  4. Vance Wilson seems to have lost a lot of weight and has much better bat control this year. He won’t be a detriment when Rodriguez sits down. And we won’t have to overplay Ivan either.

  5. I was also at the game today – my 7 mo. old son’s first. I would just add this to Jerry’s comments:

    I can’t help but feel the attitude of the club is different from year’s past. Just the reaction of the club to critical plays, communication, etc. looks vastly improved.

    I have to say I have mixed feelings about Leyland. I still gasp everytime I see the lineup posted and (putting it nicely) he’s been giving struggling pitchers a long leash. But, he has the Tigers playing more aggressive baseball than in the past and that paid dividends today — it had alot to do with the 2 spot in the first.

    Here’s hoping it continues.

  6. Wasn’t that Santiago who completed the great relay to get Ichiro at the plate?

    I don’t know if we should still be harping on Leyland for this lineup. Shelton looks at home in the 6th spot because, in case you haven’t noticed, he’s been slumping this trip. I think he’ll be fine, but he isn’t going to get back to the insane level we saw the first 2 weeks of the season. I think he’ll go back to being a very good hitter, but not necessarily our biggest run producer.

    I feel much, much more comfortable with Leyland running this ballclub than I did with Trammell. He just knows what he’s doing. As Peter Gammons writes in his blog:

    “Watching Jim Leyland let Fernando Rodney work out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam Thursday in Oakland, one realized how brilliant Leyland is in building a team.”

    I really think that he is having a huge impact, and the difference in team disposition that we’re all sensing is due in large measure to his guidance.

    The improved bullpen and starting rotation doesn’t hurt either. 🙂

    As excited as I am about the sweep, I can’t help but recognize that the Ms played terrible, terrible baseball and pretty much handed each game to us. However, in years past, we would’ve been the team giving the series away. Good teams win a ton of games simply by making fewer mistakes than their opponents.

    On to Anaheim! The next three should be a good test.

  7. Verlander didn’t just hit 101, he hit it OUT OF THE STRETCH. Simply amazing. It’s hard not to get really excited about the future when I watch him pitch.

  8. Man. That strike out in the 8th on Sunday in Seattle with the bases juiced was a nail biter. As Mario said on the tube as Fernando was walking off the mound, He found the strike zone just in time.

    Now can the Bengals keep this up against the predicted winner in the AL West? And my last question: Have all you radio listeners the last 2 days been loving Jim Price talk about the team going to visit the Vladiator? I can almost see the grin on his face.

  9. Joey,

    You’re right it was Santiago. That kid’s got a gun.

    I was right on top of the play and when I saw Monroe’s throw I thought Ichiro was safe for sure, but the relay throw was the best I’ve seen in a long time. Vance smothering the plate didn’t hurt either.

    Our D has been better this year.

  10. Chris,

    Nice to hear you got the kid to the park. I hope he was sporting those smooth Tiger duds.

  11. chris and Jerry,

    Thanks for the reports. And Chris, isn’t it great being able to take your kid to their first game? Start em young. My 5 year old is already a Tiger junkie.

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