PREGAME: The Tigers head to Jacobs field in search of their first weekend win since, well since the last time they played the Indians and swept them with late inning heroics.
Jeremy Bonderman meanwhile will be in search of his first August decision – preferably a win of course.
He’ll be opposed by Jeremy Sowers who’ll be facing the Tigers for the first time this year.
Game Time 7:05
POSTGAME: The silver linings are getting harder and harder to come by. At least Omar Infante made the most of his opportunity for whatever it’s worth.
What’s up with this lineup? Guillen playing first? Infante is liberated, however temporarily, and yet Neifi is still in the lineup (leading off, of course). Neifi leading off is a cruel joke. Leyland has done a great job with this team, but Neifi leading off is inexcusable.
Re: the comments from yesterday, it’s amazing how worked up people get when we lose a game. Someone said this Indians series is a “must sweep.” WE HAVE A FIVE GAME LEAD! I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win this series, but I like where this team is at right now.
And why is everyone so scared of the Yankees? I know we’re probably not going to go into their ballpark and sweep them, and they’ve been winning games lately (except against Baltimore and Seattle), but are they that much better than the Tigers? Whose pitching staff would you rather have, theirs or ours?
As far as the pitching staff is concerned, I’d take Rivera, Farnsworth, and Proctor over Jones, Zumaya, and Rodney. If we’re talking a big series i.e. the games were do or die. I’d take Johnson, Mussina, Wang, Lidle, and whoever they want to throw in there ahead of our current group. Johnson and Mussina’s resume blows away everybody on our staff, including Rogers. There’s no saying exactly what we’re going to get from Verlander, Bonderman, and Robertson, and Miner is a lost cause. The lineups aren’t even comparable. Those Yankee hitters, even when they’re not hitting, have the ability to wear down any opposing pitcher. At this point, I’d take the Yankees roster over the Tigers. If Verlander and Bonderman pitched to there potential, I do agree with you that we’d hold a small rotation advantage, but I just don’t think you can count on that.
Sign the petition to free omar permanently!
http://www.petitiononline.com/freeomar/petition.html
WOWSA BABY! is neifi perez ever making a believer out of me. if we could trade some of our pitching for a few more like him we could really make a good run at that 120 loss season. what were they thinking?
KS, You would really prefer the Yankees pitching?
Let’s look at ERA.
Riveria 1.88
Zumaya 2.06
Rodney 3.20
Proctor 3.53
Farnsworth 4.00
Jones 4.53
Sure, Jones is crap, but I think Tigers have the overall edge here.
Do you know what Johnson’s record is in the playoffs? 7-8
How about Mussina? 7-7
Wang? 0-1
Lidle? 0-1 with a 10+ ERA!
Sure, none of our guys have experience except Rogers and Rogers has been horrible in the post-season. But, it’s not like the Yankees can counter with Drysdale and Koufax. The Yankees pitchers are not scary. Their offense is, but so are our pitchers.
Don’t look at the Red Sox series as an indication of how good the Yankees are, it’s truly and indication of how bad the Red Sox are.
Jones has converted 18 consecutive save chances (34-37 on the year), which is kind of like, you know, HIS JOB and all. Give the guy a break, sweet Lou!
As for Johnson’s and Mussina’s “resumes,” yep, they’re pretty good, but their resumes don’t get to pitch the games. Mussina is on the DL and the Unit has a 4.96 ERA.
I WOULD really prefer the Yankees pitching. And posting playoff won/lost records might be reaching a tad. I’d also say calling our pitchers “scary” might be reaching as well. I haven’t had the opportunity to look at things through those orange and blue glasses though, could I test yours out sometime?
I am glad to see Granderson not leading off until he gets his head on straight, but Niefi, you have to be kidding. Strange behavior from Leyland.
Niefi hasn’t shown anything at all since arriving. At least Casey made some immediate contributions in a spot where Shelton was struggling.
Oh the 7th…the tigers problems at the plate in microcosm. Finally, I mean finally Leyland leaves Thames in against right-handed pitching and he just gives the at-bat away. He has been much more disciplined in his last 15 or so plate appearances but here he weakly waves at a 1-0 pitch. Infante (whom I love and who must be freed immediately) and Granderson swing at ball four. The new pitcher did not only not seem to have overwhelming stuff but I’m not sure he could even throw strikes. But we’ll never know.
I’d like to see Clevlan play against some right-hand pitching as well
We may get the chance to see Neifis ave go to double-digits in the 8th.
Monroe is due for a long ball though
Nice performance Tigers. Personally I think I would have enjoyed the season more if they were just hovering around .500, instead of playing out of there mind for months, only to melt down when the games became important.
Dude KS you need to stop ripping on the Tigers or get off the website. I mean you need to chill out. I bet next week when we are winning again you will come on here like I knew we could do it all along. How about you get off the bandwagon and stay off. You are pathetic.
Second inning, first and third with one out. Perez LINED into a double play, that was the game killer.
Fine fine, Jones has converted 18 straight. But that ERA didn’t get to be 4.5 out of nowhere. The problem is that MOST pitchers brought into a game with a 3 run lead and one inning to go convert the save. Check out tangotinger’s book sometime. Jones is, at best, a league average relief pitcher. He always has been and he always will be and it doesn’t matter whether his saver percentage is 92% or 97%, he is just not that good.
Hey, I’m a huge Tigers fan, but looking at their lineup they are a 90-72 team at best. The sad thing is they’re going to finish 10-27 to hit that mark. Let’s face facts: there is no one, and i mean no one, who offensively would start for the Yankees with the exception of I-Rod and that’s not a given since Posada’s power numbers and oba overwhelm his. The team’s greatest strength is its starting pitching. Unfortunately, that starting pitching will be irrevocably damaged by pitching too many innings at too young an age. So, a September collapse is not only inevitable, it’s for the best. Don’t label me a Tiger hater just because i write the truth.
Don’t give up the ship, guys…
Tigers are doing okay. They’re going to figure this thing out. They’ll win at least 95 games, and probably make the playoffs. It’s a tough patch they’re going through now, but they’ll rebound.
Oh wait, what? Neifi Perez is still our starting second baseman? Scratch all that. Nothing like starting the worst offensive player in major league history to ruin optimism…How depressing and maddening.
But still, I think they’ll be okay!
Why dont’ we all concede to this point: The Tigers do not have the Yankees’ roster.
To me, this is one of the reasons this season is so special. And I was never really under the impression that the lineup would be good enough to match Jeter/A-Rod/Giambi/etc. any time soon. I also wasn’t under the impression that the pitching staff would have the lowest ERA in the major leagues–but they do!
I bet if you went to a few Yankees message boards, they’d all be worried about how the starting pitching isn’t good enough to win in the postseason.
Lou, you’re giving an incomplete picture if you don’t acknowledge Jones has allowed 4 runs since June 14,
Lou, you’re giving an incomplete picture if you don’t acknowledge Jones has allowed 4 runs since June 14 and six earned runs before May 29. There was an awful 2-week period where nothing went right for him. That is a very solid closer to put up those numbers.
He has blown just one save outside that period. He has saves against all of the top offenses, and they aren’t all 3-run saves. Count them up if you want. Three saves alone this month are 1-run saves.
I won’t debate, if you were picking a team in the schooi yard team, you want to take Mariano Rivera first. That, a friend tells me, is the way to end any debate between players. Anyone who doesn’t pick Rivera is, well, nuts. But you can’t say it’s a sizable advantage statistically.
The difference between the Tigers and the Yankees pitching is dwarfed by the difference in their lineups. The Yankees are not only a better team right now, they’re a WAY better team. Leyland obviously has no idea what he’s doing. Any manager who has a clue would NEVER hit Perez in the leadoff spot. He has officially gone insane.
Any manager with a clue would not fill out a line-up card with Perez batting lead-off,or 2-3-4-5-6-7-8 or 9.Oh,sorry,I forgot,he won a Gold Glove back in 1979 and…it was 2000,you say-same difference.
Geez guys… relax.