PREGAME: After a very pleasant beginning to the final month of the season, the Tigers will look to keep the good times coming. This is of course predicated on the rain stopping.
Justin Verlander will be taking the mound. He wasn’t able to hold a lead in his last start against Cleveland and his final line showed 8 runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings. With Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Liriano injured, this is Verlander’s chance to stake a claim to the Rookie of the Year award.
Joe Saunders will be pitching for the Angels. He joined the rotation in late July and won his first 4 starts allowing only 7 runs over 27 innings. However in his last 3 starts he’s allowed 18 runs over 10 2/3 innings.
Game Time 7:05
POSTGAME: This one definitely leaves a bad taste. Todd Jones deserved better with the only hard hit ball being the triple to Chone Figgins. This game should have been over without a 10th inning. This one also doesn’t go on Neifi who did make an error, but again, it shouldn’t have come to that.
This one is on Magglio Ordonez who failed to go all out and make a play in the top of the 9th. He followed it up by weakly striking out and failing to run to first on the ball in the dirt to end the game.
And speaking of guys who deserved better, how about Justin Verlander? I can’t say I agree with him being allowed to throw 122 pitches, but he was very good. As was his counterpart, Joe Saunders.
And finally, I just want to recognize a guy who doesn’t get a lot of recognition, in Ramon Santiago. He made a couple nice plays down at third base and hung in and had a very solid at-bat against K-Rod.
I hope that shirt that Jones was wearing becomes available to buy. I was a fan before 2006 too!
I think we’re pushing it with Verlander…over 100 pitches going into the seventh. First sign of any kind of trouble we need to pull him
He walked him… go get Rodney. I’m calling it know
I think Leyland is making a mistake here… Verlander just walked another one, is at VERY high pitch count. He should make a pitching change now! (I hope I’m wrong and Leyland is right).
I guess it’s only Figgins
Yeah, no real reason to even bring Verlander back out for the seventh.
I should point out re: the Tigers’ lineup, this is basically the lineup I have been hoping for for the last few weeks — no Neifi, Thames in the lineup. I think this is the best lineup we can possibly have right now, and yet we have zero runs.
Holy crap, I saw “coaching visit to mound” after the Pride walk and figured JL went out to get Verlander (at least one batter too late). But he left him in. Good think I could probably get Figgy out right now. 122 pitches and counting. Does Leyland not believe in pitch counts either (in addition to computers)?
That was too close for comfort….
We will win this game if we can score one run. The Angels have exactly one good hitter right now (Guerrero). This game is ours for the taking. Great outing by Verlander today (assuming he is done), pitching in and out of trouble. Don’t know why Grady Little, er, Jim Leyland, made him throw 126 pitches.
Way to walk the leadoff Rodney! Something you seem to do every single time you pitch!
Someone with cojones (or just brains) would promptly hook a reliever that walked the leadoff guy in the 8th of a scoreless game…..
Omar’s gonna tie this thing right now.
leyland should check in with this site…thames and infante getting it done again.
Thank you, Mike Scioscia, for taking out Saunders and giving us a chance.
Let’s hope Jonesey can nail down another one. Would be nice to steal a W on a day when we looked pretty awful at the plate.
As long as Infante keeps playing and not Perez, Polanco can take his time getting back as far as I’m concerned. Omar is second on the team in BA now.
Horrible effort by Ordonez. Santiago and Guillen had chances, but they were at least trying to make the play. Inexcusable.
How legitimate was Guillen’s error? Should this one be over already?
Unforgiveable to let the inning reach Vlad, he’s the one guy on the team that can hurt you.
Neifi alert!
Guillen’s was a tough play up the middle. If the throw is there he’s out, but it wasn’t an easy play. The same is true of Santiago’s.
This is horrible. Magg’s takes it easy, and as a result a hustling Guillen pulls a hammy.
Why did Pudge not hit away, I really dont understand that move. It’s better than a choppr to first
They should send nefi down to tripple A
Some one tellme why we got this guy?????????
For his glove ?…….. Tell DD nice try …. send him back
I guess once you’re a cub, you must suck for life… unless your name is maddux.
This is bad news. You know that Leyland will have Nefi playing Shortstop until GUillen comes back. Even when Polonco comes back. JIm loves perez. we are doomed if thats the case.
They should play kenny rogers at shortstop in the meantime… if he isn’t pitching.
A little later to take Jones out
wasn’t jones’ fault.. in either of the innings.
Well, we had our chances today. I hope Guillen is OK. If not, at least we made it into September before the Annual Carlos Guillen Injury.
A bad effort by almost everyone not named verlander, he deserved better, its not over YET, but comeon.
missed throw to second, He was due for a blow up. I like jones Ok but it stinks to be so close to the win
Nothing Perez is HORRIBLE!!!!
-Sam
I am SO depressed!
he’s batting like .150…. i’m sure someone at A or AA could do better….
Well that about does it. What a bummer See you Sunday.
Way to go Neifi on the E6 to get that Angles 10th inning rally going… so close on this game… so frustrating… and depressing
Seems like a horrific loss.
Just a devastating loss and really hapless defense spoiling a gutsy outing from Verlander. I agree with Bilfer, Guillens play was really difficult but Ordonez didn’t even seem to care — just ridiculous. AS for Perez well, we’ve all said it before but honestly, his footwork and general mechanics look so awkward I’m surprised he doesn’t boot it more often. Even Leyland has to see by now…
But the real mistake is pinch-hitting D-Young for Inge. Inge has done a tremendous job for the Tigers this year and pulling him for Youngs good career stats against shields is madness. You don’t take someone of Inges defensive abilities out of a 1-run game period. This is also a guy that had a tremendous at-bat with the game on the line the other night in the bronx. Oh yeah, and he homered and doubled last night.
I’m not even talking about Young going down looking. Does inge make that play in the 9th and win the game? With 2 on and 2 out Santiago flies out in the 10th. Does Brandon get a hit there and win the game. I think he makes at least one of those plays. The guy has earned more respect than that
Great hits from Thames and Infante (again) and Granderson looks good but Ordonez asleep again with men in scoring position and in the field.
I sure hope Guillen is OK.
This is my first post, but I have been reading this site for a few months, and I completely agree with Miguelito. This game is on Leyland and Ordonez. There is no way Ordonez should be playing right in the top of the ninth. Alexis Gomez should have been brought in, and he should not have pinch hit for Inge when is only defensive replacement is a player who has never played third. With the September call ups they should at least have a back up 3rd basemen on the roster, I don’t care if Leyland doesn’t like the 40 man rule. There are so many things I want to get off my chest, but I am too upset at the loss, but at this moment I will be surprised if they make the playoffs.
I agree that pinch hitting young for inge was a devestating move. Inge doesnt hesitate to second on that play and throws to first. I think we should not place blame on ordonez for that one play. Blame him for being horrible at the plate. But we need to remeber that Ordonez is a horrible defensive outfielder. You cannot blame him for that. if he dives and misses and the ball gets by him the guy from second scores. I blame Leyland for having Ordonez out there in the 9th! Gomez should have been there. Nefi sucks!
One more thing, Jones should never have gone out for the 10th, he hasn’t been successful in a 2 inning appearance this year, just terrible game management by the supposed AL Manager of the year.
I was at the game, so I missed some of this. Verlander threw 122?!@??@!?@?! Are you kidding me?!@?!?@ It’s bad enough that he’s going to obliterate the IP target of 180, do we really need him to max him out??
I’ve defended Leyland all season, but this is exactly what scares me. It doesn’t flippin matter (in the grand scheme of things) if he pinch-hits for Inge or not, but he HAS to take care of our young arms.
My jaw dropped during the 1270 pre-game show when he was asked about V’s IP total and Leyland said something to the effect that pitcher fatigue and such is mostly a mental thing. Now maybe he’s just saying that to pump the kid up, but his actions sure match his words.
All season long, he gave lip-service to the notion that Verlander would NOT carry a full workload, but here we are and he most certainly is. We skipped him in the rotation ONCE. Once. No more. No less. We haven’t even used a spot starter to give the whole rotation an extra day. Leyland just keeps running them out there.
Now, I release that our depth took a hit with Maroth’s slow recovery, but geez…. We have Ledezma, Miner, Grilli, Tata, and Sanchez. Do you really think we can’t get a couple spot-starts out of that mix??
Don’t get me wrong, I want to “win now”. Hell, I already paid for my post-season tickets. But I don’t want to blow the next decade because we burned up Verlander in a quixotic chase.
/end rant. Thanks for your patience.
I agree, but I wrote that off to experimentation. I give Leyland the benefit of the doubt by assuming he won’t make the same mistake when it comes playoff time.
Jeff
Google Goggle Leyland has a long track record of over taxing his pitching staff.
coach’s daughter who can not believe we do not have a better backup infielder than neifi perez…he is the worst tiger since julio navarro…either get lugo from la dodgers(they are not using him) or bring up a kid from the farm…neifi does not deserve this spot on this team…he has not earned his spot and apparently never will merit it.
viv
Billfer, I’m glad you put a lot blame for this loss on Ordonez. He was the biggest culprit yesterday. There is a lot talk all over the place about Neifi Perez but I consider Ordonez to be the biggest disappointment on the team since July. He is contributing little offensively or defensively and, at times, doesn’t seem to give maximum effort.
Good point Lee… Mags is a BIG disappointment. Wasn’t he supposed to be our “big” bat?
I am so utterly sick of Magglio Ordóñez. I’ve never seen a more heartless ball player in my life. He constantly dogs with his signature brand effeminate style of baseball. He’s only worried about his god damn flowing locks of hair like Gorgeous George. That fem-bot cost us another win last night. From the first time I saw Maggs in a Tiger uniform, I was disgusted with how he carries himself. Everyone told me he’s coming off injuries, to cut him some slack. Ozzy Guillen was dead right about Mags. GUTLESS! Then what really kills me is I think he’s the highest paid athlete in Detroit. Maggs would NOT even be alowed on my softball team with his lack of hustle. He does that crap every game. In fact, even the game a week or so ago when he actually slid head first into third and kind of slid in for a ball, which temporarily impressed me, was only after a total lack of effort on an earlier fly. Sorry for my rant. I just ashamed Detroit youth have to watch that fem-bot play the game the way he does.
Leyland’s stubborness to not move Magglio (or Scragli-Ho as i called him here in Chicago when we was a member of the White Sux) out of the 4 spot is killing us. He needs to be dropped to 6 or 7. LEyland tries to be a hard ass old timer but he clearly has a different set of rules for his “stars.” I hate bunting, i mean i think its completely useless, except for one situation. When you are the home team and you have the winning run in scoring position in the 9th. when Guillen lead off the 9th with a double, Leyland should have bunted with Pudge. Casey was following and he is a good contact hitter. But Leyland lives by that rule that you cannot take the bat out of the hands of FUture Hall of Famer. Just like you cannot give him that take sign 3-0…. horrible. Tonight is a must win in my book. They need to string together a winning streak. There is no killer instict with this team. They need to realize that if they rip off a 5 game winning streak its over!
Michael is dead right. If Pudge was still juiced on Winstrol, I’d let him swing away. But he isn’t. Thus, he now has Jim Walewander type power. I’m sick of him swinging on 3 and 0 counts. With Casey soon to be at the plate, lay down the damn bunt. But arm chair quarterbacking coaching decisions is one thing, watching a non-hustling 70 million dollar coward is another thing. Sure, every so often Maggs can swing the bat, but 18 dongs and 85 rbi’s in September? He’s getting paid all that money for 18 dongs? I guarantee anyone hitting in the 4 hole would come up with at least 60 ribbies. Put Gaylord Perry in there, I don’t care. Maggs is the 1986 Darnel Coles of the Tigers’ new millennium. Terrible work ethic, 20 homeruns and 86 ribbies. We are paying Maggs the entire GNP of Sierra Leone to be Darnell Coles. I demand that the Detroit Tigers Web Log writer, a respected media force on the Old English D, call for Maggs to leave Detroit.
I know. He has talked all season about taking it easy on the kids and I’ve just been holding my breath, hoping he meant it. Guess not. 🙁
man, this guy Perez isn’t even AAA material. How do you blow an easy play like that? Man, get rid of this joker now. At least Guillen’s play (an error anyway) was much tougher; I can forgive him. We lost this game ’cause Guillen yanked his hammy; he’d have been on 3rd if he didn’t. Then, that wild pitch would’ve ended the game. To waste a performance by Verlander like this is just criminal……