45 thoughts on “World Series Game 4: Redux”

  1. The weather report is looking much better, so I’m cautiously optimistic.

    We are not envious of those Busch Stadium fans who, like us last night, will be sitting out in the cold rain tonight waiting for Bud Selig to stop dithering and make a decision on what’s happening.

    I’ve officially learned from others’ mistakes. If there’s even a 1% chance of rain this weekend, I’ll be waiting in the bars until the (real) first pitch is thrown.

  3. Eckstein just made Bonderman throw more pitches (9) to him than Suppan threw the entire top half of the inning (7).

  5. Hey, I hope it is a good sign, but the Nippon Ham Fighters just won Japan’s “World Series” last night after a 44 year drought. That is 2x the Tigers for the math-disabled.

    Go Tigers!

  7. Bonderman saw more pitches than any Tiger hitter in game 3. It was really set up by Pudge advancing though. It forced the walk to Inge and 7 pitches to Bonderman. Plus it kept Bonderman from leading off the 3rd.

    Hopefully Bondo can hold the lead and the guys can relax a little.

  9. Thank goodness Casey got healthy. He’s been the one guy to consistently show good judgement on which pitches to swing at.

    BTW, does anyone know what percentage of the time the leadoff runner scores when he gets on?

  10. Good pitches to Pujols – inside/outside, nothing over the fat part of the plate.

    Leadoff runner on 1st, no out scores 43% of the time. If the leadoff man reaches 2nd or 3rd, those percentages go up, of course.

  11. The lack of a reliable change-up is hurting Bonderman. Suppan has the opposite problem: he’s too much in love with his soft stuff.

    Good game thus far. Glad we still have a lead.

  12. An undisciplined first-pitch hack by Pudge puts the burden back on Bonderman’s shoulders.

    Top of the order for St. Louis in the bottom of the fifth.

  13. Once again, crow tastes awfully good.

    Great pitching, Mr. Rodney.

    (and yes, Jason, it’s so damn annoying to set up the big matchup, only to go first-pitch hacking **again**)

  14. Is Guillen the mvp of our team or what?! This guy can do everything. It was obvious they were watching for him to steal and he still pulls it off. Come on Casey!

  15. This is unbelievable. I have never NEVER seen a team hand another a world series like the Tigers are doing right now.

    8 men left on. Errors leading to big innings.

    The Cards don’t even need to swing the bat.

    And the moment I saw that Rodney was the one making the play on that bunt, I knew he was going to make a bad throw. I could just feel it.

  17. Am I tripping or did Monroe have a legit shot at Taguchi at home? It looked to me like Brandon should’ve let that ball through.

  20. Catch-22 there Joey. I don’t mind it, I really think that Monroe had a shot, but I like stifling the bleeding there. And McCarver needs to get f’n real by “crediting” Pujols there. That wasn’t a strategic move to force the issue, he got caught up probably because he thought that ball was going home.

    And of course, now with hindsight 20-15, I’m glad Inge cutoff that ball because he knew he was gonna tie it back up in the bottom! 😀

  21. McCarver is the worst.

    Anyone else upset with the Gomez move? I wish he’d go with Thames and Infante every once in a while. Gomez looked bad enough to keep out of the rest of the series. Pulling his head out like a little leaguer. All we needed was a single and he’s trying to go yard.

    In fact this whole series has a little league feel to it. You know, the kinda games where the team that makes the fewest mistakes loses?

  25. Past ball on a strike out.

    And I didn’t want them to go anywhere near Eckstein in that situation. Put the dude on.

  27. I would have liked to see Thames instead of Gomez. Also, we could have walked Eckstein and taken our chances with Taguchi, but whatever, I guess you gotta pitch to Eckstein there. He is killing us. Let’s get a run in the 9th and keep playing.

  28. Don’t even know what to say.

    I guess we’ll just have to hope Justin pitches a shutout tomorrow.

  29. oh game! how can i lose thee? let me count the ways…
    by passed balls and doubles off my glove,
    through slipping in the rain and leaving runners on base,
    through throwing errors on every bunt attempt,
    through sitting marcus and batting gomez.

    This one hurts.

  31. Jobu has jumped…

    Oh fickle fate, with your winds behind,
    Made us dream of outcomes sublime.
    But now with your rapid turn,
    Leaves us feeling quite spurned.
    With every break falling falling to the birds,
    Our beloved 9 are left looking quite absurd.

    (this hurts-hurts-hurts)

  32. DON’T DESPAIR FANS. THIS IS 68′ ALL OVER AGAIN. THREE IN A ROW JUST LIKE THE YANKEE SERIES. AND CARPENTER AIN’T NO GIBSON.

  33. No, we’re not done yet, but we sure have made it tough on ourselves.

    Let’s just hope Leyland can get these guys out of their heads for the next game and Justin goes out there and gives us a chance…of course giving this team a chance right now basically entails not letting the Cardinals put the ball in play.

    This one really does hurt… a lot.

  34. I honestly don’t believe that this is over. Maybe I’m just refusing to believe that a team as bad as the Cardinals could win the world series and that the Tigers would be the ones to hand it to them.

    Honestly, if the Cardinals were in the AL this year they would have finished behind Anahiem, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, and all the playoff teams. This is embarrassing.

  35. While we scored more runs than any game so far, and some could be optimistic (why? It only hurts more next time they lose) I’m done.

    We’re out of it. We have practically only one win left, and that’s Rogers himself.

    They have Carpenter. We’re done.

    And I don’t care how many we score, they’ll always be right there, making us look like fools on defense.

    Good season, Tigers.

  36. Hey Adam, take heart that most of the country isn’t paying any attention to this series. At least we’ve looked like fools in front of the smallest number of people possible.

    How have these game stacked up to last year’s series rating wise?

    My guess is if the Cards win tomorrow, this will be the lowest rated series in years.

  38. I want to give up…
    I can’t give up.
    We’ve still got a chance.
    If Verlander can just pitch well tomorrow, we can get to game 6. If we get to game 6, that gets us to Rogers. He can get us to game 7, and then it’s one game, for the championship, anything can happen.
    So we still have a shot. We can’t give up yet even if it would be safer not to let our hearts get broken again.

  39. The Cards got a gift tonight and have had the help of Lady Luck pretty much all series. Here’s hoping Karma comes calling for payment. Settling their debts would at least get us to Game 7. Then maybe we could see who the best team really IS.

  40. Ah,the unsuspecting Cardinals have fallen into our trap-we’ve got them where we want them,down 3-1.
    Of course,if this doesn’t work out,the blooper reel should be terrific.

  41. *** The Cards got a gift tonight and have had the help of Lady Luck pretty much all series. ***

    I wouldn’t call it luck. Luck is when a seeing-eye hit squeezes through. The numerous errors the Tigers have made aren’t due to bad luck; they’re due to incompetence.

  42. Life is my friend
    Rake it up to take it in
    Wrap me in your cinnamon
    Especially in Michigan
    ….well I could be your friend

    White clouds I’m in
    A mitten full of fisherman
    C’mon Huckleberry Finn
    Show me how to make her grin
    ….well I’m in Michigan

    Cry me a future
    Where the revelations run amok
    Ladies and gentlemen
    Lions and tigers come running
    Just to steal your luck

    A rainy Lithuanian
    Who’s dancing as an Indian
    Painted in my tiger skin
    (Especially in Michigan)

    Double chins and bowling pins
    Unholy Presbyterians
    Land is full of medicine
    I find it when I’m slipping in
    ….into Michigan

    The tainted new librarian
    Who fainted when she tucked you in
    Let’s float away like zeppelins
    (On stoic gusts of Northern winds)

    Cry me a future
    Where the revelations run amok
    Ladies and gentlemen
    Lions and tigers come running
    Just to steal your luck

    Out on the farm we’ll be
    Swimming with the mother duck
    Deep in the mitten where
    Lions and tigers come running
    Just to steal your luck

    Life is my friend
    Underwater violins
    Order now from Ho Chi Min
    A porcelain that comes in twins
    ….when I’m in Michigan

    Throw me in the looney bin
    ‘Cause I can take it on the chin
    The cleavage of your pillow skin
    (Is moving like a violin)

    Cry me a future
    Where the revelations run amok
    Ladies and gentlemen
    Lions and tigers come running
    Just to steal your luck

    Out on the farm we’ll be
    Swimming with the mother duck
    Deep in the mitten where
    Lions and tigers come running
    Just to steal your luck, oh yeah

  43. Just a couple of thoughts.

    First, I think the weather hurt pretty badly tonight. That’s not an excuse — it’s an observation. Granderson’s slip allowed runs, and I think that Monroe would have caught up to the Eckstein double if the turf is dry. Baseball is a game of inches, and today we came up on the wrong side of the inches. The weather could have hampered either team depending on the way things played out, and tonight it just happened to hurt us.

    Second, I think that we look young out there. Granderson, who settled down quite a bit during the ALDS and ALCS, seems to be back to his old trick of swinging at bad pitches. Zumaya looks jittery. Gomez starts swinging for the fences instead of concentrating on putting the bat on the ball. The whole team just looks tense and inexperienced.

    Here’s hoping the team can relax a bit. I hope that Verlander’s being on the mound for the second time in the Series will send a message to everyone that they’ve gained some experience and can relax a bit.

    I also hope that our pitchers stop throwing the ball into the outfield. Ouch.

  44. In NL park, pitcher followed by Granderson is two automatic outs. Late inning mistakes and bad breaks would not have been fatal with some timely hitting early. Mags reverted to from with 5 awful AB’s on a total of only 13 pitches. Would like to get Thames into the lineup but not sure it can be done without DH. Hey, we’re in better shape than in ’68, as we had to win last 2 in St Louis then. Let’s take game 5 and get Cards thinking a bit.

  45. Mark, I totally agree with you that I think this team’s inexperience is showing through. What’s upsetting about this is that unlike the NBA–where teams get chances to show their worth in following seasons–there is a good chance that the Tigers don’t make it to another series for a very long time.

    That being said, we’re not cooked yet. Dave’s right…if we can just pull tomorrow’s game out, we’re in the Cards’ heads and right back in the series.

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