PREGAME: Abbreviated pregame tonight. Jorge De La Rosa takes on Mike Maroth. Jim Leyland is using the “Sunday” lineup with Omar Infante in centerfield, Neifi Perez at third base, and Marcus Thames playing first base. All righties all the time.
Game Time 7:05
POSTGAME: It was a nice offensive night. Placido Polanco got the biggest hits, but he wasn’t the only one hitting the ball hard. Magglio Ordonez hit the ball hard repeatedly tonight, as did Pudge Rodriguez.
Marcus Thames was inexplicably taken out in the 5th inning, after hitting a home run. I don’t really get it. The lefy de la Rosa was still even in the game at that point and it seems too early for a defensive replacement.
Maroth narrowly missed a quality start, and Wil Ledezma wasn’t quite as sharp as he’s been.
I think Motown Sports crashed with everyone logging on for both the game and estrepe.
Our new RBI machine is really unimpressive at this point.
I’ve been impressed with Maroth these last few games. He seems to have taken a page out of Kenny’s book. I’m glad he’s come back healthy and on point, for the most part.
Polanco hits a home run… Yeah, I think we’ve got de la Rosa figured out.
Why does Thames get taken out in the 5th inning? After a home run? I don’t get it.
Rod always says “baseball is a very humbling game”. Maybe #3 is learning the meaning of the word “humble”.
Polanco
When are we trading for DeJesus?
Polanco should not head first slide. It hurts to watch.
Sheffield finally gets one of those Sheffield hits.
Pudge and Maggs both ripping the ball tonight, even the outs.
Why walk to get Monroe? Guy’s clutch, most days.
Agreed on Thames.
Casey’s on pace for like 10 rbis.
I hope that wasn’t our big scoring chance.
Can’t fault anyone though. Maggs and Casey both hit the ball well.
Billfer, I agree. Polanco is way too valuable to us, but he is a hustler and should be comended.
My first thought was what if he jams his hand or finger.
Well,,,,, its a nail biter with the Royals. I love MLB extra innings.
Good lunch game to sneak away for on Wednesday.
Steve
Polanco, great night for him.
And Ledezma is the first pitcher to get to 3 wins…weird.
I feel bad for the Royals, those guys must be really bummed about that loss. We as Tiger fans have walked that path a lot and also know how it feels.
We have had a decent start, but need to step it up as the competition will get much stiffer.
Toronto was the toughest we have faced and we split. A steady diet of Royal-stinker ball was good for what ailed us. The Who sox will be much tougher.
I hope that the White Sox games will feature the Detroit announcers. Its a little too early in the year to handle Hawk and his anticts.
Hope everyone is well. After a hard day this bolg is soothing to be a part of. If I havent thanked you lately, thanks Billfer.
Steve
A good comback win. Let’s hope they can keep it up and win the close ones.
why walk Guillen to get to Monroe? Man, that’s a no brainer. Guillen is the Tigers best hitter and Monroe will be lucky to have an .800 OPS this year.
If Craig Monroe is hitting behind Guillen this year, Carlos will get a ton of intentional BBs. On the other hand, if Guillen is hitting behind Ordonez then Maggs will be getting some fat pitches to hit.
Any story on Thames?
I just don’t think Leyland likes him (or Shelton)…man, that guy NEEDS AB’s. He has the best HR% on the roster: GET HIM MORE AB’s!!!
I think Leyland doesn’t like him at first.
According to Rod, he said before the game that he would pull Thames if they had a lead.
Sorry for the late cath-up here, I got caught up last night.
I don’t know Rob. I guess I don’t always get caught up in just stats, let alone annual stats. I guess I consider it not wise to walk a guy who’s sitting 0-3 to get to a guy who is known to be clutch slugger, who just had two great ABs (18 pitches total, albiet Ks). Beside he walked…oOPS.
Just a situational comment. I mean, if this game weren’t situational, wouldn’t you walk Pujols almost every AB? But this week, if I were a manager, he’d be seeing some pitches.
Apparently, Leyland belives first base defense is more important in innings 6-9 than in innings 1-5.
Marcus Thames’ career slugging % as a Tiger is .518.
No that must be some kind of uber-logicm; I just don’t get it. Thames should only play when we are behind? Is the intent of having a batter in the line-up not to get you a lead and keep it? I understand his shortcomings at first, but come on.
I agree with Rings. Thames deserves a shot, and Casey has flamed out enough so far this year that Thames should get it. Casey can come in LATE in the game (though, while it wonw’t happen, I’d prefer Shaelton as a D-replacement).
Leyland believes first base defense is more important than offense when you have a comfortable lead over an inferior team.
The odds of Thames becoming the starting first basemen are absolutely miniscule. When you accept that, the move makes a lot more sense. Since Casey is going to be our guy at first, we need him to break out of the slump. The best way to do that is to get at-bats. Would you rather he have high leverage bats in a close ballgame or some garbage at-bats when we have a comfortable lead over the Royals?
That’s an easy answer even if you ignore the defensive benefits.
Should Thames have gotten one more at-bat? Maybe, but probably not. I gotta imagine the benefit of having Thames over Casey for one at-bat in the 6th inning would have been smaller than defensive benefit for two extra innings, especially since there was a decent chance that a right-handed reliever would be in the game by the time the 7 slot came back up.
Maybe defense is more important. It surely cannot be emphasized enough. I am well-aware the Tigers have no intent of getting Thames on the field. Never really have, have they?
However, when you got a guy with all of 8AB’s sitting on your bench with numbers like Thames, both last year and the small sampling this year, while Casey, at nearly 50ABs, is still trying to find the Mendoza line. You got to wonder just HOW valuable Casey’s defense is (gotta love the range).
I apologize, but I’m just not a big Casey fan. He was a fine mid-season grab with what we had last year, but he doesn’t have much (if any) left in the tank. What happens if he gets hurt? Do we bring up Red? ‘Round we go.
If this is the strategy they want to take with Thames, they should trade Thames before he loses values, ages any further, or before he just stops caring about this team that seemingly doesn’t want his services, despite the obvious need.
Speaking of defense, sweet leaping grab Grandy just made.
I find the best way to deal with Dejesus and how he hits us, have him on your fantasy team, so at least you get some small pleasure from it.
As far as the Sox series on MLBEI, I think we all agree about Hawk. The only time I turn up the sound is when the Tigers hit a homer or do something good, then I yell at the TV and Hawk. I wish he would retire or get fired, thats the only time I want to hear ‘He gone.’