PREGAME: The Tigers have a chance for a sweep today. They’ll send out their Pitcher of the Month for April, Nate Robertson.
Steve Trachsel will take the mound for the Orioles. With a day game after a night game, and an off day tomorrow, Leyland usually likes to give Pudge Rodriguez the day off. But with 3 homers in 15 at-bats off of Trachsel, that decision becomes a little more difficult.
One guy who will get the day off is Carlos Guillen who is still battling shoulder tendinitis.
Game time 1:05
POSTGAMEOnce again a Tiger pitcher racked up a big pitch count against the Orioles. They made each of the starters work in this series, they just didn’t have many runs to show for it. Nate Robertson struggled with his control early, but limited the damage to 2 runs as he stuck around until he was one out shy of finishing the 7th.
Offensively Gary Sheffield was the man with 4 hits including his 3rd homer. With Sheff’s recent tear, and a couple of hits by Monroe and Casey, the 3 have pulled themselves above the mendoza line. Brandon Inge is the only starter under .200 and at .165 he’s at his highest point of the season. He’s also gone 4 games now without a strikeout.
Tigers 3 Orioles 2
It’s good to see Casey swinging the bat a little better.
OK, let’s sweep these guys badly today!
Sweep badly. Yep. 😀
Anybody else listening to 1270? Did Jim Price just say “don’t step in the bucket”?
Hi Anne – I wasn’t listening at the time, so I don’t know the context, but “stepping in the bucket” to me means that the batter stepped backward (away from the plate) with the foot nearest the pitcher during his swing.
Sorry if you weren’t asking for clarification. I just tuned in.
I always thought stepping in the bucket was a high (or overly large) step in your swing. As in, there’s an imaginary bucket in front of you and your step toward the pitcher is so big your foot would land in said bucket.
Who was he talking about anyway? Doesn’t Sheff take a big front step? I would hate to think about one of our guys stepping backwards at this level, although, with some of the slumps we’ve had…
I think Ben is correct on this one. As I remember it, the story I heard about Al Simmons (a HOF outfielder for the Connie Mack-era As) was that it was remarkable he had such a great career, because he constantly stepped “in the bucket,” or away from the plate, as he swung. They even nicknamed him “Bucketfoot Al” because of it.
He was talking about Ordonez I believe, and it is stepping away from the direction of the mound. Ordonez has a pretty non-text book swing in that he does step in the bucket.
I think we should all chip in and send Tejada and Cabrera bottles of champagne to thank them for waking Mr. Sheffield up from his April slumber.
Good to see Sheff getting the average up, even if the last single wasn’t exactly crushed.
C’mon now, Jonesy. Finish this off nice and easy….
Thanks all. “Step in the bucket” is an expression I’ve never heard before.
And hey, not a bad sweep at all. 🙂 Even though the Sheff gets on base/Maggs gets an RBI thing didn’t hold true today, I’m still loving that 2-3-4 stretch of our lineup. And loving that 4-4 performance by Sheff too.
Mid-week day games are just weird. Today’s evidence: Granderson gets a walk, and Jones notches 2 Ks.
Hopefully Sheff’s 4-4 is NOT an aberration!
Props to Rodney too for a good outing (in spite of a walk). I’ve been critical of him before, but it seems he may be getting it together now.
And speaking of mid-week day games, attendance today was around 29,000. Not too shabby, especially when you consider school isn’t out yet. How many of those were playing hooky today, do you think?
That’s what “step in the bucket” means, eh? I knew my high school coach didn’t know what he was talking about.
Ben is correct-to ‘step in the bucket’ is to step away from the plate with the front foot and open up the body to the pitcher.
Is there a more under-rated pitcher in baseball than Nate Robertson?
Way to win, guys. Way to win.
Inge got a hit today too. :{)
Bob, I agree with your comment about Nate Robertson. Thankfully we Tiger fans know what a good pitcher he is and can fully appreciate him.
Good game, nice sweep. Lets roll up Kansas City this weekend, too.
Sheffield’s hitting again! If he gets back to his form, watch out
I noticed that 19 walk stat. That doesn’t surprise me at all. That’s why we got Shef. He can work counts, and he doesn’t strike out that much.
This is looking more and more like a great acquisition
Inge, Monroe and Casey all hit! And no K’s for any of them! Who do you suppose will win the race to a .250 BA?
Seriously, if those three guys had been playing at least mediocre ball up until now, our offense would be scary.
Let’s keep this momentum rolling into KC.
The Billfer curse is now in effect. Expect a 4K performance from Inge next game.