PREGAME: Am I the only one that hates the Sunday night games? In any case, it’s Joe MOrgan time as the Tigers look to not get swept. They’re playing some really bad baseball.
Now the last time the Tigers were looking to avoid a sweep, they were also playing on a Sunday night and Jeremy Bonderman was also starting. The Tigers won a 1-0 nail biter against the Twins. Here’s hoping that the Tigers can turn that trick again.
To do it they’ll have to get to Dustin Moseley. Moseley’s last 2 outings have been twins, 1 run, 6 innings, 5 hits. Of course those starts were in April and he’s been in the bullpen since then. His last time out he gave up 5 runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief work.
Game time 8:05
DET @ LAA, Sunday, July 29, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
No, you’re not alone Billfer. I never thought I would dread a national Tiger broadcast, but it’s happened.
Gammons talking of Dotel interest from Mariners, Indians, and Dodgers. No mention of Tigers. Actually, in all of the Gammons trade talk Tigers’ name doesn’t come up once. Good times.
I’ve alwayws wondered, how does Gammons have all these ins? He seems to be the first journalist out there to know of any big deal
That’s why he’s in the Hall of Fame. Our beat writers? Not so much. Still waiting to here a simple one sentence statement on the specifics of Miner’s emergency.
Morgan out Baker in. That’s a wash. Orel is an upgrade
No joe morgan? niiiice
Zach Miner: He’s at home in Florida after his father underwent surgery.
Marcus Thames is on the DL with a pulled left hamstring. He’s doing some light jogging at this point and hopes to begin running the bases in the next four or five days.
Was that the goddamn two seemer he like’s to get pounded with?
Someone tell him to stop throwing that damn pitch.
I know Gammons is back at home base because of the trade deadline, but I’d rather see him in studio anyway. Using him as a sideline reporter has always seemed a waste to me. Sure, he can still pass along the news he’s heard, but I wince when he has to “report” some fluffy story or do a quickie interview in the tunnel.
Ugh nevermind. I forgot Bakers a moron too.
Bet he mentions his love for Neifi tonight?
Worst.
Announcing
Crew
Ever. In the history of time itself. I long to hear the incoherent rambles and giggles of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.
Nothin like being patient and giving Bonderman time to rest… 7 pitch inning you’ve got to be kidding me
Can it get much worse?
Bonderman does not look good tonight, not at all.
This has been an awful stretch. I keep trying to look for silver linings, without much success.
It’s a slump. We were all saying this in May I think it was when we were getting stomped by Cleveland what felt like every weekend.
Our pitching has been slumping closer and closer to catastrophe since the break. What is going on??
Farnsworth or nothing? Awesome! I really hope Gammons is wrong.
Why doesn’t Gammons just say he doesn’t know what Detroit is going to do. Because It doesn’t sound like he knows.
ESPN doesn’t employ him to say ‘I don’t know’. And they do have a lot of say over what their analysts say. I read a story on Deadspin a while ago about John Kruk picking the Pirates at the start of the season to win the Central because they wanted the 3 analysts to each pick a different team and he just said the most unlikely team to win since he agreed with one of the other analysts.
In short, ESPN really sucks.
Oh I know Mike, there was a story on FJM where they did somthing like that and Kruk said somthing you could tell he really didn’t believe.
All right – it’s official. This is sickening.
Wow! This is absolutely embarassing. Its almost comical at this point.
I can’t watch anymore. I’m sitting here bobbing in place, with my knees held to my chest. Make it stop.
So Shark Week starts tonight on the Discovery Channel…
Fernando Rodney allowed a hit and fanned one getting through his inning on 9 pitches (7 strikes)
So much for my hope that Durbin was going to come in and shut them down.
hahaa if you cant beatem throw at them!
Geez, this is unbeleivable. Well that was interesting. I like that idea of Shark Week, but I am gonna stay in tune for the brawl.
Now this is getting really embarrassing
Being eaten by sharks, starting from the toes and moving up, might be more fun than this.
Prior to tonight Bondo had never allowed more than 8 earned runs in a start.
What an embarrassing game. Bonderman had nothing from the beginning. If they had any kind of bullpen at all, he would not have stayed in so long. He has had bad stuff his last two starts.
I was upset when we were dropping those games at the beginning of the season and cursing Sheffield’s name when he wasn’t putting it together, but I have to say, this feels different. This is really bad stuff. Like I said last night, the only pitcher on this staff I have ANY faith in right now is Justin. And the pen has blown leads he handed them in his last two starts.
These guys look like losers right now. They look like their going into games waiting for something to go wrong. Maybe I’m just projecting.
At any rate, we as Tiger fans know losing baseball and the teams that play it, and right now, this looks like a losing club.
In case nobody smells what’s going on here:
This team is absolutely demoralized. You can see it in their eyes. What also you’re seeing now are the effects no amount of stats can elucidate. You can calculate all the games the bullpen cost this team you want — however, you can’t calculate the mental toll the bullpen has inflicted on this team the past two weeks. This team looks absolutely defeated after two innings.
You got Bonderman under the added pressure to be the stopper, you got Granderson under the added pressure to put the ball in play with runner on third with one out, and overall, the team just can’t pull out of its downward spiral.
When an engine isn’t running on all cylinders, sooner or later your gonna blow a rod. It would appear that’s exactly what’s happened.
The thing is:
The Tiger’s bullpen needed shoring up weeks ago. Now were in an absolutely brutal stretch, with no days off — and if you didn’t anticipate that this stretch would be a potential coup de grace for this bullpen (and maybe this team), you’re weren’t thinking it through. What started with the bullpen getting repeatedly embarrassed and letting down the team in tight games (and not so tight games)has spread like a cancer throughtout the entire club. The whole team is coming unhinged.
I’m sure we’re gonna hear how you can’t blame this latest debacle on the bullpen; but let me be one to say I disagree 100%. You just can keep a team whole with such a gaping whole.
Come on brawl! Hit somebody!
Bonderman’s ERA went from 3.69 to 4.33 tonight.
I totally agree with T Smith.
chip away boys! chip away!
Well, I’m off to bed! Goodnight all. I suggest a shot of booze to knock this crappy baseball weekend out of our heads. Something 100 proof.
Bonderman had nothing because the bullpen stinks? Come on.
Baker just echoed what I just said (even though it’s not exactly accurate):
“…The Tigers have had the lead after seven innings in the last five games and lost every one of them. That’s a downer.”
Again, it wasn’t an accurate statement, but it might just as well be. And you get the point.
I don’t think the bullpen was the problem tonight. I’m one of the biggest Bonderman supporters there is but I’ll say that he was the problem tonight. Obviously, the bullpen is their biggest weakness but the rest of the team was doing fine before the road trip. I find it hard to blame all of the poor play this week on the bullpen.
The more I watch Raburn the more I think he’s for real and could stay.
I’m not sure if Raburn is for real but I’m sure I want him playing over Monroe every night.
I can’t face my co-workers tomorrow. I’m going to call in Sick and Tired…
They are frustrated as a team there is no question. Anyone that has played a team sport knows that morale and emotion are a big part of it. I think it awfully naive to think that their bullpen problems are not in the heads of the rest of the staff. It is not as if the bullpen is slumping and will work through it, they have been miserable all year.
T Smith is correct. Of course Bonderman sucked, but the starting pitching and the offense gets emotionally defeated by a bullpen that just blows. I’ve been saying this for at least six weeks this has been an accident waiting to happen They should have got another arm before the debacle of this week. Other teams have made moves to shore up their bullpen and we’ve done absolutely nothing except trade Maroth for a bag of balls and add no-hopers like McBride and Capellan.
I think people are right: Dombrowski wants to build for the future. He’s been all over, he wants to settle in Motown for a good 10-15 years. If that means going 88-74 repeatedly, rather than going for it this year, that’s fine with him.
Okay Billfer, here’s a little thought experiment. Can you imagine Bonderman coming so completely unhinged as he did tonight if the Tigers were on a four game win streak, with a completely rested pen, and 4.5 games up on the Indians? If anything, Leyland would have had the luxury to pull him very early on if that was the case, before the game was over.
I’m the first to say it’s a connection based on speculation, but what I see is a preformance directly linked to added pressure. The starters, whether the Skipper directly tells them so or not, understand they HAVE to go deeper in games cuz there is nobody to back them up and an endless stretch of games ahead of them. All of a sudden everybody is expected to be the hero, whereas before, a team player.
Result: multiple wild pitches, control problems, and yes, another e-1.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not condoning Bondo’s absolutely dismal night. I’m just saying baseball is a funny in that way and an organic beast. When the team begins ailing as a whole, you usually can trace it back to a point of origin.
Matt, if the bullpen is the whole problem, why was the team doing fine until this road trip? The bullpen has been crap all year.
Lee, exactly! You can’t carry the ‘crap’ part of a ballclub for an entire season. We did well for 2/3’s of a season, but we should have already got help.
T Smith, I think Bonderman became unhinged because he was frustrated that he had nothing tonight. That’s my theory. I don’t doubt that one team weakness can affect other parts of the team but I think you are taking your theory to an extreme. This team has bounced back from bad bullpen performances all year. They’ve played well in close games. I suspect the road trip has them fatigued.
Lee:
For one thing, we’ve played something like 14 games in the last 13 days. If your team’s achilles heal is the bullpen, a stretch like that coupled with a poor start or two can kill it.
Does anyone know a couple like in the Cialis ad where the couple has matching bathtubs that are outside?
This team should start snorting Cialis.
Stephen, I agree they need to get bullpen help. I just don’t agree that the bullpen is causing the whole team to play poorly right now. I do like the fact that there are so many people not taking the saber view here! I’m a saber guy but I like to hear the other side too.
Yes, it’s possible Bondo became unhinged tonight because he’s pissed he forgot to TIVO that Shark special on the Discovery Channel Billfer was talking about. It’s possible he would have come unhinged anyway, regardless of the Tiger’s bullpen woes.
I’m not going to say, definatively, “the bullpen caused this loss.” I’m just saying, the kind of heartbreaking bullpen meltdowns the team has endured the past couple weeks demoralizes a team and demoralizes players, and these kind of games happen as a result. And while it’s impossible to say that’s the case tonight, that’s nonetheless what I see going on here.
With a faulty bullpen there’s more pressure on the rest of the team. That goes for any facet of a team.
Grandy with a 3bagger!
The bullpen has had a lot of horrible games this year and each time the team bounced back. A good example was the Cleveland series earlier in the season. The reason they bounced back was because they were getting good starting pitching and great run production. Now, they aren’t getting that and that’s why they are losing. I could be wrong but that’s what I see.
bwaaaaaaaaahahha! 6 pitch inning for Jones. NICE
T Smith –
Thank you for saving me the effort. Right, right, right. Before this, it was four straight seventh inning leads blown, I believe. When your best pitching/batting efforts keep getting thrown away by the pen, how do you keep giving 100%? They are well paid professionals, etc., but that’s gotta eat at the whole team. They’re only human, and this has to be depressing/frustrating.
haha, I actually watched that Shark special with the USS Indianapolis because I got fed up with the game by the end of the second inning.
Just read all the posts, Stephen’s cialis post takes 1st prize.
All I was hoping for on this trip was 3-3. I’d like to say that I’m still holding on, but I’m not. I can’t wait for Thursday.
Man, if there’s one thing Detroit sports fans should know by now, it’s that the regular season – and **especially** small losing/winning streaks in the middle of it – doesn’t really matter that much.
I’m usually the doomsayer in this place (yes, I still would trade Grilli and Rodney both for the proverbial used ball bag), but I do believe this is a slump (albeit a nasty one). This is still a contending team, and I’d rather see them slump now than in September.
Let this play out a bit, and give DD some room to do what he needs to do. This is still a **very** motivated owner who understands as well as any owner is sports how to strike when the iron is hot. This is still the best manager in baseball. This is still the best offense in baseball. This is still one of the very best 1-thru-3 starting rotations in baseball.
I’m as frustrated as any of you, but let’s not blow our stacks just yet. It’s like getting POd at a Wings’ 4-game losing streak in January…
As painful as it is, it is time to face reality: this team and this season is TOAST. This is only the beginning of what I see as a long downward spiral. This pitching staff is fatigued and struggling, which leads to ever more fatigue and struggles. Just look at how many pitches have to be thrown during these games where nobody can get anybody out. I keep looking for answers and all I can see is only one thing– last place. That’s right. The Detroit Tigers will make the unbelievable drop from 1st to worst in two months.
Just FYI: I’m not posting under the alias of ‘dub_scratch.
Shark week rules.
T. Smith, I disagree. Baseball players aren’t affected as much by momentum or pressure as basketball and football players are. The team is tired; they are in the midst of, basically, a 21game road trip (18 games on the road sandwiching 3 games at home). The Angels are a good team, playing some of their best baseball of the season at the moment, as are the Royals. If the bullpen is the engine that drives the team, why didn’t the bullpen’s performance in Minnesota invigorate a sweep of the Royals? Add the extra strain that playing in the all-star game caused a few of the players, and you can see that the team is exhausted. While its easy to point at the bullpen because its not that great, it hasn’t been very good all year! The team overcame that, and will resume doing so when it is rested. The offense is starting to slow down, which is an obvious sign of fatigue. In the past four games, they’ve scored 3,6,3, and 4, which is low for this team.
My favorite Leyland quote of ’07:
“We’re obviously in some turmoil,” he said, “which I kind of like, to be honest with you, because I think you find out what you’re made out of. It’s a fun time to get through things.
As the kids say, w-h-a-t-e-v-e-r.
I’m not gonna panic till my kids flunk math.
The good news- we had about as bad a series as possible, and we’re still in first.
This is a nasty slump. I haven’t finished watching a tiger game like 4 of the last 5 times they’ve been on. It’s hard to watch. And I just have this increasing feeling we’re going to only be landing Kyle Farnsworth at the deadline or someone of his equal and it’s a deflating feeling. All I’m asking right now is to at least get another bullpen arm so we can DFA Jason Grilli so I’ll at least have a new face to yell at for a while.
Bondo sez in the summary this morning that he wasn’t locating, that when he’d got behind he was leaving the ball over the plate too much
all of that may be so but I watched the game until Durbin took over and quite frankly Bondo’s pitches didn’t look all that bad to me. Looked to me like the Halos hit anything they could reach. Pitches that had a good drop on them, they just reached down and tapped ’em into the shallow outfield
now maybe closer to the truth might be that really it was a bit of both. Maybe Bondo was off a bit and certainly the Halos were hot ( what they doin’ down there, anyway — tee hee )
But the one thing that’s going to make a difference is we have a lot of good players and we have about the best manager anybody got. Now with that combination we are gonna win some more games. Where this will take us remains to be seen.
But I’m gonna hang with Jim on this. Let’s go play tonite’s game