2007 Season, Game Post

Game 118: A’s at Tigers

108 Comments

PREGAME: Chad Gaudin and Chad Durbin
Game time 7:05pm
OAK @ DET, Monday, August 13, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Huh. I’m really surprised. I thought these brief pregame posts were to the key to success. Oh well. Tonight was pretty brutal. Bad pitching, bad fielding, bad hitting. All they were missing was a baserunning mistake.

  • Chad Durbin was pretty awful. He walked 4, but even when he was getting ahead of hitters he couldn’t put them away. It was foul ball after foul ball until a hanging breaking pitch said “hit me!” Andrew Miller is scheduled to make a rehab start on Wednesday, but even if things go well he won’t be able to start until Monday. Does Chad Durbin make his next start or does Zach Miner or Virgil Vasquez get a shot.
  • Jason Grilli came in to a tough situation and got a ground ball, that should have scored one were it not for a Carlos Guillen error. But then the next inning was terrible with 8 straight balls resulting in a run being walked in. Not the difference in the ball game by any means, but yet another bullet point on his resume. I’d get upset about Grilli still having a spot on the team, but really what’s the point anymore? If he hasn’t pitched his way off the team, what is walking in a run in a blowout?
  • The offense was no where, and that was disappointing against a pitcher who just hasn’t been good for quite a while. This wasn’t Scott Kazmir, it was Chad Gaudin. And yet he posted a career high in strikeouts with 9. The Tigers couldn’t take advantage of limited scoring opportunities and never chipped away at the lead after plating 2 quick runs in the first. Really, they never hit the ball hard save for 2 or 3 well stuck pitches.

108 thoughts on “Game 118: A’s at Tigers”

  1. The lineups are posted and I see Leyland has Rodriguez in the 6-spot and Thames hitting 8th. This continues to be a mystery to me. Doesn’t this in effect give Thames one less baserunner to drive in?

  3. Whoa. Nice catch by Grandy, but Durbin better get on his game quickly, or it will be a long night.

  6. Ordonez is on another tear. It’s amazing what he can do with these pitches out of the strike zone.

    Now we need Durbin to settle down and give us some innings.

  7. What’s it like to see the ball the way Mags has this series? Is it just like a slow motion beachball? ha ha

  10. We have won two in a row, if we win one today, that is called a winning streak.

    It has happened before

  11. Gaudin has given up 31 runs in 32 innings over his last 6 starts. Do we make him look like the bum he is or Cy Young?

  15. the A’s are not exactly murders row…we need 10 plus runs to win with our current pitching

  16. Oh dear god. Just got home from dinner. I’m going to turn it off for a while and check again later.

  17. Wonder what Polanco was thinking on the carom? He had all day to step on second and get the double play at first.

    Instead, he threw to THIRD? Weird…

  18. Where were those last two pitches to Piazza? I’ve seen a small strike zone, but come on.

  20. Mario just said “Leyland wants the strikeout so he’s going with Grilli.” What.

  23. and Mark, according to Gameday those last two pitches to Piazza were extremely borderline. They could have gone either way.

  26. Grilli has a 90+ fastball, something Dustbin lacks. Unfortunately, I think it is also pretty straight.

  27. I don’t know where the hell Grilli’s trying to throw, but he’s about a mile from the strikezone

  28. Ballgame.

    Woulda been a different inning if Cousins hadn’t decided Piazza gets five strikes.

  30. Can anyone give a credible reason why Jason Grilli is still on the roster? What does a guy have to do to get sent back to the minors?

  33. Cousins just made up for his questionable Durbin strikezone by giving Grilli a hilarious third strike

  34. You know, people named Chad probably make up about .00001% of the male population. The odds of both starting pitchers being named Chad in one game are astronomical.

  35. geez…at least the white sox got a world series before they went into their tailspin…wonder what the makeover in the offseason will look like.

  37. Apparently Inge has never seen a slider low and away, since he swings at it EVERY TIME he gets one.

  38. So much for me being the curse. I sold my tickets for tonight. But that’s little comfort. Darn. With CLE idle why can’t we take advantage??

  43. Amen. This fans on this site are definitely not bandwagon fans. We’re just really tired and frustrated and maybe kinda sad in a way.

  44. if he wants to criticize fickle fans for some reason, he might want to go after those that, you know, aren’t watching the game close enough to comment upon it

  45. Amazingly, this isn’t really Grilli’s fault, as he’s getting massively screwed on the strikezone (probably due to the fact that when he misses he REALLY misses)

  46. I’m tired and frustrated at people writing this team off constantly, when the season isn’t over by a longshot.

    It was directed at this:

    “geez…at least the white sox got a world series before they went into their tailspin…wonder what the makeover in the offseason will look like.”

    anyways. So un-bunch your underwear, thanks.

  50. Grilli has now give up at least one run in five consecutive games–and seven games of his last nine. That’s pretty tough for a reliever to do, given that not all appearances are even a full inning.

    I’m as big a Leyland fan as anybody, but why he would put him in any game that’s still within striking distance for the Tigers is beyond me.

  51. there is a theory out there that teams that go deep into the playoffs often have a pitching staff that tires in the second half of the next season…if you combine that with the injuries and the number of young arms (verlander and miller that have pitched a lot of innings for them )over the past two years…perhaps it was just too much to expect from our pitching staff. i know many of us here were hoping that when zumaya and rodney came back we would be set…we didn’t see the collapse of the whole staff. i’m not a bandwagon guy as i’ve been a fan since 61 and seen more disappointmwents that all/most of you…i just didn’t see the whole staff going down.

  52. From now on, when something is over or about to be severely screwed up, it’ll be known as “Jason Grilli’d.”

    Examples:
    “Man, my friends and I went to the bar the other night and got all Grilli’d up. We were so Grilli’d.”

    “I got in a car accident today. Nothing major, but my front bumper is quite Jason Grilli’d.”

    “Well, it’s 14-3, this game is Grilli’d.”

    Use how you please.

  54. “We’re just really tired and frustrated and maybe kinda sad in a way.”

    So, make light of a poor situation. There’s too much negativity and brooding here somtimes…

    If you think I’m sitting here typing physically hard while cursing those gosh darned bandwagoners…well then that’s your problem

  55. Jim, I like how you offered a reasonable and conciliatory explanation and then proceeded to destroy it. Nice.

    Anyways. Guillen triple!!!

  56. Man, atleast Stephen goes out there and gets a steak and a woman!

    Baseballs supposed to be fun…

    oh, and bandwagon, bandwagon, bandwagon…. rawr.

    Trade Maybin!

  57. Charlie, actually that theory was the one my White Sox fan friends rested on last year when they didn’t return to the playoffs. I questioned why the offseason wasn’t enough rest. Can an arm have just so many pitches in it per, let’s say, 18 month period? I wonder about this, I don’t know enough about the physiology of baseball. I never heard about pitch counts in my childhood! And I totally understand what you are saying.

  58. Nice AB, there pudge; excellent approach. Straight outta the Craig Monroe school of hitting.

  63. Well, if the goal is to be the Yankees (and I’m not sure it is, since that’s going to require another $100 million in payroll per year), isn’t overpaying for your All-Star catcher exactly what you do?

  65. Totally agree, Stephen, but they don’t really a ton of other options. Rabelo can’t play every day, and the Yankees will almost certainly re-sign Posada. DD May buy him out and then re-sign for less money, but I dunno how much Pudge would like that.

    So I think we might be stuck with #7 for (at least) another year. Unless DD plans on pursuing someone via trade in the offseason. Offhand I can’t think of anyone that might be available.

  66. Two other thoughts:

    1) It’s not a matter of whether he’s worth $13 million. It’s a matter of whether paying $10 million for Pudge (since we have to pay him $3 million anyway) is preferable to whatever other catching options are out there. Those options appear to be (1) Wilson/Rabelo or (2) taking a shot at Paul Lo Duca, who may or may not want to be a Tiger, and may or may not only get $6-$7 million on the free agent market.

    2) $10 million sounds like a lot of money. But this is only a one-year commitment. It’s quite a bit different than signing a guy to a 5-year, $50 million contract–which is the more usual situation when we think about free agent contracts and annual salary amounts.

  67. This is like watching hockey- a few all stars, a bunch of ok players and more than a few guys who should never see the light of a pro stadium or arena. Too many teams and not enough talent.

  69. I say we contract Cleveland and Minnesota immediately. And the Yankees. That’s just not a baseball town.

  71. we could pick up Mirabelli and then trade him to Boston for prospects when they belatedly realize Wakefield can’t pitch to anyone else for the sixty millionth time

  72. Lookin at that list…I say we get Fick, Tony Clark and Luis Gonzalez. Maybe some Doug Brocail too?

    It’d be like a reunion of sorts and fill our positional needs

  75. anyone here ever been to jacobs field? I was thinking of driving down in Sept for a game.. How are their infield upper deck seats compared to Copa?

  77. Joel is throwing well, mostly just fastballs. Velocity is 92-95 mph which is good.

    He has one out and given up a double. Though he was pretty much just waiting for a fastball so hard to judge much from it.

    He has mixed in a few other pitches though.

  80. Jim, we went to the Jake last August, I found their seating chart real confusing with all of those different levels – ended up in an outfield lower box seat on the right field side. It was a real good location for interacting with our players during warmups. From what I can recall, the upper deck seating might even have been a bit closer in than at Comerica Park. I think you’re good with either location. It’s a nice park. There’s a sports bar across the street that’s owned by Alice Cooper, it’s really funny and the food is pretty good. Hope this helps a little.

  82. lol Dave W, you know my life story!! thanks for the laugh on a glum evening. We should really meet up and say hi next time we are both at the same game.

  84. Awesome, I was worried the upper deck was farther based on the seating chart (which you are right looks like a mess)

    I find it amazing there were still plenty of tickets avaiable there…

  85. unfortunately, it’s entirely likely that I’ll be devoured by rabid Yankees fans in New York on Thursday

  87. I hope Zumaya can pitch an average of 5 innings every other day starting tomorrow. The 11:p.m. Greyhound from Toledo to Cleveland leaves soon.

  88. Gary seems to be getting closer…Instead of popping straight up he’s flying out. Next a few will stat leaving all together I hope.

  89. Dave we will be on pins and needles here until we hear that you survived!! I’ll be at the games 8/22, 23 and 24 so let me know.

  90. that’s really my only hope, Jim. It will help if they’ve seen how Detroit was portrayed in Robocop.

  92. yeah it was – I’m pretty sure the only reason they chose us was because it allowed them to use Devil’s Night as a concept.

  94. Jim one thing about Jacobs that I did not like as much as Comerica is, you know how if you want to walk around the lower concourse at Comerica, you can look in and see the field/game from the back of any section? Not so at Jacobs. It’s hard to explain but there are some zigzag type areas, some seating areas with higher walls behind so if you were to walk in a circle there are times you can’t see the field. (That is probably why the seating chart is so crazy; it’s hard to show that in a chart) Anyway, I think our open concourse is much nicer.

  95. From the plot summary on imdb:

    “The streets of Detroit are rain-slickened and littered with filth, smoky fires burn in the distance, and daylight never seems to come in the industrial slum”

    Apparently someone’s been around Russell Industrial Center.

  97. I think they did a good job designing Comerica. Fairly straightfoward and easy to navagate…

  98. Kurt “I hit Tigers pitching like I’m Ichiro” Suzuki with another base knock. Ridiculous

    Is it me, or did #7-9 hitters on every team absolutely kill us this entire homestand? Uribe, Scutaro, Navarro, etc.

  99. Yeah, actually my dream second job is to usher part-time at the park. As soon as the kids don’t need me around anymore. Leave the office, don the orange jacket, and go right over to the game!

  101. I guess we’ve abandoned the game, but I enjoyed all the chat threads this evening. On to Cleveland!! Good night all.

  103. Charlie, I’m sure you can remember 1961 as being a very good year. 101 and 61. Norm Cash hitting .361. And still we ended up in second place. Before that I was in awe of the Yanks. After , hate set in.

  104. ron

    i was only 8 at the time…my biggest memory from that year was a great catch by al kaline in which he separated his shoulder, however i do remember cash, colavito and others…great memories for me as a little guy.

    cheers

  106. we needed a shut-out pitcher to win that last night

    we ain’t got it. they just ait a lot of shut-out guys around and to beat someone throwing a 2-run game it’s just about what ya gonna need

    so look at things on the bright side. Leyland got another good look at J.G. they guy just ain’t showed he got what it takes. I’d been happy if he’d got in there and throwed a couple good inings. but no, he walks in a run. I’m sick of walks. but with Grilli, they were just pounding his curve except once in a while when he got some bite onto it. He’s got to have stuff he can throw for a strike that’s got enough bite so as to keep the hitters from launching them baseballs into orbit. The shuttle can only bring down one load every so often ya know ( tee hee )

    and now this morning I’m thinkin’ again ( yeah yea I know I ain’t supposed to do that just drink my beer and behave ) but what I’m think’n is we need the pitching coach from the Mudhens up here. why not we have to call everyone else already

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