2007 Season, Game Post

Game 135: Tigers at Athletics

167 Comments

PREGAME: It’s just not an A’s series without facing Joe Blanton. Fortunately the Tigers find him to be kind of hittable, at least so far this year. They rocked him for 9 runs in just 4 innings in his last start (the infamous come back from way down only to get blown out again when Macay McBride was left on the mound to languish).

The Tigers send out Virgil Vasquez who will make his 3rd start. One was really bad, another was pretty good. But he still doesn’t have a win so here’s hoping the Tigers can get him a game ball.

Game Time 10:05

167 thoughts on “Game 135: Tigers at Athletics”

  3. Billfer had to bring up the memory of August 10, just when I was beginning to put it behind me. Did Macay McBride actually pitch for this team?

    Here’s hoping for a quality start from double V, the continued pounding of Blanton, and some help from the Devil Rays, Blue Jays and White Sox. That’s not too much to ask for, is it?

  5. Knock on wood, but the other relevant teams are all trailing. Would be a great night to pick up a game on everyone.

  7. Ozzie is trying to give the game away, McDougal’s out there and is wild, it’s now 5-4 ChiSox with the bases loaded, two outs, and Kenny Lofton at the plate

  8. OH..he walked him too…..they are GIVING the Indians the game. This is ridiculous….why wouldn’t Ozzie bring in Jenks? I hate both of these teams!

  9. Six batters ago it was 5-2, man on first, two outs. Now it’s 8-5. Myers gave up a walk and a single to make it 5-3. MacDougal fell behind 3-0 on Garko before getting a couple strikes, then giving up a run-scoring single. MacDougal then walked Peralta on four straight pitches to load the bases. Then Lofton was put in, a high walk guy, and Ozzie left MacDougal in the game. MacDougal walked Lofton on four straight pitchse to tie the game.

    Ozzie left him in to face Casey Blake. Got to a 1-2 count, then two balls, had to come in on him, a bases clearing double. Tribe up 8-5. Thanks, Ozzie.

  11. It might not be in the cards this year….the reason why the Indians are alive because Garko hit a ball right to Uribe that would have ended the inning with the White Sox up 5-3 and the ball hits the lip of the infield dirt and somehow bounces Uribe’s left shoulder….unflippinbelievable.

  13. Casey Blake just hit a bases clearing double to give the Indians a 8-5 lead. They were originally down 5-0. Maybe this is Cleveland’s “magical” year.

  14. The White Sox really crashed and burned this year. Even though not many predicted them to finish in the top of the division, I don’t think anyone thought they would be this bad.

  18. It’s like I’ve said before. Space Jam. The “Monstars” stole our magic this year. But I’m still on the hope train.

    I hope the White Sox suck this much when we play them again.

  19. 8 perfect innings for Baker now. The young guy may have turned a corner in the second half – he has had 8 quality starts out of his last ten after a real rough start. You ca say what you like about the Twins, but they do have excellent pitching in their farm system.

  24. God the White Sox suck. Jenks on the bench and he hasn’t pitched since the 27th and he doesn’t get into that game.

    I’m rooting for Scott Baker, too. I’m forsaking the Tigers game so i can watch the live cut in of the 9th inning.

  27. David Cone, Yankees in 1999 was the last perfect game.
    Baker lost the perfect game, giving up a leadoff walk in the 9th

  33. I remember I was in Vegas at the New York New York when Verlander threw his no-no, was sitting at a bar and ESPN cuts to it and I got to see the end of the game. It was awesome. Too bad for Baker, as i am typing he loses the no hitter. Also, Baker went pitch for pitch with Bondo at Comerica and then Marcus hit the home run to win the game, so he can be real good at times. Hopefully he has put it all together.

  36. Robbed an inside the parker from the kind, atleast a triple tho.

    Cone was the last AL perfect game, RJ was in the NL.

    Oh, and I think I was…at comerica park the night of Justins no no 😛

  37. i’m sick and tired of the indians coming from behind and winning games…this is ridiculous…all because mike mcdougal doesn’t know how to throw strikes, we lose a chance to gain ground on the indians

  38. Mike R:
    I was listening to the Twins broadcast here and they cited the Cone game. Maybe they meant AL perfect game and I didn’t catch it. Thanks.

    Kind of funny having Inge bunt there. With Vasquez going and the success we have had against Blanton this year, it seems like hitting away would make more sense.

  44. maybe jim leyland can manage the white sox for all the bad decisions he’s made…actually wait until the white sox finish playing hte indians first

  52. Maybe Pudge read the article in the newspaper about whether or not the Tigers will pick up his contract next year.

  53. I wonder why Inge always has to “cheat” on every pitch. He is a pretty strong guy and has good bat speed. It’s like Rod said he has to let the ball come to him.

  60. The mom in me says “poor kid”.
    The girl who gave the Tigers a one-month interest free loan this afternoon says “aaarrgghh”.

  61. Is Vasquez your prototypical “soft tossing righty?” He comes in at 90-91 once in a while, but if that is all he’s got….

    OK Cheesecurds is in – at least he has a fastball.

  62. Vasquez is your prototypical AAAA pitcher, hence why he’s spent his career in the minors. Jordan Tata is an even worse version, stuff wise, of Vasquez.

  63. I said a couple of days ago, why not just give Grilli a spot start, can’t be worse than Vasquez.

  67. Vasquez has been pretty underwhelming in the majors this year. The strange thing is that he has been so dominant in Toledo which has merited the belief that perhaps he could pitch in the majors. I think these three appearances this year has confirmed his status as a permanent minor leaguer.

    P.S. Mike R. what is going on with your website? Isn’t is way too soon to start with the fire Jim Leyland talk?

  74. The reason I never got down on Grilli is, he is not as bad as he was pitching earlie this year. I know he is not the best pitcher, but he is good as a long reliever.

  75. I have this feeling like there is a conspiracy against the Tigers whereby all Cleveland opponents will give away the game in late innings to keep us out of the playoffs.

  76. Somehow this guy has managed to call Cameron Maybin, Curtis Maybin over and over and over without catching it.

  77. Grilli can handle it. Help is on the way tomorrow when Leyland expands the roster all the way to 29.

  79. Well, our offense is frustrating me, and I did not win the MegaMillions either. Maybe if I tune out and go to sleep a miracle will occur!

  80. Ken:

    He may be confusing Cameron Maybin with Curtis Mayfield?

    As for the Vasquez experiment being over, it will probably depend on how fast the Tigers drop out of the playoff race. I could see him getting another start or two…. or three.

  82. What’s the consensus on Byrdak and Seay – adequate replacements for Walker? Bring ’em back next year?

  84. Think we miss Sheff at all? The gaping hole in the 3 spot is killing our offense night in and night out.

  85. Is it just me or is Thames not really that good. Sure he hits a long home run every once in a while, but strikes out badly fifteen times in between each one. Still, compared to Monroe he looks pretty great.

  90. Thames is kind of streaky, but if he hits .250 with a HR every 12 AB I could live with that. He’s a far far cry from a no. 3 hitter though. He’d be best hitting 6th or 7th, where that much power could be kind of a luxury backing up your high OB guys. Leyland sees it differently though.

  91. Have the Tigers been able to put together anything longer than a 5 or 6 game winning streak this year? And precious few of those. None since the AS game, of course.

  92. I now believe Brandon Inge is the worst everyday player on an American League team no matter of the position. He is just awful. Not even mediocre. Just fricking awful. He is stealing money. What a joke.

  94. I don’t think Leyland has ever put together a line-up that made good sense from top to bottom. There is just always a huh? I would have set up the line-up as follows, with maybe Rayburn and Guillen flip-flopped. I’m pretty sure 90% of us and 90% of other managers would have been on the same page as me. Leyland just always makes me wonder.

    Granderson
    Polanco
    Guillen
    Ordonez
    Rayburn
    Thames
    Pudge
    Inge
    Santiago

  104. Oakland announcers did about a triple take on Timo being on deck. Attaboy Inge. Swing at balls three and four…at least no doubleplay. Bah!

  105. Unbelievable. He just sucks so bad. My god, he bats like a little leaguer. 2800 at bats, and he’s a .241 career batter. guess what? that sucks! Subtract his best year and his worst year and you’re still around .241. He is consistently horrible. And we have to look at his face for another three years.

  115. btw. That AB from Inge was pure garbage. All his AB’s tonight make him look completely clueless out there.

  117. We need a win bad tonight. Indians won while Seattle and New York lost. Wild card here we come.

  119. Anyone else notice Street did not look close to being good? Fastball wasn’t there…control wasn’t there…

  120. Jim, I noticed because some of our worst hitters scored two runs off of him. That is a big deal.

  125. Rodney has been so nasty lately. Just really honed in. I’d like to bring him out for the 10th.

  129. Geez, one more “just ask Zack” commercials and I am going to flip. He is just so smarmy and cocky. Get a life outside of cable television loser!!!!

  130. Why why why why why did Timo hesitate. It’s Mike Piazza the only man who may be slower then Casey

  136. Timo with the quadruple clutch. Way to go kid. I used to make that mistake in high school. And I sucked in high school.

  140. Well, at least the wildcard leaders both lost, so we can continue to be strung along. But it’s time to congratulate the Indians on the division title unless they choke.

  142. I’m sick of this, I realize injuries and blah blah blah, but come on, a great come back, good bullpen, and timo perez F’N TIMO PEREZ come on. Leyland needs to rip into this team like a dirty one. I swear to god if i see an another Tigers jersey with “Perez” on the back, i’ll burn it

  143. I have no idea what he double clutched on. Didn’t look like he lost the handle on the ball. At worst, Piazza should’ve been forced to stay at 1st with a long single.

  144. So much for meaningful baseball in September. This season is over.
    At least 2007 has been consistent in its awfulness: crappy inexplicable managing–McBride game, the 9th inning last week against the indians, batting Timo 3rd; crappy general managing–no deadline deals, going into the season with a first baseman who was awful and declining LAST year, signing Inge to four(!) years–and crappy no brains playing–Bonderman’s nonexistent learning curve, Inge’s no adjustment at-bats, Pudge’s pathological fear of walks.
    I’ll always remember with fondness those 2 weeks last October, but the sad truth is over the last 185 regular seasongames, this team is under 500, and playing roughly .480 ball against American league teams. And that’s with having an MVP candidate! We have below average players at first, third, catcher, and left field. You don’t fill all those holes all in one offseason.
    Settle in guys, this ain’t gonna get better next year.

  145. Piazza makes Casey look fast. In fact Casey could have thrown Piazza out on that play. That did not look like a very strong throw from Maggs either. Pizza boy beats us. Unbelievable.

  146. Stephen, I think you are insane.

    In 2006, the Tigers had about everything go right.
    This year, they have had about everything go wrong, save for Magglio and Polanco’s seasons. Yet we are still here, wildcard within reach (though I don’t think we’ll make it).

    So considering all that went wrong this year, yet we were still a quality team, it is really hard to imagine how we don’t improve. Do you really think we are going to have the extreme amount of injuries in the rotation? In the bullpen? What if we do go out and improve first base?

    Your comments against Dombrowski are particularly unwarranted. The guy has been brilliant. He couldn’t give up Maybin, and in a few years, we might be thanking our lucky stars that he didn’t give him up.

    It’s hard to do this right now, with such a devastating loss, but I remind myself what it was like losing 100 games a year for basically my entire adult life. Our expectations are higher and should be, but I still enjoy these games. I would have BEGGED to have the Tigers in this exact position before the start of the 2003,4, and 5 seasons.

  147. When he was hired, didn’t Leyland say he would not tolerate a losing attitude on this team? So, if you walk around with your head held high and a smile on your face while you continue to lose, this is ok with him? Just wondering.Now I understand why I see so many happy faces in the dugout.

  148. Well, Feilong this is what happens when you get one good season a generation. You begin to feel blessed for having the one good season.
    I, on the other hand, expect a level of competence from guys making a gazillion dollars. Give me a few more guys who seem to have a logical and reasoned approach to fulfilling their potential and I’d be happy. Instead, we have a 3rd baseman who despite sucking for months is doing nothing at the plate to adjust. In three weeks, Rick Ankiel has more home runs than our first baseman. Give Ankiel another week and he’ll have more walks than Pudge. From Pudge’s petulant whining behind the plate to Inge taking a non-existent force play to the pitchers’ errors in the World Series, this team doesn’t play smart. That’s not a forgiveable sin. If we lose tonight because the A’s string together three hits, that’s fine, that’s baseball. But we let a slug of a runner take second because our left fielder is apparently contemplating sending the ball to third for reasons only apparent to Timo and his god. Those are the plays that piss me off. At a certain point, this is the players’ responsibilty but Leyland’s been here for two years; his cavalier approach is his problem.
    Dombrowski is responsible for Pudge, Casey, Inge, and the null set that is left field. I rest my case.

  150. Perez had no idea who was running out that hit. He had no idea how quickly that ball got to him.I doubt he even knew that was the winning run. Sad.

  151. While I don’t feel we’re a doomed team like Stephen (though I share some of the sentiments as he does), I just think we’re basically the team we’re watching. 5-6 games over .500 (we’re more then that now, but I’m banking on staying that way). Essentially a good team, but not a great team. It’s amazing how much a hot postseason stretch raises expectations. Say we lost the division and the wildcard came out of the East last year, would we be as bummed about being this record? Hardly. A hot 2 week stretch put expectations on this team that I’m just not sure were reasonable from the get-go.

  152. Oh for gods sake. Glad I went to bed. I would rather have seen the 4-2 loss. I hope Mike Ilitch enjoys using my money for a month. Now I’m just MAD.

  153. Sportscasters generally recognize Inge as one of the best 3basemen in the league for his defensive play

    yeah, he ain’t the hottest hitter in the league, we know that. but we need them balls caught and them enemy batters thrown out

    I thought VV was good job in that game. kept us in the game right up to the end

    are we Sportsmen? I say yes and good sportsmanship sez “Good game, see you guys tonite at 4”

    it was a good game

    and I’m looking forward to the game tonite at 4

  154. hmmmmmmm

    I went back and read the box scores on the DetNews. lotta info there I didn’t pickup when I read the wrap

    another bullpen game, looks like to me

  155. I went to bed early, too. Knew they’d lose. Three times and you’re out Virgil. Please send him back to Toledo. Starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching. It’s a miracle the Royals didn’t hit more bombs off the guy. Like I said earlier, almost every pitch he threw had “hit me” written all over it.

    See ‘ya later.

  156. I think you’re being a big overdramatic there, Stephen. I’m not even going to worry about 2008 right now. I am not enjoying the past month of baseball — might not enjoy the next month of baseball at this rate — but it hasn’t been a bad season. Until Sheffield’s injury, this team was pretty fun to watch.

    Sorta ironic the bullpen steps forward at the same time the starters fall apart. Even now, they’re playing poorly, but still in the running for a playoff spot in Sept 1. I’ll take that over the past 20ish years anytime. And I was in the camp for making a trade. But 20/20 hindsight, I don’t think there could have been enough trades made, so I seriously wonder if Dombrowski’s “do-nothing” approach” was better than doing it halfway and still falling short.

  157. Bill A,sportscasters frequently are unable to distinguish their overused a**es from the proverbial hole in the ground(I give you Tim McCarver for exhibit A).I’m wondering exactly what it would take for you to fall out of love with Inge-what if he stole your dog?Slept with your wife?Or maybe vice-versa?

  158. If the team showed half as much passion as Stephan, we’d be 10 games up.Great teams step up when stars get injured.We went to the WS without Sheffield. When Zoom got injured, Rodney failed to step up. When Rogers got injured, Robertson failed to step up.Monroe,Thames and Inge couldn’t hit a beach ball.Where’s our 5 tool player who might have provided a spark. Bondo loses games when we needed him most. What the heck is mix and match? Put the best 9 players on the field and let them play til they keel over. And if Leyland is a hall of fame manager then Brandon Inge is Ted Williams. You hit you run. You catch you throw. Hello Timo.

  159. Thanks Ron. As I’ve said before, I carp because i care. I just want a team that plays smart and that’s what seemingly has been lacking, for the most part, in this team from the 25th man being busted for drugs to the GM sitting on his hands the whole season. (Is Dombrowski saying there wasn’t one player or pitcher available that could help this team?! Big trade, little trade, waiver deal, clearance table, nothing? Not even a spot starter/long man? Not even a spare outfielder that would be an upgrade over Timo? McBride and two PTMNL is it? I find that extraordinary)..

  160. I’m with Stephen. The high highs vs the low lows are killing me. But I’ll be watching at 4. I’ll get a life in October 🙂

  161. Depressing stat of the day: Only once since 1995 has a team rallied from four or more games back on Sept. 1 to win a division – and that team, the 2006 Minnesota Twins, did so against the Tigers.

  163. i kinda agree with ron…you look at those indians and you see that they lost not one, but TWO starting pitchers early in the season, and yet young fausto carmona stepped up, but when the tigers pitchers went down, who stepped up? then david dellucci was injured and trot nixon apparently wasn’t producing at all and they got franklin gutierrez and ben francisco to step up (and eventually kenny lofton), but who stepped up when sheffield went down with the injury and monroe was given the hook? it’s things like these that make the difference in the end…the injuries can’t be an excuse because every team will have them along the way, and you have to have guys who can step up and fill in at least adequately until they come back.

  165. Win or lose every game from here on out, I’ll be watching every day.

    I’ll be rooting for Granderson to get the 20/20/20/20.

    I’ll be rooting for Inge to raise his average, for Verlander to get 17 wins again, for Magglio to win the batting title.

    Are the playoffs all any of you care about? What about baseball for baseball’s sake. And not just baseball, TIGER baseball. What about having fun? Everyone knows the World Series doesn’t mean everything, and you know what? We’ll be back there. Maybe not this year, or the next, but I think David Dombrowski knows what’s up. He’s willing to spend the money on scouted talents, and soon other players are going to want to play here as well. It’s just the beginning of an era. And I’m excited to be here for it.

  166. Adam you are right. I am going to print out your post and read it when I get bitchy at my team. We are all just frustrated. I love my Tigers. In fact I love them so much that this morning when I washed a load of towels, and somehow an orange rally towel got in there and turned my white and beige towels light coral, I laughed until I cried. I will use my formerly white spa towel with honor.

    See you all at 4 up in today’s game thread. GO TIGERS!!

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