2007 Season, Game Post

Game 150: Tigers at Twins

90 Comments

PREGAME: The Tigers look for their first series sweep since…the last time the Tigers were in the Metrodome. It will be Jair Jurrjens taking on Scott Baker.

Baker has been a tough match-up for the Tigers this year throwing a complete game 1 run 3 hit effort and adding another quality start in his last outing.

The Tigers will send out Jair Jurrjens who has reclaimed a spot in the rotation coming off the DL. In one respect Jurrjens has been pitching lucky with only 7 strike outs in his 20 innings of work. At the same time opposing hitters haven’t been able to center the ball. And Jurrjens is still capable of inducing some swings and misses with his curve ball.

Game Time 2:10 p.m.

POSTGAME: Did anyone else have flashbacks to Oakland? A chance to gain ground on the Indians. A comfortable early lead for the Tigers. Five innings of no hit baseball from a Tiger starter. Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones melting down.

Fortunately the Tigers did enough to hang on this time, adding a couple runs late and Jones hanging on to the lead by his fingertips.

Overshadowed in the bullpen walk-a-thon and adventures in fielding was the fact that Jurrjens was awesome. Clearly it was his best start of the season as he finally started to add some strikeouts taking his season total from 7 to 13 today. Despite entering the 6th with a no hitter, he was never really a threat to pitch a complete game as his pitch count and previous injury just wouldn’t allow it.

Offensively it was a balanced attack with every starter picking up a hit except Pudge Rodriguez (playing the day game after a night game) and Pudge even contributed a key run with a sacrifice fly.

In the end though the Tigers have a 5 game win streak, their first streak that long since they won the last 5 going into the All Star Break. They also picked up a series sweep, their first since the last trip to the Metrodome. Yes the Twins are a dead team right now, watching Michael Cuddyer take pitch after pitch right down the middle was, well, pathetic. But the Tigers still took care of business and did what they had to to make the last 2 weeks of the season compelling.
DET @ MIN, Sunday, September 16, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

90 thoughts on “Game 150: Tigers at Twins”

  2. Well, we have a real dilema at my humble apt. today. Since signing up with Direct TV, I now have NFL Sunday ticket. My son is so upset the Packers game is not on Fox, he’s on his way to my house to watch the football game. If I go to his house to watch my Tigers, no access to internet. So y’all, see ya later after the game. God, I hope we win!!!!! Go Tigers and Jair!!!!

  3. posted in the right place:

    This allows me the opportunity to say I like how Granderson runs around the bases so fast and non-chalant, slaps a hand or two and is in the dugout. Definitely a guy who acts like he’s been there before and will be there again.

  6. Kansas City leads Cleveland 3-1 Bottom of 6

    Dear Kansas City,

    Please hold a lead once this weekend. Just once. That’s all I am asking.

    Sincerely,

    Tiger Fans

  8. Yes KC… Pretend that you are playing the Tigers and not the team you like to roll over and give wins to– Cleveland.

  9. Wow. Jurjjens is the real deal. Punto making him throw all those pitches, a different young guy would have lost poise. He is just solid and calm. Love him.

  35. Today is a big day for the Tigers. Cleveland has lost, Boston wants to take the series(for the most part this should have been a sweep) so they stay atop the East. And the Tigers gems(Jiar Jurrjens, and Timo) keep making cases for 2008. Jiar has once again almost No hit another ballclub. Jurrjens problem has got to be his endurance and to remain in the majors next year he will fix that in the off-season and spring training. Timo wants that LF job next year. He IMHO, has proved that he deserves it with his bat, but his defense vastly needs to improve. But not only him but if Marcus wants the job he too needs to improve his defense and be consistent at the plate. Again Jiar is just spactacular and I want him as the #4 or 5 starter next year no if’s or but’s about it.

    Great job by Sheff for the walk, Guillen for the triple(great baserunning, as he is often underated for baserunning as well), and for Pudge for not striking out and getting Carlos in for a sac fly. 6-2 Tigers, Go Win guys!!!!

  41. I swept my son’s driveway, sidewalk and steps today along with getting his vacuum cleaner out and cleaning the brush.

    Do ‘ya think I might have had my mind on sweep? Unbelievable.

  42. Anyone know when the last time was that we swept the Twins twice in one season at the NightmareDome?

    Have we ever?

    Lets go Jonesy!

  53. Well, Rollercoaster sure had my ticker going there.

    The Tigers are certainly making an argument for a legitimate race to the playoffs. It’s still an uphill battle, with odds stacked heavily against. First point of order:

    1. Yanks need to lose tonight. That will ease the load.
    2. If the Yanks do lose, and if we can somehow pull of a sweep at Cleveland, then we got ourselves a sprint to the finish (I would say if we manage to sweep we’re a 1/2 game back in the wild card).

    The quesiton is, how long can you expect this team to keep on winning? It’s such a tall order.

  55. Great 300th save jonesy. We may hate you sometimes and we may not like you but you do save the games for us Jones Great SAVE!!! and congrats being the 21st 300 save closer in MLB history.

  56. I’m waiting for Cleveland to collapse. Remember September ’05, when they did just that. The Indians always choke. Their fans should be both excited and skeptical over their teams chance for world championship. They will likely get into the playoffs, but I do expect them to choke

    The Cleveland Indians always have to let you down. It’s a law in nature.

  58. Chris,

    I hope you’re right about the Indians. Even if they do collapse, the Tigers have to play nearly perfect here on out. But hey, you never know… it all starts with a sweep.

    Also, the Indians have to be the luckiest team in MLB this year. All the late inning comebacks (I’m sure somebody has the exact number; but it has to be about 10 or more). All the breaks just seem to have went the Indians way this year. It’s nausiating.

    If the Tigers do sweep and they can feel some panting on the hairs of their necks, it might just trigger the downward spiral you’re talking about.

    I for one am strapping in. Something tells me the Tigers are in this thing till the end.

  59. The Indians will flop, either in September or in October. It’s like gravity.

    If they do collapse in the next two weeks, then I will enjoy seeing Indian fans agonize about another disappointment. That will teach them not to believe.

    But mostly I would enjoy seeing the Yankees denied into the playoffs by the Tigers. The national media would hate it except for the circus that would ensue around who gets fired, will A-Rod opt-out, who has to be traded… The sad thing will be seeing national media would cover that more than the action on the field.

  60. After this weekend of baseball, I changed the welcome line on my phone so every time I turn it on it says… BELIEVE.

    Great sweep this weekend, excruciating near the end, but fabulous all the same.

  61. If we win out, we’ll have a 95-67 record for the second straight year.

    Who’s to say it isn’t possible?

    When’s the last time we won 10 out of 12?

  66. For whatever reason I have not been able to post all night, but this Red Sox/Yankees game is wringing my emotions. Please let it get to Big Papi.

  67. For whatever reason I have not been able to post all night (changing browsers, maybe this will help). This Red Sox/Yankees game has been wringing my emotions. Please Pedroia.

  70. Sorry about the problems with comments getting held. The spam filter has been catching all kinds of legit comments, including my own today. I’ll keep a watch on it, and hopefully it will resolve itself quickly. No one’s been banned, the machines are doing this.

  71. Watching the Yankees win, it’s hard to remember how we’ve been winning so much lately.

    I was kind of counting on the Yanks to lose tonight, and the Sox winning the series and ourselves being 1.5 games back with 12 games left, but it didn’t happen. It’s depressing because I know our guys can only keep going like this for so long without some kind of reward.

  72. Amazing how close we came to the Tigers sweeping and the Red Sox getting swept. Still, picking up the one game, BP puts our postseason odds at 16 percent. Hope springs eternal.

  73. I couldn’t stay awake during the game last night but had an awful feeling the Yanks would pull it out. But I still feel just as confident about the Tigers as ever. They just have to keep winning.

  74. ***It’s depressing because I know our guys can only keep going like this for so long without some kind of reward***

    Adam – you have nailed the psychology of it precisely. They can’t keep winning forever just to keep pace. Fortunately, a W in the next three games will at least provide a reward in its own right regardless how the Yankees do.

    Let’s just take it one day at a time — keep winning — and reassess things on Thursday. If the Tigers can sweep, we have ourselves a three way race to the finish (and a deflated Indians team — see 2005 for an Indians team under similar pressure). The bad news is, it’s gonna take a sweep, and it’s also an extremely tall order at Jacobs. You’d hate to walk away winning a series there and feel defeated and deflated for winning 2 of 3.

  75. Personally, I wouldn’t feel deflated if we lost one at Cleveland. No one knows what may or may not happen in the next 12 games. Players can still go into slumps and/or become injured…..including our own. Someone is going to lose a few games. I just hope it’s not us. If the pitching can hold up, we’ve got a chance.

  76. Who, in a million years, thought the Twins would be the ALC division winner last year? They won it on the very last day. Anything can happen.

  77. First of all, Timo is the feel-good story of the year.

    Second, the way the umpires squeezed the strike zone on us at the end of the game was a shame. It was decidedly one sided and worthy of league attention.

  78. It’s definately true… anything can happen. The Tigers could win out — the Red Sox could lose out — and even the 99.99% playoff contending Red Sox could fall out of the playoffs.

    The thing is:

    If the Tigers take two of three, they are still a full four games back in the loss column with only 9 games remaining. Yes, they could still make those games up… but the odds are just SOOOO against it. I’m not trying to be negative — just looking at the mathematics of it. It also appears nobody on the planet can beat the Yankees (very, very frustrating).

  79. Can someone tell me why they could not have played some semblance of this kind of ball in July and August ? And don’t say the ups and downs of the season. This team is too good to have that much down time.

  80. I’m going back on record as stating that the ‘MonStars’ stole our talent from mid July thru August and then gave it back just to torment us right here at the end. That’s the only logical explanation even though it’s from a half-animated movie. Best I can do because otherwise I’d just be really really upset.

  81. If it has to end before the postseason, then I want them to play like they’re on fire. They can take that experience and carry it into next year. But I’m not counting on them losing. Anything can happen.

  82. Ron, can someone tell me how they could have lost all those games to the Royals at home last year to win the Division. I would have bet my life on the Tigers they would be Division champs. How could they have lost that entire series with everything on the line? It can happen to other teams, too. Never Say Never!!!!!!!!!!

  83. ron:

    The Tigers are like that really really smart, albeit somewhat underachieving student who slacks most of the year, skips class and goofs off until he/she realizes they have to ace their remaining assignments, otherwise it’s summer school. No, even a B+/A- on a couple projects here on out won’t cut it. Suddenly that student starts cramming and starts getting 100% — problem is, unless that student gets 100% for the last two months of school year, he/she stays back. We all know a kid like this — and unfortunately, the Tigers fit the profile.

    I, for one, was that strick parent beating up the Tigers when they were skipping class and throwing paper wads (when they should have been taking notes), anticipating the nearly impossible scenario they’ve gotten themselves into — when a lot of others were saying, “… relax! It’s a 162 game year, they’re hurt! etc., etc….”

    And, yes, I anticipate the criticism of this analogy. But I’m sorry. There is no excuse for play between July 19 – Sept 1. Why paint yourself into corner? Every game is important to a pennant race – from April 5th on.

  84. T Smith

    I said that about them in the WS. They were pathetic and embarrassing. The desire to achieve cannot happen overnight (well, occasionally it does). It’s a process of not being satisfied with average or below average. Grandy hates losing teams and he’s said he’s never played on one. You send your kids to certain schools because you believe the culture is one of high expectations. This is what Detroit has to incorporate into the culture of the Detroit Tiger franchise and it is happening maybe not as fast as we would like, though. We’ll see!!!

  85. Hello all – couldn’t post last night, I was going mad watching the Yankees/Red Sox, and then on top of it, I couldn’t commiserate with anyone.

    Regardless, as far as I’m concerned, the 5 game winning streak is yesterday’s news. We could have lost the last 5 and the Yankees and Indians could have done the same, and we’d be in the same position. We have to play better than the Yankees and Indians, and they are not allowing us to do so.

    So we need a new winning streak. I’m calling for a 3 game winning streak starting tonight. We’ll reevaluate after that.

  86. Kathy:

    To cutivate a cuture of higher expectations and successive winning seasons, which Ilitch says he wants, and which I’m certain every Tiger fan wants (and you are exactly right about this), one should begin by not excusing the play between July 19 – Sept. 1. I’ve had long discussions with others here about the same thing. I’ve taken an unpoplular stance (no one who loves this team really wants to dis the Tigers) and have maintained that the media in Detroit was too lax during the slide and the Tigers themselves were just too complacent and lax from July 19 to Sept. 1, while others continually adopted the role of the forgiving apologist, happy to just be in the race (or kinda in the race — as it so happens to turn out) — I couldn’t disagree more. If you want a string of winning seasons with a few rings thrown in here and there, it all boils down to the undisputable fact that championship-caliber teams must hold higher standards for themselves and inculcate an understanding deep within that lackluster preformances and poorly played games (for seven consecutive weeks!) is simply unacceptable. The alternative — and this is just the reality — is a disenchanted fan base in a market already challenged relative to, say, a Chicago, a Boston, or a New York market, a loss of market revenue, a reduction in payroll, an unwillingness for talented free-agent players to play for the team, and an inevitable slide back into a decade or two of losing seasons. We got the beginning of something good going here in Detroit — we need to set to higher standards for ourselves to see this emerging trend to its rightful fruition.

  87. OMG, I haven’t heard the word “inculcate” since my years in the public school curriculum offices.

  88. Kathy:

    You have me at a disadvantage… (I was one of those kids throwing paper wads and goofing off in school instead of paying attention). The utter lack of “inculcating” an academic sensibility in more formitative years has obviously manifested itself in unconscious ways as I ponder what’s what with my Tigers.

  89. I agree with T Smith, I noticed immediately after the Minnesota sweep back in July a let down. That was seen as a big series(but in reality, they’re all important, they all count in the W/L column). After that, its not as though they stopped trying, but there’s no question, in my humble opinion, that the level of intensity/focus wasn’t maintained consitently, other times certain hitters refused to change their approach for a prolonged period of time. Sure, for spurts here and there they’d pick it up, but the same drive, energy, if wasn’t there consistently, you could FEEL it, it was tangible. I think that lead to a funk(and some bad habits, bad approaches at the plate by certain hitters) that they just couldn’t snap out of. It certainly didn’t help that on July 21st Sheffield colided with Polanco, after which Sheffiled wasn’t the same for weeks.

    Baseball Prospectus is underestimating the Tigers chances, in my opinion. 15% is way to low, I’d put it more at 25% at least.

    If they take care of business against the Indians(winning 2 out of 3…though a sweep is preferable….obviously) I like their chances, 3 games at home against the Royals with the rotation setup nicely(Jair, Kenny, and Justin) is a nice matchup. Whilst the Yankees, while they do have the hapless Orlioles and their minor league rotation on tap next, after that they have to face the Blue Jays with games facing Halladay and Burnett. On paper it looks like a split for the Yankees in that series, with the Blue Jays taking 3 of 4 a slight stretch, but still, a realistic possiblity.

    Then the Yanks have 3 games on the Road vs. Tampa, one of which will be against Kazmir.

    The Yankees did luck out in not having to face Bedard or Guthrie.

  90. Greg:

    I think the odds are more or less right. I’m with you; gut instincts tell me the Tigers have a better shot than 15% — but if you look just at the mathematics, the situation gets much more grim.

    Consider:

    In my mind, it’s very plausible that the Tigers will go 8-4 the remaining 12 games — let’s give it about a 40% chance. That would be good .670 ball here on out. It’s also equally plausible that the Yankees go 6-7 over their remaining 13 games (they certainly have before over a 13 game stretch) — let’s also say about a 40% chance. The catch is having both statistics occur in tandum — and anybody who understands statistics knows you have exactly a 16% chance of that. I said at the outset, when I first projected the odds given how I saw the teams playing (which admittedly injected an element of subjective judgement into the equation), that the Tigers had to go 18-4 in the last 22 games to have any shot. Since then they’ve managed to go 8-2 with 12 games remaining. I was overestimating the Yankees at the time — but even I didn’t expect the Yankees to also go 8-2 over those same span of games. Now even if the Tigers go 10-2 from here out, it’ll still be a stretch to reach. Nonetheless, if the Tigers go 10-2 here on out, I’ll assume a) the Yankees will go about 8-5 (which would render a tie) or 7-6, which would give the Tigers the wildcard outright or b) the Indians will lose the series against the Tigers and also go 5-5 in their remaining games (which would render a tie in the division). If the Tigers sweep or win the series against the Indians, I can totally see the Tribe stumbling at the line by playing .500 baseball. Again — the key here is for the Tigers to keep winning. That is at least one element of the equation we can control (in theory, anyway).

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