2008 Season, Game Post

Game 5: White Sox at Tigers

168 Comments

PREGAME: Remember when THE TRADE was made and there was talk about how Dontrelle Willis wouldn’t have to be “the guy” and would flourish with the absence of that additional pressure? Well, the Tigers need him to be “the guy” and on National TV to boot.

Plus Willis will be trying to overcome the control issues that plagued him this spring. He was even given a detention to work things out while the rest of the team left Lakeland.

The White Sox send out Gavin Floyd who improved down the stretch last year including some great performances against the Tigers. In his last 3 starts against Detroit he allowed just 2 runs in 19 innings.

CHW @ DET, Saturday, April 5, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 3:55

168 thoughts on “Game 5: White Sox at Tigers”

  2. Ever since late July, the Tigers have really played poorly. Offensively they have shown a tendency for lousy situational hitting. The bullpen has been shaky and starting pitching has been mediocre. Somebody better step up or this season is going to be a lost cause before April is over. Polanco and Magglio better start hitting otherwise we are going to need a miracle from Dontrel and the Pitching staff. The problem is, Gavin Floyd always seams to pitch his best against the Tigers. I can only hope that he serves up batting practice as he does against Cleveland or the Yankees.

  3. While Im totally for beefing up our bullpen im not for trading away our last remaining jewel in the farm system for a win now mentality(Porcello for Nathan or Street). If we did that we would end up with another 14 year sub .500 ball again.

    Anyways I still think Floyd wont be as good today and Willis will give up runs. So I believe today will be a wild finish. We should score a lot but we will lose the game 14-10. And again be still winless. 0-5.

    Screwup of the game will be Willis and Seay. Leyland putting Seay in a no win situation, loses the lead and gets blown out of the water.

    Hero of the game will be Guillen and Cabrera. With a HR each both with runners on.

    Again I hope to god that I am wrong but it just seems that the bleeding will have to be stopped by JV, the only pitcher w/o a lose.

  5. I don’t care about the final score. Win, lose, no matter. The only thing I want today is for D-train to throw strikes. Particularly first pitch strikes. I don’t even care if he gets Grillied (kinda like “Munsoned” from King Pin), just throw *%&$^ing strikes! Oh man, do I hate walks….

    D-Train throwing strikes consistently is more important over the season than this one particular game. The real b*tch is that we are 0-4 and really need this game.

    Tough assignment. Let’s see what he is made of…

  6. I’m going to miss today’s game entirely, which should provide fair confidence for a Tiger victory.

    It’s a beautiful day for baseball!

  7. EZ –

    Grilli threw all sorts of strikes yesterday, and it wasn’t any good. Throwing strikes isn’t enough. You have to throw quality strikes.

  8. All right, everybody. We’re gonna get through this. Today’s the day. Here we come, 1-4.

  9. Eric,

    D-Train’s strikes, by and large, are of the quality variety. His “stuff” is far better than Grilli’s. D-Train needs to get ahead in the count in order for it to have maximum effect.

    Walks by D-train will be just about every bit as bad as a Grilli flat fastball left up in the zone.

    Working behind in the count is death when facing the likes of Thome, Konerko, and Dye.

  10. Top 1 — okay, that wasn’t so bad. Sigh of relief. Walk to Swisher not pretty. We’ll see.

  11. Well so far Willis looks pretty sound. Though for some reason everything thing looks slow lol Willis’s delievery, and the bat swings. Could be just me though. Come on OFFENSE!!!

  16. that’s clete’s ball, get out the way!

    i don’t really know much about this third baseman we got in the offseason, but the pitcher we got looks pretty good 😉

  17. It looks like Dontrelle is consistently hitting 89 on the gun. What is his fastball normally at?

  18. Yea so far Willis is proving me wrong about him, and looks very good in the old English D. It looks like his control is pretty solid as long as he simplifies the delivery. Offense though needs to wake up Willis may or may not be able to keep this up he NEEDS run support. Please OFFENSE WAKE UP!!

  19. have any catchers ever hit 3,000? must be really hard, with all the days off you need every season…guess i just would have thought pudge had more hits — but it’s different when you never play 150 games

  21. and now the white sox have to answer that age old question — do you pitch to clete thomas with risp and first base open?

  25. I almost shed a tear with the bottom of the line up making some noise. nice catch pp.

  26. Man Clete is really surprising me nice job baserunning by Clete getting to First before the throw. Inge with an awesome double he is surprising me as well this season, him Clete and Guillen having the most hits on the team thats something I would have never guessed. Great start by the Tigers. And great two out running and and hitting by the low Tigers. Also complments to Jones for getting that nice opposite field hit. Good small ball thats what I like to see!

  27. Thankfully, the announcers are pretty bland. I’d hate to have to listen to Joe Morgan and some of those ESPN guys raggin on our team.

  28. Kathy dont worry we will have to go through that crap tomorrow night on ESPN sunday night baseball blah…

  35. Willis is looking good but the offense agh they are still making me cringe. Why are we not taking at least, AT LEAST, the first pitch at least 3 of our main guys have swung at the first pitch blah that is so annoying (all for outs btw). Let’s keep this defense up and hopefully the bats will come alive soon.

  38. I’d say watching Dontrelle work out of that jam was the first great moment of the season.

  42. What was that geez bad base running is already killing us this year first vs the Royals and now the Chi Sox. blah……. Great hit Renteria but God aweful base running he should have known better.

  43. and Renteria promptly makes a moronic baserunning mistake. Do the Tigers even scout opposing teams anymore? Quentin’s arm = good.

  47. INGE!!!!! 2 Run Shot, should have been 3 but im content with 2 run homer. 3-0 The Hometown Boys!!! YEA!!!

  48. Don’t worry Renteria, it’s not like you cost us a run or anything. And at least you busted it back to first. Oh wait.

    But I can’t be mad right now — yeah Brandon!

  49. I guess Inge is really pissed.

    Too bad we couldn’t find a way to piss him off like that last summer. We may have made it into October.

  54. Hey everybody. I’m watching the Tigers on TV for the first time this season. And I’ve only got a half hour before I have to leave.

  55. Willis is scaring me with his 5 walk performance. WOW thats almost as bad as Todd “Rollercoaster” Jones. Hes got me on the edge of my seat. But great job Double Play by team Renteria, Polanco. 3-0 through 5.

  57. Man, Guillen ripped that. Oh well.

    Is this Willis’s last inning? He’s at 75 pitches.

  59. If he walks two again, yeah, probably. Otherwise I’d hope for two more innings from him.

  60. I know he is going to be benched by me in my fantasy leagues if he continues his fly ball mentality WTH is that!! It’s not the way he hits?!?! concerns as to why? Willis has 5 walks with 75 pitches thats a concern he should continue until the 7th or 8th with Jones or Bautista to relieve him.

  61. It’s not a fly ball mentality. His swing is just off and he knows it. There was a story that a couple days ago that he took extra bp because he “wasn’t staying on top of the ball.” Slumps happen. He’ll be fine.

  67. Your right bilfer the slumps will be ok after a while. Its just that polanco is not never has been hitting so many fly balls. And Willis is starting to lose it out there. Miner is up, I dont know how this plays out.

  70. Jim Thome is hilarious. Two straight walks and he swings on the first pitch. No wonder pitchers hate facing him so much.

  71. That has got to be it for the D-Train, 7 walks 5 IP, 1H, 1ER not too bad but god the walks is a huge concern. I still think that Willis may be injuried somewhere on his body.

  73. Wow, 0 strikeouts. You’d almost think he’d have to just luck into one with how wild he was throwing.

  75. Now it’s tied. Inge only has so many at bats, guys. EDIT: Now the White Sox have the lead. Sigh.

  77. This is getting old 4 Runs should not be a problem to over come. We only need 2 runs and to hold the lead to win. If the offense minus Inge does not start doing SOMETHING ANYTHING this will be 0-5 start and a long LONG season.

  80. I’ve posted 4 comments so far today and none have shown up on the site, so this is just a test.

    Although I must say this Tigers performance blows… yet again.

  81. Torturous to follow this team. They give up a four-spot and go down 1-2-3 like it’s 2003 all over again, just giving up on at-bats, weak swings, etc.

    And Fox can’t even get their trivia right. A guy born on December 19th is YOUNGER than a guy born on December 18th, so Kaline was the youngest guy to win a batting title, not Cobb.

  83. There just there. They arent hitting they arent taking pitches. They are like oh boy we lost again, lets just swing for anything. There comes a time when you start to lose confidence a lot of the fans have started and i’m pretty sure with them just swinging or swinging for the fences, a lot of them have lost confidence in pitching, and hitting. This team has to get some sort of motivation factor. We are scoring nothing.

    6 hits total, 4 from the other batters 2 from Inge with all RBIs coming from Brandon as well. There is no confidence or optimism with the Tigers at all. And thats the sad truth.

    Lets see if Beltran can hold a lead unlike Grilli, or Miner.

  84. Testing… trying to get a comment to show up.

    Ok, apparently it only works when no website is listed… interesting.

    Oh, and um yea, this Tigers performance blows… yet again.

  85. Jeff, also they claimed the Tigers were swept in the World Series in 2006. I guess Fox has erased that Rogers win from existence.

  86. that was supposed to be Beltran can stop the bleeding unlike Grilli or Miner.

    And so far he’s not to bad. The first strikeout for the Tigers today.

  87. This team is not practicing patience at the plate. Floyd got 3 outs on 8 pitches…. And Cabrera has been a big bag of NOTHING so far…. Middle relief is as bad as advertised and we have yet to see a quality start that can win a game on paltry run support.. This is flat-out miserable.

  89. I agree Chris but its only 5 games in but still we can just give them a free pass. With the offense we have (on paper), we still have not passed 5 runs in one game. Its hard to watch this team. I wish that I could watch the braves right now at least they are winning. Geez this sucks.

  90. I thought so about that trivia question. I knew something was wrong. Thanks for listening closer than I, jeff. I was just screaming at the TV calling the announcers idiots.

    Also, who was removed from the roster to include Beltran?

  94. i dont know Thames should have been brought in if not him then someone else Jones SUCKS against lefties. Thomas is really hitting nicely. Good for him at least he can hit unlike do nothing power hitters. Polanco WTH! 0-for-4…….gah!!! Easily 0-5 Chi Sox bullpen is stable unlike our horrible pen.

  95. If Thames pinch hits there and they need a replacement at any point…they have no outfielders. That is why they didnt pinch hit for JJ with no one on.

  96. Why is it that Zumaya & Rodney are always injured and Miner & Grilli are always healthy? I thing the baseball gods are against us.

  97. Having Thames face lefties is THE ENTIRE POINT of him being on the roster, Leyland. My lord, does he ever seem to be phoning it in.

  98. Also according to Fox, Guillen set a Tigers SS record last year with 102 RBI. Alan Trammell will be interested to hear that.

  99. Dave:

    I guess you were going to play the outfield if they need a replacement. With Cabrera hurt and Inge playing 3rd there is not much wiggle room. No one is phoning it in.

  100. First, my thoughts about a few of the past trades when they were made.
    Shef- great addition.
    Renteria – why?, old SS, just bring in a young glove guy, make up for it with the move in LF below.
    Jones – why? No pop, no bat, part time, 5 mill. Spend the $ on Bonds and let him split time with Shef, and Thames between LF and DH. Yes, I know the impact on LF fielding.
    Cabera and Willis – great additions, though, with D-Train’s bat he should be a NL pitcher. Hopefully he gets his control in order while still getting guys out.
    GO TIGERS

  102. At least Beltran looks like he cares… I’ll take whatever rays of hope I can at this point.

    Nevermind.

    Normally I’m not one to condone booing the home team, but screw it… this is pathetic.

  103. Well, jon, since you asked, I probably wouldn’t be carrying 13 pitchers. Not carrying extraneous players on a 25 man roster just has all kinds of advantages!

  105. Beltran right now needs to stay up and release Grilli or at least put him back down in AAA, no one would want him. Beltran, 2 ks and has had 6 up, 5 down during his 2 IP.

    Update: nevermind Beltran….i’m speechless…….Tigers 0-5 first time since 2003 when we lost 119. WTH!!!

  106. i think santiago is still with us. in an emergency, you could put santiago at third, inge in the outfield…obviously less than ideal. but i don’t think it’s the same situation as “you have no subs at all” — i think you play the odds there and figure your outfielders won’t get hurt over the next 2-3 innings. it’s kind of the same as when you pinch for a catcher with your backup and risk having to go to your emergency catcher.

    can see the rationale either way though…

  109. OK everybody, Does it look like we’ll win 43 games this year and avoid our worst team ever. Call me an optimist, but I think we can do it.

  110. I think we seem to be giving up on the Tigers more than the Tigers are giving up on the Tigers 🙁

  111. I prefer when Maggs is up and Thom Brennaman is calling for it to be “a bullet into left field, we’re tied” or “winning run at second base, ordonez 0-fer in his career against huston street. in the air to left field, the tigers march to the world series!”

  112. I don’t think anyone means the stuff we say here particularly literally, forty. Most people are just venting, which is understandable considering that three + hours is a significant amount of time to invest per game on what has thus far been an awfully boring team.

  113. Pressing, slumping, call it what you will, but Polanco, Maggs and Cabrera are killing us right now.

    Leyland must be on his fifth pack already today.

  114. agreed dave, i’ve been known to vent too…just trying to stay positive. (and i didn’t call anyone out specifically – was a general comment).

  115. Nobody is quitting, but it seems pretty clear all the preseason hype is getting to the team. Right now they need a leader, or at least someone to step up besides Inge and Clete Thomas. Leyland might need a rousing speech pretty early this season. At least they’ll get a lefty in Buehrle tomorrow night.

  116. So, I just want to make sure I have this right.

    WS beat this lineup with 3 hits?

    That’s pathetic.

  117. Yeah it’s not meant to sound bandwagon-ey… but this level of patheticness is hard to take to start the season after how high we were thinking about the Tigers all offseason.

    Ironically, my tickets to 4 games this summer just came in the mail today.

  118. Anyone else just catch the random tv crewmember get pulled by the arm out of the shot when they cut to the announcers up in the box? I enjoyed that more than I’ve enjoyed today’s game.

  119. Ill admit it I’m trying to stay positive but this is just horrible nothing to even be excited about. 3 up 3 down in the 9th inning. And yes I AM venting. But Forty how can we be optimistic when there is nothing to show for us, nothing for us to root for. 3-4-5-6 hitters are sucking, sheff is out no bullpen to speak of Okay pitching, (except for Nate yesterday). With no offense it gets us 0 wins. We are 0-5 because there is no batting and no bullpen to hold leads.

  123. We have a good team, and the wins will come. Polanco, Cabrera, and Jones will not finish the season batting under .200. Our absurdly poor average with risp will not continue. I think we are well-positioned for the next few years. It stinks to slump out of the gate like this, but it’s just that — a slump, not a trend.

    All that said, I never meant to suggest people shouldn’t vent…I am as disappointed as anyone with being (probably) 0-5.

  128. Darn, couple great defensive plays to kill the rally. Come on Justin, we need you to deal tomorrow!

  129. The bats will come-of course. The biggest problem is that the bullpen is no where near good enough to get us wins when our bats are down. This was a massive problem last year and was not addressed during the off-season. The annual, “if we had Rodney and Zumaya” discussion is starting to remind me of the Wood/Prior Cub excuses.

  131. Are there any other recent examples of teams who were favored by some to be in the WS but instead ended up in last place? Weren’t the ’06 Cubs the last underachievers to in this respect?

  132. Sheesh, some garden-variety alarmism is in order, but the most losses for any team in history? Take a few deep breaths.

  133. This team always plays best when no one cares or expects nothing.
    No one thought they could win in 2006, so they start off like gangbusters in the first 100 games. People start paying attention they collapse over the last sixty. Everyone thinks they’re choke artists so the pressure’s off. They beat the A’s and Yankees. They’re expected to beat a clearly inferior Cardinals team. They fold with the worst fielding in world series history.
    They do well in the low pressure first 100 games of last year. With the pressure, on they fold miserably for second year in a row.
    Now, for the first time in two decades they’re favorites to win it all. They start out 0-5.
    These are not coincidences.

  134. Chris Im not there yet but its time to panic if JV or the bullpen can not end this losing streak. 0-6 going into Boston is not good at all. This keeps up we are out of it by June easily. And if we are only if we are there by June DD should start to unload and build up our farm system.

  135. Ok Jimmy L. Remember that speech you gave to the media at the beginning of the World Series season.

    Now would be a good time for that.

  136. That only started in ’06, stephen… the not expecting anything and playing great. There is something more than that going on with this team.

  138. Kathy you are absolutely correct, theres something going on with this team, swinging for bad pitches, lazy at the plate, swing on the first pitch, swinging for the fences. Thats not a team that wins thats a team that doesnt care.

  139. WHOS YOUR TIGER

    My Tiger is

    Inge

    B-R-A-N-D-O-N I-N-G-E

    Thats right!

    Stephen – the were supposed to beat the A’s

    And you are partly right, but partly wrong

    Excluding Inge/Clete/Guillen this team isn’t hitting anything

    The pitching hasn’t been great or bad, more mediocre

    I think the big thing is to get that first win or two under their belt, then they will roll.

    This team is built to win, it will win.

    Do I think Polanco is going to hit .340 again and Maggs is going to go nuts and Granderson will have the quad 20, who knows?

    But do I think we have a solid lineup and a solid staff and a solid pen?

    Yes and over the course of many games that will play out.

    You all still need to remember that this is a small small sample size.

    Nearly every team in history loses 60 games no matter what.

    It might take a little while to get hot, but they will strut their stuff before it is all said and done.

    Anyways I need to bask in the glory that is Brandon Inge

  140. Maybe Dombroski has them playing badly on purpose so the team can move to Miami.

  142. Well, jon, since you asked, I probably wouldn’t be carrying 13 pitchers. Not carrying extraneous players on a 25 man roster just has all kinds of advantages!

    Indeed. For all the concerns about the bullpen, the fact that we’re down to 12 positional players (11 if you don’t count Sheffield) is as much a liability as anything.

    Free Marcus Thames!

  143. Feeble attempt at optimism: Our three main competitors for playoff berths (Bos, NY, Cle) have all managed to lose three games already, so we’re only two games out of the hunt–ignoring all those other AL teams that have, you know, won at least one game.

  144. Unlike you, Kyle, I’m not at all concerned about any of the contenders for the playoffs. I’ll that I want to see is this team win a freakin’ game and to see the middle of our lineup, Palanco, Magglio and Cabrera break out of their collective massive slump.

  145. Is it sad that our offense is being lead by Clete Thomas and Brandon Inge?

    Is it sad that Magiglio and Polanco continue to swing at first pitches?

    Is this the twilight zone?

  147. We were know for our great young talent in the farm system and we sold it away. I think Willis will go down as one of the worst deals in Detroit baseball history.

  148. We need a new manager. I’m tired of watching this team lay down like sick cats. It all started in October, 2006. They should be walking around with two World Series rings and working on a third.

  149. Willis might not have been a catch, but Cabrera was by any standard.

    I’m really surprised to see people on this site freaking out so much – new manager? Really? And you act like the Tigers are the only team that wants to win a World Series. There are 29 other teams that want to make it each year, and probably 5 or so each year with realistic shots.

  150. We have some injuries, a lineup that isn’t clicking yet, and a manager that sometimes leavs us scratching our heads. We’re 5 games in and I don’t think we have any real indication of where this club is headed yet. I’m still confident that we’re gonna have an exciting year and that we’ll be in the hunt come September. Given the unbelievably ugly state of our pen, I certainly didn’t think we were gonna run away with anything this season.

    All that being said, the fact that we have a sub-standard pen that can be counted on to blow games on a semi-regular basis, this start has put us in a hole that is going to take a while to dig out of. I’m guessing we won’t see the good side of .500 until late-May or early June.

  152. That is untrue. Our longest losing streak last year was 5 games and we had a little 1-9 stretch that included that. Everyone really just needs to calm down. You can say that no team has ever been successful after an 0-5 start before (but it wouldn’t be true) The 1995 Reds come to mind. They began 0-6 (and 1-8) and still finished in first place. One win would just make everyone feel a lot better.[

  153. If this were football:
    – this team would be the equivalent of the Seahawks. Been to the ‘finals’ but lost. Always in the hunt. Let’s see, the equivalent in ‘games played’ would be to say that the Seahawks were down 21-7 at the half of their first game of the season (16 games vs 162 games). Would anyone panic THIS badly?

    If this were hockey:
    – this team would be the equivalent of the Calgary Flames. Been to the ‘finals’ recently but lost. Has a championship back in the 80’s. Let’s see, the equivalent in games would be to say that the Flames lost their first 2 games of the season, and down in their third (82 vs 162 games). Would anyone panic THIS badly?

    If this were basketball:
    – this team would be the Dallas Mavericks. Amazing on paper. Been to the ‘finals’ recently but lost. The equivalent in games played would roughly be the same as with hockey… 0-2 and down in the third game. Would people be running through Dallas with their hair on fire?

    This is a LONG season, folks. Do they have issues? Yes, absolutely. DID THE SEASON START THIS BLOODY WEEK? Yes.

    Step back from the cliff, ok?

  154. The Phillies last year started 3-10, in reality it really doesn’t matter a whole lot how they are playing now.

    It matters how they play in every month that will get them to October.

    Didn’t we have the best record in baseball last year by the ASB…?

    Still I think we should go after Bonds b/c Shef is done

  155. Guys,

    Let’s all relax here a bit.

    Someone pointed out that the Phillies started 3-10 last year.

    The 1998 Yankees who won 114 games started 1-4!

    The 2006 Tigers (AL Champs) lost there last 5 games.

    This team win 30 of the next 45 (Which they are very capable of, they are 30-20).

    -Sam

  156. I think willis pitched great, even with 7 walks the other team can’t score if they can’t hit, his offense just didn’t help out

  157. You think a pitching line of 5 IP, 1 H, 7 BB, 0 K is good? He was garbage and he knew it. He said so after the game. Luckily he kept them off the board, but that was more luck than anything else. When you are walking more than a batter per inning and striking out none, luck is the reason that you don’t let runs in.

  158. I was out last night so I just now got through the comments.

    Steve in OH – for some reason your comments were getting caught in the spam filter. Let me know if you have any more problems.

    Chris – 120 losses? Yeah. I don’t think so but am willing to make a wager if you’re that confident.

    Stephen – The Tigers had big expectations heading into 2007 and managed to do quite well for a big portion of the season. In fact they were more heavily favored last year than this year.

    As for the outlook, it’s not time to panic yet of course. I still think everything will be fine. But the problem becomes this team is using up a chunk of its margin for error in the first week of the season.

  159. Bilfer… thanks for the note about the comments… I was gonna email you if it kept up. Not that there was much good to post last night, anyway – sigh.

  160. I wouldn’t worry so much but their seems to be a pattern here. They were expected to win the WS hands down in 2006 and they folded. In 2007 they were expected to be their again and could not fight thru that 5 week losing streak. This year with this lineup they’re 0 fer. Of course its early, but their past recent history doesn’t show they can fight thru adversity. I lay this problem directly at the feet of Leyland. He’s responsible for getting the guys ready to play each and every game.

  161. billfer,

    Yea, I don’t really think they will lose 120 games, but i can see how a big disappointing season is in the making– probably last place in the division, given the apparent strength of the division. This losing streak– which is not going to end tonight– is going to put them in a huge hole to start the season. The hitting will get on track at some point and they can put together some good winning stretches that can get them out of the hole. But the relief pitching is looking to be the significant weakness which is going to kill a lot of those streaks. The current struggles are due to the piss-poor hitting that we have seen, but we have also already seen how the relief pitching situation is at best not helping.

    Tigers will finish the season in last place of the division. How about us making a wager on that prediction. I would love to proven so wrong that look foolish by mid-season.

  162. Chris –

    Last place, really? That’s just foolish. You honestly think that the White Sox, Royals, and especially the Twins have better clubs than we do? They don’t, even given this first week of games.

  163. A lot of comments… 0-5 sucks.

    Stephen: There were some commentators that debunked your theory, but it absolutely carries weight. After a while, you can’t keep chalking up this pattern the Tigers exhibit to coincidence. I’ve noticed the exact same trend. I don’t know what it is, but when this team is expected to win, they fold. When they’re discounted, they rebound. I made a comment earlier in the year that I was concerned with all the hype, for fear that it would kinda jinx the team. I’ll support your theory with yet another example — almost to the day last year, when the baseball world finally gave Detroit its due, right around the all-star break after the Tigers swept the Red Sox, when every arm-chair expert and baseball analyst finally conceded and touted the Tigers as the #1 team in baseball — across the board — the Tigers began their epic descent. To the day.

    Chris: As much as I’m cursing the team and disappointed in their performance, 120 losses is a bit far fetched. Last in the division is a bit far fetched. 80 losses are not out of the realm of possibility — albeit 80 losses will definitely render an extremely disappointing season. But after about 68 or 70 losses, what difference does it make? It’s still Octoberless baseball whether you lose 70 games or 120 games.

    David: Inge has had a few good games. Let’s not get carried away. And solely to balance your irrational exuberance about the Baseball-God-Who-Is-Inge, when he actually gets a clutch hit that matters to the outcome of the win/loss column, let’s talk again. He always seems to come thru when the score is 11-0 or 0-11. I exaggerate to make a point, but the fact is, Inge and his surprising bat the past few games haven’t tipped the scale to result in a single W. The fact is, Inge hasn’t made a bit of difference as far as the win column is concerned.

    Finally, what’s the issue with Cruceta and his visa? Call me naive, but you would think an employer with a 135 M payroll should be able to pull some strings, at the very least, “expedite” the process. Need I offer my services? Come on. Who’s in charge here? Who’s dropping the ball? I feel we need to call the Wolf character from Pulp Fiction, the guy who “solves problems” and gets things done. Seriously, though, give me the resources and I’ll get that visa and he’ll be in the bullpen by the Red Sox series. I officially offer my services to Dombrowski et al. if the yahoos they have working on this can’t make it happen.

  164. T Smith – The Tigers went into the season as the favorites in 2007- at least to win the division. There was no magical day when they were annointed.

    And dissing Inge for his performance this year just isn’t fair. He isn’t giving away at-bats and is doing better than anyone else. I don’t expect it to continue but give him his due. He drove in runs yesterday when it was 0-0 and 1-0. That his teammates couldn’t do more shouldn’t be held against him.

  165. Jeez, Tsmith, what on earth do you want Inge to do? He gets hits in his at bats – he can’t magically switch his place in the batting order at will for the sake of being “clutch” (bleh) when you think it matters. And if blasting a two run HR with a 0-0 score isn’t when it matters, well, when DOES it matter?

    Also, we all know that you and Steven are the same person so stop pretending already!!! 🙂

  166. For the record, I’m not officially an Inge hater — and I wasn’t “dissing” him, per se — I’m very pleased Inge is playing well — and I will be the first to give Inge credit where credit is due — yet I still hold this forum needs some balance to David, who, if he had it his way, would bench Cabrera in favor of Inge given the five-game sample that we’ve all suffered through this first dismal week of April.

  168. I would just like to point out that Chris, is not Chris in Nashville….come on man.

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