2008 Season, Game Post

Game 8: Tigers at Red Sox

182 Comments

PREGAME: Jeremy Bonderman gets the unenviable task of trying to hold the Boston Red Sox to negative runs. In his last start he pitched well until running out of gas around the 70 pitch mark. I’d expect that Bonderman will throw heavy doses of 2 seam fastballs trying to get some early contact and prolong his outing.

The Tigers will try and right their bats against lefty Jon Lester. Lester went 6.2 innings and allowed only 3 hits in his last start against Oakland.

Jason Beck notes that Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera did some extra hitting work while Carlos Guillen worked on taking throws with Rafael Belliard.

Also courtesy of Beck, here is the lineup:
1. Rodriguez, C
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Cabrera, 3B
6. Guillen, 1B
7. Renteria, SS
8. Thames, LF
9. Inge, CF

DET @ BOS, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05 (note, this is on FSN+ so here is your channel listing)

182 thoughts on “Game 8: Tigers at Red Sox”

  1. I’m very glad to hear that these vets took BP and fielding practice. Something has got to change. Hopefully it shows up today.

  2. Hopefully Magglio took some fastballs in BP today, because he has been late on just about every one thrown his way.

    Regardless, the winning treak begins tonight!

  3. This “Pudge at the top of the lineup” thing has to stop. It makes absolutely no sense to give a guy who makes outs 70% of the time the most possible at bats.

  6. Holy Grilli’n crap, why put Pudge first? If he insists on moving Pudge up, bat him 2nd, so that he can advance a runner over when he bounces out to second.

    Does Leyland have a weekly segment on any of the Detroit radio stations? I’d love to hear him this week.

  7. OK, tonight Bonderman is my Tiger. He WILL stop the bleeding. And Pudge will draw at least 4 walks.

  8. This stinks – no 669 for me, looks like I’m relegated to radio and Gameday. I was looking forward to watching this, too. Boo, FSN+!

  9. Does anyone else out there feel silly watching this game after swearing to take a couple days off yesterday? And yet, I watch. Let’s go Tigers!

  10. Of all the games for Bondo to NOT have a first inning meltdown, this would be the one.

  12. OK first, this is my first season following on the blog but im a major fan and was a die hard (and still am!) during 2002 so backoff on bandwagon comments.

    bonderman is my boy, i got the jersey rockin tonight, and im super pumped to get a win here tonight

    LETS DO THIS

    GO

  13. That looked like a change-up to strike out Big Papi

    Strike out double play — something to build on?

  17. Guillen is battling. He’s swinging at terrible pitches, but hanging in there.

    Let’s turn a leadoff hit into some runs….

  19. Guillen’s out was probably the hardest hit ball by any Tiger hitter all year. Goodness.

  20. thanks ben..

    as for tigers hitters, this is pretty basic, but they arent getting a lot of line drives at all, they gotta level out their swings. im seeing so many darn flyballs to the outfield that are becoming easy catchers, lets smack some lines into the alleys!! that first inning i was hopin for something and both sheff and maggs semi popped em up and didnt rope em. they’ll figure it out

  28. wow mlb.tv is on a major lag huh, i reload right when they announce him and i see the results

  30. Well, it’s official with that Polanco error, the wheels have fallen off completely.

    All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn’t put the Tigers back together again.

  31. seriously …. two error days in a row for pp…does he feal the need to make up for lost time

  32. i realize polanco had a good spring right? but is his back hurting him bad right now? something that also might linger for a while, not a good sign to start the season. the errors dont worry me as much as his batting, but overall he is not to par so far

  33. maybe bondermans first inning problems will become second inning problems 🙁 comeon!

  34. Ok, its moved from sad, to comical, I’m no longer upset because this is just hilarious!

  35. Yeah, greg, I feel the same way. It’s impossible to get any more frustrated with this dead team.

  36. Since I listen to the Tigers’ games over XM, I’m listening to the Red Sox broadcast.

    After Polanco’s error, they summed up a lot of the Tigers’ problems… Uncharacteristic Mental Lapses. Let’s just call it UMLs.

  38. I think the umpire felt some pity for the Tigers on that double play because Pedroia looked safe.

  39. Just like to point out that if that DP turn came 4 batters earlier, we’re batting in the 3rd inning of a 0-0 game.

    I know all of you know this, but I wanted to point it out for posterity’s sake.

    Time to get the bats going — again.

  42. Wow. Pudge. A walk.

    Aided by a ridiculously inconsistent strike zone…

    … but it’s a walk.

  43. OK, a walk, an error, and a wild pitch. Sheesh, even the Red Sox are feeling sorry for us.

  44. How many runs have we walked in this year already? I know it’s at least 2 now.

  49. because casey is about 50. EDIT AND NO WHAT? he might be better defensively, give carlos some time, so far he has showed to be utter crap, but he should figure it out. and offensively ill take carlos over casey at this stage of their careers

  50. Except for Sean Casey and the 3 walk, Bondo’s got pretty good stuff tonight. Lots of movement, and the Sox haven’t hit much very hard off of him.

  53. Acutally, he just RUNS like he’s about 50. 🙂 Really, I know why we let Casey go, and overall I’d pick Guillen in the line-up too, it’s just frustrating to watch Sean hit and us not. Plus, I just like him.

  63. Tiger batters making a pitcher work and Pudge walks. There is mercy for the Tigers tonight.

  65. Except for Magglio (who was clearly safe, BTW) a ton of great ABs this inning. Lester is done after this inning.

  67. Let’s hope this 2-run lead doesn’t turn out to be “insurmountable”! Or surmountable. Whichever.

  68. This is our first lead since the 5th inning on Saturday. No wonder I felt like I’d forgotten what it was like.

    It is critical for Bondo to come out and not allow any runs this inning.

  70. Tigers fortunes are changing. Sure, the bottom of the inning isn’t starting well, but at least a Thames HR and 4 runs is a sign of busting out of this. But even moreso: The patient AB’s the last half inning.

  71. Was the fourth inning the first time this season that we were able to string together runs. Renteria and Thames both registering RBI. Also, I believe that these was the first Tiger RBI since Saturday.

  72. tigers so optimistic trying to turn the triple play, WE ARE ON HOUSE MONEY NOW< LETS GO TIGERS!!!

  75. Wow. Tigers got lucky on that one. Lugo was safe. That evens out the Ordonez call at first. Plus, a couple of those pitches against Marcus looked pretty good. But I ain’t complaining.

  76. Bilfer – looked to me polly kept his glove on Lugo the whole time, then lugo came off the bag. Ump was watching the whole time and didn’t make a call til he came off.

  77. Dan and Jim are making it seem like this umpiring crew is making some horrible calls. Pedroia, Ordonez, and Lugo. Plus Guccione can’t seem to make up his mind on ball/strike calls.

  78. I don’t think the Lugo call evened anything out. The Mags call cost us a run the way that inning played out.

  81. I have this on mlb.tv and the replays the Sox announcers show indicate some bad safe/out calls. The pitches to Marcus were close, but outside their little strike zone thingy. Take that for whatever it’s worth. It sure feels like the strike zone has been horribly inconsistent all night. Nothing to complain about, if anything I would say Lester has probably gotten squeezed more than Bondo.

  82. That AB by Youkilis isn’t going to help Bonderman’s pitch count. Leyland has to at least try to coax six innings from him, right?

  84. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of 1-2-3 innings Tigers’ pitchers have gotten. It’s sweet when it does happen.

  85. Man, nice inning for Bondo. He’s at 89 pitches, so another 3-4 outs from him would be huge.

    Anything to circumvent this bullpen.

  86. I live in Baldwinsville, NY (yes, Grilli’s hometown), and am headed to the game in Fenway tomorrow, so I’m really excited to see the boys waking up a little bit tonight.

    Two of us Tigers fans are going with a couple of Sox fans, so this is gonna be an interesting night tomorrow.

    Interestingly, they’re really proud of Grilli around here. I don’t feel the same way.

  87. hey renteria getting an outfield hit to drop in the gap!!!!! things are turning around

  88. Renteria is da man tonight. That’s it for Lester, and he didn’t even strike anyone out!

  89. and getting lester pulled in only the 6th, workin the pitcher, look good today, LETS GET THIS GOIN TIGERS~!!!!

  91. I hope someone is warming up. Bondo’s fastball is 89-91 right now. Short leash me hopes.

  92. Pretty good effort by Bondo, his defense let him down a couple times and that resulted in a lot of extra pitches.

    Bobby Seay coming in to shut the door. Hang on tight, everyone….

  94. did you see that graph on mlb.tv/NESN tv for bondermans pitches to manny there, god!! not even close to the strike zone. he has faired OK today, but overall with the pitch count and leaving early is not going to be in the tigers favor!

    Lets pull through this!!

  95. Grilli threw too many pitches to be available tonight right?

    Nice job Bobby Seay.

  99. For the record, we’ve already scored nearly double our average on the season… 4 vs 2.14.

    Yup, these Tigers are averaging a shade over 2 runs a game right now.

  102. just got home to find out game not on MY tv. boo fsn+! Bondo sounded like he did exactly what we needed to do… I wouldn’t mind a few extra tack on runs for insecurity sake. Go Tigs!

  105. Very good outing for Seay. It is amazing what happens when a pitcher throws strikes.

  106. I understand that Seay is the LH Matchup guy but honestly, let the dude just roll through two innings. When is the last time a reliever gave us 2 scoreless innings?

  108. Nice work by Seay. Hopefully the rest of the bullpen can feed off his success and we can get off the snide.

  111. Keith:

    Correct my math if it’s wrong, but Bondo pitched 5 innings (15 ABs), gave up 5 hits (20 total ABs) walked 4 (24 total plate appearances) and had 2 errors commited behind him (26 total PAs) minus two double plays (24 total PAs)

    5 hits + 4 walks = 9 batters reaching in 24 PAs. I hardly think he should penalized for the errors, especially since they both should have been converted to outs. that’s a .375 OBP, which is hardly spectacular, but this lineup is loaded with guys who get on base. He allowed 2 runs, and you could argue would have allowed zero if Polly turns the DP.

  112. So does Beltran just hide the ball really well or somthing? I see 87-89mph Fastballs going right down the middle and they aren’t swinging at them.

    Not that I’m complainin

  113. The gun has been way off all night, Jim. I’m almost certain of it. I haven’t seen it above 90 all night.

  114. Mike R –

    I’d guess it’s because Leyland would want to be able to pitch him tomorrow night. It’s not like there are other lefties ont he roster.

  115. bonderman threw 96 pitches, so thats the main reason. it has seemed to me the past couple years leyland has not let his pitchers go deep for whatever reason, i know for a fact last season he finished the starters well under 100 for no reason other than it seemed the right time to him, kinda dumb but whatever.; just the way it is right now. let them get their arms in order and hopefully we will see some deeper games

  116. I don’t know about you guys, but our hitters have looked alot more patient tonight. They really seem to be working the count much better.

  117. Isn’t Bobby Seay mostly a one inning situational reliever?

    Beltran did his Job, so no reason to second guess Leyland.

    Please Tigers, just 6 more scoreless outs……pleeeease…

  121. You know we are breaking out of it when Inge and Pudge get back to back hits. Let’s geaux Tigers!!!

  122. that pudge hit is also exactly what we need , always. slap it through the infield holes for basehits

    LETS GO TIGERS

  123. Sadly, all of these runs have been knocked in by the 7, 8, and 9 hitters i nour lineup. Not a Maggs or a Cabrera RBI to be found.

    Here’s a chance for Sheff, tho…

  124. Inge just might be powering this “loaded” team to our first win of the season… how quaint.

    P.S. To update my run total we’ve now scored 6 vs 2.14 (season average) … and have scored 29% of all the runs we’ve scored the entire season in tonight’s game. Stats are fun.

  127. wow.. that was a nice beginning but gary really could have blown this wide open. still nice to have some insurance runs

  128. Very, very nice inning by the offense. We needed that REALLY bad!!!!

    Mark:

    Your math looks pretty good. Gameday had Bondo facing 22 batters. When Pudge threw out Lugo to the end the inning, I think (but am not sure) that the batter he was facing no longer counts. Based on your math (which seems accurate) that would still have Bondo at 23 batters, not 22. I’m not sure where that missing hitter is in the gameday data.

    I wasn’t saying anything really negative against Jeremy, just that allowing 50% of the batters you face to reach base isn’t necessarily what you have in mind when you take to the hill. I could rephrase my statement to read this way, “While Bonderman was pitching, 11 out of 22 (or 23) batters reached first base.”

    Does anyone know why gameday has Bondo at only 22 batters faced?

  129. We are seriously going to break the record for most GIDP in a season.

  132. Keith,

    I didn’t mean to be hard on you, you are definitely correct that Bondo wasn’t as sharp as he could be. I guess I thought you were going negative on Bonderman, who definitely battled against a good lineup, and all things considered, did a pretty good job.

    No worries, I’d like to see JB cut down on the walks and pick up some more K’s.

    And go deeper into the game.

  133. Which odds were lower when the season began?

    1) Tigers losing their first 8 games.

    2) Inge being the team MVP through 9 games.

  134. finally tigers clicking on at least six of eight cylinders. we just need to get the 2 -5 heated up

  135. Mark:

    Nor was I trying to discount the fact that JB is going to be our first pitcher with a W. He was able to get out of some jams against a lineup that is tough against every SP in the AL.

    I still want to know where that missing batter is though.

  136. Bonderman did very well. I’m not saying he was lights out, but he pitched very well. Bear in mind it’s a daunting task for any pitcher to get 4 outs an inning — without those errors, he may have gone seven.

    With a solid defensive game, this should be a shut out.

  137. So long 800-lb gorilla… don’t let the door hit you in the Ausmus on the way out

  138. The losing streak is finally over!! WooHoo!!

    No possible way they could lose this now up 6-2.

  139. Somebody please tell me that its just taking Cabrera a while to get accustomed to AL pitchers.

    Way to geaux carlos!!

  143. We haven’t mentioned it much tonight (forgive me if I missed it) but let’s hand it to Renteria for a great game too…

    3-4, double, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, 1 walk

  145. Keith,

    Did the Red Sox HIT into two DPs? There was a strike out-throw out DP in the first inning. That would be 3 DPs total and would account for the missing batter.

  147. CLETE!

    It was great hearing a ‘Lets go Tigers’ chant in Fenway!

  148. On a side note, I have to say the NESN Boston announcers are a class act.

    Then again, all I really have to judge by are DJ & Hawk — so I may not be qualified to comment.

  149. Rem-dog and the other guy are ok, can get annoying sometimes, really around the league most guys are ok, no one compares to hawk and dj, words can’t describe how bad they are.

  150. T Smith,

    Agree, the NESN guys are solid. I live in Chicago too and absolutely CANNOT STAND Hawk and DJ. Beyond horrible. The Cubs guys (Bob Brenly and…..?) are decent.

  158. Vintage Rollercoaster Jones, but…

    Theeeeeeeeee Tigers Win!

    Theeeeeeeeee Tigers Win!

  161. That was fun. Now let’s try to get back to .500.

    What time is the game tomorrow?

  163. Ok everyone, whatever underwear you have on tonite, you must wear them for the rest of the season.

  166. This game is TOO easy!

    OK, NOW we can print the World Series tickets.

    Kathy – we’re 1-7, not 1-8. Please don’t make it any harder than it already is.

  167. YAY! I KNEW IT! i KNEW THE TIGERS WOULD WIN TODAY.

    Im at work right now and I got excited cause I knew the Tigers won and then I checked the score and yep there it is.

    155-7. Whos with me?

  171. I haven’t peaked at this sight all evening (got superstitious). Just been nervously watching on Gameday. Thank god this is over…

  172. Travis — Very funny, except I went the other with the underwear. Now that we’ve got our first win I can finally change mine!

  173. OK… GOOD…. A first win of the season has never been more important. Now if the Tigers can win tomorrow it will mean:

    1) They did not lose (yep that awful feeling averted).

    2) They did not lose another series.

    3) They win a series (wow, does that sound good)

    4) Confidence is restored. (I think this team was definitely lacking confidence)

    5) Yep! FIVE, that is it. We would be only FIVE games below 500. With 154 games to go and wipeout the deficit and catch 1st place.

    If they win tomorrow then I think hope will be restored.

  175. I had us at 0-8, too, in my comment above.

    And did you notice the Fox Sports people had a hard time getting those first two runs to show up on the TV header?

    That losing streak had taken on metaphysical proportions, controlling both minds and electronic information.

    But it’s over, baby.

  176. Please don’t let my mistake be a hex on the team. I just kept thinking the 8th game, the 8th game and we finally won! Lots of improvement tonight and sure hope we see more and more improvements.

  180. Kathy, I like that idea better. Let’s all go commando the rest of the season! 🙂

  181. woah mama!!!! look how crazy we are getting after just one win!

    WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

  182. Looks like a win cures everything.

    Now lets streak in the other direction!

    BTW does anyone thing Brandon will hit between .280-.300 this year? and get 500 AB his new batting stance/playing like he is enjoying himself seems to be working

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