2008 Season, Game Post

Game 105: Tigers at Indians

105 Comments

PREGAME: Holy craftiness Batman. Kenny Rogers and Paul Byrd. That’s 80 years worth of pitcher doing battle tonight.

The Tigers fresh off a 3 game road trip to Comerica Park play a Cleveland Indians team that is showing some signs of life. Since the last time these two teams hooked up, the Indians have been average nearly 6 runs per game. But now that the evil that is Casey Blake is gone, that should work in the Tigers favor.

Rogers pitched well against the Royals his last time out before rain cut his outing to only 6 innings. Rogers has only faced the Indians once this year, and recorded a 7 inning quality start no decision back in June.

Paul Byrd is kind of a middling pitcher against teams that aren’t Detroit. He held them in check his last time out, and only made one start since then, a 5.1 inning, 9 hit, 1 walk game against the Angels.

Gary Sheffield sits tonight, and Marcus Thames is your DH with Matt Joyce playing left field. And Todd Jones is your closer while Fernando Rodney recuperates from his 42 pitch outing yesterday.

1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Carlos Guillen, 3B
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Matt Joyce, LF
7. Marcus Thames, DH
8. Ivan Rodriguez, C
9. Edgar Renteria, SS
DET @ CLE, Monday, July 28, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Not many nice things to say about this one. The Tigers came out aggressive and were trying to jump on first pitches their first time through the order. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, and PUdge Rodriguez hit balls well to the opposite field that first time through, but it resulted in no hits. The offense drew a couple walks the second time through making Byrd work a little, but they still couldn’t mount a rally and in the end mustered all of 4 hits. If there is a silver lining scouts watching Byrd may be enticed enough to take him off the Indians hands.

Kenny Rogers was good for the first 5 innings, but was hammered in the 6th and knocked out after 2 homers and 3 runs.

105 thoughts on “Game 105: Tigers at Indians”

  1. Interesting line-up..should be a good game. Though personally not a big Kenny Rogers fan. Not sure why. Could be from the 2006 pine tar (whatever) incident. Still can’t believe that happened but trying hard not to be bitter..heh Go Tigers~!!!

  2. If the Tribe could get two decent prospects (including a catcher!), for Casey Blake, I think we may be overstating the stinginess of the trade market. Or the intelligence of Ned Colletti. Or both.

    Let me add that they got Blake so he could block a tremendous 3B prospect in Adam LaRoche. We tend to apply way too much reasoning when discussing potential trades.

  3. Todd Jones is out as your closer. Todd Jones is in as your closer. Cabrera is your third baseman. Cabrera is your first baseman. Guillen is your first baseman. Guillen is your third baseman. Guilen is your left fielder. Inge is your third baseman. Inge is your catcher. Inge is your center fielder.

    As David Byrne would say: You may ask yourself, ‘how did i get here? ‘

    Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

  4. oh jeez. Laz Diaz is your home plate umpire. Prepare for frustration, Tiger fans.

  5. Mark:

    The next time someone doesn’t say that about the home plate umpire will be the first in a long time.

  6. Fair point, Joel. Diaz is notoriously bad, however. A new class of incompetence.

  9. Off topic, but the Pistons signed Kwame Brown…. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

  10. Mark/Joel:

    I don’t know all the MLB umpires or anything – but I do remember several games where Diaz was all over the place with pitch calling. This is particularly bad when Rogers is pitching because it gets to him.

  11. LOL. I just googled Kwame Brown for articles and there is actually a website named “kwamebrownsucks.com”.

    At least we didn’t sign Ron Artest. What a horrid rumor that was.

  13. With Sean Casey out of the picture, it seems Kwame Brown would be the front runner to inherit the nickname “The Mayor”

  14. The home plate umpire may not be the best, but at least I give him credit for staying awake through Byrd’s half of the inning..I guess if you were nice you’d call Byrd “deliberate.”

  16. Stephen: “Todd Jones is out as your closer. Todd Jones is in as your closer. Cabrera is your third baseman. Cabrera is your first baseman. Guillen is your first baseman. Guillen is your third baseman. Guilen is your left fielder. Inge is your third baseman. Inge is your catcher. Inge is your center fielder.”

    I think you didn’t cover every position; there is also Left Field. As you said, Guillen is the left fielder, but also Sheffield is in Therapeutic Left Field, but only when his shoulder hurts; and Everyday Left Field is played by Thames, everyday occurring apparently 2-3 times per week.

  18. Can we please get a hit off ‘ol Mr. “but I’m a role model” Byrd who spent 25 grand on hgh purchased from a health salon in Florida, oh, and prescribed by a dentist he never met I can’t stand the guy!

  20. I think Leyland should try to rattle him, and ask the ump to examine his buttocks for needle marks.

  21. Whatever else the HGH might do, however, it certainly doesn’t make you pitch more quickly…

  23. ask the ump to examine his buttocks for needle marks.
    hahaha.. how I do love reading these blogs šŸ™‚

  24. All kidding aside, i think his slowness may increase the Tigers’ tendency toward impatience….

  25. ask the ump to examine his buttocks for needle marks.
    “hahaha.. how I do love reading these blogs”

    Apparently this particular umpire seems to deserve the assignment…

  26. “Last Play: A. Gonzalez singled to shortstop”

    I wish I knew of a way to see if Detroit leads the league in “singles to shortstop.”

  27. I’m back. I hate when I get phone calls in the middle of games…!

    Although I guess that is like a few weeks time, per year, that people would not be allowed to call me. Hmm.

  28. “Iā€™m back”

    Don’t worry, the Tigers have held back on doing anything worthwhile while we were waiting for you.

  30. I wish I knew of a way to see if Detroit leads the league in ā€œsingles to shortstop.ā€

    Kenny got a glove on it and deflected it away from Renteria.

    On another note, it’s not like the Tigers haven’t hit the ball well tonight. Nothing is falling in though.

  31. “Sure would be nice to score some runs or something”

    Oh there you are…you could have requested another hit, say, right after the 1st one, that’s what they call a “rally”…sorry if it seems like I’m pressuring you here, but you’re the only thinking working today…

  32. “Kenny got a glove on it and deflected it away from Renteria.”

    That explains that one…Kenny does tend to get his glove on them, though they don’t often get by him…

  33. Ha. Rod Allen is talking about his tighty whities. Gameday just can’t provide a substitute for that experience. I am so glad we have a slingbox for just those situations.

  34. Hey, the Tigers are making hard contact…..but everything right to a position player. You can’t beat that kind of luck.

  35. Renteria’s made a few dandy plays and one where he couldn’t get the ball out to flip to 2nd in which that wouldn’t have resulted in a DP anyways.

  36. Incredible…Bryd is pitching to an 5.00 ERA, but dominates the Tigers. Can we test him again for a certain three-letter supplement?

  37. Bad…Grandy gets a leadoff double and Polanco pops up to the outfield, Guillen swings at a pitch by his ankles, and Maggs…

    Anyway. Stranded the fastest guy on the team.

  38. Tigers have definitely had a good approach, going the other way and hitting some balls hard. Byrd must be living right because they are right at people. It’s really frustrating that Byrd constantly shuts us down.

    Coleman, some of them will turn into hits. They have to. Can’t overstate the importance of this game and this series.

  39. Mostly just to check the accuracy of my impressions, I looked through the play-by-play lines in July, and found 9 “singles to shortstop” before today.

    Just to be clear, I realize this is an issue of gameday’s accuracy in describing plays as much as it is in Detroit’s infield play…

    7/21 Bottom 4th: Kansas City
    – M. Grudzielanek singled to shortstop

    7/19 Bottom 3rd: Baltimore
    – K. Millar singled to shortstop, N. Markakis scored, M. Mora to third

    7/12 Top 5th: Minnesota
    – C. Gomez singled to shortstop

    7/11 Top 1st: Minnesota
    A. Casilla singled to shortstop

    7/10 Top 3rd: Minnesota
    – A. Casilla singled to shortstop

    7/9 Top 1st: Cleveland
    – J. Carroll singled to shortstop

    7/3 Bottom 3rd: Seattle
    – W. Bloomquist singled to shortstop
    Bottom 9th: Seattle
    – I. Suzuki singled to shortstop

    7/2 Bottom 6th: Minnesota
    – C. Gomez singled to shortstop, D. Span to third

    7/1 Bottom 8th: Minnesota
    – N. Punto singled to shortstop

  41. this game isn’t over though, if we can get out of the 6th down just 3-0. It’s not exactly the Angels bullpen here tonight for Cleveland — and that’s assuming we don’t get balls to start falling against Byrd before he leaves.

  44. We’re blasting the ball right into outs, it sounds like…maybe we’ll need some Twinlike weird-hop cue-ball doubles to win this…

  47. We here in mcb-town are still horrified that again a lead-off double was stranded.

    leadoff double -> bunt -> sac fly -> run.

    Not as awful tonight when we are (um, excuse me, WERE) down by two but it was inexcusable when we were down by one run in the eighth inning saturday night.

  50. Hey guys it could be worse. Atlanta just found out that the one last veteran starter is out with Tommy John-Tim Hudson. That leaves just one pitcher from the original rotation thats still in the rotation. You guessed its our buddy, Jair Jurrjens(10-5). To lose 80% of your rotation and your star player(Chipper) and lose your starting catcher(McCann) is bad. I didnt think something could be worse then the Tigers, but that news and team is.

  51. The only problem is the Braves recently won their division 347 times in a row, the Tigers not so much. 21 years and counting!

  52. “I didnt think something could be worse then the Tigers, but that news and team is.” -<- OUCH!

  53. God damn Byrd…Errrr.. A crap pitcher who always has his few flukey good performinces against the Tigers……

  54. I don’t even care if they win the division at the moment. I just wanted them to win this GAME. I planned my evening around getting all this stuff done so I can watch them play, and they don’t even score a run. Ugh. Waste of a summer evening.

  56. Mcb I’m imagining you in a jim mora style rant: Division? Division? Division? I’m just trying to win the next game.

  57. Here’s hoping for bad Rafi in the 8th. Like REALLY bad. Todd Jones kinda bad.

    What? Too soon?

  58. mcb: “We here in mcb-town are still horrified that again a lead-off double was stranded.”

    Not just a lead-off double, but a lead-off double by one of the fastest base runners in the league, so you don’t even need a GOOD bunt/sac fly etc…

    Not that I want to increase your horror…

  59. Forty: Game? Game? You’re asking me about winning the Game? I just want to score a @!#$#ing run. Game?

  60. hehe, just reading up on some trade ramblings. It appears we have some scouts in houston tonite possibly watching- Tejeda??? what is with that and why? And if so, what do we offer, it would have to be Porcello if we are going all or nothing…….and yea how bout our game…..<_<

  61. A double here would make things interesting. And that’s all I want from tonight: just for something to fall and this game to become interesting.

  62. Steve in the Zoo: “It appears we have some scouts in houston tonite possibly watching- Tejeda???”

    It could be Tejada; then again it could be Brad Ausmus.

  63. Awesome Ausmus lol great Detroit catcher after leaving Detroit lol. Not so sure we should get him, we still have pudge and inge and I dont want inge to get shafted again…

  64. We ARE screaming and ranting here. At the Tigers, but actually more at Comcast, who messed up our bill for the 850th time, which is amazing since we’ve only had the service for like three years.

  65. “I dont want inge to get shafted again” Won’t he be playing short when Renteria’s gone?

  66. my guess is that we’d be looking at jose valverde or a reliever of some sort, not Miguel Tejada and his $13 mil salary he’s got for 2009 coming with his 94 OPS+ and below-average defense.

  67. And every five seconds: a Comcast commercial on FSN. It is NOT our night. #$()(*_@!!!!

  68. Trade rumor: an illness usually caused by watching your team get shutout by some crapass team…

  69. I don’t think Inge wants to catch.

    He got shafted by a PILLOW this season for God’s sake.

  70. LOL coleman, yea this is crappy. But seriously what do we really have to offer teams for good relief, porcello and nothing more….I hope DD isnt stupid enough to forfeit whats left of our future for a God dang relief pitcher……..

  71. I think he catches now with a 3rd Basemans glove, to make it easier to grab the popups by 1st base that Cabrera seems unable to locate…

  72. I like Lopez. But we could have saved him and just left Kenny out there, since we weren’t going to score any runs or anything.

    2-0, 5-0, 63-0, what’s the difference?

  73. The Tigers look flat to me, and another non-Tiger fan here watching.

    They sure are making Paul Byrd look like Johan

  74. It’s too bad this isn’t the NBA, where through twisted salary cap logic we’d have a goldmine of trade material (you’re paying Dontrelle HOW much? wow, name your price, we want him…)

  75. C’mon everybody! Enough with negativity! Just because after tonight we will be equidistant from first place and, uh, last place with the fourth highest payroll doesn’t mean we can’t run off 13 wins in a row!
    And while you’re at it, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

  76. Simple solution to ending the Tigers woes — MORE GARY SHEFFIELD. (end sarcasm after a deflating shutout loss to the Tribe.)

  77. “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”

    It’s only Hamlet, killing rats…

  80. I honestly don’t know what to make of this team. 6-5 since the AS break, at times dominating but more often just frustrating. With the trade deadline looming, what do you do?

  83. Well I hate to say it but this lose to Cleveland shouldnt have been. They are the worst team in the Central! I think we should be a limited seller-Sheff, Jones, Rodney, Renteria, Pudge and maybe to actually pick up someone good, Maggs or Polanco.

  84. “With the trade deadline looming, what do you do?”

    Sell, sell, sell…. Pudge, Rogers, Jones

  87. Yeah…sell. Anything you get back is a bonus in terms of minor leaguers at this point.

  88. Four great disasters of the last hundred years:

    1. Maginot Line
    2. New Coke
    3. The K Car
    4. 2008 Detroit Tigers

  89. Well we can actually get someone good if we sell off pudge. But I think DD will wait and see how this series plays out, lose 3 of 4 sell big; split sell; win 3 of 4 buy relief; Shall find out finally on the last day at 4 pm thursday.

  92. Watching the Marlins for second time in two games. They have made seven defensive mistakes, most not rule as errors, and have worst defense in the majors. Maybe we can pawn Pudge off on them as a traffic cop of sorts. Unfortunately, the Marlins will probably fleece us again and send the Tigers a switch-hitting left fielder straight off the short bus.

  94. Yeh let’s get Tejada. What’s another 13 million. He’s a big name. He’ll fit in nicely. And get rid of Porcello. I think the Braves will take him off our hands. What is it ,ten, eleven shutouts. I lost count. And can we sign Leyland to a ten year extension. I love it how he gets the players ready to play each and every game. We just have bad luck. We hit the ball real hard, but a lot of the times, it’s right at someone. Darn. I just know we can turn this thing around. And we will with Mr. Leyland’s leadership. Go Tigers.

  97. And then in twenty years, we’ll trade our shiney new prospect, Doyle Alexander III, for Rick Porcello of the Braves.

  100. I know we can’t win every game (or barely half of them) but getting shut down by Paul Byrd?!?!?!

  101. His career #’s against the Tigers are nearly incredible. Esp. given the fact that he was in the NL for almost all of his career until 2005 (when we were at least half-decent) when we played for the Angels. 10-2 with 2 Shutouts, a sub 3.5 ERA and great WHIP and K/BB ratios. Next time this cat faces the Tigers I am picking him up and putting him in my fantasy lineup. Bittersweet beats flat bitter.

    There honestly can’t be too many starters with better numbers with as large a sample size as he does against this team in any version of it’s current form.

  102. A recap of all the positives I see in last night’s unfortunate loss to the Indians:

  103. The White Sox didn’t show up Yesterday either. Minnesota skunked them.

    If the Tigers win 4 or 5 games this week they’ll be in good shape for the end of this road trip in Chicago next week.

  105. I honestly thought on Apr 1st we had a chance to go 110 and 52. I didn’t realize we’d reach one of those numbers so early.

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