2008 Season, Game Post

Game 110: Tigers at Rays

128 Comments

PREGAME: It will be Kenny Rogers and Andy Sonnanstine tonight. Rogers wasn’t too good his last time out, getting knocked around for 5 runs and 9 hits in 5.2 innings. His pickoff move should at least provide a speed bump for the Rays game.

Sonnanstine will give up his share of hits, but he typically doesn’t walk many with only 23 free passes this season. He doesn’t really have platoon splits to speak of with lefties and righties hitting an OPS of 794 and 780 respectively.

DET @ TBR, Saturday, August 2, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 6:10 – FSN will begin coverage at 7:06 when Fox’s national exclusive window expires.

POSTGAME: The offense hasn’t been too efficient the last 3 days. At the same time the starting pitching has been offering up pretty deflating performances. Tonight it was Kenny Rogers turn. He some how fanned 8 batters, but it took him 109 pitches to record 10 outs. That should tell you most of what you need to know about this game.

As for other lowlights, the Tigers turned a bases loaded double into 1 run and an out. I wish I could tell you what happnned, but as Rod Allen said, “there’s some blame for everybody in that one.” Inge let a couple more run scoring pitches get by him. Guillen booted an easy out. It was all kinds of ugly. Freddy Dolsi wasn’t good. Casey Fossum wasn’t good.

Highlights? Miguel Cabrera keeps drilling the ball. Curtis Granderson keeps drilling the ball. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

128 thoughts on “Game 110: Tigers at Rays”

  1. tigers should DFA sheffield to lakeland and let willis pitch to him. one of them is bound to get their confidence back.

  2. In Sheffield vs Willis: Sheffield wins, hands down. Sheffield is good at drawing walks and Willis is good at giving them.

  8. On the bright side (if you can call it that), we’ll get our first look at Farnsworth in a Detroit uniform.

  12. I begining to fear that this August will look like that of ’06 & ’07…. If that does happen, then it would be a crime if both Leyland and Dombrowski aren’t fired.

  18. surely somewhere in our system we have some one who can dh better than sheff. i know joyce struck out with two men on but how many guys has sheff stranded this series…8 guys and it’s only the second game…early in the second game.

  19. Real teammates got each others’ backs…Renteria just made Sheff’s last at bat look not so bad….

  26. Our pitching has been beyond embarrassing since the all star break. 5.5 runs/game allowed. 6.5 discounting the Royals series.

  28. I don’t like what I’m seeing.

    Last night we had a golden opportunity to beat Kazmir. Good teams trounce when a good pitcher is off his game.

    Right now this team has no punch. No pitching.

    Tigers look bad. Real bad.

  29. This has obviously been a disappointing year. I believe that it will lead to a conviction that this team needs to develop it’s own prospects and quit trying to win now. Clearly, Renteria won’t be back next year. If Sheff retires, I will love him forever for helping the team. God bless Leyland, but in trying to get Sheff hot, he cooled Thames off. Santiago will contribute more than Renteria this year and next year.

  30. Nobody can throw strikes on this team. Nobody… and opposing hitters are taking advantage by running up the pitch counts. And because there is no efficiency in this pitching staff, everybody is getting overworked…. which is making the pitching worse…. The worse it gets, the worse it will get. We desperately need sombody to step up and put in a good performince……

  31. Dave BW, did your pooch ask for the remote yet…leave the room….take a whiz on the tv? I know he’s not going to take this crap lying down.

  32. “Even my dog is too embarrassed to look directly at the tv.”

    Dave, make him look! This is no time to get lazy! We need him to find us a DH

  40. Can we send Bobby Seay down to AAA to stretch him out?

    Apparently he’s the only one who can throw strikes.

  43. Rod: “…These Rays are trying to embarrass the Tigers…”

    Ah, Rod. They’re not exactly trying.

  47. Sheff+Renteria = Rally Killer

    Sheff+Renteria+Inge = Inning Over.

    That’s just horrilbe. Horrible.

  49. Good night, all. There’s gotta be something on the science channel more entertaining than this.

  53. Speaking of Farnsworth is he with the team tonight? They scooped Pudge up right away.. …Farnsworth dragging his feet?

  54. “Longoria is killing us”

    she totally is, but on the other hand you almost have to pitch her right down the middle because at 4’11” her strike zone is about the width of a baseball.

  55. Farnsworth was seen arriving at the stadium in a cab, and upon hearing the score, getting back in and telling the driver “wrong stadium” let’s go

  57. “she totally is, but on the other hand you almost have to pitch her right down the middle because at 4′11″”

    Eva, are you talking about….. Man could I pitch to her right down the middle

  58. Plappo got one of those singles to shortstop, and now a Guillen hit…one more of those “hit” things and we could “score.”

  59. “Man could I pitch to her right down the middle”

    That’s the problem; she’s totally sitting on that and will take you deep.

  62. Even with the 9-2 lead the Reyes dude is looking sorta sad about having to pitch to Cabrera with the bases loaded

  63. haha. Now Lamont is killing rallies. Oh boy.

    I think this upcoming Chicago series will determine whether we:
    A) Throw in the towel and just watch Magglio go for the batting title again. Or,
    B) Hold on to a minute thread of hope of making the playoffs only to be eliminated in the ALDS.

  65. Hint to LaMont: if you assume, no way he makes it, there’s only a couple guys on the team you’ll be wrong on

  66. Hello Mr Little Ceasar….. Fire Gene Lamont.. Fire Jim Leyland… Fire Dave Dombrowski

  67. Ya would of been nice if it would of went over the wall, instead of bouncing off it.. *sighs*

  69. Im sure Reyes is glad it bounced off of the wall; he had the sad eyes of a pitcher about to give up a grand slam…

  70. don’t look now but gil is one hit away from .300. nothing wrong with our top 5 hitters…put santiago in for the rent, anyone for the sheff, find some pitching and lets go win a pennant

  72. “anyone for the sheff, find some pitching ”
    That portion of the season ended Thursday…

  74. “I swear to god” oops you spelled dog backwards! Is he still upstairs watching on the laptop?

  75. .330 with 8 HR in July for Miggy. Jiminy!

    The 3-4 hitters need to be Ordonez and Cabrera. Miguel has zero protection right now.

    Kyle is warming up!

  77. Dave BW: “lol according to rod, sonnanstine used to be a school janitor”

    I think it’s quite possible Rod has misunderstood the press guide notes pertaining to “mop-up duty.”

  78. Dave
    BW: “The dog is pacing now like Jim Leyland during a Robertson start”

    Do your dog a favor and go yank the smoke from his mouth now, those things take years off your life and when you’re talking dog years that’s no laughing matter

  85. I’m sure these are exactly the situations that Farnsworth was hoping to pitch in this year

  86. Wow in that short interview clip with Farnsworth you can tell he is not too thrilled about being a Tiger.

  88. Oh yeah, did you guys read (or hear just now via Mario/Rod) that Farnsworth moved into Jamie Walker’s still unsold house in Livonia? I’d think buyers would be tripping over each other to live in a home that Walker slept and ate in!

  93. That’s odd…we have 10 hits, 9 LOB…Tampa has 11 hits and 10 LOB–and 6 more runs

  94. Rod has reluctantly admitted that Tampa Bay is “for real”. Rays, you have now officially arrived.

  96. Dave BoW: “Rod has reluctantly admitted that Tampa Bay is “for real””

    Oh that makes sense, I thought he said:
    “Tampa Bay is for eels.”

  98. I’m surprised they didn’t pinch-hit with Thames; I know he’s slumping, but he’s the only guy on the team who can hit a 6-run homer

  100. Night all.. o btw I had thought the “Rays” were “Rays of Sunshine” just noticed they have a “Stingray” on their sleeve. DOH! 😛

  101. Bizarre play of the game: Bases loaded, one out. Miguel Cabrera doubles. We score one run, and now there’s two outs.

    Thanks Carlos.

  102. Wow in that short interview clip with Farnsworth you can tell he is not too thrilled about being a Tiger.

    He’ll get into more save situations with the Tigers than he would with the Yankees, and that means more $$$ next year. He’ll get over his pain. It’s not like the Yankees are going to be making a long playoff run (though at least they have a shot at the playoffs).

  104. Jim Leyland’s Post Game Comment Highlights after today’s loss – August 2, 2008: “Well, there’s still plenty of ball to be played . . .”

    Jim Leyland’s Post Game Comment Highlights after today’s loss – August 3, 2008: “Well, there’s still plenty of ball to be played . . .”

    . . .

    Jim Leyland’s Post Game Comment Highlights after today’s loss – September 28, 2008: “I am happy to report that DD has purchased a strawberry farm in Vermont and has asked Lamont, Hernandez and myself to assist in it’s day to day operations. Therefore, reluctantly, we are forced to vacate our respective positions within the Detroit Tiger organization . . .What’s that?(Leland’s response to media query) Oh yes, DD will still retain his coveted 3 titles(GM, President AND CEO) . . .”

  105. I’m getting kind of tired of the Tigers squandering many golden opportunities. The Tigers have lost 3 straight, yet they are still only 6.5 games back. It’s a good thing the White Sox suck or this season would be over.

    The Tigers can only give away about 15 more loses. They really need to go on a something like a 12 game winning streak.

  106. Well, it’s official! The Tigers have played exactly .500 from 8/2/06 to 8/2/08.
    Can we just admit this team, as my Australian friends would say, sucks dog’s balls and massively lower our expectations? The good news is it’s still baseball and, hopefully, we all are in good health and still have our loved ones and families. It’s just a game. But to keep thinking this team is suddenly going to get its stuff together is an absolute fool’s errand.
    I may be a cynic and skeptic about this stuff, but this is why I KNEW squandering our chances against the Cards was such a tragedy. People saw that as just the start of the resurgence of this franchise when in fact it was just Motown having its George Mason run to the Final Four moment. It could be a helluva a lot worse. The Pirates and Royals have not even had their George Mason moment.

  109. Green gets at the point but also misses it — Dombrowski clearly thought he was helping the team improve its chances at the postseason. I think he’s wrong, most people here think he’s wrong, but that was the purpose. If Dombrowski was running up the white flag, he would have traded Pudge (perhaps to Florida) for prospects.

    The real point (that Green gets) is that this was a surrender trade, it’s just that Dombrowski doesn’t realize it. His weakest trait is desperation and panic (Neifi).

    The trade strengthened a potential wild card rival and it didn’t address the biggest problem, a starting staff that’s throwing about 30 pitches per inning. Now there’s no option to give Inge some starts at 3B, so Guillen’s out there almost every day with no “rest” at DH, Inge getting worn down playing behind the plate 85% of the time, and being replaced by a .600 OPS guy on his days off.

    The problem with this team wasn’t blowing leads in the late innings. That’s an annoyance. The problem was that they weren’t getting enough leads going into the late innings.

  110. Today was the first time in a while I felt the same as I did at the beginning of the season…whenever anybody started griping about the Tigers pitchingI wanted to scream who cares about the damn pitching if they are only going to score 2 runs a game?? And whenever anybody started griping about how Renteria or whoever didn’t move a runner over I wanted to scream, who cares about scratching out a run when Tampa is on pace to score about 20??

    This is not a good feeling….

  111. I’m with Jeff on this. Green see’s half the point: The trade was not a good one (wasn’t egregious, but definitely not good). But, he misses the point that if you’re running up the white flag you’re not getting back a FA reliever. You’d be getting back prospects or talent that is under club control.

    Billy Beane dealing Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, and Chad Gaudin for prospects is running up the white flag. Dave Dombrowski tried to make the team better. Failed, but tried.

    Also, Drew Sharp is just an ignoramus who somehow has tricked someone into letting him on Jim Rome’s TV show occasionally and somehow has a steady job writing a steady stream of straight up garbage about baseball. He should be given the summers off. I’ve never read a single thing from Drew Sharp that didn’t make me shake my head and wonder how the hell NO ONE at a newspaper doesn’t read what he says and go “no. Just no.”

    Sharp also does not answer emails, as I’ve sent him numerous ones over the course of the years countering his arguments. It’s a shame. I send a writer for the SF Chronicle an email after denouncing Ryan Raburn as a scrub and a bum and get an email response within the hour. I send one to Drew Sharp and get nothing. Who’d want to defend their point? That’s just blasphemy.

  112. One thing about the Green article, which is the 3rd different place I’ve seen this–Pudge basically forced their hand, so the Tigers weren’t looking at the choice between having Pudge and having Farnsworth; they were looking at the choice between having Farnsworth and having a disgruntled and very vocally unhappy Pudge.

    ” Pudge supposedly begged to escape, dissatisfied with not playing every day with the Tigers.”

    The catalyst of the trade it seems, was Pudge being furious that the 4-game series against Cleveland was going to be 2-games Pudge and 2-games Inge. Considering all the abuse Inge took for asking to be traded in Spring Training (as in Spring Training, before the season, way before August of a pennant race) for being BENCHED (not told he was going to be given a few days off), I find it hard to believe there are still comments about Inge’s “attitude problem.”

    I mean WTF; sure Pudge is working on the 3,000 hits and all that, but by all objective measures the days off were HELPING his hitting…and as irritated as I was by Inge in spring training, I mean look at this from his perspective–he basically was told forget 3rd, you’re a backup catcher, take it or leave it, and, eventually, he said, OK I’m willing to do the catcher thing, only to have Pudge pull the If I’m gonna have to split time at catcher with Inge than trade me bit.

    From where I stand, Pudge for Farnsworth is a lame trade for the Tigers…but considering the alternative–Pudge demanding a trade, and only to the Yankees–DD did about the best that can reasonably be expected. I for one am not about to criticize DD for this one.

  113. Coleman, I read that and wondered how Green could cite a ‘source’ that seemed to be exactly the same type of source he later ripped in his article as not having journalistic ethics.

  114. Mike R: “I send a writer for the SF Chronicle an email after denouncing Ryan Raburn as a scrub and a bum and get an email response within the hour.”

    The SF Chronicle is a 2nd rate organization full of 1st rate reporters, so I am not surprised by this. Even the Raburn Scrub bit is probably the result of an overworked reporter under deadline pressure winging it.

    You could easily start an excellent newspaper with the reporters they are dumping to “cut costs.” Their real problem is their management, and various ineffeciencies caused by their merger with the SF Examiner, in which they became top-heavy (for a while they had in one department more editors than reporters).

    Strangely, the management never seem to dump themselves.

  115. i don’t make a habit of relying on the Daily News, but the scenario they describe–Pudge demanding the trade–makes the most sense, considering the timing of the trade, what everyone was saying before the trade, etc (And BTW what was their source, and why didn’t the Detroit papers get the same info? I mean I’m guessing they are getting this from someone on the Yankee side…but then again who but Pudge would know this? Leyland and DD would, but whatever you think about him, DD isn’t dumb enough to TELL the Yankees he HAS TO trade Pudge…)

    And Carlos Guillen–who is often spoken of as a team spokesperson and overall smart guy–I think says a ton in his statement about Pudge: “”The Yankees need a catcher. We need a bullpen pitcher,” Guillen said. “It’s good for us and good for him. I think he’s very happy.”

    It’s the “I think he’s very happy” that jumped out at me. If I had any doubt before that Pudge instigated the trade, Carlos settled it for me with that line…

  116. OK it’s pretty late here but…if you want to retire Pudge’s number I’m all for it. Right after you retire Bill Freehan’s.

  117. If we retire Pudge’s number I’m striking up the petition to get Bob Hamelin’s statue in left-center.

  119. OK, I looked it up (7) and noticed that he is wearing No. 12 in N.Y.. The Yanks had their own No. 7 retired…some guy named Mantle. Just a little trivia on a Sunday morning before I head off to church and light a candle for our beloved team.

  120. Just got back(short service). If we retire Pudge’s No., do we have to retire Magg’s, Miggy’s, Polly’s, Guillen’s and Inge’s too? I think they’re just as responsible for the resurgence as Pudge was. The jury is still out on Granderson though.

  121. One more thing. If Pudge was responsible for bringing these future hall of famers to the Tigers because they wanted to play with him, that type of influence would serve him well as our future general manager; that is after the Yankees retire his No. 12.

  122. Does that mean Guillen, Ordonez, Cabrera, etc–are all going to be on the Yankees soon??

  123. Mike R. don’t put up with that crap from Sharp. Haven’t you read Kaczynski’s manual on “How To Get Someone’s Attention”.

  126. Today’s edition of Fun With Stats:
    Speaking of Jeter (ron did, ron did): here are some stats for OBP/SLG/OPS

    .321 / .441 / .763
    .344 / .395 / .739

    The 2nd line is Jeter’s.
    To whom belongs the first?
    Bonus points for anyone who guessed Brandon “Everyday Catcher” Inge!

  127. “Well, it’s official! The Tigers have played exactly .500 from 8/2/06 to 8/2/08.”

    May I ask what is the White Sox record for the past 2 seasons?

    What is TB Rays record in the past 2 seasons?

    Get my point? I doubt that you do.

  128. Now we have many bad cases of Tiger fans rooting for the Tigers to lose. They are the defeated fans. The Tigers still have over 50 games left yet to play.

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