PREGAME: It’s my birthday, so if the Tigers don’t win I’m going to be pissed. It is also Samara’s birthday. And it’s Natalie’s birthday, and while she’s not quite as emotionally invested in the team, she’ll still be a little sad. So win damn it. So if they don’t win she’s going to be pissed.
Of course if it keeps raining things might be out of their control.
OAK @ DET, Monday, September 8, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 7:05
Billfer,
Things have been out of their control for the whole season and they didn’t need any rain for it. Happy birthday.
Happy Birthday to Bilfer, the singer Pink and a free Macedonia. Go Tigers.
Happy birthday, Billfer. The Tigers gave me a very nice birthday present yesterday. Hope they do the same for you!!!
Nice start.
Real nice start.
That boy oughta be in what relay, says Rod?
Aw yeh. Bring em’ all back.
Next homer is 250,000 in MLB history.
#249,999: Gary Sheffield (DET) off Gio Gonzalez (OAK)
#249,998: Magglio Ordonez (DET) off Gio Gonzalez (OAK)
#249,997: Jason Bay (BOS) off Edwin Jackson (TBR)
How about Inge?
*~Happy Birthday Billfer! Also Samara & Natalie 🙂 So far so good bottom of the 1st 3-2 Tigers~*
Oh man. Renteria coulda been the man.
I hope it’s Brandon.
He shoulda tried to stretch it for an inside the parker
249,999.75. Darn.
Andrew, your right, he should have.
That was a shot to Miggy’s spleen.
Woot! Sheff with a Grand Slam!
Wow. Sheff crushed another one.
Andrew, did he do it?
Whoo…. looks like Sheffield was 250,000. None others on the board anywhere else.
Just hope the game doesn’t get rained out!
Nice job Sheff. I’m guessing they’ll go really late if need be to get this one in (last visit of the A’s and all that).
Thanks Andrew for keeping us updated. That was exciting.
omg looks like your birthday wish has become a birthday curse for the A’s. Can’t believe he dropped that ball..haha
SHEFFFFFFFFFFF. Maybe he’ll get to five hundred in this game.
Thanks Ron. Gotta log out now for a while. I just emailed the FSN Detroit booth because nobody seems to know anything about #250,000.
Too bad it wasn’t Sheffield’s 500th. Would have been interesting numbers.
So approx. 1 out of every 500 HR hit by major leaguers has been hit by Mr. Sheffield? Is that correct?
This kind of game makes you want to cry “what coulda been”.
Agreed Ron.. It’s oh so bittersweet
Josh Outman has not lived up to his name tonight
Yeah, that’s right Ron. So his 500th homer could have been 1/500th of history.
Leave him in.
Zach could have done that.
This was supposed to be a feel good game.
Listen up, Maggs, Miggs, Sheff. You aren’t done.
This is exactly why “getting ground balls” isn’t really a good plan.
3 flyouts and the inning would have been over.
SEE: Fossum’s first batter – Flyout. Fossum’s third batter – Flyout. COME ON. Every other one of those hits was a ground ball that got through the infield.
Left the bases loaded again. Whew.
I hope no one now retains the notion that our problems are not overwhelmingly about pitching
When’s the last time, before Hessman, that a guy got hit by pitches twice in the same inning?
I think they said it happened once before, Brady Anderson?
Ahhh. Happy birthday to two of the best Tigers bloggers on the web. Unlike most Tigers bloggers, you post everyday. What would we do/read without you?
2nd guy in A.L.
Ya I heard that too ron, didn’t say when it happened though
p.s. I hear the annoying whistler is back
What the heck? Watching the game on MLB and they’re just showing the announcers booth while game going on. Camera man taking a whiz?
1999, Coleman.
Still no acknowledgement from FSN about the 250K homer
Good hustle by Maggs.
I e -mailed em too.
“and a free Macedonia”
OMG does Marcus Thmaes know???!?
My protege Rapada is in — game over, A’s!
You don’t have to be a lip reader to pick up what Renteria said on that error.
One pitch, one out. Gary Glover is almost certainly the greatest pitcher of all time.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080908&content_id=3439734&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det&partnerId=rss_det
Someone should e-mail Beck too.
Hah, Hessman made them pay!
Hilariously awesome play by Inge ends the game. 70 wins and tied for third!!!
Maybe baseball doesn’t regard that HR as a big deal. Could be waiting for no.1,000,000 in the 24th century. Tigers win. Tigers win.
Hah, Inge made that play!
I suppose hitting the HR isn’t really such a big deal because it really was just a matter of luck as to who would do it. Some ‘ol scrub like Raburn could have gone out there and hit it out. But, since Gary probably likes things like that, I’m happy for him.
I just saw it on the bottom of the screen – G. Sheffield 250,000 Home Run Ever Hit. So FSN got the e-mails?
I guess. They probably just wanted to get us to stop writing them.
Happy Birthday Billfer! It was my birthday yesterday. Nice that our birthdays are happening along with a nice little Tigers win streak. Coincidence? I think not.
Sheff comes through on the big 6-0!
Baby.
Happy Birthday Bill
Hopefully by my birthday (Nov 14) they will have their first world championship in 24 years 😉
lets see now to tie them for a 1 game playoff (twins dont count ;))
Detroit 18-0
Chicago 8-12
Detroit 17-1
Chicago 7-13
Detroit 16-2
Chicago 6-14
Detroit 15-3
Chicago 5-15
Detroit 14-4
Chicago 4-16
Detroit 13-5
Chicago 3-17
Detroit 12-6
Chicago 2-18
Detroit 11-7
Chicago 1-19
Detroit 10-6
Chicago 0-20
Tigers win! Tigers win! Tigers win! I’m all swept up in 3rd place fever.
Who was the last Tiger to have 116+ RBI? OK, other than Ordonez. Cecil Fielder? Go Miggy. How about 130+?
Wow, Gary Sheffield. Just had to ruin my carefully laid plans for having Thames and Inge finish with more RBI, didn’t you? But your marketability increases by the minute, if only in my mind.
I agree that Gary Glover is the greatest pitcher of all time, right after Casey Fossum (absurdly low ERA all of a sudden), who I’ve always staunchly supported through thick and thin, and who still has a chance to finish with more wins than Nate Robertson. Poor Aquilino Lopez. He can’t buy an out lately. OK, that’s not exactly true. But he’s sure letting those inherited runners score at an alarming rate.
Granderson’s 0 for 6 with 2 K line looks odd in a game like this. Reminds me of that 10-9 win over Boston in May where he also went 0 for 6, I think (except that he also managed to drive in the tying run that time).
Offhand, I would guess this is the first time the Tigers have hit 5 HR in a game this season. Nice. Just very, very nice to see the Tigers do what they’re supposed to do, come home after a successful trip and NOT LOSE the first game, and hand out a proper beating to an inferior team.
Happy Birthday, Billfer.
More birthdays, please!
Ezra sutton hit the first two homeruns in MLB history on May 8, 1871. It was a cold and blustery day in Cleveland, my friends, when ole’ Ezra stepped to the plate and pounded out two against Chicago, just like Gary did tonite against Oakland, 137 years later, hitting no.249,999 and no. 250,000.
Gee, our G.G. guy outpitched their G.G. guy tonite.
Smoking Loon, if you look like a duck and quack like a duck, then you are a duck. I’m sure Amanda will back me up on this.
you betcha ron
Smoking Loon, After further review, a Loon is a bird of a different feather. If you were to have smoked duck, a good Smoking Loon Merlot would be proper as well as Cold Duck would be with bits of Baby Loon and Squab mixed into a spinach salad.
I haven’t noticed anyone mention it here, but with Quentin out for surgery, Cabrera has to be the favourite to win the AL home run title this year.
He’s also 8 off the RBI lead, but that’s going to be tougher to do unless Josh Hamilton also starts punching bats.
Despite all that, Cabrera’s not near the top of the league for OPS. He’s not even the top Tiger. (Granderson is.)
Meanwhile, Ordonez’s hot streak now has him back up to within 5 points of the batting average race. He’s one great game away from being at the top. (4 for 4 would do it.)
Yeah, enlist the support of the duck killer now. FYI, I don’t quack like a duck. Soon you shall have your rude comeuppance, when you are awakened by a blood-curdling wail and look to see a blood-red eye staring at you through the hole you put in the mirror with that apple.
With 12 HR in 4 games and 19 in their last 9, the Tigers are having their biggest power surge this year. Team OPS is .902 over this (9-game) stretch, and the line reads like Thmaes the Macedonian in June.
Only once before in 2008 have the Tigers hit 5 HR, April 24 against Texas in Detroit. Only 4 other times have they hit as many as 4, each time at… Comerica. In these 6 games, Maggs and Miggs have 4 HR each. All of these games were in the first series after a road trip, most often (3 times) the first game back home.
The Tigers have not hit more than 3 HR in a game on the road. 3 HR on the road has happened only 6 times, against the Yankees, Orioles, Rays, White Sox, Rangers, and Twins.
The longest the Tigers have gone without a HR was also at home. 5 games in May (they went 2-3, scoring 20, allowing 30, squeaking out 2 1-run wins).
“bits of Baby Loon and Squab mixed into a spinach salad.”
Taunt me at your peril, bird eater.
Happy (belated) birthday billfer! I heard that Sheffield hit those two dingers on your behalf. Also, I’m contractually obligated to channel my inner Kenny Mayne and say “Sheffield hits the 250,000th HR. Not in this game – that would be a record”.
Andrew had to be all Canadian with the “favourite”, didn’t he? What’s your favorite colour?
Smoking Loon, Why is it okay for you to eat innocent fish but it’s not okay for Amanda to go out and slaughter ducks and a few loon and for Sarah Palin to mow down a Moose to feed her ever growing family. Have you heard of the food chain? That’s why Jimmy and Miggy get first dibs at the after game food fest.
Hey, I didn’t even notice “favourite.” Andrew rocks. He’s Canadian. That’s cool by definition. I wonder if it’s Andrew McNaughtan. Maybe it’s really Geddy Lee using Andrew’s computer!
Ron, fish aren’t as innocent as you think. Sarah Palin, either.
Miguel Cabrera’s numbers are really something else. I remember back in May-June when he was still “slightly disappointing,” and I don’t think even the staunch supporters saw 35+ HR and 125+ RBI coming. He’s making Carlos Guillen look bad.
“What’s your favorite colour?”
The Colour Of Right.
I’m so honored to share my B’Day with the Blogging Elite! Birthday shout outs are the best!
“My favorite colour is candy!”
-Ralph Wiggum
“has an imaginary leprechaun friend who occasionally tells him to start fires”
a) Todd Jones
b) Fernando Rodney
c) Joel Zumaya
d) Kyle Farnsworth
e) Ralph Wiggum
The answer is, of course, f) all of the above. He tells me to burn things!
Edgo Renteria has reached base on an error 10 times in 2008, 22% (in 9% of team PA) of the 46 times Tigers have done so.
Magglio Ordonez over the last 14 days: .469/.500/.898, 4 jacks, 14 knocked in.
Miguel Cabrera over that same time: .304/.358/.696, 5 and 16
Curtis Granderson’s most recent fortnight: .365/.468/.731 3 and 9.
I’m just saying that these guys are a drop of alright, and have been awarded blanket no-trade clauses by me, because as you of course know I have the power to do so.
While we’re on the topic of E-Rent, don’t look now but he’s pounding out a .302/.356/.478 line since the All Star break. There’s no word on whether or not those totals include hits he’s given to the other team through lack of range at SS, so I’ll be forced to assume that they do.
Thanks, Chris. I’ve been looking for a new excuse for why I smoke. Now I have a leprechaun.
So how many times, out of 10, has Renteria scored after reaching on an error? Would you believe 5? It’s true. No way you don’t bring this guy back.
Since the break, despite 40% of his hits being for extra bases, Edgar has 15 RBI in 44 games and 175 PA. He must lead off innings a lot. Yes, he’s been low in the order, but still. But he’s scored 26 runs from being on base 65 times. That seems pretty good. I suspect this is where most of Granderson’s 24 RBI come from. So nice going, Edgar.
It’s his defense that’s the thing. Can Tigers pitching live with another year of it?
Incidentally, I’d like to thank billfer for adding naughty women from my area as part of this site. My love of boobies and baseball can now be fulfilled with just one mouse click.
Tabbed browsing has been made obsolete.
Don’t let this latest run fool you. Too many losses when we scored 3 runs or less. A lot of these guys mailed it in for 3 months. No wonder they have so much pop. They have done very little work up until now. Still need a major housekeeping. And not only the pitching and management. You gotta play 6 months and hit in the clutch. This is a lazy ballclub.
“Still need a major housekeeping”
Yeah.
OK, now I’m on this whole total bases per plate appearance kick. Here’s how some Tigers stack up:
Granderson .594 (11th in AL)
Fatty .581 (14th)
Maggs .554 (26th)
Guillen .525 (32nd)
Polanco .461 (54th)
Renteria .434 (63rd)
OK, Stat Boy. Let’s really mess with Ron now.
Tigers (and an ex-Tiger) with 200+ AB:
Runs Created/Game
Granderson 7.8
Cabrera 6.7
Ordonez 6.5
Joyce 6.1
Guillen 5.9
Polanco 5.3
Thames 5.1
Rodriguez 4.9
Inge 4.4
Sheffield 4.0
Renteria 3.9
Offensive Winning Percentage
Granderson .695
Cabrera .631
Ordonez .619
Joyce .593
Guillen .581
Polanco .526
Thames .512
Rodriguez .497
Inge .446
Sheffield .396
Renteria .389
Adjusted Batting Runs
Granderson 25.7
Ordonez 24.4
Cabrera 24.3
Guillen 11.0
Joyce 6.3
Thames 2.1
Polanco 1.3
Rodriguez -1.0
Inge -6.3
Sheffield -6.7
Renteria -11.5
Batting Wins
Granderson 2.4
Ordonez 2.3
Cabrera 2.3
Guillen 1.0
Joyce 0.6
Thames 0.2
Polanco 0.1
Rodriguez -0.1
Sheffield -0.6
Inge -0.6
Renteria -1.1
Nope. No trends are evident. Sorry.
I shall go out on a limb and use my extremely honed analytical skills to conclude that Granderson, Fatty, Maggs and Guillen have been the Tigers 4 most productive batsmen in 2008.
“Favourite colour” ha ha, I like your sense of humour…
Anyway, I think it is fair to evaluate this team based on total runs scored. Sure, it feels like there have been some bad games, but the team’s record is just one game off its pythagorean w-l.
The team has scored 734 runs. Is that enough? I figure that if they had allowed only 646 runs (as opposed to the 743 they really allowed) they would be in or tied for first place with the White Sox.
How good is 646 runs allowed? It would put them 7th in the AL. (Right between Chicago and Minnesota, incidentally.)
So, if we had a pitching staff that was around average for the AL, our offense is good enough to put us in first place.
“Our offense is good enough to put us in first place”
Seemingly. But not really. It only looks that way in aggregate.
Don’t jump to conclusions now, Chris.
Besides the obvious, it was interesting to note how Ordonez is essentially equivalent to Cabrera, despite less flashy overall numbers elsewhere, due in part to the time Maggs was on the DL. But there’s another feather in Gil’s cap – he’s been the Tigers’ Iron Man this season. Haven’t heard much about that, but he deserves some credit.
I wondered how it would be if Tigers pitching had given 4-5 runs every game this season. 72 games each of 4 and 5 allowed would be… 648. 95 less than actual, considerably better. So I took the scores and replaced the opponents scores with 4 or 5, alternating 4-5, starting the first game with 4, then 5.
4-5 alternating: 68 wins, 66 losses, 10 ties
5-4 alternating: 66 wins, 64 losses, 14 ties
Splitting the ties between win and loss, either way you come up with a record of 73-71.
How about if the Tigers had scored 5 every game? Or alternated scoring 5-6 every game? (Which would yield 792 or only 58 more than actual, certainly not out of reach for the 1000-run offense.)
Keep those checks coming, Chuck.
This just in: Dontrelle Willis is starting Monday and Freddy Garcia is starting Wednesday in Texas. So I’ll be there to witness the rebirth.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/SPORTS02/80909069/1050
But if our actual won-loss record is pretty much the same as our pythagorean won-loss record, I’d have to say that our runs-in-aggregate are the only offensive evaluation we really need.
We are winning the number of games we’re supposed to win based on our runs-in-aggregate.
If it feels like we have lost too many games where the offense didn’t show up, etc., those things must have evened out somehow.
So… We’ve scored enough runs so that with an average pitching staff, we’d be in 1st place.
The AL average for runs allowed is 4.76 per game. So let’s call allowing 4 or 5 runs average pitching, and see how the Tigers fared in games where the pitching was average.
Game #/Teams/Result/Tigers record/Pitchers of record
1 DET KCR L 4-5 (11) 0-1 L Nunez D Bautista
2 DET KCR L 0-4 0-2 B Bannister K Rogers
3 DET KCR L 1-4 0-3 Z Greinke J Bonderman
5 DET CHW L 3-5 0-5 G Floyd Z Miner
7 DET @BOS L 0-5 0-7 D Matsuzaka K Rogers
14 DET MIN W 6-5 4-10 C Rapada J Crain
17 DET @TOR W 8-4 6-11 K Rogers J Accardo
19 DET @TOR L 3-5 6-13 A Burnett N Robertson
24 DET LAA L 3-4 10-14 E Santana N Robertson
25 DET LAA W 6-4 11-14 A Lopez D O’Day
27 DET @NYY W 6-4 12-15 K Rogers P Hughes
29 DET @NYY W 8-4 14-15 N Robertson J Albaladejo
31 DET @MIN L 1-4 14-17 B Bass J Verlander
34 DET BOS L 0-5 14-20 T Wakefield N Robertson
36 DET BOS L 1-5 15-21 J Beckett J Verlander
37 DET NYY W 6-5 16-21 K Rogers K Igawa
38 DET NYY L 2-5 16-22 D Rasner J Bonderman
42 DET @ARI L 3-4 16-26 D Haren Z Miner
44 DET @ARI L 0-4 17-27 R Johnson N Robertson
46 DET SEA W 9-4 19-27 K Rogers J Washburn
54 DET @SEA W 7-4 23-3 N Robertson C Silva
55 DET @SEA L 0-5 23-32 F Hernandez J Verlander
56 DET @SEA W 7-5 24-32 Z Miner J Putz
58 DET @OAK L 4-5 (11) 24-34 C Gaudin B Seay
60 DET CLE L 2-4 24-36 P Byrd J Verlander
61 DET CLE W 8-4 25-36 Z Miner M Kobayashi
64 DET CHW W 6-4 27-37 N Robertson J Contreras
69 DET LAD W 5-4 32-37 N Robertson C Park
74 DET @SDP W 7-5 35-39 N Robertson C Baek
82 DET @MIN W 5-4 42-40 C Fossum M Guerrier
85 DET @SEA W 8-4 43-42 J Verlander C Silva
86 DET @SEA L 1-4 43-43 E Bedard K Rogers
95 DET @BAL W 6-5 48-47 K Rogers G Olson
99 DET @KCR W 19-4 50-49 Z Miner L Hochevar
104 DET CHW W 6-4 53-51 Z Miner J Vazquez
105 DET @CLE L 0-5 53-52 P Byrd K Rogers
106 DET @CLE W 8-5 54-52 A Galarraga M Ginter
109 DET @TBR L 2-5 55-54 G Balfour Z Miner
113 DET @CHW L 1-5 55-58 J Danks J Verlander
115 DET OAK L 2-4 56-59 D Braden K Rogers
120 DET TOR L 3-4 58-62 D Purcey K Rogers
131 DET CLE L 3-4 (10) 64-67 B Donnelly G Glover
138 DET LAA L 4-5 66-72 S Shields F Rodney
142 DET @MIN W 6-4 68-74 C Rapada M Guerrier
143 DET @MIN W 7-5 69-74 C Lambert G Perkins
The Tigers are 21-24 in these games. 197 runs scored (4.37/G, would rank 11th in AL) versus 200 runs allowed (4.44/G, would rank 7th in AL).
If the average AL team scores 4.76 runs per game, then the average game would be one where 9-10 runs score in all. I have a hunch – just a hunch – that contenders tend to play in more of these average games than non-contenders.
Just for fun, here are the 21 “AL average” Tigers games:
1 Mon, Mar 31 DET KCR L 4-5 (11)
8 Wed, Apr 9 DET @BOS W 7-2
23 Thu, Apr 24 DET TEX W 8-2
25 Sat, Apr 26 DET LAA W 6-4
27 Tue, Apr 29 DET @NYY W 6-4
33 Mon, May 5 DET BOS L 3-6
58 Tue, Jun 3 DET @OAK L 4-5 (11)
63 Mon, Jun 9 DET CLE L 2-8
64 Tue, Jun 10 DET CHW W 6-4
69 Sun, Jun 15 DET LAD W 5-4
72 Wed, Jun 18 DET @SFG W 7-2
82 Mon, Jun 30 DET @MIN W 5-4
83 Tue, Jul 1 DET @MIN L 4-6
104 Sun, Jul 27 DET CHW W 6-4
118 Mon, Aug 11 DET TOR L 2-7
119 Tue, Aug 12 DET TOR L 4-6
127 Wed, Aug 20 DET @TEX L 1-9
130 Sun, Aug 24 DET @KCR L 3-7
134 Fri, Aug 29 DET KCR W 6-3
138 Tue, Sep 2 DET LAA L 4-5
142 Sat, Sep 6 DET @MIN W 6-4
The Tigers were 11-10 in these games (.524 versus .476 otherwise). 5 (five) 6-4 wins vs. only 2 (two) 4-6 losses.