2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.003: Tigers at Blue Jays

105 Comments

PREGAME: Losses suck, and I’m sure the Tigers won’t go 0-162, but let’s just get that first win out of the way okay fellas? Otherwise it become a “thing.” And the hand wringing becomes hard to tolerate. Somebody has to be blamed for everything bad that happens. It doesn’t make for a happy fan base (or a happy blogger).

Tonight it is Zach Miner who will try to follow up Edwin Jackson’s fine effort. He’ll be opposed by Jess Litsch who put together a heck of a season last year with only 39 walks in 176 innings en route to a 3.67 ERA. The Tigers only have 27 plate appearances against Litsch, and only 4 hits and 2 walks to show for it.

Game Time 7:07 (this one is on FS Detroit Plus for those of you getting the Detroit feed)

Detroit vs. Toronto – April 8, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: That’s a more better. For all the talk of small ball and bunts and hit and runs and advancing the runner…they advanced a lot farther when the ball sails out of the park. The Tigers plated all 5 runs via the long ball tonight which is fine by me.

Zach Miner had a VERY rocky first inning. But he escaped allowing only one run, and came up one out short of a quality start. It isn’t a stat that means a tremendous amount, but for the pitcher’s sake I’d like to see them get it.

And the bullpen. Perfect. They were asked to record 10 outs and Bobby Seay, Ryan Perry, and Fernando Rodney did not allow a baserunner. So it can happen.

  • Miguel Cabrera has hammered the ball in Toronto. He looked great in BP Tuesday night and that carried over the last two games.  But he still trails teammate Brandon Inge in the homer column.
  • Speaking of Inge. Huh. I’ll have more on Inge in an upcoming post, but these homers he’s hitting are crushed. And it’s not because he’s pull happy. Would really like to see it continue
  • Ryan Perry was solid in his debut. He went to a full count a couple times, but didn’t allow a baserunner.
  • Fernando Rodney. Seven pitches, seven strikes. Yes, the last one was hit as far as it possibly could be while staying in the park, but I’m not going to complain.
  • Sure to be overshadowed by the other relievers, Bobby Seay had the best night of the 3. He recorded 4 outs, 2 via the K, with only 12 pitches. Awesome.
  • Ramon Santiago had a rough night with 2 K’s and the E6 that cost Miner the QS. He did have a single though.

105 thoughts on “Game 2009.003: Tigers at Blue Jays”

  1. My rotation to start the season would have been as follows:
    Game 1 – Galarraga – reward for a fine season last year, pitched very well at the
    WBC in the Skydome.
    Game 2 – Verlander
    Game 3 – Porcello
    Game 4 – Jackson – just in case we lost the first three games, don’t want to put
    the rookie in the position of having to stop the sweep.
    Now I would go back to a five man rotation.
    Game 5 – Galarraga
    Game 6 – Verlander
    Game 7 – Porcello
    Game 8 – Jackson
    Game 9 – Miner or maybe Robertson.

  2. O/U on bullpen RA (not ER allowed, but RA) is 3.5. I’m taking bets. Note, that you can only bet in the following denominations:
    – $1 million US Dollars
    – 3 Vietnamese Dong
    – Frank Tanana’s libido (this is subject to change as soon as it is gone)

    I’ll keep a running tab all season. I’ll create a google doc to keep a running tab all season.

  3. A J- Why would you pitch Galarraga on 3 days rest? The Tigers are playing 10 straight and don’t have a day off until Next Thursday!

  4. Andre in Chi sorry to offend was just pointing out that the manager is not the only one to blame for Tigers downfall and you should refrain from being so sure of the Tigers position in July it might just come back and bite you We all make comments and predictions that may or may not be correct but I highly doubt the tigers will be leading their division in July so before we go accusing others of asinine comments maybe you should review your own.

  5. Mr X;it wasn’t long ago that teams had four man rotations, there is no problem to the health of a pitcher to bring him back after three day rest!

  6. tigerfan,

    your quote: “We all including me want to lay the blame on Leyland” — I for one, don’t want to lay the blame on Leyland; not exclusively or even mostly. So right there, you’re wrong.

    my quote: [the Tigers] “could easily be leading the division in July” — as you can see my word choice was ‘could’, which imparts no certainty…by definition.

    In addition, the Tigers are playing in a division that appears, more or less, wide open this year. So, not only was my statement possible, it could well not be improbable. I usually try to give myself as much room as possible to, at the very least, not be wrong (while occasionally being dead-on…as I am in this case).

  7. You know what totally sucked? That Brandon Morrow blew a lead against the Twins in the 9th last night. Not a good day for relievers named Brandon, I tells ya. Why couldn’t Toronto have used League, dammit!

  9. Today’s line-up
    C Granderson CF
    P Polanco 2B
    M Ordonez DH
    M Cabrera 1B
    C Guillen LF
    G Laird C
    B Inge 3B
    R Santiago SS
    J Anderson RF

    Toronto is rolling with the same line-up as before.

  10. In other news, after two league-vetoed trade attempts, I finally complete my swoop for M. Cabrera (plus a set-up guy).

    “Who did you give up?”, you ask.

    Carlos Pena + Bobby Jenks, simultaneously ridding myself of W. Sox scum while conforming with my “no saves, only holds” policy.

    If nothing else, this proves that I deserve some consideration for the Tigers organization…or that I’m in a league of morons…

  11. God I hope this isn’t another long losing streak to start the season, but seeing yesterday’s game makes me think “here we go again.”

    Leyland really can’t manage this team anymore. We have had about a year-and-a-half consistently miserable baseball and there has been one common factor during that whole period. Yes the lineup is and has been flawed, but no way are they as bad as some of the worst teams in baseball, which they have been playing like. If this continues, I hope that in no way that he keeps his job.

  13. The Tiger bullpen can easily give up 3 runs (on a good night), so in considering that, Miggy just tied it up with his 1st inning bomb

  16. At least I can watch Red Sox Rays or Royals White Sox or Fantasy Factory 😉

    Where are my Tigers 🙁 this sucks.

    OOO I can see Miggys Hr on gameday

  18. After seeing Miner work out of a bases-loaded-no-outs jam he got himself into, maybe we’re wasting him in the starting rotation…we could use some of that in the bullpen…

  19. Oh, and I meant to add (for those doing the +/- on Leyland’s performance): give Leyland an assist for Ordonez at DH/Anderson in RF/Runner thrown out at the plate.

  21. I’m not sure if this is true everywhere, but the Comcast MLB channels are free this week. It’s the Jays feed today.

  23. *knocks on wood*

    I know the record is 0-2, and it’s against the Jays, but seeing Jax and Miner pitch like this back to back is pretty heartening. If these guys are solidly above league average, this team looks a lot better.

    *knocks again, for good measure*

  24. Remember when one of the Chris’s adamently stated that Miggy would be out of baseball in 3 years because of weight and work ethic? That still has to be the worst comment to ever have been submitted here. Pumped to see a Perry sighting this game, unless of course Jim would like to bring Lyon out for some more. I think he was just getting in a groove last night before he was suddenly and prematurely pulled for no good reason other than that the game had ended.

  30. Plus the kid’s batting .400! Wow. (Okay, Miggy’s more the kid. And he’s batting .667!)

  31. Ken — Oh, I remember Chris’ anti-Cabrera binge. It pretty much destroyed my ability to take him seriously forever.

  33. Andre,

    I don’t generally play fantasy baseball, but that trade sounds like an absolute heist for you. Pena smells like a one-hit wonder and Miggy could be in the MVP talk this year.

    Nice work!

  35. Note to Leyland: Seay can pitch against righties, too. Just because he’s left-handed doesn’t mean you have to use him as a LOOGY.

  38. Mark,

    The only problem is the trade doesn’t take effect until tomorrow…oh well, I’ll settle for the other 40 hr and 135 rbi he’ll have this year…

  41. Andre if I was comish of your league, I would have vetoed that trade…more like it is a steal.

    Any comish power or is it league votes? Do people even care? You’re robbing the other guy blind…

    Although one thing of note, Pena always always always gets super hot in the second half especially in August/September… Depending upon when your playoffs are (or if you have them) that might affect you.

  42. Inge has been streaky, but so far in this streak he’s doing 2 things he has rarely done before: pounding RH pitching (.368 career SLG vs .457 LHP) and hitting with bases empty (.307 SLG vs .453 with men on). And forget the .400 avg, how about the 1.4000 SLG! (He has yet to have a single–or get a walk).

    The fact that this streak seems a bit different than others makes me hope that the new stance really will lead to an improved Inge this season…

  44. Those fembots from Grand Rapids are killing me with that April in the D song.

  45. Is it just me or does Carlos look off? He doesn’t seem like himself…is there an injury we don’t know about?

  46. Really surprised to see that low of attendance in TO. Its downtown and a pretty good place to catch a game. I wonder if they have 10K there tonight.

    The Toronto announcers are saying it looks like Inge is looking much better than last year.

  50. Coleman, I was just thinking that about Carlos. It almost looks like he is hiding something……… although he got down the line pretty well

  55. re: Chris on Cabrera: Yeah, that overweight Cabrera is useless, like that other slob Babe Ruth. I think Chris was only kinda half-serious though.

    Anyway, if you thought McGwire vs Sosa was exciting, wait until the Tigers head into the stretch with Cabrera and Inge battling it out to see who the first to 100 HR will be…

  57. I didn’t want to believe it at the time, but he really was totally serious, Coleman. He was on that kick for about two months.

  60. See, Leyland told y’all that it would have been dumb to bring in Perry last night instead of Lyon.

  61. Perry gets a really questionable K and a pop-up. I imagine the 9th is Rodney Time, despite the lack of a save situation

  62. Dave BW: well, just for the record I’m kidding about the Inge/Cabrera 100 HR thing. But I will predict at the all star break Cabrera will be leading the league in all 3 triple crown categories…and finish 3rd in the all star voting.

  64. Gameday really stepped their game up this year. I’m digging this. Way better than whatever ESPN is offering.

  66. A-Rod will win the all-star voting despite having played in only ten games at the time

  67. Wow! just got back..

    Miner, I think may end up being the starter all season. Good job tonight. He tends to give three solid starts and one supper-dupper implosion where he can’t get beyond the 2nd inning… I’ll take that

    Miggy looks to be off to a fast start this season.

    Inge = Ted Williams + Babe Ruth

    Perry looks like he’s ready for the bigs ok

  68. @Tom: have you considered maybe it’s the 70s porn stars that look like Tallet? Besides, why is it always “70s porn stars?” Did they slack off that much in the 80’s and 90’s? And were they all stars, and if not what did the other ones look like? Maybe BJ Ryan?

    [on edit, I can probably answer my own question here…I think the “others” probably resembled Brandon Lyon…]

  73. If Rodney could ever stay ahead in the count with that change-up in his backpocket… damn.

  77. @Tom

    I was feeling a lot better about Rodney until you told me that. All I can see is 7 pitches, 7 strikes, 3 outs.

  78. hey, we’re in the win column!!

    and it’s quicker than 8 games this year!!

    and the White Sox are losing!!

    good evening all around…

  79. Good Catch by Curtis

    Guys ………. A win and way less than 100 posts. Guess the loss’s are easier to vent with than sending love for the wins.

    OK a Win…………………………. feels good

  81. He got clobbered to deep center on that last one, but he had good command, which is what we want to see from our bullpen. The monkey is off our back, we’re off and running.

  83. Hell I’d not watch and only listen on radio and watch on gameday if they win every game that I do.

    A wins a win boys, still we should be 2-1 not 1-2 😉

  84. The only negative I see in this game is that Santiago made an error, and did nothing at the plate…why does that matter? Maybe it doesn’t. But from the end of Guillen’s run to Renteria to Everett so far, all the shortstops have been disappointingly bad. Maybe it isn’t them. Maybe it’s some greater force cursing the position itself. Maybe it’s proximity to an evil force-field emanating from Inge. Whatever it is, they need to find the antidote.

  85. If we were 2-1 would we feel great or just hey whatever its Toronto. We should go 3-1 on them in 4

  86. Yeah I might have to wind up ordering MLB Extra Innings after all (Damn you, free preview!)

  87. Tom have you had it before, its really pretty good especially with a DVR for afternoon or night games. plus its 169 you will watch at least all or portions of 100 games. Less than 2 bucks a game. You really cant beat it.

  88. who were those guys!!!> Jim got it right. Miner who saved us with Battlestar last year got it right. Rodney did his job. Inge bombs another on. Perry is the real deal. Is this Heaven? no, its just Iowa…I mean Canada

  89. This first win sure feels good….almost as good as sex!
    Now I have something to throw back in the faces of these people here in Toronto!
    A well played game, except for a few minor glitches early.
    Tiger time to rock!

  90. @ Steve – It was never really clear from the advertising that you’d get ALL non-blacked out games; if so, that’s great. I was also bummed about the overall lack of HD, but I’ve survived the SD so far and it’s still 100x better than MLB.TV

    So yeah, I’ll probably get it.

  91. Tom you don’t get all the games out of the 160 total games the tigers will be shown maybe 140 or so. Not sure of the criteria but it seems like they are on all the time.

    >> One more good point, there is nothing better than listening to the Hawk when the Whosox are losing. Its like a little kid who got told he couldnt go to the lemonade stand for two days. Its classic.

  93. Finally a win, woot. Go Seay, Perry and Rodney. Carbera and Inge hitting bombs. I felt bad for Jackson yesterday. It stinks that Porcello’s first game is going to be an afternoon game, probably not going to be able to watch.

  94. David,

    First, woot re: 1st win of year.

    Second, re: my fantasy trade…the league actually did vote the first couple deals I tried to make for him (including a Delgado + Jenks for Cabrera). In the end they allowed it because losing Jenks means I have no closer…except Perry, who I just picked up 😉 Its kinda my “thing” to eschew having a closer on my team, and instead going for offense… That’s all I’ll say about my team though, rather off topic…

  95. Tom,

    I don’t know if you’ve checked out MLB.tv this year, but it is vastly improved. They stream in HD now and the picture looks as good as any plasma TV for the most part. Having been a somewhat disgruntled customer over the last few years, I can say I’m quite impressed.

  97. Ken – I’ve heard that there have been some tech problems with the new MLB.tv. Even if it worked like a dream, however, I can’t really watch at work, so I’d rather pay $60 extra and get it on my bigscreen tv.

  98. Way to go, Brandon Inge. You’re back in 2006 form. I’m impressed with the bottom of our lineup. Nobody spectacular, but useful players. I’m also impressed with Zach Miner. He got out of an epic jam and pitched a nice game.

  99. Has any Tiger ever hit a home run in the first three games of the season? Miner was major. Porcello will make it 3 good outings in a row, hopefully. Go Tigers.

  101. @ron: I thought I knew the answer to that one–the Redheaded Enigma, otherwise known as Chris Shelton, in 2006. Nope. In fact, no Tiger has, at least since 1950 which is as far back as I checked. It was fun looking back at the 1st 3 of 2006 anyway: 15 HR total, with Shelton, Guillen, Thames…and Inge each homering in 2 of the 3 games:

    Game 1 HR: Shelton (2), Guillen
    Game 2 HR: Guillen, Inge, Thames, Rodriguez, Granderson
    Game 3 HR: Shelton (2), Inge, Thames, Ordonez (2), Monroe

  102. @ron: That’s one wagon where I think where there may be more drinking “on the wagon” than off. That’s why I hereby christen it the Bingewagon.

  103. Dmitri Young hit 3 on Opening Day once. That was sweet. Nothing like a 486 homer pace.

  104. @ Steve: I love the Hawk during a loss. He definitely sounds like someone pissed in his Corn Flakes.

  105. @ Steve and Chris in D: I have ranted many times on this board about Hawk Harrelson, so my sentiments exactly. He now has Steve Stone with him, which vastly improves the quality of the broadcast (from completely unwatchable to still pretty unwatchable). I am hoping this means that the end is near for Hawk. Stoney has to be thinking, “who is this idiot?”, and the Sox will eventually figure out that having you color guy outshine your PBP guy isn’t a long-term plan for success.

    Fortunately, Stoney doesn’t join in the “YES!” part like DJ used to when the Sox hit a home run. Apparently his lack of dignity has a limit.

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