2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.007: Rangers at Tigers

70 Comments

PREGAME: The Tigers look for a series sweep of the Texas Rangers this Easter Sunday. The Rangers mashed Cleveland pitching but haven’t been able to muster much offense against the Tigers starters. Today it will be Edwin Jackson making his second start of the season. His first effort was wasted by the bullpen as he pounded the strike zone (67.4% strikes) en route to a 7.1 inning, 89 pitch start.

Kevin Millwood April 6th Start - pitch fxKevin Millwood pitches for the Rangers. He held Cleveland to 1 run in 7 innings on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s. He went with a fastball heavy repertoire (91MPH 4 seam, 90MPH 2 seam), and didn’t seem to get the ball down that well. Still, the results were impressive. Hopefully if he keeps the ball up against the Tigers, they’ll either layoff it or hammer it.

Game Time 1:05

Texas vs. Detroit – April 12, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: It’s a good day to be named Brandon. Inge of course due to his 4th homer (and career number 100) to start the 8th inning comeback and his 2 out RBI single to cap it. Plus he threw in a slick play on a bunt to start the 9th. Part of the reason that the Tigers only needed to come down by 4 is because Brandon Lyon came on and retired 6 straight batters on 17 pitches. It was a very nice bounce back outing, and only his second since he blew Edwin Jackson’s last start.

As for Jackson, he wasn’t as sharp as his last outing, but mostly effective. He pitched out of a big jam in the 5th and in the 6th inning he retired the side on 10 pitches, mostly 95mph+ fastballs to put a nice cap on his day.

Kevin Millwood was frustratingly good. It was a steady diet of 89 mph fastballs and curves that had the Tigers completely fooled.

  • Fernando Rodney picked up the save on 5 pitches (and the previously mentioned nice play by Inge)
  • Placido Polanco seems to have his stroke going after a slow spring
  • A couple of awful at-bats by Magglio Ordonez and Gerald Laird in that 8th inning. Fortunately the rest of the team picked them up.
  • Speaking of which, how about the struggling Carlos Guillen lacing a two strike double down the line?

70 thoughts on “Game 2009.007: Rangers at Tigers”

  2. Hi All:

    Is it just my paranoia or did ESPN Baseball Tonight not show any summary of yesterday’s Tiger v. Ranger game? They seemed to cover all other games except a mention of the Tiger’s and also Red’s game. Meanwhile they had time to cover Price’s minor league stint pitching. Please correct me if I am confused.

    Perhaps the Tigers need to quietly go about business and let the Red Sox, Yankees and Angels take care of the national media.

    Geaux Jackson,

    RKT in Mississippi.

  7. Did I just hear that stat correctly? That Inge has more HR’s at Comerica Park than any other player?

  15. man…guys…this is how teams felt last year against us when our bullpen was blowing leads (and this year still, im not sold on our pen yet after only 6 games)

  30. INGE!!! Finally he starts going to center and right field. It works in little league, it works in high school it works in college, it works in softball, it works on the sandlots it works in the minors it works it the majors…

    People who can use the 100% of the field are rewarded.

    Poly on the other hand has looked pull happy the last few games – always right down the third base line.

    Lets get to 4-3!!!!!

    And you’ve got to feel for the Rangers somewhat, the one game that they looked good and not totally over matched. This game kinda reminds me of the first one Jackson pitched.

  34. How about that? The bullpen is 3 outs short from having pitched the equivalent of a perfect game. Baseball is a funny game.

  38. Lyon with win, Rodney with the save, Inge with 2 huge hits, and a great defensive play. Everything seems to be clicking. Who’s next?

  39. Justice! Were even; should have won – 1, shouldn’t have won – 1

    Good pitching and batting momentum going into the White Sox series.

  40. Nice to get the sweep on the home-opening series too. Tigs need to generate excitement early to get the fans in. Lord knows Detroit could use some good news this summer.

  44. I have not commented yet this season, for a combination of reasons but todays game
    compels me to join in. These are the games that the Tigers were losing last year. I hope it is contagious. What more can you say about Inge. The guy is greatly improved and will earn a lot of overdue respect araound baseball…. as long as the offense continues. He is my Tiger.

    Keep up the good work boys.

    Thanks again Bilfer. What a great service you provide to Tiger Fans.

  45. Factoid:
    # of posts during the 3 game Texas sweep = 200
    # of posts game 2 when they blew the win = 200

  46. My first game in person this season, gotta love the comeback! Exciting baseball that’s all I can ask for…

  47. Here’s something I like about the Tigers pitching so far- 50 k’s and only 20 walks.

    k/w ratio’s:
    2009- 2.5
    2008- 1.5
    2007- 1.9
    2006- 2.1

  48. @Mr X: I think before making too much of the factoid stats we have to wait until we can compare W/L home and away, since many of the most frequent posters attended the home games–I would expect home game post totals to be lower than away regardless of W/L.

  49. Nice K/BB stat–I like the correlation to W/L record. The great thing about a good ratio like that is it can become self-perpetuating: if teams think of you as a staff that walks a lot of guys the batters tend to lay off pitches more, which usually leads to more walks, etc.

    I’ll post the numbers later, but another stat with a correlation to W/L (although one I take with more grains of salt than the above) is GIDP, and this is one of the less obvious benefits of Everett over Renteria.

  50. The Tigers are like having a kid with a drug problem. Your overly concerned (200 posts) when they seem to be backsliding. When they’re doing well, you don’t want to overdo it (200 posts for 3 games) because you want them to feel like the current behavior is what you expect of them and just a pat on the back is enough encouragement. As the behavior improves, so do the pats and hugs and voila, in no time at all, your back to 200 posts per game.

  51. @ron: Maybe the last place finish last season was our fault…perhaps a judicious use of spankings when they were younger…

  53. I agree West Coast Tiger. The thing that got me most excited about today’s game is it is definitely a game they would have lost last year.

    I’m not the biggest Inge fan in the world, but I’m glad he’s doing well. Keep up the good work.

  54. @Mr. X: Tigers AB/GIDP:
    2008 39.2
    2007 45.0
    2006 47.0

    The reason I pick on Renteria is that 3-4-5 hitters generally hit into more than usual, but having 7 hitters like Renteria and Pudge hitting into DPs is a killer. Renteria AB/GIDP: 2008=26.5, career 33.9 (he’s 11th active in total GIDP by the way, and Pudge is #1). Everett is 96.0, and had 0 in 127 AB last season; Inge was 86.8 in ’08, 54.7 career. Of course in ’08 there weren’t many left on base for Inge to double up, after Sheffield/Pudge/Renteria were through).

    **Try this for fun, and be the life of the party: Tigers’ AB/DP x 2 = wins per season (you’d get 78, 90, 94. Not bad eh?).

  56. Coleman, most young drug users admit to being spanked as tykes. A benching as opposed to being spanked would have been better. Not a time out, mind you, but a true benching til they got their head on straight.

  57. @ron: I’ll defer to your expertise, having never been a drug-using child or parent of such, nor in the habit of striking out with runners on 3rd less than 2 outs, not to mention never walking the #9 hitter, having been spared from this by having the generic gift of being unable to throw a baseball in any particular direction.

  58. Expertise? It’s just B.S. I’m just trying to go in a different direction to see if we can get to 60 today. One of the great Tiger victories in recent memory and except for a few diehards, a pretty pitiful response. I guess some people spend all their time collecting kindling for the fire sale and don’t have time to post. And I have to say(deep gulp) Mr. Leyland is doing a helluva job. Go Tigers.

  59. @ron: Agree, and my replies were in the same spirit as your posts. Re Leyland, I wonder if there’s still many in the “no way he’s still here at all star break camp?

    Also there seems to be some sort of, um, team chemistry thing going on. How about after 0-2 Inge says, don’t worry this isn’t last year’s Tigers. Then they win next game. And Jackson, asked about bullpen collapse said basically no big deal, next time maybe I struggle and they pick me up. Then next start they bring in BL and he mows them down. Has a 2006 aroma to it…

  61. @David…. with the size and information in some of your posts I have you penciled in more as Mel Kiper jr. Superman flies around looking for trouble. Mel Kiper has good info, good hair and a real good racquet. He probably doesnt post at 3 in the morning but that doesn’t change his info either ;).

    David, after you respond and Coleman adds a few wisecracks we should be pushing 70 in no time.

  62. Is the magic back, like Jim Price said in May of 06 after the Tigers beat the Reds. Feels that way, but let’s see how we fare against the White Sox.

    P.S. I can’t stand when Thome points the bat at the pitcher!

  63. Some of you seem awfully excited after a 3 game winning streak. It only take a few losses to get back into “same old Tigers” mode. Hopefully they’ll keep winning, but its still so early. 4-3 is OK, but there’s a long ways to go.

  64. Mith we are all positive today because of the come back win and its Monday… we have to work all week. Later this week after the sweep of the Whosox and a round of Hawk getting a beat down we can have a little reality and maybe some negativity. Until then LETS GO TIGERS…………………………………………………….

    PS Billfer I seem to be having trouble on the blackberry again is it operator error or a site thing?

  66. Coleman, definitely team chemistry and lots of heart. Four out of seven puts us at 92 wins. A game like yesterday (and replacing Millwood) can go a long way in setting a tone for the ballclub early in the season. As far as being number 60, David did get 12 hours sleep between posts, so I expected nothing less from him. I believe it was his shortest post ever ; kind of like a suicide squeeze that wins the game. On another note, all these day games remind me of the old, old, old days. Go Tigers.

  68. I’m excited about Spring Training being over. I’m excited that Inge is hitting well with his new stance. I’m excited that Rodney is looking MARVELOUS. I’m excited that Cabrera is off to great start. I’m excited that the pitching staff is throwing strikes. I’m excited that we have a bunch of new young faces on the roster, instead of a bunch of beaten up old veterans. Most of all, I’m excited that the Tigers are in 1st place.

  69. Ron this made me crack up and smile at the same time.


    I believe it was his shortest post ever ; kind of like a suicide squeeze that wins the game.

    Steve, I don’t watch much fball so I don’t really know who that is. I’ll make sure that we get to 70 for you as you’ll see in a second. The next post is to the both of you, and then I’m done with this thread, because I agree with what Mith stated… And also one of my favorite teams is the Rangers.

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