Game 2009.011: Tigers at Mariners

PREGAME: I’m still shaking my head about last night’s game. So…it’s a simplistic preview today.

Erik Bedard is striking out lots of people. He has 15 K’s already. The Tigers hadn’t really been striking out a great deal…until last night. The Tigers had also been slugging quite well but had no extra base hits among their 9 knocks.

Edwin Jackson was stellar against the Blue Jays, and just OK against the Rangers. If Jackson has a modicum of command this game could set up nicely for him.

As for TV coverage, this game will be picked up on FS Detroit once the Red Wings game and postgame are completed. Prior to that you can catch the action of FS Detroit +.

Game Time 9:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 18, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Awesome stuff from Edwin Jackson again. The efficiency was reminiscent of the Toronto start and Jakcson went 7 2/3 on 98 pitches. This time though he added 5 K’s. As someone who criticized this trade, I’m happy to be wrong so far.

  • Curtis Granderson looked much better tonight at the dish. He had 2 walks and a single and saw 26 pitches tonight. There was also that money throw to end Seattle’s only scoring chance.
  • Magglio Ordonez looked better tonight also. Unfortunately Miguel Cabrera had one of his only down games for the year and stranded 6.
  • Brandon Inge accounts for both runs, sort of. He gets credit for one and Ichiro gets credit for the other.
  • Fernando Rodney allowed his first baserunner and wasn’t quite as crisp as his first 4 outings, but that runner never made it past first base.

67 thoughts on “Game 2009.011: Tigers at Mariners”

  1. Did anyone else catch that 14 run half inning earlier? My goodness. I thought I would never see a bigger one in than the 11 spot we put up against Texas last year.

  2. and you bat Guillen, hitting a buck and a half, behind Miggy for what reason????
    It has to be the Sheffield syndrome

  3. Case in point, two pitches later, Brandon grabs a screaming ground ball — the result of a hanging slider.

  4. I don’t understand the hit-and-run with a left hander on the mound. If Bedard can see Curtis going, he’s going to throw a ball to Polanco. Which he did twice.

  5. story of last year..runner on second or third with one out he never moves…not even a good ball in play in either of the two innings in that 1st and 2nd one out situation

  6. I’ve noticed that too, Ryan. Based on Gameday, though, the calls have been great — well above average compared to most nights.

  7. I going down for the Angels series hoping to catch the Angels at the right time…The Tigs and I 0-9 the past three years there and every game has been an Angel blowout…

  8. Getting to first on a third strike past ball. Dumbest rule in the game. Even when the Tigers benefit.

  9. Curtis! That ball looked like it was heading into Seattle’s dugout from the camera angle, but then it dropped right into Laird’s glove.

  10. Inge has some kinda weird force-field thing going, he’s even making Ichiro field like crap. Where would we be without our 7-9 hitters!

  11. Laird needs to take over the fifth spot in the line-up until he either cools down or Guillen heats up.

  12. rule is : out of play two bases from the time of the throw..they must have thought he had reached first

  13. Team 7-9 hitters (through yesterday):

    AL AVG: .245/.318/.374 [OPS .693]
    TB (best in AL): .288/.359/.525 [OPS .884]
    DET: .272/.390/.466 [OPS .856]
    (DET 2nd best in AL, nobody else close)
    DET 3-6 hitters: .311/.399/.459 [OPS . 858]

    So DET 3-6 hitters and 7-9 hitters are roughly even (not counting today)…and that’s with Cabrera hitting close to .500 in the 4th spot…

  14. that had to be a big time throw ball reasonably deep…very fast runner…not a close play…great throw

  15. Ed-Jack isn’t messing around either he’s working fast and throwing strikes. Dude’s only thrown 22 balls, and has given up 0 walks.

  16. It would be nice if Thames could get on so our big bats get a shot this inning–Laird and Inge…

  17. Checking in from a wedding. Go Tigers. Mobile site is money billfer. Gotta go, toasts.

  18. So do we like the pitching change? Lefty vs Lefty…although Ed-Jack seemed to have Ichiro’s number. Or do we like the change because he walked his 1st batter and was maybe used up?

  19. Wow. Free strikeout for Seay. That was nowhere near over the plate. Edit: I didn’t like the pitching change. I would have been fine with Jackson or Rodney, but that’s more because I don’t like Seay much. He’s suspect.

  20. Jackson is freaking amazing. Just brilliant. I swear, his mechanics look just like John Smoltz’s. Would anyone here trade him straight up for Joyce right now? Not me, it would take a heck of alot more than Joyce to pry him loose. I wouldn’t even trade him straight up for Jurrjens right now.

  21. Wow Mr. Binge looked like he knew what he was doing there, 0-2, lines it to right, no problem. Almost Ordonez-like (when Ordonez is being Ordonez)…almost disorienting to watch. Where did the check swings all go?

  22. With the way our 7-9 hitters are going, I think nothing would help the Tigers more right now than for Granderson to get on track.

  23. Oh no. Wild fastball for Rodney so far. Changeup okay so far. He can operate effectively at 50%.

  24. I wonder why the Mariners couldn’t do to Ed-Jack what they did to JV yesterday. Today, like yesterday, they were having problems falling behind in the count (since he wasn’t throwing much outside the zone), yet they didn’t come up slamming 1st pitches, hardly even any hard-hit outs…

  25. I’m watching the Indians highlights. Didn’t realize that Anthony Claggett was a big part of that barrage. The first guy from the Sheffield trade to throw a pitch in the bigs.

  26. @coleman – Jackson started throwing more first pitch breaking balls about the 4th/5th inning. They learned.

  27. That was much better tonight. Great pitching from Jackson, I am glad I had him starting in my fantasy league. Defense was stellar and Inge came through again with a clutch hit. Good win against a solid pitching team.

  28. Go Tigers. Little Big Horn in the Bronx this afternoon. Tee hee hee ha ha ha guffaw guffaw………

  29. I think we can stop panning Dombrowski now, in my opinion, we won this Edwin Jackson trade. He has looked good in all three starts so far. Two of his starts were against two of the best offenses, and the other was against a red hot team.

    Oh, and Matt Joyce only has one ML hit this year.

  30. Yep, the Edwin Jackson trade was excellent. We definitely needed a solid, experienced starting pitcher and Jackson has been that for years. I’ve always liked him when he was with the Rays. But now he seems to have elevated his game, which is a nice bonus.

    BTW, Matt Joyce was sent to the minors in order to get playing time in. He’ll be brought back later this year and will stay for the season. I think, Tampa got a good future player.

    Both teams won that deal, IMO.

  31. I don’t know the more I look at the trade the more I realize that DD needed to get rid of an outfielder. From what I gather our farm system has a glut of outfielders and flipping one for a decent starting pitcher seems like a perfect idea.

  32. Great Game, but, the guy who said that was a free strikeout? are you serious. That ball broke right over the inside corner. That was an obvious strike. A great pitch. Were you watching the game?

  33. Second, I think the Tigers ripped off Tamba Bay. Jackson is a 25 year old starter who already has won 14 games in a season…he is an innings eater and the Rays got a rightfielder. He may become an OK RF, but, Joyce will never become a top notch corner outfielder…The Rays gave up a goos starter, who throws 97 mph, for a suspect outfielder. Outfielders are a dime a dozen. Case in point. Chi Sox trade Carlos Lee for Podsednik and win the WS (who thought Pods was better than Lee?)

    Finding a starting pitcher is difficult, especially a horse like Jackson

  34. I don’t think you can just go ahead and say Joyce will never be a top notch OF. Obviously the Rays feel like he has some value.

  35. Winning 14 games does not make one a good starter; Jackson had a 4.42 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP despite throwing in the high 90’s. Edwin was NOT a good starter last year, and I do have to admit I was unhappy about the trade at first.

    As it turns out, Jackson has improved a lot since last year (at least from what we can tell so far). If he was pitching like last year, though, the rotation would look a lot worse than it does right now, and I think we’d all be pretty unhappy about the trade.

  36. It’s interesting that Jackson, coming in from outside the organization, has been leading the way for the other pitchers in one very important department: pounding the strike zone, especially low. It could be coincidence, but now Rodney is doing that, and Verlander has, too. Either way, it’s a great example to set. Sort of the inverse of Kenny Rogers’ deception — that’s one way to pitch, and his lessons were learned well, but guys like Rodney and Verlander have been in trouble nibbling. Jackson just comes right at ’em.

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