2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.113: Tigers at Angels

127 Comments

PREGAME:  There’s a lot going on tonight for Detroit sports fans. You’ve got the Red Wings against Columbus. The Detroit Pistons against the Cavs. Dontrelle Willis is starting for Lakeland. Joel Zumaya is pitching for Toledo. And oh yeah, the Tigers play after all of them in Orange County.

Prior to the season this series looked to be the toughest part of this 3 city trip. But bad fortune has been following the Angels around. John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar, and Vladimir Guerrero are on the DL. On top of all that there was the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart. The result is a struggling team that has lost most of its rotation (and is looking all over for help) and a lineup that lost its biggest threat. I’m not saying this will be an easy series, but the Angels have faced several seasons worth of adversity.

On the mound tonight will be Jered Weaver and Armando Galarraga. Both pitchers are off to solid starts. According to his pitch f/x data Weaver throws a 5 pitch repertoire that he mixes fairly well. In 2 games he has 10 Ks and 4 BB’s and allowed 2 homers. Galarraga has pitched so well I’m a little nervous to comment on it for fear of jinxing it.

Feel free to comment on any of the above games in this space (and please do, I’ll be in a meeting for a lot of it).

Game Time 10:05

Detroit vs. LA Angels – April 21, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Well that wasn’t the least bit satisfying. Armando Galarraga wasn’t good, but somehow managed to limit the damage to 3 runs while lasting 5 innings. Despite not having his good stuff he gave his team a chance to win. Curtis Granderson hit well, Carlos Guillen hit well, but not enough hits could get bunched together.

Especially frustrating was the 9th inning that saw a leadoff single wasted when pinch hitter Adam Everett couldn’t get a bunt down and Josh Anderson was picked off. I was pretty upset that Thames wasn’t hitting in that situation, but Ian pointed out that Marcus Thames just hit the DL (that’s a Jason Beck tweet).

Too tired to say more, but this was disappointing to say the least.

Oh, and I’m not blaming the loss on this so this isn’t a sour grapes thing, but that was some horrendous home plate umpiring by Timmons. Astoundingly awful. The whole game, both teams.

127 thoughts on “Game 2009.113: Tigers at Angels”

  3. Dontrelle has gone through 3 innings without giving up any hits or walks…

    Edit – gave up two hits and one run in the 4th.

  7. Decent outing by Dontrelle. It appears that he is staying closer to the strike zone.

  8. I’m pulling for Willis as a person, and for whatever he can contribute to the Tigers organization, if anything…

  9. Bonderman, Willis, or even Robertson need to get right so that we can get rid of Miner in the rotation….I’m pulling for one of those three.

  11. According to pitch f/x data it has that Galarraga’s slider only breaks 2″ more than his fastball, and the PFX is 8″ less on the slider. That is not what I observe when I watch him on TV. Can anyone else explain this?

  14. I thought for sure that Hunter rip was going to result in a run, but instead Inge gobbled it up. It just feels good to have him playing there again. Does Adam E still have the bubonic plague or has he just been ousted by Ramon? Obviously Ramon deserves the every day job over Adam, but it’s just not like Jimmy to play the best players every day.

  16. Inge singles on a ground ball to Weaver? And Guillen scored from second? Can someone explain?

  18. The reason that Inge got an RBI on that is because Guillen never broke stride coming to third and rounded the bag heading home. He most likely would have been out on a play at the plate, but the fact that he was coming home before the throw went wild is why Inge got the RBI. So nice aggressive base running by Guillen helped Inge’s totals.

    And really, Inge does have some kind of magic going right now.

  19. Inge hit a swinging bunt down the third base line. Weaver threw the ball late and away down the first base line.

  22. These Angels sure are working Galarraga hard, hes pitch count is getting up there even though he is throwing a ton of strikes

  23. I’m guessing the six double plays, considering the most you can possibly hit into for a nine inning game is, well, nine.

  24. @russ That they scored 7 runs and hit into 6 dps.

    @ouchudied Pitch f/x data has his slider dropping vertically about 6-7 inches more than his fastball.

  25. Thats not the stats that I’m reading… is there some sort of calculation I need to do to figure this out?

  32. pitch brk” pfx”
    slider 8 3
    FB 7 14
    slider 7 4
    FB 6 13
    slider 7 2

    How do you interpret this to have his slider breaking 6-7 inches more? I’m confused.

  35. @ouchudied Use the numbers at the link I posted and look at the vertical and horizontal movement numbers. They have more meaning.

  39. Please erupt for 8 runs, I really hate this team for some reason, they are easily my most hated Non-Divisional opponent not named “Yankees”.

  40. I always hear about getting out of a slump by taking pitches and going the other way. Granderson rejects that silly theory. He wants to get us free Arby’s by himself.

  41. Anyone watching the Angels feed on extra innings? They have Misty May-Treanor in the broadcast booth. I still say she should be our backup catcher.

  43. The Angels broadcast has Misty May Treanor on during this inning ………….. She looks like a better hitter than the old man

  46. Funny thing about Misty May…I was in Lakeland near the end of spring training watching the Tigers vs. the Braves. My friend and I had noticed that Treanor was catching and wondered if Misty May was at the game. Well, after the 5th inning, I went down to get one of those delicious strawberry shortcake icecream things and on my way back to my seat, I literally ran into Misty May. I looked up at her (she’s tall) and said “Misty May!”, to which she replied “Yeah.” And I could only say “OK.” and went back to my seat to wash down my beer with some ice cream. Pretty lame, but what would you do?

  47. The Angels broadcast team completely abdicated their duty to, you know, call the game. I think they mentioned the home run, and then they just stopped calling the game. To be fair, I can see why they were distracted, Misty was being rather charming.

  49. Tom, I would have said can we take up a collection for some hitting lessons or is he just here to catch Ebby Calvin

  52. He is just missing tonight. No surprise, as I have him in there in fantasy. Get out of this thing and see if Zach and Nate can get us through 7 or so.

  54. These guys sure aren’t getting fooled by Galarraga’s sinker. They’ve laid off that pitch every time so far. They are seeing the ball well too, not swinging at anything out of the strike zone. Armando has lost much of his command also. The umpire isn’t doing anyone any favors either. Long freaking ugly game so far.

    Nice break for Galarraga there with the DP.

  55. We should be losing 5-3 right now. Inge saved 2 in the first and one with that force at the plate last inning…

    I wager Miner will start the 4th

  62. He did Ok when all was said and done, Steve. Can’t take the loss, only the win if they rally here. Actually pretty impressive performance on a night he clearly did not have his best.

  64. White Sox lost. Royals lost. The Tigers are in 1st place all by themselves at the moment.

    Nice job by Galarraga to grind out 5 innings.

  65. And 3 more K’s. 110 pitches but looks like he is out. Oh well I dropped Wang to get him I am still way ahead there 😉

  67. Well I’m here now, and I’ve seen hide nor hair of Thames or David, I swear. Just was a bit lost in the woods. Literally.

    Judging from the comments David may be busy lobbying the web gems guys on behalf of Inge. I’m more interested in finding out how his force-field works

  68. The Tigers’ middle relief. In the words of the late Ray Arnold: Hold on to your butts.

  69. Coleman it looks like David is now David G. Not sure about the trumpet though. Not really sure I haven’t see a 5 dollar foot long post tonight

  72. Steve, I have never posted under anything other than “David G”. Not sure what the rest of that means.

  73. I’m not sure what exactly the point of putting an ineffective, laboring Galarraga back out there after 94 pitches through 4 innings (!) so there would be the possibility that he could “earn the victory.” I think 110 pitches through 5 innings is worse than 125 through 8.

  75. Eric, I actually liked the move. And he got away with it. Not sure what Leyland’s end game pitching strategy is though, Lyon or bust and then Perry if he hits a spot in the 8th and then Rodney in the 9th regardless? Hope they scratch out a run? Not terrible, I suppose.

  76. @ David G ……….. Sorry about that there is another David as regular poster who reels off some pretty informative posts that are long. Just having fun on a late nite with my unadjusted humor. I thought he may have changed his name a little

  77. @David G: dive? Ramon has been using his bench time the last couple years to study the start ing SS, Guillen and Renteria…

  95. Per @tigerslive on Twitter

    “This would make Tigers 1-2 in games decided 7th or later — with Lyon having decision in all three games.”

    Also the Anderson, Everrett combination was a complete failure.

  105. Santiago…I would love YOU forever! Come on guys, these are the games you have to have.

  108. The Tigers got out pitched, out hit. and out played. They sure didn’t deserve to win this game. They stayed in it until the very end though. I’ll give them credit for that. We should win some of these close games just by grinding them out again like this.

  112. …lol. The strike zone was a huge joke tonight. I hope he gets fined or suspended…whatever happens to umps.

  117. if im santiago im pissed

    the called strike after it was 2-0 was bullshnit

    the called strike to end the game was even worse

    that was a joke

    i really thought we could have loaded the bases for grandy too eek

    the anderson error killed tho

  119. Good lord, I think that is the worst-looking gameday pitch (and I swear gameday slides the “balls-called-strikes” into the strike zone) that was called a strike that I have ever seen.

  121. Well that sucked. Where was the offense? Granderson and Guillen were the only clutch guys. Where are our big guys when we need them? The Angels are down right now, so we cannot afford to lose this series to a team that usually mashes us. Freakin’ eh, that was frustrating…

  122. From the Stadium:
    the strike zone was brutal both ways. but didn’t really get to the Tigers until the 9th…the 2-1 pitch to Inge almost hit him 8 inches inside strike called the Pitch Santiago took and ,we were pretty close to the back ,I though did hit him 12 inches inside strike called….the catcher framed it a good foot
    ….Anderson went on first move and got caught huge
    …..fly ball to Guillen with Hunter on first tagging up …Guillens throw to second on the tag up was 15 feet left of the bag..
    …..Maggys hitting with Palonco on hit and run grounds exactly to Kendrik breaking towards the bag and then Maggs didnt run….Kendrik caught the ball…stepped on the bag…backed off the bag took a couple steps and got Mags by 3 steps who was dogging all the way to first …very strange play
    …..the pitch Scoscia got tossed on was an inch off the ground almost bounced up there ..called strike …this guy was brutal live we didn’t need Gameday…
    ….I’m not sure Feuntes threw even one strike in the 9th…it was hard to tell…most missed by a lot including the ones called strikes
    ……see you tomorrow

  123. Thats a lot more on Everett than on Anderson.

    Also, Leyland’s mismanagement of the bullpen will be the deciding factor in the division race this year.

  124. Weaver threw a really good game. 7 innings, 7 hits, 6 k’s, and he didn’t walk any. He let Cabrera get a few big swings in and he wasn’t penalized for it. Give the boy props. His only real mistakes were the 2 fastballs he threw to Granderson.

    The Tigers looked rough. A few huge defensive plays kept them in the game though.

  125. @ Coleman – hah I wish!!!!! I’ve got finals this week and am distracting myself at the moment from writing a paper and studying. I watched like 3 innings (MISSED ALL OF INGE’s PLAYS 🙁 ) and the late rally(if you can call it that by Laird and Inge) after Adam k’d

    I’m going to have to miss a lot of these Angels games/Royals games, well frankly because I have to. I’m hoping they at least end this road trip at 5-4. So basically going 3-3 (or atm 3-2)

    @ Steve – funny, I think I’ll take what you said as a compliment. No I don’t post under the name David G. … Although I could seeing as my last name begins with a G… What are the odds? Pretty weird to me to have someone else on the site named David G., it’s April in teh D! Hey that rhymed…

    I’m very sorry I won’t be able to post 5footers for the next few days. HAH! I’ve been trying to cut down the size of what I say lately…sometimes ala less is more 😀

  126. Jimbo was quoted as saying “Perry would have pitched the 9th if the game was tied” well how about the 8th.
    As soon as Ryan walked the leadoff hitter he should have been gone. Send a message to this years bullpen that last year they did that 1000000000000000 times and this year it won’t be tolerated. sam-0-same-0

  127. Inge grabs his 6th gem at #2 last night. Looks like him and D-Wright are going to be close all year!

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