2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.044: Tigers at Royals

65 Comments

PREGAME: I have to admit, I’m a little bit excited about tonight’s pitching match-up. The Tigers will be taking on Zach Greinke who quite frankly has been dominating the bejesus out of all comers. But the Tigers get to send out Edwin Jackson who no one would mistake for a slouch this year.

Greinke is coming off a rare loss, one in which he allowed a season high 8 hits. He’s yet to allow a home run this season. Heck, he’s only allowed 7 runs (6 earned) all season.

Jackson is of course coming off his 132 pitch outing and it will be interesting to see how long he is left in, especially in a game that looks on paper to be tight.

Detroit vs. Kansas City – May 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Zach Greinke is really good. That’s kind of the story tonight. The Tigers picked up a run early, and they got some hits, but oh those GIDPs. The Tigers hit into 3 of them, one of them even on a hit and run. The double plays negated the benefit of getting the leadoff men on and they also prevented the Tigers from running up Greinke’s pitch count. And then Greinke just got better as the game went on and tallied 8 K’s with no walks allowed.

For awhile it looked like that early run might be enough. Jackson’s command wasn’t spot on early on and he fell behind a number of hitter with first pitch balls. But the Royals didn’t really seem to want to wait him out and he course corrected and started cruising until he came undone in the 6th inning. A single and an error by Jackson and the Royals were in business. When they plated 2 runs, it felt like he’d allowed 1 too many.

  • It was another decent start for Jackson who still isn’t disappointing. It was also a light workload for him today with only 89 pitches thrown – which makes me happy after his last 2 times out.
  • Magglio Ordonez extended the hitting streak to 12
  • Brandon Lyon continues on his Farnsworthian pace with yet another homer allowed. I’ll admit to advocating for Brandon Lyon to help the bullpen. I thought many of the calls for his release were overblown back in April, but the leash has to be shortening

65 thoughts on “Game 2009.044: Tigers at Royals”

  2. Why should it be interesting to see how long he is left in? He had 132 pitches 5 days ago!? Why don’t you factor in the amount of pitches he threw in warmup as well? The pitch count thing is so overrated!!!!

  3. Larish is starting again today. Maybe he can strike out five times tonight!

  5. Larish struck out 5 times and still got on base twice I believe. His OBP is .375 and he is OPSing .885. His wOBA is .375 and his babip is only .250 so it will probably go up. I’ll take an occasional 5 k game for production like that.

    1. I don’t mind the strikeouts so much myself either; it would be nice to avoid them though with, for example, runners on 2nd and 3rd an 0 out. While his numbers above are nice, it would be better if they didn’t plummet with runners in scoring position.

      Career with runner on 3rd, less than 2 out: 4 K in 11 PA OPS .382

      This season 2 K in 3 PA, OPS = .000.
      OPS with RISP = .427, 6 K in 20 PA

      1. Understood. IMO, that is just coincidence. i dont’ really put too much stock into clutchness. THat is also a really small sample size.

    1. He’ll have to recognize the curveball down and in if he’s going to keep getting at-bats.

  10. Did Rod just say not bad to Bonderman’s line of 6 innings, 7 hits and 3 walks? Does he only look at runs?

    1. It’s considered a quality start. And for a guy coming off shoulder surgery, it really isn’t bad.

      1. A quality start? THat is some arbitrary conditions set by somebody. That means nothing. THat is a 4.50 ERA and horrible WHIP. Allow 10 baserunners in 6 innings more often and see what happens.

        1. You could allow 18 baserunners in 6 innings and still be pitching a shutout. And seriously, it’s a rehab start. It should be treated like one.

    2. The word from Toledo is actually pretty concerning…

      “Norfolk announcer said bonderman isn’t looking especially sharp tonight. he’s allowed 2 runs (1 earned) with three walks.”

      Apprently he’s topping out at 85 mph. Frankly, I’m skeptical at this point that he can ever start in the majors again.

  11. Jackson doesn’t have much control, and it started with the last outing. It’s a little concerning, given his history.

      1. 2/7 on first pitch strikes, and 13 strikes to 12 balls. But the end results are still fine, obviously.

  12. I am absolutely in love with our pitching right now. Like, I would impregnate it, if that were possible.

  13. I don’t necessarily look at stats with runner on 3 less than 2 out as “clutch” stats, but as situational hitting–your goal is to put the ball in play, and a strikeout is a failure in the situation in a way that it normally isn’t…agreed Larish hasn’t had enough chances to judge him; which was my opinion last season…I just don’t like seeing the same thing starting off this season…I’d like to see him stick around long enough to get one of those large sample sizes…

  14. Mmmkay, I would have rather seen Larish K there. I guess I won’t complain anymore.

  15. I would like this pitching matchup to quit living up to expectations now… so we can just score a whole bunch of runs and win like yesterday. That was fun.

  18. These two will masterfully duel until the 7th, at which point the game will be decided upon who fares best between Farmsworth and Lyon…

    1. At which point I’ll be going to bed. I can’t stand watching either one of them pitch. Oh, way to go, Clete.

  19. I wonder if Greinke looks at these guys in the batter’s box and sees “double-play bait” written across the backs of their jerseys…

  20. Ummmmm…… anyone want to fill me in on what the hell happened to our pitching? I don’t understand.

    Signed,
    Confused

  21. Yes, GIDPs happen to everyone; it’s just that they happen to Detroit more…

  23. Don’t get me wrong, I love “the Art of Pitching” as practiced by Verlander and Co. But if I hear that phrase one more time from the radio guys, I’m gonna hurl.

    1. Nah. He hasn’t made bad pitches this inning. The Royals found the right spots. I was more inclined to make that point earlier in the game when Jackson was falling behind on most hitters. Then he settled in and started cruising.

      1. I was kidding, Bilfer. He was fine until he went all 2006 World Series on us and they found some holes in the infield.

        1. It’s cool. I just know that when I mention pitch count it stirs up a lot of people.

    2. Yeah, well, the same ground balls that were getting fielded earlier are now getting through. He is not getting hit any harder this inning than he has the rest of the game.

    1. I don’t think we’re going to see the pen unless we work 16-19ish pitches in the 8th. Which seems unlikely.

  33. We’ve been really fortunate in that as terrible at Lyon has been, he hasn’t cost us that much. Leyland has been great at using him in throw-away games. I can’t imagine that he’ll be on the roster much longer.

    1. How about Farnsworth pitching the 7th, Lyon in the 8th and Grilli as the closer? Now that’s a bullpen…

  35. I just think it’s sadly humorous that the Tigers were *snickering* at the Royals doing PFP before the game. If any team were making pitchers practice fielding, once again it should be the Tigers. Kind of poetic justice, really. I’ve always disliked that “its beneath us” attitude about PFP in the majors. Harumph.

  36. Hats off to Greinke. He’s great to watch. Let’s get this series tomorrow.

  37. Dandy Donald Derails Detroit’s Detachment

    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD We lost 🙁

  38. Yeah. Greinke. Um…enough already! You’re allowed to give up more than 1 run in any given start, you know….

  39. Assuming that Lyon still has a modicum of value to an NL club, I wonder if Lyon and Thames could bring back two middling-to-decent prospects from, say, Milwaukee or Philadelphia.

    Odd series. Two games, two teams who happened to hit grounders to the right places winning.

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