2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.062: Tigers at Pirates

54 Comments

PREGAME: So it’s just the Tigers now. No more Red Wings or Pistons or Lions. Just a singular focus on the Tigers.

Tonight the Tigers will face Zach Duke. Duke walks very few hitters, so he finds himself pitching deep into games on a regular basis having gone at least 7 innings in 8 of his 12 starts. What makes it particularly impressive is that he doesn’t need many pitches to do it and he’s only topped the 100 pitch mark 6 times. With the Tigers proclivity for swinging early and often Duke could probably go 10 innings. Opposing hitters are only OPSing 476 against Duke when putting the first pitch in play.

The Tigers will turn to Armando Galarraga to drive in runs from the 9-hole this evening. Galarraga has made a quality start his last 3 outings, but he hasn’t earned a win since April.

Detroit vs. Pittsburgh – June 13, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: I saw very little of this game, and none of the game that mattered. I was at a dance recital and followed along on mobile gameday so my thoughts on this game are formed based on a barage of “line drive to left” and “line drive to center” and “line drive to right” and…well you get the idea. So not seeing any of the plays in question may hamper my ability to comment accurately about the game. But I’ll try and you tell me if I’m wrong.

  • Armando Galarraga was awful and was throwing batting practice. That the game was over in 2.5 hours and Pittsburgh had 16 hits I’d guess that at least Galarraga wasn’t nibbling and he gave up runs efficiently.
  • Nate Robertson came in and changed the complexion of the game…twice. He took over with runners on first and second and nobody out and retired the side stranding the runners thus keeping the game within reach. Huge inning for Nate. But then he gave up a grand slam in the next inning destroying the Tigers chances. Huge inning for Nate.
  • Marcus Thames and Ryan Raburn provided a boost with “in play run(s)” which was nice
  • The Tigers swung early and often because as I’d watch the pitch-by-pitch with 15 second auto refresh there were outs being made and there wasn’t even time to display the pitch or the “in play out(s)”
  • Did I miss anything?
  • Despite Galarraga going out in the 3rd, the bullpen is still in really good shape for Dontrelle’s start tomorrow. With Porcello going 7 innings, the pen was well rested coming into the game. And with an off day Monday and nobody throwing too many pitches today, everybody should be available if an “all hands on deck” situation arises.

54 thoughts on “Game 2009.062: Tigers at Pirates”

  1. Anyone know how to get back to mobile version from an iPhone?
    The site went back regular, non-mobile…

    1. are you talking about the MLB At Bat app?

      If you don’t have that app, you really should get it. It is really great. It has radio broadcasts of every team game and it has video. It pretty much has what the MLB subscription has, but it is cheaper. One downfall is that the battery drains quickly with the radio on.

  2. I love that app. Chris, if you click the top button, it shuts down the screen but keeps the audio playing . . . and the battery lasts much, much longer.

    1. That does help, but it the radio is still a drainer. Nevertheless, the app is well worth the juice.

      One little tip for anybody who hasn’t discovered it, if you go to the settings in the app, there is a “Favorite Team” selection. If you select the Tigers, then their game will always appear at the top of the scoreboard. I just discovered that a couple weeks ago.

  4. No, I don’t have MLB at bat app, but I have heard great things about it.
    I accidently exited the mobile version of this site and cannot get the mobile version back
    Now, every time I refresh this page, the regular (non-mobile site) pops up

      1. I’m not having any trouble with MLB.com’s site, I’m having trouble with this site, DetroitTigersWeblog… (I can’t get back to the mobile version)
        Thanks for the suggestion though

        2. Skip – It’s not the history that you need to clear, it’s the cache

          (“clear cache” is below clear history and clear cookies, you’ll have to scroll down to see it).

  5. Hey, anyone know if the Tigers are in talks with Turner/ how close are they to signing him?
    I assume it’s going to go down to the deadline and Boras is going to get the most money out of Dombrowski and Illitch

  9. at 4-1 the Tigs aren’t much of a 5-4 team lately…that is a lot of Tiger runs..lets hope!

  14. For two years Robertson has shown NOTHING. Absolute waste of a roster spot.

  15. atta boy Nate! good to know all that time you sit and not pitch in the bullpen isn’t being wasted

  16. Note to Leyland: The game is now a blowout, leave Robertson in, let him get his 100 pitches in in his last game as a Tiger, save the bullpen. But NOOOOOO, he sends the hitless wonder in to PH.

    1. I agree, that was a dumb move. Even worse because he left Anderson in and took Thames out… Thames who had a homer off this starter. And now we get to burn our bullpen on this worthless lost-cause of a game… Great managing skipper!

  17. As solid as our top 3 starting pitchers are, it looks as if the number 4 & 5 spots are trouble. Armando has been shaky, Dontrell is still an unresolved issue and Bondo is very much a work in progress.

  20. That was probably good experience for Perry there at least, it was nice to see him work his way out of his own no-outs jam with a DP ball and a strikeout…

      2. Maybe I could see the “hits” part of WHIP being overrated (BABIP/defense can come into play), but the BB’s part of WHIP is most certainly not overrated. I think the media completely underrates the walk.

  21. atta boy Jimmy just keep putting those bullpen guys out there..like there is NO tomorrow

    1. You can tell Leyland likes these games in NL cities where he gets a chance to “manage”.

  22. Maybe the Tigers have grounds to protest this game, this A. LaRoche guy seems to be jumping ahead in the batting order and batting twice as much as he is supposed to be…

      1. I did not know that…The Tigers had Norm Cash and Ron Cash at the same time when I was a kid, and I wanted them to trade with the Pirates for Dave Cash, for some reason I thought 3 Cashes in the lineup would be pretty funny…

  23. We’ve already pushed this starter’s count up to 90 pitches; no way he lasts more than 11 innings today…

  24. as hard as Cabrerra has hit he ball this month he sure doesn’t have much to show for it 2 HR and 3 RBI since about May 25

    1. He’s been slumping a bit and with Polanco not hitting, and with whoever is batting 3rd not hitting, there hasn’t been base runners for him to drive in.

      1. Ordonez has had an OBP of .384 over the last month; Cabrera has on OBP over the same period of .298, so I don’t really think guys not being on base is the whole story. I would guess physical ailments of one sort or another are a bigger factor.

      2. Sorry, and I meant to add Polanco at .315 for the same period. In fact the SLG % numbers for Polanco/Ordonez/Cabrera are .353 / .362 / .384 for the last month

  25. All right. I’ve seen enough. Miner needs to be in the rotation by the end of the month.

  26. Strangly, those slugging percentages seem to be converging on McClendon’s career slg% of .381.

    Hmmm.

    1. Oh that’s a pleasant thought, McClendon re-making Ordonez and Cabrera in his own image…more optimistically though, the one player that McClendon is known to have worked with a lot is Inge, and his SLG over the last month is non-converging, at .455 (unless that’s just Inge being “uncoachable…”)

  27. I’m thinking it’s time for Galarraga to go back to the Minors, he has options, to find some confidence in his pitches again. He was once again constantly falling behind. As for Nate, I think it is time for him to find a new home. He has been absolutely useless.

  28. Everyone is complaining about the pitching — and rightly so. But….

    Since I didn’t see this game, I have a unique perspective. From the scoreboard it appears the Tigers would have required a quality start and a perfect bullpen just to TIE this game.

    This team needs some offense. Two of its Misly three runs off solo shots? That kind of offensive production is just not going to win games — regardless how well the 4th and 5th starters pitch. This team needs to score some runs. I’m tiring of the zero, 1, 2, and 3 run games already….

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