2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.056: Tigers at White Sox

119 Comments

PREGAME: It’s the start of a 5 game series, which just seems kind of crazy. I guess the nice thing is that for the team that loses the first game they have 4 more chances to avoide the sweep.

Armando Galarraga gets the day shift in the double header today. He’s coming off of back-to-back quality starts after really struggling in his previous 5 outings. Clayton Richard gets the ball for the White Sox. To contrast, he’s coming off a rough start after a string of 3 games where he only allowed a combined 4 runs in 20 innings.

There’s more stats and stuff here: Baseball Reference Preview

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – June 8, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

119 thoughts on “Game 2009.056: Tigers at White Sox”

  1. Getting at least a plit of the DH today is CRITICAL. If we get swept today, we will be staring down the barrel of the Chisox making up significant ground on us. Tuesday is already a stone-cold lock as a loss because Willis vs. Buerhle is the mismatch of the century. I like our chances in the last two games with Verlander and Jackson, but we really need one of these two games today otherwise we are looking at an 0-3 deficit in the series and needing the last two just to avoid what would essentially be equivalent to a three game sweep for the White Sox (they would gain three games on us if they take four of five same as if they swept us in a three game series).

    I want at least three wins in this series, so a double-dip loss today makes that impossible (remember tomorrow is almost assuredly a loss). My hope is that Bonderman impresses enough tonight to take Willis’ spot in the rotation going forward, because after witnessing Dontrelle’s latest meltdown in person last Thursday I don’t think I can watch another Little League pitching performance ever again from one of our pitchers. The sooner Dontrelle lands back on the DL for his “anxiety disorder”, the better for all Tiger fans. Hell, even if Bondo doesn’t work out I’d rather see Miner start over Willis.

  2. The lineup for the opener, featuring Miggy back at 1st base and Sardinha behind the plate:

    Granderson, CF
    Polanco, 2B
    Ordonez, RF
    Cabrera, 1B
    Thames, DH
    Inge, 3B
    Raburn, LF
    Everett, SS
    Sardinha, C

    Also, Jason Beck reorts that a roster move will be made after the first game. Will they carry 13 pitchers?

    1. On the bright side, if we do enough damage in this series…might get Ozzie fired.

  4. At the pace Armando is pitching, they might have to push back the night game a bit.

  6. Hopefully that was just Armando’s way of dedicating the first inning to Bonderman. It’s how 2008 Bonderman would have wanted it.

  8. What the hell happened to Armando “Our Real Ace” Galarraga

    I just hope the Tigers can win 2 out of 5… If they get one today that’d be huge.

  9. Thames and Inge just combined for about 750 feet of fly ball off of Clay-Dick…I will be disappointed if this ends up a low-scoring game…

  11. Dear Pineapple:

    I don’t expect you to get a hit. Just please try and avoid GIDP. Thanks.

  12. Wow, now see if I’m a backup catcher who bats sub-.200, I would learn to bunt AND make sure I know the signs…but that’s just me…

    1. pretty bad when you have to hope your sub 200 catcher can put down a suicide sqeeze instead of hitting the ball like real batter

  14. That felt like a true major league offensive inning. Also, I find it interesting umpires will call the little flinching balks, but not balks on lefties that step 3 feet toward home plate but go to first.

  15. Willis pitching the day after a doubleheader also does not bode well for the bullpen. Let’s hope both Galarraga and Bonderman can both go at least 6 today. And no extra inning contests please.

  17. Is this umpire’s strike zone weird or is it just me? Clayton Richard has gotten a number of high/inside strike calls and then Marcus Thames gets a walk on what I thought were two strikes. Also, nice AB inge. Swing away on a 3-0 pitch and pop it up to shallow RF. Brilliant.

    1. I thought Marcus got a make-up call after the first pitch. Armando missed the glove setup on the inside on the first pitch to Dye, but it was still down the middle. Umpires miss that call all the time.

      1. I don’t begrudge the 3-0 green light. It was a risk, he took it, and it didn’t pay off. True, if you’re gonna swing on 3-0 it should probably be a pitch you can’t resist, and also be hit with a litte more authority than Inge hit it. But I chalk it up to an acceptable calculated risk.

        1. No question, especially considering 1. He’s followed by the “pray for walks and errors” portion of the line-up, and 2. In his previous AB he drove one to the CF wall so he had reason to think he could hit this guy, and 3: hey! give the guy a break! That there was the FIRST 3-0 pitch Inge has swung at this season…

  18. still good to see Thames in the lineup…he just looks like a hitter..and a lot of times he is

  19. hey Armondo at least throw your glove at those balls that keep going between your legs

  21. FSN needs to cut the microphone by the guy shouting “Nice, niiice!” after every beneficial pitch.

  22. Hey, did Hawk Harrelson ever tell you about the time Joe Cronin took a liking to him and taught him how to move around in the batters box? That was the season he led the league–no wait, all of baseball–in RBI!! Did you know that?

  23. With that last DP Inge is now tied with Longoria for the major league lead in 3B DP with 17….

  25. For some reason in Safari it kept going to the “game temporarily not available” thing but it’s been more or less fine in Firefox (it usually works much better in Safari)…who knows it could be flash cookie stuff?

  26. Richard must be auditioning for the Tigers 5th rotation spot.

    3 Walks in a row is very impressive.

  27. I’m listening through MLB.tv and the Tigers radio feed died… Sox one working fine.

    Raburn needs to make em pay here.

  28. Atta boy Brandon. I’d like to see Richard pitch well against every other team in the league considering his UM ties, but not today…
    Too bad he didn’t play baseball for UM, probably would have been a great pitcher at the collegiate level.

  29. Hey! A bases loaded walk by the OTHER team. I like it. Lets go Tigers! Break this one open with a granny.

  34. According to CBS sports Dye has 14 HR in 50 games vs. the Tigers
    Before today

  37. Dear Pineapple:

    I don’t expect you to get a hit. Just avoid GIDP. Thanks.

    (worked last time).

  38. Yes, MLBTV problems.

    Why didn’t Clete pinch hit for Raburn with the bases full off the righty Carrasco?

  39. haha. I have never seen anyone foul off a pitchout before. That was amazing.

    1. On gameday it was referred to as an ‘unknown strike.’ Never seen that one before.

  41. I have a couple of buddies who have been saying that big Cabby likes to hang out late in B’ham.

    1. I bet Miggy can pound a pint or two… or three… or four… or five… or… you get the point.

      1. Little known fact: He actually tweaked his hamstring doing the “running man” on a B’ham dance floor.

    3. would it be too fan-girly of me to ask where? yea, I thought so. This comment never happened.

  42. This ump appears to have a terrible strikezone, that last punch out by Galarraga didn’t look near the strikezone on gameday.

  43. Gotta give Battlestar some credit – he hung in there long enough for another quality start. Now bring it home boys!

      1. I was surprised to see him come out for the 7th. He looked solid in the 6th though and JL has to preserve the pen as best he can today.

  44. good Pierzynski story: the writers asked Guillen, because everyone hates AJ if his teammates like him,,and Guillen said” no they just hate him less”

  47. Dye batting this inning scares me. I hate that guy.

    Dunno about letting Galarraga start this inning. The bullpen is taxed and all, but you can’t bring Robertson in to face to the first two hitters?

    EDIT: And then he leaves him in after the leadoff walk?!?!? Oh this is not going to end well…

  50. Wow, if you look on Gameday where that last pitch to Dye was, it looks like Armando got away with one.

      1. he’s been way more effective this year JL using him as a situational lefty and yet lefties rocked him last year…this year nooooo!

  55. Attaboy Seay! He got squeezed on the pitch before, but Thome couldn’t catch the high heater. That inning couldn’t have went much better for the Tigers. Just need some insurance runs.

  56. phew. need runs. many, many runs.

    or an incredibly quick inning. you know, whatever feels right… sheesh

  64. You know both managers would just LOVE extra innings in this one.

    I wonder if Raburn can pitch?

        1. From Inge’s bio on his college’s (VCU) web page:

          Brandon Inge
          …
”on the VCU top-10 season lists for runs, total bases, doubles, home runs, RBI, walks, AND SAVES, while ranking among the institution’s career-leaders for batting average, slugging percentage, RBI, doubles, home runs, AND SAVES”

  67. Three fastballs in a row to a power hitter. Zumaya’s pitch selection, they way he mixes them anyway, leaves something to be disired. He has done this before, relying too much on the 100mph FB.

    1. Wow, I completely underestimated Inge!

      He didn’t IGNORE the lure of the GIDP–he REDIRECTED the force of the GIDP against the arch-enemy DYE!

      Matt Wieters wants to be Brandon Inge when he grows up!!

      (Also Inge sleeps standing up with his eyes wide open by the way)

  80. Great win. Zumaya has mastered the art of giving up the right amount of runs in order to pick up the win.

    Gotta like our chances to sweep the doubleheader tonight with Contreras pitching, regardless of how good/bad Bondo is.

  82. Rodney with the save and he did it on only 8 pitches. That may make him available tomorrow.. I think we have to admit that he has stepped up to the closer role very well so far… much better than anyone thought

  83. I think the 8 pitches makes Rodney available again tonight if we need him.

  84. funny in Rodneys blown save loss he couldn’t throw his change up at all…don’t you think the bullpen coach would notice that …or do they just say what the hell and put him in anyway…..other than that he has really been ok, or better all year

    1. Warming up in the bullpen in baseball is analogous to hitting on the range in golf. Sometimes, a pitcher will have great stuff in the pen only to lose it on the mound. Or, the pitcher won’t have any feel in the pen but then find it on the mound. Same goes for golf. Sometimes, on the range, you can stripe the ball only to find that you can’t hit it on the course. Or vice versa. My point is, you don’t know if the pitcher has it until he is actually on the mound throwing to the batter.

  86. Tigers caught a break there – Sox were playing giveaway today, but that’s OK. Rollercoaster II comes through in the ninth and gets Dye to hit into the DP, which kinda makes up for the HR earlier. I’m still not convinced that the pitching staff and defense can compensate for this scratch and sniff offense in the long run.

  87. That was a huge win for the Tigers. I think that with Rodney only needing 8 pitches to get the save that he’d be available again tonight if we are fortunate enough to have a lead of three or less in the ninth inning. Armando gutted out a decent performance for us and we should have a relatively fresh bullpen for tonight. Other than Zumaya, I’d think everyone else would be available. Oh, Leyland just mentioned that Perry is going down to Toledo to make room for Bonderman to start tonight’s game.

    I’m interested to see if Bonderman can become more of a pitcher and less of a thrower now that he doesn’t have the 94 mph fastball in his arsenal.

    1. That game was far more CRITICAL for the White Sox than it was for the Tigers. Chicago is playing in desperation. They actually have a losing record at home. They were playing like a last place team making all kinds of stupid mental errors. The balk, the catcher’s interference, the fielding errors, the bad managing (bunting vs Zumaya’s 100 mph fastball after he gave up a homerun and a walk), just all around poor baseball.

      I predict that both Chicago and Cleveland will be having a fire sales soon.

      Tigers with a 3 game win streak right now!! If the we can just play .500 ball, we will have this division handed to us on a silver platter. We sometimes look like we can play better than that.

  89. The White Sox have lost 6 out of their last 7 games. In 3 of those games they were shutout.

  90. Does anyone know what pick the Tigers have in tomorrow’s draft?

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