2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.094: White Sox at Tigers

97 Comments

PREGAME: It was about a month ago I downplayed the significance of a series in the Metrodome. I’m not going to downplay this one. A sweep by the White Sox would be pretty devastating. So let’s not get swept okay?

Justin Verlander is going for the Tigers which is usually a good thing. But the Tigers starter hasn’t been a factor lately, except in the sense that the performances get wasted.

Lately it has come down to a lack of offense, and today that offense gets a boost, but will it be enough to knock down Jose Contreras? Contreras has been up and down of late. One of the ups was an 8 inning 1 hitter against the Tigers. In his last 7 starts Contreras has a 2.62 ERA with 39 K’s and only 10 walks in 48 innings with only 4 homers allowed.

Your new Guillen-ized lineup:

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Thomas, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Guillen, DH
  6. Raburn, LF
  7. Inge, 3B
  8. Laird, C
  9. Everett, SS

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 24, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: This definitely qualifies as a big win. If the Tigers lose this afternoon they are relying on Eddie Bonine to try and muster a win. And it’s not that he isn’t capable, it’s that you’re putting a whole bunch on him and the rest of the series. Ideally the Tigers win the nightcap, but now the don’t have to.

And what makes it even bigger is that Justin Verlander went the distance, preserving the entire bullpen. Verlander was awesome. He battled control a little bit early on and his pitch count was in precarious shape after 4 innings when he was sitting at 73 pitches. But the White Sox got swing happy and started lofting lazy fly balls early in the count allowing Verlander to throw the final 5 innings on just 54 pitches. The last fastball coming on pitch 125 was clocked at 99.9mph.

The offense? Well they didn’t really kill the ball, and they struck out too much, but they scored. The hits were bloops and tweeners and things that fell just out of reach, but they fell. It’s like a week’s worth of cheap hits all fell in a span of 9 innings, but they fell. The Tigers were aggressive on the bases and kept putting themselves in scoring position which helped to pull the defense out of position and open up spots. Everybody take a breath and get ready for the night game.

97 thoughts on “Game 2009.094: White Sox at Tigers”

    1. The usual strategy for a double-header is to put the A-team on the field for game one and take your chances with the reserves in game two.

  2. maybe Contreras can have an un-perfect game where he doesn’t get anybody out.

    1. Looked great to me, too. Glad to see Verlander get the next guy, but that had “disaster” written all over it.

  8. A sacrifice! A real, live sacrifice! It brings a little Twinkie to me eye, it does…

  10. sweet, we’ve met our 1-run quota for the day.

    how long does it last? my guess is until the 5th inning when Dye hits a 2-run HR.

    1. ESPN.com:

      “The Athletics and Cardinals have completed a trade that sends outfielder Matt Holliday to St. Louis in exchange for third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney. ”

      Dombrowski couldn’t beat that deal, eh?

  12. Gameday does indeed show Verlander throwing 6 sliders in that past half-inning, 4 of them for strikes. The pitch seems to be working just fine for him, and he saves it for fastball hitters (Quentin, Beckham).

  13. Verlander at 73 pitches already. Cabrera’s boot hurt there, but Justin is making it hard on himself.

  14. Guillen moved the runner over. Can’t fault him for that; something we’ve been lacking. Raburn! Let’s scratch out at least one more.

  15. A runner on third with less than two out……. and they score! Twice in one game – an accident or start of something new?

  17. I heard a rumor the Tigers are interested in Scutaro from Toronto. Has anyone else heard this?

    1. It makes sense if Inge is going on the DL. Otherwise what other position player goes down? We’ve already gotten rid of Anderson. Or do they finally cut Maggs? On the other hand it is just a rumor.

    2. It wasn’t that much of a rumor. A reporter around the batting cage saw JP Riccardi pick up his cell phone and then heard him ask for Dave Dombrowski. JP said it wasn’t about Halladay and the reporter guessed it might be Scutaro.

      That’s not really what I’d call a rumor.

      2. I think it will turn out Riccardi just wanted to know where he could get one of those cool stripey sweaters…

  20. Laird lets Contreras off the hook. He must have missed that special ‘Runner on 3rd with less than 2 out’ BP session today.

    1. Ah, Laird is what Laird is. It’s not like he’s paid to hit. Still… You want to see a spark from time to time.

  21. With 2 runs in the first game I’m worried that tonight’s game might be a shut out.

    1. I’m not saying firesale or finish in last place. I’m just a little cynical 🙂

  23. It wouldn’t suck to see someone on this team hit one out. I’ve heard rumors that a few of them have HR power.

  24. Are we only capable of playing in 2-1 ball games? I won’t complain as long as we come out on the better end of things 60 percent of the time.

  25. A quick inning for Verlander and another excellent game from our ace. Do you bring him out to pitch in the 8th? I imagine he’s probably done for the day. Gulp.

    1. Dye, Thome and Konerko coming up in the 8th. Tough call, but I think I would bring him out.

      1. I let Verlander face Dye. If he gets him out, then he stays, other wise go Seay then Lyon

      2. I was just having this conversation with a co-worker. Yeah you have to bring Verlander back out (especially now that it’s 3-1). He’s your horse, he’s better than anyone in the bullpen even after 100 pitches, and frankly, he looks like he’s settled in better with his command. He’s set down 7 straight, I believe. That and you’ve got the double header today, save the pen as best you can.

    2. I’d leave Verlander in, too, given the fact that Bonine is starting Game 2 tonight, and you’d like to keep most of the pen fresh for the weekend. Plus, Verlander looked very strong in the 7th.

  28. Hey, let’s have a round of applause for Everett, who just came through in a pretty big situation in a pretty darn big game.

  29. Another run! OK, so Everett does have a little “clutch” left in him. By recent standards this is turning into a blowout.

  30. Nice to see a few extra base hits mixed in with all the singles we’ve had lately. Doubles today, homers tonight!! (one can dream, no?)

  33. The Tigers are dinking and dunking their way to 4 runs. They’re not killing the ball, but with the way things are going who is going to complain (other than Hawk).

    1. billfer,

      please explain how we are going to score negative-2 runs tonight to keep our 1 per game average up.

  34. It feels like years since I’ve seen an offensive rally from our team. I almost didn’t recognize it… And now we’re getting into the Sox bullpen! Perfect.

    Now if only Miggy could get a big hit…

  35. This lead might change Jimmy’s strategy as to how he pitches the rest of this game.

  37. i’m thinking verlander should pitch the 9th too…he is just cruising at the moment.

  40. Verlander with a studly performance. He has gotten stronger and stronger as this game has gone along.

  41. I love it! I’d rather see broken bat, bloop singles than ‘rip the cover off the ball’ outs to RF.

  42. Due to health and return to the norm, I have a pretty good hunch we’ve seen the end of All Star Home Run Derby Inge.

  43. 2 errors in one inning — and didja all hear how the White Sox have the 3rd-most errors in the AL this season? Every team in this division has its weaknesses. Shame on those who wanted to throw in the towel on this very winnable season.

  44. Mario just said “that BIG 2 RUN 7th INNING.” I guess that is big for us.

  49. They should pull Verlander. This is silly. Let whoever is being sent down for Bonine pitch the 9th.

    1. Sometimes, you just let the great ones throw. Justin earned that, and Leyland let him go.

      1. The only situation that would scare me right now, with a 4 run lead. Bases loaded, nobody out. Super.

  53. Wow….Wise better not have the hero juice two days in a row. (Crossing fingers.)

  54. i’m looking forward to hearing Hawk complain tonight about how they “gave this game away” because of the 3 errors.

    shut it, hawk.

    1. The only thing that would make me feel better is a pitcher-catcher-1B double play.

      OMG YES

  56. I completely agree with the decision to leave JV in there.

    I’ll take JV @120 pitches over anyone in our bullpen right now.

    1. Agree 100%.

      Besides, the Tigers needed to make a statement to quell White Sox momentum after what happened yesterday. It got scary, but it was the right move. That also could have just as easily been Rodney out there with bases loaded nobody out.

  59. Good win. This sets up a potential sweet day. At the very worst we don’t lose any ground. Bonine is my Tiger. Ha.

  60. Justin Verlander’s 125th pitch was a 100 mph 4-seam fastball. That’s why you leave him in.

    1. Agreed…Rodney is shaky enough lately starting an inning with the bases empty.

    2. If he still has that velocity and stuff late in the games in September (and hopefully October), then I will happily eat my words. But I think you can safely entrust Dolsi, Perry, or whoever with a 4-run lead in the 9th inning.

    3. He was definitely pumped up. And with his last outing still fresh in his mind….

  61. Bases loaded, no outs –> No runs, three outs is quite possibly the best thing in baseball. Err…unless you’re rooting for the batting team.

  62. You really could not ask for more from your pitcher in the opening half of a double header. We have the entire bullpen available to us tonight. Nice, b/c we may need it.

  63. Awesome win. Ol’ Smoky learned his lesson from Wednesday night and didn’t pull a starter who was cruising along. Thank you Jimmy for realizing that JV was simply dominating CHI from the fifth inning on. I also apreciate that Leyland did not panic and pull Verlander after the first two hitters singled off of him. Verlander is our best pitcher and Leyland’s faith in him was rewarded today.

    I am still steaming that the home plate ump did not ring up Wise on that 1-2 breaking pitch. That ump was brutal today. Gave Contraras a lot of latitude and squeezed JV quite a bit, with that 1-2 pitch to Wise being a great example. Anytime JV goes 9 innings and only rings up 4 K’s you’ve gotta believe that the home plate ump isn’t giving him any calls. By the way Hawk, he gone! Wise justifiably grounded out after not getting rung up, complete justice and glad to see that the fates did not reward Wise in that spot.

    The good thing for tonight is now that Dotel should be unavailable, and our bullpen is 100% fresh and ready to go. That’s good news as Leyland will probably need to lean heavily on that bullpen tonight. We’re going to need 5 runs or better to win tonight’s game IMO, so hopefully our semi-clutch hitting from this afternoon shows up again tonight.

    My 3 stars (hockey style) for this win:

    3rd Star: Adam Everett 2-4 with a SB and a clutch RBI knock.
    2nd Star: Placido Polanco with a 3-3 day plus a SAC fly (OMG … An actual SAC fly from a Tiger)
    1st Star: Justin Verlander of course with a CG with zero ER in a game his team had to win. That’s what aces do, and Verlander didn’t disappoint. He did what so many aces have done to us over the years, get stronger as the game went on. CHI had a lot of early chances versus Justin and didn’t cash in and then he just grew stronger as the game wore on. Huge props to Verlander for a clutch performance.

  64. With Laird and Everett we may have one of the best back-to-back bunting threats in the league.

  65. Yea. And with Miggy, we have the biggest “single w/ nobody on base” threats in the game today.

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