2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.099: Tigers at Rangers

53 Comments

PREGAME: There’s a late change in this one as the swine flu ridden Vincente Padilla won’t make his scheduled start. In his place will be Doug Mathis. This will be Mathis’ second start of the season and 12th appearance. In his only other start he allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and no strike outs in 5 innings. Those were the only 4 earned runs he’s allowed this season.

Luke French gets the nod for the Tigers. Presumably he’s not being afflicted by anything other than a lack of run support. Here’s hoping that condition clears up tonight.

The lineup is:

  1. Granderson
  2. Polanco
  3. Thomas
  4. Cabrera
  5. Guillen
  6. Ordonez
  7. Inge
  8. Santiago
  9. Ryan

Detroit vs. Texas – July 28, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: So which team has had flu running through their clubhouse because the Tigers sure did look sick tonight. This may have been their worst effort of the season. There have been tougher losses, but few that have left such an awful taste and have been so dismal. Let’s look at the lowlights:

  • Ramon Santiago boots a ball on the first pitch that French threw
  • Magglio Ordonez catches a ball flat footed and Ian Kinsler tags up and goes to second…on a fly ball to right field
  • French picks off a runner and Cabrera throws the ball away
  • Everett makes a nice play in the hole but one hops the throw and Cabrera can’t pick it
  • On a Kinsler triple Granderson makes an inaccurate throw creating a long route for Polanco’s relay

Throw in the fact that Luke French got pounded, and the offense mustered one lousy single after the 4th inning and it is a recipe for disaster. Do you realize that none of the top 3 hitters in the lineup reached base tonight? Cabrera had 2 weak singles and a bad defensive game, but you can’t blame him for not driving any runners in.

If there was any good news it was that Santiago and Ryan got key hits early on. And Everett made 2 nice plays defensively. Otherwise this was just miserable, and you could see Leyland seething.

53 thoughts on “Game 2009.099: Tigers at Rangers”

  1. I’m pulling for Dusty Ryan… I liked him a lot last year in his cameo, and have been really disappointed that he hasn’t even managed to improve upon The Pineapple’s miserable batting stats.

    This team needs a night of solid hitting, and squaring off against this greenhorn might be just the thing.

    Let’s hope French doesn’t look like a greenhorn tongiht, though.

  4. Looks like they’re still trying to tempt Inge with the high fastball, and having some success… But you can see Ingey trying not to give in to the temptation, but he’s like a old junkie trying really hard not to take the smack.

    On another topic, is anyone else watching this game? Hello, hello?

  6. Awe yes, hitting. Almost forgot what that was like. Hard to believe a couple of hits and 3 runs is getting me excited.

    1. Since the All-Star break, anytime you can say “runs” — plural — that’s a novelty.

  7. Great to see some timely base hits. I’m disappointed in Inge. He fanned on an OBVIOUS ball 4. That may have cost us a run.

    1. Odd that you’d focus on the walk, what with the triple and two doubles in that frame.

      1. I wrote it before the last double when Kinsler hit the triple. At that point it was the difference between the Tigers leading and a tie game.

    1. It’s actually only the 3rd inning. The game isn’t over yet. Heck, it isn’t even an official game yet.

  15. OK, I’m not trying to be thick here, but… After Santiago fouled that ball off his leg, doesn’t it make sense to put the bunt on?

    Instead, with two on and no out, we let them out of the inning with no damage done (to them).

    Meanwhile, even French’s outs are going 400 feet.

      1. it was kind of refreshing to see Cabrera swing and miss at a pitch actually in the strike zone though

  22. Behrle walked a guy with two outs in the 6th…45 consecvutive batters still a no no

  23. Behrle walked a guy with two outs in the 6th…45 consecutive batters still a no no.,..Span then singled ..Berhle sucks

  24. next guy hits slicing fly ball and Posednick pulls a Ordonez and lets it falls in under him…tie game

  25. The original whipping boy bites us back with a couple of perfect innings.

  26. these away games are disgusting. so many pansy fly outs and ground outs.

    i love inge but he cant catch up with a fastball. i think he has proven he is at his best when he is willing to just go up the middle with it. i havent seen very many swings like that lately.

    no one knows how to take a walk. umpire is calling strikes 6 inches off the plate.

    i dont have any positives for the night. hope jv can shut them down tomorrow and get us back on track!

  27. Exciting finish: 1 for last 19 with about 2 hard hit balls and a boat load of Ks. If Dombrowski isn’t interested in adding some punch maybe he should be thinking about offloading some of the junk for at least some prospects. Or is he just going to do nothing.

  28. Do you know who really can’t hit right handers, a basic concept for a major leaguer?
    Brandon Inge. He’s 297 for 1312 since 2006. That works out to .226. I think that’s a sample size that should satisfy even dear old Coleman.

    I will not rest until Inge’s all-star appearance is struck from the record book like Nationalist China was removed from the UN’s voting rolls in 1973.

    1. well stephen…too bad you’re not a pitcher. your determination could help this team.

    1. Stephen,

      *Sigh* What’s the point?

      The guy is giving it everything he’s got.

      Guys make the All-Star game all the time because they play in big cities. Geez, the Vets just voted in a Yankee shortstop with a lifetime batting average lower than Marcus Thames’, so undeserving guys make the Hall, too. I’m not a baseball-history guru, but I am reasonably aware of the game’s past greats, and I’VE HARDLY HEARD OF THE GUY. It’s called the Hall of FAME. I’ll grant that he was probably a real good shortstop, but “famous” he wasn’t, and he got in on pinstriped coat-tails.

      Brandon Inge won a FAN vote because people like him and he busts his ass. Winning the vote IS the criterion. Arguing that it’s not legitimate is silly, because the standard you would like to apply to getting into the All-Star game is not, in fact, the actual standard.

    2. I disagree as well. Sure, Inge isn’t a perrenial all-star. But to be fair to the guy: His BA was much higher than his career average at the break, his HR and RBI numbers were well within the league leaders, and he’s arguably the best defensive 3B in baseball.
      In the grand scheme of things, I felt he deserved the nod.

      And I really hope he picks up his hitting again.

  31. was that the 30th or 35th or 40th time the tigers scored in only 1 inning..? They are tough to watch. I have been going mlb split screen lately the other game is better every road game now

  32. At least the Chisox lost again. So we still have our slim two-game lead in what is arguably the worst division in baseball.

  33. Im just not sure what is DD waiting for? Are we really going to just ride this out to the end. I mean seriously, you want to lose fans this is a GREAT way to doing this DD. And if we dont make a move, we REALLY should offload some of our older guys. (ie, Polanco, Maggs, Laird, Everett, Rodney) And release some others (Robertson, Willis, Maggs) I mean right now we are a disgraceful 1st place team. Ive never seen a 1st place team be in first place and play like this for the entire season, its pathetic.

    DD either make a move or dump guys. We as fans, cannot handle trying to limp into a post season run on tiny outbursts every 10 games. We need a bat badly!!! DD make your move before the 31st please!!!! To save us from completely melting in our own seats!!!

    1. I’m not going to sweat games like this as long as we’re in 1st place and the teams beneath us have been hovering in obscurity all season long.

      I also won’t ignore the fact that Texas is a very good team and they are playing bigger games than us right now because they’re trying to catch LA, while trying to catch Boston in the wild card race. I hate the Red Sox with a passion. If losing to Texas helps keep Boston out of the playoffs, then this is a win for me even though we lost. Losing here might even help the Tigers go to the World Series. Only time will tell.

      1. Sweat it out in games like this? No its called swearing up a storm because we are playing crappy and I personally do not think that the Twins or the ChiSox will play meager baseball like this for the next 65 games. It is impossible. We need help and right now I dont care WHO we give up. I dont want to end up being the 89 tigers and missing out on the post season and then going in a 17 year drought of being even competitive and being a .500 baseball team.

  34. So I missed this entire game and just looked at the box score noticing that someone named J. Grilli got the win. I immediately swore loudly, stopped reading and closed the page in utter disgust. I am so glad that I missed this game. The only way it could be worse is if “Ham Sandwich” and Neifi Perez accounted for all of the Rangers runs at which point I would stab myself in the face with a fork.

    1. Fun Fact: The guy who shut the door on the Tigers last night, Moscoso, was a Tigers prospect traded to Texas for Gerald Laird. Oh, and it was the anniversary of Kenny Rogers’ perfect game — which of course he pitched for Texas, not Detroit.

      Rumors that the Rangers collectively raided the Tigers locker room post-game and rubbed large quantities of salt on the Detroiters’ wounds could not be confirmed.

  35. Yes, that was a disgusting game. Utterly contemptible. The Tigers made a succession of mediocre relievers look like Mark Buerhle last night.

    What we see on the field is the unavoidable outcome of having so many unproductive veterans on the Tigers payroll, starting with Gary Sheffield. You will always have injuries and slumps, but the dead weight dragging on this organization is really, really massive. It is a miracle, really, that they are even near first place, and a testament to the abilities of this organization to draft well and develop useful major-leaguers.

    You cannot blame Dave Dombrowski for all this. Sheffield is doing better this year for the Mets, but he’s still only worth $1-2 million, and is a shell of his former self. Bonderman’s health issues weren’t Dombrowski’s fault, nor are Carlos Guillen’s (and we know he’s a wonderful player when healthy). Re-signing Willis was probably a hasty move, but nobody expected him to be THIS awful. Robertson pulled a disappearing act — one hopes his elbow masses really were the reason he was struggling. And then there’s Ordonez… So the Tigers are in a spot where almost ALL of their highly-paid players are radically under-producing. And even Cabrera is having an oddly ineffective year (though I would argue he’s been playing well and very unlucky).

    Simply imagine if Ilitch was getting his money’s worth from even two of these guys: Bonderman, Zumaya, Robertson, Willis, Sheffield, Guillen, Ordonez. This is sort of a string of luck that goes back to Higgenson, Purcival and Dmitri Young.

  36. I blame myself for the Tigers’ losing streak. On Saturday, I took advantage of the MLB Extra Innings half-season deal on DirecTV, looking forward to an exciting run for the division title. The three games since? Well, you see what’s happened.

    Seriously, I have not watched many Tigers games this season, being out of market in Virginia, so last night’s game got me really down. I was heartened to read Billfer say it was the worst performance of the season. Let’s hope this is rock bottom and that the Tigers show some energy tonight with Verlander on the mound.

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