2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.142: Blue Jays at Tigers

29 Comments

PREGAME: I was worried last night. The Tigers lost 5 in a row and not even the backwards post could fix things. But this morning I’m at ease. I see that Amber Grand is singing the National Anthem. This is in the bank. No worries. If it seems strange to put the fates of a team in a pennant race on the vocal chords of the National Anthem singer, well then you just don’t understand baseball.

Rick Porcello and Ricky Romero reprise their debut match-up from the first week of the season. But it doesn’t matter because Amber Grand is singing the National Anthem.

Your “Amber Grand is singing the National Anthem so the batting order is largely irrelevant” lineup is:

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

Toronto vs. Detroit – September 13, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: How ’bout that National Anthem? Money. Money I say. Sure, Porcello pitched pretty good (although he did allow quite a few balls in the air for the 2nd game in a row). And the Tigers hit the ball pretty well up and down the lineup. And the bullpen faced 9 guys and recorded 9 outs (it did take 2 GIDPs but I’m not complaining). But how about that National Anthem?

  • Magglio Ordonez had 3 hits and has pushed his average up to .294
  • Gerald Laird had a couple of big hits, which is nice because he doesn’t get a lot of hits.
  • Brandon Inge seemed to be making a concentrated effort to go up the middle and to the opposite field, and he got himself a couple hits.
  • Cabrera with an infield single and a stolen base. Typical day for the speedster.
  • The Tigers played some nice defense with Ryan Raburn getting it started in the 1st with a nice play going into the wall. Eeverett and Inge also made some nice picks on the left side of the infield.

29 thoughts on “Game 2009.142: Blue Jays at Tigers”

  2. You can Google “Amber Grand.” You’ll even find MySpace and FaceBook pages.

    It looks like Magglio is determined to hit .300 this year. I guess this makes it easier to take the big contract next year. I know there is no power, but the high AVG and OBP work well in the #3 slot. Go Magglio.

  3. Amber Grand must be a big deal if they named that “and” symbol after her: &

    Um wait, maybe I’m confusing her with Amber Sand…

  4. Please, no walks to Lyle Overbay today, please. The dude is standing up there doing his best no to even swing the bats. That will be all, thanks.

    1. Don’t worry I got the Miner Good Luck Charm post in this time…looking at the results it’s now obvious his bad outing last time was entirely my fault for not posting (he hasn’t yet given up a run in 5 times following the “rabbit” post).

  12. Why does Leyland refuse to squeeze? Why? Why? Why? I sure hope that lack of execution doesn’t come back to haunt the outcome of this game.

  17. Wow. Only 18 posts by 4pm. We’re not disinfranchised just watching NFL, right?
    Bilfer. Loved that pregame post. She did us right.

  19. I’m very concerned about Granderson’s meander towards mediocrity. OPS by month:
    .804/.849/.804/.795/.757/.635

    1. Does it ever seem like Granderson is a kind of reverse-Inge? Gets a bunch of nice hits, but never when you really need one?

      I just looked up his “high-leverage situation” stats for the season:

      PA-90 .141 .244 .333 .578

      Tigers with worse numbers: …(silence)

      (Unless you counts Sardinha, Huff, Larish and Treanor…and Huff may have passed him today). Whether it be random, bad luck, or whatever, when the game is on the line this year , Granderson has been about the worst guy on the team to have at the plate. It’s hard to get my head around that idea.

      Best on the team: Raburn 1.018 Thomas .944 Cabrera .894 Inge .828 (Unless you count Avila 1.400 and Porcello 2.000).

      1. Especially if you need a Home Run (keep in mind Granderson is in a 3-way race for team HR lead):

        High Leverage Situation HR:

        Inge 7

        Cabrera 6

        Ordonez 3
        Thomas 3

        Avila 2
        Granderson 2
        Polanco 2
        Raburn 2

        (I posted this partially because I was surprised by the Cabrera and especially the Ordonez numbers…Maggs has made his count…)

      2. How many of those high-leverage situations for Granderson are against left-handers?

        If it is late in the game, opponents know to pitch a left-hander, but Leyland won’t pinch hit for him.

        See Saturday night’s game. Ordonez made the first out and the Toronto announcers were saying that was so big because you just know you can mark Granderson automatically out against the left-handed pitcher.

        1. I’m guessing a lot of them..although there are also plenty of RHP ABs in there too; he just seems caught in a weird thing where he takes good pitches for strikes, and then once he gets behind in the count he gets more defensive, which he just doesn’t do well…I mean nobody does well with 2 strikes, but check out the Tigers’ HR-with-2-strikes totals:
          Inge 7
          Thames 6
          Cabrera 5
          Raburn 4
          Ordonez 3
          Santiago 3
          Thomas 2
          Larish 2
          Granderson 2

          That is a bit shocking considering he’s in a HR leader battle with Inge and Cabrera. I mean, he’s tied with LARISH…

          He’s just lost with 2 strikes, and unfortunately he’s been getting in a lot of 2-strike counts. And considering that 72% of his AB have been against RHP, I highly doubt this is just a RH/LH issue.

          1. The numbers for Thames by the way are pretty incredible; Inge, Cabrera, Raburn and Santiago have been impressive, but considering the number of ABs Thames’ 6 2-strike HRs ain’t too bad..

  22. Looks like Laird has finally improved his swing and doesn’t look like he is leaning back as much. Hope this is a turn around for him.

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