2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.155: Tigers at White Sox

61 Comments

PREGAME: It’s Daniel Hudson and Edwin Jackson doing battle in the rubber game of the series.

Hudson has 4 appearances this season, but he made his first start on Monday against the Twins. He went 5 innings and held the Twins to 3 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits with 4 K’s. He also walked 4. Considering what the Twins have been doing to everybody else lately (they smoked Buehrle and Danks following the Hudson start) that was pretty impressive.

Scouting Hudson’s last outing, it looks like he throws a fastball at about 93-94mph, a change-up, and a slider. The change-up was his best swing-and-miss pitch but also the one he had the least control of.

Jackson will make his 3rd start of the year against Chicago. Despite walking 8 and only striking out 6 in 12 innings only 5 runs have crossed the plate

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – September 27, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: What started out so promising sure did spin out of control by the end of the game. Curtis Granderson got things started with a leadoff homer. That was it for the offense until 1 run in the 6th inning and a couple of “let’s not make this so look so bad” runs in the 9th inning.

Edwin Jackson didn’t seem to enjoy pitching with a lead. He gave back 1 run in the 2nd and then he got down to business retiring 10 in a row. Until the Tigers got him that lead in the 6th and Jackson promptly got XBH’d to death for 3 runs and that was it for his chance at a win.

  • Brandon Inge’s series could only be described as miserable. He was 0 for the series with 8 K’s, 2 E’s, and though it wasn’t an error, he failed to make a play on Alex Rios’ double leading off the 6th.The play wasn’t routine, but it wasn’t exactly web-gemmy either.
  • Curtis Granderson picked up 5 hits in a row between last night and today, and it would have been 7 except for a nice running play by Alex Rios. And these weren’t bloops. Grandy was hitting bullets all over the park.
  • Fernando Rodney…not so much.
  • At least Trey Hillman managed aggressively with a Zach Greinke Cy Young Award in mind and he put in Joakim Soria for a 2 inning save, which he recorded successfully despite some tension.
  • Though Jackson got the loss, I thought he looked better today than in Cleveland. He had better command and his slider seemed to have more bite. The difference in results was that the Indians hit their hard hit balls at people, plus the White Sox have more firepower.

61 thoughts on “Game 2009.155: Tigers at White Sox”

  1. Team batting average last night- .435

    We need to continue the hot bats tonight. It’s obvious the Twins are not going to hand us the division. Thankfully they gave us a head start, though.

  2. Yes!! I managed to luck out and avoid Hawk all weekend with the Extra Innings. Sometimes you have to appreciate the little things…

  3. All I can say is Jackson better get the same zone. That called third strike wasn’t even a borderline strike. Horrible call.

  4. Off to a good start woth Granderson’s 28th but need to score when two are on with no outs.

    My brother in Ft. Worth is watching the game via the Chicago feed as it is in HD – pure heresey!

  8. Brandon Inge is having the worst second half offensively of an American League all-star in the history of baseball. Ok, maybe hyperbole or maybe not!

  9. Agree on the comment regarding lack of bunting. Given EJax’s quality pitching today, it would be nice to give him a bunch of runs.

  11. Wow…Twins had bases loaded vs. Greinke with nobody out….he got a tapper from Cabrera for out No. 1 then struck out Mauer and Kubel.

    How’d that taste Twins?

  12. Greinke just won the CY Young award with that half inning. That sequence is going to be shown on Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter repeatedly.

  22. With all the walks Hudson has given up, we should have a few more runs in this one, but we just haven’t had the timely hitting…

  24. Wouldn”t it be nice if the Tigers captured the Division while hosting the Twins? To do such, they really need to win today. Still time to do such! Go Curtis!

  25. Maybe the Lions winning and the Tigers winning on the same day was too much. I’m gonna watch the rest of the Lions game and hopefully when I come back there will be a happy surprise waiting.

  26. Twins got a run, but it could have been worse, first two runners on base but they could only scratch across one on a Cuddyer groundout.

  30. Inge has had the worst possible series. He was very culpable for the game 1 loss with the error and not making the play on the Rios double opened the door for this likely loss. Having said that, the hitting 1-9 just is not nearly consistent enough. Nightmare.

  32. Should we start passing around the hat for donations to make sure Fernando is our closer next year?

    Great offense yesterday, yet silent today. And a closer who will make you put your fist thru the screen 90% of the time. Is Rodney seriously in contention for the closer position next year?

    1. He’s going to be a free agent and the season he has had will probably command a multi year & $$ deal that the Tigers won’t be able/willing to afford.

      1. Wow, I knew the market for closers was questionable, but I didn’t think it was THAT bad. When you look at Rodney, he doesn’t instill confidence because it’s evident he doesn’t have confidence in himself. Compared to Nathan, Rivera, Papelbon or Thornton, he looks lackluster at best. It really is amazing that this guy has the record he has coupled with his skill and composure.

        1. I don’t think the market will be that good for him. The only big market team to waste money on a closer will be the Cubs. They have Jose Valverde written all over them.

          Florida is an option but will they spend the the money?

  36. Jeez…Hillman rolling the dice, bringing in Soria for a six-out save. Just got Morales with guys on first and second to end the eighth. (Sorry don’t want to make this sound like a KC board, but at this point today all we have is rooting for the Royals to get the next three outs.)

  38. why is Inge still in the line up? and why isnt Rayburn playing all the time. He has had the hottest bat in September and he’s sitting. Don’t understand Leyland at all. He makes some really bonehead decision’s.

    1. First of all, Magglio Ordonez should have played every single game of this series. His bat is hot again, and he also hits well at Cellular field. Use Clete Thomas as a defense replacement, if you must — but starting and batting Clete Thomas instead of Maggs and ahead of Cabrera in the lineup is just plain dumb. I’m astounded that nobody calls out Leyland on some of these decisions.

      Consider: Magglio’s double last night was the crucial catylist to the four run sixth-inning rally when the tide turned advantage Tigers. Take away that one double, and that game turns out much differently.

      1. Totally, totally, totally agree! Wasn’t able to watch the game or see the lineup…..which would have ticked me off big time. Maggs is the man. Let him start the game, at least.

  40. A 5-4 road trip and the Tigers are still up by two. Considering how ridiculously hot the Twins have been the past three weeks, they Tigers are in good shape. They need to take two from the Twins this week.

  41. This team is definately an enigma.

    They just can’t seem to slam the door shut. A win today (coupled with the Twins loss) would have created a huge uphill challenge for the Twins — nearly insurmountable (even for a team seemingly unbeatable). Yet we can’t just seem to just close the door… Hot/Cold/Hot/Cold … no consistency. Meanwhile we continually find a way to keep the fire in the belly of the beast alive for the Twins.

    Inge, Inge, Inge. He needs a day off, or something. I can’t see how we can win while he continually whiffs and leaves men on base. He was horrible — not inadequate– HORRIBLE — in crucial at-bats ALL SERIES LONG. Many of these at-bats are game-changers. And of course, when you’re Mendoza at the plate, you better damn well better be Brooks Robinson on the field. The double that started the four run rally for the Sox was a play I’ve seen Inge make a hundred times before. You make that one play, and the whole tenor of the game changes, advantage Tigers.

  42. The magic number is 6, so 3 (or 4) Tigers wins clinch the division. A split and the number is 2 heading into the final weekend. One win and the teams are tied at 84 wins. Zero – let’s not consider it.

    Of course, for 3 wins, we need either Bonine or Robertson to take a game. I’d strongly consider giving Figaro a start in Nate’s place.

  43. Well, as a baseball fan this is a fine situation. The Twins played hard to get in the position where these four games matter. The Tigers played well enough that they have the cushion and a margin of error. Split and this is basically over. (I realize not mathematically but still). If the Twins take three out of four it’s merely even. I still say the Tigers are in the drivers seat. Unfortunately, this means that the Big Three going into the playoffs will be exhausted. I’d would have like to seem them each have a 4 inning 60 pitch tuneup rather than have to go 110 pitches in their last start.
    Inge is who I thought Inge was. I’m sure he’ll have one big hit before the week is over and everyone will call him clutch.
    I’m officially nicknaming the 5-9 slot on the Tigers the 700 Club for the number of guys with OPS below .700. (Except for Inge! His April totally counts! And that’s why he’s at .728 He’s an honorary member because his career OPS is….700!)

    1. It’s gonna take more than one clutch hit before I jump on that wagon.

      The problem is the middle of the order is consistently setting the table for the 700 club. Brandon Inge left 12 men on base and 6 in scoring position in this series. As we all know, without advancing one of them. That ain’t gonna cut it.

      1. At some point Brandon needs to recognize that pitchers only throw him breaking stuff. If he wants to call that being pitched like he’s Babe Ruth, fine, but Babe made an adjustment. I have yet to see Inge do that.

  44. This is nit picking at this point, but in the bottom of the eighth when it was still a two-run game, Thomas has a 3-1 count vs. Pena. Why not make him throw a strike right there, especially with the Big Man on deck? Does Leyland/Lamont/McClendon have a TAKE sign? Is it possible?

    And to echo the sentiments, today was ripe for an Inge day off.

    2. Of all the strange stat-inge-tics that Brandon has–I mean Leyland is in a bit of a bind, where as bad as Inge gets there aren’t much better options right now–but still, seeing that Inge is 3rd in the AL in games played…I mean, seriously, that’s absurd.

      It’s one thing to stick it out with bad knees; it’s another to be all Cal Ripkenish about it and miss less time than every healthy player in the league. I’m not blaming Inge for this–it’s the manager’s job to rest a guy once in a while

      1. Very true. DD is also looking silly for having played up Huff’s positional versatility at the time of the trade. I had serious doubts about him playing any OF, but I thought he’d at least see some time at 3B to spell Inge. OTOH, Huff hasn’t exactly scorched the ball since arriving, and so isn’t forcing Leyland to think too hard about where/when he’ll substitute Huff for Inge.

  45. Start Raburn at 3rd and Magglio in RF EVERY GAME against MN and just gauge the results. I will take Raburn’s hot bat over the occasional Inge flash of leather right now.

    1. I’d rather see Raburn start over Thames.

      Inge has looked probably close to the worst I’ve seen him – there is nowhere to go but up.

    1. maybe if it wasnt 45 degrees, rainy, and windy…jk…getting ready to head down to the game in a couple…gotta see sparky and the boys!!

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