2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.009: Royals at Tigers

63 Comments

PREGAME: The year was 2007. Tensions were high in Tigertown as a solid offense and mixed starting pitching were routinely being undone by late inning collapses. Still, the team remained in contention and there was much desire to add relief arms. Octavio Dotel was toiling for the Royals and may have provided the relief help the Tigers so desperately needed.

Rumor had it that the Tigers had offered up a young pitching prospect by the name of Jair Jurrjens to the Royals, but KC spurned the intra-division trade proposal and sent Dotel to Atlanta. Dotel only pitched in 9 games for the Braves, but he also only allowed 6 baserunners while fanning 12.

I don’t tell this story to assuage Tigers’ fans misery by saying they could have received even less for Jurrjens than Edgar Renteria. Or to point out that there is more than one team that is missing Mr. Jurrjens. I do it because the Royals received a pitcher by the name of Kyle Davies in exchange for Dotel. Davies is starting today for Kansas City.

Rick Porcello goes for the Tigers.

Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers – April 14, 2010 – MLB.com Gameday

63 thoughts on “Game 2010.009: Royals at Tigers”

  1. The Jurrjens whining drives me nuts. It was a deal that failed worse than maybe any DD trade, but of all the players and prospects DD has shipped out over the years Jurrjens is one of the very few that panned out. Meanwhile, people like Jackson, Bonderman, etc. have come in and helped the Tigers win many games. In balance, DD has done a good job trading away prospects. You can’t win ’em all.

    Plus, who knows if he’d be the pitcher he has become if he isn’t in Atlanta, or doesn’t have the benefit of pitching in the NL.

    1. Is it possible to receive less for a starting pitcher than Edgar Renteria?

  5. I realize that Laird had a good day at the plate yesterday and I realize that teams do not like to sacrifice in the second inning of a game, but gerry knows his job is to move the leadoff double to third and he also knows he’s completely incapable of hitting a ground ball to the second baseman. 0% chance he could do it even in an empty stadium with a pitching machine. Bunt. For the love of god, bunt.

    2. I agree….and made that comment during an earlier game and was blasted by other bloggers. JL is not managing to win games. Jackson would have run down that double earlier……he should be playing today and Raburn should be in left replacing Damon!

      1. Sure Leyland is to blame for not putting a play on, but the player has the responsibility of moving over the runner and can bunt on his own if that gets the job done. Differently, the player has the obligation of understanding his own limitations – Leyland taking the bat out of Laird’s hands inthe second inning is debatable; Laird taking the bat out of his own hands in the second inning would have been celebrated. Of course I right all this as Porcello gets hit around by Jason Kendell, so, there’s that.

  6. Gerald Laird = excellent bunter and terrible hitter. Inge leads off inning with a double and Laird doesn’t bunt him over…. why, exactly??!!? Sizemore’s deep fly ball would have led to a run, but Smokey decides not to put on the bunt.

    I’m not a huge fan of bunting, especially early in games, but when a hitter such as Laird, who is by far a much better bunter than a hitter, is up with a leadoff man in scoring position, you get the run. It’s the bottom of the order, chances are you aren’t getting a big inning, so take the freebie.

    Old Smokey is trying to get him going, I’m sure, but in this case he cost us a run.

    1. Runs and wins are overrated. It’s how your players feel about you that’s important. Leyland and Laird have strengthened their personal bond now that manager has not asked player to bunt. I’m sure there’s a life lesson in there for all of us.

      1. Sorry Birdy, in the game of life “runs and wins” may be over-rated, but in the game of baseball, well, that is why they chalk the lines. Touchy and feely class is for second place. Guy is on second base, your catcher is batting .050, AND is a good bunter, you put the sign on twice in case he missed it the first time. Laird is never going to get it going at a major league level–my Rangers fans buddies will attest to that. His defense is great (should have won the gold glove last year) and belongs in there, but when the time is ripe for a sac bunt, and you have Laird up there, you bunt him over single time.

        1. Sorry. I haven’t live in the States for a few years, but I suppose I have heard some stuff about how some people don’t like to keep score in their kids’ games or use a red pen to correct their homework. In my defense, I’ve never met a Tigers fan who doesn’t care about winning. And in the 3+ years coming here, I most certainly have never encountered anyone who doesn’t care about winning. So I hope you understand my surprise at that not being recognized as sarcasm. Just trying to rationalize how Leyland could possibly not ask him to bunt in that situation.

  8. I’ll give this rotation one more time through before I start panicking…but my god these guys are not inspiring confidence.

  10. Over / under on date a starter goes at least 7 innings? April 21? Tigers had 2 through 9 games last year.

  11. Carlos has seen a grand total of 2 pitches in 2 ABs today. Might want to tone it down there, a bit…

  13. Now that the Lindell AC & Joe Muirs are gone where do you Detroiters recommend I go for drinks & food before and after the game in downtown when I come down for games?

    1. I’d recommend going to Elwood’s or Cheli’s Chili. Both are right next to the stadium and usually offer lots of nice scenery (if you know what I mean).

  15. Now you just CAN’T waste a leadoff double by Everett, you aren’t going to get many chances like that…of course we are stuck with “yeah, but he’s great in the clubhouse” at bat…

    1. Hey, that worked…OK, now we’re stuck with Mr. “maybe a haircut will help me hit” at bat

  16. That certainly was anti-climatic. No worries though, I like our bullpen vs. theirs.

  20. Things are starting to self-destruct!

    Is there another comeback in the cards?

  21. That’s it! Sit Laird now! Can’t hit, can’t throw out base stealers (this season), can’t execute a sac bunt, and drops a beautiful throw form Ordonez that would’ve got us out the inning. I’ve seen enough from this bar brawling idiot to last me a lifetime. Play Avila, and do it starting Friday. The only time Laird should play going forward is when a lefty starts or if Avila needs a day off.

  22. We can’t be giving up this much offense to the Kansas City Royals. Imagine if we had been facing heavy hitting teams this past week.

    1. Yeah Kevin you said it. I don’t get to watch the games so I missed the action, but the ESPN highlights have that play at the plate where he dropped a beautiful throw by Maggs. Right on the money, plenty of time to wheel and kneel, there was some contact but not too much and he flubs it. Man, that was as big a game-changer as Miggy at the dish with the bags juiced. I like Laird, but if he can’t get it done behind the plate (throwing guys out, blocking the plate–pitchers aren’t getting it done, is he calling a bad game on top of it?) time for him to sit and think about things a bit.

  26. Just a guess, but after today the Royals HAVE to lead MLB in singles, right? Why couldn’t an NL team have signed Podsednik?

  27. Our pitchers have got to stop walking people….Perry with two walks today! Two! Ugh…

  28. A little late to bring this up I suppose, but is Jackson hurt? Is there a reason Leyland is sitting him again? Maybe he’s trying to cool him off.

    2. Just an off day. Raburn is going to get 200-300 ABs this year, and that’s a good thing.

  29. Even though we might be 6 – 3…… the Tigers in general have played some pathetic baseball so far this year.

    1. Not exactly awe-inspiring so far despite the record and a few dramatic wins. My gut feeling is that this is really a .500 team give or take a couple of wins. Patheticness is a pretty common hallmark of mediocre teams – they find ways to beat themselves more often than the good teams do. On the other hand they have managed to take advantage of other mediocre teams flailings. A truer test will be how they do against the better teams. Since it is still early, I am going to reserve judgement until they reach Sparky Anderson’s 40-game mark. By then we should have a pretty good idea what they are made of.

    2. Our offense leads the American League in 2 key stats. Runs and OBP.

      We also have a team 4.06 ERA.
      It doesn’t get much better than that.
      If we’re playing pathetic, then almost every team is playing more pathetic than us.

  30. Robertson was batted hard yesterday.
    Rodney 8 pitches 3 outs against the Yankees( 2 of them , the other was a tiger) , no less.
    Does anyone with a little knowledge of baseball could really think that you can win with 3 rookies ( or four ) in the central line?. No way. Avila as regular means 120 lost games
    Ordoñez will be here next year, And perhaps beyond.You need a DH with experience
    Inge will be here next year. On yearly basis , but he will be here.
    Bonderman or Willis , the better will be here.
    Even Laird could be here. JV, MC, MO, CG are already signed and they mean 67 m. So there is no way to sign more then one starter on the 10 m territory.Or unloading prospect Hanley Ramirez.

    2. You can win with a roster full of rookies. Depends on the rookies. To be honest I’d take youth any day over old men. Obviously you’d prefer them with a little experience but in all honesty they should be getting that seasoning in the MilB. A roster full of 22 year olds = 0 or few injuries & greatest amount of speed. Two huge assets to have in a 162 marathon.

      I also would like to note the following

      In the AL at this point in time
      1) The Rays are in first and there is no team in the AL East younger than the Rays
      2) The A’s are in first and there is no team in the AL West younger than the A’s
      3) The Tigers and the Twins are tied for first and only the Indians are younger in the AL Central.

      granted we’ve only played a week.5, but still 😉 interesting nevertheless

      1. Maybe it’s a corollary to that bats get going when the weather gets warmer bit–the colder it is the older the old guys feel…

        1. Maybe but even then you’re only looking at most one half of the equation. (pitching?D?)

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