2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.069: Tigers at Mets

85 Comments

The Tigers head to New York to take on the second place Mets. Justin Verlander is on the bump for the Tigers and he’ll be opposed by Jon Niese.

Niese is getting his first extended time in the rotation after making a handful of starts in both 2008 and 2009. His peripherals are solid (6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9) and he’s been good at limiting the long ball with just 5 homers allowed in his 64.1 innings. Three of those five homers came in his last start, but he’s been money in his 3 June starts going at least 7 innings each time and allowing just 4 runs. Lefties have managed just a 209/333/326 line against him this year.

85 thoughts on “Game 2010.069: Tigers at Mets”

  2. Today’s lineup, courtesy Smokey’s House of Humor:

    1 A. Jackson cf
    2 G. Laird c
    3 M. Ordonez rf
    4 M. Cabrera 1b
    5 B. Boesch lf
    6 C. Guillen 2b
    7 B. Inge 3b
    8 D. Worth ss
    9 J. Verlander p

    Oh well, the more ABs Laird gets, the sooner he becomes “due.”

    1. From the inimitable Tom Gage on the reason the Tigers are batting laird 2nd:

      They rested Johnny Damon against left-handed starter Jonathon Niese and “a lot of the other guys have settled comfortably into their spots,” said manager Jim Leyland

      1. I left this part of Leyland’s quote out:

        “Plus Gerald is a good bunter. When you add it all up, is it perfect? No. Is it logical? It might be.”

        2. That statement alone would probably tip the scale in a class action suit against Phillip Morris.

      2. If Laird settles comfortably in the 2nd spot, does that mean that Damon has to stay on the bench?

  3. So, how long does everyone think it will take for Porcello to get stuff figured out? Some sports analysts are thinking he is done, I think they are a little pre-mature in their analysis.

    1. I think it all depends on his replacement. If they can find a serviceable man in the minors (Oliver?) or trade for somebody (Lee?) then I think Porcello may spend time at Toldeo until August. He is still only 21 years old. Nobody expected his rookie season last year, if he struggled like this last year people would say he’s too young and inexperienced and should spend time in the minors.

    2. Why isn’t Raburn leading off and playing CF, giving AJax an extra day of rest? Seriously though, as for Laird batting second, I wonder if Genius gave any consideration to just moving Guillen up to 2nd and Inge to 6th, leaving the Mendozas at the bottom of the order where they belong – I bet not. On the other hand, because of Laird’s superior bunting ability perhaps we will see some small ball early in the game (like in the 1st inning if Jackson gets on).

      1. Oops, wrong spot. Oh well.

        Anyway as far as Porcello is concerned there is no timetable. I don’t expect him to turn it around as fast as Scherzer who apparently had just one basic mechanical problem to correct. Porcello probably has a more complicated adjustment(s) to make, so it could take a while. He’ll be back eventually.

  5. Hey all Tigers fans. Come chat with other Tigers fans and Mets fans for the series. Rivalroo.com

  6. Well, this hasn’t been the best start to this game… Hopefully the bats perk up. We need a good start to this road trip.

  8. Okay, maybe he isn’t looking like Dontrelle (I can’t really tell as I can’t actually watch the game here in Iowa), but all the walks were starting to become a concern for me.

  10. ‘we’re not in Kansas anymore’… translation, we’re not in Detroit playing the bottom of the nat’l league.

    let’s hope the 1st inning is not an indicator for the next 3 road series (mets-braves-twinkies)…

  11. observation: the Mets do not have a guy in the lineup tonight batting over .300, the Tigers on the other hand have 4 over .300 and Guillen at .293

    question: which team do you think is going to put up 6+ runs tonight?

    1. I’m betting on the Tigers, but if Verlander keeps pitching the way he is as of right now, all bets might be off.

  15. Yeah…this is starting to get interesting…. Verlander apparently didn’t bring his A-game today…

  16. Philosophical question: we all know if the game were to be rained out, all of the stats from the game are erased. But do Laird’s 2 ABs count toward him being “due?”

  17. I really wouldn’t mind a rain out. Verlander wasn’t looking so hot. He threw an 0-2 fastball at the belt buckle in the heart of the plate to Jason Bay. Too bad, I usually love watching him pitch.

  19. Well my NY rain dance worked, maybe it’s time to work on the Milwaukee weather

  20. This sucks. JV won’t get a shot to come out and earn a few more innings, and we gotta bring in a rook. If he can just give up one, I’ll be pleased.

  25. I love seeing guys with MONSTER ERA’s early on in their seasons/careers, 40.50 YIKES!

      1. That’s a terrible situation to bring a kid in for his debut. Following the ace who I’m sure doesn’t want to come out, on the road, runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs. Should have been Coke or Thomas there.

  28. Justin didn’t look too happy on the bench…I’m guessing he wasn’t exactly on board with the pitching change decision.

  33. Haven’t had a gold old fashioned laugher for a while.

    On a happier note Boesch is 17 for 38 vs LH now (9 for extra bases 3-3-3).

  38. 2 outs, bases loaded — you gotta get the bat off your shoulder there, Raburn, if you want to avoid another sojourn in Toledo.

    1. Man, a base hit there could have really turned things around…especially considering that MIL is now doubling up MIN.

  39. The following 2010 stats provide an indication of the disparity between ONE good Tiger hitter and three poor Tiger hitters.

    Boesch: ABs = 175, Hits = 61, HR = 11, RBI = 39, AVG = .345

    ERL: ABs = 310, Hits = 57, HR = 2, RBI = 26, AVG = less than .186
    (Everett, Raburn & Laird combined)

    Sure Everett is gone, but the Laird and Raburn clinic continues

        1. Agreed…

          One of the few things JL constantly says that seems to ring true, (paraphrasing) “success begins and ends with starting pitching”… that was certainly the case tonight.

          Tomorrow Bondo (who’s due for a meltdown) is up against Dickey (who’s been solid this year 2.82 ERA 5-0)…

  41. consider this:
    ; the plane lands in ____________(city) last night. The team checks into a hotel in_______________ (city). Leyland, Lamont, and McClendon have their hot chocolate and go to bed at 8:00…..the bus pulls up at 8:30 and the team hits the hot spots in ______________(city)…bus returns 4am after the bars close …..This is repeated on every road trip………..Tigers play like crap……………….can there be any other explanation for being one of the worst road teams in baseball??????

    1. They are one of the worst road teams in baseball?
      Seems for the past few years they have been middle of the pack. Data or stats?

  42. the twinkies coming back against the brewers – now 7-5, 2 runs so far in the 8th, runner on 2nd nobody out… and the less-than-stellar brewpen trying to hold it together

  43. Wow…well didn’t our pitching staff just suffer a complete meltdown this evening. Hopefully this isn’t a trend for the rest of the road trip, although I can’t say I am looking forward having more than half of our bullpen used in the first game…

    1. Not to worry. They used the second tier guys tonight. Tomorrow they can ship out Ni and Sborz for a couple of other Toledo spare parts and they won’t even miss a beat. At least so far Gonzalez looks like he might be a keeper.

  44. B-Inge now just 50 K’s away from tying Stormin Norman Cash for 2nd (1081) on the ‘all time Tiger list’… and just 68 from passing Whitaker for the Tiger all time leader in strike outs… Vegas has him reaching the mark on or by 9/21/10

    let’s hope he stays healthy

    2. If Inge reaches the record by having a string of games like tonight (1-3, 2B, BB, K) then I say go Brandon

      2. The Sux will do something typical at the trade deadline, like, I dunno, Milton Bradley?

  46. A lot of things went wrong tonight, but clearly the key issue was having an hour rain delay without Todd Jones

  48. Silver lining: how about Boesch? Road game, big market big stage blah blah blah, rain delay, and he smokes one over the 415 sign…and next time up rips a single…I’m not foreseeing Chris Shelton here.

    Good luck: K-Burn gets hit by a pitch. Bad luck: the rally lasts long enough that he comes up a 2nd time (K). I’m not normally like this, but I’ve had enough of “No Y.”. He has “Craig Monroe” written all over him…

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