62 thoughts on “Game 2010.104: Tigers at Red Sox”

  3. In going with JV too. He’s been good, but not great as of late. We need him to be a true ace today, and he knows it. I think he’ll step up.

    Taking a series in Boston would be huge going into Tuesdays’ DH v Chi.

  5. Seriously you pinch run for your best player with no outs and down a run? That’s insane

      1. I think Smokey knows our bullpen can’t hold up, so the reward of inserting Kelly was greater than the risk of batting around to Cabrera again.

        I don’t agree with it, but maybe that’s what he was thinking.

        He should have at least waited until after the Boesch AB to insert Kelly.

      2. Kelly scored without a throw, Cabrera it would have been closer but he would have made it. They not have international league lineup. I put their chances of winning this game at about 4% after pulling Cabrera.

  10. Man…Boesch needs a day off…and what is this I hear that Damon might be going to the DL?

    Attaboy Jhonnny, this guy has been a dream so far.

  12. We have someone who shouldn’t be in the major leagues pitching the bottom of the ninth.

        2. I’m not trying to pick a fight. I’m trying to understand how you can possibly have the reaction, a minute after a nightmare loss and at the end of a season killing road trip, ‘bring on the White Sox.’
          It’s like the French in 1940 after the fall of Paris saying ‘Bring On the Russians!’ It’s just illogical.

          1. I don’t sweat losing. I bounce back quickly when I get beat. That’s why I usually win at nearly everything I do.

            I didn’t think it was a nightmare loss either. We were down 3-0 going into the 9th inning. I wasn’t expecting some miracle comeback victory. I’m glad they came back and tied it, but I never expected them to go into extra innings and win it.

            I’ve been looking forward to this White Sox series before we started this stupid road trip. TB and Boston are two of the best teams in baseball, so I didn’t expect much from this road trip, especially with our depleted roster. How we play against our division rivals matters most. Our season isn’t over if we can beat Chicago and Minnesota. They’re not that good either. We have a much better chance at beating them, than we do against most of teams that we’ve been playing lately.

  16. And the Leyland led Tigers are well on their way to their fifth straight disastrous second half. Seriously, write one or two of them off to bad luck or injuries, but five years in a row ins a frickin’ trend. He’s got to go. The Tigers have spent way, way too much money to have so little to show for it.

    1. If Leyland gets fired, I’m not going to complain. There are plenty of changes that can be made to make the team better. Moving out of Detroit is one.

  17. This has been horrible! Everything it takes to lose.

    stephen’s right. This trend of miserable 2nd halfs lands in the lap of old smokie. He’s the one common denominator.

  18. DD has got to go as well. He has had the resources and has failed to construct a team that win when it matters. 2006 was a mirage, a fluky exception.

  19. While having one of the highest payrolls in the majors, the Tigers have lost more games than they’ve won since 8/1/2006. They are one of the biggest disappointments in professional sports.

    1. That’s what I’ve been saying for years, except that they are clearly the MOST disappointing team in all of the 4 major sports. Massive amounts of millions are being wasted and the opportunity to be the best team in baseball going by the wayside. With our owner’s willingness to spend, we HAD and maybe still have the potential to be the most impressive team of all the major sports. It’s really quite simple if you have the right decision makers.

      1. you must not be paying attention. The NY Mets are blowing the Tigers away in disappointing their fans.

      2. The Cubs are easily 2nd. They can’t even win at being the most disappointing.

      3. Then there’s Cleveland fans. Man, they should just go hang themselves. It’s never going to happen for them.

        1. I’m pretty sure Cleveland fans are pretty damn close to hanging themselves. Mr. X, the point isn’t that there isn’t teams more disappointing. Your viewpoint is akin to Alabama being happy because their literacy rate is 48th. Just because Mississippi and Louisiana are worse doesn’t mean you’re actually good.

  20. Would having crappy 1st half’s and just falling short in the 2nd half make things better for you? Not me. You can put it all in blender and the results will be the same. I don’t think the manager matters all that much anyway, so if Leyland has to go, I’m fine with that. It takes lots of time and many new faces to build a remotely decent franchise from square one, and that includes management.

    If your expecting some championship baseball dynasty to built here in Detroit, then you’re just disillusioned. It’s never going to happen here. We’re not New York, and if you think we should be like New York then you have unrealistic expectations that will never be met. Best we’ll ever be is a moderate contender, and maybe then we’ll have a chance to make the playoffs every 4 or 5 years. If you can’t be content with that, then you’ll continue to be a miserable Tiger fan for the rest of your life.

    1. Easy enough to say that and I agree. That’s why I’m upset. If I was in charge we would easily topple NY as baseball’ys dynasty team. They would have no chance of beating me in the long-term because they are poorly mismanaged as well in contrast to what my style would do to undermine their advantage of overspending for inefficient advantages.

    2. Interesting!
      And yet so wrong.
      Somehow, Cleveland managed to contend throughout the 90s. Somehow the A’s, in a crummy market, have seven or eight playoff appearances in the past 20 years while we have one. Somehow, the Pistons made it to a half-dozen Eastern Conference Finals in the same market.
      And one more franchise that blows a hole in your ill-conceived argument: Twins
      You’re an apologist for a well-financed regime that has botched real chances to build a contender in a chronically weak division. Next thing you will be doing is defending Chrysler.

      1. Cleveland? Oakland? the Twins? the Pistons.. LOL. Those aren’t championship dynasties.

        1. As for the Twins, their crappy franchise nearly got contracted not long ago. The only thing they’ve won is the crummy central division. They keep getting bounced from the play-offs in the 1st round.
          Oakland plays out West where they had no competition for many years. Cleveland contended, but they pissed everything away.
          The Pistons are gawd awful right now.
          What am I apologizing for? A crappy city, with crappy fans?

          1. As for the Tigers, when I was growing up we had 11 straight winning seasons, where we made the play-offs twice, and won 1 world championship. That’s about as good as it will ever get folks. They weren’t a dynasty team, but they played some good baseball for a number of consecutive years. If we can do that again, it would be incredible.

        2. Who is looking for a dynasty? The Tigers haven’t won the ‘crummy’ division in 23 years! Seriously, you won’t agree to the premise that this team has underperformed for the last four years considering how much money has been put into them?

          1. Sure they underperformed. How could they not when a good chunk of the payroll goes to underperfoming players like Willis, Robertson, and Inge.

          1. Illich had a great run in hockey because he spent the most money, but now there’s a salary cap. The Wings were forced to lower their payroll from $80 Million to $50 M. That would be like the Yankees lowering their current payroll of $206 Million to $129 Million. A salary cap in baseball would surely give most teams in baseball a fighting chance.

            1. X,

              That’s a gross over-simplification of why the Wings have been the franchise to beat for the last decade.

              Plenty of pre-cap teams were spending near what the Wings were, included the Rangers, Stars and Avalanche (if memory serves) – none of those teams were as consistent as the Wings. Post-cap, operating under the same restrictions as the rest of the league, the Wings are still competing at the top. Caps, in and of themselves, don’t guarantee anything.

              The reason the Wings succeed is their management. While some pre-cap teams were trying to throw money at every superstar they could (see NYR and Bure, P), the Wings generally looked for players that “fit” (see Hull, B). The post-cap NHL has revealed what Detroit fans knew all along, the Wings draft better than most, and negotiate contracts better than most, allowing them to maximize their talent/dollar.

              Bottom line is: poorly run franchises struggle inherently (Cubs payroll = 3rd highest), and well run franchises succeed regardless (Rays payroll = bottom 3rd).

              Franchise location is a factor, but organizational competence is a much larger one.

              1. Tampa Bay stunk so bad for so long that they got 10 straight top draft picks. Then they managed to flush most of those top picks down the toilet. Their short-term success right now is due to their long-term failures. That’s good management? Let’s see how fast they collapse in 4-5-6 years when those players leave TB as free agents and they have no more top draft picks in the pipe-line.

                As for the Red Wings, they haven’t drafted anybody decent with their 1st to 5th round picks in the past 15 years. Most of their success is due to drafting Yzerman and Lindstom many many years ago and having the cash to sign Free Agents. I also wonder what it would be like if they drafted Pat LaFontaine instead of Stevie Y, like they wanted to? Thank the NY Islanders for not letting that happen.

              2. X,

                “Their short-term success right now is due to their long-term failures.”

                I’m sure their recent ownership/front office overhaul had nothing to do with their success.

                “they got 10 straight top draft picks.”

                There are plenty of examples of other teams who never profit from all these top picks (Kansas City, Pittsburg, etc.).

                “As for the Red Wings, they haven’t drafted anybody decent with their 1st to 5th round picks in the past 15 years. ”

                At the risk of continuing to veer way off-sport (to disprove the franchise location nonsense), are you serious? In no particular draft order (but all 1-5 rounders): Quincey, Fischer, Kronwall, Hudler, Howard, mother effin FRANZEN. Your 1-5 round of course overlooks Zetterberg and Datsyuk.

                “Most of their success is due to drafting Yzerman and Lindstom many many years ago and having the cash to sign Free Agents.”

                Again, combination of over-simplification and, frankly, ignorance. Fetisov, Larionov, Vernon, Shanahan, Murphy — all trades. I would argue the only Cup they won with significant FA help was ’01 when they signed veterans Hasek, Robitaille and Hull. That’s one Cup out of four that you can put down to signing FAs.

                The Wings win because Illitch came in and put together one of the best front offices in hockey, and then supported them financially. Like I said earlier, the money is nothing without people who know how to run things.

                One more thing, its LIDSTROM.

  21. How I would have cherished a crummy division flag ceremony at the Tigers first home game this year. Tears me up just thinking about it.

  22. Andre- I think it’s pretty funny that you think the Tigers can compete with New York in Baseball.

    You also crack me up with how you got this completely off the topic and took everything out of context. I mean wow. What a waste of time.

      1. Not really, I think it’s pretty darn funny that he thinks the Wings are good at drafting players. That list he posted nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing. Now you are here making me laugh ever harder. You guys should be comedians.

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