2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.113: Rays at Tigers

42 Comments

Tigers are still looking for that elusive 2 game winning streak, gonna need a W tonight to give it another go.

Tonight’s lineup:

Jackson CF
Damon DH
Boesch RF
Cabrera 1B
Guillen 2B
Peralta SS
Inge 3B
Raburn LF
Avila C

42 thoughts on “Game 2010.113: Rays at Tigers”

  1. Kevin has taken on a Hurculean task in the waning days of the 2010 pennant race and DTWL deserves at least one post for tonight’s tilt lest he feel unappreciated for his heroic efforts.

    Go Kevin!

  2. Brandon Inge is now on pace to exactly tie Lou Whitaker for career strikeout before season’s end. I know I’ll be watching just for that.

    2. Kevin,

      Is it too soon to start a “what the Tigers need to do to field a major league team in 2011” thread?

      I mean, with the game threads being so boring and all (not due to my posting colleagues of course), perhaps this topic would generate some interest.

        1. Sorry Vince, I was at the Ballpark last night for the Rangers win over the Yankees. I wanted to see what it was like to watch players who were interested in playing.

          I’ll definitely use Thursdays’ off day as an opportunity for everyone to play GM. I’m pretty sure I know what move # 1 would be…

  3. I’m watching the WS and Minny and the highlights of the big fight between the Reds and Cardinals. God, I would love to see that kind of stuff with the Tigers. Seeing as how we can’t even get mad about a perfect game call, which would definitely call for a brawl in my book, I guess all we can look forward to is polite baseball. I’d start to improve this team by firing Leland and all his coaches, not signing Bringe to another contract, get rid of Rug, just for starters. I am anti-Leland brand of baseball.

  4. I a word…………. that Stunk

    Story of the season. Good chances nothing to show for it

  5. That’s not only the story of the season, that is the story of the past five years. In that span we have seen nothing but choking in the face of advancement. The 2006 playoffs stand alone as an anomaly… one which ended with the Tigers choking to a vastly inferior team.

    1. Actually, they choked before that by losing 4 straight to KC at home losing the division title on the last day.
      MVP candidate gone to waste. I just feel like they are complacent and fans seem willing to accept that. I’m just so angry. Huige payroll and nothing to show for it.

  6. For a while this season seemed to have a bit of 2006 about it, but apparently that was some sort of typo or something. Welcome to 2008.

    1. As long as we’re having a pity party, I wonder if a position player has ever won Rookie of the Year with less than 40 rbi’s, one career home run and a 4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. That’s Austin Jackson.

      1. He is the leadoff guy. How many rbi’s do other teams’ leadoff guys have. There is a stat someone can look up.

        I’m not gonna rag on Austin. Not much power, but he gets on base pretty good and has a good glove with room for improvement.

      2. Jackson is OK. His OBP of .351 is pretty good (5th on the team). Although he doesn’t walk much, he has cut down his strikeouts – remember he was on a pace for 200, but won’f fan that much now. If memory serves he has kept his BA over .300 all season and hasn’t had any really prolonged slumps like the other early ROY candidate Boesch (who is probably out of it now). As far as the hitters go, Jackson, along with Cabrera, have been the only two consistent producers all year. Compared with the hype at the beginning of the year, Jackson has performed like King Kong to Sizemore’s Faye Wray.

        1. Good points about Fay Wray! But I would say Span and Pierre kinda suck and aren’t being considered for ROY. I think a .370 OBA is what a good lead off guy should get.

  7. Is weinhardt really throwing 89 mph cheese every pitch? I’m hoping the stadium gun is off. Judging from the swings the Rays are having, it’s not…

    1. Freddy Garcia doesn’t have a 90 mile an hour fastball and he makes it. Speed is great, but location is good too.

  8. Leyland and Dombrowski: if either one of those men are employed with this organization next season then there will be nothing left but acceptance of failure.

    Now, I really wish the ’06 anomaly never happened. That was the ultimate fools-gold for baseball success. I should have known all along that we will never see anything better.

    1. Well, the ’06 season brought the fans out of the woodwork and we do have lots of Tiger fans here in MI. It also made alot of money for the City of Detroit and Mr. Ilitch. I felt like I was in love. Now, the love is gone. My boyfriend is a loser.

    2. I’d like to think that DD is a better GM than Leyland is a manager. However, I have the nasty feeling they are tied together at the wrists and ankles. If you have to throw one overbaord, maybe the other one has to go as well.

    3. who would you replace DD with? (and don’t say TSE). If you’re unhappy now, how do you think you’ll feel about a new GM stripping down the entire organization and starting over AGAIN. It might not be as bad as 2003, but it’s sure to be worse than fielding a .500 team.

      1. I don’t have any idea as to who would step in to fill DD’s shoes. My original point was that Leyland is bad and that DD (and maybe Illitch too) don’t see that. I get the feeling that they are in this together until the end.

        And I don’t really believe DD has been that great either. Sure he picked up Cabrera, a coup to be sure (and Guillen was good – practically free, Rodriguez and Ordonez early in his tenure), but on the other hand he has dealt away a large portion of the farm system for players like Renteria and Sheffield while inflating the payroll with long-term contracts for undeserving players and virtually taking the team out of the bidding for quality FA for years. FA signings for predictable busts like Perez and Mesa (Leyland pets?) to name just two also don’t contribute too much to my sense that he’s got the “vision thing”. I also don’t think the organization needs to be stripped down. What’s needed is a strategy shift, working towards something long term. They seem to be stuck in the “win now” mode, which is clearly a failure.

        1. My comment was really pointed toward Chris, who is regularly on here complaining but offering no solutions.

          DD is not a perfect GM, but nobody is. You make some good points about picking up some key guys with shrewd moves, but I am not concerned about your second point – that he traded away the farm system. Outside of Jurrjjens (who has been good but injured a lot this year), DD hasn’t traded away any prospects that have been regular contributors to a ML team. He traded Humberto Sanchez, Anthony Claggett, and Kevin Whelan for Sheffield (who produced until he got hurt – that’s just bad luck). Are we missing any of those guys? Even the high draft picks like Miller and Maybin haven’t really panned out (Maybin will never be the hitter Cabrera is) and the other guys he’s traded away appear destined to be minor leaguers. Personally, I think that’s a smart way to use your farm system. Prospects are no sure thing, and shipping a few for an established major leaguer is a great way to fill holes and far cheaper than free agency (where the Tigers will likely never be able to attract the biggest names). Where I think it’s fair to criticize DD is on the contract extensions, etc. I think he saw a window where he thought they could win it all and wanted to lock guys up. Clearly it backfired.

          The other FA signings like Perez and Mesa were never intended to be blockbuster moves, they were low-risk ways to maybe catch lightning in a bottle. Mesa sucked, but Perez played way over his head and actually contributed a fair amount.

          1. Neifi Perez played way over his head?? Surely you jest. This makes me question your sanity.

            2. lol, I was thinking of Timo Perez, actually. Yeah, Neifi was atrocious, which may explain why I’ve blocked the memory of him from my brain.

              2. I liked Timo as a 4th or 5th OF and thought he should have been given more of a shot in that role. Another guy who I thought should have been given a chance was Ryan Ludwick after he put up pretty good numbers in Toledo on 2006 but after the Sheffield trade was blocked on the ML roster in ’07 by Sheffield and apparently ……… wait for it ………. Craig Monroe. Ludwick signed with the Cardinals and performed pretty well.
                http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/ludwiry01-bat.shtml

          2. I have no argument with trading prospects to improve the team, but the Sheffield deal was exactly the kind of trade one shouldn’t make IMO – 4 players for a 40ish guy with a big long-term Yankee style salary and, because of age, likely to get injured. We got about half a season of production out of Sheffield while he took up a roster spot for much longer. In my view the cost in players AND dollars was way out of proportion and we ended up releasing him and paying his salary to play with the Mets for one year. And although I am ecstatic over the Cabrera trade, it is somewhat marred by the fact that we were saddled with Willis + a $48M(?) extension (!). The weakness of the “win now at any cost” philosophy has really hamstrung the team in some ways. I believe they need to re-think that, but my fear is that they are stuck in a “well it didn’t work that time, so let’s try it again” sort of OCD mentality

            1. Remember on Sheffield, DD signed him to a 2 year extension to complete the trade, so the problem lies more in that contract signing than the trade itself. They only traded 3 players for Sheff – one an oft-injured starting pitcher prospect and 2 young relief prospects that couldn’t help the team in the near future anyway (this goes back to the window where DD thought they could win it all), so I don’t have a real problem with it.

              It worked out for a while, too, until Sheff got hurt. Yeah, he was 40ish and perhaps more likely to get hurt, but it was a play where anybody could have gotten hurt (Polly did too, if I recall correctly), so I chalk it up more to bad luck. We were stuck with him because of that gawd-awful extension Sheff forced him to sign.

              I agree completely on the Dontrelle thing, it’s similar to Sheffield. It wasn’t the greatest part of that trade (maybe Florida included him or else no deal), and DD compounded it by signing him to an extension before he ever threw a pitch. This is a fair criticism of DD, and I’m right there with everyone else. Most of the trades have been solid or at least haven’t hurt us too bad (with the obvious exception); where DD has gotten in trouble is with the contract extensions. This is where the “win now” mentality has bit him, I agree. But not on trades, IMO.

  9. I can’t believe Illitch already supports them returning. New manager in Baltimore and the team is 7-1

    1. Well, I’m not convinced Illitch is the brightest bulb in the house. Is he really talking about buying the Pistons? Why not get the Lions too? Kind of like owning all 4 railroads in Monopoly.

      1. If he buys the Pistons, they stay in Detroit and he gets new digs for the Wings and Pistons. I think his intentions are good.

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