2011 Season, Game Post

Game 2011.15: Tigers at Athletics

63 Comments

Jim Leyland has his 1,500th victory along with a bunch of cigars and some champagne (somehow the idea of Ol’ Smokey sipping from a flute of Dom just doesn’t resonate with me), and the Tigers have now climbed back up to the nor-winning-nor-losing mark (7- 7).  Next step: winning! (insert Charlie Sheen picture).

This is the plasticine game of the series, the Tigers having taken the first 2.  It is also the first game of the series which has the Tigers as the favorites, mostly because of the ace-ly presence of Justin Verlander on the mound.  Today also features an odd 6:00 pm PST start time, warm temperatures, and a stiff wind, so some non-Miggy balls may actually have a chance of clearing the park.  Not to fear though, since the warmer weather favors the pitcher with a fastball, and Justin sure has one (yes, I’m going to keep riding the weather horse until it bucks me).

One of the advantages of watching the Tigers in an opponent’s park (besides the fact that visitor-side tickets are easier to get) is the perspective you get from talking with / listening to the opposing team’s fans.  A’s fans were blasting Bob Geren last night:  the team is undisciplined, awful fundamentals (OK, is that really his fault?), bad bullpen management (they may have something there).

And the fans next to me all agreed:  the A’s could really go somewhere if only they had a manager like Jim Leyland. We were sitting in front of the bullpen, and they were all commenting on the difference between the A’s bullpen and the Tigers’–not the pitchers, but how it was managed.  “You guys are flat out professional” one commented.  “It’s all planned out.”

Player of the Pre-game:  Jim Leyland

OK, he isn’t actually a player.  But let’s celebrate his 1,500th, and be thankful he is not…Bob Geren.  Leyland’s lineup was heartily criticized on this very blog.  And yet almost all of his substitutions contributed to the victory:  even Donkey Don Kelly doubled.  And his pitching moves were right on.  So following that Smokey momentum, I will predict that Jackson and Ordonez spark the lineup tonight, with a timely contribution from Santiago.

Today’s Return-of-Magglio lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Ryan Raburn LF
  3. Maggio Ordonez DH
  4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
  5. Victor Martinez C
  6. Jhonny Peralta SS
  7. Brennan Boesch RF
  8. Brandon Inge 3B
  9. Ramon Santiago 2B

63 thoughts on “Game 2011.15: Tigers at Athletics”

  1. Thanks for giving Ramon some credit as he played a good defensive game last night. Especially the line drive DP during the basesload scare (that appears to have could of been a triple play if it was needed). Ramon has developed quite a capability of sitting on the bench until needed and then filling the gap. I admire his stick under those circumstances too as he always seems good for a line-drive or a bunt single during the game.

    1. Plus the beautiful sac bunt he had right down the line. The announcers were aggressive in stating they think it would have gone foul, but I replayed it a few times just to see and I’m not sure about that. The only thing I was sure about is prior to the bunt I knew that Santiago would get the job done. He’s a great bunter, and you can always count on him to be a master of all the little things in the game. Some guys have BA skill, or HR power, but Santiago’s special skill is that he doesn’t know how to screw up and he gets the most out of himself and his abilities.

  2. About last night’s lineup: I’ve never been a big fan of a severe RH/LH platoon strategy like Leyland used last night (well, I suppose really severe would be Don Kelly at 1B against RHP). I looked up McCarthy’s RHB/LHB splits, and he is better against RHB, but not amazingly so. But Ol’ Smokey and crew maybe knew more about this than you can get from the stats: as a couple of people commented last night, Raburn and even Cabrera looked absolutely awful against McCarthy, while Kelly and Rhymes were hitting the ball, and Boesch was crushing it. So score one for Smokey.

  3. Can anyone remember a similar stretch of games: 2 walk-off wins followed by 2 late inning come from behind victories? I can’t. Enjoying the ride while it lasts…

    1. Pretty amazing, and how about this for a streak: the Tigers haven’t allowed a HR in 8 games, which is their longest streak since 1981 (and that includes a series with the Rangers).

  4. Johnny Damon had ANOTHER walk-off hit against the Twins (that’s 2 in the last 3 games). He’s doing far more damage against the Twins now than he did in Detroit. Thanks, Johnny!

  5. It’s good to see Magglio’s time-off didn’t diminish his skill at the 1st-pitch groundout

    1. I think that was planned to have him leg out a ground ball and test the ankle…….ok so maybe it wasn’t

  6. as much as we complain about the Tigers batting order all the time…how would you like to try and make something out of that A’s lineup everyday ..wow

  10. Gameday is showing that Hirshbeck was fooled more than LaRoche on that curveball.

    1. Verlander also threw strike 3 to Pennington with that curve and it wasn’t called, again.

  12. Its looking like one of those games where it is unfair to have to bat against Verlander

  13. Magglio is back! Unfortunately, now he has to run the bases…and Geno wisely refrains from sending him

  15. R3L2O-K Fhail #2

    When’s the last time someone whiffed twice with R3L2O in consecutive ABs? Nice jhob…

    1. hey Peralta I don’t know which was worse the 5 pitch not swinging at any of them called out strikeout or the swing at a bouncing pitch strikeout on the second one

  16. Ugh….too many runners are dying on base in great situations. Verlander is going to have to thread the needle tonight to pull off a win with this offense.

    1. Not many winning teams will have an 0-4 with runners on 3rd less than 2 out. On the bright side, they are getting the runners on.

  17. Could they please send David “Denard Span” DeJesus to the NL already, I’ve had my fill.

  18. Starting to get more annoyed with the relationship between Hirschbeck’s idle right hand and Justin Verlander curveballs…

    1. In the first couple inning the strike zone was large; now he seems to be squeezing both pitchers…

  19. Great….That’s all the A’s will need…While our team will keep leaving runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs….absolutely ridiculous…

  20. Oh for crying out loud Raburn, as if your inability to get a hit today wasn’t bad enough, now you had to commit an error.

  21. they were talking about Rayburn working out at second base…..there is absolutely NO Position on the field he can actually play with any proficiency…..none

  25. He drilled him with a balk, I like that even better. Now first base is open in case he wants to try the 1-pitch walk again

  26. That 4th inning seems to have gotten JV totally out of synch — what ever synch is.

          1. Per Baseball-Reference.com, Grilli was last in the Majors on ’09 with TX. Looks like he flamed out.

  28. couldn’t have been a balk he wasn’t on the rubber,….it was just a defensive player throwing a ball at a batter….strange indeed

  32. barring a hitting miracle…… taking 2 out of 3 on the road…is about 100% better that losing practically every road series last year

  33. That should be the end of the noght for JV. Now the fun will really start with Thomas or Enrique G. Hang on…

    1. I’m pretty done with Enrique. 27 pitches in one inning? Seriously? And an ERA Brad Thomas x2? And he’s right handed?

      I say get rid of him and bring back CJ Nitkowski, at least he had a cool blog.

  34. The temperature has dropped a good 15 degrees since the game started; clearly this exlains Verlander’s troubles.

  36. Message to Oakland fans at the ball park: Those damn horns are annoying — very annoying. Leave them for the soccer stadium.

  37. hey Martinez for the 1000000000000 runners you have had on base this year…I’m expecting a little more than what your giving for 50 Mil

  38. Well, that last pitch sure put the “elevated” 16.+ ERA into perspective didn’t it?

  39. Inge went for that Sac fly but the first baseman robbed him by catching it. and I see by his .220 average he is in mid-season form already

  43. For what its worth, the Tigers record going into this game as well as coming out of it was the same as in 2010..7 and 7 and now 7 and 8. I believe the team finished the month of April 2010 at 14-10.

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