The Tigers try to keep pace with the Texas Rangers for 2nd-best AL record, and try to take one last look this season at what rookie prospect Jacob Turner has to show. Turner will be pitching to his old Mudhen buddy, Omir Santos.
The Orioles will be no pushovers; in fact they just finished throwing a monkey wrench in the wild card plans of the Red Sox, taking the series with them after a series win against Tampa Bay which similarly wrenched their plans. The Orioles have played the Tigers even so far this season, splitting the 6 games they have played.
To make things even more difficult, the Tigers have to face the dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy They’ve Never Seen, this one named Zach Britton (10-10, 4.28).
Jim Leyland has clarified the playoff rotation (inasmuch as anything is clear with him). Verlander will not pitch on short rest; he will start games 1 and 5 (regardless of opponent), Fister game 2.
Player of the Pre-Game: Ryan Raburn
Raburn continues his typical September surge: he is hitting .367 for the month and leading the team in OPS with 1.158
Today’s Omir-Goodness Lineup:
- Austin Jackson, CF
- Magglio Ordonez, RF
- Delmon Young, LF
- Miguel Cabrera, 1B
- Victor Martinez, DH
- Ryan Raburn, 2B
- Jhonny Peralta, SS
- Brandon Inge, 3B
- Omir Santos, C
Oakland A’s – 4
Texas Rangers – 3
1/2 game lead over the Rangers heading into tonight.
…and with that SO, Mr Inge, i’d like to introduce you to Mr Mendoza
And he got there with his patented check-swing strikeout. He couldn’t have written the script better himself.
Like the old saying goes, “Mendoza taught Inge everything he knows, and he still doesn’t know anything.”
Gosh darnit.
Remember, we have the tiebreaker with the Rangers.
Kind of a throw away game today, running Turner out there to “see what he’s got.” Well, not much, as he is clearly not ready, but then I think we already knew that. With Penny going Sunday, that game may be a giveaway too.
Yeah, it is easy to say now, but what Leyland should have done was start Fister on Wednesday, Scherzer yesterday, and Turner in place of Penny.
We didn’t really need to give up a quality start from Fister just to get him ahead of Scherzer in the rotation. We had an off-day Monday, so he could have gone on normal 5 days rest and Scherzer would have been on 7.
Oh well. 6 games left, let’s win them.
That’s what I would have done too – simple.
It might have been a different game if Cabrera, in the second inning, slid at home instead of getting tagged out. The on-deck batter wasn’t in position to give Cabrera the slide signal. I guess he didn’t want to block Rod’s and Mario’s view? However that run and extra out could have made a big difference in the final score.