A little perspective: On 4/28/11, the Tigers were 12 and 13 and 4.5 games behind the Indians (and Inge was still on the team). So here we are 12 months later with some improvement all the way around. Keep the faith.
Dirks Dinger!
Almost makes one forget that Boesch struck out with a runner on 2nd and no outs. Again…almost…
He seems better with 2 outs…let’s see…well, yes, he certainly is. So far this season with 0 outs he is at .182 with a .455 OPS, with 2 outs .273/.545. And that was before today.
Dirksy!
There is a shocking sight — Lamont putting up the stop sign to Ajax when he probably could gotten home easily??
Oh well, thanks to Cabby it may not matter.
If it were Ordonez or Cabrera he would have waved him home.
Offense wants to see how big a lead the bullpen can blow.
almost blown…
I see Leyland has his whoever-plays-leftfield-bats-5th lineup today. And it’s Dirks. And it is OK. Can we please leave him there (LF, not necessarily batting 5th)?
CRapada sighting.
A two out rally, and with a runner on third in there no less!
Dirks hasn’t gotten the memo yet about how to play LF for Detroit.
For a guy who was described as “day to day” due to a hamstring injury, Dirks looked pretty regular (aka good) running that ball down in left. Plus he raked a HR. Might the “day to day” description be a bit of, let’s see — what shall we call it? B.S.?
Messrs. Symly and Below might become fulltime starters?
Memo to Mr. Leland: A. Dirks can play left.
Dirksy has won the audition for left field ….. do you see that Smokey!
Good job Andy! Glad to see such catches in Yankee Stadium too.
Not missing Delmon in LF today, that’s for sure.
Just too bad he nuked his trade value.
The time to trade him was this past winter, when the Tigers could maybe have capitalized on his freakishly uncharacteristic end-of-the-season hitting. Personally, I wouldn’t at all mind a Raburn/Dirks platoon in LF with a real 2B in the lineup. That’s what I was hoping they would do with Young, but alas it was not (and likely won’t now) come to pass.
You got that right Vince. DD blew it by not moving this guy as soon as he grumbled about possibly having to be the DH versus being a LF. Delmon is a below average fielder and an OK hitter. We probably could have got a fourth or fifth starter from someone for him, likely someone better than Wilk that could have filled in for Fister while he’s been on the DL.
Very good points by both Jerry and Vince.
Smyly has Rookie of the Year stuff
All smyles here.
I like this Smyly guy.
Smyle though your heart is aching
Smyle even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by
If you Smyle through your fear and sorrow
Smyle and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you
It’s great when Leyland brings Valverde in for these non-save situations, that he ends up throwing a boat load of pitches, gives up a couple runs, and then won’t be available for the next game when a save actually might be needed… It is almost the same result everytime Valverde comes in for a non-save situation.
At least it is an end to the losing streak, hopefully this will get the team rolling again…
Leyland doesn’t get it and don’t expect him to catch on anytime soon.
The only good thing to come out of the ninth today is that hopefully Papa Grande threw too many pitches and won’t be available tomorrow. I’m at the pouint where I’d rather see Dotel or Benoit close games. Valverde doesn’t have an “out” pitch, but rather depends on people hitting it at his teammates. That is not a quality that I want in my closer. I want a guy that is striking at least 9 per 9 innings. Valverde got away with his high wire act last year, odds are that he is going to get burned a lot this year if he keeps pitching this way.
Can you imagine how deflated that clubhouse would have been if we only had a 2 run lead and he’d have blown that game? I would say the clubhouse would slide dangerously close to unrecoverable. The Tigers are really frustrating to watch this year, partly because Ol’ Smoky refuses to learn from the past. DON”T INSERT VALVERDE IN NON-SAVE SITUATIONS JIM!
I am not a worshipper of the “Sabermetrics” or whatever you call them, but, they do have value. In the case of Valverde, his “numbers” were not great last year and he was probably pretty lucky. I believe that they can not be married to this guy…He is trending down and it’s the last year of his contract. Benoit will slide into the closer role next year and he looks good (Except his control has been terrible) so, his results have been bad. I fear, Valverde is becoming a lot like Jonesy…His stuff is just not there any more. We will see, but, thankfully, Dotel has been awsome. One final thought. Dirks needs to play in the OF and never DH again, he is the 2nd best defensive outfielder on the team and hopefully, Jim, doesn’t keep letting his players tell him where they will play. Example: Delmon Young…Jim caters to him, and plays Dirks at DH (when it makes NO sense) Young repays him by getting arrested at 2:30 in the morning…while on a “Business Trip” he is now on the restricted list and is unavailable for the team. Moral of the story: Anybody who is selfish enough to not do simple things for the team (ex:Let a better defensive player play the field,a nd you DH) Then they can not be trusted. Manage the TEAM, not individual players.
I was hoping somehow somebody would trade for Valverde because our team really is in a great opportunity to dominate if we shore up some offensive positions by getting rid of expensive and expendable pitchers and then replacing them with more efficient choices. This team has enough material in its organization to lock down a decade of dominance through proper asset repositioning. It’s such a letdown to suffer through what I consider mediocrity through being lazy, ignorant, and flat out stupid.
the most amazing thing about the game today was the guy sitting right behind the plate in those Yankee $2500. seats with his wife and his three kids….just who in the world has 10 grand to spend on one baseball game…and the guy didn’t look like a drug dealer either……
he Smokey…ValVerde does not do well in non save situations..DUH! for the 100000000000th time……
Yeah, I was kinda hoping to see Villarreal!
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A little perspective: On 4/28/11, the Tigers were 12 and 13 and 4.5 games behind the Indians (and Inge was still on the team). So here we are 12 months later with some improvement all the way around. Keep the faith.
Dirks Dinger!
Almost makes one forget that Boesch struck out with a runner on 2nd and no outs. Again…almost…
He seems better with 2 outs…let’s see…well, yes, he certainly is. So far this season with 0 outs he is at .182 with a .455 OPS, with 2 outs .273/.545. And that was before today.
Dirksy!
There is a shocking sight — Lamont putting up the stop sign to Ajax when he probably could gotten home easily??
Oh well, thanks to Cabby it may not matter.
If it were Ordonez or Cabrera he would have waved him home.
Offense wants to see how big a lead the bullpen can blow.
almost blown…
I see Leyland has his whoever-plays-leftfield-bats-5th lineup today. And it’s Dirks. And it is OK. Can we please leave him there (LF, not necessarily batting 5th)?
CRapada sighting.
A two out rally, and with a runner on third in there no less!
Dirks hasn’t gotten the memo yet about how to play LF for Detroit.
For a guy who was described as “day to day” due to a hamstring injury, Dirks looked pretty regular (aka good) running that ball down in left. Plus he raked a HR. Might the “day to day” description be a bit of, let’s see — what shall we call it? B.S.?
Messrs. Symly and Below might become fulltime starters?
Memo to Mr. Leland: A. Dirks can play left.
Dirksy has won the audition for left field ….. do you see that Smokey!
Good job Andy! Glad to see such catches in Yankee Stadium too.
Not missing Delmon in LF today, that’s for sure.
Just too bad he nuked his trade value.
The time to trade him was this past winter, when the Tigers could maybe have capitalized on his freakishly uncharacteristic end-of-the-season hitting. Personally, I wouldn’t at all mind a Raburn/Dirks platoon in LF with a real 2B in the lineup. That’s what I was hoping they would do with Young, but alas it was not (and likely won’t now) come to pass.
You got that right Vince. DD blew it by not moving this guy as soon as he grumbled about possibly having to be the DH versus being a LF. Delmon is a below average fielder and an OK hitter. We probably could have got a fourth or fifth starter from someone for him, likely someone better than Wilk that could have filled in for Fister while he’s been on the DL.
Very good points by both Jerry and Vince.
Smyly has Rookie of the Year stuff
All smyles here.
I like this Smyly guy.
Smyle though your heart is aching
Smyle even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by
If you Smyle through your fear and sorrow
Smyle and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you
It’s great when Leyland brings Valverde in for these non-save situations, that he ends up throwing a boat load of pitches, gives up a couple runs, and then won’t be available for the next game when a save actually might be needed… It is almost the same result everytime Valverde comes in for a non-save situation.
At least it is an end to the losing streak, hopefully this will get the team rolling again…
Leyland doesn’t get it and don’t expect him to catch on anytime soon.
The only good thing to come out of the ninth today is that hopefully Papa Grande threw too many pitches and won’t be available tomorrow. I’m at the pouint where I’d rather see Dotel or Benoit close games. Valverde doesn’t have an “out” pitch, but rather depends on people hitting it at his teammates. That is not a quality that I want in my closer. I want a guy that is striking at least 9 per 9 innings. Valverde got away with his high wire act last year, odds are that he is going to get burned a lot this year if he keeps pitching this way.
Can you imagine how deflated that clubhouse would have been if we only had a 2 run lead and he’d have blown that game? I would say the clubhouse would slide dangerously close to unrecoverable. The Tigers are really frustrating to watch this year, partly because Ol’ Smoky refuses to learn from the past. DON”T INSERT VALVERDE IN NON-SAVE SITUATIONS JIM!
I am not a worshipper of the “Sabermetrics” or whatever you call them, but, they do have value. In the case of Valverde, his “numbers” were not great last year and he was probably pretty lucky. I believe that they can not be married to this guy…He is trending down and it’s the last year of his contract. Benoit will slide into the closer role next year and he looks good (Except his control has been terrible) so, his results have been bad. I fear, Valverde is becoming a lot like Jonesy…His stuff is just not there any more. We will see, but, thankfully, Dotel has been awsome. One final thought. Dirks needs to play in the OF and never DH again, he is the 2nd best defensive outfielder on the team and hopefully, Jim, doesn’t keep letting his players tell him where they will play. Example: Delmon Young…Jim caters to him, and plays Dirks at DH (when it makes NO sense) Young repays him by getting arrested at 2:30 in the morning…while on a “Business Trip” he is now on the restricted list and is unavailable for the team. Moral of the story: Anybody who is selfish enough to not do simple things for the team (ex:Let a better defensive player play the field,a nd you DH) Then they can not be trusted. Manage the TEAM, not individual players.
I was hoping somehow somebody would trade for Valverde because our team really is in a great opportunity to dominate if we shore up some offensive positions by getting rid of expensive and expendable pitchers and then replacing them with more efficient choices. This team has enough material in its organization to lock down a decade of dominance through proper asset repositioning. It’s such a letdown to suffer through what I consider mediocrity through being lazy, ignorant, and flat out stupid.
the most amazing thing about the game today was the guy sitting right behind the plate in those Yankee $2500. seats with his wife and his three kids….just who in the world has 10 grand to spend on one baseball game…and the guy didn’t look like a drug dealer either……
he Smokey…ValVerde does not do well in non save situations..DUH! for the 100000000000th time……
Yeah, I was kinda hoping to see Villarreal!