Detroit Tigers, 25-28, 5 games behind Chicago. Day-to-Day injuries: 3–Add Benoit, with forearm tightness. Dirks officially to the 15-day DL. Matt Young called up from Toledo.
He had only been on the team a couple of days, and had been having a nightmare of an evening, committing 2 errors and seeing 5 runners steal on him. But Omir Santos had one thing in his favor: he hadn’t been around long enough to fall into the Tiger runner-on-3rd-less-than-2-out malaise, and his sacrifice fly redeemed a great outing by Rick Porcello and a Cabrera power show (Santos also had a sac bunt).
And in case you were wondering what Leyland would have done if he needed another player to take the field (he used his entire bench), Villarreal would have put on the glove.
Today is Magglio Ordonez Day at Comerica, with official retirement ceremonies beginning at 12:30.
This afternoon Justin Verlander steps on the rubber for the series rubber game, and looks to maintain Detroit’s winning record against the AL East (9-8). Verlander, impressed by last night’s game, is working on developing a 2-HBP, 2-Walk, 3-SB inning, except that he thinks he can do it without giving up a run. At any rate both Benoit and Valverde are likely to be unavailable today, so go Justin!
Stat of the Day: Miguel Cabrera hit 910 feet of home run ball last night (they were listed at 466 and 444). “That was a lot of footage, to say the least,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.
Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Magglio Ordonez, who is literally the player being celebrated in the pre-game.
Today’s Hey-It-Worked-Last-Night Lineup:
- Quintin Berry CF
- Danny Worth 2B
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young DH
- Brennan Boesch RF
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Don Kelly LF
- Omir Santos C
Something has got to be done about the poor umpiring! Benoit is now injured because of the late call of time last night.
OK, it looks like we have a bit of a problem here.
Santos clown show again today.
Results in a NY run scored.
Everything that could go wrong for this team ….. is going wrong! I don’t know if they can overcome all the problems and leapfrog two teams to make it to the playoffs?
Kelly takes another HR away from NY ….. he’s playing some pretty good left field.
NY hitters are stupid if they swing the bat: JV clearly doesn’t have it today….if they’re patient they’ll get their walks. hopefully JV will get his sh*t together here shortly
Unfortunately, A-Rod was stupid.
Maybe the Tigers should consider talking Maggs out of retirement.
With Mags and Inge gone, who is the second most tenured Tiger? Ramone?
Depends how you look at it. Ramon has been with Detroit since 2006, Verlander since 2005. But Ramon was also with Detroit from 2002-2003, before 2 years with Seattle.
Raburn, since ’04
When he was 4 for 29 in 12 games for a .138 average, about what he was hitting this year.
Hmm. Does he count as a current Tiger?
He’ll be back. He’s just enjoying some of that “extended time off.”
I think once Jackson/Dirks come back, Mr. Boesch may need some extended time off.
He’s a streaky batter to be sure. Unfortunately, half the lineup seems to need extended time off, so where to begin?
33rd solo homer for the Tigers this year (52 total). That must lead the majors.
The Tigers’ BA and OBA are actually pretty good, but the big hits aren’t happening at the right times.
Clown Show.
Well, I think we just about call this one a wrap. This lineup has about a .5% chance of scoring 5 more runs and that probably won’t be enough anyway.
I think Omir is becoming acclimated…classic GIDP ball there.
Typical of the Tigers…its way too hard to put in a lot of effort two days in arow…plus theres probably a grand buffet in the clubhouse for Maggs…..
I see Verlander is in Postseason form today…This team will not win anything. They are a bad baseball team and injuries have nothing to do with their problems. They find ways to lose, are fundamentally flawed…They need to move some of these pieces and restock the farm system. They flat out suck. Don’t give me any excuses. This is how they have been for the majority of Dombrowski’s tenure in Detroit. They have had 2 good seasons because in both those years, certain guys had career years…Those two good seasons masked fundamental, structural problems in the way this organization is built. They went on two good playoff runs because two pitchers (Kenny & Fister) were ridiculous and two guys went on a power surge (D.Young & Monroe). They are more entertaining because money buys you interesting players…Yet, the norm is NOT 2006 and 2011…The norm is around 80-85 wins. I suspect, we will get there again this year, with an outside chance of winning the division if V-Mart comes back and the division crown only takes about 85-88 wins. Jim Leyland and the organization will wring their hands about the lack of clutch hits and injuries.Yet, they came into the season w/ a rookie as their 5th starter (meaning no margin for error) and a bunch of best case scenarios (Infield defense, Raburn, Boesch, Young, Avila, Smyly,etc.) Well, normally when your whole season is based on a bunch of best cased scenarios…then you are in trouble and that, IMO, is the Dombrowski plan…spend a lot of money in a weak division and hope that a bunch of stuff goes your way…Normally, they have not, but, we have caught lightining in a bottle twice and that has bought him time. The team is vastly overrated and I suspect, that they will not tear up the league the rest of the way…to quote Denny Green “They are who we thought they were.”
Chris I agree, I really believe they lack motivation. And their batting coach? Please! You don’t have to be a very good coach to say something to Brennon Boesch like, the reason you pop out to the infield almost every at bat is because your swinging a little bit low on every pitch, let’s not think about home runs and just hit the ball hard. Terrible coaching, fire them all.
They are who we thought they are.(.are ) because they have a long way to go…
Defense wins championships…this team is incapable of any major league defense in 6 out of 9 positions.
Were off to see the Wizard…Good and when you get there you need heart, brains, and courage….
Uh oh…I thought you needed your Gut, a “Track Record,” and being Due?
Inge has 4 RBI tonight.That gives him 5 games with 4 RBI or more, which is 3 more games than the entire Tigers team.
Miguel Cabrera has 1 HR in every 20.0 AB, best on the Tigers.
Inge has 1 HR every 14.3 AB (Not enough AB to qualify, but that would put him right behind Bautista at 7th best in the AL).
Or this:
AB-240 RBI-44 Cabrera
AB-207 RBI-35 Fielder
AB- 86 RBI-23 Inge
He has also hit 4 of his HRs in Oakland (2nd worse HR park in AL)…in fact he has 10% of ALL HRs hit there this season, despite having only played *6* games there…OK, that’s enough fun for tonight.
Here’s a Raburn report…In four games at Toledo, he is 3 for 15 for a .200 batting average. Meanwhile fans are still voting for him on All Star ballots!
I had to stop when I hit my 25-vote max.