Being a fan is tough. In baseball, even in the best years, it means you’re going to have at least 70 lousy baseball days, and a few dozen of those will rip your sports heart out.
I just want you to know, that however frustrated/angry/disappointed/amused you feel regarding yesterday’s bullpen (lack of) effort. I feel the same way.
Hope opener today. Short and Sweet for the Win.
I’m headed out to Rangers Ballpark for their home opener, someone please post the lineups when they are released.
Hope opener? There’s a Freudian typo if ever I saw one!
Wow. I’ll leave it. I hope we win today.
The lineup is out already btw, it is the same as the first two games. I’ll post it if I don’t see you update in a while.
That was so good I couldn’t be sure it was a typo. Bring it back in 2014! A new DTW tradition is born: The Hope Opener.
Here are the Home Opener starting lineups–the Yankee lineup is the more interesting:
Tigers
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Torii Hunter, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Andy Dirks, LF
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Omar Infante, 2B
Yankees
1. Brett Gardner, CF
2. Robinson Cano, 2B
3. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
4. Travis Hafner, DH
5. Brennan Boesch, RF
6. Eduardo Nunez, SS
7. Ichiro Suziki, LF
8. Lyle Overbay, 1B
9. Chris Stewart, C
If you thought this season was off to a frustrating beginning, wait until Boesch bashes Detroit. Boesch has killed Fister (when he was with Seattle) to the tune of 7-for-12 (.583), with a 1.615 OPS. Lovely.
Ok…it’s opening day and we are playing ball. I have Dan and Jim on the radio, Mario and Ron on the tube, and my DTWeb buds on the net! Life it good!
the worst part of watching Avila hit …is watching hit hit….back to back hanging curve balls and he barely gets to one and misses the other to fall to .070
meant to say … watching HIM HIT
Good to see Fister get off to a good start …he was pretty up and down in spring training…hope he stays healthy and UP!
Agree…he has the yellowhammer going!
Going going gone.
what makes me think the Tori Hunter pick up is a really good one already!
Tigers had 8 homeruns in their first four games of 2012. Bats gotta go to win.
Let’s remember that the Tigers started last season 10-5 with hot bats early. What I’m liking about this season so far (all of 4 games) is how solid they’ve been overall aside from the bullpen.
Sweet home Alabama…Prince hits the railing!
Avila needed that one!
As did we!
Lefty power rules the day; Prince, Avila, and Smyly.
How does everybody feel about today’s bullpen management? I ask because this is what Leyland was trying to do on Monday.
The typical long relief guy is AAA starter who is easily the worst pitcher on the team. Guys like that are only ever used to mop up blowouts and finish an 18-inning game.
That’s not Smyly. He’s proven that he has the arsenal and endurance to be a major league starter, so he’s easily the best pitcher in the bullpen. He’s not the kind of guy you put on a short leash; he’s gonna get a chance to work through his jams and bounce back the next inning, just like the rest of the starters. If he’s in the bullpen all year, don’t be surprised if he ends up with 7 wins, 10 saves (mostly the 3+ inning variety) and 120 IP in 40 appearances.
I’ve rarely any quarrel with Leyland’s bullpen management. I raise my eyebrows at times, but my general feeling on the whole in-game strategy thing is that it’s up to the players to execute, always. Leyland didn’t fall apart in the 8th yesterday, and he didn’t retire 12 straight Yankees today.
Splendid victory! Nothing new, but Prince’s bat speed is just jaw-dropping, and Smyly was unbelievable – kept thinking he’d be taken out, and hats off to Leyland for running him out there the rest of the way. If Avila could transpose his swings on the last 2 ABs to more pitch locations, he’d never bat #8 again. The HR was textbook you-knew-it-was-gone-right-away.
Has anyone noticed that over the first 4 games, the real hot corner has been 1B? Pretty cool.
It’s up to the players to execute, yes. But it is up to the manager to recognize when they are not and get them out of there before the damage becomes extreme. This is most critical with pitching of course, and especially relief pitching, because a bad outing allowed to go on too long can turn a winning effort into a loss. This can happen with position players also, but a bad day by one player is generally mitigated by the fact that he has 8 other guys backing him up. Over the long haul this can certainly become problematic, as in continuing to bat a worthless designated hitter in the no. 5 spot, because “that’s where the DH hits’. In my opinion, this is the great danger of a ‘role player’ mindset as compared to making decisions based on a particular situational need. Managers don’t always have good alternatives of course, but when they do and consistently refuse to take them, they leave themselves open to legitimate criticism.
And just how do you decide in the moment that an outing is so “bad”? 2 bad pitches? 5? 10? 1 baserunner? 2? 4? 8? 1 run? 2? 5? For that matter, how do you decide when an outing is “good”? How do you decide that a “good” outing is about to fade due to fatigue? And of course, you have to make all of these determinations at least a few batters in advance so your relievers have a reasonable chance to warm-up. You are going to let them warm up, right? How much importance do you place on today’s game versus the rest of the season? Only a fool would manage 162 games the same way he would manage WS G7.
The bottom line is that managing a bullpen (and the rest of the team) requires a colossal number of nuanced decisions. Reasonable people can disagree on many of them, but anyone with a lick of baseball sense should be able to understand and respect both sides of any particular decision. I love having a measured discussion of the pros and cons of various decisions, but sadly, most of the anti-Leyland folk around here just spew opinions with the same kind of haughty certainty that makes TSE a joke.
Lots of RH pitchers in the rotation, lots of LH bats to face.
Hey Victor not even close to being a hittable pitch!