PREGAME: There’s a lot going on tonight. The MLB draft, the Red Wings trying to clinch the cup, and my refrigerator isn’t working. So this is a pretty short game post. Basically this as lopsided of a pitching match-up as you’ll see. Mark Buerhrle against Dontrelle Willis. Party on.
Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – June 9, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: It seems so long ago since I wrote the pregame. This is one of those nights when I’m glad I’m not a real writer and have to craft a game story. For one thing they had to rewrite the story a couple times. For another, I couldn’t put a cohesive one together and I can resort to bulleted thoughts.
- I honestly thought the Tigers had little hope going into this game. The pitching match-up wasn’t favorable. Mark Buehrle struggled with his control, which is rare, but to the Tigers credit they waited him out. They also executed multiple times.
- Dontrelle Willis wasn’t good, but he gritted it out enough to give them a chance to win. It looked scary when the first 6 pitches missed the zone, and he looked rattled during the Pierzynski altercation. But he did enough. Did he do enough to save his spot in the rotation? I don’t know.
- Pretty much everybody chipped in with the bat. Inge had a great night, Raburn did his part, Laird had 2 big sac bunts, Everett and Polanco with clutch knocks and Miggy with the big blast to win it.
- But the bullpen. (Except Zach Miner who was excellent). Everyone else walked at least one batter. Rodney looked like his delivery was all out of whack and he completely lost it. Brandon Lyon fanned Dye but allowed a 2 out double to Konerko to tie the game after a Thome walk (not a horrible strategic decision). And he did get the last 3 outs relatively easily.
- What’s left of the bullpen for tomorrow is Robertson/Seay/Rodney.
- And yes, I think the White Sox have a beef. I think Wise got the hand in there. It wasn’t a blatantly bad call (notice I said “I think”), but I do think Wise was safe.