SB Nation User Blog: MikeMcClary

Game 56: It Took Nine Weeks, But Tigers Finally Win on Sunday

MikeMcClary — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:56:54 -0000

The Gist: The Tigers mounted a ninth-inning rally against the Mariners' J.J. Putz to take a 7-3 lead. Todd Jones gave back two in the bottom half but the Tigers held on to win 7-5 and take the series. Jeremy Bonderman was solid despite giving up 12 hits in seven innings; he struck out five, walked none and allowed only three runs. The ninth-inning was fueled by a Brandon Inge one-out walk. Curtis Granderson singled him to third and the next hitter, Placido Polanco, dropped a bloop single into right to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead. Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera followed with a single and double, respectively, to pad the lead which, thanks to Jones allowing a moon-shot homer to Raul Ibanez, the Tigers ended up needing.

The Quote: "I was wondering why they went to him." -- Granderson on the Mariners' decision to bring in Putz in a non-save situation.

The Stat: 9. The number of balls hit to Carlos Guillen all of which he handled with relative ease.

Up Next: Tigers @ Athletics

Kenny Rogers (4-4, 5.88) vs Rich Harden (3-0, 2.60)

Game 55: Los Marineros Extend Tigers' Pathetic Blowout/Shutout Trend

MikeMcClary — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:34:20 -0000

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Mariners 5, Tigers 0, the ninth shutout of the year for Detroit. Sometimes you've got to tip the cap to the other team's pitcher. How else can you explain the Tigers inability to score gobs of runs on consecutive days -- against Seattle, of all teams. Today we choose to give all the credit to Felix Hernandez who gave up two hits in seven innings and struck out seven to boot. Justin Verlander drops to 2-8 on the season.

The Quote: "[Silence.]" -- Tigers bats

The Stat: 3. The number of consecutive losing months for the Tigers in 2008 (counting the 0-1 month of March). At the end of April the Tigers were two games under .500; at the end of May they are nine games under. That's hardly making progress.

Up Next: Tigers @ Mariners

Jeremy Bonderman (3-4, 4.34) vs. Miguel Batista (3-6, 5.98)

Editor's Note: Ian's return is nigh, which means your Tigers Game Recaps will be much more thoughtful and quality focused. You can still find me over at The Daily Fungo and The Detroit Tigers Podcast. Thanks, too, to my substitute-blogger-in-crime Big Al for helping keep the bar high here at BYB.

Game 54: Mariners Set Out the Welcome Mat

MikeMcClary — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:43:50 -0000

The Gist: The Tigers scored seven first-inning runs -- but couldn't pile on -- but Nate Robertson pitched good enough to beat the Mariners 7-4. Curtis Granderson and Miguel Cabrera each has three hits, Granderson had two in the first inning along, and Brandon Inge drove in a pair of runs.

The Quote: "So I'm going to change some things around here and see what happens. I think that's important. As I said, I don't know if it's going to work. I don't know if it's going to make people angry, but that's the way it goes." -- Jim Leyland on changes coming to the Tigers lineup, roster and, perhaps, post-game meals.

The Stat: 16. The number of hits Carlos Silva has given up to the Tigers in 4.2 innings pitched -- in just the past 11 days. Runner-up: 14. The number of runs, all earned, surrendered by Silva in those same two starts.

My Two Cents: Are you as frustrated as we are that the Tigers can't seem to tack on additional runs after an early onslaught? Watching the game on Friday night gave us flashbacks to the nightmare that was a 7-6 loss to the Twins earlier this month.

Up Next: Tigers @ Mariners

Justin Verlander (2-7, 5.16) vs. Felix Hernandez (2-5, 3.60)

Game 53: Galarraga Goes Zoom, Bats Go Boom

MikeMcClary — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:09:41 -0000

Sorry for the delay in getting this one posted...

The Gist: Armando Galarraga was all that again and the Tigers bats awoke in time to avoid a sweep in Anaheim. The 6-2 win gives the 4-2 Galarraga four more wins than Dontrelle Willis, double the win total of Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson, and one more than Jeremy Bonderman -- and it's almost June 1. Bygones. New full-time left fielder Marcus Thames went yard twice and drove in four runs and Magglio Ordonez knocked a pair of hits. Curtis Granderson led off the game with only his second hit of the year off a left hander.

The Quote: "I don't try to hit home runs, even though everybody thinks I'm a home run hitter." -- Thames The Stat: 2:35 - Wednesday's time of game, darned snappy for an American League contest.

My Two Cents: Looking at the lineup from Wednesday's game, I thought that particular configuration, with possible exception of Edgar Renteria and definite exception of Miguel Cabrera, is the Tigers' best defensive team.

Up Next: Tigers @ Mariners

Nate Robertson (2-5) vs. Carlos Silva (3-4)

Game 52: Tigers Find Innovative New Ways to Lose Every Day

MikeMcClary — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:33:54 -0000

The Gist: Let's see, Jeremy Bonderman pitched an outstanding game and Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer -- enough to win the game. Monday's game. Neither performance was good enough to fuel a Tigers win in Anaheim because, stop me if you've heard this one, Detroit could muster only two other hits and the bullpen did its thing. Angels 3, Tigers 2. Oh, and the Tigers are now assured of losing another series.

The Quote: "He has hemorrhoids so bad, he probably shouldn't have been out there." -- Jim Leyland on Carlos Guillen. Given the awful performance Guillen gave on Monday night's loss (two errors), one has to wonder why Brandon Inge wasn't at third base as he was on Tuesday night.

The Stat: 28. The number of games the Tigers have lost in 2008 when scoring less than four runs. Brutal.

Up Next: Tigers @ Angels

Armando Galarraga (3-2, 3.70) vs. Joe Saunders (8-1, 2.31)

Game 51: Seay Four Balls, See Tigers Lose

MikeMcClary — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:46:02 -0000

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Kenny Rogers was outstanding -- seven innings, five hits, one walk, no runs. But, of course, the Tigers can't hit when it counts nor can Bobby Seay throw a single strike when it counts and they lose 1-0 to the Angels. I was tempted to call this a heartbreaker but it wasn't; this loss was more like a remote-control breaker, which is what I wanted to do when Seay walked Garret Anderson.

The Quote: "The thing that is frustrating for me tonight is that there were two or three times we didn’t need a hit to score - all we needed was a fly ball." -- The Gospel according to Jim Leyland. The Stat: 83-79. That's the Tigers record over their past 162 games. Smells awfully mediocre to me.

My Two Cents: Bobby Seay's four pitches weren't that far off the plate and I was surprised that home plate umpire Adrian Johnson didn't stretch the strike zone a tad.

Up Next: Tigers @ Angels

Jeremy Bonderman (3-4, 4.58) vs. Ervin Santana (6-2, 3.24)

For more on the Tigers, visit my Bless You Boys-approved blog, The Daily Fungo .

Game 50: Deep Sixed

MikeMcClary — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:47:07 -0000

The Gist: The real Justin Verlander returned but the real Francisco Cruceta undid all of Verlander's stellar work in the Tigers' 6-1 loss to the Twins on Sunday. Verlander's line: seven innings of work, one run, five hits, three strikeouts and four walks. Carlos Guillen was three for four with a double and his fifth homer of the year. The coup de grâce was Cruceta grooving a 3-2, bases-loaded heater that Jason Kubel sat on and drilled for a grand slam. Infuriating.

The Quote: "[Expletive]!" -- Mike McClary when Cruceta served Kubel a meatball.

The Stat: 1.8. Follow me on this one: Seven times this year the Tigers have lost a game following one in which they scored 8+ runs and won -- such as Satuday's 19-3 win followed by Sunday's 6-1 loss. In the seven games they've lost, they've scored 13 runs -- or an average of 1.8 runs. That, folks, is what you call feast or famine.

Up Next: Tigers @ Angels

Kenny Rogers (4-4, 6.66) vs. Jon Garland (5-3, 4.34)

Game 49: Ordonez Fuels Downtown Scoring Frenzy

MikeMcClary — Sun, 25 May 2008 04:08:22 -0000

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Magglio Ordonez drove in six runs on a three-for-three, two-homer night and Nate Robertson struck out four and allowed all three runs in 6-1/3 innings in the Tigers' 19-3 blowout of the Twins. Placido Polanco inched closer to the .300 mark with four hits in five at bats, and Gary Sheffield drove in three on a pair of hits. Aquilino Lopez quietly continued his solid 2008 season with 2-2/3 innings of one-hit relief.

The Quote: "They just whacked everything he threw up there and we couldn't really do much about it." — Twins manager Ron Gardenhire

The Stat: 10. The number of two-out RBI produced by Tigers hitters. Ordonez and Matt Joyce each had a pair.

Up Next

Sunday: Justin Verlander (2-7, 5.61) vs. Glen Perkins (1-1, 3.44)

Game 48: Oh, So THIS is the Bullpen We Feared

MikeMcClary — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:03:59 -0000

The Gist: Armando Galarraga walked five, struck out five, gave up five earned runs and seven hits in six innings pitched. Not a Quality Start. Dontrelle Willis replaced Galarraga and in one inning game up four ones: hit, run, earned run, and a balk. And, of course, he walked a pair. Of his 28 pitches, only 13 were strikes. The result? Twins 9, Tigers 4.

The Tigers looked to be making another Comerica Park comeback against the Twins when, in the bottom of the seventh, they cut a 5-0 deficit to 5-4. Gary Sheffield's homer could've been tied at five if Marcus Thames hadn't strayed about a total of 50 feet off two different bases during the same play. The bullpen immediately gave back three runs in the top of the eighth. Jim Leyland got the thumb in the top of the seventh.

The Quote: Whatever Leyland said to get ejected.

The Stat: 0. The number of strikeouts by Willis, opposed to the 11 walks. In other words, he has more balks than strikeouts. Oy vey.

My Two Cents: I have a question for you, is it too soon to declare that this team has no heart? I'm just asking.

Up Next:

Saturday: Nate Robertson (1-5, 6.08) vs. Boof Bonser (2-5, 5.25)

Game 47: Seattle Slew

MikeMcClary — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:42:22 -0000

The Gist: Hey now! Jeremy Bonderman earns a quality start -- and a win -- after a six-inning, eight-hit outing against the Mariners. And what do you know? The Tigers beat the Mariners 9-2 to sweep the series. Freddy Dolsi was lights-out over three innings of no-hit relief. The Tigers banged out 13 hits (43 for the series), including three from Gary Sheffield (to raise his average to .202), two from Matt Joyce and a three-run jack from Brandon Inge.

The Quote: "They want me to run on and off the mound. I smoke three packs a day." -- Jim Leyland on MLB's efforts to accelerate games.

The Stat: .281 - Placido Polanco's average, despite an 0 for 4 day on Thursday. Talk about flying under the radar.

Up Next: Twins @ Tigers

Friday: Armando Galarraga (3-1, 3.06) vs. Kevin Slowey (0-4, 5.49)
Saturday: Nate Robertson (1-5, 6.08) vs. Boof Bonser (2-5, 5.25)
Sunday: Justin Verlander (2-7, 5.61) vs. Glen Perkins (1-1, 3.44)

For more on the Tigers, visit my Bless You Boys-approved blog, The Daily Fungo.