Schembo

May 9th, 2012 at 9:04 AM ^

Water always finds its level.  And with Inge, that means at least two strikeouts a game.  If the bases were loaded in the 9th, then obviously someone in the bullpen was having a rough night.

Chiwolve

May 9th, 2012 at 9:05 AM ^

I will never understand why Inge garnered so much hatred from Detroit fans towards the end of his career here-- perhaps it was time for him to move on, but he deserved better treatment IMO. And Raburn has been awful this year! It's early so maybe he can turn it around, but if the Tigers wanna make some noise in the playoffs (or even reach them), an upgrade at 2B and another bat (preferably at DH and move Dirks to LF) would be nice

His Dudeness

May 9th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^

It's because he is a career .234 hitter. Even with all his "success" in Oakland he is hitting .179 there. ONE SEVENTY NINE. He is a fucking corner infielder. A power position. Other notable 3rd basemen: Evan Longoria, Adrian Beltre, David Wright, Poblo Sandoval, Alex Rodriguez, Micheal Young, etc. The only position where you can afford a .179 BA with limited power is P or C and POSSIBLY SS. Inge is a shitty baseball player. That's why we hate him. Because he stinks.

Chiwolve

May 9th, 2012 at 9:16 AM ^

My point is not that he is a great player or even that it wasn't time for Detroit to look elsewhere. Admittedly, the guy always carried a low BA for his position, but the guy played for us for 10 years and was around when the whole team stunk! He also came up with some clutch hits throughout his career. Also, in a clutch situation, can you honestly say you'd rather have Raburn at the plate?

Just saying I though he deserved better treatment, not a different end result.

Schembo

May 9th, 2012 at 9:26 AM ^

He probably didn't deserve the boos at the end, but the guy was a borderline minor league player for alot of his career and the town talked about him like he was Pete Rose during that time, so that more than makes up for it.

baldurblue

May 9th, 2012 at 11:57 AM ^

Honestly I think it was kind of a build-up.  He'd been such a fan and media darling for so long without being good enough that it all just came to head.  Now that we have the talent, a lot of people have been sitting around the last few seasons scratching their heads asking themselves why the hell does Brandon Inge still have a roster spot.

He seemed like he got arrogant towards the end too, the stuff he'd say in interviews.  Coming out of spring training this year he said that even though his average didn't show it, he could hit the ball just as good as anybody else out there, which, come on.  He also commented something like "I must be doing something right" when asked about getting booed by Tigers fans.

French West Indian

May 9th, 2012 at 11:58 AM ^

Inge didn't deserve shit.  I honestly still can't fathom how he wasn't cut with everybody else after the 2003 season (when he batted a whopping .203).  The guy blessed Detroit with nearly a career's worth of monumental suckitude.  Frankly, I hope that he gets to endure a long, miserable life with a slow, painful death.

Lionsfan

May 9th, 2012 at 10:00 AM ^

That's definitely a fair point, but it still seemed like there were plenty of moments where he should have kept quiet. People did take some of his comments too far (like jumping on him for saying that he's going to compete for his job), but he could have avoided quite a few of his problems by not talking

Naked Bootlegger

May 9th, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^

I loved Tom Brookens with his .246 BA and total lack of power.   Jack Morris and Dan Petry loved him, too.   He was the Tigers' best 3rd basemen of the 80's.   (Maybe my tune would be different if we had kept Howard Johnson around a little longer, but even HoJo was a career .249 hitter.)    For a supposed position of such offensive importance, the Tigers had a decade largely devoid of an offensive threat.   Brookens was definitely the best of this list (apologies to Darnell Coles and his one-hit wonder year):

Tom Brookens 3B 1979-1988
Chris Brown 3B 1989
Marty Castillo 3B 1981-1985
Darnell Coles 3B 1986-1987, 1990
Howard Johnson 3B 1982-1984
Mick Kelleher 3B 1981-1982
Wayne Krenchicki 3B 1983
Jim Morrison 3B 1987-1988
Stan Papi 3B 1980-1981
Al Pedrique 3B 1989
Chris Pittaro 3B 1985
Rick Schu 3B 1989
Doug Strange 3B 1989

(Table from http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/det/history/players.jsp)

French West Indian

May 9th, 2012 at 12:02 PM ^

Aside from personal stats & fa, Brookens also played on a World Championship team in 1984.  Inge was a member of the 2003 squad that was one of the all-time worst teams ever.  Being a "winner" counts for a lot around here.

radfan5

May 9th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^

 I really dont think people hated Brandon Inge. They hated how much some people love, and defended his borderline minor league level talent. I am not a Brandon Inge fan, but he didnt deserve to be booed. He gave it his all. We should have pranced out all the Inge appologists and booed the shit out of them.

coldnjl

May 9th, 2012 at 3:04 PM ^

you hate someone you have never met? I don't like him starting for my favorite baseball team, but don't you think it is a little sad that you hate him and apparently can't get over the fact that he is gone? He did alot more positive in this world (see Mott donationas) than bad (can't hit). Can you say you provided a serious financial benefit to sick kids?

bronxblue

May 9th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^

See, I always thought Inge got a fair bit of leeway from the fans considering he was a mediocre hitter for virtually his entire run with the Tigers.  I mean, his career best in batting average was pretty meh (.287), and whatever pop he had earlier in his career he lost toward the end.  His range was fine at 3rd but never great, and he had a penchant for making it public knowledge when he wasn't happy with his playing situation.  I'm happy that he has two homers and 8 RBIs, but I kind of doubt he'll keep up that pace, which means you have a part-time defensive replacement who hits below .200.  Yeah, I think the Tigers can survive his loss.

JamieH

May 9th, 2012 at 2:31 PM ^

Offensively Inge was always sub-par.  But you are wrong about his range.  His range, especially before he had double knee surgery late in his career, was outstanding.  Back in the 2006-2008 range it could be argued that he was the best defensive 3B in the game, or that he was at least one of the top few.  Bill James defensive metrics back that up.

He lost some of that defensive ability when he tore cartlidge in both knees during his All-Star season.

Rico616

May 9th, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^

You said least? No, not least. He was one of many problems. His play at 2B was shitty, his offense was worse. Then there's the bullpen problem. Also the bats need to heat up. There is still plenty of time but Inge had to go. He was useless in Detroit.

As for the grand slam, cool. 1 walk off hit doesnt mean he deserves to play horribly the other 161 games. I was at the game a few weeks back where he basically cost Porcello the game in the 1st inning. Porcello was so deflated by the multiple poor defensive plays he had behind him by Inge that you could see he just wasnt in it.

Still glad to see Inge gone.

LSAClassOf2000

May 9th, 2012 at 9:07 AM ^

Brandon is stil hitting .146 this season and has an OBP that, I believe, is in the neighborhood of .200. Even if you projected his stats to date out over the season, he would still have a Rob Deer-esque sort of year, and nobody could talk himself out of good at-bats like Rob Deer when he was a Tiger.

QuarterbackU

May 9th, 2012 at 9:39 AM ^

Was at the Pirates-Nats game last night, and Rod Barajas, batting .137 with 0 HR and 0 RBI hit a 2-run walkoff for the Bucs. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut...



I didn't think first half Raburn would be this bad, especially after that spring training, but he'll pick it up in a big way. The A's can have Jnge

Blueisgood

May 9th, 2012 at 9:45 AM ^

He's been stinking it up real bad the past 2 seasons in Detroit. He didn't look good at second, and he wasn't going to knock Cabrera off of third. It was time for him to go.  If he'd have the bases loaded in Detroit, he woulda struck out. His BA was .051 or something like that. It was way past time for them to part ways. Maybe a change of scernery is what he needed? But time will tell. He could start stinking it up in Oakland and bat .100 for the year, or he can find his game and be an all star. Regardless, it wasn't going to happen in Detroit.