OT: Tigers v Rangers
Bonderman gets a 1, 2, 3 inning... am I that drunk?
Ranger's fan here... we think the same thing anytime Feldman goes 1,2,3. Guess we don't label this as one of the pitching duels of the season?
Just the latest Cy Young impression to be made against the Tigers this year. They should be lighting this guy up.
until that happened...
has had his bumps along the way but I like what I see from the guy overall. Sad to say but Bondo is a 4 starter and nights like this are going to happen to your 4/5 guys especially in the AL
Has he always been the 4 starter? Wasn't he 2 or 3 just a few years ago? I remember watching him a while back and thinking he had some good stuff.
wow. He does appear to be okay. I was impressed that Treanor, the catcher, jst bolted straight to the mound. Nice reaction by the fans too.
3 straight fairly hard hit singles actually
2 seeing eye dribblers and a bad hop (would have been tailor made DP)
It was 2 weak grounders that trickled inches from Guillens glove and one incredibly unlucky hop over Santiago at short.
Johnny Motherfucking Damon about to tie this one up.
Genius! Or my feed is behind. Either way, I'll take it.
is like 20 feet from having four homers tonight.
I love watching that guy bat. Pure swing with tons of power. He really should have 4 tonight - would have 4 in most parks.
Boesch's slump has likely arrived.....it's now up to him to make the necessary adjustments. I think he can.
What the hell is Santiago swinging at??? Does he think this is golf?
that for the majority of his time in Detroit, why stop now?
Anyone else think it's time to get rid of Leyland?
For what? For keeping the team competitive year in, year-out. I know he does some annoying managerial things from time to time, but the guy has helped Detroit be a winner for the past couple of years, and I don't see too many other good options out there.
Maybe your forgot the "best lineup in baseball" with the second highest payroll in 2008 was good enough to get them last place.
Not to mention failing to clinch the division in the final game of the regular season twice since he's been here.
Yeah, he helped the team to a World Series in 2006, but remember they did lose to the worst team to ever win it all.
Not saying the Tigers should win it all every year, but he doesn't make adjustments... as evidence by this team consistently scoring early in games and getting shut out as the game goes on. Also having hot streaks early in the season only to falter in the second half.
You are a damn moron. Please stop talking about things you don't understand.
Way to resort to name-calling. You argue like a Sparty-fan.
2006: The Tigers finish above .500 for the first time in more than a decade and go to the World Series.
2007: Tigers remain in contention until the final month, despite the team's pitching staff spending more than 400 days on the disabled list.
2008: The Tigers make a huge trade and get Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in the off-season. Everyone expects the Tigers to win the World Series. Cabrera has a good year, but Willis turns out to be a complete train wreck. Other key players do not perform anywhere near their norms, including Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers (hurt), Jeremy Bonderman (hurt), Joel Zumaya (hurt), Edgar Renteria (just plain sucked). The team is unable to weather all those injuries and off-years and finishes last.
2009: Going into the season, nobody expected much, yet the team forces a 163rd game. Still it wasn't a cakewalk, as there were key injuries and huge falloffs from career norms by key players. Magglio provided nothing most of the year; ditto for Guillen. Granderson and Polanco had huge drops from their career norms. The catcher we acquired hit far below than expected. Inge's knees rendered him essentially useless in the 2nd half. On the mound, a huge comeback by Verlander and unexpectly good seasons by Porcello and Jackson were tempered by zero production from Willis, a huge dropoff from Galarraga, and injuries to Bonderman, Robertson and Zumaya.
2010: Most people don't expect much going into spring training, as this is viewed as a retooling year. But at the halfway mark, the Tigers are in the thick of things, despite having only one consistent starting pitcher and black holes at C and SS.
Stop me at the part where the manager has done such a piss-poor job. Because I just don't see it.
http://www.motownsports.com/forums/detroit-tigers/83823-has-jim-leyland…
...a sound argument. Of course, it assumes no successful team can suffer injuries.
Can you come up with examples for playoff teams that lost 2/5 of their rotation for virtually the entire year, and had a 3rd starter curl up a die (Willis)? Was Willis Leyland's fault?
Of course not everything is the manager's fault. Every team has to deal with bad luck.
But there is a distinct trend of second-half failures every season Leyland has managed in Detroit... and with all the players and coaches who have come and gone the last 4 and a half seasons the only common factor is the manager.
I suppose Bobby Cox has never had injured pitchers his 20 years of managing the same team....
I asked a very specific question pertaining to your prior statement. I'm not saying it hasn't happened - but show me these playoff teams that lost 3/5 of their opening day rotations. You've said "you bet" Bobby Cox has dealt with it. Put your money where your mouth is. Did he, or are you going to keep dodging with generalities?
2005 Braves came in first, having at least three pitchers make fill-in starts for a total of 36 games through the regular season.
Also I didn't say "you bet", but I'll take your money now.
Would you prefer we return to the Buddy Bell era of complete irrelevance? They have finished with a losing record exactly once since 2006, and this year they'll probably finish with a winning record as well. It wasn't that long ago that this team challenged the modern record for losses in a season. I'll take some annoying loses as long as we never have to go through consecutive losing seasons. You think it is fun being a Pirates or Royals fan right now? Even if Leyland doesn't lead this team to a WC title any time soon, he has instilled a sense of winning that you simply cannot let go if you are a mid-sized baseball market.
Did Buddy Bell have Cabrera and Verlander?
See? I can make a straw man, too.
The Buddy Bell years are underrated by most. You could pick up the 8 dollar pepsi seats, eat your hot dog and pop, and then go sit between the dugouts. The games always featured plenty of offense. Also, you didn't have to worry about the drunk guy or whiny kid sitting next to you, because nobody was sitting next to you.
Who are you going to hire that will be a better option? Freaking Buck Showalter? No thanks.
...though he's not available, I'd prefer someone like Ozzie Guillen. Leyland has lost all semblance of a competitive edge.
Ozzie Guillen?! Are you f'ing kidding me? That guy couldn't manage himself out of a wet paper bag.
For those that can look past his, uh, colorful personality, he's actually acknowledged as one of the best handlers of a pitching staff around. The low rate of injuries to their starting pitchers since Ozzie has been the manager can't be a fluke. And he does it with both vets and young pitchers.
Of course, even the magic of the Ozzie/Don Cooper/Herm Schneider trio couldn't keep Peavy from another random injury.
He is a good handler of pitchers. But then there's the love affair with guys like Podz, and DeWayne Wise, and little waterbugs that can't hit a lick. He's a mixed bag.
...maybe I wasn't specific enough. I'm referring to the Ozzie Guillen who has won more divisions, playoff games, and World Series with the Sox than Leyland has with the Tigers.
When I saw it was 2-0, I had a horrible feeling Guillen would swing at the next pitch and hit into a DP. This team can hit at times, but far too often they leave guys on base when they should just take what the pitcher is giving them and not try to drive it over the fence.