OT - Same old Tigers
Anyone else watch the game last night? Frankly, I'm pissed off, but not surprised. Edwin Jackson pitched a gem, Leyland pulls him in the eighth after he gave up a few hits, puts Seay in to pitch to a lefty, then puts in this Lyons guy (whom I wasn't familiar with) who gives up a three-run homer to give up the lead. Leyland leaves him in, finishes the inning. Inge knocks in another homer to tie the game, Lyons goes out to pitch the ninth, loads the bases, game over.
Anyone else looking forward to a repeat of last season with this bullpen? I'm glad to see that Jackson was so dominant, but I'm getting sick of seeing good performances by the starting pitching go down the toilet when the bullpen comes in.
On the plus side, they still have a chance to go 160-2.
Who knows with Lyon. I was more disappointed with Everett missing that hit up the middle. How do you dive for a ball that goes under your stomach? Of course, if there hadn't been a leadoff walk...
I think we'll see that new kid Perry tonight and Fernando Rodney. What I'm really looking forward to is Porcello tomorrow.
They can't start 0-7 again. Comerica will have tumbleweed in the stands all year.
I'm pretty sure it didn't go under his stomach.
It might have been his chest. I was averting my eyes at the time. His arm clearly extended past the ball, though.
It slightly went under his glove at most.
I swear he dove over it. The commentators even mentioned it a couple times. I wish I would have DVR'd it now.
Whatever, I just hope it's not a trend. I would hate to have traded Renteria's noodle arm for a transparent Everett.
I share the frustration in general, but I don't think Everett went over the ball either. Either way, rest assured, defensively, he's 1000 x better than what we had last year.
I hope you're right. A porous infield and blown leads easily cost them 15 games last year. Anyway, I'm still optimistic...as long as they go at least 1-6 to start the year. :]
I don't disagree that maybe he should have gotten it. It was pretty close and a great defender(like he's supposed to be) I think should have gotten it. I'm just going to sit here and hope though that it gets a little bit better.
I can't disagree with pulling Jackson, he was looking a little wild, and I at least understand why he took Seay out even if I disagree, but leaving Lyon in after he looked so ridiculously ineffective in the 8th was atrocious. I know you don't have many guys in the bullpen who are proven, but come on, bring in the kid, Perry, or hell even Robertson, who looked good against the Jays the day before. I know its only one game, and he wants to see what he has in Lyon, but throwing away a game like that, because of one player who couldn't find the plate if it was 5 times the size and he was throwing a beachball, isn't the way to do it.
If you don't trust to bring Perry in, he shouldn't be in the bullpen. Do we all remember the circumstances Zumaya was brought in on for his first appearrance?
Cheer up.
The AL Central is wide open. Every team has some deep flaws. Some pundits are even picking the Royals.
I see Farnsworth hasn't missed a beat.
Brandon Lyon is Kyle Farnsworth, sans the glasses and anger management issues.
In other words, he's basically a giant can of gas waiting to explode.
Lyon doesn't have a single plus pitch.
Lyon, at least last year, had great control and rarely gave up walks. The first half of last season he was average average to good, the second half he was below average. There is talent there, somewhere.
As a Sox fan, seeing The Farns come in is always a good thing. The guy has been a Sox punching bag his entire career. ERA over 8, allows a home run on average every 2 to 3 appearances (10 HRs in 26.7 innings).
Thanks, Trey Hillman, for leaving him in to face Thome.
Where's Grilli when you need him? Upside is from the looks of things, no one around the league that was dominant last year is starting off well this year pitching wise. Sabathia, Halladay, Webb, Lincecum, and Lee all got knocked around quite a bit in their first starts.
Small sample statistics. "Sabathia, Halladay, Webb, Lincecum, and Lee all got knocked around quite a bit in their first starts." Webb may be hurt, Halladay wrecked us on opening day, and the other three will be just fine.
First start for all of them, they'll be fine. Sabathia was terrible his first few starts last year, which makes what he did after that even more remarkable. This is gonna be a great season, I feel. I love baseball.
while leaving Lyons in for the ninth was clearly a mistake, I can sympathize with the reasons for doing so.
First of all, there wasn't a great list of alternatives. Bonine and Rincon (who's just as bad) were used up last night. Rodney has been billed as our closer (bad idea when you think about it, but there aren't exactly a lot of options) and when you consider his injury history it's understandable that Leyland doesn't want to use him at all outside of save situations. Perry has never pitched in the majors before and a tied game in the bottom of the ninth isn't how you want to give him his debut. Nate Robertson is being used for long relief and Leyland didn't want to pitch him with Miner and Porcello starting tonight and tomorrow (and besides, Robertson hasn't pitched well since 06). And Seay had already pitched. Lyon is a veteran and was the closer for Arizona for awhile, so I don't think that it's unrealistic for Leyland to hope that he would be able to come back in the ninth.
Maybe Leyland should have kept Seay in for the eighth, but he's not good for more than 1 inning and the top of the order was coming up with 4 consecutive righties, so I understand pulling him under the circumstances. The real problem is the complete and total lack of options in the bullpen, combined with a starting rotation that is very shaky and doesn't reliably produce six innings a night. That is the fault of Dombrowski, who should have traded Pudge for a much better reliever than Farnsworth.
Reports mentioned Perry would have been brought in for the tenth inning if it went that long. I don't believe in saving pitchers for innings you might not even make it to. If he's good enough for a tie game in extra innings, why not the ninth?
Because pitching Perry would a) make him unavailable for tonight and b) take another arm out of the bullpen. You only change pitchers when either the pitcher is tired or when changing pitchers would decrease the likelihood of the other team scoring a run. Leyland evidently felt that Lyon was not tired and that we would not reduce the likelihood of the Blue Jays scoring by putting in a rookie who was drafted last year and has never thrown a pitch in the Majors.
I also think Leyland may have been trying to "teach a lesson" (he's a tough love type-a-guy). I mean, Lyon clearly fucked up that game, so if Leyland brings out another pitcher, and he ends up leading us to a win, no lesson learned.
...or at least that's what my friends and I were thinking (after a few brews). Your reasons were probably large factors as well.
Did anyone really think a Lyon in Detroit would do anything but lose?
*zing*
Christ...this happened at least 15 times last year. NO FRICKING LEAD IS SAFE WITH THEM! Get some real closers!
3 jacks in as many nights. Wow.
Give it time. By June he will have seven homers while only batting .225 and will be leading the AL in strikeouts.
Stop being realistic. You're going to convince me he's not an MVP!
Oh well, I'll enjoy it while I can. Just please no 0-7.
I love Inge. I've always thought he just needs to be an infielder, not a catcher, and his bat will be fine.
The 2007 season disagrees with this theory. Inge was awful. That's why they traded for Cabrera and put him at 3rd base. The fact that Dombrowski tried like hell to trade Inge all of last offseason and couldn't find any team willing to take on his contract should tell us what the rest of the league thinks about having starting 3rd baseman who can't hit for shit. I probably wouldn't mind Inge as much if we didn't already have an automatic out at SS with Adam Everett.
Edwin Jackson is usually a .500 pitcher at best. Just when you think he has it figured out, he breaks your heart with a truly pathetic outing.
Last year, he benefitted from a lot of games in which the Rays gave him a lot of support. I am happy that he got himself a nice contract, but don't be surprised if he doesn't work out the way you think he will.
Did you see our pitching staff last year?
Well, shit, anyone watch the game tonight? Good to see Rodney close decently. Naturally, someone at the bar pointed out that his hat was on straight.
And Inge! Three games, three homers. Keep it up!
Still, I'm not sold that the first two games aren't going to be the story of this year, but it's good to see them seal the deal tonight.
Is Porcello pitching tommorrow?
It was also nice to see Perry go 1-2-3 in his debut. Something the veteran bullpen didn't seem able to do the 2 games before.
Yeah, Porcello is pitching tonight. That's what I'm interested in seeing. And with a win (and the mathematical certainty they can't start 0-7) behind them, there isn't as much pressure on the kid.
Also I read that it's the first time since the modern-day draft was instituted that two first round picks make their debut against each other. Or maybe they said that on the Jays broadcast or something. Interesting sort of game.
Well they lost again today.
Porcello looked good, though. He has some pretty nasty movement. I just hope the offense helps him out a little more the next time.
Agree, I think the offense has to score at least 4 runs a game. Otherwise the bullpen will just give the game away.