951 replies to this topic

[rwfan007]

pardon my yelling here, but KEEP RABURN THE HECK OFF THE BASEBALL FIELD. oh my gosh, every time he is on the field he craps something out. I cannot believe that jim put him in especially to pinch hit. and you didn't need to put Valverde in either. the whole bullpen was fresh with verlander pitching yesterday. ugh, so many bad decisions today. reel the division back in close, jim.

end rant. sorry, just frustrating watching him manage sometimes.

[Travis]

pardon my yelling here, but KEEP RABURN THE HECK OFF THE BASEBALL FIELD. oh my gosh, every time he is on the field he craps something out. I cannot believe that jim put him in especially to pinch hit. and you didn't need to put Valverde in either. the whole bullpen was fresh with verlander pitching yesterday. ugh, so many bad decisions today. reel the division back in close, jim.

end rant. sorry, just frustrating watching him manage sometimes.

I agree with you on all accounts. It's not surprising that Raburn popped out in that situation. I'm actually surprised he didn't ground into a double play, not that it matters.

Good thing I'm borderline drunk at this point, or I'd probably be a lot more annoyed that our team is only playing well enough to lose the AL Central... again.

[GoWings1905]

Ugly, ugly loss last night on so many levels. Those are the type of games that cost you a division. I don't know what I hate more about Jim Leyland: his beyond bizarre line-ups or his horrible bullpen management. So, on Monday in a one-run game he uses Daniel Schlereth who ruins the Tigers chances of winning. Tuesday, he brings in two of his three actual reliable arms on the roster right now with a six-run lead. Wednesday, he uses a long reliever in the 8th inning and his closer who has nearly a 7.00 ERA in non-save situations.

I actually don't mind Raburn pinch-hitting in that spot. What the hell is Jackson going to do besides strikeout? Maybe Raburn runs into one and ends the game. The only other player left on the bench was Magglio and he's a double play machine.

I dislike the Mariners trade quite a bit now. This is why the Tigers farm system can never catch up. Overpayment big time for a 4th starter and a reliever who has looked brutal in very few appearances so far. I don't mind losing Furbush all that much, but Wells and two of the Tigers top ten prospects is a joke. Ruffin could have easily become a huge part of the Tigers bullpen next season if they don't bring Valverde back.

This Cleveland series scares the hell out of me. Especially since Jimmy feels it's better to send Porcello and his 5 ERA out there on Sunday instead of the best pitcher in baseball. I do not understand that at all. Then again, I guess that's par for the course with Leyland.

[Travis]

How Jim Leyland is hurting the Tigers - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN

Something we've been discussing with some regularity as of late.

edit: To add my two cents - the article leads to an interesting train of thought. We aren't a fast team, we don't play small ball, and the only guy we have with truly good speed is Austin Jackson; but he's rarely ever on base. So why keep building a line-up like we have a 'typical' ball club? We don't have a typical ball club, we have a batting order full of mashers that don't stretch singles into doubles and sometimes can't even stretch doubles into doubles. We go base to base unless the ball leaves the yard, so let's accept it and move on.

Given what the article says about the top OBP guys we have, what if we turned the line-up into something like this?

LF Young
RF Boesch
1B Cabrera
DH Martinez
SS Peralta
C Avila
3B Betemit
2B Guillen
CF Jackson

Or, if you desperately want Cabrera in that clean-up spot - but Peralta or Avila in front of him.

(At the risk of exposing myself, I think I might be the blueadams of the baseball thread.)

Edited by Travis, 18 August 2011 - 02:25 PM.

[rwfan007]

alrighty, time to see what this team is made of. 1.5 game lead going in to the series against the indians. this could be the make it or break it of our season.

[GoWings1905]

GREAT win tonight! That's the Max Scherzer the Tigers need to win the division.

I have to say the news after the game dampered the win a bit for me. Apparently, the Tigers aren't done giving dead weight playing time. Here, I thought they were on the right track with no more Guillen and Maggs. .177 is back on the team because... I guess Betemit hitting .285 isn't cutting it for Leyland. If Inge is anything more than a defensive replacement or an OCCASIONAL starter against left-handed pitching, it will be a complete joke. Though I expect nothing less from the manager that batted a .220 hitter with no power third every night until the GM forced his hand. The defense blows as it is and Kelly was starting quite a bit and coming in late in games as it was. That situation was playing out fine IMO.

If any roster move needed to be made before September 1st, it should have been to get another catcher up to give Avila some rest. V-Mart can barely run still and Avila's bat is too important to wear him out for September.

[Travis]

GREAT win tonight! That's the Max Scherzer the Tigers need to win the division.

I have to say the news after the game dampered the win a bit for me. Apparently, the Tigers aren't done giving dead weight playing time. Here, I thought they were on the right track with no more Guillen and Maggs. .177 is back on the team because... I guess Betemit hitting .285 isn't cutting it for Leyland. If Inge is anything more than a defensive replacement or an OCCASIONAL starter against left-handed pitching, it will be a complete joke. Though I expect nothing less from the manager that batted a .220 hitter with no power third every night until the GM forced his hand. The defense blows as it is and Kelly was starting quite a bit and coming in late in games as it was. That situation was playing out fine IMO.

If any roster move needed to be made before September 1st, it should have been to get another catcher up to give Avila some rest. V-Mart can barely run still and Avila's bat is too important to wear him out for September.

It's Betemit's horrendous defense, I'd assume.

To be fair, Inge is batting .287 with 7 HR and 19 RBI in Toledo. Hopefully that translates to the bigs.

[rwfan007]

Yeah, with Young coming in and Maggs on the bench, Dirks was going to get fewer and fewer ABs. This way, hopefully Brandon's right handed bat can bring some pop to the 3B position against lefties. Dirks will get full time play down in Toledo and get him primed for a September playoff push. Scherzer was awesome last night, should have been a shutout had the umpire not forgotten what a strike was.

[GoWings1905]

WOO! The Tigers have looked like the best team in the division easily the past two nights. Scherzer and Fister both with very impressive starts and the offense rolling too.

Since I've been quite tough on him, I will give credit where it's due. Brandon Inge went to Toledo to work hard and that HR tonight was a well-deserved moment. I still don't think he should start every day, but I am happy he was able to come back up and show signs of improvement at the plate. That double was the hardest I have seen him hit the ball in a very long time. Props to a classy teammate and professional.

I want to sweep the Indians so bad tomorrow. You can sense this division tilting to the Tigers and putting the Indians 4.5 back would be really nice heading to Tampa and Minnesota. Wish JV was starting still, but maybe Porcello can continue the trend of solid starting pitching from someone not named Verlander.

Edited by GoWings1905, 20 August 2011 - 09:47 PM.

[Travis]

WOO! The Tigers have looked like the best team in the division easily the past two nights. Scherzer and Fister both with very impressive starts and the offense rolling too.

Since I've been quite tough on him, I will give credit where it's due. Brandon Inge went to Toledo to work hard and that HR tonight was a well-deserved moment. I still don't think he should start every day, but I am happy he was able to come back up and show signs of improvement at the plate. That double was the hardest I have seen him hit the ball in a very long time. Props to a classy teammate and professional.

I want to sweep the Indians so bad tomorrow. You can sense this division tilting to the Tigers and putting the Indians 4.5 back would be really nice heading to Tampa and Minnesota. Wish JV was starting still, but maybe Porcello can continue the trend of solid starting pitching from someone not named Verlander.

Yeah, great night for Inge. And for the Tigers as a whole. Happy to see them put big runs on their closest division rival.

Things were going great today until Porcello wasted the 7 runs his teammates gave him. It's 7 - 5 now with Jackson having just stole 2nd.

It will due my heart well if the Tigers can answer back here.

[cusimano_brothers]

Wall Street Journal.

[dropkickshanahans]

WOW! What a throw by Action Jackson!

[rwfan007]

Statement series there. The Tigers are here to play. Cleveland is going through a 45 games in 44 days (you read that correctly), so they are not going to get a breather until the end of the season. That could be a fantastic thing for us, getting regular days off and a fresh breath of air once in a while. Cleveland is going to get more and more tired. This was huge this weekend. got Cy Verlander going tomorrow, lets rack up some wins here.

[Hockeytown Red Wings]

That was a pretty amazing end today. I was out of my chair.

Great sweep! Go Tigers!

[cusimano_brothers]

[rwfan007]

like sand through the hourglass, so are the chances of the Indians and Sox. Stretching the lead to 5.5 over both teams in the Central. Indians are fading fast and I think the Sox are the team to worry about in September.

[rwfan007]

From the horse's mouth: "Overall, this is the kind of game when if you're going to the playoffs, you win, and when you're not, you don't," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. I like what the Tigers have been doing. Our Pitchers have been pitching great, with the exception of Porcello. Since August 16, We are 6-1 and in our 6 wins, we have given up a total of 13 runs. 19 in our last 7 games overall, which is less than 3 per game, all the while scoring 41. That is a 6-1 record outscoring the opponent 41-19. Looks like we are ramping it up at the right time, and against quality opponents in Cleveland and Tampa.

[Travis]

Cleveland lost today. Lead is currently 6.5 in the Central.

[GoWings1905]

I'm taking back my one nice post about Brandon Inge because I hate him more than ever now. Seriously, a guy is on a big league roster hitting .180. He is back on the team only because apparently people think it's 2006 still and he can still play defense even though all indications this season show even that is questionable at best. The ONLY role he serves on the team and he cost the Tigers TWICE tonight in the same inning and lost them the game. The homer was a fluke and now he can't even play defense worth a damn.

Unacceptable and absolutely pathetic. I can't even believe how routine that third out SHOULD have been. You go to first every single time on that play. It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't botched a double play ball before that. Go back to Toledo where you belong and stay there. I will take Betemit's "s***ty" defense and .300 batting average every day of the week.

Can't wait to hear how nice of a guy he is while I puke more from this loss.

[rwfan007]

Chill, the DP ball was absolutely tattooed and he was lucky to get anything out of it. I do agree kinda with the last one, but Santiago was not getting to the bag fast enough, although any other base would have gotten an out. Had Betimit been in there, the game would have been over a lot sooner.

Anyways, we got one game tomorrow and already have enough for a split going into Minnesota, so it hasn't been a bad trip so far. Look at the positive, we have a 6 game lead.