Manic Depression is a Frustrating Mess
April 18th, 2009 Posted in 2009 Season, Gerald Laird, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Seattle MarinersGAME SUMMARY:
- Final Score: Seattle 6 Detroit 3
- WP: Felix Hernandez (2-0) 6 innings, 7 H, 3 ER, 6 K
- LP: Justin Verlander (0-2) 7.1 innings, 8 H, 5 ER, 8 K
- SV: Brandon Morrow (3)
- HR: None
This one hurt a little bit. Through four innings it looked like this was going to be a Tigers win. Justin Verlander was perfect through four innings with seven strikeouts. Then it all fell apart. The Tigers offense took the rest of the night off, the defense lapsed and Verlander lost his cool.
Verlander’s first four innings were truly a thing of beauty. That fifth inning, though? Yikes. The Mariners struck for five runs in the fifth inning and the game was essentially over. The Mariners brought in a series of fire-throwing relievers and the TIgers hitters could do nothing with them.
This game was really a microcosm of Verlander’s career. He was brilliant for stretches of the game, but for at other times you just wanted him out of the game because he was so bad. The Tigers defense (ahem, Inge) didn’t do him any favors in that fifth inning, but let’s not kid ourselves: It was obvious Verlander had lost his cool and was just whipping pitches in there without much of a plan.
As always, here’s the list of positives from that rough loss:
- Verlander was amazing, save for that fifth inning. While he took the loss, he showed reason for fans to get their hopes up, just a little bit.
- Miguel Cabrera has been the best hitter in baseball this season. He had three of the Tigers nine hits and the weren’t wimpy hits either. He was absolutely crushing the ball. His batting average is now .513. That’s sick.
- Gerald Laird continues to play well. Laird went 1-2 last night with a walk and was hit by a pitch. In addition to his performance at the plate, he also stole a base and threw out a runner attempting to steal.
3 Responses to “Manic Depression is a Frustrating Mess”
By Kenny on Apr 18, 2009
Rod and Mario kept talking about that Inge error and they said that you rarely see a bad throw from Inge. If I am not mistaken that was his 3rd error all on bad throws.
As for Verlander, I think that is the best that I have seen him other then the 5th inning. He was throwing strikes and get ahead of every batter. He looked better then his no-hitter because he still walked people in his no-hitter his stuff was just amazing. I also think Leyland should not have brought him in the 8th. That was a performance to build on.
By Blake VandeBunte on Apr 18, 2009
Way to be positive, Kenny. I agree with you too. He’s had some rough games over the last year, but he looked great last night and it should be something they can build upon.
I don’t understand how Inge couldn’t make that throw. It’s almost like it was too easy or something.
By Kenny on Apr 18, 2009
Inge makes the great plays look easy and the easy plays look hard.