That Was Wild
By Blake VandeBunte • Jun 9th, 2009 • Category: 2009 Season, Brandon Inge, Brandon Lyon, Chicago White Sox, Dontrelle Willis, Fernando Rodney, Miguel Cabrera, Placido Polanco, Zach MinerGAME SUMMARY:
- Final Score: Detroit 7 Chicago 6
- WP: Brandon Lyon (2-3): 2 innings, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 4 K
- LP: Scott Linebrink (2-4): 1 inning, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 0 K
- HR: Brian Anderson (2), Brandon Inge (13), Miguel Cabrera (11)
The Tigers took several leads only to have their wild pitching staff let the White Sox right back into the game. However, when the dust settled, the Tigers had taken 2 out of 3 from the White Sox with Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson scheduled to pitch the next two games. Things are set up quite nicely.
Dontrelle Willis struggled. Fernando Rodney was even worse. However, the Tigers offense picked up the pitching staff and the bottom of the order played particularly well. Placido Polanco even played like the vintage version of himself.
The Tigers will look to take game four of this five game mega-series tomorrow night behind the arm of Justin Verlander.
- Good: Brandon Inge just continues to play like an All-Star. Seriously. Inge went 1-2 with a home run and three (yes, three) walks. He scored three times and was a pest the entire evening. Great game for Brandon.
- Good: Is there anyone you’d want up for the Tigers right now with men on base than Adam Everett? Inge, while hot, strikes out a bit too much and Miguel Cabrera is working through an injury. If the Tigers are in a pinch with men on base and need a hit to score a run, I’d want Everett at the dish. He went only 1-5 tonight, but his one hit was 2-RBI double down the left field line that put the Tigers up 3-1 in the fifth inning.
- Bad: Dontrelle was bad. You can point to his only allowing three runs in five innings, but he was bad. I legitimately felt bad for him during this one. He’s clearly trying his best and it just doesn’t matter. Willis allowed 10 baserunners (5 hits, 5 walks) over his 5 innings of work. It could have been much worse.
- Bad: Fernando Rodney was a total disaster. Although, tonight was really the first time he blew a save opportunity this season. Rodney came on in the 9th inning with a 6-3 lead and promptly walked the bases loaded. He threw 18 pitches and 12 of them were balls. He just didn’t have it tonight and he nearly lost the game. All three of those walks came around to score.
- Good/Bad: Miguel Cabrera homered in the top of 10th inning to give the Tigers the win. While his hit won the game, he doesn’t look right. I’m starting to feel like a trip to the DL is almost certainly in his future. He’s toughing it out, but he is not right. The Tigers need him to be healthy. Put him on the DL.
- Good: Brandon Lyon came on for Rodney in the 9th and allowed all three runners to score, mostly because of a double by Paul Konerko. However, he avoided further damage and struck out four batters in two innings of work. This guy has taken a ton of shit this season and he looked pretty good tonight.
- Good: Zach Miner pitched two perfect innings after coming on for Willis. This was exactly what the Tigers needed. He was dealing tonight and was pounding the strike zone as he struck out a pair. Zach may be making a case for a rotation spot.
- Good: Placido Polanco went 2-4 with 3 RBI. All of those RBI came on a bases clearing double in the 7th inning. He also made a terrific defensive play in the fifth inning that helped Willis a great deal.
- Good: The Tigers lead in the AL Central has ballooned to 4 games over the Twins.
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I hear you on Dontrelle but at this point at least you can see he is giving it 110%. Up until the fifth inning it was only one run but that solid 2.00 WHIP last night was scary. I still think he’s a servicable pitcher. Perhaps it’s just the D-Train fan in me. Not ready to jump off the DTrain Bandwaggon yet….& boy is it lonely on here.
As for Lyon, it was nice to see him look decent. However he has been terible ALL year! One outing doesn’t get him out of my dog house. However, I hope he pitches like the BL of the first half of 2008. I think he knows his time is limited!
As for Miner…Solid job but you never know which Zach will show up. Come on agree with me. He will toss two great games and then get shelled for 4-6 runs in an inning. It’s a mystery there but I’m glad to have him and his positive attitude.
Welcome back Poly, perhaps that’s why he hits .300 EVERY YEAR!
As for Rodney I’m not hating but we all know that if we can grab a closer that were going to. They like a 7-8 of Zumaya and Rodney better. I’m still high on 26yo Houston Street . I think LaTroy Hawkins is being shopped as well. What are your thoughts?
Alright I’m off to bed…Midnights are rough
Have a good day Tiger Fans
Let’s Hope JV gets a W
You are the classic Willis supporter. Sure he only gave up one run through four innings, but he need around 80 pitches to do so, and topped 20 pitches in three of those four innings. He’s not fooling anyone up there. You can go ahead and think he’s a big league level pitcher, I won’t hold it against you.
Lyon has been much better than Willis this year, albeit in different roles.
I hear you on Miner. Sometimes he’s good like last night and looks like he deserves a spot in the rotation and then the next time out he’ll throw a clunker. I do think he’s at least two times better than Willis.
I like Huston Street but not so much on LaTroy Hawkins.
I agree with JAYRC about Miner - however, when he is feeling it, why take him out so soon? I gotta be honest I wanted Miner to stay in his groove out there instead of going w/ Seay who got a couple outs but not without a little struggle.
And riding on the coattails of some Inge comments - it sure was nice to see him play extremely well out there / bat w/ some patience. And I think I would disagree w/ a comment on the previous post by someone about Inge having more errors than clutch plays. I think he’s played an extremely solid third base lately. I’m no good at the stats thing, but taking a cue from Blake and going to fan graphs, against some other 3rd basemen fielding stats in the league… he’s right on with Longoria (w/ Inge having played 66 more innings), and much better than the likes of ARod (arguably not comparable b/c of being on the DL), David Wright, Chipper Jones, etc. Sure…yes…on offense he’s come to earth a little bit, however, in his last seven games he’s batting .375 with an ops of 1.141 so he’s not giving up in the least.
I’ll stop there…I’m feeling a comment coming on from Kenny about being an Inge lover. Don’t want that.
Kenny only bashes me on the Inge stuff, don’t worry about him.
I agree with you on Inge and his defense. He’s one of the best in the league. Almost every fielding stat you can find will tell you the same thing.
Paul,
It does sound like you are starting to fall for the guy. I do have to say that his defense is a lot better then it was at the beginning of the season. He started out with 3 or 4 errors in the first two weeks but Im not sure if he has had an error since then. Also, on the days that Dontrelle pitches can’t he hit and the DH for Inge?
Ah Cringe
U kno I love getting by chime in there
But what I love even more are his recent lines….
He’s making me look dumb
Still hate him but I appreciate his recent play