Tigers Sweep Colorado
By Blake VandeBunte • Jun 29th, 2008 • Category: 2008 season, Dane Sardinha, Freddy Dolsi, Jason Grilli, Kenny Rogers, Marcus ThamesSomeone new seems to step up for the Tigers on an almost daily basis lately. Today that man was Dane Sardinha (told ya). The Tigers completed their latest round of domination by beating the Colorado Rockies 4-3 and wrapping up their sweep.
Kenny Rogers started for the Tigers and he didn’t have his “A” game. However, he did the classic Kenny Rogers thing by making the best of it and battling enough to keep his club in the game. Kenny is one of the best at that over the past twenty years or so. Kenny lasted six innings and gave up three runs (all coming in the second inning) and gave up eight hits and a pair of walks. Freddy Dolsi came on for the Gambler and was dominating. He lasted two innings and struck out three batters while allowing no base runners. Todd Jones came on in the ninth inning and was met with a mix of cheers and boos, but more cheers than jeers. Rogers picked up his sixth win while Jones picked up his 15th save as he worked the 1-2-3 ninth inning.
The Tigers got two runs and four hits in the first inning and it looked like they were going to put up 15 runs. However, they couldn’t get runners in with a clutch hit to widen their lead. After the Rockies went up 3-2 in the second inning the Tigers couldn’t get any runs across the plate until sixth inning. With two men on base against Matt Herges and two outs, Dane Sardinha absolutely crushed a drive to the gap in left-center. The ball went all the way to wall and Sardinha ended up standing on third with a triple having given the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
Marcus Thames was an absolute beast again as he went 3-4 before being lifted for a pinch runner late in the game. Granderson, Thomas, Renteria, and Cabrera each had two hits for the TIgers. Carlos Guillen struggled as he went 0-4 with a pair of strike outs. Gary Sheffield also went 0-4.
Jason Grilli came into today’s game. When his name was announced he was totally crushed with boos from the Comerica Crowd. I didn’t personally boo him, but I was one of very few who didn’t boo. The crowd really let him have it. It was entertaining.
The Tigers will now head on the road after a successful home stand to take on the Minnesota Twins. This obviously a huge series for both clubs. I’ll have more on that before the series gets underway tomorrow night in Minnesota.
Blake VandeBunte is a posting fiend.
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Ok - I want to talk a little bit about Todd Jones. First off…on a weekend that was meant for quality time / relaxing with my wife, she was gracious enough to let me watch all three games this weekend - which was extremely generous of her. Anywho, all that to say I watched Jones miserably blow that game Saturday - got upset myself - called him “The Roller Coaster” - and imagined that picture of the poor little child on a roller coaster that was shared a week or so ago on the Game Blog over at Bless You Boys. Then I watched him get booed off the field … and then booed on the field again Sunday as he pitched a 1-2-3 9th to finish up the series against Colorady - and I had to wonder why all that was necessary. So here are my two thoughts -
1. He’s the closer. He comes in one inning a game (typically) and is meant to shut down the other team. That’s his job. He makes more money than I can imagine doing it. So yeah, if the score is 5-2, and he comes in and (voila!) it’s 6-5…I think he should expect to be booed. In fact…I’m sure he was booing himself off the field. So really, it might have been harsh, but probably deserved nonetheless (although really…people have off nights ONCE IN A WHILE…big deal).
2. That should have been it. To me, there’s no reason why he should have been booed coming into this last game. He blew it Saturday…comes in Sunday to close things off and quickly forget what happened…so do the guy a favor and don’t remind him of it right away. I mean seriously, show some respect to a guy who had 14 some saves in a row so far this year, and is on track to end the season with between 30 and 40 saves. Sure, there’s a reason why he’s called “The Roller Coaster” - there’s definitely history there - but maybe we’re too quick to remember the crap in Detroit.
But then that gets me thinking…how good is this guy Todd Jones who we have in Detroit? How does he stack up against all the closers who have played/still play the game of baseball? Sure, he’s no Putz (in ‘07), Papelbon, or Rivera, but where does he sit in the mix of things? Stat-lover Blake…got time to look into that?
I’m on it Paul. I can tell you this already though, the stats you find in a “traditional” closer are not there for Jones. He gives up more hits than most and strikes out fewer, way fewer. I’ll get on this at some point this week.
Shoot - I figured it wouldn’t look good. Right as I hit “submit” - I knew it…