Game 133: C-Mo = Hero. Tigs 5-3 winners
posted in New York Yankees, roster moves |Craig Monroe has now hit 13 of his 23 home runs in the seventh inning or later. He’s been clutch. He’s been exciting. And he lifted a 2-out, ninth inning pitch just over the left-field fence to help the Tigers win, 5-3, in the nightcap of a double header at Yankee Stadium. Man, that was awesome. Mo Clutch? Naw, I’m just reaching. You know it, C-Mo is gonna stick as a nickname. And you know what? Right now, I don’t mind if it does! Ask me again in the morning, I’ll surely disagree.
Fangraphs is a good site for tracking the odds of a team winning at any given point in a game. But think about that name. Fan graphs. Because it probably reflects your mood over the course of the game. My mood from the start of the first game forward: Neutral, good, nuetral, bad, bad, bad, worse, worse, worse, realllly bad, neutral, good, bad, realllllllly realllllllly bad, CRAIGDONEITAGAIN!
There was a lot to be happy about today, believe it or not. Five runs allowed to the Yankees in two games. The Yankees. They score 5.6 runs a game, and they scored 5 runs in a double header against the Tigers pitching. Yeah, today stunk for like, most of it. But you have to look at that and say “You know, it’s not all bad.” The Tigers have actually faced the top five offenses in the league since playing the Twins Aug. 9. And the Angels actually scored 133 runs in August, so they may not be the pushover I’d hoped for. Perspective, it’s a wonderful thing to have.
On the other hand, Neifi Perez is really about out of chances with me. He did get on base a few times today, but I have a bad feeling when he’s up. He is simply not playing lke an upgrade over what Omar Infante would do. Maybe in theory he’s a better player, and that is debatable. But there’s no way he should be taking Infante’s playing time. He hasn’t earned it. Dmitri Young didn’t exactly make me think he should be playing over Marcus Thames either. Our offense stinks, but not playing Thames and Infante is likely a contributing factor.
On the whole, the win felt great. Really great. The Tigers pitching is continuing to carry the team. I’d like to see those offense problems fixed soon. But with Jeremy Bonderman on the mound in the afternoon against a struggling (at times) Randy Johnson, we have a decent chance to take a series in Yankee Stadium. And suddenly the world is looking much different than it did just 24 hours earlier.
Sphere It
Neifi inspires zero confidence from me. He needs to steal a game for the Tigers with a great diving catch or slap a ball just barely over the wall in right to win one.
I agree with you on Thames over Young. Marcus needs ABs, period.
As I always say, Which Bonderman shows up Thursday afternoon?
Mike
A small part of the Tiger offensive problem is Leyland’s lineup. I have been asking all year why the team’s best offensive player, Guillen, is hitting in the 5th or 6th spot. Hitters like him, who get on base a lot, should be in one of the first three spots. It would be a minor adjustment, but every little bit helps.
I hear you Doug. Obviously the Yankees are a different situation, but they batted Jeter second and third last night with similar stats to Guillen. And while the batting order doesn’t matter a great amount, so we’re told, that’s given Jeter 62 more plate appearances than Guillen. I wouldn’t mind seeing him third if he was comfortable there.
I cant’ seem to remember the link for runs projection based on the batting order to see how much different my order produces from Leyland’s.
I like Guillen in the 2nd spot replacing Polanco (when he’s healthy) because Polanco is too light a hitter to put that high in the order. Move Polanco down to the 9 spot.
1. Granderson
2. Guillen
3. Ordonez
4. Rodriguez
5. Thames/Young
6. Monroe
7. Inge
8. Casey/Shelton
9. Polanco
Not only does moving Guillen up in the order give him more PA’s, it puts him on base ahead of good hitters like Ordonez and Rodriguez. IRod and Guillen should swap. Although IRod’s OPS is about average (He’s impatient with minimal HR power), he can be counted on to get hits. With guys on base, I like a batter who can get on base via the hit better than one who gets on via the BB - it means more runs.
If you happen across that link please share it with us. Thanks.