Bullpen blows sweep of Royals
posted in 2007 season, KC Royals |Game 15: Kansas City at Detroit
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Gil Meche (1-1, 3.10) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (0-0, 2.57)
Pregame thoughts – Is this the day young Mr. Bonderman picks up his first win of the season? Through no fault of his own, Bonderman remains winless in three appearances this year. Meanwhile, Wil Ledezma has three victories in five appearances — hmm, do I smell 20 game winner? I jest. I think. While Bondo does not have the best pitching stats of the starters — that’s Justin Verlander — it’s hard to argue that any starter has has had better games than Bonderman. He dueled Roy Halladay to two draws already, and his nine-inning, one-run game of last Friday was one of the better pitching performances seen by a Detroiter in recent years.
Gil Meche gets the nod for the Royals. Meche is doing his best to make Kansas City save face for giving him $11M per season. It’s early in the season, so strange things happen. Meche owns Boston. He outdueled Curt Schilling in the season opener, allowing the Red Sox one run. Thursday, he gave up no runs to Boston over six innings. It’s the game in the middle that’s of interest. The Tigers hit three homers off Meche and scored six runs in seven innings. Can the Tigers repeat that performance this afternoon?
Detroit has its first opportunity to sweep a team this season. After getting blown out Monday and having the Tigers come-from-behind in the eighth innings Tuesday, it should be interesting to see the Royals’ demeanor on their final game of a 10-game road trip which has seen them go 1-7 with one game postponed.
Postgame thoughts (Tigers lose, 4-3, 10 inn.) – OUCH. Bonderman cruises through seven innings on 86 pitches, allows one run, has, well, a typical Bonderman outing more or less. Jim Leyland entrusts the bullpen, and the bullpen again proves to be a weak point. Not Joel Zumaya, who needed just seven pitches to get through the eighth inning. No, Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney. Jones walked two, gave up two hits and blew the save. (Side note: baseball is a game of inches and microseconds. Carlos Guillen almost turned a game-ending double play). Fernando Rodney gave up a homer. Game over.
Meche dealt relatively well against the Tigers lineup. Or the Tigers made him look like it. It’s hard to say anymore. They make anyone look good. But I’ll give Meche the benefit of the doubt. They scored all three runs unearned in the sixth inning after some defensive miscues.
A few guys got the day off today, which wasn’t the cause of the problem. Pudge and Magglio rested, while Mike Rabelo and Marcus Thames got starts. The replacements were a combined 0-for-5 with a walk.
The problems were two-fold. First, Sean Casey batted fifth. It’s becoming clear he can’t hit the ball worth crap right now. They pitched around Guillen, loading the bases, and Casey blew his chance. Casey may bat from the left side, but it doesn’t mean a lick if he’s not hitting anybody. Second, I’m not sure why Leyland used Jones again. While that is possibly a good sign — you don’t get saves without a lead — there just didn’t seem to be any purpose after Zumaya cruised so quickly. Jones pitched twice within 16 hours.
It’s a frustrating loss that never should have happened. Bonderman is winless in four good starts. If there’s anybody out there that looks at wins to decide who is pitching good, it’s time to stop.
GRR.
Detroit’s 9-6 record is still among the best in the A.L.
Around the Central:
Chicago 6, Texas 0 – Mark Buehrle threw the 16th no hitter in White Sox history. (South Side Sox recap). The Sox improved to 6-7.
New York 9, Cleveland 2 – Cleveland SP Jeremy Sowers got smoked. The young pitcher gave up six runs in 2-2/3 innings. Travis Hafner went 3-for-4 for the Indians (6-5)
Twins 5, Mariners 4– Seattle young pitching phenom Felix Hernandez hurt his elbow in the first inning. The Mariners rallied from a 5-0 deficit before falling. Joe Nathan got a fourth save for Minnesota (9-5) but allowed a run.
Sphere It
If the Detroit Tigers don’t get Jeremy Bonderman some run support, he should just quit. This is getting ridiculous. 5 innings, Bonderman’s been brilliant, and the Tigers still haven’t scored him a run.
If he gets another no decision today, Wil Ledezma should give Bonderman one of his three wins. Only seems fair.
-Scott
Ugly run, but still counts!
Bonderman gets run support and look what happens! JONES!
I see you use Grr….I was thinking more Argghhh myself. Frustrating game. I thought Bondo was finally going to get a win. While I am not ready to give up on Jones, I do agree that it would have been a good move to leave Zumaya out there for the 9th coming off a very easy 8th inning and having an off day tomorrow.
I wouldn’t have had any problem leaving Bonderman out there for the 8th either, but the move still would have been to bring in Jones in the 9th, so that is a moot point. At least by removing Bonderman when he did it will save wear and tear on his arm down the line, which can only help the team in the back half of the season.
I also didn’t understand the decision to bat Casey fifth, he is obiously struggling right now. I would rather have saw Monroe or Thames in that next spot after Guillen.
One more thought, I am really glad I am not a Kansas City fan. Their defense is absolutely brutal. Nothing I hate watching more than a team that makes a lot of errors.