17th
April
2008
Game 15: The Monster is awake
posted in 2008 season |Detroit 13,
Cleveland 2
Recap:
- The Tigers offense broke out the big boy bats, as Rod Allen might say. Meanwhile the Tigers starter, fresh up from Toledo, allowed a first-inning home run and then got the next 17 batters out. That was a recipe for a big, big win, not just in score.
- The Tigers trailed after the first inning, but after a Miguel Cabrera home run in the second inning, led the rest of the game.
- Cabrera had five RBIs and four hits for the night.
- And then we have Edgar Renteria, who had three hits, and most importantly, a grand slam as part of the 7 run fifth inning.
- Magglio Ordonez of the first-pitch-swing decided he’d take a walk or three.
- Meanwhile, the defense was led by starting pitcher Armando Galarraga, fresh up from AAA-Toledo. He had six strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters. His control, other than the hit batters in his last inning of work, seemed to be pretty good, to hear Dan and Jim tell it on the radio.
- In relief, Jason Grilli wasn’t great but didn’t give up any runs.
- Having a bit of bad luck, Pudge Rodriguez went 0-for-6 at the leadoff spot.
- Detroit took nine walks.
Analysis:
- Just as the Tigers weren’t THAT bad, the Indians aren’t THIS bad. But the Tigers caught them at the right time and frankly, the Indians sounded a lot like that first week of Tigers baseball.
- I didn’t have many expectations for Galarraga. His minor league stats didn’t make me think he’d be this good. But he caught the Indians at the right time and they kept taking bad swings at his pitches and paying for it. That was a great way to pitch to them. They were too aggressive, or desperate, and it didn’t pay off. It just sounded too familiar.
- I don’t know if Galarraga can keep it up or not though. Let’s hope so.
- On the flip side, the Tigers caught CC Sabathia during either a) a bad start to his season, or b) a bad season. It’s too early to say if he’s worn down after throwing so much last year. But in any case, he gave up nine runs for the second straight game. He lasted just four-plus innings, getting none out in the fifth during a meltdown. This just reminds us, any pitcher who doesn’t have his best stuff is going to be in trouble against the non-slumping Tigers offense.
- Tigers have scored 30 runs in their last 3 games after scoring 33 in their first 12.
- Miguel Cabrera starting to hit is definitely a good thing. And Maglio looking at pitches. Basically, all signs point to a recovery. Had the bats been hitting halfway as good as they have these previous three days, I think the Tigers would be closer to .500, though it was still a pretty crappy start to the season.
- And hey, look at the standings. Detroit and Cleveland are now tied at 5-10. You know what that means? The season is effectively reset!
- I know fans of the White Sox or Twins or hey, even Royals, may think that’s rather presumptuous of a couple teams at the bottom of the division to say. But frankly, I still think the division title is going to come down to Detroit and Cleveland. So coming back to tie them in the standings so fast after the 0-7s start is a pretty good sign for Detroit an an opportunity wasted by a suddenly all-too-human Indians team.
- Hopefully Justin Verlander can finally pick up his first win of the season and give the Tigers an actual lead in the standings while the Indians are still stumbling.
Wow, what an offensive showing. Cabrera was awesome last night. I was very pleasantly surprised by Gallaraga last night as well. The best thing about his outing is they didn’t have to burn up the bullpen to get through the game.
I am so frustrated with Pudge and the way Leyland is using him. What the hell is he doing leading off? I believe it was in the 6th or 7th last night when Inge was walked on 4 pitches to walk a run in with Pudge coming up next. He swings at the first pitch, which didn’t appear to be close to being a strike immediately after a batter was walked on 4 pitches with the bases loaded before flying out. I just feel like he should be batting in the bottom third of the order.
I loved the way the team for the most part were working counts last night. It didn’t get any better than the 10 pitch at bat to work a walk by Sheffield and Ordonez coming out of an 0-2 hole to work a walk (both against Sabathia).
Yeah, that Pudge showing sticks out in my mind, too. He’s just not a leadoff hitter. Of all the people who could lead off against a lefty, that’s probably the worst choice, in my mind.