Results tagged ‘ Miguel Cabrera ’
San Francisco Giantts (at) Detroit Tigers: Sunday, July 3, 2011
Rick Porcello (6-6, 5.06) gives up a lead-off double at Aaron Rowand but strikes out Pablo Sandoval and get Aubry Huff to bounce to second and he’s out of trouble and out of the first in a dozen pitches. The Tigers need a solid outing by Porcello today. The 22-year-old has an ERA of 14.29 in his last three starts, having allowed 18 runs on 28 hits in his last 11.1 innings pitched. Ryan Vogelsong, named to the National League All-Star team about an hour ago, is the Giants starter. Vogelsong is 6-1, 2.09 this season.
It’s time for your Official Game Notes.
Detroit Tigers Game Information
San Francisco Giants Game Information
It is as perfect a day for baseball as you can have, partly cloudy at 79 at first pitch.
The Tigers go down 1-2-3 in their half of the first with two hitters striking out, and we are underway at Comerica Park.
1:29 Porcello is off to an excellent start. He gives up a single in the second but strikes out two more and did not allow the Giants to move the runner into scoring position. 13 pitches were all the pitches Porcello needed to get them out.
The All-Star lineups were announced prior to this afternoon’s game and Alex Avila, closing hard, passed New York’s Russell Martin and won the vote for starting American League catcher. Three other Tigers are on the AL All-Star team: Justin Verlander (duh), Miguel Cabrera (duh, again) and Jose Valverde. That’s not bad. Four Detroit Tigers on the All-Star team. It wasn’t that long ago that the Tigers would have one–and that only because of the rule that every team must have at least one representative on the team.
1:53 We are three innings in. San Francisco has a single and a double, the Tigers have a walk. And there is no score.
2:07 San Fran pushed across a run off Porcello in the 4th on a ground-out, but the Tigers got it right back. Brennan Boesch clanged a fly ball to right, right off the foul pole for his 12th homer of the year, and his second in as many games. In hockey when you clang it off the post it’s a bad thing. In baseball when you clang it off the post, er, pole, it’s a great thing. b-4: Detroit 1, SF 1.
2:33 Porcello is pitching much more effectively today than has been the case of late, but 3 hit batsmen and 3 wild pitches have cost him. That, and a muffed double-play grounder to shortstop Ramon Santiago which looked like an error to me but which was scored a single. Either way, had the Tigs turned two, they would have been out of the 5th trailing 2-1, but because they didn’t, Detroit has fallen behind 3-1. One of those wild pitches gave SF a 2-1 lead, and the man who scored, Emmanuel Burriss, reached when hit by a Porcello pitch. Pablo Sandoval, 4×13, .308 in this series with a homer and 3 RBI, doubled to put Burriss at third. Sandoval came in to score when Santiago and the Tigers failed to turn the DP. t-6:Detroit 1, SF 3.
2:46 Porcello still cruising along through six, but Vogelsong is shutting Detroit down, like, totally. Consider this: if that HR by Boesch that hit the foul pole had been six inches to the right, Vogelsong would have a no-hitter going here in the bottom of the 6th. Good news out of Cincinnati, at least. The Red are putting it to the Indians 7-2 in the 6th. If that score holds up, Detroit will be no worse than a game and a half out of first at the end of the day today.
3:00 The Tigers used a double by Boesch, a single by Cabrera and an error by Giants leftfielder Cody Ross to get to within a run, but their rally died with runners at the corners when All-Star Avila grounded into a force at second. Boesch went from second to third on the Cabrera hit and would have stopped there, but Ross bobbled it and Boesch lumbered home. t-7: Detroit 2, SF 3.
3:23 After six-and-two-thirds, Vogelsong is out and the Tigers, with two out, have loaded the bases off Jeremy Affeldt on two walks and an error. Santiago Casilla comes on to pitch to Magglio Ordonez. Could be your ballgame, right here. ORDONEZ SINGLES TO CENTER. INGE SCORES FROM FIRST. PERALTA (who pinch hit for Dirks and walked) SCORES FROM SECOND. B-7: DETROIT 3, SF 2.
3:28 Miguel Cabrera ropes a liner to center, but it is right at Aaron Rowand for the out that ends the inning. But the Tigers score two runs (both unearned) on just one hit. Joaquin Benoit comes on to start the 8th inning for Detroit. t-8: Detroit 3, SF 2.
3:42 Guess who saves the day? Ryan Raburn, that’s who. They aren’t booing him anymore after he makes a great–I mean a GREAT–diving catch in left to end the 8th with two Giants aboard. The chances that both of those SF runners would have scored had Raburn not made the catch was, oh, I don’t know, about 100%! I was watching through my binoculars and I had a really good view of it all and I didn’t think Raburn was going to get it. I thought he had no chance at all, in fact, but running hard to his left Raburn laid out and made the inning-ending catch after Benoit made things interesting, too interesting, by giving up singles to two of the first three men he faced. Benoit fanned pinch-hitter Pat Burrell before Raburn made his amazing catch of the liner off the bat of Aaron Rowand. So, the Tigers still lead, somehow.
3:54 Brandon Inge, talk about a guy who was due, drives a ball way over the head of SF centerfielder Rowand for a triple which scored two after Avila and Santiago had walked. So, talk about making them pay. Inge had been 3×29 (.103) during the homestand prior to hitting the big hit. Breathing room for the Tigers, now. b-8: Detroit 6, SF 3.
4:02 The bullpen door in the left field corner swings open and the crowd roars as All-Star Jose Valverde skips across the warning track and onto the field. El Papa Grande is 19/19 in Save Opportunities this season and, yes, what we have here is a Save Situation. If Valverde can close it out, the Tigers will have, for all the trouble (those three losses in which they gave up 14, 15 and 16 runs) come out of the homestand 5-5. And, they will be half a game out of first. Cincy beat Cleveland 7-5.
4:07 Valverde walks the leadoff man. He does that more than you would like to see, but we suspect it’s because he likes to live on the edge. He’s a closer, after all. It does set the crowd to murmuring, though. Sandoval hits a rocket, but right at Inge and it’s 5-3 and one out. (Burriss, the Giant who walked, had earlier taken second on a clear case of Defensive Indifference.) Huff bloops a single to left and the tying run, Ross, comes to the plate. He lines to right. One out to go…
Now it’s Nate Schierholtz who represents the tying run with two on and two out. Huff takes second, again on Defensive Indifference. Two quick strikes by Valverde and the Giants are down to their final strike. STRIKE THREE! GAME OVER! FINAL: DETROIT 6, SF 3. To the locker room!
Sit, Miggy, Sit. Detroit Tigers (at) Los Angeles Dodgers: Tuesday, June 21, 2011
We should have some kind of pool tonight to see who can come closest to predicting the inning of the Tigers-Dodgers game during which I fall asleep. I’m old, it’s late and I’m sitting in the glider rocker which we got to put our daughter to sleep when she was just a baby, but which never once helped her to do so, not once. Me? That’s another story. All I have to do is kick back in the thing and start counting down from 100. I won’t make 88.
With last night’s 4-0 loss, during which the Tigers were held to a season-low two hits, Detroit has now lost 7 of the last 13 overall and three of four so far on the road trip. They remain a game behind Cleveland as the Indians also lost last night, beaten at home by Colorado 8-7. Those same two teams are playing again tonight and are scoreless in the third.
Those Dodger Notes last night were as prescient as any I’ve ever seen, what with the prediction that Juan Uribe would homer in the series against Detroit–which he did, in the first innning during his first at bat–and the note about Clayton Kershaw being tied for the ML lead in hits. Kershaw’s 2-run single in the eighth gave him the outright lead in hits by pitchers this season (10).
Miguel Cabrera sits tonight. Jim Leyland says he needs a rest and tonight’s just the night to give it to him says the Skip as Cabrera is 0×12 lifetime against the LA starter. I’ve read some comments from angry Tigers fans wondering why Leyland doesn’t wait till he gets home to rest Cabrera as Detroit is de facto shorthanded already tonight with no DH and I think they make a pretty good point. I don’t agree with Leyland on this one. We note that Leyland has managed over 3,000 games in the majors compared to, well, none for me, so if I were you I would give that stat some weight.
Here are your notes. As always, we admonish you: READ THE NOTES.
Detroit Tigers Game Information.
Los Angeles Dodgers Game Notes.
10:10 first pitch and we will be back for that, unless, as I say, I fall asleep.
10:51 I didn’t fall asleep. I watched Cleveland closer Chris Perez give up his first homer of the season to Colorado’s Seth Smith leading off the ninth, and the Rockies won 4-3. The Indians got a two-out triple in the bottom of the ninth, but that tying run died at third. I’d like to point out that tonight’s LA starter Chad Billingsley is not Clayton Kershaw. In June, Billingsley has an ERA of 11.20. In three starts this month, he’s given up 30 hits in 13.2 IP. But tonight, the Tigers again can’t hit. Eight in a row have gone down now as the Detroit third ends. To the north in San Fransisco, Minnesota scored six runs before they made an out and they lead 8-0 with, as they say, the Giants coming to bat. Yowser. The Twins have won 14/16 and 7 in a row and unless they blow that lead, they will be only 6.5 games out of first. And I thought they were dead. For reals. But they aren’t. Max Scherzer worked out of trouble in the second and then had an easy 1-2-3 third. So, on to the fourth. t-4: Tigers 0, Dodgers 1.
11:26 Tony Gwynn gets a run-scoring, two-out infield single–it traveled all of 40 feet down the third base line–and the Dodgers regain the lead after the Tigs had tied it in the top of the inning. The question is this: Why pitch to the #8 hitter (Gwynn) with two out when you’ve got the LA pitcher standing there in the on-deck circle? I don’t know either. t-5: Tigers 1, Dodgers 2.
11:51 It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it? Andre Ethier hits his 7th homer of the year with a man on in the fifth because they let him swing away on a 3-0 pitch and LA goes up by three on the 13th homer of the year allowed by Scherzer, the tenth he’s surrendered to a lefthanded hitter. Ethier hit it about 650 feet. The Tigers get runners at first and second with nobody on in the sixth, and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, “Donny Baseball”, looks longingly towards his bullpen. But, Billingsley will stay in to face Andy Dirks. He fans Dirks but walks Victor Martinez and his night is over. Mike MacDougal is on in relief and looks who coming up. It’s Cabrera, (so much for his big night off) pinch-hitting with the bases loaded and only one out. And look what he does. He promptly bounces into a 6-4-3 double play and just like that the rally is over. The inning is over. And the Tigers are still down three. b-6: Tigers 1, Dodgers 4.
1:01 This is going to be another Detroit loss, they are down 6-1 now in the bottom of the eighth, and they’d better not look back because someone may be gaining on them. The Twins indeed did win in San Fran so they’ve gone 15-2 and have won eight in a row, and the White Sox beat the Cubs 3-2. The Tigers are about to be only a game out of first, yes, but only 3.5 games ahead of the White Sox and 5.5 ahead of the Twins. It’s a day game tomorrow in Los Angeles, first pitch at 3:10 Eastern and we will be back with you then. It is time to pull the chute on this one. b-8: Tigers 1, Dodgers 6.
Hello Again, and Goodbye
This is what it’s all about, gang. We’re back in the saddle, back in the Press Box and, as there is of course NO CHEERING in the Press Box, we just watched in silent wonder as Miguel Cabrera blasted a home run with a man on and a man out in the bottom of the 9th to tie this here ballgame against the lowly Baltimore Orioles and so, just when it looked like Detroit might blow a game to the worst team in baseball (the Orioles came into play tonight at 25-57), Miggy hits a bomb and we’re into the 10th. All in all, very exciting stuff.
A note on the passing of Bob Probert yesterday of an apparent heart attack at 45. I talked to a lot of guys who played against Probie and they all said the same thing: When he was coming to get you, be it in the corner or in the middle of the ice, his eyes were as cold and as dead and as utterly lacking in emotion as a shark’s. These men–paid to be brave for a living–were scared witless by this. The thing is, whenever I saw those eyes they were either twinkling with joy after a win or flashing anger after a loss or belying the embarrassment he felt as a result of his latest off-ice transgression of which, to be sure, there were many. Too many. But Probie always treated me great and as I wrote yesterday–and as I believe to be true–even on a team with a player as great as Steve Yzerman, Bob Probert was, here in Detroit, the most popular Red Wing. Hands down. This town loved the guy. I will share with you something someone who knew Bob Probert way, way better than I had to say about him after I mentioned that even now I can see Probie in my minds’ eye, grinning that missing-his-front-teeth grin of his. Just a kid goofing around in The Room:
Rich, I hear and feel ya..he’d be grinning a couple tooth missing smile and just let out..”ahah, what’s up Rich man?!” never expecting an answer or a smile…but always getting the latter. A gentle giant, a monumental friend and teammate, and a tortured but beautiful soul. Let any man judge him that walked his shoes..no one ever has.
The death of Bob Probert has hit me hard. Just as the death of another Red Wing, Willie Huber hit me hard when he passed away at 52 a week to the day before Probert died. God bless them both.
Johnny Damon just hit it out. A two-run blast to right to win this one for Detroit 7-5 in 11. A great ballgame on a not-so-great night
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