Game 55: Tigers (23-31) at Mariners (20-35)
Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners, May 31, 2008 3:55 PM EDT
The Mariners' Carlos Silva was knocked out of the box during 7 run 1st inning, as the bats carried the Tigers to a 7-4 win Friday night in Seattle. Nate Robertson was the beneficiary of a Detroit offensive explosion for the 2nd straight start, winning his 3rd game of the season. It was also Detroit's 4th consecutive win over the hapless Mariners.
This afternoon, the Tigers hope to keep the streak alive, sending Justin Verlander (2-7, 5.16) to the mound. Verlander has pitched much better as of late, though his record has yet to reflect it. He ERA has dropped nearly a point over his past 3 starts, allowing only 4 runs in 19 innings. Verlander's pitching to his immense capabilities would go a long way towards the Tigers turning their season around.
Facing Verlander is Seatle's own pitching phenom, Felix Henandez (2-5, 3.60), aka King Felix. In his last 6 starts, King Felix has a 5.54 ERA while walking 21 batters in 37.1 innings. He's struggled as much as the Mariners have this season.
The bigger news coming out of Seattle was the announcement there will be more changes in the Tigers' everyday lineup, as decided by both Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski.
1. Miguel Cabrera has been moved down to 6th in the batting order. (This is Leyland playing head games with Cabrera, essentially demoting him in an attempt to light a fire under his ass.)
2. Carlos Guillen will add another position to his resume, as he will share time in left field (!) with Marcus Thames. He'll continue to play 3rd as well. (I feel for Guillen, as this will be his 3rd position change in less than a year. Why he's not DHing at this point is beyond me. This move reeks of desperation.)
3. Brandon Inge will play more at both 3rd base and catcher. (2 things seem to be at play here. The Tigers want Inge's glove in the lineup, as it sure as Hell isn't because of his bat. They must also think Pudge Rodriguez is playing too much.)
4. Dontrelle Willis will start a game in the Oakland series, going 4-5 innings, then be replaced by Armando Galarraga. (The Willis to the pen experiment wasn't going to last long, as his sizable contract pretty much demands the D-Train starts. This piggybacking of starting pitching has the whiff of desperation to it. It also removes an arm from the bullpen.)
The Tigers haven't given up on the season yet, as these moves attest. If they work, and the Tigers start winning, great! But if they don't? Detroit's brass will have some tough roster decisions looming on the horizon.
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Wait a second...
So our DH is on the shelf right now, and the one guy on our team that can’t seem to play any defensive position effectively is moving to a new spot that he has exactly ZERO games experience with. Ohhhh God, that’s brilliant. Hey, maybe he can play center against lefty pitching! I would love someone to explain to me why Guillen isn’t DH right now. He is essentially useless unless he has a bat in his hands and we have one of the best defensive players in the league at his current position and a guy that is better defensively and has the ability to hit 35-40 HRs that’s getting bumped back to the bench at his NEW position. Obviously, Leyland isn’t worried about hurting his feelings by telling Carlos that he doesn’t have confidence in his defense (he’s been moved all over the infield in the past year) so why not just do the sensible thing and DH him?
Last night
Great game last night, sorry I didn’t join in the discussion, but I was watching the basketball game on TiVo, delayed by about 90 minutes, and I didn’t want to hear any info on the score.
I tip my cap again to the Pistons and their fans – well represented, beating the Celtics in Boston, something no one else has ever done. Unfortunately, I think that just made the Celtics realize that they had to play a lot harder on the road and actually make the effort to win in Auburn Hills.
Go Red Wings!
Go Tigers!
Go Inge!
Can't tell the players without a scorecard!
Tigers
CF Granderson
2B Polanco
3B Guillen
RF Ordonez
LF Thames
1B Cabrera
DH Larish
SS Renteria
C Rodriguez
Verlander 5.16
Mariners
CF Suzuki
2B Lopez
DH Vidro
LF Ibanez
3B Beltre
C Johjima
RF Reed
1B Cairo
SS Betancourt
Hernandez 3.50
conversations at the mound
why is it that when leyland or hernandez are at the mound cabrera and renteria never join the rest of the infield?
You know it's bad when
Polanco strikes out three times in one game.
The Tigers score 7 in one inning and then zero for the next 17 innings.
Curtis was safe!
That was a lousy call. Curtis argued because he was looking right at the bag. He knew the guy didn’t have his foot on the bag. And Leyland getting thrown out for nothing was ridiculous. As far as the game went, they don’t call him King Felix for nothin. We could have won but too many mistakes.

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