Can You Hear the Drums, Fernando? Giants 8, Tigers 6

by Ian Casselberry on Jun 17, 2008 1:47 AM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

Everything looked to be heading toward a seventh straight win for the Tigers. Justin Verlander threw his third straight quality start. Marcus Thames homered for the fourth straight game, this time launching two balls into the seats. (And as Matt pointed out in the GameThread , Thames' last seven hits have been home runs.) Freddy Dolsi needed only seven pitches for a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

But it all fell apart in the eighth. Dolsi came back out, and put two of the first three hitters he faced on base. So Jim Leyland brought in Fernando Rodney, fresh off his rehab assignment, to clean up Dolsi's mess. Might as well see if he can handle a late-inning pressure situation right away, I suppose.

If you didn't see the game, here's how Rodney's outing went:

Rodney got his change-up over the plate just fine, and initially made John Bowker look bad with it. But when he was way out of the zone with his fastball, Rodney had to come back with another change-up, and it was one too many. Bowker blasted a three-run homer to right field for the lead. Rodney allowed two more hits and walked a batter, which led to two more runs (though the umpire made a bad call allowing that second run to score from first base on Fred Lewis' ground-rule double), and that was it for him. Really, he couldn't have done much worse in his first game back.

The Tigers made it interesting in the ninth inning, as Brian Wilson quickly loaded the bases on two hits and a walk. Curtis Granderson drove in two runs on a single to left field (he's getting quite good at hitting to the opposite field, by the way), but Placido Polanco couldn't knock a ground ball past Omar Vizquel (after attempting to get on base by claiming he was hit by a pitch). Game over. Streak over.

It was a tough loss, especially after scoring more runs against Tim Lincecum than any other team had this season (thanks, Marcus), and handing a lead over to a bullpen that's been pitching pretty well. We'll find out tomorrow if this was just a speed bump.

Roll Call

For a game with a 10 p.m. EST start time, we had a good turnout tonight in the GameThread. A winning team makes it easier to stay up late. Too bad the effort wasn't rewarded with a win (though it certainly got exciting at the end).

Thanks to ThaWalrus9, Boney (do you have a blog anymore?), rook34, MackAveKurt, Zappatista, ahtrap, rock n rye, Tigsfan, Grant E., tbliggins, spotstarters, Juskimo, densogirl, cannonad03, HavocRox, syratiger, and trysdor (welcome!) for keeping the light on and making it very easy to stay awake through the game.

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Although they lost, it was nice to see the tigers fight back after the 5 run 8th. They really battled in the 9th and almost pulled off a come back against the NL save leader. They really seemed to care, and i expect them to win the next 2. I think they will have a big night tonight and put up 8 or more runs. That offense is hot, and they will take it to Sancez tonight. Hopefully kenny can keep up his impressive pitching.

Rodney did not look good, but i think some of the blame for that 8th inning should go to pudge for the pitch selection. 3 straight change ups, fast ball, change? I know the change is his best pitch, but dont you need to establish a fastball in order for it to be effective? After that high fastball, everyone watching knew he would come back with the change. John Bowker may not be the best hitter, but he is a major league ball player and you have to keep him guessing. It seems like pudge always works back words with rodney. Allot of people compare his change up with guys like hoffman and eric gange. Pudge and Rodney should sit down and watch how gange and hoffman set up the batter with there fast ball before drooping the “change piece”, as rod allen likes to call it.

Is there any good defensive free agent short stops out there until Ramon gets back? (Besides Nefie Perez) Michael Holliman didnt look so hot at short, and hasent done anything at the plate. I know he hasent had many at bats, but the guy looks intimated at the plate. And if you cant contribute offensively, you must play good defense as the back up short stop. We really need to find someone to fill that role until ramon gets back.

Offensively, it looks like leylands cather rotation has been working out nicely, with inge’s home run the other night and pudges 3-3 last night. And how about the decision to make Thames an every day player? He is the hottest hitter ive seen since Chris Shelton at the start of the 2006 season. Hopefully he can keep it going more than a month, unlike Mr. Shelton. Cant wait for tonight, im going to have a ruff week at work staying up all week watching the tigers

by Soper on Jun 17, 2008 9:45 AM EDT reply actions

I was...

pretty impressed with the fight they showed in the ninth. Too many times this year i’ve seen this team lose the lead in the late going and just roll over. I think this is a confident bunch now, i have a feeling they’ll be back out there tonight, grinding out a win.

What was up with the 2nd run scoring on the fan interference? I’ve been watching baseball for twenty years and i’ve never seen that call made. Maybe because they knew they blew that call with Pudge at the plate? That was bunk.

Regardless, After the Castillo walk Rodney should have been lifted. It was pretty obvious at that point his control was horrible. Actually on the broadcast (I get San Fran’s team on extra innings) the announcers said, “here comes Mr. Leyland”... he walked to the top step.. and stopped. IMHO, Jimmy hung him out to dry.

Jeff

by cannonad03 on Jun 17, 2008 9:49 AM EDT reply actions

I totally agree.

I think that this is the biggest difference in this team in the past few weeks. They have confidence. Earlier this year the ninth would have gone 1-2-3.

by Grant E. on Jun 17, 2008 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Very hard loss to take, but.....

I understand that in the course of 162 games crazy things are going to happen..so I am in bed last night watching the game on mlb.com on my cell phone with the sheets over my head so the blaring light from my cell doesnt keep my wife awake (I know, I need to get control of my self here) and I see the score change to 6-4 on the 3 run homer and I am thinking ok this sucks but its still a 2 run game and we are swinging the bats lately..keep it to 6-4 and get to the 9th…I was thinking the same thing, yank Rodney and get someone out there to keep it 6-4…oh well its over now but I hope we can take the next two..

by PBURGTIGER on Jun 17, 2008 12:13 PM EDT reply actions