Tough to Swallow: Angels 4, Tigers 3

by Ian Casselberry on Apr 22, 2009 2:15 AM EDT in Detroit Tigers News

They can't all be gems, right? After two outstanding performances to open the season, Armando Galarraga wasn't sharp against the Angels. Considering the amount of pitches he threw in the first three innings, it's amazing he was able to tough it out through five. Yet the Tigers might still have pulled out a win if some ninth-inning strategy hadn't backfired.

Down by one in the ninth, Carlos Guillen led off with a single and Josh Anderson came in to pinch-run for him. Surprisingly, Adam Everett pinch-hit for Jeff Larish instead of Marcus Thames, but perhaps Jim Leyland wanted to get a runner in scoring position before sending in a big bat. (As it turns out, Thames was unavailable, pulling a rib cage muscle that will put him on the 15-day disabled list. When exactly the injury occurred isn't yet known. Jason Beck posted the news on Twitter minutes after the game ended.)

Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn't execute. Everett couldn't lay down a bunt on the first two pitches from Brian Fuentes. Anderson was then picked off, caught taking an early jump from first base. Everett proceeded to strike out, which seemed to kill any chance to tie the game.

Fuentes' wildness gave Detroit one more chance, however, as he put both Gerald Laird and Brandon Inge on base. Ramon Santiago took a called third strike to end the game, unfortunately. And considering how huge Tim Timmons's strike zone was (Mike Scioscia was ejected in the sixth after he couldn't take any more low pitches being called strikes), batters probably needed to swing at anything close.

Roar:

Curtis Granderson did all he could to win the game single-handedly, hitting two home runs in his first two at-bats against Jered Weaver. A day off also seemed to have helped Carlos Guillen, who went 3-for-4 and ran hard on the basepaths.

Whimper:

Bringing in Brandon Lyon to pitch for a second inning was probably asking for trouble. Why Leyland kept him in for the eighth when a) the game was tied, and b) plenty of other relievers could've used some work was kind of a baffling decision.

Turning Point:

Galarraga looked like he was going to cruise through the fifth inning and sneak out of the game with a lead. But he hung a first-pitch slider right in the middle of the plate to Torii Hunter, who blasted it over the left-center field fence for a game-tying homer. That was probably Galarraga's last inning anyway, but had the Angels not tied the game, perhaps Leyland would've used his bullpen differently.

Comment of the Day:

WHY IS EVERETT PICKING UP A BAT?
HE HAS TYPHOID FOR GOD SAKE
by explosivo2k2

Without Timmons behind the plate, Justin Verlander should have a pretty good shot against these Angels in the second game of this series.

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That explains that

The Thames injury during BP pretty much explains the strange end. Anderson got a horrible jump on the steal.

Maybe my eyes were getting blurry by 1 a.m. after Pistons/Wings flipping all night, but it seemed the strike zone kept moving further and further to the right. Look at Armando’s pitch chart. He’s got balls in the middle of the plate and strikes way inside. Weaver got similar (slightly better) treatment.

I never understood the code of not fixing the strike zone. When I umpired — and granted, it was intramural softball — I once called a game in which I called a high, arcing pitch a strike early, and both pitchers promptly started throwing that pitch. So I called the team captains to me in the 3rd inning and explained I had been calling high pitches incorrectly, and to notify their teams that I would be correcting it. One guy on one team complained on a later call, but both captains came and thanked me afterward for having the humility to admit I was making a mistake and give them a fair game.

MLB umps never, NEVER, do this. I guess it’s pride at having progressed far enough through the umping ranks to call the Show, but I feel that no matter what level you’re officiating, the game belongs to the players on the field, not the umpires. The umps’ job is to give those players a fair game, under the game’s rules.

The wacky strike zone last night helped and hurt both teams. Galarraga got a lot more bad calls against him, but a groundball pitcher like him benefited more from the low strike zone than a power pitcher like Weaver, but all came out Angels in the end when that last inside strike, which had been called a strike all day, ended Santiago’s at bat in the 9th.

by Misopogon on Apr 22, 2009 10:15 AM EDT reply actions

Small ball gone wrong. In Anaheim, where Scioscia has shown over and over how frequently it goes wrong. But the injury explains it, I guess.

How did “Little Big League” and “Rookie of the Year” not make the list? Two great baseball fantasy movies of my childhood…

by cloud wall on Apr 22, 2009 10:35 AM EDT reply actions

We lost last night's game

because we didn’t score a run after the 3rd inning. Yes, the strike zone was a little ridiculous. Yes, Everett couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. The offense needed to pick up Galarraga last night and couldn’t get it done in the later innings.

That being said, why does Jim Leyland insist on using Lyon for multiple innings? His second inning is nothing more than BP for opposing teams every single time.

by handsomerob1 on Apr 22, 2009 10:48 AM EDT reply actions