Game 88: Tigers @ Yankees

Tigers 3- Yankees 5

Okay, if I have to be at work at 6 am on a Saturday and there is nothing to do right now I can at least catch this blog up a little. (Just keep the coffee coming!)

Last night the Tigers blew a game against the Yankees. Joel Zumaya deserves most of the blame, but there is enough to go around. There were many encouraging things in that game too.

Hits-

• Luke French can get Yankees out! In his 3rd Big League start he allowed 5 hits in 5 innings and only 1 earned run. He had 3 strike outs. Unfortunately he gave up 3 walks too. But the Tigers were winning while he was pitching.
• Curtis Granderson takes baseball seriously! He started the game with a double and followed up in the 5th with a homerun. He also made some nice plays in the field. Lynn Henning of the Detroit News suggested that Curtis needs to "make baseball his fixation". Last night Granderson did.
• Clete Thomas and Josh Anderson can throw! Thomas got hung with an error in the 1st for a throw that was off line from Right field to catcher Laird. I don't think it should have been an error- but the run scored and somebody had to be blamed for it I guess. If nothing else he gave the Yankees something to think about as they ran. Josh Anderson redeemed himself for a dumb error by gunning down Posada at home from Left.

Misses-

• Too many runners left on base. Last night there 18 runners left behind. Burnett was vulnerable and the Tigers didn't take enough advantage. They were 1 for 12 with Runners in Scoring Position.
• Errors. Last night there were 3 of them, the two I mentioned above and one on Inge that I didn't see. (And I'm not convinced that Thomas' was really a error).
• Zumaya. At this point he deserves an entire post of his own. He can not (or will not) pitch effectively right now. He came on in the 7th last night and served up 5 hits and 1 walk. Rod Allen of FSN Detroit commented that "it looks like (Yankee batters) know what's coming!" This stat was brought up in the Bless You Boys Game Thread last night...
  

  I’m not a fire Jim Leyland guy but if Leyland puts him in the 7th or 8th inning again with a lead he should be fired. Last 9 outings (counting tonight) he has 4 blown saves and 8 earned runs allowed … he is done!

  by tigerfaninChicago

I checked my stats and we have to go back 14 appearances to find a really effective game for Zoom. He has given up 11 runs in that time frame (10 earned). A big part of his problem is that he can't find the plate. In those 14 games he has given up 13 walks. Then there are the 16 hits on top of the walks. Right now I don't see how Leyland can trust Joel with any situation.


To sum it all up. The Tigers could have and should have won last night's game against the Yankees, but they let it slip away. Both Chicago and Minnesota won, to the Tigers' lead over those teams was diminished by 1 game.

Verlander takes the ball today against Sabbathia.

Week 4 Wrap

The Tigers split 6 games this week against the Royals, Yankees and Indians.

The Good:

Verlander pitched 7 shut out innings against the Yankees 4/27 with 9 strikeouts.
Jackson followed the next day with 6 innings of shutout ball.
Brandon Inge continues to get on base. He has been on base in every game so far this year and finished the week with 7 home runs.

The Ugly:

The 7th inning of Jackson's game on the 28th. I was dozing off and every time I woke up the Yankees were still batting. Perry gave up 4 runs in 1/3 of that inning. Robertson also gave up 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning. Lyon comes in and gives up a grand slam before finally getting the final out. 14 batters scored 10 runs in that endless inning. Jackson's shut out became a blowout that the Yankees won 11 to 0. that is the first shutout against the Tigers so far this year.

The Bad:

Week 4 was the first week this year that the Tigers didn't score at least 5 runs per game (only 4.50 last week).
Also for the first time this last week the Bullpen was not very good (of course giving up 10 runs in one inning will certainly skew the results). They gave up 16 walks and only 11 stikeouts. They also gave up 4 home runs.

The end result wasn't all that horribly bad. They finished the week 1/2 game out of first tied for 2nd with the White Sox. They were 12 and 11 for the year.

The month of May has lots of AL Central play for Detroit. They continue to play the Indians and then the Twins for 2 and then the White Sox for 2 and then the Indians again to finish up the week.