Tigers Split with Angels

How ugly can you get?

Carlos Guillen makes two errors in the first inning allowing three runs to score.  Bonderman continues his troubles getting out of the first inning, but, for good measure, adds troubles getting out of the second and third innings as well, and the Tigers get down early 7-0.

Then, they come back with one in the fourth (that should have been more if not for a double play), three in the sixth (that could have been more had Pudge got on his horse), one in the seventh (another inning ending double play) and one in the eighth (though they sent seven batters to the plate) to put them down by just a run.

In the ninth inning, Gary Sheffield doubled on his hardest-hit ball of the year--including his home run.  He then stole third on the first pitch.  The pitch was in the dirt, but he had such a great jump it wouldn't have mattered.  Magglio Ordonez then hit a 2-2 pitch on a rope into the Tigers' bullpen in left field and the Tigers had the lead 8-7.  It was a great comeback.

Then Todd Jones came in and allowed a 300-foot foul to Orlando Cabrera that would have been a ground-rule double before inducing him to fly out to a blinded-by-the-sun Magglio Ordonez.  Vlad Guererro then hit a ground-rule double.  Garret Anderson then launched a ball to the warning track to allow Vlad to get to third base.  Jones then decided that it was better to keep the ball down.  He threw a 2-1 pitch to Casey Kotchman that went in the dirt, and though it didn't get far from Pudge, he had trouble locating it right away and Guererro scored on the passed ball.  Kotchman then grounded to second and the Tigers were set for extra innings.

Jones came back out for the tenth, though every ball that was hit before Kotchman's was in a gap and hit well.  He actually seemed a bit more settled.  He induced the first batter to hit a chopper that likely would have gone foul, except for the fact that he fielded it.  The batter would have been safe anyway, but Jones threw the ball.  The batter would have stopped at first, but Jones threw it over Carlos Guillen's head at first base.  So now there was a runner at second, the speedy Kendry Morales, no less, and nobody out.

The next batter was intentionally walked, and then Jose Molina came on to bunt.  Carlos Guillen, a shortstop was playing first base, and the bunt went in front of the mound.  Guillen charged in front of the mound and almost barehanded the ball.  If he could have got a hold of it, the runner at third would have been out, but the bunt was hit a little harder than Guillen anticipated, and he regrouped and got the runner at first instead.

The next batter came up and hit another chopper that Polanco had to wait a little longer than he wanted for it to come down.  By the time he caught and threw it, it was too late.  The throw was high, but it would have taken a perfect throw to even make the play close.  Morales scored, and the Angels won 9-8.

The defense in this game was atrocious.  Any one play made better could have given the Tigers the game.  You can't blame Jones, Guillen or Leyland, though without blaming Granderson for striking out a bunch.  You can't blame Pudge without...well, you can blame Pudge for not scoring on a double, grounding into a double play and allowing a passed ball with the game on the line.  But you can't blame him because he did knock in a couple runs.  The blame for this loss goes from top to bottom.  Inge was everywhere on defense, but still couldn't hit.  Magglio gave the Tigers the lead, but seemingly lost a ball in the sun in the 9th after going and getting his sunglasses after almost losing a ball in the sun the out before that. 

You can maybe blame Polanco for not getting in Leyland's face about getting the day off and allowing Neifi Perez to play, as Perez is 0-3 and Polanco is the hottest hitter in baseball not named Alex Rodriguez, but everyone deserves a day off from time to time.

Actually, the blame for this loss can squarely be put on the schedule makers.  How the Tigers play a Sunday day game in the Eastern Time Zone, play Monday night and Tuesday afternoon in the Pacific Time Zone and then have to turn right back around to play in Chicago on Wednesday is beyond me.  Regardless, the Tigers, who have historically had poor West Coast road trips, get credit for finishing one at .500, so all is not lost.  Hopefully, they can get some rest for tonight's game across the country.

Chad Durbin gets the call tonight.  Hopefully, he can get a quality start, but anything better than Bonderman yesterday would be liveable, as he got through the sixth inning.  Five runs through six might keep the Tigers in the game against an untested Danks.  However, if he wants to start a major league game next month, he better pitch better than that...