Detroit (37-20) at Chicago White Sox (34-22)


Nate Robertson, LHP (5-3, 3.42) @ Freddy Garcia, RHP (7-3, 4.57)

Scouting Report:
Robertson gave up six runs over 8 2/3 innings Wednesday, ending a personal seven-game unbeaten streak, but he had a 2-0 duel going into the eighth of what ended up being a frustrating loss. He had a face-to-face argument with umpire Ted Barrett on his way out of the game and went into a lengthy self-defense with reporters afterwards. Whether the frustration affects him in Chicago will be an interesting factor.

After setting a single-season personal record by winning seven straight, the big right-hander has lost his last two starts against Toronto and Cleveland. The good news for Garcia is that he finished the month of May with a 3-2 record and issued only one free pass over 41 1/3 innings, while fanning 23. But Garcia has allowed 10 runs on 20 hits in his last 11 2/3 innings. Garcia has a 1-0 record against Detroit in 2006 and carries a 12-5 career mark when facing the Tigers into Tuesday's all-important series opener in Chicago.

Bases loaded for Gomez.

go tigers. i hate the sox:D

MARCUS FUCKING THAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Inge follows him with a homer of his own.

2-0 Tigers.

Pudge out of the game. Looks like he hurt himself when he struck out.

Shelton HR!

Maybe that will break him out of his slump.

3-1 Tigers in the top of the 4th.

Fuck!

Rodney gives up a 3-Run HR. White Sox lead 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th.

Fuck a 'Nandocintron.

Absolutely horrible loss.

Had Polanco showed up tonight (at tha plate and in the field), this game would've been ours. For the 2nd straight start, Robertson's effort is wasted.

Fuck a Polanco and a Rodney.

Omar should have been playing tonight anyway. He has had some success in Chicago.

That loss hurts

That loss hurts

Took awhile for me to come down after watching that atrocity. Too bad Zumaya couldn't pitch for both the 7th and 8th. I'll never second-guess Leyland, but that's just a part of baseball I don't get. I don't see why when a guy comes in in the 7th and pitches well, is on an emotional high, he's yanked for another pitcher in the 8th. That goes totally against most other sports, where you feed the hot hand. It would be kind of like yanking a goalie in hockey after a shutout period.

I understand there's a system in place, and that you have to worry about longevity, but I guess I don't see the harm in having Zumaya pitch for 2 innings. I don't think it would hurt him at all, and you also save Rodney for another night.

I agree TK, I would have loved to see Jimmy keep Zoom in there.

Maybe he was concerned about Rodney feeling like he had lost his 8th inning "job".

That homer was just painful to watch, I immediately turned the TV off. That game was over right there.

The good news is that Robertson should be used to this after last year. Wait....that's not good news. Fuckers.

Did he give another "Baseball is just not fair" speeches to reporters after the game?

Quick 1,2,3 inning for Contreras.,

Hopefully Verlander's got his A game today.

Wow.

Shelton is really struggling. First he swings at ball four on 3-0 and then grounds into a DP on 3-1. [smilie=banghead.gi:

HR Granderson.

1-0 Tigers.

Looks like Monroe is hurt in LF.

That didn't look too good for him. He might be out for a while.

TIE GAME!!!

Falling apart late in the game again. Get a grip fellas.

Come on Maggs.

I'm going to have to cry myself to sleep.

I think we're officially being "exposed" we can't beat any of the big boys. Frustrating.

Gotta learn how to play with the big boys. Give this team a month, I bet they win these games.

BTW, anyone think of we had Puge out there it would have been a different story?

It's pretty disheartening to see that we're still not quite there yet, but close. Hopefully we'll now learn how to play against these types of teams, in case we see them again in the post season.

Did anyone else suspect the pitching gun was a bit off last night? I think it was reading slow by about 6 or 7 mph. It was consistently clocking Verlander at 90-91 and Zumaya never broke 93. I thought Rod and Mario would've said something, but they never did.

Any word on Monroe?

Craig, not Jim J. Bullock.

It's pretty disheartening to see that we're still not quite there yet, but close. Hopefully we'll now learn how to play against these types of teams, in case we see them again in the post season.

Did anyone else suspect the pitching gun was a bit off last night? I think it was reading slow by about 6 or 7 mph. It was consistently clocking Verlander at 90-91 and Zumaya never broke 93. I thought Rod and Mario would've said something, but they never did.


I thought the same thing too. It did the same thing to Zumaya the other night too.

It's pretty disheartening to see that we're still not quite there yet, but close.
I don't know. It's the first time this team has been anything but terrible in a good while. I don't know how bad it is that they might not be a real contender. (Of course, I'm hardly a baseball fan so my opinion on the subject doesn't carry much weight.)

I still don't see any quit in these guys...and I really don't think we're that far off still. I know that a win is a win and a loss is a loss...no matter what the score, but if you look at the last 9 games (of which we have lost 7) things really weren't that horrible. We should have taken one extra game from the Yankees, but Jonesy blew it when he was called upon to pitch an extra inning. This is Leyland's bad for having him as our closer anyway. Has anybody seen his ERA lately? Not quite "closer" material. We should have taken 2 of 3 from Boston....but again, Jonesy blew it in the 9th. Our bad. As far as the Chi Sox, we were more than poised to take both of these games if it wasn't for some dude named Cinton and a few errors on our part. Shit, when was the last time that Polonco even committed and error before Tuesday?

Bottom line, we were a few plays from taking 7 out of the last nine instead of losing 7 of the last 9. Keep the faith.

I baught my own big league chew today. Hopefully i can chew them to a victory!

LOL.

Ok, i know, i'm not funny.

I'm done

Last time we faced Garland, we tagged him for seven runs. So hopefully our bats will awaken today and score more than 3 runs.

Any word on puge?

Any word on puge?

Pudge is in the lineup. As is Infante.

Granderson, CF
Polanco, 2B
Rodriguez, C
Ordonez, RF
Guillen, SS
Infante, DH
Thames, LF
Shelton, 1B
Inge, 3B

Cool. I like Omar.

I still don't see any quit in these guys...and I really don't think we're that far off still. I know that a win is a win and a loss is a loss...no matter what the score, but if you look at the last 9 games (of which we have lost 7) things really weren't that horrible. We should have taken one extra game from the Yankees, but Jonesy blew it when he was called upon to pitch an extra inning. This is Leyland's bad for having him as our closer anyway. Has anybody seen his ERA lately? Not quite "closer" material. We should have taken 2 of 3 from Boston....but again, Jonesy blew it in the 9th. Our bad. As far as the Chi Sox, we were more than poised to take both of these games if it wasn't for some dude named Cinton and a few errors on our part. Shit, when was the last time that Polonco even committed and error before Tuesday?

Bottom line, we were a few plays from taking 7 out of the last nine instead of losing 7 of the last 9. Keep the faith.

I'm with you, it's not like we've been getting our asses handed to us out there. We've been playing with these teams, just loetting them sneak away from us. We'll learn, I hope.

A 11-pitch at bat for Granderson to start the game.

We need more guys like him in the lineup.

Inge almost had a HR but barely missed it.

Edit: Polanco with a 2 Run HR. Tie game heading into the bottom of the 3rd.

RBI Single for Guillen.

3-2 Tigers.

Holy Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just like that it's a 6-2 game.

Big win tonight. Hopefully this game will get another win streak going.

yeah, the bats woke up in the later innings. Hopefully it'll cary over. If we had those bats in the last 10 games, we could have been on another long winning streak.

Thats why i'm so excited about this team, this year. They can play with the big boys of baseball.

Marcus already has more AB's than last year.

Damn, that kid's got power.

Keep the faith.

If this was in reference to my comment about the Tigers not quite being there yet, I haven't lost faith at all. I think they're a great team, but *might* not be quite good enough yet to win a world series. That'll only come with more playing time and keeping the team together. They have all the elements in place, and by the end of the year they'll be a well-oiled machine. I'm just saying that right now, at this point in the season, I don't think they're a championship team, although I do see them winning this division.

Could they not find a better picture to put up on ESPN's MLB front page!?

http://espn-att.starwave.com/photo/2006/0608/mlb_u_rogers_412.jpg

Great win, they needed it. Still in first!

That was a great win, we needed that one. You could almost feel a huge weight coming off the whole team's shoulders after they popped that 4 run inning, that was our best rally in a while.

Keep the faith.

If this was in reference to my comment about the Tigers not quite being there yet, I haven't lost faith at all. I think they're a great team, but *might* not be quite good enough yet to win a world series. That'll only come with more playing time and keeping the team together. They have all the elements in place, and by the end of the year they'll be a well-oiled machine. I'm just saying that right now, at this point in the season, I don't think they're a championship team, although I do see them winning this division.

Not pointed at anyone. Just rah-rahing our team. I don't think that they're there yet either....but damn close. Any way you slice it, it's June and I'm still tuning in when I can to watch this team. What more could I ask for?

Could they not find a better picture to put up on ESPN's MLB front page!?

http://espn-att.starwave.com/photo/2006/0608/mlb_u_rogers_412.jpg

Great win, they needed it. Still in first!

This looks like the first entry in the WTF MLB pictures thread.