Tiger Geist

What a frustrating loss;  I can’t imagine having to sit through that ninth inning at the stadium.  When Detroit couldn’t score Magglio or Laird from second with no outs in the fifth and sixth, respectively, they seemed doomed.  And they were.

Jim Leyland’s MO has been to bring in the closer in the top of the ninth in a tied game; I’d probably have gone with Zumaya.  Zumaya has a better chance of going two innings, and Detroit hadn’t shown any ability (or desire) to score a run all game.  Then again, with Cabrera available but hobbled (and would obviously require a pinch runner), maybe Leyland knew he had a short bench and a long game wasn’t in the cards.

Links of interest:

• Jason Beck thinks that Magglio has turned it around.  Lynn Henning thinks Magglio is done.  Obviously one was written before last night’s game and one was written after, so not exactly a point / counter point.  I did think that Henning was much more direct in the previously mentioned Detroit Tiger Podcast.
• Rod Allen mentioned that Miguel Cabrera is a good first ball hitter.  He’s right;  Cabrera is hitting .514 when he hits the first pitch (as of June 5).  I had to check since Rod did a good job of covering his tracks as to whether he was stating a fact or not.
• I also like how Rod mentioned that the Angels aren’t afraid to swing on 3-0, right after Torii Hunter swung on a 3-0 pitch.  NO FEAR!
• Last, the Spot Starters talk about the release of Jaime Walker by Baltimore.  Walker signed a three year deal with Baltimore after the magical 2006 season; Detroit reportedly only was willing to offer a one year deal.  Compared to today’s current issues with the pitching staff and their monster contracts, not offering a longer deal to Walker was a brilliant move by Dombrowski.  He quickly countered that move by making 6 awful ones.