Tigers Leave Bats in Cleveland, Shutout in Chicago

Detroit 0, Chicago 2 (box)

Magic Number 8

Eddie Bonine didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning, but when he did, Gordon Beckham made it count, blasting a two-run homer to provide all the scoring (and half the hits) in a 2-0 White Sox win.

The game was a classic pitcher’s duel, Bonine mowed through the White Sox with an array of pitches, all of them missing the barrels of the Sox’ bats.  Jake Peavy kept the Tigers off the board in his seven innings, despite allowing two baserunners in three different innings, Detroit just could not muster a big hit at any point in the game.

One big, fat, giant Jeer goes to Jim Leyland in this one, so big I had to move in into the body of the recap. 

Talk about over-managing, Leyland sent Adam Everett up to pinch hit for Aubrey Huff in the ninth inning last night.  Everett is in a 4-22 (.182) slump, is hitting just .198 in the second half, and hits all of .209 away from the CoPa.  He does hit .266 vs lefties, but had never seen Matt Thornton.

Predictably, Everett struck out.

Who would have been a better option to hit there? Ryan Raburn had already been used, Wilkin Ramirez was still on the bench, but I doubt he would be a better choice.

How about Huff?  Before coming to Detroit, Huff was an everyday player (read: also played vs LHP) for almost his entire 10 year career.  For whatever reason, Leyland has decided that not only is Huff incapable of playing defensively, he is also incapable of hitting a left hander. 

For the record, Huff has three hits and two walks in 12 career PA’s against Thornton.  He is a career .272 hitter vs southpaws.

Just because Everett swings the bat right handed does not make him a viable RH hitter, not in that situation.  Everett is on the team because of his glove, not his bat.  Leyland would do well to remember that.

Cheers for

• Eddie Bonine– The box score will show Eddie Bo was the loser, but when you look at his line, it’s tough to swallow.  6.2 Innings, two hits, 2 runs (zero earned).  That is a game you have to win.
• Jake Peavy– 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 8 K, 2 Giant GIDP.  Peavy was sharp in just his second start for the Sox, but he was beatable, the Tigers just didn’t do it.

Jeers to

• Brandon Inge– Inge’s error on Alex Rios’ groundball in the sixth should have been the second out, instead Rios was aboard when Beckham homered two batters later.  Couple that with a dreadful 0 for 4 that included three K’s and you can almost completely blame Inge for this loss.  Perhaps that’s a bit unfair, but I’m angry, and he was bad at baseball last night.
• Magglio Ordonez– He did have a hit in his four at bats, but also grounded into two double plays.  Maybe he should have taken a pitch on occasion, as he saw only seven pitches in his four trips. 
• 1st Pitch Swingers– I know the general wisdom is that you don’t want to let a pitcher like Peavy get ahead of you, but this is ridiculous.  The first inning, Peavy threw a total of six pitches, including four to Placido Polanco (who singled), one pitch retired Granderson to start the game, and Ordonez hit a double play ball on his first pitch.  Granderson saw six pitches in three at bats, Huff saw just eight in three trips.

What’s on tap

Nate Robertson opposes Freddy Garcia in game two tonight at the Cell.  The Tigers’ lead in down to two and Robertson will be pitching the biggest game of the season since the last game he pitched in Minnesota last weekend.  The Tigers need another strong outing from Nate, as you have to figure that Garcia will be tough, or at least that the Tigers will make him look good.  A bit of symmetry here; Garcia started for the Tigers last season in a game 162 in Chicago, he took the loss in a game the Sox had to win to force a playoff with the Twins.  The Tigers need to win tonight, a repeat performance from Garcia would help alot.

Division Update

The Minnesota RockiesTwins have now won something like 12 of 13, including the past four on the road, where they had been almost as bad as Detroit this season.  They scored nine runs last night, making it three straight games of at least eight runs.  You would think that no team could sustain the kind of success they have had for another nine games, but the Rockies did it in 2007, so there is precedent.  Remember, they have done all of this without Justin Morneau.