The Tigers were lucky tonight as both Leyland and Valverde got off the hook tonight when Delmon Young came through in the 12th. In his post game comments, Leyland just kept saying that we will discuss the Valverde situation in a staff meeting and refuse to comment on his BAD decision to keep him there after he had already given up two hits and a walk before Ibanez came up to bat. He did mention that if a right hand hitter had been coming up behind Ibanez, then he may have intentionally walked him. I say neither Valverde nor Benoit pitch again until the Tigers are up 3 games to none and there is a five run lead .....I am hoping that Valverde took a cab back to the hotel when he was pulled because I am sure no one wanted to be on the bus with him if the Tigers had lost. You could see the disapointment in both in our MVP's Verlander and Cabrera as they sat there in the 10 inning watching our batters go through the motions as it looked like another Fister game was ruined for the second time in one week. Feel bad for Jeter, but as OldSchool HQ said tonight during our live Tigers Facebook chat tonight, if the Tigers can't beat the yanks with an injured Rivera, Jeter and old broken down A-Rod, then they don't deserve to go to the World Series. Glad that Young is earning his 5th spot in the line up money.
Just think, our 3-5-6-7 hitters went 9-21, scored 4 runs and knocked in 4 runs. We got what we needed from them, although it was their production in the 12 that clinched it
Fister is my MVP tonight. Peralta was great, too. Fister gutted it out early and actually got better as the game went on. He got hit on the wrist by that line drive. I wonder if it affects him going forward.
I agree with BL's comment early that you have to pull him outta there after Ichiro's home run. Yet, Leyland lets him pitch to two more lefties after that. You gotta be kidding me. It's like giving more candy to a kid the day after Halloween. I hope the Detroit media stays on his azz about this. Leyland cannot keep doing this. Last season was last season. Closers can flame out quickly. Valverde really only has two pitches anyway -- and only one he can throw for a strike. The hitters know this. Why doesn't Leyland?
He's definitely not the closer anymore. Tigers' Jim Leyland temporarily removes Jose Valverde as closer | Detroit Tigers | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Q. We have to wade into the Valverde crisis pretty seriously. Were you close to pulling him at any point in the ninth? Can you trust him frankly in the closer role the remainder of the series? (AP)JIM LEYLAND: First of all, I had Dotel up (int the bullpen) because there were things I didn't really like (with Valverde). And the last part of the question I wouldn't discuss. We are going to discuss this as a staff, and now is not the time to discuss it. We haven't really made any decisions. We really want to put our heads together and discuss it first, to be honest with you, and get together as coaching staff and talk about it. We are certainly going to talk about it, but I don't really have any final information on it yet. We haven't discussed it. It will be something we discuss. Bill thinks that Valverde is definitely out as the closer. However, the manager may want to discuss this first............
I hope the media keeps pressing Leyland on this. If Valverde pitches again this year, I will be very angry....no need to discuss.
Good Mitch Albom article about the Valverde crisis for those who don't get the Free press Mitch Albom: No way Tigers can trust Jose Valverde with ninth inning again | Mitch Albom | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
No Valverde? No problem. I've never felt more sure of a Tigers victory starting the ninth inning. Even the team was much looser in the dugout. Yanks and umps helping out a lot. I've never seen a team come into a championship series performing so far under its capabilities. I'm talking about the Yanks here, not the umps. Oh, scratch that. The 2006 Tigers in the World Series come to mind as performing well below their capabilities.
I've talked to many fellow Tigers fans that would not be surprised if Leyland goes back to Valverde as a closer. Doesn't make much sense to me. Confidence is a funny thing. Takes forever to build but can disappear quickly. Valverde looks lost out there.
In NY........Jim LeyLand does well. Second base umpire.....Sparky Leyland stays focused on making the correct call. Home plate umpire.....Lefty Leyland calls all the balls and strikes correctly. NY starting pitcher.....Hiroki Leyland had some bad breaks out there today. kind of a pleasant day at the ole ball park.
with those two pitching....a possible sweep is in play... No Valverde sightings today, so you have to wonder if he was already shipped backed to Detroit early to chill out. Tigers caught a couple of breaks on the base paths with all involving Cano. First he is called out on a bang-bang play at first when it appeared that he beat the throw. Then he loses the ball on a probable inning ending double play that allows the eventual winning run to score. Then he clearly tags Infante when he over ran second base , but the ump calls him safe... Yep we will take'm
29 2/3 innings of consecutive shutout baseball from our starters. 3 outs from the all-time MLB records for the playoffs. What more can you realistically ask for as a fan? We have a ludicrous top 4 pitchers right now. Gotta resign Sanchez this off season. He's smooth and calm. Coke was great tonight. Got us through the 8th without stress and then struck out 3 in the 9th. Night and day from a stressful outing by Valverde. Give Leyland some credit here for this move and for allowing Sanchez to go 110 pitches. Also, it would have been easy to pull Coke after the 8th and come in with Benoit, etc. We fans always want the hot hand ridden and we got it. One difference that I see this year vs 2006 is that our players seem more confidence and looser. They know how to avoid putting undue pressure on themselves and they keep it light in the dugout. Great chemistry for the most part. And AGAIN Peralta makes a critically important defensive play that may have staved off the start of a rally by the Yanks. A good catch by Berry in LF and a nice grab by Avila near the stands also made up for a couple snafus (Infante).
Yeah a NY reporter straight up asked Jim "what will he do about ValV?" And Jim exknowlegded it was a legit question and said his staff would make a decision. Smyly big time ! * Cano is a big time player, don't sleep on him. Maybe these yanks are finally too old. Jeets breaks down on routine play. But Ichero is a pro.
Those NY reporters don't pull any punches. After JJ complained about the call at second, the reporter said something like "why does that matter when your team failed to score any runs and you were already down at that time?"
Favourite tweet - "Kuroda perfect through 5. Yankee hitters also perfect. Perfectly useless" (ENPNNY)
The feed I'm getting in the UK showed him in the bullpen in the 8th? inning in uniform, so he was still with the team. They mentioned that the Tigers are only introducing the Tiger starters back in Detroit so there won't be a chance for Valverde to be boo'd by the home crowd. I'd love for Justin to have an 8-1 lead going into the 9th to give him one last chance to show he's got things sorted. (They have suppose to have found an issue with his delivery and its been fixed.... ummm ok)
