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White Sox and Jim Leyland

Just when you thought the Tigers were nice and safe, the White Sox make a nice run.  In a lot of ways, the White Sox are a better team this year then they were last year when they won the World Series so nobody thought they’d roll over and die.  They took two of three against the Yankees earlier in the week in a series that could have been a sweep, and now they pretty much blew us out yesterday.  Jose Contreras looked like he knew exactly what the Tigers’ hitters were going to do yesterday and he got them to swing at a lot of bad pitches.  The net result was Contreras’ first career complete game shutout.  On the other side, Justin Verlander gave up thirteen hits over only five innings.  Not good.  I was worried that he maybe got too much rest when his start was skipped so we’ll see what happens next time around.

Jeff Passan, who’s become one of my favorite columnists, recently did a story on Jim Leyland.  I remember hearing Passan on AM1270 when the Tigers drafted Andrew Miller and he was very articulate and told some great stories about the Tigers first round draft pick so it wouldn’t surprise me to see he makes it in radio.

Today’s game is on FOX at 1:20 and it pits two struggling pitchers.  Mark Buehrle has been awful since the All Star Break, and Kenny Rogers hasn’t been lighting it up either.  We’ll see if either guy can bounce back and get the job done today.



The home plate umpire has been awful today. I cannot believe he is a major league umpire. No one has any idea what is and what is not a strike. It’s pretty bad.

Dumb mistake after dumb mistake. Polanco getting picked off of first when he did is ridiculous and inexcusable. People always say to us statheads, “The game is played on the field, not on a computer.” Sometimes I wish it were played on a computer so that I don’t have to watch dipshits make mistake after mistake after mistake.

I’ve played a lot of baseball, and I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve never made the one Polanco made, and if I played baseball for another hundred straight years I never would. Add onto the fact that I’m not paid to do it as a professional, and it’s all really silly.

The slide has started. Watch in horror as the Tigers piss this away over the next month and a half. It is going to be awful.

When they were ahead 3-0, they had an 80% chance of winning the game. Now it’s down to 47%, and that’s according to generic win expectancy, which doesn’t take into account how good the White Sox, in particular, are at home. I’d say we have about a 25% chance of winning from this point forward, 30% at best.

This is where our luck runs out.

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 10:56 am

Middle of 7th, Tigers’ chances of winning: 39%

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:06 am

Bottom of 7th, after Inge’s error and Ordonez’s decision to throw home on the fly to right: 12%

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:13 am

So what you’re saying is, that there’s still hope, right…

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Posted by Jeff on August 12th, 2006 at 11:15 am

MIddle of 8th, Tigers’ chances: 11%

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:27 am

With Jenks coming in for the 9th, and Rodney coming in to walk a couple of batters, that number is quite a bit higher than the reality.

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:28 am

Nice walk by Rodney there to bring up one of the best power hitters in the league…

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:34 am

1 out, 7.5%

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:45 am

2 outs, 2.6%

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:48 am

0%. Nice f**king game.

This team is ripe for complete collapse. The defense and most of the players have played over their heads. This is bad.

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Posted by Dan on August 12th, 2006 at 11:51 am

I just got back for the game at USCrapular park. I have lived in chicag ofor 10 years and have watched one continuous tigers/sox game. Tigers take an early lead. Sox heroics ensue…daytime fireworks explode..Detroit Sucks chants begin as I begin the slow walk back to the car…Detroit Sucks evoloves to straight out insults… repeat ofton. Hey Jim Leyland!!! Is this a big series yet??? I’m tired of reading in the paper of how he is sick and tired of the media calling these games against the white sox and twins “big series”. they call them that Jim because they are! get these guys ready to play. They stopped playing after the first game against the twins. the errors killed them yet again.
we just lost 3 1/2 games in the standings in just about a week. Get these guys ready to play dammit!!!

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Posted by Michael on August 12th, 2006 at 2:39 pm

Jim Leyland on the Series with the White Sox:

“It’s just another series, that’s all it is,” he said. “No rivalry, no
nothing. They know it’s only Aug. 11 and that there’s a month-and-a-half of
baseball remaining.

“I get a big kick out of it, though, when you guys harp on that all the
time. It’s almost a joke, and I understand it, but we’ve gone through this
about five times this year.

“And we continue to go through the same silly stuff. Because you know what’s
going to happen when we leave here? We’re going to Boston and you’re going
to say ‘is this a big series?’

“And then we go home from Boston to play Texas, and it’s going to get asked
again: ‘Is this a big series?’ I’m not going to react to that stuff, sorry.
You guys do what you want with it, but you’re not going to get it out of me.

“It’s music to the media’s ears. Yeah, big series. But I’m not going to talk
about it. So don’t ask me about it. I’m not going to go through that the
rest of the year. I can tell you that right now.

“Do I know who we’re playing? Absolutely. Everybody knows who we’re playing.
But I’m going to say this one final time: The only thing that matters is
that at the end of the season, someone will have enough wins to get into the
postseason

“It’s that simple. If you have enough wins, you get in. If you don’t, you go
home. And I’m going to keep it simple like that.”

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Posted by Michael on August 12th, 2006 at 2:44 pm

To hell with it. A team that has played way over its head all season i starting to shit the bed, and that’s what happens eventually. It happened to the White Sox last year, and it’s a miracle they held off the Indians, who lost a handful of 1-run games in the last week of the season.

After today the Tigers will be 3-9 against the White Sox, a team I hate more than you could possibly imagine. If you go to Chicago and talk to their idiot asshole fans and listen to their insufferable asswipe announcer, you will realize, as Mike and I have, thst there is zero justice in the world.

Mike and I, and I assume many of you, have sat through dozens of losing seasons waiting for this, and it’s all going down the tubes. By the time we play the Red Sox and Yankees, the White Sox will be tied for the division lead. Watch it and recoil in horror. It’s going to happen.

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Posted by Dan on August 13th, 2006 at 11:48 am

Comerica hotdog: $3.00
Parking: $10.00

Seeing Ozzie Guillen cry, whine, throw a temper tantrum like a sissy, PRICELESS

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Posted by kcarp on August 25th, 2006 at 10:54 am


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