That should be the last time we see Valverde

[coulomb]

Watch Leyland make coke the closer. Just for drama.

 

[biggunsbob]

heck make Smiley the hero...Kid had ice water in his veins...I say dotel or just go with the match-ups..lefty/lefty...righty/righty if possible..

 

[spockmaster]

i say closer by situation/committee. we dont really have any good every-time options. coke cant get righties out, dotel has troubles vs lefties, benoit doesnt want to and hasnt been pitching well, alal has control issues, smyly could maaaaaaaybe work but theyd never do it (and wed only have one lefty to use for matchups), porcello blows dead goats and has no out pitch. the only good thing about all of em is that theyre all better than rotten potato is.

 

[sggatecl]

I miss Todd Jones. (2012 is the end)

 

[Mitchrapp]

Watch Leyland make coke the closer. Just for drama.

"Coke is our new closer" - Leyland

"{Gasp..}" - Press

"No, I'm just messing with ya, Coke LMAO" - Leyland.

 

[tigerfan2272]

I really like Drew Smyly. I see why the A's wanted him. I don't know why anyone trades with the A's, if they asked me for someone I would say hell no and promote said person to the majors immediately.

 

[pr0tege]

Interesting tidbit after tonight:

Al Alburquerque has allowed as many runs in his last 31 innings as Valverde did tonight.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

Did everyone see Cabrera staring Valverde down as he walked down the stairway to the dressing room? Holy shit, he was as pissed as I was. Hell, he might have been looking at Leyland.

 

[masterscorpio77]

I am sure Cabrera wasn't the only one. If that is what it took to get Valverde replaced than so be it.

 

[hellifino]

Papa Grande can't hit 93-94 anymore unless he overthrows, and when he does the ball sails up in the zone,can't Leyland and the pitching coach see that? he should have been pulled after Ichiros HR.another reason Smoker has to go,he doesn't even see it.


in other news, Porcello is a great ground ball pitcher, why have guys serve up the long ball when you have a rested Porcello.

 

[jdeb]

JL is not going to change a thing. We just have to deal with it is my guess.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Papa Grande can't hit 93-94 anymore unless he overthrows, and when he does the ball sails up in the zone,can't Leyland and the pitching coach see that? he should have been pulled after Ichiros HR.another reason Smoker has to go,he doesn't even see it.


in other news, Porcello is a great ground ball pitcher, why have guys serve up the long ball when you have a rested Porcello.

Porcello you just never know because a SP to a RP sometimes doesn't work well. Especially in the middle of an inning.

You're right about his speed, everyone knows his speed is way down this year. Also, if I'm not mistaken he dropped a pitch that he had last season. But even some roller coaster rides last season, he's just a different pitcher.

After the first hit, I thought okay Leyland has Dotel up, cool. Then after the HR, no Dotel. After the walk with 0-2 count no Dotel. Then I started blaming Leyland.

 

[hungry]

I hope it comes out that Valverde was "hiding" an "injury" and we don't ever have to see him close again.

Leyland already mentioned this after the blown save against Oakland, that he had back soreness. If he has 'back soreness' then why is he out there?

 

[hungry]

Leyland said that he'll have to get together with the coaches and talk about it...

 

[biggunsbob]

Leyland said that he'll have to get together with the coaches and talk about it...

Yup that is what i saw too. They have to make a change....right??

 

[masterscorpio77]

I believe he has no choice honestly. I guess it all depends if Dave and the rest of the brass had any conversations with Jim? I would almost certainly believe that they have by now. But then again Jim is the manager so I suppose the decision overall is his to make.

But I would say that he is backed into a corner on this one, because something has to be done. Valverde is now a liability. And you really can't risk putting him out there in a close game.

 

[@Stakesarehigh]

if Leyland has any desire to return as the coach of the tigers I'd imagine he'd have to go with the upper management on this one.

If they are entirely supportive of whatever he decides it's one thing but I'm guessing they may have seen enough.

Him shaking his head and his frustrated look after the HR's would be all I need to see...his demeanor sucks out there and on that alone I'd demote him.

 

[Mitchrapp]

So who was mildly excited that Miguel was PO'd after the 9th? Anyone that says he smiles too much and doesn't get upset when bad things happen, well haha, lala, la.

 

[manchild98]

So who was mildly excited that Miguel was PO'd after the 9th? Anyone that says he smiles too much and doesn't get upset when bad things happen, well haha, lala, la.

I guess the other night in Oakland when Valverde blew that game Dotel was urging Miggy to say something in the locker room but he wouldn't do it. I heard that on Valenti and Foster so take it with a grain of salt. I don't think he's comfortable being that guy. But it was nice to see them pissed about last night. And it was even better to see him back up the frustration by drawing the walk and scoring the winning run.

I don't know if this will be the complete end to Valverde this year. But I have to imagine that you cannot pitch him in NY unless he's the last pitcher left. That porch is just too short. And you could make the same argument for Benoit in NY.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I guess the other night in Oakland when Valverde blew that game Dotel was urging Miggy to say something in the locker room but he wouldn't do it. I heard that on Valenti and Foster so take it with a grain of salt. I don't think he's comfortable being that guy. But it was nice to see them pissed about last night. And it was even better to see him back up the frustration by drawing the walk and scoring the winning run.

I don't know if this will be the complete end to Valverde this year. But I have to imagine that you cannot pitch him in NY unless he's the last pitcher left. That porch is just too short. And you could make the same argument for Benoit in NY.

I wonder how Valenti and Foster get that data. I agree I don't think he wants to be that guy and that's okay. Damn NY porch.