With Tigers ace Justin Verlander not scheduled to start against Cleveland in their weekend series, Saturday night may have been Detroit’s best chance to come out on the winning end of the series. Tigers manager Jim Leyland also rolled the dice by playing Magglio Ordonez in right field, Ramon Santiago at second and newly called up Brandon Inge at third.
All three of those players contributed in a big way during Detroit’s big 10-1 win over Cleveland Saturday night.
Magglio Ordonez was 1 for 3 with an RBI and run scored, Santiago was 2 for 3 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI’s while Inge was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s, 1 run scored including a home run in his first at-bat back with the team.
Now it’s always been my belief that Jim Leyland got way too much criticism by the fans and media and that he rarely gets praise for the team playing well.
Tonight’s one of those nights where Leyland bashers cannot come out and say he shouldn’t have played Ordonez, Santiago and Inge simply because all three played a role in the Tigers’ victory Saturday. The same bashers furthermore cannot that the team would’ve been better off tonight if they played Boesch in right field and Betemit at third because the fact of the matter is Inge and Ordonez flat-out got it done tonight in the field and at the plate.
I myself have been very vocal the past 24 hours about Brandon Inge and Leyland’s choosing to play him over Betemit at third when the Tigers are facing a left-handed pitcher.
Again, Inge had an outstanding game in his return to the Tigers’ lineup after spending quite a bit of time with the Toledo Mud Hens in Triple-A. However my feelings toward Inge and Leyland’s choosing to play him over Betemit against lefties hasn’t changed. How many times has Brandon Inge gone out and have an excellent game one night then fall flat on his face for the next few weeks? All’s I’m saying is lets see some consistency from Inge before we start getting excited over one game.
Inge and Betemit need to go out and continue making the most of their playing time at third considering hard fought position overall are always good for the team.
Source: MLB.com
