Verlander 131 pitch complete game!

[mlbbug]

Justin Verlander finally got his first win tonight. Jim Leyland came out to get him in the 9th and he didn't want to give him the ball .Just like the old time pitchers he stayed in the game and closed out his own win still throwing triple digit heat right up to the last pitch. . They don't make players like this guy any more!!!!!

[Winston's Empire]

Could not agree more. JV is cut from an old school cloth and it was fun to watch him K the last hitter after juicing the bases in the 9th! My Favorite Pitcher by far!!!!
I thought Leyland was going to have the big one in the dugout tonight watching that!!!!!

[mlbbug]

If more pitchers had Verlander's guts we wouldn't be getting stuck on the closer du jour FAAB merry-go-round.

[mattjb]

the radar gun had duffy throwing 97mph so I would take those Verlander 100mph 9th innings readings with a large pinch of salt.

[Ando]

I saw 99 at least once for Duffy tonight. He was throwing some peas, but I did laugh when I saw that.

I thought about Charles Barkley listing himself as 6'7" while at Auburn. He's barely 6'4".

[Money]

Could not agree more. JV is cut from an old school cloth and it was fun to watch him K the last hitter after juicing the bases in the 9th! My Favorite Pitcher by far!!!!
I thought Leyland was going to have the big one in the dugout tonight watching that!!!!!

No bigger Tigers fan than me. Leyland is a jackass the way he's going about this. Verlander is a freak of nature, but lets not push it this far in April.

Thank God Bobby V is back, he now assumes the worst manager in baseball moniker.

[DOUGHBOYS]

They are talking about taking kickoffs and then punts out of football because of the injury factor.
Years from now, hopefully a lot of years from now, they'll put pitchers on pitch limits. After reaching that limit, they will be removed from the game.
Until that day, I'll enjoy a guy like Verlander.
Sometimes compassion over rules doing the right thing. Verlander has had two previous great performances snatched away in the ninth inning. He was determined not to let it happen again and Leyland gave him the rope.
I know others will fault Leyland and they'll point back to this game if Verlander develops arm problems.
But I won't blame him. Leyland simply said, 'It's your game, kid'. Something every pitcher wants to hear.
And something Verlander has deserved.

You might say it's the opposite of the Bobby Valentine tact.
Valentine is the nervous drivers ed teacher who questions every turn and constantly back seat drives.
Leyland has faith and compassion and is willing to just let's his kids take the wheel.

[Winston's Empire]

They are talking about taking kickoffs and then punts out of football because of the injury factor.
Years from now, hopefully a lot of years from now, they'll put pitchers on pitch limits. After reaching that limit, they will be removed from the game.
Until that day, I'll enjoy a guy like Verlander.
Sometimes compassion over rules doing the right thing. Verlander has had two previous great performances snatched away in the ninth inning. He was determined not to let it happen again and Leyland gave him the rope.
I know others will fault Leyland and they'll point back to this game if Verlander develops arm problems.
But I won't blame him. Leyland simply said, 'It's your game, kid'. Something every pitcher wants to hear.
And something Verlander has deserved.

You might say it's the opposite of the Bobby Valentine tact.
Valentine is the nervous drivers ed teacher who questions every turn and constantly back seat drives.
Leyland has faith and compassion and is willing to just let's his kids take the wheel.

Jim Leyland shows that he trusts his players by listening to Verlander and I think that goes along way with the rest of the club house during a year. Its very different than Bobby V saying he doesn't think Youk is as into the game as in years past . Gotta hand it to Pedroia for sticking up for his boy though, even if Youk is on the pine more than Chipper Jones!

[Glenneration X]

I have zero issue with Valentine calling out Youk. Let's face it, Youk's a p**** and needs to man up once in a while. I've never seen a player try to give off an impression of being tough more than him only to sit out with every runny nose or broken nail he gets.

As far as Verlander is concerned, I also have zero issue with Leyland letting him finish the game. Verlander's a vet, his arm has matured, and he's proven over the years that he's a horse. This isn't Dusty Baker throwing his 20, 21, 22 year old rookies out there inning after inning with immature arms and ruining careers in their infancy. While I was growing up, 131 pitches was nothing special. Pitchers then threw more complete games each per year than entire staffs throw today. I agree with the Nolan Ryan thought process and the babying of arms is part of the problem. Build up those arms to handle the increased workload and they will.

[ALL-IN JD]

As someone who DOES NOT own Verlander on any teams (stupid me!) I am all for having him throw a 131 pitch complete game. As a matter of fact, I highly encourage that each time he pitches (140-150 pitches would be even better!!)

[DOUGHBOYS]

As someone who DOES NOT own Verlander on any teams (stupid me!) I am all for having him throw a 131 pitch complete game. As a matter of fact, I highly encourage that each time he pitches (140-150 pitches would be even better!!)

Careful what you wish for!
Non-owners wished the same thing last year....The Overall winner had him on his team.

[Glenneration X]

I know it's different eras, but I found this interesting.

Roy Halladay has led his league in complete games an astounding seven times total including the last five years in a row. However not once in his career has he had a season with double digit complete games.

Nolan Ryan had a period from 1972 through 1977 when he threw a minimum of 20 complete games in 5 out of those 6 years. Yet in only one of those years did he even lead his league in the category.

If there's a telling stat that differentiates the way pitchers are handled in these two very different eras, that might be it.

[headhunters]

verlander takes the mound and pitches with the idea of completing the game. he has "pitched to contact" much earlier in games and has reduced his velocity early. even if he goes down at some point- it really will prove little. pitchers gert hurt- early (strasburg) and often (peavy)- so if verlander gets hurt- what does it prove?. to get what detroit is getting out of verlander is what makes them good. detroit has 3 studs and if any go down- they are toast. they are really toast without verlander.

[Money]

Great comments all around here. Verlander is a special player, I call him the modern day Roy Halladay. Leyland's players love to play for him because of these type of decisions. He was struggling in the 9th but gutted through it. I didn't want to see him blow 2 in a row. Yes, he blew the last one himself giving up 4 in the 9th. Coming off of 271 innings last year, I just think going close to 400 pitches in the first three outings is a bit much for April. My pitching heavy teams will ride him all year hopefully. Now we just have to get Miggy going

As far as Valentine goes, he should have pulled youk aside and did it. He tries to use the media and he has no clue how to. He was very bad yesterday letting Bard go to 111 pitches when he was obviously out of gas. When was the last time Bard threw 111 pitches. He watched him walk 3 guys in the 7th including walking in the only run of the game.

[Hells Satans]

For a game on April 16th, it was stupid. His command was all over the place in the 9th (2 hits, BB, HBP) because he clearly was tired (the radar gun was 3-4 MPH hot last night easy). Overthrowing when tired = breakdown in mechanics = increase in injury risk. Even if it's a minor increase it's not worth it. Verlander is a beast and it's awesome that he wants it that badly, but it's Leyland's job to protect him from himself. It probably ends up being nothing, but I would have been screaming at the TV if I was a Tigers fan. They're going to win that division by 15 games. No reason to be silly in April.

[TigersFan]

stupid? I don't think so as a Tigers fan.
Remember when we lost a 1 game playoff series (Twins). You never know how valuable 1 game is sometimes.
You gotta play every game like it's your last...even if it's opening day, 5 days into the season, or the only game of a playoff series