I did not like it when our fans started to boo Papa Grande Sunday. It was after one walk. WTF?

With a closer who’s still trying to get acclimated to game speed on the fly, having had no spring training, that really shouldn’t be that much of a shock.

“You guys have to remember, I don’t have a spring training. This is my spring training right now. So far, I throw four, five innings really. I’ll be OK,” Valverde said.

“My personal opinion is, he’s done a pretty good job since he’s been back. And he got two outs, with a chance to close it out today, and the guy put a pretty good swing on a ball, and stayed inside it, hit it the other way. Overall, so far, I think he’s thrown the ball real well,” Leyland said.

“You know, this will focus on a little bit about Valverde not closing it out, but in reality, it was just one of those days in baseball that happen — you don’t like it to happen. But the focus will be on that, and in reality, for the first few innings, we had guys out on the bases all day long, and we just didn’t get them home.

“That’s as simple as it is. We didn’t get a big hit to break it open, or put any runs on the board, let alone a two-out hit — and they got a couple huge two-out hits, and that’s why they won the game. You give them credit for that.

“Our guys are fine. We just didn’t do it. We had them out there all day long.”

“We were a couple strikes from winning it.”

via Valverde blows first save of season, Tigers lose in extra innings – theoaklandpress.com.