Yearly Archives: 2006

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 134: Tigers at Yankees

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PREGAME: Thanks to late inning heroics and awesome pitching the Tigers have a shot at the series. A win today would mean just their 3rd series win of the month, after losing 1 series in all of July.

It will be Jeremy Bonderman against Randy Johnson on ESPN. I wish I didn’t have to work today.

Oh yeah, Infante and Thames are playing. (but so is Neifi)

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I know I should rail against another loss. I know I should be worried that Jeremy Bonderman has had a rough month. I should be furious that Neifi Perez continues to get playing time. And yet for some reason I’m okay tonight.

First, the Neifi issue. For those of us (which is basically everyone not named Jim Leyland) who have been hoping that Omar Infante gets the everyday gig until Polanco returns (possibly in 2 weeks) this game was about all we could have hoped for. Infante homered, got a cheap hit, and hit a line drive to right field. Neifi meanwhile made more weakouts, failed to chase down a pop up that led to a run, cut off Marcus Thames throw which may have nabbed Alex Rodriguez and kept him from scoring, and dropped a throw from Pudge.

Marcus Thames once again made the most of a start and has homered in 3 of his last 4 starts. The more he does that, the harder it is to keep him out of the lineup.

And finally Magglio Ordonez has put together a few games now where he’s hit the ball hard. Combined with some better at-bats from Curtis Granderson, the Tigers might be getting a couple of their key offensive components back in time for the stretch run.

And one last note, I’ve complained about umpires who argue back. Home plate umpire James Hoye did it just like he was supposed to with Jim Leyland today. He ran Leyland, and stood there while Leyland had his say while calmly suggesting Leyland head back to the dugout. I’m not going to comment on his actualy umpiring or strike zone, just that he handled the argument well.

2006 Season, Pitching, Players

Miller’s Debut

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There’s always something exciting about a new highly touted prospect making his debut. Despite some major nerves, Andrew Miller had a fine debut. He induced a lazy flyball, a chopper to third, and a roller to third. He also hit a guy but that just served to show off the break on his slider. He threw his 4 seamer in the mid 90’s, and his slider from the low 80’s to 89 MPH.

You can see the whole thing through the power of You Tube (hat tip):

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 133: Tigers at Yankees

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PREGAME: The nice thing about a doubleheader, is that if you lose the first game there is still hope that the day will turn out alright. Tonight will feature Wil Ledezma and Jaret Wright.

The most notable element of the matchup is that Alex Rodriguez has hit homers in 4 of the 5 at-bats where he faced Ledezma. The only exception was a walk.

As for the Tigers lineup, Jim Leyland isn’t making too many people happy. Neifi Perez is inexplicably playing both ends of a doubleheader. What’s more, Marcus Thames is joining Infante on the bench for both games. Leyland’s stubborness is maddening to say the least.

POSTGAME: Okay, I’ll admit it. I was gripping. I snapped at my wife when she switched from the chair to the couch in the middle of a rally only to see it die. I was talking to the TV and yelling at Leyland for letting Neifi hit and trying to figure out why the heck Leyland hates Thames. So yeah, this was a big win.

Tonight’s comeback was brought to you by 4 Tigers. First was Brandon Inge working a walk. Second was Curtis Granderson having a long at bat and working a walk. And of course there was Craig Monroe who came through once again with late inning heroics. (he tried to do his part in the 7th as well with the leadoff double).

Now who is the 4th guy? Carlos Guillen. In the first game of the double header Mariano Rivera retired Young and Monroe on 3 pitches. If Rivera retires the side on a half dozen pitches, chances are he’s pitching in both games. As it was Guillen fell behind 0-2 before turning a 7 pitch at-bat into a single, thus extending the inning and probably keeping Rivera out of the second game.

And just one other thing I wanted to point out. Much was made about the Tigers lack of patience at the plate today. If you actually look at the numbers, you’ll see that the Tigers first time through the lineup of the first game 8 of the 9 players took the first pitch. In fact in the first game the Tigers saw 3.9 pitches per plate apperance against Wang while the ultra patient Yankees saw 3.1 against Robertson. In the 2nd game both starters threw 3.4 pitches per plate appearance.

I’m not saying the Tigers aren’t an impatient team, it’s just that no one complains when they’re hitting the ball – much like Craig Monroe’s first pitch swing in the 9th.

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – August 29th

Toledo 6, Durham 1
Ryan Raburn was 3 for 5 including his 20th homer. Chris Shelton was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and a strike out. Brian Boehringer pitched 7 strong innings allowing 1 run.

Trenton 11, Erie 2
Nate Bumstead was pounded for 9 runs on 10 hits and 4 walks over 4 innings. Brent Clevlen was 1 for 2 with 2 walks.

Lakeland 8, Dunedin 2
Jeff Frazier had 2 homers and Jeff Larish singled, doubled, and walked. Dallas Trahern allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings.

Lansing 7, West Michigan 4
Justin Justice went 2 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base. Cameron Maybin was 1 for 3 with 2 walks. Erik Averill allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 4 K’s. Ricky Steik allowed 3 runs in the 9th inning to take the loss.

Oneonta – Cancelled (Rain)

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 132: Tigers at Yankees

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So the game was cancelled just as I was about to post this. I’ll leave it here for commenting, and hopefully it will be applicable tomorrow.

PREGAME: A couple weeks ago the Tigers were coming off a 5 game losing streak and heading to Boston. Things looked bleak with the Tigers facing Schilling and Beckett while the White Sox went off to play 4 games against Kansas City. There were some that predicted the Tigers 5.5 game lead would be cut to 2.5 within a matter of days. The Tigers did the unexpected and took the first 2 games of the series and were able to keep there lead intact.

Now the Tigers head to the Bronx with a similarly daunting task. Their chief competition in the Central are off playing the Devil Rays, and the Royals while the Tigers take on the Yankees. I’m not saying the Tigers will take the first 2 in this series, just illustrating the situational similarities and given the despair of 2 weeks ago, not a lot has changed from the Tigers perspective.

As for the game itself Nate Robertson will take the hill for Detroit. His last start contributed to the worst loss of the season for the Tigers. But at least he almost got through 7 innings on a day when the bullpen was largely unavailable.

Chien-Ming Wang will oppose the Tigers. After putting together 17 scoreless innings over 2 starts, Wang has had uneven results over his last 4. He’s not a strikeout pitcher, but the Tigers are a strikeout team so we’ll see what happens.

2006 Season, Roster Management

Completing the Shuffle – Nook Logan DFA’d

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Finishing up the roster moves that were announced on Sunday, Nook Logan was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Alexis Gomez.

Also, Tony Giarratano was recalled and immediately placed on the 15 day DL. I’d imagine this is a prelude to a transfer to the 60 day DL which would 1. make room on the 40 man for Mike Maroth to be activated this weekend, and 2. allow the Tigers the option of making another infielder playoff eligible.

2006 Season, Defense, Tiger History

Off Day Linking and Site News

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  • It appears that comment spam problem is taken care of. It wasn’t a specific attack on me, but Akismet, which is a service that does spam filtering went down. The tide has been stemmed so no need to register for now
  • Tiger blogger night is one week from Tuesday. Big Al will be joining the ranks and I received emails from a couple readers as well. If you’re interested in joining us, we are sitting in mezzanine section 212 row 1.
  • Greg Eno draws parallels between the upcoming series, and a labor day series against the Yankees from 1961.
  • Baseball stat guru Tom Tango (aka TangoTiger) and author of The Book is conducting his annual Fan Scouting Report. In past years the Tigers have been underrepresented in the polling. With a little more interest this year, there might be more response. (Hat Tip Tiger Tales)
  • Kurt broke down the Tigers recent string of losses. It just goes to show there are many ways to lose a game.
  • While I disagree with Pat Caputo on a regular basis, we’re on the same page in terms of Neifi Perez. While other local writers are still defending the move and Leyland’s decision to play him everyday, it’s nice to see one member of the media see what everyone else is seeing.
2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – August 28th

Durham 8, Toledo 7
Alexis Gomez got in one last game before heading to New York and he went 1 for4 with a walk. Josh Phelps was 3 for 5. Chris Shelton was 0 for 5. Jordan Tata started and allowed 5 runs, 3 earned, in 5 innings before being lifted after 73 pitches.

Erie – PPD

Lakeland 5, Dunedin 5 (in progress)
Jim Essian was 3 for 5. Eddie Bonine lasted 7 2/3 innings and allowed 3 runs on 8 hits, 1 walk, and 9 K’s.

West Michigan 3, Lansing 1
Mike Hollimon homered and walked. Cameron Maybin took and 0 for 4. Sendy Vasquez was excellent over 6 innings. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits, no walks, and 9 K’s.

Oneonta 11, Tri-City 4
Scott Sizemore had 3 hits and a walk. Ronnie Bourquin was 2 for 4 as was Jeff Junkel. Duane Below, up from the GCL, allowed 4 runs, 3 earned in 5 2/3 innings. Lauren Gagnier pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief.

Roster Management

Playoff Roster Eligibility Explained, Maybe Sort of

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UPDATE 08.25.09: This post is a little outdated. An up to date, less confusing (I hope), and more accurate (I hope again) explanation can be found here.

With the Tigers venturing into uncharted territories, Detroit fans are probably a little confused on how playoff rosters work. Even if you weren’t confused, you probably will be after this explanation.

The first rule seems simple and straight forward enough:

According to Rule 40(a), a player must be on his club’s active big league roster or disabled list (or bereavement list, suspended list, or military list) on August 31 in order to be eligible for post-season play.

But does anybody remember the 2002 playoffs where Francisco Rodriguez was on the playoff roster despite being in the minors on August 31st? In fact Rodriguez didn’t pitch in the majors until September 18th that year. If a team has a player on the disabled list, they can be replaced. Now depending on where you look, this rule can vary. One variation says that this exception is only for the 60 day DL, and the eligible player can be anyone in the organization. Jim Callis from Baseball America doesn’t specify the DL type, but that the player must be on the 40 man roster.

The only real catch is that the replacement player must play the same position, like a catcher for a catcher, and infielder for an infielder, etc.

Much of the confusion comes from the fact that the rule isn’t really publicized with other Major League rules. The cleanest and simplest expanation I’ve come across is at Mike’s Baseball Rants:

Playoff Rosters: Playoff rosters must be set at 25, not including disabled players, on August 31. For each player on the 60-day DL, teams may add players to the eligible list during the playoffs at the same position, provided that they were in the orginization on August 31… Teams must choose 25 players from their playoff eligible list before each round of the playoffs.

As for what it might mean for the Tigers, they currently have 2 pitchers on the 60 day DL in Craig Dingman and Troy Percival (Mike Maroth is also, but he will most assuredly be activated regardless). So the Tigers could make 2 more players eligible, as long as they were pitchers. If they were to exercise this option Jordan Tata or Chris Spurling could be possibilities – albeit longshots.

As for position player possibilities, as I covered yesterday the Tigers could recall and then DL Tony Giarratano meaning that another infielder such as Chris Shelton could be added. The only hit for the Tigers is that they would incur a month of service time for Giarratano, which I don’t see having any significant ramifications.

2006 Season, Roster Management

Roster Shuffling – Andrew Miller’s up

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The Tigers made several roster moves today.

Brent Clevlen was sent back to Erie and Alexis Gomez was called up.

And on the pitching side, Colby Lewis was returned to Toledo and Andrew Miller will be joining the bullpen. Also, tenderness in Mike Maroth’s elbow will mean that Wil Ledezma will take Maroth’s spot on Wednesday in New York.

I suspect these moves are highly fueled by setting up the playoff roster. As near as I can figure to be eligible for the playoff roster, a player must be on the active roster or the disabled list as of 9pm August 31st.

Essentially the Tigers believe that they’d rather have Alexis Gomez than Brent Clevlen for the playoffs. This is certainly a debatable point given what Clevlen has shown. In terms of defense, Gomez is solid, but Clevlen certainly can hold his own. Offensively Clevlen showed quite a bit during his MLB stretch, but keep in mind he’d only been hitting 220 at the time he was called up. Sample size issues abound. Also, Gomez has been hitting very well for Toledo going 308/360/681 in August. I’m not taking sides on this move, just presenting information.

The good news for Clevlen is that this demotion will only be until Friday when the team can expand its roster.

As for Miller, his first few games have certainly been impressive in Lakeland, and he very well may be ready. But this is a huge jump for any player. It’s not just moving to the big leagues from essentially college, but doing it for a team intent on locking up a post season spot.

Now back to that playoff eligible roster thing. There are loop holes in that a player of the same position (OF/OF, IF/IF, P/P, etc) can replace a player that is on the 60 day DL. I believe (but I’m not sure) that the Tigers could add a minor leaguer, such as Tony Giarratano, to the 60 day DL and then be able to replace him on the playoff roster with any other infielder in the organization – say Chris Shelton. Now I bring this up because the recall of Gomez means a 40 man roster spot needs to be created. Mike Maroth’s activation will also require a 40 man roster spot.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 131: Tigers at Indians

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PREGAME: For the 3rd time in the last 3 weekends the Tigers come into Sunday looking to avoid a lost weekend. It will be Kenny Rogers and Cliff Lee today.

On another note, I’ve been bombarded with spam comments over the last 12 hours – to the tune of 300. The spam filters are catching many, and others are being held for moderation, but still too many are getting in. I’m considering switching to a system where you’d have to register with the site to leave comments. Would any of you be opposed to that?

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME: Sigh. Last night the Tigers put a hit and run on, and the ball was hit right back up the middle – right to the 2nd baseman covering on the play. That’s pretty much what the Tigers fortunes had been for the last 20 games. Today, in the 6th inning with Kenny Rogers trying to end a threat with runners on 1st and 2nd induced a foul ball bouncer down the third baseline. Inexplicably it bounced back fair right before the bag, and right into Brandon Inge’s glove. Inge stepped on 3rd and the rally was thwarted. Like the ball changing directions, hopefully the Tigers fortunes will be also.

The Tigers needed a pitcher to put a stop to the bleeding, and they turned to the old man with the history of 2nd half collapses to shut down a very potent offense. Rogers gave the team 7 innings or 1 run ball when they needed it the most. If nothing else it tells you how ludicrous it is to have discussions about post season rotations before the All Star break.

Marcus Thames got a rare start, hit a homer, and was of course lifted for a pinch hitter. I don’t get it.

Curtis Granderson really seems to be getting his stroke back with a homer, double, walk, and most importantly no strike outs. Strike outs typically don’t bother me, especially if they come with a high OBP or big power numbers. Granderson hadn’t been providing those other elements making the K’s more of a concern.

Another good day for Omar, hope he enjoyed it. He had a couple hits and made nice defensive plays to both the glove and barehand sides.