Yearly Archives: 2006

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – July 7th

Toledo 5, Indianapolis 1
Brian Peterson homered twice and Josh Phelps added a homer and a single. David Espinosa chipped in his 7th triple of the year. Chad Durbin started and went 7 2/3 innings. He allowed 7 hits, 1 unearned run and fanned 8 while walking none.

Altoona 5, Erie 4
Dmitri Young is working his way up the organization on his rehab stint. He started at first base and was 1 for3 with a walk. Brent Clevlen homered in 4 at-bats. Dpn Kelly continues to struggle and was 0 for 4 with 2 K’s and 2 errors. Jon Connolly started for Erie and allowed 9 hits in 5 2/3 innings for 4 runs ( 3 earned).

Tampa 14, Lakeland 8
Chris Robinson and Nic McIntyre both went 3 for 5. PJ Finigan was knocked around for 8 runs, 7 earned, in 3 2/3 innings.

Cedar Rapids 7, West Michigan 0
The Whitecpas managed all of 4 singles. The offense was supplied by Cameron Maybin, Pedro Cotto, Mike Hernandez, and Dusty Ryan. Erike Averill lasted 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits while walking one and fanning 7. The majority of the damage came off of Loren Fraser in relief.

Oneonta 12, Tri-City 1 18 innings
The O-Tigers have to be a little bit sleepy this morning. Brennan Boesch was 4 for 7 with a walk and Ron Bourqin was 3 for 8. Matt O’Brien went the first 8 innings and allowed 1 run on 6 hits. He was followed by some impressive relief appearances by Chris Krawczyk, Casey Fien, Jose Fragoso, and Brett Jensen.

GCL Tigers – PPD Rain

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 86: Tigers at Mariners

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PREGAME: Back in April the Tigers managed to come in and sweep the Mariners in 3 pitchers duels. Seattle’s offense was anemic at the time. However things have changed. While the offense still isn’t a juggernaut, Ichiro is doing that Ichiro thing again and Raul Ibanez and Kenji Johima are doing their part. The two highest paid M’s sluggers still are stuggling though. Richie Sexson has a sub 300 OBP and Adrian Beltre has a sub 400 slugging percentage.

Jerermy Bonderman will look to keep the M’s in check. He’s been awesome over his last half dozen starts, and he should be well rested. His last outing was cut short when he was pinch hit for after only 72 pitches, plus there was an off day since his last start.

He’ll be opposed by Joel Piniero. Piniero’s last start was only 2 2/3 innings. It was short enough to allow him to come in and record the last out in a relief appearance on Monday. He posts only a 46/35 K/BB mix in 98 innings.

POSTGAME: Bonderman was once again awesome. He didn’t have the gaudy strike out totals, but was in complete control the whole game. He was pitching ahead in the count and attacking the strike zone. Of his 110 pitches, 83 were for strikes. Most impressive was that he only went to a 3 ball count on 3 batters (twice on Yuniesky Betancourt). And in what was unusual for Bonderman, his offense gave him some runs to work with.

The Tiger bats comtinued to hit well getting men into scoring position with satisfying regularity. And once again, it was a total effort int that every body contributed with the bat. Even Curtis Granderson who was the only starter not to get a hit, walked had a HBP, hit a sacrifice fly, and stole a base.
Game Time 10:05pm

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – July 6th

Louisville 4, Toledo 3
Dustin Mohr was 3 for 4 and provided most of the Hens offense. Corey Hamman went 4 1/3 innings and allowed 3 runs on 9 hits. Bobby Seay pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief before Chris Spurling took the loss giving up one run in 1 2/3 innings.

Akron 2, Erie 0
Brent Clevlen was 1 for 3 with a walk and Kurt Airoso added 2 hits. The recently acquired Adam Haley had 2 hits as well. Preston Larrison worked 5 2/3 innings allowing only 2 runs before giving way to Eulogio De La Cruz who finished the game allowing 1 hit and 1 walk against 3 K’s.

Lakeland 10, Clearwater 4
Jeff Larish homered and walked. Dmitri Young was 0 for 2 before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the 5th inning. Jeremy Johnson allowed 3 runs in 4 innings.

West Michigan 3, Lansing 2
Wil Rhymes had 2 hits and Cameron Maybin was 1 for 3 with 2 walks and his 16th stolen base. Josh Rainwater went 6 1/3 innings and allowed only 2 hits and 1 walk while fanning 7.

Tri-City 10, Oneonta 7
Ron Bourquin was 2 for 5 with a double and Brennan Boesch doubled and tripled in 5 at-bats. Zach Piccola allowed only 3 hits in 5 innings. Tim Robertson took the loss in relieve allowing 6 runs – all unearned – in 1 1/3 innings. Randor Bierd went 1 2/3 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 2.

GCL Tigers 4, GCL Braves 3 (10 innings) Gorkys Hernandez went 3 for 5 and Audy Ciriaco picked up 2 hits in 4 at-bats. Kyle Sleeth started but only last one inning. He allowed 3 runs on 4 hits. Paul Hammond made his 6th appearance and has yet to allow a run. He has 6 K’s and 1 walk in 6 1/3 innings.

Offense, Players, Statistics

Inge’s Offense

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Brandon Inge’s offensive contributions the last few years have supplied me a ton of material. Iin the early years he was very, very bad. But then after a demotion to Toledo in 2003 he came back as a different hitter. He sustained that for 2 years into mid 2005 and had me declaring that he had transformed into an offensive threat. But then he swooned late last year, and this season he is once again a different hitter, an all or nothing masher.

Let’s start by looking at the various stages of Inge’s career, picked somewhat arbitrarily and summarized using the Day by Day Database:

		GS	AB	BA	OBA	Slug%	OPS	AB/HR	ISO	BB/K
pre 7/1/2003	148	677	.183	.242	.292	.534	61.5	.109	.241
7/1/03-7/1/05	232	869	.284	.350	.446	.796	36.2	.162	.489
> 7/1/05	163	598	.227	.281	.420	.701	23.9	.193	.313

While there was a definite shift in Inge’s career with his 2003 demotion, another change seems to be in progress. From his peak, he seems to have given up 50 points of batting average, and some additional OBP in exchange for 30 additional points of ISO (isolated power: Slugging-Batting average). And while not a huge number of at-bats, the totals are probably indicative of more than just luck. Continue reading Inge’s Offense →

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – July 5th

Toledo 8, Louisville 0
Jordan Tata built on his Pitcher of the Week performance by throwing 7 shut out innings. He only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks and made it through on 93 pitches. Ryan Raburn was 2 for 2 with 2 doubles. Josh Phelps had a 3 for 3 night including his 12th homer. Chris Maples in his 2nd game for Toledo homered.

Louisville 4, Toledo 1
Ryan Raburn hit his 17th homer and David Espinosa had the Mud Hens other hit. Steve Green allowed 2 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings.

Erie 10, Akron 4 (in progress)
Brent Clevlen seems to be showing signs of life. Tonight he homered and walked twice. Don Kelly was 3 for 5 and Nook Logan was 2 for 5. Jair Jurrjens allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, in 5 innings of work.

Clearwater 4, Lakeland 3
Dmitri Young started at DH for Lakeland. He singled, doubled, and walked in 4 plate appearances before being lifted for a pinch runner. Dallas Trahern went 6 innings and allowed 8 hits and 4 runs (3 earned).

West Michigan 5, Lansing 1
Cameron Maybin was 2 for 4 with a walk and 2 stolen bases. Dusty Ryan added two doubles. Justin Justice was 3 for 4 with a double and a homer. Sendy Vasquez threw 6 shut out innings and only 3 hits while walking 4 and fanning 7.

Oneonta 9, Tri-City 2
Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch were 2 for 5. Santos De Leon doubled and hit his 2nd homer. Thomas Thornton allowed one run on four hits in four innings. Derek Witt allowed only one walk in 3 innings while fanning 2.

GCL Tigers 2, GCL Phillies 0
Luis Arlet was 3 for 4 with 2 stolen bases and Chris Carlson hit his 3rd homer.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 85: Tigers at Athletics

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PREGAME: The Tigers look to avoid their first sweep since the opening homestand against the White Sox. It will be Kenny Rogers against Kirk Saarloos. Game time 3:05pm.

POSTGAME: That was an impressive win. The bats finally put everything together after struggling the last couple days. Everybody picked up a hit except Marcus Thames who reportedly hit the ball hard a few times.

Kenny Rogers was hit pretty hard for the 3rd consecutive start. The first one I attributed to a small strike zone against the Cardinals. The last two make me a little more concerned. Oakland is not hitting the ball well right now, and yet they were consistently hitting line drives against Rogers today.

The good news from the pitching department was 3 1/3 scoreless innings from Roman Colon. He retired 10 of the 12 batters he faced to pick up the save.

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – Jully 4th

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Toledo 10, Louisville 7
David Espinosa and Ryan Raburn both contributed a homer, a double, and a walk. Ryan Ludwick chipped in 2 homers and a triple. The newly promoted Chris Mazples added 3 hits and a walk. Colby Lewis started and allowed 5 runs in 5 innings. Mark Woodyard went 1 1/3 and allowed 2 runs before handing the ball to Lance Davis. Davis is on his 2nd tour with the Hens this season and has also pitched for Lakeland and Erie. Today he picked up the blown save and win.

Akron 2, Erie 1 (10 innings)
The Wolves only mustered 4 singles all day, so there aren’t any offensive stars. Don Kelly was sent to Erie after posting a 228/304/312 line in Toledo. Virgil Vasquez went 8 strong innings allowing only 1 run on 8 hits, no walks, and 5 K’s.

Clearwater 8, Lakeland 5
Clete Thomas was 2 for 4 and is now hitting .258. Andrew Kown allowed 10 hits and 4 walks, but they resulted in only 5 runs (4 earned).

West Michigan 5, Lansing 3
Cameron Maybin was 3 for 4 including his 3rd homer of the season. Lucas French allowed 3 runs on 9 hits, no walks, and 4 K’s. Orlando Perdomo pitched a scoreless 9th striking out one.

Vermont 5, Oneonta 3
Jeff Kunkel getting the start at DH doubled in 4 at-bats while catcher Jordan Newton was 1 for 2 with 3 walks. Jeff Gerbe allowed 5 runs in 5 innings. Casey Fien threw 3 scoreless innings allowing 3 hits.

GCL Tigers-DNP

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 84: Tigers at Athletics

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PREGAME One year ago today, a hot shot pitching prospect made his major league debut – and didn’t pitch well. Today, that same pitching prospect is a rookie of the year candidate and has a very real shot at making the All Star game. (speaking of which, what have you done to get Justin Verlander to the All Star game today?)

Justin Verlander will make his second start against the A’s this season. His first effort was solid, but resulted in a loss due to 2 Carlos Guillen errors and 2 Nick Swisher homers.

Verlander will be opposed by Dan Haren who the Tigers missed back in April.

Happy 4th of July to everyone, especially those men and women who work to protect our freedoms and independence.

Game Time 5:05pm

POSTGAME: To quote Jim Price, “Oh those base on balls.” They came back to haunt Fernando Rodney as arche-nemesis Jay Payton did in the Tigers again. To both Payton and Rodney’s credit, the hit that won it came on a pretty good pitch on the outer edge of the plate. The Tigers didn’t lose because of Rodney though. Okay, he helped, but the offense that could barely muster a scoring threat was as much to blame.

Of the Tigers 6 hits, 4 came from back-up players. The only starters to look comfortable at the plate were Carlos Guillen and Chris Shelton. Each gathered a hit, but also contributed in other at-bats as well. Carlos Guillen drew a walk, and Shelton hit a ball well enough to plate a run early in the game. The trouble was it was a one-hop smash right at Bobby Crosby.

The Tigers have another afternoon tilt tomorrow as they look to avoid the sweep.

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – July 3rd

Toledo 4, Indianapolis 3
Don Kelly was 2 for 4 with a double and Josh Phelps homered. Humberto Sanchez started and went 7 innings. He allowed 2 runs on 6 hits with 1 walk and 4 strike outs. He made it through the 7 innings on 85 pitches, 59 for strikes. Bobby Seay pitched a scoreless inning and Chris Spurling picked up the save despite allowing 2 hits, a walk, and a run in one inning of work. In other news Jordan Tata was named International League player of the week.

Reading 9, Erie 6
Nook Logan and Tony Giarratanto each picked up 2 hits. Logan added 2 stolen bases as well. Brent Clevlen was 1 for 3 with a walk. Nate Bumstead was knocked around for 5 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks. He only lasted 4 2/3 innings. Ian Ostlund also struggled and allowed 4 runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Lakeland 6, Sarasota 0
Nick McIntyre and Chris Robinson both turned in 3 for 3, one walk performances. Gil Meija homered and walked twice. Jeff Larish added his 14th homer of the year. Eddie Bonine made his first start and pitched 4 scoreless, 2 hit innings. PJ Finigan followed with 2 scoreless to pick up the win.

Sarasota 1, Lakeland 0
Kevin Ardoin pitched 6 innings and allowed only 4 hits, but one of them was a solo homer. He walked none and struck out none. The L-Tigers only managed 3 hits of their own.

West Michigan 10, Lansing 8
Michael Hollimon homered twice and is now hitting 277/391/449. Wil Rhymes added a homer, a double, and a single in 6 at-bats. Cameron Maybin was 2 for 3 with 2 walks. Burke Badenhop was hit hard for 6 runs, 5 earned, on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Oneonta 8, Vermont 7
Scott Sizemore continues to rake and he added 2 more hits. In 13 games he’s hitting 375/397/536. Former University of Michigan catcher Jeff Kunkel picked up 3 hits. Chris Cody started and went 6 innings. He allowed one run on 6 hits, no walks, and 4 strike outs. Randor Bierd continues to struggle and was touched for 3 runs in 1 2/3 innings.

GCL Indians 1, GCL Tigers 0
Gorkys Hernandez doubled and singled in 4 at-bats. The 18 year old Hernandez is hitting 417/431/583 with 12 stolen bases and 1 caught stealing in 12 games. Christian Martinez went 6 innings and fanned 5 while walking none and limiting the hits to 4.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 83: Tigers at Athletics

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PREGAME Interleague play is done. The DH is back, and no more pulling an effective pitcher after 5 innings for a pinch hitter. The Tigers return to Oakland for the second time this season. The first was pretty memorable in that it came on the heels of Jim Leyland ripping into his team after a lackluster effort against Cleveland. The series wrap-up also came was accomplished in dramatic come from behind fashion.

The middle game of that series featured an 11-4 drubbing. The starter in that game was Joe Blanton who the Tigers will face tonight. Placido Polanco went off for 4 hits and Carlos Guillen added 3.

The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson and his AL 5th best ERA.

POSTGAME: Not a bad effort, just a bad result. The Tigers got hits, but just not all strung together. Nate pitched okay, but for some reason couldn’t get the ball over to Jason Kendall. Also, he never got that strike on the inside corner to right handers that Joe Blanton struck Magglio Ordonez out on.

Two key situations where the Tigers failed came to mind. The first was in the first inning when with runners on 1st and 3rd, Ordonez hit a broken bat double play ball, thus circumventing a possible big inning. The second was one inning later, when with runners again at the corner, Brandon Inge swings at a 3-0 pitch and pops it up. I’m not opposed to swining 3-0, but make it count.

2006 Season

Holiday Weekend Catch-up

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I enjoyed a couple of days on Lake Huron, away from an internet connection and Fox Sports Detroit. You probably noticed there were no minor league wraps, and the game posts were pretty vanilla with no post game analysis. Fortunately there is a great group of commentors here and the community kept the site interesting (this is normally the case). So thanks for picking me up this weekend. With that, my thoughts on the Pirates series and the All Star selections

The Pirates Series

Focus? Fatigue? Luck? In any case the Tigers probably played their worst series since the 4 games against the Yankees. Fortunately, I guess, I didn’t see Sunday’s game. But from all accounts the late innings were a continutation of the previous night. So the Tigers managed 2 one-run victories and were on the losing end of a blow-out to the worst team in the National League. Definitely not good times.

But…The Tigers still took the series. The Tigers still have the best record in baseball. We’re complaining about the way they are winning games. It is a wonderful luxury. Plus they got fine outings from Jeremy Bonderman and Zach Miner. Plus Chris Shelton is showing signs of life as he went 5 for 10 with 2 walks and two homers. Plus in these 2 one-run victories, they had built up big leads and were trying to hold off the other team. I like that way better than having to come from behind.

So it was an ugly series, but complaining about taking 2 of 3 is still a pretty good deal.

The All Stars

I was stunned to see Pudge Rodriguez slide past Jason Varitek as the starter. I know that Joe Mauer is by far the best catcher this year, but with the Twins being a non-entity until the last month, Mauer didn’t have a lot of time to build cachet.

Also, I’m not surprised to see that Kenny Rogers made the team and I’m happy for him. All 4 of the Tiger starters were worthy and Jeremy Bonderman’s June was every bit as good as Liriano’s. That’s why I’m happy to see that Justin Verlander still has a shot. While I’d like to see him get rest, I’d much rather see him make the team. I’m with Eddie and I encourage you to rock the Verlander vote.

And for those that thought Magglio Ordonez deserved to go, one could certainly make a case for him. But I don’t think his slighting is near the magnitude of Travis Hafner’s. Furthermore, Danny Knobler reports that Maggs is the first alternate in the event an AL outfielder is unable to perform his All Star duties.

One minor league tidbit

Jon Connolly was promoted to Erie and made his first start yesterday. His first 5 innings were scoreless and he was touched for one run in the 6th. He started the 7th, but didn’t record an out and was charged with 5 more runs.