Toledo 3, Indianapolis 0
Zach Miner, last week’s International League Pitcher of the Week, is trying to win the award back-to-back. He shutout the Indians for 8 innings and only 2 hits. He struck out 8 and lowered his ERA to 1.33. With Roman Colon still laid up, it is nice to see the organization getting some value from the Kyle Farnsworth trade. David Espinsoa doubled, singled and walked while Brian Peterson walked twice and tripled. The struggling Josh Phelps hit his second homer.
Erie – DNP
Sarasota 2, Lakeland 0
Reds prospect Homer Bailey allowed no hits in six innings while striking out 9. Lakeland’s only hit Gil Mejia single in the 9th. Dallas Trahern pitched 7 innings of shutout ball himself.
West Michigan 8, Kane County 4
Dusty Ryan had two hits and two singles. Cameron Maybin and Michael Hollimon each added a hit and two walks. Burke Badenhop allowed ten hits in 7 innings but only 3 runs scored.
The Tigers only managed to take one of three from the Angels. Actually, they only managed to score in one of three games as the Angels handed Detroit their first two shutouts of the season. Once again Detroit got very solid pitching, but the bats that were showing signs of slumpiness in Seattle went completely silent in Anaheim. The result is that a mere 14 runs were scored in the series, which is one less than in the previous series. Detroit has now scored 15 runs in their last 6 games.
The Big Show on 1270 WXYT is currently in the midst of their second annual Big Show for the Big Cure Bowlathon. In case you’re not familiar, Art Regner and Doug Karsch will be on the air for 28 hours straight (except during tonight’s Red Wings game) from Lucky Strike Lanes in Novi. They are raising money to support the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Health System. The money raised will be used for prostate cancer research.
It is a wonderful cause, and there are a number of ways to contribute. Of course cash contributions are always welcome. In addition there are auctions running throughout the 28 hours. Finally, you can actually go bowl. For $12.70 you receive a T-shirt and an hour of bowling.
I bring up this last part because I’ll be heading out early tomorrow morning to bowl. I’ll be there at 5:00am tomorrow morning. I did it last year also, and while the hour is ridiculous, it was a lot of fun. It’s not everyday you get to bowl before the sun comes up, and do it for charity at the same time. I hope to see you there!
Louisville 3, Toledo 0
Toledo only mustered 3 hits and no walks to the offensive summary is basically: almost everyone had an 0fer. Wil Ledezma started for Toledo and pitched 6 innings allowing 3 runs. The runs came on two home runs. Along the way 18 of the 12 outs against Ledezma were strikeouts. Ledezma’s ERA now stands a 2.43 and in 29 2/3 innings he has 38 K’s and 6 walks.
Bowie 3, Erie 2 (11 innings)
Brent Clevlen reached base twice, one walk and one single. Vincent Blue added two hits. But that was it for offensive highlights. Eulogio De La Cruz continues to have a rough season, and if the Tigers needed 40 man roster room, he and Mark Woodyard would probably be in danger. De La Cruz pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed two hits and two walks, and the winning run.
Sarasota 20, Lakeland 2
That’s not a misprint. No Lakeland pitcher had success. Josh Rainwater was the starter and gave up the first 7 runs. Jeff Larish and Victor Mendez both had a double and a walk. Nick McIntyre homered for the first time this season.
Kane County, West Michigan
Michael Hollimon and Cameron Maybin each struck out 3 times. Matt Joyce drew two walks and Ryan Roberson had two hits. Sendy Vasquez pitched 6 innings allowing one run with 4 K’s. Rick Steik blew the save allowing 3 runs despite recording all 3 outs via the K.
A Tiger season wouldn’t be a Tiger season without doubt about Jeremy Bonderman. In 2003 when he struggled out of the gate, there was much speculation that he was brought to the majors to quickly (which he may have been). He then shutdown Oakland. In 2004 after a particularly rough spell, there was talk of demoting Bonderman from the rotation or even sending him to Toledo. He then went out and struckout 14 White Sox. In 2005 he faltered down the stretch, was hit by a line drive, and people wondered if he was injured…and he was.
So when Bonderman dropped his second and third games, and struggled in the first inning of his fourth, there was a right to be concerned that the previous year’s injury was still around. Or perhaps we think to highly of Jeremy and he’ll never be the stud we thought he could be. Or he was rushed and never had a chance to develop that third pitch.
Even after bouncing back against the Angels, Bonderman’s ERA stands at 5.04 which is worst among the Tiger starters. But with a closer look at the stats, one could argue that he has pitched the best, or at least question why he hasn’t had better results. Continue reading Breaking down Bonderman→
Darren McCarty is still pulling for the Tigers. This is only newsworthy because McCarty has been in Anaheim as well.
In Rob Neyer’s most recent chat featured several Tiger questions. He was asked about Chris Shelton and had this to say
I still think he’s going to finish with 35-40 homers, because he really is a guy with fantastic hitting ability. And he’s strong, so some significant number of those balls he hits will carry the fence.
But there was also this snippet:
Matt, Boston: What pitcher do you think has the best pure stuff in the game right now?
SportsNation Rob Neyer: Hard to say. But Verlander was regularly hitting 97-98 on the gun in Seattle the other day. He’s gotta be on the short list.
And Kevin Goldstein chatted with scouts about Lakeland Tiger closer Kevin Whelan who has been tearing up the 9th inning since he was drafted last year.
One scout was surprised at Whelan’s arsenal when he recently saw him pitch for High-A Lakeland. “I thought he’d throw harder; he’s low 90s, but he’s interesting because he basically does it with three fastballs,” said the scout. “He throws the straight fastball, a splitter with good fade, and a big forkball that just goes straight down and can be unhittable.” However, the scout was concerned with Whelan’s mechanics. “He short-arms everything. He was a catcher, and it looks like it when he pitches. I put him down as a potential closer, but it could depends on if his arm holds up.”
PREGAME: The Tigers finish up their 9 game western swing with a matinee in Anaheim. By all accounts it has been a successful roadtrip with the team sitting at 6-2. Mike Maroth will be on the mound for Detroit and John Lackey will be pitching for the Angels.
POSTGAME: So Detroit is coming home 6-3 from the road trip. Without looking it up, it is the most successful west coast trip in recent memory for this team. It also brings their record against the AL West to 9-4.
The game was pretty sloppy for the Tigers, with all of the runs coming after a couple errors. It also featured 8 Tiger strikeouts, which is becoming problematic. However, I don’t think it was a give-a-way on get-a-way day type situation this time. Without seeing the game, it sounded like the Tigers were taking decent approaches at the plate drawing 5 walks. To me it seems like a team that is probably a little worn out on the last day of a long road trip.
Louisville 8, Toledo 6
Ryan Ludwick seems to be heating up with a two hit game including his 4th home run and a walk. Max St. Pierre also homered and singled. David Espinosa, Jack Hannahan and Ryan Raburn all had multi-hit games. Josh Phelps struck out 3 times for the second consecutive game. Lance Davis and Tony Fiore were responsible for all 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Chris Spurling pitched two scoress innings allowing 2 hits and a walk.
Erie 3, Bowie 3 (11th in progress)
I can’t make it for the end of this game. Preston Larrison went 5 2/3 allowing two runs on 8 hits and two K’s.
Lakeland 7, Clearwater 2
Jeff Frazier was 2 for 2 including a homerun, a walk, and a sac fly. Clete Thomas added two hits and a stolen base. Jeff Larish reached base 3 times with a hit and two walks. Jair Jurrgens continues to pitch well allowing only 2 runs in 7 innings. He struck out 7 and walked none. His season totals are now 24 innings, 21 K’s, 1 BB. Kevin Whelan pitched a scoreless ninth striking out 2.
West Michigan 3, Kane County (12 innings)
Erik Averill went 7 innings and allowed a single run. Orlando Perdomo had his first struggles and blew the save by giving up a run on two walks and two hits in the 9th. West Michigan’s offense consisted of 3 singles (Rymes, Maybin, Justice) and a triple (Ryan). Michael Hollimon had a rough night, striking out twice and making two errors.
This is an analysis free post, but I have several site-related odds and ends I’ve been wanting to mention.
First, you may have noticed a link labeled ROSTER up in the navigation bar. If you haven’t visited, it has the complete 40 man roster as well as links to various stat sites for each player. There are links to Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Reference, Baseball Cube, and Retrosheet for each player where there are stats available. Also, if you want to search for times this site has mentioned a particular player, each player’s name is a link to just such a search. I plan to add a couple more data sources including ESPN and Baseball Musings Day by Day database. Continue reading Site news→
Toledo 7, Louisvill 0
Colby Lewis only allowed 4 hits and a walk in 8 innings of work to go along with 4 strikeouts. Mike Hessman had two homers and Ryan Raburn added one. Josh Phelps struck out 3 times in 4 plate appearances.
Bowie 6, Erie 5
Chris Homer allowed a homer in the 9th inning as Erie couldn’t hold onto the lead. Virgil Vasquez allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, in 5 2/3 innings. He walked 2 and struck out 4. Kody Kirkland hit his 6th homer with two men on. Kurt Airoso added two doubles and a walk.
Clearwater 3, Lakeland 1
The Lakeland bats were silent as they only mustered 7 singles and no walks while striking out 10 times. Brent Dlugach picked up two of the hits, but committed his 7th error. Kevin Ardoin allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, in 6 1/3 innings.
West Michigan 8, Clinton 2
Matt Joyce and Ryan Roberson each picked up a double and a single. Michael Hollimon and Cameron Maybin singled but struck out 3 times. Ramon Garcia pitched 8 innings and allowed 2 runs. He struck out 5 and walked none to raise his season ratio to 20:2 in 26 innings.
It’s not often that a team can only muster 10 runs in a 3 game series, and still double the production of your opponent. Fortunately the Tigers had the 10 runs, and it was good enough for a road sweep of the Mariners
Tigers
Mariners
Wins
3
0
Offense
Runs
10
5
BA
.240
.185
OBP
.306
.276
SLG
.370
.207
HR
3
0
SB/CS
4/0
1/2
Pitching
BB/9
3.3
2.7
K/9
6.7
7.3
ERA
1.67
2.30
Of course the story for the Tigers was the starting pitching, which is good because the offense didn’t give them a lot to work with. In 20 innings of work they gave up one lone run. That’s giving even the 2003 Tigers a chance to win. A manufuctured run, anda late inning cushion via the homer were all that the pitching staff needed. Continue reading Tigers-Mariners Series Wrap→
Toledo 4, Columbus 3
Chad Durbin went 6 innings and only allowed 1 run while striking out 4. David Espinosa hit his first homer of the year, and Ryan Ludwick hit his third. Tike Redman added two hits including a double.
Erie 15, Binghamton 4
It was an offensive explosion for Erie today. Tony Giarratano had two doubles, a triple, and a walk. Kurt Airoso had 4 hits, two of which were homers. Kody Kirkland and Mike Rabelo added home runs as well. Kirkland reached base 4 times and had 5 RBI’s. Juan Francia posted an unfortunate 0 for 6. Humberto Sanchez didn’t really need the runs. He pitched 7 innings and allowed only 4 hits while K’ing 8. His ERA now stands at 1.96.
Clearwater 14, Lakeland 9
Christhian Martinez was hammered for 9 runs and didn’t make it out of the 2nd inning. PJ Finigan was then tagged for 4 unearned runs. Brent Dlugach made two errors to bring his total to 6. Jeff Larish had a tough week, but rebounded with his 3rd homer, a double, and a walk. Clete Thomas reached base 3 times. Victor Mendez homered and added a double as well.
West Michigan 6, Clinton 4
Michael Hollimon switched spots with Cameron Maybin in the lineup, and both responded. Maybin tripled and walked while Hollimon added a double and a single. Both were caught stealing. Matt Joyce homered. Lucas French allowed 4 runs in 7 innings despite poor peripherals. He allowed 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 3 homers. Ricky Steik pitched two scoreless innings for the save. Steik, who was obtained via the Kenny Baugh trade, now has 12 strikeouts and no walks in 8 1/3 innings.
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