Monthly Archives: August 2007

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 116: A’s at Tigers

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PREGAME: Danny Haren and Justin Verlander.
7:05pm

OAK @ DET, Saturday, August 11, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Nice win tonight, and don’t look now but the Tigers are 3-3 in their last 6 games. Umm, yeah. But still, a really nice win with enough offense against a tough pitcher, enough out of Justin Verlander when he didn’t have his best stuff, and a lock down effort by the pen.

  • More on the pen, 9 batters faced, 9 batters retired. Four of those came via the punch-out. The biggest of course being the combined effort of Bobby Seay and Aquilino Lopez who wiggled out of a first and second, no out jam in the seventh. If you were wondering the run expectancy in that situation is about 1.5. With a 1 run lead at that point, that is why Seay and Lopez combined for more WPA points than Magglio Ordonez.
  • And Fernando Rodney is looking very 2006, and that’s a very fine vintage. Even being squeezed on the corners, he wasn’t rattled and picked up 2 K’s.
  • Some insurance runs made it an easy night for Todd Jones, who has been quite effective for about 6 weeks now.
  • Magglio Ordonez had his 2nd straight 3 hit night. I, like many, expected him to fade from a batting average stand point and finish out of the running for the batting title. Of course there is plenty of time for that to happen, but it is mid August now and he seems to have shaken off that July funk and is driving the ball again. Just an incredible season and a joy to watch.
  • And if you were wondering about the brevity of the pregame tonight, it actually had less to do with my frustrations with the team(which are present, believe me), and more to do with that’s what the bosses (my kids) would allow me to get done. But with the results, expect another short one tomorrow.

Tigers 5 A’s 2

2007 Season, Roster Management

The roster shuffle

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It became apparent last night that the Tigers would need a fresh arm in the bullpen. And by leaving McBride out to languish, it was also pretty clear the Tigers had no use for him for the next few nights. Plus they became disenchanted with Tata, at least for the time being after last night’s debacle. So they’ve called up Eulogio De La Cruz and Aquilino Lopez.

Now what is screwy is that De La Cruz is up only for tonight and he’ll be replaced by Yorman Bazardo – who has been doing okay in the Toledo rotation – after the game. But Bazardo isn’t coming up to fill Tata’s spot in the rotation, he’s coming to help in the bullpen.

So why bring up De La Cruz for one day and ensure he can’t come back for 10 more? I don’t know. I’d guess it is a rest issue with Bazardo. And why Lopez over Jose Capellan? I don’t know that either. And who will fill in the rotation? I also don’t know but I’d guess it would have to be Virgil Vasquez.

The only upside is that the team is now down to 2 lefty specialists which should give Leyland a little more flexibility.

(Thanks to Kathy for the heads up)

Tata, McBride sent out, Lopez, De La Cruz, Bazardo called up – Detroit Tigers Insider – MLive.com

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links for 2007-08-11

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2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/10/07

Durham 0 Toledo 4
Andres Torres doubled, homered, and walked. Chris Shelton doubled and walked and Jack Hannahan added 2 singles. Ron Chiavacci pitched 7 innings of 3 hit, shut out ball while fanning 8.

Connecticut 6 Erie 3
Cameron Maybin homered in his Erie debut. Jeff Larish added a homer and Mike Hollimon went 2 for 4. Jon Connolly allowed 3 homers and 4 runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Vero Beach 6 Lakeland 6 in progress
Max Leon went 4 for 5 and Danny Worth knocked out 3 doubles. Kyle Sleeth allowed 3 runs in 6 innings on 6 hits and a walk. Josh Rainwater pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief.

West Michigan 0 Clinton 1 in progress
Gorkys Hernandez has a double tonight. Lauren Gagnier is through 7 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits while fanning 6.

Oneonta – PPD

GCL Indians 1 GCL Tigers 11
Hayden Parrot went 3 for 4. Justin White, Carlos Ramirez and Derek Lerhman all had 2 hits. Manny Miguelez allowed 1 unearned run in 5 innings on just 2 hits and 7 K’s. Richard Zumaya came in for for the 4 inning save allowing one walk and one hit while fanning 5.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 115: Athletics at Tigers

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PREGAME: It’s Tata time. The injury replacement has been the most effective starter the last couple times through the rotation. This will be the A’s second crack at him after he held them to 2 runs in 7 innings in the Coliseum.

The Tigers will take on Joe Blanton, who they have no trouble racking up hits against traditionally. They’ve had 9 or more hits in each of the 4 starts he’s made in the last 2 years. But Blanton gets away with the hits by keeping the ball in the park with only 11 homers allowed. He has very pronounced home/road splits with batters posting a 587 OPS in Oakland and a 732 on the road. The bulk of that is driven by a 257 batting average on balls in play at home versus 327 everywhere else. It makes me think he really takes advantage of the copious foul space.

Game time 7:05

OAK @ DET, Friday, August 10, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: So many emotions. This game was all set up to be a huge win for Detroit after overcoming an awful start by Jordan Tata. Marcus Thames gave the team that “extra charge” that Jim Leyland was looking for and Detroit looked to be well on their way. All they needed was 12 outs from the bullpen. Now 12 is a lot mind you, but if you figure that Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones would be plugged in for the last 2 innings, it was a matter of getting through the 6th and 7th innings.

Now Leyland had Macay McBride who had retired all 5 hitters he’d faced come in after a lengthy bottom of the 5th. Why? Not sure. McBride gets the first guy swinging, and plunks the second. At that time it might be a good time to get him. But no. McBride is struggling to find the plate and walks the next hitter, and the next hitter. Clearly gassed you have to get him out right? No. Grand Slam. Pin. Balloon. Ballgame.

Zach Miner came in and threw batting practice for the rest of the inning and the Tigers blew a run down play.

There was no conceivable reason to leave McBride in that long. That’s not his role, and that’s not a role he’s had to perform. That was a horrible job of managing by Leyland, on par with the Cleveland June 1st debacle. He let down everyone in that dugout. The only possible explanation is that McBride was set to be optioned down after the game tonight to get a fresh arm for the depleted bullpen, and Leyland figured he might as well kill him.

It’s one thing when players don’t execute. Pitching and hitting are tough. But to have the manager let people down when all he has to do is make a decision obvious to everyone is particularly infuriating. There’s a reason that Oakland didn’t pinch hit for Jack Cust with Mike Piazza. It’s because Geren would rather have his hitter face a gassed pitcher than Piazza face a fresh arm.

2007 Season, Managing & Strategy, Players

Thoughts in brief

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A mishmash of things I’ve been meaning to comment on…

Craig Monroe

I’ve read and heard much lamenting that Leyland is being too loyal to Craig Monroe. That was called for at the end of June, but it’s not really called for now. Monroe had lost his starting job prior to the Marcus Thames injury. After a brief reprieve, one in which he hit a couple homers against Kansas City, he subsequently lost his starting job to Ryan Raburn. When you’ve seen Monroe playing lately, it’s because someone else is getting a rest. When he played Tuesday it was because Polanco was DH’ing. When he played yesterday it was because Leyland rested Granderson against a tough left hander. For the last month it wasn’t Leyland’s loyalty to Monroe keeping him in the lineup, it was injuries to Thames and Sheffield.

Monroe’s days in Detroit are numbered. There was a reason he only had a one year contract and it’s so money wouldn’t be blocking Cameron Maybin in 2008. You can even argue that Monroe was unnecessary this year with Thames capable of filling the role at one tenth the cost. But even the most adamant Monroe detractors had no reason to expect a 221/265/387 line from a player that had posted 3 straight season in the 100-115 OPS+ range.

Ryan Raburn

Ryan Raburn has done way more than could have been expected of him and should have solidified his spot as a reserve outfielder on next years team. And I’m not reaching this conclusion on 50-some big league at-bats, but on a couple of strong seasons at AAA. Plus the added flexibility he brings by being able to play infield as well as all 3 outfield positions makes him a pretty valuable guy. I’m not expecting him to continue at his current rate, but near league average offensive production at a whole lot of positions for the league minimum is actually a pretty nice thing to have.

And for those who want to discredit his early success to small sample size, it’s fine to a certain extent in that he won’t keep up that production. But I’ve also heard comparisons to Brent Clevlen last year and those just aren’t apt. Clevlen has had one good year in the minors while Raburn has had several. Clevlen probably has a higher ceiling, and considering he’s at AAA and won’t turn 24 until after the season there is still reason for optimism. But in terms of being a productive player right now I’ll take Raburn.

Leyland having a tirade

I know that many want Jim Leyland to go and yell at all the players like he did last year. Because that will fix everything. He yelled last year because he wasn’t happy with the effort. Now he’s talking about the team not having an “extra charge” and things being dull in the clubhouse. If that’s the case Leyland needs to solve it.

It’s been my contention that Leyland’s strength is managing the clubhouse, and not his game strategizing. If he gets credit for last year and earlier this year, then a dull clubhouse is his responsibility to fix (and he admits as much). Bless You Boys has a take I tend to agree with

Well, where exactly is that going to come from? Yes, the players should provide it themselves. But would it really be a bad thing to close the clubhouse doors before they play the Indians or Yankees and remind them what’s at stake. No one’s saying he needs to rip his shirt off, throw a trash can across the clubhouse, and put out a cigarette on someone’s head. Leyland doesn’t need to put on a show. But he shouldn’t be content to send messages through the press, either.

But what I’d really like to see, and Sean Baligian brought this up on WDFN this morning, is for some of the guys in the clubhouse to take the lead on this. And maybe, this is Leyland’s way of trying to prompt it.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 8/9/07

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Durham 9 Toledo 3
Virgil Vasquez allowed 11 hits, including 2 homers and was charged wwith 5 runs in 5 2/3 innings. Jose Capellan allowed a homer and 2 runs on 3 hits in 1 inning. Brent Clevlen was 2 for 3 with a walk.

Erie – The Maybin debut was rained out

Vero Beach 1 Lakeland 6
Justin Justice doubled twice as part of a 3 hit night. Dusty Ryan was 3 for 3 with 3 RBI. Danny Worth was tripled, walked twice, and stole his 4th base. Angel Castro pitched a no hitter for 8 innings before giving way in the 9th to Derek Witt who not only lost the no hitter, but the shut out as well.

West Michigan 5 Clinton 1 (in progress)
Joe Tucker doubled and homered. Gorkys Hernandez and Jeramy Laster added 2 hits each. Duane Below fanned 9 and allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Oneonta 2 Auburn 8
Casper Wells went 1 for 2 and walked twice. Sendy Vasquez was rocked for 6 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks in 3 2/3 innings.

GCL Tigers 0 GCL Indians 7
Mark McBratney had 3 of the team’s 5 hits. Luke Putkonen was great allowing only 2 hits and a single run while walking none and fanning 5 in 5 innings.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 114: Rays at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers look to win a series, something they haven’t done since Minnesota. And really, a split against Tampa wouldn’t feel very satisfying anyways – especially given that the Tigers are now tied for the Wild Card with the Mariners.

It should be a great pitching match-up with Scott Kazmir taking on Jeremy Bonderman. However Bonderman hasn’t been good for awhile. Kazmir on the other hand has been lights out with 5 straight quality starts in which he’s posted a 1.38 ERA and 38 K’s against the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels. Over that span he’s allowed 4 doubles, the only 4 extra base hits he’s allowed.

Game Time 1:05


BR Game Preview

POSTGAME: Being at work I was listening to this game early on. I heard Bonderman searching for the plate for 31 pitches in the first inning, and I heard Kazmir retire the first 6 Tigers on all of 18 pitches. But 3 innings later the pitch counts had evened out. Bonderman went through the next 3 innings on 30 pitches while Kazmir started going to 3 ball counts and had trouble finishing hitters off. The Tigers had just squandered a great scoring opportunity when Guillen and Ordonez each fanned, on a combined 15 pitches. I was a little disappointed, but I left for my meeting thinking that this game could go either way…

And then I come back and find out it’s a blow out. Much like the night before, the starter struggled in the first, only to settle down. And when the offense failed to cash in on a scoring opportunity, said pitcher came out and got knocked around.

I don’t know what is wrong with Bonderman. I didn’t see him today so I don’t know what was the problem but it sounded like he had zero control of any of his pitches. I don’t know if it is his elbow that is hurting his control and making his slider not as sharp. Or if there is a mechanical issue at work. But this is as bad as I can remember him for an extended stretch.

I’m not frustrated with the offense this time. Kazmir is a tough pitcher and I’m perfectly willing to “tip my hat” to someone of his caliber. This wasn’t another Gavin Floyd performance. That said, the Tigers didn’t take advantage of the opportunity they mustered. But with the starting pitching once again struggling, it’s not as if scratching across 2-3 runs would have helped.

I really expected Bonderman to do something good today. But without Bonderman even being mildly effective, the Tigers just won’t have the starting pitching to get keep them in the post season hunt. His struggles, and his failure to correct have me as worried about this team as I have been at any point this season.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/8/2007

Once again courtesy of Mike R…

Norfolk 2, Toledo 5
Mud Hens hit 4 home runs in the ball game, most notable one was from Marcus Thames. That’s a good sign. Henry Mateo, Chris Shelton, and Andres Torres hit the other 3 homers. Yorman Bazardo improved to 10-5 with an 8 inning, 6 hit, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk and 1 strike out performance.

New Britain 5, Erie 2
Matt Joyce provided the offense with a 2-run homer that was his 16th of the season. Eddie Bonine pitched very well, turning the ball over to the ‘pen after a 7 inning, 7 hit, 2 run, 2 K, 0 walk performance. Randor Bierd gave up 3 hits and 3 runs without recording an out. That proved to be the difference.

Lakeland 9, St. Lucie 6
The Flying Tigers got the chance to face Pedro Martinez in his first rehab start and rocked him. Pedro gave up 6 hits, 5 runs including 2 homers while striking out 5 and walking no one in 3 innings of work. Deik Scram and Justin Justice hit the homers and Eleazar Aponte gave Lakeland a quality start.

West Michigan 15, Clinton 4
Jeramy Laster paced the offense with a 3-for-5 night including 2 homers (a 2-run and a 3-run), a double, and 8 RBI’s. Brandon Timm had 3 RBI’s and 3 hits of his own. The top 7 guys in the order were a combined 14-for-37 with 3 doubles and 2 home runs. Gorkys Hernandez stole his 44th base of the season. Jonah Nickerson had a good outing throwing 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball with 4 strike outs and zero walks. Phil Napolitan came in for one inning 4 runs on 5 hits that included 3 doubles and a HR, but the Whitecaps offense made up for that as they only scored in 4 separate innings.

Oneonta 5, Auburn 3
Ronnie Borquin had 2 doubles and Kody Kasier drove in 2 in the win in the first game of the double header. Sean Finefrock went 6 1/3 innings striking out 4, walking 2, and allowing 3 runs (2 earned) and just 2 hits.

Oneonta 6, Auburn 5
Chris Carlson drove in half of the Oneonta runs as they completed the sweep of the doubleheader. Paul Nardozzi and Luis Gil both pitched just 2 innings apiece to open the game as they gave up a combined 5 runs on 9 hits. The final 3 innings from the Oneonta bullpen were no-hit baseball.

GCL Yankees 1, GCL Tigers 0
This was the completion of the game that wasn’t finished last night. Richard Zumaya started it and went 1 inning with 0 hits, 1 strikeout and 1 walk. He’s now got 4 strikeouts and 5 walks in 5 2/3 innings pitch.

GCL Tigers 7, GCL Yankees 9
Tigers outhit the Yankees 11 to 7 but their 2 errors lead to 7 (yes, seven) unearned runs and, ultimately, the loss. Carlos Ramirez hit a 3-run homerun and Orlando Rodriguez had 2 doubles. Nolan Chestnut was the tough luck loser for the Tigers. He pitched 2 innings in relief and surrendered 4 hits and 5 runs, all of them unearned. He struck out 3 in his effort.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 113: Rays at Tigers

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PREGAME: I’ll be heading down to tonight’s game. I actually picked out these tickets prior to the season because tonight is the 25th anniversary of my very first Tigers game. I don’t remember many details about the game, but I do remember that it was a twi-night doubleheader against the Blue Jays and that Kirk Gibson was on the DL with a broken wrist. I remember Gibson not playing because he was sitting in the stands a few rows in front of me. That information was enough for me to id the game on retrosheet.

As for tonight’s game it will be Chad Durbin returning to the rotation. He’ll be taking on James Shields who has been quite good for most of the year and shut down the Tigers in May. However, he has struggled in his last 5 starts posting a 7.39 ERA with batters hitting 322/385/559 against him.

Game Time 7:05

TBD @ DET, Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: You know that first doubleheader I went to the Tigers allowed 7 runs in both games. Maybe there is something there.

  • I’m a little frustrated with the Tigers offense. When they put runners at first and second with nobody out and a chance to tie the game, or at least get it to one run and ended up going down on 3 straight K’s pretty much sealed the game right there.
  • But at the same time Shields is a decent pitcher, and if POlanco strikes out twice in one night, I have to believe the pitcher deserves a little credit.
  • And I know the game was out of hand in the 8th, but 4 K’s in 2 innings against that bullpen isn’t acceptable.
  • I thought the boos for Grilli were excessive. I’m not saying he’s good, but what was the point when he entered the game tonight. I guess it’s everyone’s right to do what they want, I just don’t get it.
  • I agree completely with Mike R’s comment that the bullpen is misconfigured with 3 LOOGYs. McBride was getting rocked in his 2nd inning, but circumstances that necessitate him throwing 31 pitches need to be avoided.
  • The top 5 hitters in the Rays order are actually doing quite well this year, so production from the top of their order doesn’t bother me. Zorbrist and Navarro combining to reach base 5 times tonight though just can’t happen.
  • On a lighter note, with it being 70’s night they doctored the photos that are displayed of the players while at-bat. These were quite amusing, and I hope to post a couple in the next couple days. But let me just say that Pudge with a full head of wavy black hair is the spitting image of Erik Estrada.