Monthly Archives: September 2007

2007 Season, Players

It’s Curtis Granderson day

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Yesterday Maggs got the honors with the Player of the Month award. Today is a Curtis Granderson media blitz.

First, he was the Tigers nominee for the Roberto Clemente award which honors players for their commitment to community and understanding of the value of helping others. Curtis’s work in this area is extensive and he’s a deserving nominee. If you’re impressed you can help Granderson by voting.

He is also the front page story at ESPN.com as Tim Kurkjian explores some of Granderson’s remarkable statistical feats this year.

And if you haven’t had enough Curtis, he did a chat on ESPN.com today as well.

2007 Season, Injuries, Pitching

Bonderman’s elbow isn’t right

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Make of this what you will, but Jeremy Bonderman’s elbow is sore.

Bondo Says:

“I’m fine,” Bonderman said with some conviction, after he was told that some teammates suspected he is not. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Pudge Says:

“He said his elbow was bothering him a little,” catcher Pudge Rodriguez said. “He’s a tough guy. He doesn’t want to come out. He knows the situation we’re in. Everybody wants to do their job.”

Leyland Says:

On the pitching front, Leyland admitted that Jeremy Bonderman’s elbow has been tender, but he said it won’t keep him from making his next start.

A sore elbow would certainly explain some of the recent control issues, and if it just developed last night it would explain the flurry of 2-0 and 3-0 counts as he struggled to command his pitches. If he’s not fine I don’t want him pitching. First I don’t think he can be effective if he can’t find the strike zone nor if he can’t throw with his normal velocity. Plus if he favors it he runs the risk of other injury due to altered mechanics. A sore elbow turning into a sore shoulder is the last thing the Tigers need.

If he’s fine then let him pitch, but a macho “we’re in a pennant race and the team needs him, rub some dirt on it” approach would be foolhardy. I don’t know all the details, and the Tigers have exercised considerable caution with their pitchers so I trust that if he’s pitching in his next start the team is confident that it won’t do further harm. But I don’t like the sound of it regardless.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 139: White Sox at Tigers

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PREGAME Kenny Rogers returns to the rotation tonight. Let’s hope he’s got something left.

For the White Sox it will be Gavin Floyd who made the start of his career in his last match up against the Tigers throwing 6 shut out innings and fanning 6 while walking none.

It’s another intimidating lineup tonight as Magglio Ordonez gets the night off. There’s a reality to the fact his heel is killing him and I don’t begrudge him the night off, it’s just the rest that is depressing.

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Raburn, RF
  4. Guillen, SS
  5. Perez, LF
  6. Rodriguez, C
  7. Casey, 1B
  8. Thames, DH
  9. Hessman, 3B

I’m fighting a cold and am heading to bed early so the postgame won’t be up until tomorrow.

Game Time 7:05

CHW @ DET, Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: As a member of the “Timo Perez, what the hell?” club I need to pause and reflect on his awesomeness. While I still don’t think he should be playing, and I don’t think he should be on the team next year, the guy has produced for the last week or so with the club. And he did it some more last night, with a catch at the wall,and that whole walk-off hit thing. And on a night when nobody could deliver the big hit, Timo did it. So go Timo.

As for the rest of the game, it had a lot going for it. It had some real nice defensive plays like the aforementioned Perez play at the wall, Casey laying out a first, and Polanco saving a single up the middle. It had the return of Kenny Rogers who was stellar, and it had very strong bullpen performances as they maintained the tie for 6 innings. Zumaya was awesome and Fernando Rodney didn’t let his last outing carry over. The Tigers even showed some patience and drew 8 walks, and forced the issue with 5 stolen bases.

Still, all that was kind of overshadowed by their inability to score off of Gavin Floyd, a guy that is awful and yet has allowed 1 run in his last 12 innings against the Tigers.

Nonetheless the Tigers did prevail, and it was largely on contributions from the more maligned Tigers. Pudge looked like the Pudge of old flipping doubles (including his 500th career) into the right field corner. Brandon Inge scored the winning run after doubling as a pinch hitter, and of course Timo!

2007 Season, Players

Magglio Ordonez is Mr. August

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Magglio Ordonez was named player of the month for August as he finished first in RBI (31), tied for first with homers (10), and third with a .393 batting average. Considering that Gary Sheffield missed the bulk of the month either on the DL, or just being ineffective, it was a particularly impressive feat with the cast of characters in the #3 spot in the order. For the month Tigers 3 hole hitters combined for a 221/275/361 line making the 31 RBI remarkable to say the least.

Magg’s is the first Tiger to win the award since Pudge hit .500 in June 2004

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 138: White Sox at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers return home and take on the White Sox. The White Sox haven’t been playing good ball lately, but then again neither have the Tigers. The pitching matchup will be Jeremy Bonderman taking on Jon Garland.

The Tigers have only faced Garland once this season and picked up 3 runs on 5 hits in 8 innings.

Bonderman corrected his first inning problems, or at least he avoided them in his last start. He only allowed 1 run on 6 hits in a strong outing against the Royals. He walked none for the first time since July 13th and it was particularly refreshing after he had walked 4 and 5 in his previous 2 starts.

In the good news department Gary Sheffield is set to return on Thursday and is feeling better. So hopefully we won’t see any more situations where Omar Infante is batting 3rd and DH’ing. It kind of shows you how far out of favor that Sean Casey has fallen, plus Infante is 15-35 lifetime off of Garland.

Game Time 7:05
CHW @ DET, Tuesday, September 4, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Another day, another loss, another one of those “this game was a microcosm of the season” efforts. Bonderman alternated between looking great (1st and 3rd innings) pounding the strike zone and hitting his spots with his fastball and slider, and pitching scared where he couldn’t command the fastball and couldn’t find the strike zone. He repeatedly fell behind 2-0 and 3-0 and it eventually caught up to him in the form of Alex Freakin Cintron.

Still he was good enough to keep the game close, even as the Tigers added a couple defensive goofs with Carlos Guillen at first and Marcus Thames in leftfield. Zach Miner provided 3 2/3 scoreless innings, enough to make fans think the Tigers still had a shot.

And then the offense showed some late life, finally breaking the shutout on a tremendous at-bat by Guillen before fizzling out with weak ABs from Pudge and Thames. If only they could have plated that runner on 3rd, then they would be in solo-homer striking distance. But even then, those days where anyone in the lineup could hit one out are gone. Inge hasn’t had that ability for over 2 months now, and Pudge is pretty far removed, and as nice as Ramon Santiago has played he’s not exactly a threat either. Inffact, of the Tigers last 14 homers, 11 have come from the bats of Ordonez/Guillen/Granderson. Not so much the balanced attack of earlier in the year.

Still, some pinch hit success from unexpected sources (Timo Perez and Sean Casey), plus a very surprising walk from Inge (who was choking up with 2 strikes on him) breathed enough life into the team so that you actually thought they had a shot, only to drop another one – this time with Curtis Granderson making the final out.

Another day, another loss.

Links

links for 2007-09-03

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2007 Season

Crushed in Oakland

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I wish I could say that this was easily the Tigers most devastating loss, but really that would require more time to sort through them. It’s easily in the top 2 in terms of crushing losses to the A’s this year though.

Inexplicably the Tigers blew a 7 run lead to the A’s, and missed a chance to gain ground on the 3 teams they are chasing. With the Indians, Mariners, and Yankees all losing, the Tigers had a chance to gain in both their wild card and divisional chances. Some might say that at least they didn’t lose ground, but the fact of the matter is they did. In the last month of the season everyday you’re not moving up, your moving down because that’s one less game you have a chance to win.

The emotional response is to say this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That the team can’t possibly compete after this and it’s all over. At least that was my initial reaction and I’m much more glass half full than many. I know many had already written the season off but I’m an optimist – plus I checked the standings and the Tigers still are in the hunt for a playoff spot.

A popular refrain after losses like this are complaints about a lack of heart or a lack of urgency. Comments on the demeanors of players and the managers and other critiques that really can’t be backed up one way or another. The postgame analysis is heavily influenced by the results instead of the actions. Case in point, when Justin Verlander is dominating and getting quickly back up on the rubber and not pausing between pitches, “he’s on a mission.” But when he does the exact same thing and struggles, he isn’t on a mission, then “he’s rushing it, he needs to slow it down.”

The same is true of this lack of heart argument. Was there a lack of heart before the first pitch was thrown and it was 0-0? How did the lead get to be 7 runs in the first place? Nate Robertson was pitching a perfect game and the Tigers had received some timely 2 out (i.e. clutch) hits.

As for the lack of urgency, how about Jim Leyland turning to his big 3 relievers for the last 3 innings despite having a 5 run lead. He wanted this game, and he managed it with a sense of urgency. He even brought in Pudge and interrupted what would have been 2 full days off because of the issues when Rabelo catches Jones.

The fact of the matter is that Rodney and Jones got lit up. I don’t think it has anything to do with heart, urgency, swagger, or any other nonsense. Rodney couldn’t find the strike zone for the first time in a month and he got hammered. Cameron Maybin lost a ball in the sun, much like Nick Swisher did a couple innings earlier only Swisher recovered in time. Todd Jones allowed just his 3rd homer of the season, and then proceeded to start playing whack-a-mole around the plate. (really poor timing for Jonesy on a day when he bashes talk show radio hosts – if it weren’t for Michigan losing this would be the only thing discussed by Greg Brady on Jamie and Brady Tuesday morning) What do any of these things have to do with heart? Two of the team’s most effective relievers and a 20 year old who’s been with the team for 3 weeks cost the team a game because they didn’t have heart? It just doesn’t make sense.

Blame this one on the bullpen. Blame it on Leyland’s lineup if you wish (which scored 7 runs incidentally). Blame it on a lack of heart if it makes you feel better. But sometimes crap happens. And it’s just happening an awful lot.

2007 Season, Injuries, Pitching

Kenny Rogers to start Wednesday

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Well it looks like the Tigers have filled one hole in their rotation, for now until someone else gets hurt. Kenny Rogers is back and will start against the White Sox on Wednesday. Chad Durbin will be Thursday’s starter, and with a pen full of reinforcements from Toledo his role as reliever shouldn’t be missed.

Justin Verlander gets and extra day off and it will be Verlander/Robertson/Bonderman against Seattle this weekend.

Leyland sets rotation: Rogers to start Wednesday, Durbin Thursday – MLive.com: Detroit Tigers

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 137: Tigers at Athletics

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PREGAME: It’s kind of a Jekyll and Hyde pitching match-up today. Nate Robertson has been all over the place, shutting down Cleveland and getting knocked around by the Royals. For the A’s it will be Dallas Braden, who’s last big league start ended in the 2nd inning when Magglio Ordonez homered twice off him. Since then he threw 2 complete games in the minors in which he’s allowed only 8 hits and 2 walks while fanning 26 (17 of those in his last start).

Game Time 4:05

DET @ OAK, Sunday, September 2, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com