Monthly Archives: April 2008

2008 Season, Defense

Cabrera to first, Guillen to third

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Huh. Wow. Huh.

That was pretty much my reaction when I heard the news on my drive home from the game that Miguel Cabrera is the new first baseman and Carlos Guillen will be moving to third. Color me surprised.

According to Beck Guillen saw it coming and Cabrera is okay with switching positions.

Granted, Guillen had a bad first week of the season manning first base as his foot work kept brining him into the baseline. But since going to Boston it had appeared that the situation had been resolved for the most part. While Guillen was being taken out of games late it was usually for a pinch runner which I attributed to the hamstring problem, not as a defensive switch (though it certainly had that benefit when Inge came into play third).

What makes the move surprising is that
1. Guillen had all kinds of trouble fielding, transferring, and throwing the ball to first base last year. A move to third would seem to present many of the same issues.
2. The Tigers had to know that Miguel Cabrera wasn’t a good fielding third baseman both when they traded for him and when they signed him long term so they can’t have been surprised by what they saw this first month.
3. I’m not really sure that this solves any problems.

Since the Tigers are comfortable enough to rock the boat with Cabrera and Guillen, why not a platoon based on the handedness of the pitcher? Guillen gets third with a lefty on the mound and Cabrera gets it with a righty? At this point would it be that far fetched?

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 21: Rangers at Tigers

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PREGAME:  The Rangers have really been struggling and have won only 2 of their last 11 games for an awful 7-13 record.  Err, umm, that’s the same record as the Tigers by the way.

Vicente Padilla takes the mound for Texas.  He’s allowed 40 base runners in 26 innings, but still has a 3.12 ERA.  He allowed 2 homers in his first outing, but none in the last two.  Padilla will look to give his team a chance to snap a 4 game losing streak.

The Tigers will send out Justin Verlander who is searching for his first win, his first quality start, his fastball velocity, and his command.  He allowed 5 runs in 5 innings against the Indians but it felt like so much more due in large part to 4 walks.  In two starts against the Rangers last year he limited them to 1 run over 14 innings with 13 K’s.

TEX @ DET, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: I actually had a lot of things I wanted to hit on from tonight’s game, but some late game control problems from the Rangers, excessive pitching changes from the Tigers, a slow ride home, and some kind of announcement about a switch conspired against me.

  • In the first inning Verlander got ahead of Hank Blalock with 2 strikes and then bounced 2 breaking balls. I said to my friend, “last year Verlander just blows him away with a 98mph elevated fastball.” Next pitch was 96mph above the belt and a swing and a miss. The velocity seemed to be partly back last night. And the good news, like in his other starts, is that the velocity he had at the start of his outing was there at the end.
  • It wasn’t a dominating outing by any means, but still effective and encouraging.
  • Jason Grilli pitched an uneventful 9th.
  • The fan who touched the ball was heartily boo’d if you were wondering.
  • Ordonez’s homer was a blast, Cabrera’s was a bullet (seriously, who would try to catch that?), but Ramon Santiago? For real?
  • Jacque Jones tried to join the party but picked the wrong part of the park to hit it to. We’ll see if his double-triple night is something to get him started or just a blip.
2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-21-08

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Toledo – DNP

Erie 3 Harrisburg 4
Max St. Pierre singled and walked twice. Josh Rainwater allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks with only 1 strike out in 5 innings.

Lakeland 4 Fort Myers 10
Jeramy Laster and Justin Justice each homered for the Flying Tigers. Cale Iorg who had been killing the ball struggled with an 0 for 4, 3 K night. Jonah Nickerson struggled allowing 6 runs in 5.1 innings.

Beloit 1 West Michigan 2
Curtis Granderson tripled and fanned twice in 4 at-bats. Roger Tomas was 3 for 3 and is now hitting .423. Ramon Garcia went 8 innings allowing 1 run with no walks and 4 K’s. Noah Krol fanned 2 in his inning of work for the save.

Minor Notes

  • Take 75 North has more roster moves which impact Toledo primarily with Francisco Cruceta and Mike Hollimon joining the squad.
  • Andrew Hess blogs about Curtis Granderson joining the Whitecaps.
2008 Season, Pitching

Verlander and his arm angle

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As has been widely documented at this point, Justin Verlander’s velocity is down significantly. Either it is a systematic change in measurement mechanisms, or it is a real dip. Given the remarkable disparity and the fact it doesn’t seem to be effecting other pitchers the same way, I’m inclined to believe it is real. The question is whether it is by design (slower pitches, more movement, more longevity is one theory), it is mechanical, or it is related to injury.

Verlander recently did a side session in which he was working on his arm slot saying that he had been throwing with a lower arm angle and was working on raising it. While we can’t necessarily look at his arm angle with pitch f/x data we can look at an approximation of his release point.
Continue reading Verlander and his arm angle →

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 20: Blue Jays at Tigers

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PREGAME Armando Galarraga takes on Shawn Marcum as the Tigers look for their first matinee win of the season.

Marcum has been the Jays best pitcher this season with 20 K’s and only 5 walks in 20.2 innings.

Galarraga has been the Tigers best pitcher this season with 6 K’s and no walks in 6.2 innings.

DET @ TOR, Monday, April 21, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 12:37

PREGAME I was listening to Danny Knobler on WDFN this afternoon and he was talking about how the highs and lows have become so much more pronounced because of the 0-7 start. It’s a pretty astute observation. The Tigers today salvaged a split of the series and a 3-3 road trip which is nothing to sneeze at. Yet the losses of the last two days were such a downer it hardly felt satisfying.

Still, going into the weekend I had said I’d be happy with a split so who am I to complain? The Tigers finally capitalized on walks and miscues to take an early lead which was more than enough for Armando Galarraga. He wasn’t quite as efficient as his 1st start. Only 54% of his pitches went for strikes and he walked 4. Still, he pitched out of his self inflicted jams so there was no damage.

Pudge Rodriguez led off the offensive attack from the 2-hole on a day when Jim Leyland challenged his big boys to step up. But he’s likely to be dropped in the order as the news on Placido Polanco’s back was encouraging and Polanco could return to the lineup tomorrow.

Tigers 5, Blue Jays 1

2008 Season, Offense, Statistics

Tigers have nocturnal bats

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With this afternoon’s loss to the Blue Jays the Tigers record in day games now stands at a remarkable 0-10. A quick check of the splits reveals that the Tigers have been outscored 57 to 18 in day games. Yes, the offense has mustered less than 2 runs a game before the sun sets.

After dusk the Tigers are 6-3 and have scored 59 runs while allowing 60. So the pitching has been pretty inadequate no matter what time it is. The differences in offense however are dramatic to say the least. The following numbers aren’t inclusive of the Sunday tilt:
Tigers can\'t hit during the day
Continue reading Tigers have nocturnal bats →

2008 Season, Injuries

Injury roundup

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Man I’m getting tired of adding to the injury lists. Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco were both out of today’s lineup. Polanco was actually out of Canada and back in Detroit to get his back examined. It sounds like Sheffield is close behind him to get his shoulder looked at.

Gary Sheffield hadn’t been hitting early on, but he’d still been getting his walks and has 12 for the season. But on Friday night he looked too much like the Sheffield from last August. He fanned 3 times and was chasing pitches out of the strike zone. His line drive percentage is only at 11% (he’s normally in the 16-18% range) and he’s hitting infield flies at an alarming rate of 36.8%. Unfortunately a DL stint looks inevitable at this point.
Continue reading Injury roundup →

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-20-08

Louisville 10 Toledo 7
Mike Hessman had himself a day with 3 homers. Brent Clevlen added 4 hits. Curtis Granderson was 1 for 5 on his rehab assignment.

Erie – PPD

Lakeland 2 Fort Myers 6
Cale Iorg tripled and Scott Sizemore reached base twice. Duane Below did his best impersonation of a Tigers starter and walked 7 in 4.1 innings.

Burlington 5 West Michigan 6 (11 innings)
Chris Carlson and Kody Kaiser each had 2 hits. Jon Kibler had a nice start allowing 2 runs in 7 innings with no walks and 5 K’s. Wilton Garcia blew a save and Phil Nardozzi pitched a scoreless inning fanning 2 for the win.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 19: Tigers at Blue Jays

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PREGAME: Nate Robertson and his sore lat takes on AJ Burnett. Sorry that’s all I have time for today.

Game Time 1:07

DET @ TOR, Sunday, April 20, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Another day, another loss. This time a depleted lineup couldn’t take advantage of an erratic AJ Burnett. And Nate Robertson pitched good enough to lose. But unlike other Tigers starters he actually had more strike outs (5) than walks (1) which was an encouraging sign. He had been having a good game until a poor 4th inning doomed the game.

If there was a positive it would be the 28 pitches thrown by Zach Miner. It was good enough to get him through 2 innings with only one baserunner. And 21 of them were for strikes. Miner had to be on the cusp of being sent down and needed a solid outing.

2008 Season, Game Post

Tigers Minor Leauge Wrap 4-19-08

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Louisville 5 Toledo 0
Curtis Granderson doubled and singled, and like the night before in Grand Rapids that was it for the highlights. Virgil Vasquez allowed 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks with only 1 K in 5.1 innings. Cassey Fossum went 2.2 innings allowing one hit while fanning 3.
Tata rehab
Jason Beck was in Toledo and said that there is still some concern about Granderson having to make a throw which he hasn’t yet on his assignment. Also, Francisco Cruceta is likely to join the Hens this week and Mike Hollimon isn’t too far away. Plus our friend Roger DeWitt found Jordan Tata throwing off a mound in Lakeland meaning his return should be close as well.

Erie 2 Alttona 3
Freddy Guzman tripled and singled. Deik Scram doubled and walked. Dan Christensen allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 k’s with one strike out over 6.2 innings. Casey Fien took the loss allowing a homer and 2 other hits in 1.1 innings of work.

Lakeland 0 Tampa 3
Porcello from 4-19-08 credit Roger DeWittRick Porcello went 6 innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and 4 strike outs. Lakeland only managed 3 hits. LFT Blog notes an interesting subplot and wonders whether Porcello was asked to throw at a hitter as retaliation for the hitter breaking up a no hitter with a bunt the night before.

Burlington 7 West Michigan 8
Ronnie Bourquin homered and singled. Roger Tomas and Adrian Cassanova each had 3 hits and a walk. Lauren Gagnier allowed 6 runs in 5.1 innings with 3 walks and 5 K’s. Rudy Darrow went 2 innings of relief fanning 3 and allowing 1 hit.

Links

links for 2008-04-19

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 18: Tigers at Blue Jays

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PREGAME: It’s an afternoon tilt today as the Tigers behind Jeremy Bonderman take on Dustin McGowan and the Blue Jays.

McGowan is off to a pretty good start this season. He sports a 3.71 ERA and has fanned 16 in 17 innings of work. But he hasn’t made it past the 6th inning because his pitch count has become elevated. The Blue Jays had to go to their pen early last night so making McGowan work could have benefits for the rest of the series.

Bonderman is coming off a pretty solid outing. He went 6 1/3 and probably could have gone farther were it not for 3 errors by his defense. He also fanned 5 which was a nice sign after he K’d only 3 in his other 2 starts.

DET @ TOR, Saturday, April 19, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:07

POSTGAME: In a lot of ways, a loss like today’s is much more irksome than the shellacking they took in Cleveland. In the Indians game they were just flat out beat. In today’s game, there were several opportunities to swing the game in the Tigers favor yet they couldn’t take advantage.

Bonderman was awful, but he kept the damage to a minimum. Six walks though keeps him in line with the rest of the staff. Bonderman said he couldn’t find his slider, but I think that was only part of the problem. In the inning where he walked in a run, he was getting ahead of hitters. But he kept throwing the slider to the same spot. The hitters knew the slider was coming, and they knew where it was coming so it was easy to lay off. It’s a pattern we’ve seen from Bonderman in the past.

And once again he was the victim of an unearned run and this one decided the game.

Still, the offense had their chances. Twice there were 2nd and 3rd no out situations and twice they only came away with one run. I’m not one to harp on the LOB stat too much, because I tend to think it works itself out over the course of a season. But their inability to cash in cost them in a very winnable game.