Monthly Archives: August 2008

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 125: Tigers at Rangers

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PREGAME: Whenever the Tigers play the Rangers I think of George Kell saying something like “And the Tigers’ll be in Arrrlington on Toooosday night.” It sounds better in my head than it does on the computer though.

The match-up is Kenny Rogers, making a return to Texas and Scott Feldman. Feldman doesn’t strike out many, walks a few too many, and allows too many homers. Kenny Rogers strikes out fewer, doesn’t walk as many, and allows too many homers, but not as many as Feldman.

There’s lots of weather down there, so they might not play. A day off would probably help the bullpen, but a doubleheader would absolutely destroy it.

If they play it will be:

  1. Granderson
  2. Polanco
  3. Ordonez
  4. Cabrera
  5. Guillen
  6. Sheffield
  7. Joyce
  8. Renteria
  9. Inge

DET @ TEX, Monday, August 18, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Well, that was pretty good. The offense slumbered for awhile, but the Gary Sheffield homer seemed to get things started. It’s somewhat remarkable that the Tigers plated 8 runs when there 2-3-4 hitters combine to go 0 for 13 with 5 K’s and 2 walks.

Magglio Ordonez looked especially bad. He seemed very uncomfortable, check swings at 2-0 pitches, swinging through 3-1 fastballs. He fanned 3 times. Did you know it was only the 9th time in his career with at least 3 K’s? He’s only worn the sombrero once, a fate which he avoided his last time up with a full count walk.

Cabrera on the other hand kept hitting the ball hard with nothing to show for it.

Granderson with the 2 triples is always fun.

Gary Sheffield had a couple singles in addition to the homer. And Brandon Inge reached base all 4 times he was up, 2 hits, a walk, and HBP. If only Renteria could have done something we could have broken out the Whipping Boys.

Kenny Rogers was good enough, getting some key strikeouts (7 of them) and keeping the 12 baserunners he allowed mostly stranded.

Gary Glover was quite good. That surprised me, but he had a very uneventful inning.

Kyle Farnsworth was hammered. There were 3 different plays where he could have been helped a little by his defense (liner to Renteria, smash at Cabrera, and blast to centerfield) where there were tough plays, none of which were made. But everything was hit hard.

Fernando Rodney however was quite good. He fanned MVP candidate Josh Hamilton with the tying run on second in the 8th, and allowed only a HBP in the 9th inning.

Throw in some nice defense (Renteria, Ordonez), and some nice baserunning (Joyce), and there was quite a bit to like about this game.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 124: Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers look to squeak out a series win. They’ll send out Zach Miner who is trying to lock up a spot in next year’s rotation. If Jim Leyland is as intent on performance dictating play time as he claims to be, if Miner can continue to pitch like he has since returning to the rotation, it should be a slam dunk. In 5 starts he’s gone 29.1 innings with a 17:5 K:BB ratio.

Garrett Olson takes the mound for the Orioles and he isn’t a good pitcher. A WHIP of 1.67, a pedestrian strike out rate, and a propensity to allow homers is a bad combination. The Tigers faced him in July and plated 5 runs in 6 innings.

Detroit sends out a neutered line-up with no Carlos Guillen, no Magglio Ordonez and Dane Sardhina catching (save the disparaging Inge jokes, Sardhina is substantially worse offensively).

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Sheffield, DH
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Thames, LF
  6. Renteria, SS
  7. Raburn, RF
  8. Inge, 3B
  9. Sardhina, C

BAL @ DET, Sunday, August 17, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Well, the offense was good. They battled back from a 5-1 deficit, but that’s about all I can say. Zach Miner got hammered, but he matched Garrett Olson. The difference was Casey Fossum and Aquilino Lopez and Francis Beltran allowing 11 runs in their innings.

Meanwhile the bullpen should be nice and tired heading into Texas – great. Maybe Gary Glover can give the pen a lift (that’s sarcasm).

On another note, Curtis Granderson probably expended more energy than Phelps this weekend chasing down the rockets off the bats of the Orioles.

Not a lot to see here. Keep moving along.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Todd Jones back to the DL

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Todd Jones is back on the disabled list. After 1 outing. Makes you wonder why he was brought off the DL in the first place doesn’t it? Of course it did take him a half hour to get out of that inning so that may explain it. Or perhaps Todd is toast and he’ll just finish the year on the DL instead of being outright released.

Oddly, Gary Glover had his contract purchased by the Tigers to fill Todd’s spot in the bullpen. Glover wasn’t even in the organization until last week when he was added to Toledo. Glover appeared in 29 games for the Rays this year with 18 walks and 22 strike outs in 34 innings. I don’t get this at all. Why not give Casey Fien a shot? Or bring back Francisco Cruceta who is striking out everybody in Toledo (or at least everybody he doesn’t walk) with 52 K’s and 20 walks in 36 innings? Or bring back Clay Rapada who is already using an option year and move Bobby Seay from lefty specialist to 7th inning guy.

I guess it’s better to give a handful of innings to a 31 year old journeyman pitcher who has wowed coaches in his 3 innings at Toledo. I’m sorry, there may be very valid roster management/option/service time issues at play here. I don’t get it though.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 124: Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: I’m heading down for my first back to back games this season. I saw Nate pitch bad last night, and I already saw Justin Verlander pitch poorly this week, so I’mdue for some decent baseball right?

It will be Dennis Sarfate who will try to stymie the Tigers for 7 or 8 innings until the Tigers make some late noise. Sarfate strikes out a batter an inning, but walks nearly as many.

Game Time 7:05

BAL @ DET, Saturday, August 16, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Nice win. Nice offense. Nice pitching. Mostly good bullpen-ing (an 8 pitch save for Rodney -woo). Other than a Carlos Guillen throwing error leading to 2 runs, it was a pretty clean game for the Tigers.

But I pretty much missed it. I had tickets to the game. Went to the game. Left before the game started. My son, who hadn’t been feeling well all day, got sick before the game started. He and I got to go on the field with a ton of other kids and coaches for Troy Baseball Booster day. While waiting in the bowels of the stadium, the number of people, the lack of air movement, and a stomach bug resulted in him puking in a groundscrew dumpster. So I apologize to Heather Nabozny and company, it was the best we could do under the circumstances. I think he may have topped his sister using the visitor clubhouse bathroom when she just couldn’t hold it anymore. This is the kind of stuff you just don’t get in the game stories from the beat writers.

Oh, and Edgar Renteria fanned 3 times and popped up a bunt for an out. I think that’s as close to the golden sombrero you can get with you actually getting it.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 122: Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers look to extend their 1 game winning streak to more than 1 game. They’ll face Chris Waters who has a total of 12 big league innings under his belt. In his first start he went on the road in LA and pitched 8 innings of 1 hit, shut out ball. In his second start the Rangers got to him for 6 runs in 4 innings.

Nate Robertson is coming off of one of his better starts of the year. Granted, it was against the A’s, but he fanned 5 and allowed just 5 hits and a walk in 7.1 innings. The last time he faced the Orioles he was spotted a 6 run first inning lead which he obliterated in the third inning.

BAL @ DET, Friday, August 15, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Awful. I don’t leave early often, but we left in the 9th. Coincidentally just as the scoreboard announced Michael Phelps 7th gold medal – inspiring a cheer from a pissed off crowd.

Only this year could that ridiculous play with Polanco happen. I don’t think it was intentional, but regardless Polanco still had a brain lapse when he didn’t immediately pick up the ball allowing another run to score. It ended up being a moot point when what should have been an inning ending play turned into batting practice.

Nate Robertson wasn’t good again. This isn’t excuse making at all, but I’m just going to point something out. Coming into tonight, Robertson had a 942 OPS against when Inge was catching (8 games). This includes the infamous bed crappings against Baltimore and Cleveland. Robertson’s best start of late came when Dane Sardinha was catching. It’s likely a coincidence, but I’m just saying.

Speaking of Inge, he was awful tonight. He missed the throw from Magglio Ordonez in the second inning. It would have been close to cutting down the first run, but his nonchalance allowed the second run to score. Oddly he never took his mask off in that sequence. He also short circuited two different whipping boy rallies. It’s never a good sign when the guy after you leads off 3 different innings.

Miguel Cabrera had his struggles as well with an 0’fer night.

It was just a really bad game that turned really ugly.

2008 Season, Managing & Strategy

This new lineup isn’t a temporary thing

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The last 2 games have featured Magglio Ordonez hitting 3rd and Miguel Cabrera hitting clean-up. That’s going to last awhile, like into next season.

I don’t think lineups make a huge difference, but it never felt right having a hitter like Cabrera batting below the clean-up spot. And with Leyland not liking to shuffle guys, it meant having some unusual players hitting 3rd. No disrespect to guys like Marcus Thames or Ryan Raburn, but when you have Ordonez and Cabrera the previously mentioned guys shouldn’t be pushing them down in the order.

As for Leyland’s thought process for the sequencing? It was up to Magglio.

“I told Magglio, ‘You’ve got your choice of where you can hit, third or fourth.’ He took third.”

As I mentioned I’m not a big lineup guy, so this seems like the perfect way to give veterans a say and keep them happy and comfortable.

2008 Season, Injuries, Minors

Junkballing: Booing, Injuries, Waivers and Minors

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A hodgepodge of all the stuff that went down this week that just didn’t fit anywhere else:

Much ado about a boo

A lot of disgruntled fans did a lot of booing this week. Gary Sheffield received his share when culmination about frustration with his production collided with Sheff being Sheff. That was noisy, but not too surprising. Sheffield responded somewhat, and was still a little misguided.

“Compare me to me,” Sheffield said. “If you’re looking for .300, 30 [home runs] and 100 [RBIs], then I look pretty awful right now. I ain’t the only .220 hitter in this game. I ain’t the last one to hit .220, but it’s never a big deal when a lot of guys that play everyday, hit in the same spot everyday, and hit .220 and nobody says a thing.”

But Gary, you’re getting paid to be you and that’s the problem. You’re not being paid to be a .220 hitter.

But there was more booing. Joel Zumaya bore the brunt of it when he and Bobby Seay blew a 3 run lead. Zumaya, who said it felt like his shoulder exploded, wasn’t a fan saying

“I think it’s pretty lame,” Zumaya said. “I give it everything I’ve got.”

Bobby Seay didn’t appreciate it either.

I’m not a fan of booing. I understand it, but it’s not something I do. That said I don’t know that the booing was directed specifically at Zumaya and specifically at the outing. But it was general frustration with the bullpen crapping the bed again.

Oww, my aching…

The medical staff has been busy, but it seems like everything has been reactive. Todd Jones hits the DL after getting destroyed repeatedly. Joel Zumaya hits the DL after blowing up. It’s reminiscent of Jeremy Bonderman’s situation last year. I understand players wanting to play through things, but how many times once the team suffer for a player trying to gut it out.

But then you’ve got the other side where in that previously linked Sheffield article he said he was hurting, his trainer said he’s doing too much, but the organization said he was fine.

“I’m just going to give it to you straight,” he said. “When the organization tells you that you’re fine, I can’t say I’m not fine. I have to be on the same page as the organization. That’s just the way it goes.

“I talked to my trainer, and he said, basically, what I’m doing is unrealistic. That’s what he said. I said, ‘Why won’t anyone say that on my behalf? Why do I always have to come up here and defend me?’ And he just said, ‘Be realistic with yourself.’ That’s all I needed to hear. After that, I felt good about walking on the field. I have no extra incentives to play hurt.

I don’t understand it.

Jeremy Bonderman will be rejoining the team this weekend, but to rehab and likely not play.

And speaking of injuries, Marcus Thames is expected back in a day or two, as is Carlos Guillen who is dealing with a pinched nerve in his back. And Freddy Dolsi was optioned out to Toledo to make room for Todd Jones who is back. Though his role hasn’t been decided. Dolsi will likely be back when rosters expand.

Waivering

Gary Sheffield cleared waivers. Shocking. The bigger news is that the Tigers put in a claim on Raul Ibanez. Corner outfield/DH doesn’t appear to be a need for the Tigers so I can’t figure out the intent unless they hoped to get him for free, and then take the draft picks when he walks. Luckily they didn’t work out a trade that would have had the Tigers sending the Mariners anything of value.

Minor interest

The Tigers have had some good news in their farm system this year from some unexpected sources. And it’s getting some press. Wilkin Ramirez is a high ceiling guy that has had his progression and production limited by injuries. But he’s putting it all together this year earning this assessment from a scout:

“He has power, on-base skills, and don’t forget that he’s a 60 [on the 20-to-80 scouting scale] runner as well. His defense is adequate, but I think he’s the kind of guy who is an everyday corner outfielder on a first-division team—he could be pretty special.”

Also in the same article are some kind words for James Skelton, though scouts still can’t decide if his slight frame is an issue.

Another catcher making noise is Dusty Ryan. Tigs Town recently profiled him.

With the Tigers concerns at the catching position heading into 2009, Ryan will have a wonderful opportunity to enter Spring Training with a chance to impress and earn a big league job.

Finally, Ryan Strieby has been destroying the Florida State League.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 121: Blue Jays at Tigers

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PREGAME: A 4 game sweep would really suck. Let’s not do that okay? Armando Galarraga and Jesse Litsch.

TOR @ DET, Thursday, August 14, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAMEArmando Galarraga is the man. I was the stupid blogger who didn’t believe his early season success could be sustained, but he’s gotten even better. And as it stands he’s got a legit shot at rookie of the year with his main competition (Joba Chamberlain and Evan Longoria) injured. He went far deeper in pitch count territory (121) than he ever has. I don’t know if it was a good decision to leave him out there, because he typically loses it really fast and it was a tight game, but it worked out. And it’s certainly worth looking at his next start to see if there is any residual effect.

Whipping boy powers activate
Whipping boy powers activate

As for the offense, it was dead. Again. But they broke through in a big way in the 8th. Miguel Cabrera got the big tying hit with 2 outs, but it was the Whipping Boy Power that drove in 4 of the runs. Renteria doubled for the 4th straight game and made a diving knock down with the infield pulled in to help Galarraga strand a runner at third in the top of the 8th.

Good Fernando Rodney showed up for a 1-2-3 non-scary inning.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 120: Blue Jays at Tigers

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PREGAME: It’s Kenny Rogers turn tonight. Turn to what I’m not sure. Is it give up too many runs to a struggling offensive team? Is it pitch brilliantly only to be undermined by an inept bullpen? Or maybe it’s something I haven’t even heard of.

He takes on lefty David Purcey and his 7.40 ERA. Purcey tends to walk a lot of people, with 16 so far in 24.1 innings. He’s also allowed 6 homers in that span.

Carlos Guillen is out with a pinched nerve so the bench is pretty lean with Ryan Raburn manning third base.

TOR @ DET, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Sigh. A walk. A bad call on a sac bunt. A bad hop on a double play ball. A bad pitch resulting in a grand slam homer. And the Tigers inability to square a pitch against a guy with a 7+ ERA. Tigers hitters routinely got ahead of the count, finding themselves in 3-1 and 2-0 counts, but didn’t hit the ball hard at all off of Purcey.

Some late noise made it close. That is all.

2008 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Joel Zumaya to the DL

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Not surprisingly, Joel Zumaya has been placed on the disabled list. His shoulder is the culprit but the diagnosis on the press release was limited to “sore.”

Francis Beltran gets called up to take his spot. Why not Casey Fien or Francisco Cruceta, or someone else? This is probably a 2 day call up until Todd Jones can be activated on Friday. Beltran is fairly expendable whereas Fien would require burning an option and Cruceta could be lost through waivers when he would be sent down.

2008 Season, Pitching

Managing Verlander’s Workload

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After Justin Verlander’s 130 pitch outing, I flailed wildly in frustration at the stupidity of the situation. I didn’t care for the move from an in game management decision, and I hated the thought of increasing the risk of injury to the prized arm in the organization. The feedback was mixed. Some agreed with me. Others thought I was crazy. Pitchers used to throw a lot more. Justin Verlander was still throwing hard. He’s been throwing a lot of pitches this year so he’s conditioned for it. He hasn’t been injured the in the past. He’s the ace. Some of these arguments don’t hold a lot of water, but others are harder to refute. But what if we table the injury concern for a moment and instead look at performance?
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