PREGAME: Yeah. Justin Verlander attempts to make it through 7 innings in under 140 pitches. John Danks chucks the pill for the White Sox. Sorry. I just can’t muster more. Last night still burns too much.
DET @ CHW, Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
Toledo 8 Louisville 10
Jeff Larish homered twice. Brent Clevlen had 4 hits and was a triple short of the cycle. Dusty Ryan homered picking up his 5th XBH in 4 games at Toledo. But Eddie Bonine allowed 6 runs in 6.1 innings while Clay Rapada and Brian Rogers were each tagged for a pair of runs in relief.
Harrisburg 2 Erie 11
Casper Wells had a day with 3 homers and 5 RBI. James Skelton homered and walked twice. Deik Scram and Pedro Cotto also homered. Lucas French fanned 8 and walked 1 in 7 innings.
Clearwater 5 Lakeland 1
Dontrelle Willis made the start. He allowed 3 singles and 2 wild pitches in the first inning, but then retired the next 12 hitters. In his 6th inning he allowed 2 singles, but then struck out the side. In the 7th he was touched up for a triple, a double, an error and two singles. His final line was a non-inspiring 6.1 innings, 10 hits, 5 runs, no walks and 6 strike outs. But from the game log it definitely seems encouraging.
West Michigan 5 Great Lakes 0
Joe Tucker had 3 hits and Ronnie Bourquin had 3 walks. Kody Kaiser homered and drove in 3. Jon Kibler pitched the complete game 2 hit shut out with no walks and 9 K’s.
Oneonta DNP
GCL Tigers 7 GCL Braves 5
Luis Salas homered, walked and singled. Luis Palacios and Chao Ting Tang each doubled twice. Luis Sanz allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks while fanning 5 in 6 innings.
The Tigers are going the route of closer by committee. Sort of. In the sense that Kyle Farnsworth, Fernando Rodney, and Joel Zumaya will all get opportunities there is definitely a committee of people who will be closing games. But it seems as if it will be pre-determined heading into the game – at least tonight when Joel Zumaya will close if the situation presents itself.
I guess what I’d prefer is to just wing it each game. See who is throwing well, and the match-ups coming up in the 9th. And on another note, why not throw Bobby Seay into the mix.
PREGAME: Here we are at one of those critical junctures where if the Tigers lose, even the optimists have to call it a season. It reminds a lot of a series like this 2 months ago where Detroit improbably swept the White Sox. Of course that series was in the confines of Comerica Park.
It will be Nate Robertson taking on Gavin Floyd. Robertson has been the awful in 2 of his last 3 starts. Both of those came on the road. Both of them he was showering before the 4th inning started. And in both of them the team gave him a ton of run support. In between he picked up a quality start against these same White Sox.
Floyd’s ERA is 2 runs lower when pitching in Chicago. He has allowed 11 homers in 76 home innings, and the Tigers have been known to hit some homers, so that might be good.
As for all those changes Leyland was talking about, there were no roster moves, and other than Ryan Raburn starting in left (5 for 12 off of Floyd) there’s really nothing of note.
Game Time 8:10
POSTGAME: Oh Holy Hell.
I’d like to say something about Polanco’s game. Or Fernando Rodney being the man. Or Ryan Raburn’s 4 hits. Or Nate Robertson making it through 5 innings. Instead…
Oh Holy Hell.
Farnsworth has allowed more homers than all but 25 AL pitchers. All 25 are starters. Edgar Renteria had had a good game with 3 hits and some nice defense…until he booted a routine grounder. The game should have been over. Joel Zumaya should have thrown something that wasn’t a fastball.
Oh Holy Hell.
Toledo 0 Louisville 11
Jeff Larish went 2 for 4 and Kody Kirkland was 2 for 3. Yorman Bazardo was pounded for 10 runs in 3.1 innings with 8 hits and 4 walks. Francisco Cruceta allowed 2 hits in an inning of work but struck out the side. Casey Fien threw another scoreless inning with a K.
Harrisburg 8 Erie 7
Santo De Leon singled and homered. Wil Rhymes and Casper Wells each had 2 hits. Danny Christensen allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings with 1 walk and 4 K’s.
Lakeland 5 Tampa 10
Cale Iorg went 3 for 5. Ryan Strieby hit his 27th homer. Alfredo Firgaro was torched for 6 runs on 9 hits in 4.1 innings.
West Michigan – DNP
Oneonta 6 Tri- city 4
Bran Donglas went 3 for 6. Luis Arlet tripled and singled. Darwin De Leon pitched a 3 hitter with 2 runs allowed over 6 innings. Aaron Furhman fanned 7 in 4 scoreless innings.
GCL Tigers 4 GCL Phillies 8
Luis Salas had a hit and a walk.
Last year Sam Hoff started breaking down the season into 18 games segments, each representing 1/9th of the season, or an “inning.” Here is the 6th inning report. This doesn’t include the Tampa series which got the 7th off to an awful start.
The 6th Inning is over.
Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record for the first 6 innings in 2008:
Starters: Bullpen:
W-L RS –RA HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG W-L-IP- ERA W-L-S-ERA
1: 6-12 74 -112 15-10-262/345/404 3-9- 96.2-5.96 3-3-3-5.28
2: 9-9 98 -87 21- 6-261/350/426 5-8-105.2-5.11 4-1-2-3.61
3: 8-10 89 -75 19- 2-275/326/442 8-5-109.2-4.19 0-5-4-3.83
4: 11-7 85 -74 19- 8-268/350/416 8-4-113.0-3.27 3-3-5-5.17
5: 12-6 86 -78 25- 6-297/347/476 6-4-106.1-4.23 6-2-6-3.43
6: 9-9 118-96 25- 8-299/368/483 8-6-105.0-5.49 1-3-2-4.03
In the 6th inning found the Tigers put up their best scoring effort by outscoring their opponents by 22 runs. The unfortunate part is a 1-5 record against the 2 teams they are chasing including five 1-run loses in those games made for a lot of “what-if” thoughts amongst their fans. They did actually gain 1.5 games on the White Sox during the 6th inning (5.5 back on July 31).
The Starting pitching was horrible. Justin Verlander (2-2-5.68era) allowed 16 of 31 base runners allowed to score. Nate Robertson is fooling no one (0-1-11.29era) and is starting to form disastrous 2008 numbers. Kenny Rogers (2-1-4.74era) is pitching mostly on guts allowing 40 runners in 24.1 innings. Armando Galarraga (2-2-3.65era) continues to have a fine rookie season and Zach Miner (2-0-1.50era) gave the Tigers 2 great starts.
In the Bullpen, Todd Jones (0-1-2saves-5.68era) had a huge blown save (only his 2nd) against the White Sox and is now on the DL. Bobby Seay continues to be the Tigers best reliever (1.08era) and had 12ks in 8.1 innings. Joel Zumaya (2.70era) – 9 walks in 10 innings and Fernando Rodney (3.48era) – 8 walks in 10.1 innings both continue to struggle finding the plate. Casey Fossom pitched a scoreless 5.2 innings and picked up the only bullpen win getting out of a huge self created jam against Cleveland. Freddy Dolsi (8.22era), Aquino Lopez (5.68era), and Clay Rapada (10.80era) were all no relief.
The Hitters finally scored on a 1000 run pace for an inning. Matt Joyce (4-11-327/383/691) was awesome. Now every day catcher Brandon Inge did well (3-8-270/372/568) and made management feel Pudge (1-3-333/395/436) was expendable. Miguel Cabrera was an RBI machine (3-23-299/329/481). The biggest struggle on offense came from 5th inning hero Marcus Thames (3-5-184/231/429) although Gary Sheffield is still not performing at a career level (3-11-236/306/455).
The Tigers now sit 2 games over .500 with 1/3 of the season left to play. Winning 36 and losing 18 over the last 54 games will leave the Tigers at 91-71, which still may not be good enough. The present lack of energy and the dud the team played in the first game of the 7th inning makes it seem that a lot of players will be getting 2009 auditions in September.
I’ll be honest. I was going to break my rule about swearing on the blog and use some expletives in the title and direct them towards the skipper. His management – or lack of management – in the final inning of today’s debacle was grossly negligent (I’ll hit this more in a minute). But then I read some of his quotes prior to the game and I don’t know what the hell is going on.
Before the game he essentially ripped into his team. He threatened changes for underperformers and under-hustlers. Some highlights from the Det News article:
“I’m getting a little tired of some of these performances. We’ve got to do better. They (players feeling the heat) can get mad at me ’til the cows come home, but I’ve got people on my (tail).
“If I were my boss, I’d be ticked off. That can be a trickle-down effect. If I have to tell people ‘I’m taking you out of the rotation,’ that’s what I’ll do.
“I won’t hesitate to do anything. We’re pretty fair here, I’d like to think. But there’s a difference between effort and production.
“Hustle should never be in question. Running a ball out, running hard, is a no-brainer.”
and he finished with
“But we’ve had some performances that have been terrible. I’ve been disgusted the last few nights. The last few weeks, we had situations where we should have dominated a game and we didn’t come close.
“You’ve got to step it up if you want to be in the hunt. If not, go home and come back next spring training. I’ll bring up some kids to play.
“If you don’t want to grind it out, then start your vacation early.
“We should be embarrassed,” Leyland said, ending his soliloquy. “And I’m not sure enough people are.”
Okay, so he’s pissed. He’s feeling the heat. He wishes all the players felt the same heat. And it’s seems like changes are coming. A fact that was probably accelerated by Fernando Rodney’s performance today. Personally I think we see Casey Fien or a member of the 2008 draft class joining the bullpen. And Nate Robertson better pitch a hell of a game on Tuesday because he’s all out of leash as well.
But back to today’s game. I can’t fault the manager for Kyle Farnsworth allowing 2 homers. I have no problem with Farnsworth being in the game at that point. But the 10th inning was a debacle.
Not being privy to the pregame rant, the fact that Rodney was coming in didn’t seem out of the ordinary. (Although I was pleasantly surprised to see Bobby Seay take the mound to start the inning. It would have really sent a message had Seay been allowed to pitch because – you know – he’s the guy in the pen that isn’t sucking) But when it became quickly apparent that Rodney and the strike zone weren’t going to be compatible where was the action in the bullpen?
This is an inning that started out with a walk. Followed by a HBP when the Rays were trying to give up an out. Followed by a sacrifice. Now here is the most telling and at the same time conflicting decision. With the winning run on second, and an open base, Leyland didn’t order the intentional walk. This is a manager that intentionally walks everyone. Yet he didn’t want to have Rodney pitching with the bases loaded. YET NOBODY WAS WARMING UP.
So of course a walk comes anyways. AND YET NOBODY WAS WARMING UP. You’re now in the situation you wanted to avoid, and you don’t have another arm to go to. Rodney should never have been allowed to pitch to Carl Crawford, or Longoria, or Pena. There is no conceivable reason that Rodney was left in the game.
I don’t want to hear “he’s our closer.” This is a guy that got the job last week and has floundered. This isn’t Rivera/Nathan/Papelbon/Jenks/K-Rod. This is a guy who has the job by default. Go get his ass out of the game if he doesn’t have.
Of course we don’t know Leyland’s reasoning because he decided to not explain himself. Instead going with:
“You guys saw it,” he seethed, stabbing angrily at a plate of food. “Write what you want.”
In that case – You blew it Jim. Farnsworth blew the game. Rodney blew the game. But in the latter case you allowed it to happen. You’re in the unenviable position of having no one you can trust and limited healthy options. But doing nothing was clearly a ridiculous move. Maybe someone else would have let in the Rodney’s mess. But it became clear that Rodney wasn’t going to get out of it on his own. On the day you threaten changes and demand more from your players, you let the fans down, as well as everyone in that clubhouse.
PREGAME: Detroit will face James Shields. Shields is really good and he owned the Tigers last year. But that won’t really matter if the starting pitching can’t keep the team in the game and help out the bullpen a little. It’s been a week since a starter made it through the 6th inning with Zach Miner last doing it against the White Sox. Only once in the last 12 games has a starter recorded an out in the 7th inning. Coincidentally that one time was Armando Galarraga who will be starting today for Detroit.
DET @ TBR, Sunday, August 3, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 1:40
POSTGAME: Well, Armando Galarraga was great again. Bobby Seay was great again. The offense was good enough, getting a small lead (Ordonez x 2), adding an insurance run (Sheffield), coming back to tie the game off their closer (Granderson), and taking the lead (Cabrera). But it was undone by Farnsworth, Rodney, and Leyland. That list is in chronological order, not in order of crapulence.
Leyland’s negligence in the final inning will be the subject of a future post.
In the end it is another entry into the poll for worst loss of the year.
PREGAME: It will be Kenny Rogers and Andy Sonnanstine tonight. Rogers wasn’t too good his last time out, getting knocked around for 5 runs and 9 hits in 5.2 innings. His pickoff move should at least provide a speed bump for the Rays game.
Sonnanstine will give up his share of hits, but he typically doesn’t walk many with only 23 free passes this season. He doesn’t really have platoon splits to speak of with lefties and righties hitting an OPS of 794 and 780 respectively.
DET @ TBR, Saturday, August 2, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
Game Time 6:10 – FSN will begin coverage at 7:06 when Fox’s national exclusive window expires.
POSTGAME: The offense hasn’t been too efficient the last 3 days. At the same time the starting pitching has been offering up pretty deflating performances. Tonight it was Kenny Rogers turn. He some how fanned 8 batters, but it took him 109 pitches to record 10 outs. That should tell you most of what you need to know about this game.
As for other lowlights, the Tigers turned a bases loaded double into 1 run and an out. I wish I could tell you what happnned, but as Rod Allen said, “there’s some blame for everybody in that one.” Inge let a couple more run scoring pitches get by him. Guillen booted an easy out. It was all kinds of ugly. Freddy Dolsi wasn’t good. Casey Fossum wasn’t good.
Highlights? Miguel Cabrera keeps drilling the ball. Curtis Granderson keeps drilling the ball. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
A couple of items from FSN Detroit:
DIRECTV Channel Change: DIRECTV has shifted many of the regional sports network channel locations. FSN Detroit has moved to channel 663. The previous channel, 636, is still active for a couple of weeks. When tuning to Ch. 636, it instructs viewers of the move to 663.
Saturday at Tampa Bay: This Saturday’s game at Tampa Bay will be joined in progress at 7:06 pm, in accordance with MLB broadcast rules (game time is 6:10). MLB rules prohibit local telecasts for Saturday games starting after 1:10 and prior to 7:05 pm Eastern time – the exclusive window for the FOX Saturday Baseball Game of the Week. Major League Baseball granted FSN Detroit permission to join the Tigers-Rays game in progress immediately following the exclusivity window. FSN Detroit will re-air the Tigers-Rays game in its entirety at 10:00 PM.
Spanish Broadcast: On August 9th FSN Plus will broadcast the game in Spanish. The Spanish-language coverage begins at 7:00 PM with play-by-play announcer Clemson Smith Muñiz and analyst Adrian Burgos, Jr. The English-language telecast of that night’s Tigers-A’s game with Mario Impemba and Rod Allen airs as usual on FSN Detroit and FSN HD. This is in conjunction with the Tigers Fiesta Tigres celebration.
On another note, if you haven’t yet, do check out Baseball’s Golden Age. Great stuff.
Toledo 3 Indianapolis 0
Dusty Ryan went 2 for 4 with a double. Clete Thomas homered. Virgil Vasquez pitched 7 innings or 2 hit ball. Francisco Cruceta and Francis Beltran each pitched scoreless innings.
Reading 6 Erie 10
Luis Marte allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk while fanning 4. But only 2 of the runs were earned and James Skelton had 2 passed balls. Skelton went 0 for 2, but drew 3 walks. Wilkin Ramirez doubled and walked twice. Ryan Roberson and Deik Scram homered.
Lakeland 6 Sarasota 4
Ryan Strieby homered and drove in 2. Rick Porcello allowed 4 runs, but only 1 earned in 4 innings on 6 hits, no walks, and 3 K’s. Zach Simons struck out 5 in 2 innings. Ryan Perry and Jay Sborz pitched scoreless innings.
West Michigan 6 Kane County 7
Kody Kaiser and Jordan Newton both homered. Justin Henry went 2 for 5. Manny Miguelez allowed 5 runs in 5 innings on 6 hits and 3 walks. Scott Green allowed 2 hits and 2 walks and a run in 1 inning.
Oneonta 6 Tri-City 0
Trevor Feeney pitched 8 innings of 1 hit ball, allowing just 1 walk against 9 strikeouts. Bryan Pounds went 2 for 4.
GCL Tigers 1 GCL Indians 2
Londell Taylor homered, his second of the year. Jade Todd pitched 5.2 shutout innings allowing a hit and 2 walks while fanning 9.
GCL Indians 2 GCL Tigers 0
The Tigers only mustered 3 singles and a walk. Brayan Villareal pitched 6 innings of 3 hit ball and fanned 7 with no walks.
PREGAME: Okay, this one doesn’t appear to stack up well for the Tigers. The Rays are really good at home. Like 40-16 good. The Tigers are kinda eh on the road. The Rays send out Scott Kazmir and his 2.84 ERA (1.68 at home) and 9.9 K/9 against Zach Miner and his 1:1 K:BB ratio.
Here’s the lineup:
DET @ TBR, Friday, August 1, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com
POSTGAME: Well this was a different way to lose. Facing a stud pitcher with no idea where the ball was going, the Tigers drew 4 walks in the first inning. Of the first 21 pitches Kazmir threw, Detroit only swung at 2 of them, and that was Polanco only after he had 2 strikes. A visit from the pitching coach came next and Miguel Cabrera jumped on a first pitch fastball right down the middle – and fouled it off before popping out. A walk b Sheffield was followed by Marcus Thames swinging at the first pitch and ending the inning. In Thames defense he was probably anxious to not strike out.
Miner was fine. Not great, but not bad for a replacement starter. He got into a few jams, and wiggled out for the most part. Joel Zumaya followed and wasn’t so good, wild pitching in a run, crossing up Inge and damn near killing him, and allowing a homer. Bobby Seay was actually quite good and should be the set up man the next time the Tigers carry a lead to the 8th.
The Tigers walked 9 times and had 3 extra base hits, yet only scored 2 runs.