The other day I posted a picture of Clete’s Cougars which I grabbed off my TV while watching the Fox Sports Detroit broadcast. The picture proved to be fairly popular and it got linked up a couple of places. Wednesday afternoon I was listening to 97.1 The Ticket (unfortunately the only sports talk around in the afternoon) when host Mike Valenti directed people to 971theticket.com for a picture of Clete’s Cougars. I was curious so I ventured over to see what picture they had, and I was a little surprised to see the picture I had posted. It was there with no mention or link back to my site.
Yearly Archives: 2009
Edwin Jackson’s 132 pitches
Edwin Jackson threw 132 pitches to help the Tigers complete a sweep of the Texas Rangers. Pitch counts and the hubbub around them are fodder for controversy. I tend to favor caution in these scenarios but am willing to consider each game on an individual basis. Who was the pitcher? What was the game state? Is there an off day coming up? How much rest is he pitching on? What is the pitcher’s injury history? And on and on. I don’t think there is a simple answer to the right number of pitches, but today Jim Leyland left Edwin Jackson in too long. I worry if this is going to be a pattern in 2009.
Let’s look at today’s game and analyze the situation. Jackson had an extra day of rest having last pitched on Friday. His pitch count was also a manageable 97 pitches in that last start, well at least it seemed manageable. But don’t forget there was a rain delay that lasted over an hour and Jackson pitched on both sides of that delay meaning he threw extra pitches in the cage. His workload was actually higher that game than the 97 pitches would indicate.
Continue reading Edwin Jackson’s 132 pitches
Tigers Minor League Wrap 5/21/09
Toledo 2 Gwinnett 7
Don Kelly homered and singled. Jeremy Bonderman started.
Erie – DNP
Lakeland 5 Tampa 2
Kody Kaiser and Michael Bertram each had 2 hits. Jeramy Laster homered. Andrew Hess allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 6 innings.
Lakeland 6 Tampa 0
Chris Carlson doubled and singled. Audy Ciriaco added a double. Matt Hoffman pitched a 7 innings, 6 hit shut out with 4 K’s and no walks.
West Michigan 1 Peoriia 4
Billy Nowlin doubled. Luis Salas homered. Brent Wyatt walked twice and singled. Mauricio Robles allowed 4 runs on 4 hits (2 were homers) but he did fan 8 with only 2 walks.
Let’s talk rehab
There was quite a bit of Tigers injury related news today with fresh info from Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson, and Marcus Thames. And on a related roster note, Magglio Ordonez will be back for Friday’s game (the surgery went well) and Wilkin Ramirez can tell his Mud Hens teammates what it was like to drive one deep into big league bushes.
Jeremy Bonderman
Bonderman made his second rehab start, this time for Toledo. Things were going swimingly for Bonderman through 5 innings as he was pitching a 2 hit shut out. Things kind of fell apart though in the 6th inning as it went: Walk – Sac Bunt – Double – Ground Out – Homer – Error – Stolen Base – Double – Double – Strike Out. The error certainly didn’t help and 2 of the 5 runs were unearned, but there were still 4 extra base hits that inning.
His final line was 6 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, 4 K’s 1 homer, 98 pitches, 62 strikes.
Marcus Thames
Thames will begin a rehab assignment for the Mud Hens next week. Jim Leyland would like to get him 30 or so at-bats.
Nate Robertson
So this isn’t particularly fresh, but Robertson was activated from the DL after Wednesday night’s game. Luke French filled in nicely for Robertson, but he is back with the Mud Hens now.
Game 2009.039: Rangers at Tigers
PREGAME: Some day baseball today as the Tigers try and pick up a second sweep and extend their winning streak to 6 games. It will be Edwin Jackson going for Detroit and Kevin Millwood for the Rangers.
Millwood has a reverse platoon split this year with lefties only managing a .591 OPS while righties are at .773.
Also, there will be no Rod Allen in the booth today so John Keating will join Mario Impemba and they will entertain questions from Twitter and Facebook. You can find them on Twitter @Foxsportsdet.
Texas vs. Detroit – May 21, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: It’s times like this that I really love baseball. When my team is winning, and things are clicking. The defense is solid, the pitching is dependable, and the offense is doing enough. Today the offense responded when they needed to. When the Rangers started the game with a first inning run, Clete Thomas answered with a shrubbery shot. When the Rangers tied the game, the Tigers responded with a two out rally to take the lead in the subsequent inning. The result was a 6 game winning streak.
- Thomas definitely had a stamp on the game with the aforementioned bomb. He also saved a run with a PERFECT gun home. But then in the 8th he struggled with a fly ball to the wall.
- Edwin Jackson wasn’t quite as sharp as his past starts, but still very effective and I feel like I didn’t jinx him. But I’m still worried about that pitch count. He walked 5 on the day, but I won’t hold the last one against him as he shouldn’t have been in at that point.
- Fernando Rodney’s string of retiring 16 straight hitters came to an end with a leadoff walk (and later a single). But Rodney once again notched a save, his 8th of the year. He’s pitched the last 3 games though so I’d anticipate that Joel Zumaya will be your closer on Friday night.
Tigers Minor League Wrap 5/20/09
Toledo – DNP
Harrisburg 11 Erie 5
Scott Sizemore was 2 for 5 with a homer. Alex Avila and Shawn Roof also had 2 hits. Jonah Nickerson allowed 6 runs, but only 1 was earned in 5 innigns on 8 hits and 4 walks. Ramon Garica allowed 4 runs in his 1 inning of work.
Lakeland – PPD
West Michigan 6 Peoria 2
Bryan Pounds homered as part of a 3 for 5 day. Jordan Lennerton doubled and homered. Luke Putkonen lasted 7.1 innings and fanned 5 to go along with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 runs. Jared Gayhart pitche 1.2 scoreless innings with 3 K’s.
Game 2009.038: Rangers at Tigers
PREGAME: Tonight’s pitching match-up is Justin Verlander against Matt Harrison. I don’t normally do tables in game posts, but this pitching match-up just calls for it.
|
Verlander |
Harrison |
|
| April ERA |
6.75 |
7.89 |
| May Runs |
3 |
2 |
| May Innings |
22.1 |
23 |
| Current ERA |
4.29 |
4.23 |
| K/BB Ratio |
35/8 |
15/1 |
| Last Homer Allowed |
4/22 |
4/22 |
Oh yeah, and they both pitched complete game shut outs on May 8th. I think we’re looking at two pitchers, one lefty, one righty who are at the top of their games.
Texas vs. Detroit – May 20, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: With a 5 game winning streak it is happy fun time in Detroit. Short wrap tonight as it’s been a long week already:
- Justin Verlander only notched 8 K’s in 6 innings. He had a legitimate shot at getting double digits before struggling in a very long 5th inning. Over 40 pitches in the frame ran his pitch count way too high and he was done after 6 innings. But only 1 earned run and his ERA dipped below 4 all the way to 3.99.
- Wilkin Ramirez homered in his debut, and not just a homer but a blast into the centerfield shrubbery.
- Brandon Lyon got touched for another homer. Ugh.
- Joel Zumaya gave up a couple seeing eye grounders and found himself in a bases loaded no out jam but a bounce out and 2 filthy K’s meant only 1 run scored.
- Fernando Rodney finally got in a save situation and retired the side in order. That is 16 straight batters retired for Rodney.
- Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn. Who knew?
Game 2009.037: Dontrelle’s Day
Sometimes the game story is a lot more story than game. Tonight is one of those nights as Dontrelle Willis found something. He found his command. He found his confidence. He found himself with his very first Tigers win.
Willis looked like a different pitcher tonight. He had control in his Twins start, but against the Rangers he had command. He worked both sides of the plate to both lefties and righties. He was moving in and out, up and down and working the edges of the zone. He had a very good hitting team off balance. While he did get some help from his defense on some hard hit balls, he had more than his share of dribblers and routine grounders as well.
Clete’s Cougars
It appears that Clete Thomas has himself a cheering section.
Game 2009.037: Rangers at Tigers
PREGAME: Six weeks ago a Rangers team riding a 3 game win streak came into Comerica Park and got swept. Tonight a Rangers team on a 7 game winning streak returns to Detroit.
These aren’t your typical Rangers. Sure, they still slug the snot out of the ball (their slugging percentage is 32 points higher than the 2nd ranking team), but now they can prevent runs as well. The Rangers have a 4.54 team ERA. While it significantly outpaces their 5.11 FIP, there is some realness to it because they rank 2nd in terms of defensive efficiency.
In other words, Dontrelle Willis will have his work cut out for him tonight as he makes his second start. Willis didn’t have his control problems last time out, but he wasn’t fooling the Twins either and came out after 4.2 innings. He benefits in one respect that Josh Hamilton is out of the lineup, but the Rangers bring a lot of thump in Ian Kinsler and company from the right side.
Brandon McCarthy gets the nod for the Rangers. He has been susceptible to the long ball with 10 homers allowed in 38 innings. While 7 of those homers have come in Arlington, he still has a OPS allowed over 1.000 on the road. Lefties have also beaten him up pretty good so Jim Leyland has 5 in the lineup tonight.
- Granderson, CF
- Polanco, 2B
- Thomas, RF
- Cabrera, 1B
- Larish, DH
- Inge, 3B
- Anderson, LF
- Laird, C
- Santiago, SS
Wilkin Ramirez gets the call
With Magglio Ordonez on the emergency leave list the Tigers get to add a player to the roster. Detroit Tiger Tales has learned that Wilkin Ramirez will be the guy.
Ramirez has hit .394 with 4 homers, 4 walks, and 4 stolen bases in his last 10 games.
The Second Inning- 2009 edition
Long time readers of this site remember a feature called the Inning Report. Reader Sam Hoff would break down the season into 18 game segments or “innings.” Why 18 game? Because there are 9 18 game segments in a season. When the Tigers completed the Oakland series that also completed the second inning. Sam is still putting these together, but he’s posting them on his site this season. So click through to read The Second Inning is over.
When looking at the first and second inning, what struck me was how remarkably consistent the team was from one 18 game block to the next. The offense scored 102 runs in the first, 99 in the second. The team allowed 84 runs in the first inning, 86 in the second. The OPS was only 3 points apart and the starters pitched less than an inning more in this inning. The only glaring number that differed was the bullpen posting an ERA that was nearly 2 runs higher – much of that coming in the Minnesota series.