Monthly Archives: April 2010

2010 Season, Pitching, Players

Waiting on Willis

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Few players on the Tigers roster, or even in MLB in 2010 will receive the scrutiny that Dontrelle Willis will receive. Willis has been a disaster since putting on a Tigers uniform. He was certainly shaky in his second start, but there is no need to rush to judgment.

Two starts into the season Willis has a good start and a bad start under his belt. But he hasn’t collapsed. He hasn’t had a melt down. He hasn’t done anything appreciably different than his rotation mates at this point.

Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander both had their share of struggles their second time out this season. Willis labored through 5 innings, needing over 100 pitches to make it through and being charged with 4 runs along the way. That bested both Scherzer’s and Verlander’s outing. While there is disappointment with all 3, Wilis of course is under the microscope more than the other two given his recent history.

Continue reading Waiting on Willis →

2010 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4.13.2010

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Indianapolis 0 Toledo 6
Ruddy Lugo walked 4 and allowed 3 hits in 5 innings, but nobody crossed the plate. Casey Fien allowed just 2 hits in 3 innings and Robbie Weinhardt fanned 1 in his inning. Offensively Wil Rhymes led the way with a 4 for 5 night. Brennan Boesch, who homered yesterday, got the other 3 legs of the cycle and Brent Dlugach picked up 3 hits as well.

Erie 0 Binghamton 2
Cale Iorg had 1 of the 3 Erie hits. Jon Kibler walked four and scattered 7 hits over 6 innings while fanning 3.

Lakeland 3 Brevard County 2
Luke Putkonen continued the theme of Tigers starters walking 4 batters today and he only lasted 4.2 innings. Tyler Stohr fanned 2 in 2 innings. Rawley Bishop and Kody Kaiser each had 2 hits.

Fort Wayne 2 West Michigan 3
Jordan Lennerton, Michael Rockett, Alexis Espinoza, and Luis Salas all had 2 hit days. Trevor Feeney had 7 punch outs and no walks in 7 innings.

2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.008: Royals at Tigers

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PREGAME: Dontrelle Willis and Brian Bannister today. The second turn through the rotation hasn’t been a lot of fun so far. Can Dontrelle Willis right the ship? Can the Tigers finally figure out why Brian Bannister dominates them with such regularity. Come back at 1:05 pm for the most dramatic rose ceremony ever!

Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers – April 13, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

POSTGAME: For about six innings this game looked about as dramatic as a rose ceremony. Then things got better. Dontrelle Willis fought through 5 tedious innings as the Royals ran up his pitch count. Brian Bannister cruised through 6 innings only allowing a couple singles and walks. Then the seventh inning stretch happened. And billfer saw it was good. When Gerald Laird doubled and Roman Colon came in, that’s when I knew there was a chance.

  • Scott Sizemore ripped the ball each time up. His hardest hit ball was the out he made as he hit an opposite field line drive to the warning track.
  • Miguel Cabrera made his second error in as many games after looking great in the first two series.
  • I continue to be impressed by Ryan Perry, Joel Zumaya, and Brandon Inge this season.
  • Carlos Guillen is trying to catch up to Maggs and Miggy. Very few complaints about him swinging on the first pitch after a 4 pitch bases loaded walk. He was ready for his pitch and he ripped it. Let’s remember this the next time someone makes an out on a first pitch.
  • More on Dontrelle here.
  • And the post game interviews courtesy of FS Detroit.
2010 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4.12.2010

Indianapolis 3 Toledo 6
Brennan Boesch homered. Brent Dlugach and Wil Rhymes each had 2 hits. Alfredo Figaro went 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

Erie 4 Binghamton 7
Andy Oliver made his debut and struggled from the outset. He walked 4 and allowed 2 homers in 3.2 innings. Deik Scram homered and walked.

Lakeland 2 Brevard County 0
Kody Kaiser went 2 for 4 with a triple. Christopher White added a triple as well. Charlie Furbush fanned 7 and walked 1 in 5.2 innings.

Fort Wayne 5 West Michigan 4
Hernan Perez went 2 for 4. Ramon Lebron started and struck out 5 in 3 innings. He also allowed 1 run on 1 hit and 4 walks.

2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.007: Royals at Tigers

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PREGAME: It’s the third series of the season, and the Tigers are facing a team for the second time. Where would we be without the unbalanced schedule? Dare to dream.

If the Luke Hochevar and Max Scherzer pitching match-up seems like deja vu, it’s because we’ve seen it before. I’m going out on a limb here, but I bet there are more runs scored this time than in last week’s 2-1 11 inning affair.

Fun fact of the day: the Tigers lead the league in batting average and on base percentage. I’m sure yesterday’s 29 baserunners had something to do with that.

Your Sizemore-got-3-hits-yesterday-so-we’ll-rest-him-today lineup:

  1. Jackson, CF
  2. Damon, DH
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Guillen, LF
  6. Inge, 3B
  7. Avila, C
  8. Raburn, 2B
  9. Santiago, SS

Oh yeah, and Amber Grand is singing the National Anthem today. I’ve got a good feeling.

Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers

POSTGAME: No part of this game made sense. Amber Grand sings and they lose. Magglio goes hitless. Scherzer gets rocked. Yuniesky Betancourt continues to get on base. The Tigers made 4 errors. There’s nothing good to report here. Well, except for the third leg of the Veneuzuelan tripod getting his first homer and Brandon Inge playing well with the glove and the bat. But the rest was bad. Let’s move on. Nothing to see here. Amber will get ’em back next game.

Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4.11.2010

Louisville 2 Toledo 1
Aroldis Chapman held the Hens down to 1 unearned run while fanning 9. Brenna Boesch and Danny Worth each had 2 hits. Jeff Larish fanned 4 times. Enrique Gonzalez went 4.1 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 K’s. Jay Sborz fanned the side in the final frame.

Erie 1 Trenton 5
Adny Dirks doubled and walked. Thad Weber went 5 innings and fanned 3 and walked 1 allowing 2 runs on 4 hits.

Tampa 3 Lakeland 0
Christopher white had a hit. Ben Guez had the other 2. Lakeland has managed just 6 runs in their 4 games and are OPS’ing just .358. Adam Wilk allowed 2 runs in 4 innings on 4 hits, a walk, and 4 K’s. Matt Hoffman was perfect for 2 innings with 2 strike outs.

Fort Wayne 3 West Michigan 4
Avisail Garcia had 2 hits and a stolen base. Hernan Perez went 3 for 3. Giovany Soto struck out 10 and walked 1 in 5 innings of 2 hit, 1 run ball.

2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.006: Indians at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers go for the sweep behind the arm of Justin Verlander. Dan Dickerson was kind enough to tweet exactly what I was looking for to summarize Verlander and Cleveland:

Verlander v. Clev. pre-2009: 6.70ERA in 15GS, Tribe hit .271 w/ .475SLG. 2009: 4GS, 4-0, 0.90ERA, Indians hit .157 w/ .196SLG, 41K in 30IP

Westbrook makes his second start of the season and only  his 2nd start since Memorial Day 2008. He allowed 9 White Sox baserunners (4 via the walk) in 4 innings on Opening Day and 5 of those came around to score.

Your Damon-less lineup is:

  1. Jackson, CF
  2. Kelly, LF
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Guillen, DH
  6. Inge, 3B
  7. Santiago, SS
  8. Laird, C
  9. Sizemore, 2B

Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers – April 11, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

POSTGAME: Through the first turn in the rotation, each of the starters gave their team a chance to win. Hopefully Verlander’s 2nd start isn’t a harbinger of the next 4 pitching performances. Fortunately though the Tigers offense managed to be both frustrating and dynamic all at the same time and they plated 9 runs to complete a comeback from a 5-1 deficit. Continue reading Game 2010.006: Indians at Tigers →

2010 Season, Game Post, Pitching

Is Bonderman Back?

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Jeremy Bonderman returned to the mound, health for the first time since before the All Star Break in 2007 and the results can only be described as encouraging. He retired the first 11 hitters he faced before struggling in the 4th inning. But the best news is that the slider was darting straight down like Bonderman slider of doom that we all know and love.

The pitch f/x data is a little inconclusive at this time. It misclassified the splitter and I don’t know that I trust the 4 seam versus 2 seam fastball splits either. While he got up to 93mph on the fastball a few times, he was usually a few ticks below that. But for those that watched the game, the slider was just nasty.

My only concern is that Bonderman’s velocity seemed to peter out a little as the game wore on. The hope is that this is just a matter of him rebuilding stamina. The graph below is of all the pitches the Gameday classified as a fastball (two-seam and four-seam are included).

Bonderman's Fastball Velocity
That is just nitpicking an outing though where he only allowed 3 baserunners. Bonderman and Leyland were certainly pleased with the outing as well.

For one full turn through the rotation, Tigers starters have all pitched effectively. Granted, they haven’t face offensive juggernauts in the Royals and Indians, but there is reason for some optimism.

Other items from the game

  • I like this version of Magglio Ordonez. He’s driving balls to all fields and getting the results that go with it.
  • I like this version of Brandon Inge too. The one that is selective at the plate and is driving the ball to right center field with regularity.
  • Very nice defense today all around. Adam Everett made a couple nice plays at shortstop and Miguel Cabrera continues to dig everything in the dirt.
  • Ryan Perry got 4 outs and the save on 11 pitches. He looks like a different guy this year. The potential of last year is turning into results this year.
  • The Tigers drew over 35K for game number 2 and I’d expect a similar sized crowd today. It’s great to see a full park, not just on Opening Day
2010 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 4.10.2010

Louisville 7 Toledo 1
Ryan Strieby doubled twice and added a single. Armando Galarraga allowed just 1 run on 3 hits, no walks and 6 K’s. Casey Fien gave up 3 runs in 2 innings of relief despite fanning 4 and Robbie WEinahrdt was touched for 3 runs on 4 hits in an inning of work.

Erie 1 Trenton 4
The Seawolves managed only 3 hits. Jeff Kunkel had the lone extra base hit, a triple. Duane Below fanned 7 in 4 innings but allowed 3 runs on 4 hits.

Lakeland 0 Tampa 2
Christopher White got the lone Lakeland hit as they were shut out. Bryan Villarreal was good, with 8 K’s in 4 innings and no walks.

West Michigan 4 Lake County 6
Jacob Turner made his debut and he fanned 7 and walked none in 5 innings of 2 hit, shut out baseball. Wade Gaynor doubled, homered, and drove in 3. Eric Roof and Mike Gosse each had 3 hit days.

2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.005: Indians at Tigers

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The Tigers were witness to a nice start from a big question mark on Thursday when Dontrelle Willis picked up a quality start. Jeremy Bonderman will try to repeat the script as he makes his first start of the season today.

Bonderman finished serving his 3 game suspension that was handed down at the end of last season while in Kansas City. Today he’ll debut his new split finger pitch (replacing the long standing change-up project).

He’ll be opposed by Mitch Talbot. We don’t know much about Talbot, who only has 1 career start (a 4.1 IP, 3 run no decision in September 2008 against Baltimore). We do know he is right handed, 26 years old, and was traded from Houston to the Rays with Ben Zobrist for Aubrey Huff in 2006.

Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers – April 10, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

2010 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4.9.2010

Louisville 4 Toledo 7
Clete Thomas, Brent Dlugach, Brennan Boesch, and Robinson Diaz all had 2 hit games. Phil Dumatrait walked 5 in 4 innings. Scot Drucker came on in relief and fanned 3 but also left the bases loaded for Josh Rainwater who fanned 3 batters of his own. Jay Sborz got the save.

Erie 1 Trenton 3
Lauren Gagnier pitched 5 innings of shutout ball with no walks allowed and 5 K’s.

Tampa 0 Lakeland 6
Mark Sorensen had the exact same line as Gagnier. Anthony Shawler, Ramon Garcia, and Lester Oliveros closed the game out. Brent Wyatt had 3 hits including a double. Christopher White and Gustavo Nunez each had 2 hits. Andy Bouchie homered.

West Michigan 1 Lake County 7
Jamie Johnson went 2 for 4. Mike Gosse went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. Jade Todd allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 3.1 innings.

2010 Season, Fan Experience

Comerica Park Version 2010

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Every year brings a few changes to Comerica Park. Sometimes it’s new menu items, or food, signage, or game presentation. This year brings a little of everything.

  • Last year when General Motors was in the throes of bankruptcy they couldn’t sponsor the centerfield fountain so Mike Ilitch used it as a way to support the Big 3. Things are looking up for GM I guess because they are now sponsoring the fountain again.
  • I didn’t partake in the new garlic fries or sliders, but I was thrilled to see that the hot dog vendors aren’t toting the pre-packaged dogs with soggy buns anymore. They had the old Tiger Stadium style containers with buns on one side, dogs on the other, and they put them together complete with mustard. Awesome.
  • The rally towels that were handed out had World Series 2009 stickers on them. Me thinks they were meant to be used last fall.
  • Scott Sizemore’s walk up music was Ted Nugent. Nice choice for the rookie.
  • For the last couple years the Tigers have played Daft Punk’s One More time after wins. They didn’t today. Not sure what it was (I’m not so good at remembering songs/artists).
  • With the crowd of 45K there were certain logistical issues. Restroom lines were 2 innings long. Concession lines were lengthy (except for the poor lonely guy out in the cold and wind selling lemonade). And the season ticket VIP red carpet entrances were used by everyone.