As I documented here several times, the part of the Jim Leyland hire that made me most apprehensive was his handling of starters. A couple times earlier this season those fears were reinforced. There was the time he said didn’t believe in pitch counts, and he left it up to the opposing hitters to let him know when his starter had tired. And then there was the game in Oakland when he left Justin Verlander in for 121 pitches. However I’ve been happily wrong for the most part.
Continue reading Leyland’s Tender Loving Care
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Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 12th
Richmond 3, Toledo 0
The Mud Hens were held to 4 hits, so there isn’t much in terms of offensive stars. Alexis Gomez did pick up two of the hits. Colby Lewis pitched well allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, on 8 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts in 6 innings.
Erie 1, Reading 0
While the Mud Hens only managed 4 hits, the Wolves only picked up 3. The difference is that one of them was a homer by Mike Rabelo. Brent Clevlen added a walk and a single. Preston Larrison allowed 5 hits and fanned 5 in 8 innings. Chris Homer picked up his 7th save.
Lakeland 5, Vero Beach 2
Nick McIntyre had 3 hits. Brent Dlugach added two while the Jeff’s (Frazier and Larish) went a combined 0 for 8. Lance Davis fanned 11 in 6 2/3 innings to limit Vero Beach to 1 run.
West Michigan was postponed again.
Game 35: Tigers at Indians
PREGAME: The Tigers make their first trip to Jacobs Field this season. Cleveland begins a homestand after being swept by the Royals. While the Tigers look to avoid their first losing roadtrip of the season.
Kenny Rogers, who was the fastest Tiger pitcher to 5 wins since Frank Tanana in 1988, will take the mound for the Tigers. He last faced the Indians 4 weeks ago, also on a Friday night, and put an end to the Tigers 4 game losing streak.
Cliff Lee will go for the Indians. Among current Tigers, the red hot Magglio Ordonez has the best numbers against Lee. Ordonez is 7 for 14 against Lee in his career.
This will be the first game that Roman Colon has been active after getting called up on Wednesday.
POSTGAME: So smart guy, the red-hot Ordonez who has hit .500 in his career against Lee did what tonight? Two K’s, a double play, and a foul out to first? Baseball is weird.
I think it’s safe to say that Craig Monroe was the player of the game. He had the dinger, a double, and an outfield assist.
The Tigers keep their Friday night fun fest intact as they are perfect on Fridays.
On an interesting side note, it appeared that Pudge Rodriguez had several animated exchanges with Ronnie Belliard. One time after striking out, Pudge was yelling at someone in the field. Later, when he doubled he continued to be expressive. Finally, after Belliard flew out to end the game, I’m pretty sure that when Pudge went out to shake hands, he was flipping off someone in the general direction of where Belliard would have been. I’m curious to hear what’s going on between those two.
Lou Whitaker Day Links
Today happens to be Lou Whitaker’s birthday, and Lou happens to be my favorite Tiger of all time. In other news that is mildly coincidental, Charlie Gehringer’s birthday was yesterday. The two greatest second basemen in Tiger history were born only one day, (and 54 years) apart.
Moving on… Continue reading Lou Whitaker Day Links
Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 11th
Toledo 14, Norfolk 5
Ryan Raburn had a triple and 3 singles while Ryan Ludwick had a homer, a double, and two singles to power the top of the lineup. Josh Phelps had 3 hits, as did Alexis Gomez who cleared waivers on Tuesday. Chad Durbin started and gave up 4 runs in 6 1/3 innings. Mark Woodyard retired all 5 batters he faced.
Erie – DNP
Lakeland 11, Vero Beach 10
Jair Jurrjens allowed 2 runs in 3 innings with 3 K’s. I’m not sure why he’d only throw 3 and fear this might have been injury related. Chris Robinson doubled, singled and walked. Jeff Frazier , Clete Thomas and Wilkin Ramirez all had 2 hits as well. Jeff Larish doubled and walked.
West Michigan was rained out. Cameron Maybin has missed the last 3 games with a finger that locked up. I have no idea what that means, or whether he was going to be in the lineup tonight.
Series Wrap: Tigers at Orioles
At this point I don’t think I’m catching up on the Twins series recap – not because they lost, but because it just isn’t relevant anymore. I will use tonights rainout to get caught up on other items though, first and foremost is the current series wrap.
So the Tigers came into Baltimore facing a struggling team, and managed a split. While it seemed like the Tigers were in control of both games, letting one slip away, a quick glance at the stats shows the series to be pretty darn even.
| Tigers | Orioles | |
| Wins | 1 | 1 |
| Offense | ||
| Runs | 12 | 10 |
| BA | .282 | .281 |
| OBP | .378 | .382 |
| SLG | .479 | .484 |
| HR | 3 | 4 |
| SB/CS | 0/2 | 0/0 |
| Pitching | ||
| BB/9 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| K/9 | 6.4 | 9.0 |
| ERA | 3.71 | 6.00 |
Tata down, Colon up
Danny Knobler reports that after last night’s game, Jordan Tata was optioned to Toledo, with Roman Colon getting his spot in the pen.
This is probably the best scenario for a demotion, in that it isn’t a confidence shaking, failed performance, situation. Tata was solid, and not just for someone who had never pitched above A ball before. But he needs more innings and he wasn’t getting them at the big league level. And even in terms of demotions, he’s going to AAA. At the beginning of the season he was targeted for AA.
Colon has been quite good in his to Mud Hen appearances since coming off the DL. He’s thrown 6 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts against 4 hits and 2 walks.
On the Radio
I’ll be a guest on Sports Bloggers Live at approximately 12:10ET on Thursday. We’ll be talking about the Tigers as one of MLB’s surprise 20 win teams. You can listen via the link, and the show will be available for download later in the day.
UPDATE: The show is now available for down load at the above link.
UPDATE 2: Here is the link to the segment I’m featured in. They talk Reds with JD Arney, Tigers with me, and Rockies with Mark Donahue.
Game 34: Tigers at Orioles
PREGAME: When things were going good, the Tigers were winning losable games. Now they’re losing winnable games. The former is more fun for everyone. Justin Verlander gets the ball for Detroit, and he was the last pitcher to throw quality start. And even that start was stretching the limits of quality with 4 runs (but only 3 earned) in 6 innings.
Rodrigo Lopez will be starting for the O’s, and probably the nicest thing to say is that he’s been consistent. He’s allowed at least 4 runs in each of his starts. He’s also shown an ability to give up a homer with 1.95/9 innings this year. This could be advantageous to the Tigers, and particularly Magglio Ordonez who is looking to homer in his 5th consecutive game.
Placido Polanco returns to the lineup tonight, as does Shelton. Polanco resumes his spot inthe 2-hole while Shelton drops to #7.
POSTGAME: I guess it’s a nice change of pace win the Tigers cap off a 3 game losing streak, and I think to myself FINALLY! It was a very solid win tonight, and I liked seeing the rookie come out and be the stopper. Verlander was very effective, save for a couple instances where he started overthrowing with men on base. And keep in mind, he did that without his normal curve last night.
The offense once again put up a six-spot, but actually had this one hold up. Craig Monroe broke and 0 for 17 streak, which was well deserved. He’s hit a number of rockets, with nothing to show for it. Also nice to see was Polanco hitting a little more like he did last year. That first inning double was only his second extra base hit this year.
As for myself, I’m once again 100% and will be back to my normal posting routine tonight. Thanks for being patient while I slept.
Also, I don’t know if anyone noticed, but the Indians were just swept by the Royals. You think they might be a little upset for this weekend?
Tigers Love Notes
A lot of positive national press has been coming the Tigers way. Today, this piece by Bob Nightengale ran in the USA Today. (thanks to Kyle for the link) It included a quote from Rondell White, that just shows how cool Rondell is:
Hey, after everything they’ve been through, they deserve nothing but the best. I don’t want them to beat us, obviously, but I root for them to beat everybody else. They deserve it. That city deserves it.”
Game 33: Tigers at Orioles
PREGAME: I’m still not feeling good, so the only tidbits for today are those I picked up in the car on the way home. Pudge will be playing first to give Shelton a scheduled day off, and Placido Polanco is back in the lineup. Apparently Polanco is still out.
Game time is 7:05.
POSTGAME: At least Fernando Rodney did his part to put the closer controversy to rest. I’m not too upset about the loss in and of itself. I’m just more frustrated that for the second time in three games a struggling team found their legs in a come from behind win against the Tigers.
What is more disconcerting than the blown save, is Carlos Guillen’s defense. While errors are never the best way to measure a players effectiveness, eight at this point in the season is terrible. It was easy to shake off his multi-error games in the Oakland series as a fluke, but the more it happens the less flukey it looks. It’s a shame that a night where he reached base 5 times with a bases loaded double, is overshadowed by sloppy defense. I just hope it doesn’t become one of those things that’s in his head (because it’s already in mine).
Tigers Minor League Wrap – Sort of – May 8th
I’m feeling under the weather, so instead of your regularly scheduled minor league wrap, all you get are links to box scores. Also, the Twins series wrap will be a day late. Sorry, but I need the rest, and I’m calling it an early night.
I did want to point out that Wil Ledezma and Matt Mantei have both been DL’d.
Toledo, Norfolk
Erie, Akron
Lakeland, Daytona
Dallas Trahern was hammered early in this one, 8 runs (4 earned) in 3 innings.
West Michigan, Beloit
Cameron Maybin gets the night off.