Thoughts on a number of things while I gargle to get rid of that bad taste that was last nights game…

• A couple months ago I complained that the scoreboard at Comerica Park displayed very little information despite it’s size. Fortunately, this has been remedied. During the last homestand I noticed that for each hitter, the scoreboard displayed doubles, triples, stolen bases, and on base percentage – in addition to the traditional at-bats, hits, RBI, homers. Thank you Tigers organization!

  Now for my next request. Back in the old days when I was a kid, it used to be that you could get merchandise from the visiting team. It wasn’t an extensive collection, but the one thing my dad would always buy me was a pennant from the visiting team. The pennant would go on the wall when I got home, and a simple glance around my bedroom would show all the teams I’d seen come to town. Unfortunately that option doesn’t exist anymore, and I’d love to continue the tradition with my son.

• On Terry Foster’s blog he has an interesting piece of information about the Tigers broadcast situation. According to his source, the Tigers offered the rights for free to UPN 50 but UPN didn’t want to broadcast the games. If this is true, than the Tigers organization deserves an apology from everyone who slammed them for missing the boat – including me.

  It does make you wonder if Illitch Holdings would consider their own station/production company. Between the Red Wings and Tigers there would be enough content. While Illitch would bear all the costs associated with television production, he would also get all the ad revenue in addition to the cable licensing.

• Tigers sixth round pick Clete Thomas has made quite the impression. The outfielder from Auburn started off at Oneonta. He had a short stay though due to his performance. In 18 games he posted a 386/488/529 line and was successul in all 9 stolen base attempts. He earned a promotion to West Michigan where in his first 7 games he’s hitting 304/348/500.
• On a related note, if you want to find this year’s minor league statistics – or any minor league information check out Minor League Baseball. And if you want to find anyone’s career minor league numbers head over to the sports cube.
• John Sickels has a retrospective look at Carlos Guillen as a prospect in the minors.
• The Tigers are averaging 25,008 fans per game. That puts them on pace for just a shade over 2 million for the season. The Tigers haven’t drawn more than 2 million since Comerica’s inaugural season.

With Placido Polanco still hurting, and Rondell White and Dmitri Young unable to play in the field, the Tigers are going to be hurting (literally and figuratively) come Saturday’s doubleheader. There is no way that Ordonez and Guillen will play both ends of the doubleheader (and they probably shouldn’t). Plus, the Tigers will have to make room after the 1st game for Verlander.

So who are the 3rd outfielder and middle infielder in the 2nd game?

One possiblity is to DL Young and bring up Marcus Thames. That takes care of the extra outfielder. Then Infante/Hooper could take the middle infield in the first game, with Guillen/Infante playing middle infield the 2nd game after Hooper is optioned for Verlander. Of course, with this scenario, Young is only retroactive to yesterday.

Another possibility is to wait until Saturday and see if Polanco can play. If not, he could always be DL’d to make room for Verlander. The advantage to this is Polanco could be retroactive to July 11th, meaning that he could be activated on the 26th. The disadvantage is that Kevin Hooper ends up starting both ends of the DH (one in the infield, one in the outfield).

I don’t know how they are going to get through this. What are your thoughts?

Kyle Farnsworth was suspended 6 games and Jeremy Bonderman was suspended 5. My guess is that both players will appeal. Farnsworth will appeal to get his suspension reduced. Bonderman will appeal to delay the suspension. With the doubleheader and no off days until July 28th, the Tigers will need all their starters. Bonderman will probably drop the appeal after pitching on Sunday. At that point the Tigers can look to the off day an get by with 4 men. The rotation will get shuffled, but Bonderman would then be eligible to pitch on the 31st. The end result being he pitches on 6 days rest instead of 4.

And for the record, Runyelvs Hernandez is appealing his 10 game suspension.

At the beginning of the season, the Tigers had a plan for closing out games. Kyle Farnsworth in the 7th, Ugueth Urbina in the 8th, and Troy Percival in the 9th. Of course Urbina had to be traded (I am kind of curious who he would have chosen to fight with had he been in the brawl?), and with yesterday’s announcement that Percival is out for the season the Tigers are in need of a new plan. Of course Farnsworth moves into the closer’s role, but what happens beyond that?

Reader Jeff sent me this email (and to his credit this was prior to Monday’s collapse by Chris Spurling)

Jeff is correct in that I do agree with him in large part. In Spurling, Franklyn German, and Fernando Rodney there are 3 pitchers who are all capable of going multiple innings, and who are only recently starting to seperate themselves based on performance.

Player            Games     IP  H HR   ERA    K9 BB9
Fernando Rodney     11  15 2/3 16  3  2.87 12.64 1.72
Franklyn German     12  13 1/3 13  2  3.38  4.05 5.4
Chris Spurling      16  15 2/3 17  4  5.17  3.45 2.87

These stats are since Urbina was traded, when everyone’s role was bumped up. Keep in mind that 75% of the homers, and half of the runs that Spurling has allowed came on Monday. And for Rodney a third of his strikeouts came in that spectacular 7 K performance on Friday night. Up until that point, the stats among the 3 were fairly comparable.

In the same email Jeff sent me a link to an article in which Trammell even seemed open to the idea…

…but…

Now riding the hot hand would indicate that Rodney should be the set-up man, and I don’t think too many people would argue with that. But back to the point that Jeff was getting at, if a guy cruises through the 7th, don’t hand the ball to the annointed set-up man automatically to start the 8th. And just to continue the thought a little further, don’t be afraid to use the hot hand in the 7th if the game is tight or on the line…

Which brings us to the debacle on Monday night. I’m not one of the people who have been calling for Trammell’s head, and I’ve found myself defending him against some of the dumber criticism he has received. It’s my belief that managers have little effect on the outcome of games. That being said, I put Monday’s loss squarely on Trammell’s shoulders.

I don’t fault Trammell for taking out Sean Douglass. While the 6th was uneventful, he had pitched through several jams and was over 100 pitches. The Tigers have had a solid bullpen so it made sense to trust it. I also don’t fault Trammell for his choice of Chris Spurling who had been solid. Trammell had no reason to believe that Spurling would allow a homer on the first pitch, or 3 well hit balls after that. However, after several well hit balls, something needed to be done.

Rodney was throwing in the pen, but he requires a long time to warm up (as we now know). However, with things going down hill quickly, the Tigers need to stall to get Rodney more time. Or at least get one of the other relievers who are quicker to get loose ready. Spurling made bad pitches, and he got hammered. However, he shouldn’t have been out there to give up the last two homers.

I’m not a big fan of hindsight because it typically just frustrates you, and it’s hard to know if someone is telling the truth or not. I know there are no guarantees that whoever would have come in would have been successful. If German comes in and gives up the homer, I’m frustrated with German. Trammell would have done what he could at that point, and it was up to the players to get the job done. Instead, by sticking with a pitcher who didn’t have it, the manager let a game get away.

Now I’m not slamming Trammell as a manager. I don’t agree with all of his decisions, but that is more a matter of having a different philosophy. And really, I should probably give the guy with 30 years of experience in baseball the benefit of the doubt. I’m criticizing him for his actions (or inactions) in this game.

Will these be the week that we find out whether or not this Tiger team can compete for anything? The Tigers seem to have reached many of these critical points over the last month or so – and despite all these defining moments the team is pretty much right where it has been all season.

Three weeks ago today, the Tigers were 36-36 with a 6 game homestand about to commence – starting with the White Sox. This was to be a big week for the Tigers as we found out what they were made of. After dropping 5 of the 6 games, and the first two games in Clevland the Tigers record stood at 37-46 and the season looked over.

In typical Tigers fashion, just when it looked like all hope was lost they managed to win 5 of 6 going into the break. Now after a disappointing split against the Royals, things are looking bleak again. The Tigers head into Chicago to play the White Sox who just won 4 in a row in Cleveland. The struggling Tigers are going on the road to take on a hot team. That is followed up with 8 games against the Twins. Of course things don’t look good, but this team as a way of responding. I don’t know what will happen, and the losses to inferior clubs are frustrating, but I’m not ready to write this team off.

Much has been made of two numbers lately, 5 and 7. Tiger optimists point to the fact that the team is only 5 games out of the wild card. Tiger pessimists point to the fact that they are 7 teams away from the wild card, and only 3 teams have a worse record than the Tigers. I agree that the chances of the Tigers leaping 7 teams are slim, why shouldn’t they consider themselves in it?

There are 8 teams within 5 games of each other. Granted, Detroit is at the bottom of that ladder (tied with Toronto), but where is the cutoff point for teams who are in it? Of course Minnesota and New York have a shot since they are on top right now. But then Baltimore is only a half game behind them. So those 3 teams are in it. Of course Texas is still in at only 2 games back, and Oakland has climbed to only 2.5 games back. And then there is Cleveland, who is only a half game behind Oakland. Despite their 5 game losing streak you can’t count out Cleveland…we can go on and on.

What I’m getting at is that despite the Tigers struggles, the overall mediocrity of the league has kept them in it. It would be great to be a couple games or teams closer, but they haven’t put themselves in an insurmountable hole. Also, of the 7 teams ahead of them, they still play a number of games against all but Texas and New York. Maybe I’m an optimist, maybe it is all over, but why not stick it out a little bit longer?

I’d like to say the next 8 games are key to defining the Tigers fate, but I’ve thought that too many times lately.

Zumaya Wild
Joel Zumaya made his AAA debut and had some control issues. He only lasted 3 1/3 with 4 walks, two hit batters, and a wild pitch. For someone who improved his control so much this season, this outing was a disappointment. It will be interesting to see how he responds in his next start.

As for Justin Verlander, he’ll be starting tonight for Erie and you can listen to it here: http://www.seawolves.com/live.htm

While the fight may have been exciting to some, I was more frustrated than anything else. For those of you that were actually excited about it let me point these items out:

1. Runyelvs Hernandez is a punk. This has been established. What he did to Carlos Guillen was intentional and inexcusable. But as near as I can figure, nobody actually fought with him.

2. It is great that Jeremy Bonderman wanted to stick up for his teammates. By now the pitching staff should have definitely earned the respect of the hitters. Between this and Nate Robertson in Tampa, the hitters know they will be protected. But did anybody really want to see Bonderman in the middle of that? The term “career ending injury” just kept running through my head.

3. Yes, Kyle Farnsworth is Superman and the take down was very entertaining. But I’m not sure what he did could be construed as protecting anyone. I don’t know what Jeremy Affeldt did or said, so I can’t really say whether or not he “deserved” it. What I can say is that instead of talking about Farnsworth striking out the side on Saturday night and possible future bullpen roles, I’m talking about a tackle instead.

As for suspensions, the Tigers will be without Bonderman’s and Farnsworth’s services for a couple of days. Carlos Guillen shouldn’t receive any suspension. He was hit twice in the same at-bat, and went to first base. Yes he needed an escort, and he said his piece but the guy just got hit in the head.

The suspensions I’d really like to hear about are those for the umpiring crew. They did a good job issuing warnings early on. However, the home plate umpire missed Guillen getting hit in the foot. If he calls that, Guillen takes his base and there is no brawl. Even setting that aside, the bigger issue is that they failed to get Hernandez off the field. Hernandez came towards Guillen unrestrained. Hernandez’s presence and actions on the field are what allowed this to escalate. The serious fighting came after Guillen had gone to first only to have Hernandez approach him. If Hernandez is in the dugout it would have been over with only some shoving and words being exchanged. The umpires are as culpable as any player (except for Hernandez) for not controlling the situation.

Sunday will mark the 4 year anniversary of this blog. This is actually the first year I remembered it coming up, so instead breaking down last night’s 12-9 loss to the Royals, we’ll look back at the last 4 years.

In the beginning, I started this with 3 other authors. The term author is generous because we didn’t write very much. A typical post consisted of a link and a snarky comment. It didn’t take long for a couple of the authors to get bored and drop off. Russ had a little more fortitude and managed to stick around a couple of years.

So why did I start the site? I had discovered blogging earlier that year, and had been maintaining my personal (and now defunct) blog Zesty when I came across the site Baseball News which had links to various baseball blogs. Now 4 years ago, there weren’t that many (TwinsGeek and DuckSnorts to name a couple) and there certainly weren’t any Tigers blogs. As a fan and emerging blogger I saw a niche and started http://detroittigers.blogspot.com. Courtesy of the Way Back Machine, here is what the site looked like. I know, pretty awful huh?

In 2002 I moved the site off of Blogspot to a Comcast page. It stayed there briefly until I sprung for web hosting and a domain name. With the domain name came a redesign that has only changed minimally in subsequent years.

The first post was simply that new father Bobby Higginson was named AL Player of the Week. My first attempt at analysis and use of statistics came when I showed that Higginson’s 2000 season wasn’t all fueled by Juan Gonzalez’s presence in the lineup. Russ did some follow up work that improved on my methodology but didn’t really change the conclusions (although it weakened the argument). Unfortunately Russ never posted these findings.

My most prohpetic (and really only) moment came on April 5th 2002 when I wrote:

Of course on April 8th Garner and Smith were fired, Luis Pujols was named interim manager and Alan Trammell became the Tigers manager the following offseason. Unfortunately I think I was averaging about 12 hits a day (4 of them were me) and nobody really saw it. And I haven’t come close to being that accurate since.

But enough of that stuff, how about some statistics? Using David Pinto’s Day by Day Database, here is what the Tigers have accomplished since my first post:

General

Games:         645
Record:    239-406 (.371)
Runs Scored:  2685
Runs Allowed: 3394
Players:       125

Offense:

 BA:  .255
OBA:  .313
SLG:  .402
HRs:   608
RBI:  2547
BBs:  1728
SOs:  4261

Pitching:

ERA:  4.88
HRs:   717
BBs:  2011
SOs:  3434
CGs:    35
SVs:   126
SHO:     8

And how about some top 5’s?

So there are the stats, as unimpressive as they are. I’ve blogged through some dark times to be sure, but looking at it in the aggregate I’m really not sure why I’ve stuck around.

As for the immediate future, things are looking good. Readership is at an all time high. I’ve got several ideas and interviews that I hope to see through before the season ends.

In conclusion, I want to say thanks for reading in general, and thanks for indulging me in this anniversary post. I really appreciate all the emails and comments. As always, if you have ideas or suggestions, please let me know. I can’t guarantee I’ll do it, but I’m always looking for things to write about. Also, if you have anything you don’t like about the site, let me know. Again, I won’t guarantee I’ll change it but I will definitely give all ideas consideration. Thanks again.

Tom Gage reported on 1270 that Troy Percival has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with a recurrence of the flexor/pronator muscle mass injury.

Craig Dingman’s contract has been purchased from Toledo. Dingman has been solid this year striking out 67 with only 13 walks in 48 innings. I’m still waiting to hear who has been removed fromt the 40 man roster to make room for Dingman.

Unfortunately, this would have been the perfect time to call up Matt Roney and add him to the 40 man roster. Fortunately, Trammell can give Kyle Farnsworth a shot at the closers’ role without controversy. Given Percival’s struggles, this might not be a bad thing. Hopefully Farnsworth will take to the role, and Franklyn German can pitch effectively in the 8th inning.

First came the announcement two years ago. Then came the preparation and the hype. Finally All Star week arrived and 3 days later it is all done. I know all the events are just an exhibition (whether or not This One Counts), but they are still significant. It was the first time the game was held here in my lifetime, and the next time it comes back I’ll be an old man – and it will probably be in a brand new stadium. And because it is all over, I’m a little bit sad today.

That’s not to say we didn’t have a great time…

• We got down to Comerica around 2:30 yesterday – not with the express purpose of attending the Red Carpet Show, but just to get a spot in the Grand Cirus deck and take in some atmosphere. We ended up snagging a piece of fence at the beginning of the carpet and had a pretty good view of the festivities. The players seemed to really be enjoying themselves, and it was a good chance for fans to get up close and see their heroes (and their heroes wives – wow!!). While the TV portion of it may have been cheesy, for the fans attending it was great.
• While the police were out in force, we had a heck of a time finding a taxi. After the Red Carpet Show we were planning to cab to Marios for a BBQ Buffet. We started off walking that direction and taking in some of the blight Detroit didn’t get cleaned up. By the time we saw a cab a mile and a half later, we were only 6 blocks from the restaurant and it hardly seemed worth it.
• After stuffing ourselves on pasta and kabobs we shuttled down to the game, and used our favorite entrance. It’s our favorite because there is never a line and it has close proximity to beer.
• Brian McKnight performed a very simple and appropriate rendition of the National Anthem. As with any major sporting event it came with a flyover which is always a thrill – especially so when it is a B-2 Stealth Bomber. Other festivities included first pitches by Willie Horton and Al Kaline.

  At the stadium we weren’t privy to the rude treatment that Ernie Harwell received on the national broadcast. It wasn’t being simulcast in the stadium, probably due to whatever delay they had built in. That was probably for the best because if you thought Kenny Rogers got it bad, it would have been ugly had someone disrespected Harwell. It’s one thing to prevent Jeremy Bonderman from pitching in front of his hometown fans. It’s a whole other thing to mess with Ernie. I think Bat-Girl may have said it best…

  I mean, do you remember the pregame? Your broadcasters got to interview one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time. They got to talk to Ernie Harwell! And you know what happened? He talked for a bit and Jeannie Zelasko cut him off. She cut him off. It was sort of like when I cut off a Yo Yo Ma performance of Bach’s “Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1” to play “When the Saints Go Marching In” on my recorder.

  And you know why she cut him off? So they could show some schlub from Texas participating in the Taco Bell Throw The Ball At The Damn Target. Jeannie Zelasko cut off Ernie Harwell to sell freakin’ chalupas.

• Since you all probably had a better view of the game than I did, I’ll skip game details and share some other stuff. For example, in between innings they ran a feature called “Off the hook with Dmitri Young.” Basically it is Dmitri talking to different players. In other words – high comedic potential.

  Young to Mark Buerhle: “If you were a super hero, who would you be”
  Buerhle: Probably Superman
  Young: Uh-uh. You can’t be Superman. Kyle Farnsworth is Superman.

  Later, Torii Hunter is asking Dmitri about a certain look he had while with the Reds.

  Torii: (I have to paraphrase here) So when you were with the Reds you had all this (pointing to the beard/goatee type growth on Young) and all this (pointing to Dmitri’s hair) dyed yellow. What was up with that?
  Dmitri: Just kind of sheepishly giggles
  Torii: You know who you looked like? The dude from the Kentucky Fried Chicken
  Dmitri: I was just representin my love of fried chicken

• The longest ovation of the night was for Ernie Harwell. After playing a video, with Harwell’s “A game for All America” as the narration, they showed Harwell in the booth. The ovation went on for at least 3 minutes. It felt like it was 90 degrees and I still had goosebumps
• After Kenny Rogers gave up the home run, the fans had a hard time expressing their emotion. It was a mix of boos as just a signal of the displeasure with Rogers mere presence. Combined with cheers of joy to see Rogers failing miserably.
• I just want to point out how great the city did. We all wanted Detroit to represent itself well, and it turned out better than I could have hoped for. The city of Detroit and the Tigers organization did a tremendous job. Everybody I came in contact with was extremely friendly and great ambassadors. Great job volunteers, great job Detroit.

After the game, we weren’t really in a hurry to leave, so we lingered in the park for about 25 minutes. We eventually left and made it to our car in the Grand Circus parking deck. As we were driving down Bagley none of us were really anxious to see the night end. So we decided to head over to Casey’s. If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know that Casey’s is my favorite place to go before a game. However, with all the craziness, we hadn’t made it there at all during the All Star goings on. A pitcher with friends was probably the best way to cap off the night and unwind.

On the way, we crept past Tiger Stadium. We drive past there all the time, but the fact there was so much excitement a couple blocks away while she sat there all alone, dark and desolate…it was just really sad.

Once again I tried the audioblogging – this time the sound quality was poor so I didn’t post. In any case, we had a great time at the home run derby last night. Balls were traveling to parts of the ballpark that I had never seen before – in batting practice or a game. Which of course leads me to believe that the balls had a little something extra in them. Whether or not they did, it was a great night.

• Watching Bobby Abreu and David Ortiz launch an all out assault on the right field seats made me think about how much the Tigers lineup could be helped with a power hitting left handed bat. Carlos Pena was supposed to be that guy, but that hasn’t happened yet. Also, a non-slumping Dmitri Young or a healthy Carlos Guillen could help there as well.
• It was great to see Pudge represent as well as he did. It was awesome to be in the crowd cheering for a home town guy. Once again, it made me long for a day when the Tigers are playing significant games late in the season with a full house. The place was electric when Pudge was up. And that shot to the Al Kaline statue was just incredible.
• The giveaway for the Future’s game was a ticket holder, which was perfect. We were hoping for a similar freebie at the Home Run Derby. However, Century 21 handed out these goofy roll-up Century 21 banners instead. Ours promptly went in the garbage. Unfortunately, the kids sitting in front of us loved theirs. They loved them so much they’d hold them up pretty much the entire time completely blocking our view of everything. I can see how they’d be fun to play with if you’re a kid, so I’m not that upset with the youngster. I’m more disappointed in the giveaway itself.
• David Ortiz needed to either 1. Bring a different pitcher, or 2. Not take so many pitches. His at-bats were excruciatingly long.
• We stopped by the Baseball Tonight set where they were broadcasting Sportscenter. I’m a Peter Gammons fan, so it was cool to see him up close. Dan Patrick had a ton of make-up on and John Kruk is a large man.
• It was great being downtown last night. The city is looking good and seems to be doing okay. However, there are still the little things that are just unexplainable. For example, as people were leaving last night, the sprinklers in Grand Circus park were all on. Not a big deal, but with everybody walking through it just didn’t make a lot of sense. And a Cobo Hall, the escalator to the People Mover wasn’t working. The city is getting better, and a ton has been done. But things like that just make me shake my head.
• James Denton, aka Mike Delfino from Desperate Housewives, was taking in Fanfest yesterday. No entourage, no throng of people. Just a guy in an Oakland A’s T-shirt and jeans enjoying baseball stuff.
• I stepped in the fastest video batting cage (i believe it was 70mph) against Jeremy Bonderman. I had contact on all 5 pitches – four of them actually going forward, none of them hit hard. And really, if you haven’t made it down to Fanfest yet, find a way to get there if you can today. It’s a really great experience.

As much fun as I had last night, I don’t see myself clamoring to go to another home run derby. It was something that was great to experience – once. The night did end up getting pretty long and tedious at some points. The breaks between actualy happenings on the field were very long – especially towards the end.

If you’re heading down to the game tonight, I’m in row 18 in section 324. Stop by and say hi. Before the game, I’ll be going to Mario’s for the CATCH fundraiser. It’s $25 for a BBQ buffet, parking, and a shuttle to and from the game.

Here is Joel Zumaya’s delivery at the Future’s Game as captured by my friend Russ. After hearing how violent his delivery was supposed to be, I was pleasantly surprised. It actually seemed quite under control.