All posts by billfer

2009 Season, Statistics

The Sixth Inning – 2009 Edition

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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. Friday night’s game against the Twins completed the sixty inning. Sam is still putting these together, but he’s posting them on his site this season. So click through to read The Sixth Inning is over with games through last Friday.

The Tigers posted a 10-8 record in the sixth inning despite being outscored by 4 runs. The pitching has been remarkably consistent throughout the season, never allowing more than 86 runs in these 18 game stretches. The fluctuations in the records come down mostly to the offense and the performance in close games.

The bullpen were the stars in this segment with Brandon Lyon not allowing a run and Ryan Perry and fu-Te Ni posting WHIPs under 1.10.

Carlos Guillen’s return to the lineup bolstered the DH spot while Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and Placico Polanco had spans that were much more reminiscent of their career numbers.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.109: Twins at Tigers

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PREGAME: Normally when Justin Verlander takes the mound I like the Tigers chances of winning. But he hasn’t yet faced the unstoppable force that is Carl Pavano. In an effort to irritate Tigers fans everywhere the Twins acquired Pavano in a waiver trade and inserted him into the rotation.

After Pavano stymied the Tigers for a 3rd time last weekend, he lowered his ERA against Detroit to 1.93. He has a 6.16 ERA in the rest of his starts.

Verlander is coming off another dominating 7 inning shut out performance. Those 7 innings came after a 5 run first inning though.

Minnesota vs. Detroit – August 8, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/8/09

Gwinnett 2 Toledo 3
Mike Hessman homered and singled. Jeff Larish walked twice and went 1 for 2. Ruddy Lugo fanned 7 and walked 2 allowing just 1 unearned run on 2 hits in 6 innings. Casey Fien got the save allowing a hit and recroding a strikeout in .2 innings.

Connecticut 6 Erie 4
Max St. Pierre was bumped down to Erie despite being red hot at Toledo lately so Dusty Ryan could get regular at-bats. St. Pierre picked up 2 doubles for the Seawolves. Casper Wells homered and walked. Jon Kibler allowed 5 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks, and 2 K’s in 7.1 innings.

Tampa 2 Lakeland 1
Justin Henry went 2 for 3. Max Leon tripled. Lauren Gagnier fanned 5 and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 K’s in 7 innings.

West Michigan 0 Great Lakes 3
Avasail Garcia, Gustavo Nunez, Ben Guez, and Angel Flores each had hits. Adam Wilk had 6 K’s in 6 innings and he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk.

Staten Island 12 Oneonta 5
Wade Gaynor went 2 for 4 and Carmelo Jaime tripled, singled, and walked. Cory Hamilton went 4 innings and allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits, 3 walks and a strikeout. Wade Kapteyn and Jorge Ortega allowed the other 10 runs.

GCL Tigers 2 GCL Phillies 0
Chao Ting Tang doubled and singled. Rayni Guichardo went 8 innings and allowed just 5 hits and 2 walks with 2 K’s.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.108: Twins at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers come into this series having just won 2 of 8 games they’ve played against the Twins this year. That’s not good, but with 6 of the 8 games so far coming in the Metrodome it is at least understandable. With this weekend’s games in Detroit though there are no excuses and the Tigers need to take care of business.

The Twins are sitting 4.5 games out of the lead while the Tigers cling to a 2 game buffer in the Central. This is a big series for both teams with the Tigers needing to take care of things while at home and the Twins trying to stay in the race.

Minnesota sends out Anthony Swarzak. The numbers aren’t overly impressive (3.1 BB/9, 5.0 K/9) but he is a 23 year old roookie and with a 4.69 ERA over his first 9 starts he is holding his own. In his brief career his numbers are much better on the road where he has held the opposition to a .534 OPS in 4 starts.

Armando Galarraga gets the start for Detroit. Galarraga was pummeled by the Indians last Sunday kind of erasing some of the progress he had made over his last handful of starts. He’ll be throwing to the Alex Avila again. On the radio pregame show Leyland wanted Avila to catch for Porcello and Galarraga because he felt they were the easiest to catch. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I like the fact he gets to play back to back days.

Minnesota vs. Detroit – August 7, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: This game had a little bit of everything. Early offense. Dramatic plays at the plate. An ejection. A near come back. It even had some good pitching (Brian Duensing fanned 5 and last 4.2 innings saving the Twins bullpen from disarray).

  • Alex Avila is making everyone in the Tigers organization look like a genius, and making me look like an idiot for questioning the move. I’d grown leary of calling up a prospect to provide a spark. It’s only been 2 games but so far the sparking is working.
  • Give credit for Leyland sticking with Galarraga after 2 awful innings. He managed to chew through 3 more innings after that. Not that Galarraga was good, but he did make it through 5.
  • On the Granderson play, I was in the car and didn’t see it. The replay available online is inconclusive so I won’t comment on the call.
  • I loved Carlos Guillen going for home on that play. Yeah, he was out, but I don’t mind a smart attempt at a hustle play, and coming after 4 runs it wasn’t a bad gamble. My favorite part of the play though was Rod Allen’s uncontrollable giggling when Guillen was clearly gassed on those last 90 feet.
  • That good bullpenning the Tigers had been getting bailed on them last night with Perry and Rodney both surrendering multiple runs. And Brandon Lyon had already done the heavy lifting for Rodney by getting Mauer/Morneau in the 8th.
  • Yes, the Tigers weren’t good in runner on third less than 2 out situations again, but they did playte 10 runs so it makes it a little harder to complain.
2009 Season, Pitching

Knapp ges the WSJ treatment

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Rick Knapp has made the big time now. No, not just his job as pitching coach for one of the AL’s best staffs, but he was the subject of a feature in the Wall Street Journal. He was mostly anonymous until the Tigers hired him to replace Chuck Hernandez and now he’s been dubbed a miracle worker. Nice career arc for Mr. Knapp.

Lot’s of good stuff in the article, but one thing in particular caught my eye:

Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz crafted Hall of
Fame-caliber careers with the assistance of split-fingered fastballs.
Mr. Knapp frowned on it, viewing the splitter as a “trick pitch” that
harmed young arms more than it helped them.

“If you spread your first two fingers out and extend your arm as you
throw the ball as hard as you can, that doesn’t feel real good,” he
says.

Interesting in the sense that Bonderman is trying to develop the pitch as we speak. But Bonderman also is far removed from being a rookie.

The Detroit Tigers’ Miracle Worker – WSJ.com

2009 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/6/09

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Gwinnett 3 Toledo 10
Jeff Frazier had 3 doubles. Brent Clevlen singled and homered. Don Kelly and Wilkin Ramirez each had multi-hit games with extra base hits. Nate Bump went 8 innings, fanning 7 and allowing just 4 hits. Jeremy Bonderman allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, including a homer, in his inning of work which included 19 of his 21 pitches going for strikes. According to the game story one of the hits was a chopper and the other two came off the split finger fastball which he is trying to develop.

New Britain 10 Erie 0
Cale Iorg doubled. That was it for Erie highlights. Ramon Garcia didn’t make it out of the 5th innings before allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Jared Gayhart was touched up for 3 runs in 1.2 innings and has a 7.36 ERA at Erie.

Tampa 7 Lakeland 6
Justin Henry needed a homer to hit for the cycle. Audy Ciriaco, Jordan Newton, Devin Thomas, and Joe Tucker all had 2 hit games. Ryan Ketchner allowed 5 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings on 8 hits and 2 K’s.

South Bend 4 West Michigan 9
Alden Carrithers went 4 for 5 including a triple. Ben Guez went 3 for 5 including a triple. Luis Salas walked twice and doubled. Brandon Hamilton walked 4 leading to 4 runs in 3 innings. Robert Waite picked him up though and threw 5 innings allowing just 1 hit and walking none.

Jamestown 1 Oneonta 6
Rawley Bishop went 2 for 4 with a homer. Keith Hernandez singled and doubled. Carmelo Jaime tripled, singled, and walked. Luis Angel Sanz fanned 8 and walked 1 in 6 innings where he allowed 1 run on 5 hits. Michael Torrealba fanned 5 and walked 1 in 2 innings of no hit work.

GCL Phillies 7 GCL Tigers 3
Edgar Corcino singled and doubled. Pat McKenna and Julio Rodriguez each had 2 hit games. Giovany Soto pitched 5 shut out innings allowing 2 hits and no walks while fanning 6. He now has 23 K’s in 26 innings and a 0.69 ERA…and he turned 18 in May.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.107: Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: It’s Rick Porcello taking on David Hernandez today. And Alex Avila makes his debut. And Matt Wieters is young. The combined age of the Tigers battery is 42. The combined age of the O’s battery is 47. Play ball.

Baltimore vs. Detroit – August 6, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: There’s so much to like  about this game. Avila has a very impressive debut with a single, a double, an RBI, a run scored, and some lengthy at-bats even when he made outs. And he caught 4 innings of no hit ball from Rick Porcello. Not a bad way to start your career.

Everybody got in on the fun, with the exception of Miguel Cabrera. Brandon Inge hit his first homer since before the All Star Break. magglio Ordonez hit another ball hard. Curtis Granderson flashed some extra base power. Hopefully these are signs the team is breaking out of it’s collective offensive funk. Or maybe it was just a fluke, but at least they won.

The pitching was quite good with the exception of Bobby Seay who didn’t feel secure in his strike zone. Ni was very good, Lyon bailed out Seay and got the save. And the kid certainly built on his previous outing even though he kind of wore down towards the end. Good win. Good series.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.106:Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: Don’t look know, but the last turn through the Tigers rotation was not good at all. Edwin Jackson threw 115 pitches in 4 innings his last time out. Armando Galarraga was rocked. Justin Verlander gave up 5 runs in his first inning of work. Jarrod Washburn had a less than stellar debut. Rick Porcello was the only bright spot.

I bring this up because it is Jackson’s turn once again. The Tigers need to start taking care of business against the bottom dwellers in the league and they need their stud pitching to be stud pitching. To channel Jim Leyland, “I’m not calling anyone out and Jackson has been a horse for us, but he needs to give us more than his last time out. That’s not calling anyone out, that’s just a fact.” Of course Jackson nearly had himself a complete game last time out against the O’s, so that is a positive indicator.

Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Orioles. He’s allowed 26 homers this year. Hopefully we all get some Arby’s tomorrow.

Baltimore vs. Detroit – August 5, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: First of all I want to clear up some confusion, Leyland didn’t make the above quote. That was an imitation. Sorry. That said, Jackson certainly delivered tonight. My goodness did he deliver. He was getting all those swings and misses that he couldn’t muster in Cleveland to the tune of 8 K’s. Do you realize the only time an outfielder made a play on a ball for the first 5 innings was when Curtis Granderson chased down Gerald Laird’s errant throw?  It was a remarkable effort.

And once again it looked like the Tigers team would need every bit of that effort. Clete Thomas and Carlos Guillen made bids for homers to left center, but both were tracked down. It was a Magglio Ordonez line drive homer off a 92mph fastball that looked to be the difference maker, until a 3 run 8th inning provided enough breathing room.

  • Ordonez and Everett put good swings on the ball every time up. Ordonez added a single to the aforementioned homer. He also hit into a GIDP but once again the ball was well hit. Everett sent balls to the warning track in left and right  before getting a big single in the 8th.
  • Speaking of Everett, a day after I ask for more from him on defense he delivers. He made a sensational play to take a hit away from Adam Jones.
  • Two outs on the bases are never a good thing. The Thomas pickoff with 2 outs and Cabrera up wasn’t exactly the way you draw it up. Laird was out on a hustle play, I don’t have too much of a problem with that.
2009 Season, Injuries, Minors

Tigers Rehab and Minor League Wrap 8/4/09

Toledo 10 Buffalo 6
Nate Robertson started and went 2.2 innings. He allowed 1 a run on 4 hits, including a homer, with 2 K’s. Jeremy Bonderman went 1 perfect inning throwing 13 pitches. He was in the high 80’s and mostly threw a slider. Max St. Pierre homered again as part of a 4 for 4 day. Jeff Frazier and Mike Hessman each had 3 hits and Scott Sizemore had 2.

New Britain 2 Erie 7
Michael Bertram homered, singled, and walked. Casper Wells had 2 hits and a walk. Cale Iorg homered. Jonah Nickerson went the distance despite not striking out a single batter.

Lakeland 0 Tampa 4
Jordan Newton and Audy Ciriaco doubled. Charlie Furbush fanned 4 and walked 3 in 5 innings allowing just 1 run on 2 hits.

South Bend 6 West Michigan 0
Brayan Villarreal started and went 4 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K’s.

Jameston 5 Oneonta 3
John Murrian and Alexis Espinoza each had 2 hit games. Jose Siso allowed 5 runs in 5 innings, but only 2 were earned. Kevan Hess pitched 3 shutout innings allowing just a walk and a hit.

GCL Tigers 2 GCL Pirates 3
Julio Rodriguez doubled. Ramon Lebron walked 5 and fanned 5 in 5 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits.

2009 Season, Minors, Roster Management

Avila and Lambert up

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It’s almost like the Tigers got a bulk discount on a shuttle between Toledo and Detroit. Wilkin Ramirez’s stay in the Detroit was very brief and expressly for the purpose of facing Brian Matusz. Chris Lambert will replace him on the roster. But that’s not all my friends. We also have a lefty catcher in our midst with Alex Avila replacing Dusty Ryan on the roster. Let’s think this through now because there are some implications worth considering before we debate the merits of the moves.

  • Ramirez will not be bumping Magglio Ordonez from the roster for at least 10 days. Barring a DL stay Ramirez cannot be recalled.
  • Alex Avila will likely not burn an option year this year. If even the Tigers decide to change their minds and send him down, as long as he spends less than 20 days off the big league roster it won’t count as an option. So if he’s up for another 8 days that won’t be an issue with the roster expanding on September 1st. He will accrue service time, but probably not enough to move his free agent clock up a year. It does mean he will need to remain on the 40 man roster in an offseason where he otherwise wouldn’t need to.
  • I have a hard time seeing how Dusty Ryan has a future in the franchise. Laird has been struggling mightily at the plate and Ryan still could supplant him more than once a week. Now he’s being exchanged for a catcher who has one year of professional catching experience.

As for the new guys, Avila is one of the two guys I consider to be nearly untouchable largely due to the fact i envisioned him filling a critical role in the near future. I wasn’t thinking this month though. Avila’s overall numbers are very impressive…for a guy one year removed from the draft playing in AA. But his 262/360/446 line is far from overwhelming and he’s only hitting 191/280/393 in the last 28 days (thank you minorleaguesplits.com.

Lambert has been pitching very well for the Mud Hens as a starter. In his last 10 starts he has a 2.07 ERA with 52 K’s and only 11 walks. He’ll presumably pitch out of the bullpen until the team decides to recall either Casey Fien (at least 10 days from now) or Jeremy Bonderman gets healthy.

The Lambert move is fine by me. He’s earned a spot. The Avila move is a mystery. I understand wanting to get some offense from the catcher spot and with Avila being a lefty it makes for a more natural time split for Laird who is scuffling. But I can’t see how this helps Avila in the long term and it’s not that clear to me how it helps the team in the short term. There is a big enough learning curve for typical players, let alone catchers. This is a rush move and can only be considered a move of desperation. Then again if you feel the need to call up a player from the minors just to face a guy making his big league debut because nobody else on the roster can hit…then maybe you’re past the point of desperation.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.105: Orioles at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers certainly keep things interesting for us bloggers. The simple game story would be to talk about Jarrod Washburn’s Tigers debut. But Leyland and Dombrowski shook up the roster and the lineup tonight by recalling Wilkin Ramirez.

From the Orioles perspective they have a debut of their own with Brian Matusz, their first round pick from last year, making his debut.

As of “press time” I don’t know the lineup, but visions of a Ramirez/Raburn/Ordonez outfield with Washburn on the mound certainly isn’t reassuring. EDIT: Yep. That’s the outfield tonight.

Here is your Wilkin-ized lineup:

  1. Ramirez, LF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Thames, DH
  6. Raburn, CF
  7. Inge, 3B
  8. Laird, C
  9. Everett, SS

POSTGAME: I’m sure that’s not the way that Jarrod Washburn wanted his debut to go (I encourage you take check out Samara’s Lion King-esque artistic interpretation). The first couple innings were rough for Washburn before he settled in and got on a nice role…until Nick Markakis launched one almost onto the concourse.

The offense put together good at-bats early on, but not at-bats resulting in enough hits, and once again the big hit never came and the team seemed to press more. Some Zach Miner add on runs and it was a blow-out, the second on in 3 days and both to inferior teams.

  • Adam Everett didn’t make 2 tough plays and both led to runs. Neither play was easy, but those are the plays Everett needs to make. He’s not here for his bat, and as his offensive numbers plummet it’s important he makes the tough and routine plays.
  • Zach Miner has to stop walking people. It cost him and Washburn a run when he walked the number 8 hitter to load the bases.