It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Tigers were slogging through an excruciating West Coast trip. Well, this one isn’t quite as excruciating but it’s just as West Coast. Justin Verlander leads things off against Dallas Braden. A no hitter against a perfect game.
And no Magglio Ordonez tonight who has a heel problem, so of course his replacement Casper Wells is the logical replacement in the 3-hole.
Enjoy.
Durham 3 Toledo 5
Jeff Frazier had 2 doubles. Deik Scram was a homer short of the cycle and added a walk. Scott Sizemore singled and walked. Lauren Gagnier pitched 7 shutout innings allowing 3 hits and a walk to go with 3 strikeouts. Jay Sborz was roughed up for 3 runs in 2 innings of work.
Erie 3 Richmond 1
Andy Oliver allowed 1 run on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 K’s in 6.2 innings. Brendan Wise went the rest of the way for the save. Justin Henry and Michael Bertram each went 3 for 5 with a double. Andy Dirks and Andy Bouchie.
Lakeland 5 Jupiter 4 (10 innings)
Brent Wyatt homered and drove in 4 as part of a 3 hit day. Alden Carrithers added 2 more hits. Brayan Villarreal allowed 4 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K’s in 5 innings.
Lake County 5 West Michigan 2
Avisail Garcia tripled and Mike Gosse doubled for the only extra base hits. Jade Todd struck out 5 and allowed 1 run on 9 hits and a walk in 6 innings.
Indianapolis 0 Toledo 3
Enrique Gonzalez tossed a complete game 2 hitter. He walked one and fanned 9, throwing 79 of his 119 pitches for strikes. Ryan Raburn picked up his 5th double and added a single. Brent Dlugach homered, driving in all 3 runs. Scott Sizemore went 0 for 3 with 2 strike outs.
Lakeland 10 Jupiter 3
Mark Sorensen struck out 5 and walked none in 7 innings as he scattered 7 hits and allowed 2 runs. Daniel Fields blasted his first homer and drew a walk. Alden Carrithers and Kody Kaiser had 4 hit days. Rawley Bishop was missing the homer for the cycle. Carrithers has a 9 game hitting streak in which he’s picked up 18 hits and 8 walks for a .605 OBP. Bishop has a 10 game hitting streak and is hitting 395/400/581 over that span.
The last time the Tigers played a rousing home series they went and got themselves swept in Minnesota. This time they are at least staying at home and welcoming in the White Sox. Rick Porcello looks to build on his best start of the year and Freddy Garcia takes the ball for the White Sox.
My stream of consciousness on the Tigers most recent two games against the Red Sox, Zach Miner’s injury, and what ever else comes to mind.
Honestly, I’m thrilled with the series. Friday night was certainly a clunker and Saturday was shaping up to be one. From where they were in the first half of that second game to where they ended the series is reason to be excited.
Many of the Tigers earlier comebacks were against struggling pitchers or weak bullpens. That Detroit came back against the Red Sox and Jon Lester, and later out lasted the Boston bullpen is quite the endorsement for all those things like grit and never-say-die, and of course talent.
Zach Miner has been battling an injury for the last 2 months now. He’s been rehabbing and an MRI just revealed a torn UCL. He’s going for a second opinion in terms of treatment options (surgery versus rehab and a strengthening program).
I don’t know if the UCL just recently tore or not. But if it had been torn all along this is certainly disappointing. Regardless it is unlikely that Miner will be able to contribute this year.
Miner is the type of pitcher a team with a struggling rotation could use. Someone who can make spot starts or eat 3-4 innings. Yet the Tigers are getting by without him, and will need to continue to do so. It also opens up a potential role for an Enrique Gonzalez or another minor league free agent should injuries or ineffectiveness creep in at some point on the staff.
Indianapolis 5 Toledo 6
Alfredo Figaro started and lasted 6 innings despite walking 4. He allowed 5 runs on 6 hits with 4 strikeouts. Robbie Weinhardt allowed 2 hits and a walk in 3 shut out innings and got the win. Ryan Raburn and Jeff Frazier each went 2 for 4 with a double. Incidentally, the Mud Hens faced Wil Ledezma in relief and got to him for 2 runs.
Erie 4 Bowie 0
Justin Henry went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 stolen bases. Michael Bertram singled, doubled, and walked. Brooks Brown went 5 innings and didn’t allow a hit while walking 2 and fanning 5 and getting 9 ground ball outs. Ramon Garcia pitched the other 4 innings and allowed just 2 hits.
Lakeland 3 Jupiter 0
Kody Kaiser went 3 for 4 and stole a base. Luke Putkonen had another strong start going 7.2 innings with just 4 hits and a walk allowed. Cory Hamilton finished the shut out allowing a single baserunner.
South Bend 6 West Michigan 5
Jacob Turner wasn’t touched for the first 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs in the 6th and his final line was 5.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 7 K’s. Jamie Johnson, Michael Rockett, Wade Gaynor, Mike Gosse, and Hernan Perez all had 2 hit games.
Armando Galarraga joins the Tigers rotation, and for more than just a day. He’ll take on John Lackey in the rubber game of the series. With a bullpen that is once again thin after two poor starting performances and 3 extra innings, 6 innings from Galarraga would be immensely helpful.
The Tigers send out a different kind of lineup with Austin Jackson getting his second day off this season.
Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers – May 16, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
Indianapolis 3 Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn had 3 doubles, Jeff Larish added 2, and Ben Guez homered. Phil Dumatrait allowed 3 runs in 6 innings. Daniel Schlereth fanned 3 and walked none in 2 innings of relief.
Erie 9 Bowie 6
Jon Kibler allowed 6 runs in 6.1 innings. Wilkin Ramirez tripled and homered. Michael Bertram went deep as well.
Tampa 2 Lakeland 1 (11 innings)
Charlie Furbush struck out 9 in 7 innings of 2 hit ball. Kody Kaiser tripled and singled. Rawley Bishop and Alden Carrithers both doubled and singled.
South Bend 1 West Michigan 3
Avisail Garcia homered. Trevor Feeney pitched the complete game with 7 K’s, 1 walk, and 6 hits allowed.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know how Carlos Guillen moving to second base will work. And even if I think I knew, I’m the guy who thought Scott Sizemore would outhit Austin Jackson and that Max Scherzer would be the biggest contributor from the big trade so being wrong is nothing new here. However I like the move and I like what the Tigers are trying to do.
It is interesting that the Tigers went with an offensive first approach in 2008, saw it fail miserably, and then went with a big defensive emphasis the following year. The 2010 season saw a little balance and something in between.
The results in 2010 have certainly been mixed. The Tigers error total is shockingly bad. The errors themselves have certainly been shockingly bad with dropped fly balls at in opportune moments. It feels as if if the Tigers have had more than their share of high WPA errors.
Pitchers like Rick Porcello have seen very high BABIPs and the team also ranks 22nd in MLB in terms of defensive efficiency. John Dewan’s +/- system has the team at +5 runs which ranks the team 20th in MLB. With UZR things are better and the team ranks 10th overall.
With mixed reports such as these I’d put the data together and say the team is a little below average with the glove. So why make a move that introduces a defensively challenged player into a prominent defensive role? Because Scott Sizemore was struggling in that regard as well.
Sizemore’s strength was never his glove, but the Tigers second base defense is one of the reasons for the overall struggles. The Tigers rank in the bottom third in both +/- and UZR at the position (not just Sizemore, the position as a whole). Interestingly enough the Tigers rank tenth in revised zone rating, so the second baseman have done a good job with balls hit to them. They just haven’t had the range to extend the position with only 1 play made outside of the zone.
That’s a long explanation to say that the Tigers are only weakened defensively if Guillen proves to be awful at the position.
Guillen is a pretty good player when healthy. When healthy though has been a fleeting state for Guillen. Second base won’t make it easier for Guillen to stay healthy, but at this point I don’t know that it matters. The Tigers made him the primary DH and he still got hurt. Guillen will likely get injured again at some point this season but I doubt that second base would be the culprit.
Instead of trying to keep him healthy, the Tigers should try to get the most value from him when he is healthy.
Here’s the part that I like the most. The Tigers are really extending their 25 man roster by actively making it a 28-30 man roster. The doubleheader was a nuisance but it set a lot of things in motion. Even with the shuffle not playing out like I speculated the team is still doing a good job of trying to get the right mix for the situation.
The Tigers haven’t been particularly mindful of service time or option status under Dombrowski, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The Tigers will use the players that they think will give the team the best chance to win rather than trying to milk out an extra year of club control.
Long term this has implications of course, but I don’t think trying to win now is a bad strategy.
The Tigers have optioned Scott Sizemore and Max Scherzer to Toledo. In their place come Armando Galarraga and Danny Worth. Worth wasn’t on the 40 man roster so his contract was purchased.
The Galarraga move isn’t the least bit surprising, he was the scheduled starter. The fact that the Tigers think Scherzer isn’t close enough to correcting his problems in side sessions is pretty telling and disappointing.
Also disappointing has been Sizemore’s performance offensively where he hasn’t been able to find that line drive stroke that produced an 889 OPS between AA and AAA last year.
Danny Worth was drafted by the Tigers in 2007 and his defense earned him a quick assignment at Lakeland. The question all along has been his bat. Worth is OPS’ing .665 for Toledo this year so it hasn’t exactly blossomed. My guess is this is a chance for Sizemore to fix some things while putting some pressure on Adam Everett as the defensive specialist.
Also, it should be noted that Worth was selected over Brent Dlugach who has very similar rate stats (673 OPS this year) but who is striking out at an epic rate with 52 K’s in 149 at-bats.
Also factoring into the middle infield situation is the fact that Carlos Guillen will need a spot in a couple weeks and Brennan Boesch is playing too well to sit. Guillen has begun taking infield at both second base and shortstop.
UPDATE: Carlos Guillen will be the regular second baseman when he comes off the DL. When was the last season without a major position shift for Guillen?
Dontrelle Willis is scheduled to start today. Not having heard anything about the status of his flu-like symptoms that’s all I have to work with. Jon Lester takes the ball for the Red Sox.
Willis faced Boston once last season and he didn’t allow a hit. He did however allow 5 walks in 2.1 innings and 5 runs came around to score. Willis has been pitching much better than last year though so I don’t know how relevant that is.
Lester has been quite good this year. He’s striking out a batter an inning, limiting homers (4 in 43.2 innings) and not walking too many.
Indianapolis 8 Toledo 1
The largest crowd in Toledo Mud Hen history saw a clunker. Ryan Raburn went 2 for 4 and Brent Dlugach and Robinzon Diaz added two hit games as well. Ryan Ketchner allowed 4 runs on 5 hits (2 were homers), 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Scot Drucker struggled and allowed 5 baserunners and 3 runs in 1.2 innings.
Erie 2 Bowie 3
Cale Iorg homered. Andy Dirks, Michael Bertram, and Shawn Roof had the other hits. Andy Oliver pitched only 1 inning due to an hour rain delay that hit in the second inning. Anthony Shawler allowed 1 run on a solo homer in 3 innings of relief while striking out 4.
Lakeland 5 Tampa 1
Alden Carrithers, Rawley Bishop, Bryan Pounds, and Josh Workman all had two hit games. Adam Wilk had his second strong start in a row with 1 run surrendered on 4 hits and a walk to go with 5 K’s in 7 innings. He’s walked one batter in his last 25.2 innings.
South Bend 3 West Michigan 4
Wade Gaynor doubled and singled and has seen his season line climb to 276/340/410 after notching 7 extra base hits in his last 10 games. Avisail Garcia tripled and singled and Jamie Johnson added 2 hits. Ramon Lebron allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts in 5 innings. Kevin Faulk pitched 3 innings of scoreless ball with 3 K’s to win the extra inning affair.