All posts by billfer

2010 Season, Game Post

Another Scherzer slugfest

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Something is wrong with Max Scherzer. Tonight’s first inning was some kind of awful as Scherzer couldn’t locate his offspeed pitches and his fastball wasn’t so deceptive either. It’s one thing to have a rough go of it, but two of the last three starts saw the Tigers out of the game after the first inning.

Even when Scherzer could get ahead, he couldn’t finish off a hitter. He hung a 2 strike change-up to Marco Scutaro. He got to two strikes on Dustin Pedroia before Pedroia landed one in the bullpen. He went ahead of Kevin Youkilis 0-2 and 4 pitches later it was a walk.

I don’t know what is wrong with Scherzer, but something isn’t right. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear before his next start that he has been tipping pitches and they think they’ve got it figured out. Or that it was a simple mechanical fix. Or that Scherzer has a shoulder or elbow injury.

Scherzer isn’t getting hitters out with any sort of consistency, and this goes far beyond the fact he went from the NL to the AL. He has lost nearly 2mph off his fastball from last year, and his other pitches have seen similar drops. If it is measurement error, so be it. But if the result is due to injury and/or mechanics there is a larger problem. The Hardball Times examined the impact of velocity on runs allowed and did find a relationship, but even then it wouldn’t account for all of Scherzer’s struggles this year.

The Rest

  • The Tigers exercised patience and generated some baserunners by picking up six walks. Unfortunately Magglio Ordonez was the only Tigers hitter able to get hits (3 for 3 with a walk). The Tigers had a few chances to narrow the gap but couldn’t get the big hit.
  • Miguel Cabrera was completely stymied for the first time in awhile.
  • Brennan Boesch managed an RBI single on a breaking pitch low and away. It was a great pitch, and a better piece of hitting.
  • Brad Thomas had a very nice game, eating 3 innings. He threw 30 of his 43 pitches for strikes and fanned 3 and didn’t walk a hitter.
  • This didn’t impact the game at all, but in the first inning Austin Jackson led off with a walk. Granted, the Tigers were down 5 but Jackson is fast and Victor Martinez has thrown out 11% of runners this year. Yet Jackson stayed tethered to first base. I don’t understand this.
2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.036: Red Sox at Tigers

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The Tigers welcome in another American League East squad as the Boston Red Sox come to town. The Red Sox have been below .500 for a good chunk of the season but a 7-3 stretch has them at 18-17.

Max Scherzer has been roughed up in his last 3 starts with the Twins doing the bulk of the damage. His last start against the Indians wasn’t so hot either, but a few of the runs came in an inning that saw multiple infield hits. Not great, but not that worrisome. Still he needs to follow the lead of the Bonderman/Porcello and turn things around right quick.

Clay Bucholz has a shiny 3.82 ERA. He’s been “helped” in that 6 of the 21 runs he’s allowed have been unearned. He has 25 K’s in his 35.1 innings, but 17 of those came in 2 starts and he only has 8 total strikeouts in his other 5 starts this season. His biggest asset this year is limiting homers with only 2 allowed.

It will be interesting to see the Tigers game plan against Bucholz. Twenty-two times he’s had the first pitch put in play and the result is a .476 batting average. So aggressiveness may be in order (over his career that number is still a robust .398). On the flip side his OPS against starts to rise once he gets north of 76 pitches. So there is benefit to making him work as well.

Your lineup is:

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

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers – May 14, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

2010 Season, Game Post

Tigers take down Yankees

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The bullpen has been strong, the offense has been uneven but generally productive, but the starting pitching has been struggling. I guess the cure for that is to welcome in one of the most prolific offenses in baseball because the starting pitching this series was outstanding.

We’ll throw out the Brad Thomas start, because he isn’t really a starter. The three conventional starters that pitched in the series combined to allow just 2 runs

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO HR
Verlander 6.2 4 0 0 4 4 0
Bonderman 7 5 2 2 1 7 0
Porcello 7 4 0 0 3 2 0
Totals 20.2 13 2 2 8 13 0

In both Verlander’s and Porcello’s starts the bullpen maintained the shutout meaning the Yankees were shut out twice in a series for the first time this century. Is it the start of something for this rotation (and to be fair Verlander has been pretty good of late)?

  • Don Kelly played some very nice defense the last 2 days. He had an excellent day at third base and helped to preserve the shutout in the 8th inning of the series finale with a very good play at the wall.
  • Brennan Boesch. Yep. I remember being skeptical about Leyland slotting him into the 5th spot in the lineup when he debuted. It seemed like a lot of pressure on the kid and more Leyland lineup stubborn-ess (can’t disrupt the rest of the lineup so the sub has to bat where the normal starter would have). It seems to have worked out.
  • The mohawks. I just don’t know. It workend for Jeremy Bonderman but not for Phil Coke. I do think we should track the performance of those with mohawks, both pre and post splits.
  • Gerald Laird coming up with multiple RBI is reason for rejoicing, even with the “blistering” shot that Laird tossed into shallow right field.
  • I’m thrilled with how the Tigers played this week. Taking 3 out of 4 against New York is always reason for excitement. In the end though the Tigers outscored the Yankees by all of 1 run. Great results from a W-L perspective and enjoy it, but don’t confuse this with domination.
2010 Season

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.13.2010

Toledo 1 Durham 6
Lauren Gagnier didn’t make it out of the 4th inning before allowing 5 runs on 8 hits and a walk. He did strike out 4. Robbie Weinhardt fanned 3 and didn’t allow any of the 5 batters he faced to reach base. Casper Wells doubled, singled, and walked.

Erie 5 Bowie 3
Cesar Nicolas homered and singled. Michael Bertram and Josh Burrus each had 2 hits. Thad Weber struck out 6 and walked 4 while allowing 3 runs in 6.2 innings. Brendan Wise went the rest of the way for the save allowing just a hit.

Charlotte 2 Lakeland 4
Alden Carrithers went 3 for 3 with a walk. Brent Wyatt doubled, tripled, and walked. Brayan Villarreal went 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 5 K’s. Cory Hamilton pitched 3 scoreless innings and Miguel Mejia got the save.

South Bend 0 West Michigan 7
Eric Roof doubled and tripled and knocked in 4 runs. Hernan Perez had 3 hits. Avisail Garcia, Michael Rockett, and Alexis Espinoza all had 2 hit games. Giovany Soto fanned 8 in 6.1 shutout innings.

Roster Moves

There have been a number of roster moves announced over the course of the last week. They are:

  • Nolan Moody was assigned to West Michigan from the Connecticut Tigers
  • Cory Hamilton was bumped up to Lakeland from West Michigan
  • Angel Flores went from Toledo to Lakeland.
  • Max St. Pierre took Flores’ spot in Toledo, leaving Erie.
  • Andy Bouchie went from Lakeland to Erie ending the catcher shuffle.
  • Anthony Shawler was moved from Lakeland to Erie.
  • Lauren Gagnier was promoted to Toledo from Erie
  • Wilfredo Ramirez was assigned to Lakeland from the VSL Tigers squad.
  • Lester Oliveros hit the DL again
  • Jason Waddell was placed on the restricted list and subsequently released.
2010 Season, Roster Management

Casper Wells to join the Tigers

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It appears that the Tigers are calling up another young outfielder. The rumor has it that Casper Wells has been called up to the 25 man roster.

There likely won’t be an official roster move until tomorrow, but my guess is that Jim Leyland would like another position player on the bench the next two days. Ryan Raburn isn’t eligible to come back (barring a DL trip for somebody) until he’s spent 10 days on optional assignment.

Here’s how I think things will play out:

  • Wells will take Alfredo Figaro’s spot on the roster effective tomorrow.
  • Armando Galarraga will be recalled to start on Sunday. Otherwise somebody would be pitching on short rest (either Jeremy Bonderman or Rick Porcello). Galarraga last started on  Tuesday so Sunday would be normal rest for him.
  • When Galarraga is activated Wells will be sent down.
  • Galarraga will likely be returned to Toledo after his start and another position player will be called up until Raburn can return. My guess would be Wilkin Ramirez at that point.

Wells has been struggling this year with a 191/268/374 line but he does have 5 homers.

2010 Season, Game Post

Game 2010.033: Yankees at Tigers

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The Tigers were rained out for the second time in a week. This time though they’ll try to do a double header with this being the Yankees only trip to Detroit.

Rick Porcello will face off against Javier Vazquez in the early game. Both pitchers are off to rough starts.

Vazquez has combined a horrible walk rate with a career high fly ball rate (and subsequently 8 homers in 23.1 innings) to a 9.78 ERA.

Porcello is still getting ground balls (55%) but quite a few are turning into hits. He has a .339 BABIP against on ground balls and a normal rate is closer to .260. He’s also only stranding 58% of runners which is leading to longer innings and shorter outings.

2010 Season, Roster Management

Figaro to join team Wednesday

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Figaro has been formally recalled and Ryan Raburn has been optioned to Toledo where he’ll stay for at least the requisite ten days unless a DL stint is required. It could be longer however if Carlos Guillen is ready to return. Presumably Figaro is here short term just to get through the doubleheader with Thomas unavailable and the team probably preferring to give Bonine the day off as well.

With the double header scheduled for Wednesday, it appears that Alfredo Figaro will be joining the team in Detroit. Dontrelle Willis was reportedly still sick today, and the team is probably concerned about getting thin if Rick Porcello and Jeremy Bonderman struggle to put up innings.

It’s unclear at this point if Figaro has been activated or if he will just be in Detroit and available should the need present itself in game 2.

2010 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.11.2010

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Toledo 4 Durham 4

Jeff Frazier doubled and drove in 3. Max Leon added 2 doubles. Armando Galarraga allowed 3 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks in 6 innings with 6 strikeouts. Jay Sborz got the 4 out save capping it with a strike out on a breaking ball.

Erie – PPD

Charlotte 0 Lakeland 3
Luke Putkonen pitched the first 6 innings of the shutout allowing 3 runs, 3 walks, and fanning 3. Brent Wyatt and Rawley Bishop each had 2 hits.

West Michigan – PPD

2010 Season, Game Post

Tigers hang on against Yankees

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The Tigers went to the reliever well once again, and again the bullpen delivered. Brad Thomas survived, Eddie Bonine bridged the gap, and the back end bent but didn’t break. In the end the Tigers got a much needed (and unexpected) win against a premiere team  after what was a pretty lousy five game road trip.

Thomas wasn’t exactly sharp. He barely threw more strikes than balls and pitched with runners on in each of his 3 innings. He didn’t strike out a batter. But he made it through 3 innings with minimal damage and for a spot start he certainly did what he needed to. Eddie Bonine got the ball to Joel Zumaya which this year has been a good feeling.

Zumaya pitched out of Bonine’s jam in the 6th, and had a very efficient 7th inning. With only 18 pitches thrown Leyland tried to get another inning out of him.  I can’t argue with the decision. On a night where you were burning the the bullpen, getting one more inning and saving another pitcher or two would have been huge. It didn’t work out.

Zumaya ended up being charged with 2 runs after a couple walks and infield hits. Fortunately Phil Coke and Ryan Perry finished the inning and the now 1 run lead was preserved thanks to a terrific play by Magglio Ordonez off the bat of Derek Jeter. (Watch the replay and watch Perry, he never went to back up anything thinking Maggs had it all the way)

Then it was Papa Grande’s turn and he fanned the side in the 9th with a devastating split finger pitch. I was sitting near the left field foul pole, and even there I could see the pitches absolutely dive for the dirt.

Brennan Boesch drove in 3 of the Tigers runs. I don’t know why any team throws him a first pitch fastball for a strike at this point as once again his triple came on the first pitch, right down the middle.  Johnny Damon had the fun of taking his former team deep.

  • The Ernie Harwell ceremony was terrific. Understated and respectful, much like Ernie.
  • Valverde must have thrown 70-80 pitches in the bullpen. He got up and threw in the 6th inning, not hard, just getting loose. Then he threw the bulk of the 8th inning. And then in between the 8th and the 9th.
  • Adam Everett nearly had a great game. He almost made a great play in the 8th, laying out for a line drive that hit off his glove. He added a single and a nicely executed sacrifice bunt (that was the time to sac bunt) leading to a run.
2010 Season, Game Post

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.10.2010

Toledo 6 Durham 2
Phil Dumatrait fanned 3, walked 1, and allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 5.2 innings. robbie Weinhardt, Daniel Schlereth and Jay Sborz took care of the rest. Clete Thomas has seen how much fun Brennan Boesch is having and he ripped his 4th homer in the last 7 days. Of course he only has 2 other hits over that time span so his average is still below .200. Ben Guez went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles.

Akron 1 Erie 4
Wilkin Ramirez doubled and tripled. Audy Ciriaco picked up 2 hits. Jon Kibler went 7.2 innings and allowed a run on 4 hits and 3 walks with 2 K’s.

Charlotte 2 Lakeland 1
Charlie Furbush fanned 13 of the 26 hitters he faced in an incredible 6.1 inning performance. The bats couldn’t get him a win though as they managed just 1 run. Alden Carrithers walked twice, singled, and doubled.

West Michigan 5 Lansing 6
Jacob Turner went again for the Whitecaps and allowed 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings to go along with 3 K’s. Kevin Faulk fanned 4 in 2 innings of relief work. Jamie Johnson tripled, singled, and walked. Wade Gaynor had 2 hits including his second homer. Alexis Espinoza had been hitting well of late, but took and 0’fer and fanned 3 times.