Category Archives: 2006 Season

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 138: Mariners at Tigers

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PREGAME: Nate Robertson makes his 100th career start today as a Detroit Tiger. The last time a starter had a milestone game, the Tigers beat the bejeezus out of the Cubs to earn Kenny Rogers his 200th victory. Here’s hoping that they can get some of that magic back today.

Of course the Tigers problem lately hasn’t been pitching, but the complete lack of offense. The Tigers will look to get that going against lefty Jarrod Washburn.

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: Just a couple nights ago I called out Magglio Ordonez for failing to catch a ball that would have ended the game. Today Ordonez made a very nice sliding grab, to compliment his first inning 2 run homer. It doesn’t absolve him for Saturday night, but the effort and production today are needed and greatly appreciated.

It was also nice to see Chris Shelton back at first base. He was 0 for 2 with a walk, but his approach was solid. He did a good job laying off pitches out of the zone and didn’t look to be going all out to pull the ball.

Nate Robertson got more run support than he has in the last month it seems and he only needed 1 run. Thus continuing the excellent starting pitching streak the Tigers have been enjoying.

But the at-bat of the day had to be Omar Infante’s 9 pitch effort in the 7th that resulted in a two run double. And I’m not just saying that because his play continues to prove everyone right who lobbied for him to be the everyday 2nd baseman in Polanco’s absence.

So feel good for another day Tigers fans. We’ve seen some games that we thought were momentum shifters in the past, only to be stymied in the next game. Here’s hoping this is the beginning of a beautiful win streak.

2006 Season, Injuries, Roster Management

Hooper in, Kelly out

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With Carlos Guillen and Neifi Perez hurting, the Tigers made a roster move. Yesterday the Tigers designated for assignment the contract of Don Kelly to make room for uber utility guy Kevin Hooper.

After showing some high OBP promise early in his minor league career, Kelly didn’t get the job done at Toledo and managed only a 304 OBP. He went to Erie and posted a 354 OBP, but only a 692 OPS which probably isn’t enough for a 26 year old in AA.

Hooper can play a lot of positions, is 30 years old, and really brings nothing to the table offensively (636 OPS for AAA Toledo).

It’s one thing to bring up a pinchrunner/late defensive replacement for some depth. It’s another thing to make room for one by clearing space on the 40 man roster. And then there is the fact that this team is in need of offense. They currently have their fill of Neifi Perez/Ramon Santiago/Alexis Gomez types (although to be fair to Gomez, he has shown some offensive pop). If they were inclined to free up a spot on the 40 man, why not elect to go with a Ryan Raburn type who hit 277/355/494?

Raburn struggles defensively, and like the current Tiger roster, he strikes out quite a bit (118 this season). But he could still fill the pinch runner role, with 16 swipes in 20 attempts and not be an automatic out in the lineup.

As for Guillen, he hopes to be back in a couple days and says the injury is not bad. I think that hope is shared by Tiger fans everywhere. Carlos Guillen is the most important position player on this team for the sole fact that he is far and away the team’s best hitter.

2006 Season, Pitching

In search of a little support

Normally when a team is slumping, you look to the next day’s starting pitcher to put a stop to the slide. It’s one of those things that people talk about when defining an ace. Well how much more can you ask for from a rotation that has put up these performances over the last 6 games?

Date	Pitcher		Opponent	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
08/30	Robertson	At NYA		7	10	2	2	1	2	4
08/30	Ledezma		At NYA		5 1/3	2	2	2	0	1	2
08/31	Bonderman	At NYA		5 1/3	11	4	4	0	3	5
09/01	Rogers		Vs. LAA		7	4	0	0	0	2	2
09/02	Verlander	Vs. LAA		7	4	0	0	0	4	6
09/03	Ledezma		Vs. LAA		6	3	2	2	1	3	2
Totals					37 2/3	34	10	10	2	15	21
									
									
									
ERA	K per 9	BB per 9	HR per 9	K/BB				
2.39	5.0	3.6		0.5		1.4

When the team’s worst effort is a 4 run 5 1/3 inning performance against the Yankees, I think it’s safe to say the starters are doing their job. Unfortunately, the team has only won 2 of those games. (And in what is rough luck for the starters, Kenny Rogers was the only member of the rotation to pick up a win)

I guess it is time for the team to rely on something other than Big League Chew to generate offense.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 137: Angels at Tigers

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PREGAME: Wil Ledezma against Kelvim Escobar.

Game Time 8:00pm on ESPN2

POSTGAME: The look of the lineup without Carlos Guillen is troubling to say the least. The result is another defeat in which the starting pitcher did everything you could ask for. Yet the bats remained cold.

The only big play for the Tigers offense was the Ordonez single in which Craig Monroe was thrown out trying to score. It has been called a boneheaded call but I couldn’t disagree more. Given the way the Tigers were hitting, Gene Lamont had to send Monroe home on that play – especially with 2 outs.

If you send Monroe home, you’re banking on the fact that Juan Rivera doesn’t make a perfect throw and/or Jose Molina has no troubles handling the throw and applying the tag. Going into the play I like those odds better than the 3 out of 10 odds that Sean Casey doesn’t make an out. Given the way Escobar was pitching, and the fact that the situation was created by a ground ball single, a walk, and an error, Casey’s odds of success probably weren’t even that good.

The Angels executed the play to perfection. Sometimes you have to credit the other team.

That play doesn’t make up for the fact that once again the lineup completely failed to produce. Escobar was excellent, but 3 singles just isn’t going to cut it.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 136: Angels at Tigers

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PREGAME: After a very pleasant beginning to the final month of the season, the Tigers will look to keep the good times coming. This is of course predicated on the rain stopping.

Justin Verlander will be taking the mound. He wasn’t able to hold a lead in his last start against Cleveland and his final line showed 8 runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings. With Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Liriano injured, this is Verlander’s chance to stake a claim to the Rookie of the Year award.

Joe Saunders will be pitching for the Angels. He joined the rotation in late July and won his first 4 starts allowing only 7 runs over 27 innings. However in his last 3 starts he’s allowed 18 runs over 10 2/3 innings.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: This one definitely leaves a bad taste. Todd Jones deserved better with the only hard hit ball being the triple to Chone Figgins. This game should have been over without a 10th inning. This one also doesn’t go on Neifi who did make an error, but again, it shouldn’t have come to that.

This one is on Magglio Ordonez who failed to go all out and make a play in the top of the 9th. He followed it up by weakly striking out and failing to run to first on the ball in the dirt to end the game.

And speaking of guys who deserved better, how about Justin Verlander? I can’t say I agree with him being allowed to throw 122 pitches, but he was very good. As was his counterpart, Joe Saunders.

And finally, I just want to recognize a guy who doesn’t get a lot of recognition, in Ramon Santiago. He made a couple nice plays down at third base and hung in and had a very solid at-bat against K-Rod.

2006 Season, Players, Roster Management

Chris Shelton recalled

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The Tigers continue to expand their roster and today brought back Chris Shelton. With a southpaw starting tonight for the Angels, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Shelton in the starting lineup.

During his month with Toledo he hit 266/372/440 and he struck out 37 times in 109 at-bats. I don’t think his swing is all the way back as evidenced by his K’s and the lack of power. However he did walk 18 times so it would seem to indicate that at least his pitch recognition is on it’s way back.

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 135: Angels at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Tigers return home and put to rest their worst month of the season. The offense will look to get going, but they’ll have to do it against a pitcher that destroyed them to the tune of 10 strike outs and no runs over 6 innings. Said pitcher is Ervin Santana.

The Tigers made a slight shuffle in the rotation with the off day Monday, and will be sending Kenny Roger out (it normally would be Justin Verlander’s turn). It just happened to be Rogers on the mound the last time the Tigers faced Santana and he held the Angels offense to 2 runs over 7 innings.

Game Time 7:05pm

2006 Season, Roster Management

Nook Logan Traded and Roster Recalls

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Nook Logan, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday, was traded to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later. Chances are the player isn’t Alfonso Soriano :-).

The Tigers also welcomed two members of the Toledo roster into the clubhouse. Ramon Santiago and Jordan Tata were added to the expanded rosters. Tata will presumably be waiting in the wings if Wil Ledezma falters in his Sunday night start.

2006 Season, Offense

Approaching the Tigers approach

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The Tigers offense was stymied once again for the bulk of the day. After the last 2 days the common mantra was that the Tigers are way to aggressive at the plate and don’t see enough pitches – especially compared to the Yankees. While the Yankees are much more patient – the 200 additional walks are definitely indicative of that, I don’t think this series necessarily illustrated the point.

In yesterday’s game post we saw that the Tigers saw just as many pitches per plate appearance as the Yankees (actually more in the 1st game).

Today, Randy Johnson was able to make through 8 innings with fewer than 100 pitches. How much of the credit should go to Johnson and how much blame should go to the Tigers? Continue reading Approaching the Tigers approach →

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 134: Tigers at Yankees

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PREGAME: Thanks to late inning heroics and awesome pitching the Tigers have a shot at the series. A win today would mean just their 3rd series win of the month, after losing 1 series in all of July.

It will be Jeremy Bonderman against Randy Johnson on ESPN. I wish I didn’t have to work today.

Oh yeah, Infante and Thames are playing. (but so is Neifi)

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I know I should rail against another loss. I know I should be worried that Jeremy Bonderman has had a rough month. I should be furious that Neifi Perez continues to get playing time. And yet for some reason I’m okay tonight.

First, the Neifi issue. For those of us (which is basically everyone not named Jim Leyland) who have been hoping that Omar Infante gets the everyday gig until Polanco returns (possibly in 2 weeks) this game was about all we could have hoped for. Infante homered, got a cheap hit, and hit a line drive to right field. Neifi meanwhile made more weakouts, failed to chase down a pop up that led to a run, cut off Marcus Thames throw which may have nabbed Alex Rodriguez and kept him from scoring, and dropped a throw from Pudge.

Marcus Thames once again made the most of a start and has homered in 3 of his last 4 starts. The more he does that, the harder it is to keep him out of the lineup.

And finally Magglio Ordonez has put together a few games now where he’s hit the ball hard. Combined with some better at-bats from Curtis Granderson, the Tigers might be getting a couple of their key offensive components back in time for the stretch run.

And one last note, I’ve complained about umpires who argue back. Home plate umpire James Hoye did it just like he was supposed to with Jim Leyland today. He ran Leyland, and stood there while Leyland had his say while calmly suggesting Leyland head back to the dugout. I’m not going to comment on his actualy umpiring or strike zone, just that he handled the argument well.

2006 Season, Pitching, Players

Miller’s Debut

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There’s always something exciting about a new highly touted prospect making his debut. Despite some major nerves, Andrew Miller had a fine debut. He induced a lazy flyball, a chopper to third, and a roller to third. He also hit a guy but that just served to show off the break on his slider. He threw his 4 seamer in the mid 90’s, and his slider from the low 80’s to 89 MPH.

You can see the whole thing through the power of You Tube (hat tip):

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 133: Tigers at Yankees

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PREGAME: The nice thing about a doubleheader, is that if you lose the first game there is still hope that the day will turn out alright. Tonight will feature Wil Ledezma and Jaret Wright.

The most notable element of the matchup is that Alex Rodriguez has hit homers in 4 of the 5 at-bats where he faced Ledezma. The only exception was a walk.

As for the Tigers lineup, Jim Leyland isn’t making too many people happy. Neifi Perez is inexplicably playing both ends of a doubleheader. What’s more, Marcus Thames is joining Infante on the bench for both games. Leyland’s stubborness is maddening to say the least.

POSTGAME: Okay, I’ll admit it. I was gripping. I snapped at my wife when she switched from the chair to the couch in the middle of a rally only to see it die. I was talking to the TV and yelling at Leyland for letting Neifi hit and trying to figure out why the heck Leyland hates Thames. So yeah, this was a big win.

Tonight’s comeback was brought to you by 4 Tigers. First was Brandon Inge working a walk. Second was Curtis Granderson having a long at bat and working a walk. And of course there was Craig Monroe who came through once again with late inning heroics. (he tried to do his part in the 7th as well with the leadoff double).

Now who is the 4th guy? Carlos Guillen. In the first game of the double header Mariano Rivera retired Young and Monroe on 3 pitches. If Rivera retires the side on a half dozen pitches, chances are he’s pitching in both games. As it was Guillen fell behind 0-2 before turning a 7 pitch at-bat into a single, thus extending the inning and probably keeping Rivera out of the second game.

And just one other thing I wanted to point out. Much was made about the Tigers lack of patience at the plate today. If you actually look at the numbers, you’ll see that the Tigers first time through the lineup of the first game 8 of the 9 players took the first pitch. In fact in the first game the Tigers saw 3.9 pitches per plate apperance against Wang while the ultra patient Yankees saw 3.1 against Robertson. In the 2nd game both starters threw 3.4 pitches per plate appearance.

I’m not saying the Tigers aren’t an impatient team, it’s just that no one complains when they’re hitting the ball – much like Craig Monroe’s first pitch swing in the 9th.