Category Archives: 2006 Season

Game 56: Red Sox at Tigers

PREGAME: Is anybody else in the mood for just a nice relaxing blow-out by the Tigers? Let’s not worry about coming from behind, or who is going to protect a one run lead against David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and of course Kevin Youkilis. If Jeremy Bonderman can pitch like he did Monday, and have his defense turn a double play or two, the Tigers can then worry about attacking the knuckleball.

Tim Wakefield pitching for the Red Sox. The Tigers have already had considerable success against one knuckleballer this year when they bludgeoned RA Dickey for 6 homers. That game of course tied a mark for the most homers given up by a pitcher. The previous pitcher to give up 6 homers in a game was…Tim Wakefield against…the Detroit Tigers. Sadly Wakefield still managed to win that game, due in large part to 2 homers by…Kevin Youkilis.

I’ll be at the game, so if you see a tall guy with a ringer-style Tiger-in-the-circle logo shirt, say Hi. It might be me.

POSTGAME: Now that’s more like it. Jeremy Bonderman carving up the opposition…Various players hitting homers…Some slick defense…An uneventful 9th inning. The recipe that the Tigers used for the bulk of the season returned last night.
Continue reading Game 56: Red Sox at Tigers

Tigers Minor League Wrap – June 2nd

It was one-run night in the Tigers organization. Every game, including the big club was close.

Ottawa 8, Toledo 7
Ryan Raburn was a double short of the cycle and is now hitting 290/370/530. Jack Hannahan doubled and walked twice. Don Kelly had a rough night going 0 for 5 with 4 K’s.

Erie 3, Akron 2
Humberto Sanchez continues to dominate. Tonight’s effort was 8 innings of one run ball. He allowed 5 hits and 3 walks while fanning 9. His season totals are now: 71 2/3 IP, 86K, 27BB, 1.03 WHIP. With another solid month, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him promoted to Toledo. Tony Giarratano was 3 for 3 with a walk and he added his 14 SB. Brent Clevlen added a single and two walks.
Brevard County 4, Lakeland 3
This game marked Kyle Sleeth’s return to the mound after Tommy John surgery. He was knocked around for 5 hits, two walks, and 4 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings. But the important thing is that he was out there. Jeremy Johnson who struggled at Erie earlier in the year pitched 4 innings in relief extending his FSL scoreless streak to 12 innings.

Quad Cities 4, West Michigan 3 (11 innings) Lucas French went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 7. Orlando Perdomo had a rare mis-step has he blew the save. It was only the 4th run Perdomo has allowed. Pedro cotto doubled and singled, and Dusty Ryan added 3 hits and a walk.

Game 55: Red Sox at Tigers

PREGAME: In what is probably the oldest pitching match-up of the day, or maybe week, Kenny Rogers takes on Curt Schilling.

Rogers looks to rebound from a couple shaky games. After going 7 innings or more in 4 straight April starts, he failed to hit that mark in any of his 5 May starts. Among the Sox, the only starter to have significant experience and success against Rogers is Manny Ramirez with an 18 for 55 with 2 homers.

Curtis Granderson has reached base in each of his last 11 games and has seen is OBP rise from .351 to .371.

Jim Leyland has already announced that Pudge won’t be playing tonight or Sunday. I wonder if we’ll see Marcus Thames hitting in his place at the 3-hole?

And my favorite part of a Red Sox/Tigers series is watching Samela (and the alter-ego) be miserable and excited all at the same time.

POSTGAME As good as the Thursday’s win felt, this one hurts just as much. I’m not going to get into the whole closer debate right now. It deserves more space, and I’m just not emotionally prepared to do so. I think Tim’s comment summed up my feelings the best right now:

Some games leave you with a sick feeling. Jones can’t do this. He can’t get Manny and Varitek out and then let Kevin Youkilis beat him.

It ruined what was otherwise a pretty good effort. It was outstanding pitching by Kenny Rogers. The Tigers hitters battled against another very good pitcher in Schilling, and looked to have scratched out enough for a hard fought victory. Ergh.

Tigers Minors Matters

In minor league news today, 2003 first round pick Kyle Sleeth will make his first start since September 2004. He missed all of last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery 51 weeks ago. He’ll be pitching for the Lakeland Tigers.

The L-Tigers also found that they will have 5 representatives on the FSL All Star team. Jair Jurrgens, Kevin Whelan, Jeff Hahn, Chris Robinson, and Jeff Frazier made the team. Surprisingly Jeff Larish didn’t.

Finally, L-Tiger Victor Mendez won the FSL player of the week award and Whitecap Ramon Garcia won the Midwest League pitcher of the week award.

Links and stuff

Between anniversaries, and attending Tiger games, and work, I’ve got a pile of links to power through:

  • The Baseball Crank took a look at the Tigers pitching. He found that through the 29th, the Tigers were in some rare company. In terms of the Tigers ratio of ERA to league average ERA they stood as the 6th best of all time.
  • The Sporting Brews has taken a very indepth and thoughtful look at the Tigers pitchers success, and how much is impacted by defense. It is well worth the read. The whole seperation of pitching and defense is always fascinating to me. As has been well documented, for the season the Tigers have played excellent defense. Some say it is luck, some say it is skill. In any case the pitchers benefit. But the big mystery is whether the defense has just been better on its own, or are the pitchers throwing more fieldable balls and whether or not this is even a skill.
  • Things are going so well for the Tigers this year, the national media even saying don’t worry about a couple of tough games. Tom Verducci says the Tigers are still for real, and they even get a mention on the cover of today’s Sports Illustrated.
  • Buster Olney has really been pushing the idea of Barry Bonds as a Tiger. He’s listed Detroit and the Yankees as the top two likely destinations for Barry next year. Now he’s speculating that an in season trade may make sense for both parties. I just really don’t see it. Now if the Giants would let him go as just a massive salary dump, looking for minimal stuff in return…I’d think about it. Of course it’s not my money. It would be a left handed bat, with no long term commitment. As for signing him next year? I’d be very disappointed if Bonds was their target.

Game 54: Yankees at Tigers

PREGAME: The Tigers will try to avoid the sweep tonight as they close out their series with the Yankees. The Tigers have had two chances to be a Johnson this week but their bats weren’t up to the task. Maybe they’ll have better luck beating Wang.

Justin Verlander, the last Tiger pitcher to win, will try and stop the skid for Detroit.

The Tigers double play combination will be reminiscent of 2003 – only reversed – with Ramon Santiago at short and Omar Infante at second. Placido Polanco who has been hitting many routine grounders to short, and Chris Shelton who has been striking out on many pitches at the shoulders will be on the bench. Carlos Guillen will start at first base.

The Yankees to continue to not play at full strength. Derek Jeter will miss tonight’s game while Gary Sheffield will miss the next couple weeks after going on the DL.

POSTGAME: That was arguably the biggest win of the season so far for Detroit. The extra-inning Reds win was huge, but came during a pretty good hot streak for the Tigers. I think the only one this rivals is the Oakland A’s come from behind win which propelled them through the west coast swing.

The Tigers started off hacking, but by the 4th inning began taking much better approaches. Part of that may have been the pitching, but the plate appearances just seemed so much more competitive.

I also want to make sure to fully appreciate Curtis Granderson. As I write this, the game log isn’t available yet, but I believe Granderson saw 32 pitches in his 5 plate appearances and reached base 4 times. I also very much like Marcus Thames batting second. Yes, he is a double play candidate. But Thames has demonstrated a good eye, a willingness to work the count, and he’s hitting the ball hard. I don’t mean to be hating on Polanco and I think things will get better, but he’s looking an awful lot like Pudge 2005 right now.

It was an outstanding cumulative effort by Jamie Walker, Joel Zumaya, and Fernando Rodney. They picked up Justin Verlander who did his best to pitch through some sort of finger injury.

But the bottom line is that the Tigers got a much needed win. The fact that it was dramatic just makes it that much more fun.

Maroth to have surgery

Tom Gage and Danny Knobler are both reporting that Mike Maroth will undergo surgery to have bone chips removed from his elbow. This unfortunately means that what was looking to be Maroth’s most promising season will be derailed for a significant time period. According to today’s press notes, Maroth will have the surgery on Friday and it will be performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum.

I’m not sure of the timetable, but Baseball Prospectus’s injury guru Will Carroll notes that Kelvim Escobar came back from the same surgery in 6 weeks last summer. So it’s possible that Maroth could be back just after the All Star break.

Possible fill-in candidates, short of a trade, remain Roman Colon, Zach Miner, Jordan Tata, Wil Ledezma, Jason Grilli, and Humberto Sanchez.

UPDATE: Miner will get the start on Sunday.

Game 53: Yankees at Tigers

PREGAME: The Tigers have one last chance at their first 20 win month since August 1979. They are also scrambling to set up a split of this series, and avoid only their second 4 game skid of the season. And it won’t be easy.

The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson to try and shut down the injured Yankees, and give the bullpen a reprieve. Meanwhile, the Yankees will counter with Mike Mussina who for years has owned the Tigers.

Now there have been several pitchers who owned the Tigers for years, but Detroit has fared better as of late with their new additions. However, even Pudge, Ordonez, and Guillen don’t have overly impressive numbers against Mussina.

This will also be the Tigers first tilt on national TV with ESPN2 picking up the game. I’ll be in attendance, as will the boy, who has brought the team luck in his two games so far this year.

POSTGAME Another frustrating performance by the Tigers. I know you need to “tip your cap” when the opponent outplays you. It’s just thats too much hat tipping in one week. And at some point the hitters have to take responsibility and not tip their hats. Case in point: In the sixth inning with the Yankees leading 2-0, the Tigers put runners on first and second with nobody out. Mussina was out of the inning 3 pitches later after a failed sacrifice and double play. The next inning was completed in 7 pitches. Late in the game with the Tigers in the game, Mussina recorded 6 outs on 10 pitches. Curtis Granderson seemed to be the only hitter who actually worked Mussina each at-bat totaling 17 pitches for the night.

And it wasn’t just the hitting, a lot of the fielding isn’t there either. Whether it’s missing cut off men, a bad route to a fly ball (Granderson mis-played Alex Rodriguez’s triple), or as we’ve seen this week the inability to turn a double play, things are getting sloppy.

It’s one thing to lose to the Yankees, and Mike Mussina. It’s another thing to lose to the Yankees sans Jeter/Damon/Matsui/Sheffield. Now they still have a lineup featuring Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Jason Giambi which just serves as a reminder of how freakishly talented the Yankees are. But if you are going to beat them, now is the time to do it.

The one bright spot for the Tigers of course was Nate Robertson. He pitched quite well and deserved a better fate. More importantly, he gave a tired bullpen the night off while keeping his team in the game.

Zach Miner up, Hannahan down

So I was a little right about the Tigers looking to the minors for arm help. I just didn’t quite nail the execution of it. Zach Miner’s contract was purchased from Toledo and Jack Hannahan was optioned to the Mud Hens.

Miner has pitched very well for the Hens with a 2.82 ERA in 9 starts. He’s thrown 51 innings and fanned 40 while walking 21.

Leyland must be confident that he can shorten the bench, at least for the time being. Marcus Thames recent play has certainly made him worthy of being the everyday DH.

Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 30th

Rochester 5, Toledo 0 – 11 innings
Toledo managed only 4 hits, and Tike Redman had 3 of them. Redman added 2 stolen bases. Wil Ledezma allowed only 3 hits in 7 1/3 innings or work. He walked 3 and struck out 6.

Bowie 2, Erie 0
If you thought the Mud Hens had a tough night offensively, Erie managed only a single single. Preston Larrison started for Erie and allowed only 2 runs in 6 2/3 innings despite 10 hits and 5 walks.

Lakeland 6, Tampa 6 (in progress – 10th inning) Lakeland scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to tie the score. Clete Thomas singled, homered, and walked. Dallas Trahern went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs, two of which were earned. Trahern fanned 5 and allowed 5 hits while walking one.

West MIchigan 9, Dayton 3
Matt Joyce had 3 hits. Rafael Mendez doubled, homered, and walked. Sendy Vasquez allowed 3 runs, all unearned, on 4 hits in 7 innings. Anthony Claggett pitched two scoreless innings to drop his ERA to 0.37.

Looking for help

After being spectators for the first 50 games of the season, the Tigers long relief has been busy. Mike Maroth lasted only 1/3 of an inning on Thursday. After a reprieve with strong outings from Nate Robertson and Justin Verlander, they were again pressed into action on Sunday. Tonight, with Mike Maroth unavailable Roman Colon started but couldn’t make it out of the third inning. Bobby Seay came on and couldn’t make it out of the 5th. As the Tigers continue to face tough offenses for the forseeable future they may need to find help beyond their current bullpen.
Continue reading Looking for help

Game 52: Yankees at Tigers

PREGAME: The Tigers go in search of some suddenly elusive runs. As I’m sure you’ve heard they’ve been shut out by a pair of Johnson’s the last two games. Hopefully they’ll fare better against a Small, and perhaps a Wang on Thursday (there’s a joke in there somewhere).

Aaron Small will take the ball for the Yankees while Roman Colon will make his first start for the Tigers. Colon filled in admirably for Mike Maroth last Thursday. He allowed 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings. In his last two outings Colon threw 70 and 76 pitches so it will be interesting to see how long Leyland will let him go.

POSTGAME
: I don’t know how to feel after this game.

Frustrated? Frustrated that out of two bases loaded, no out situations, the Tigers managed 1 run via a force out. (In all fairness, while Ordonez and Shelton had horrible at-bats in the first, Carlos Guillen had an 8 pitch at-bat that resulted in a line drive hit right at Jeter. It’s hard to be mad at Guillen for that).

Perplexed? Perplexed at the fact that the Tigers have now failed to turn 4 double plays in the last two games.

Relieved? Relieved that the offense finally did manage to put some runs on the board, even though many of those runs came off a booted double play and Kyle Farnsworth making 3-4 pitches that could have been called strikes but weren’t.

Satisfied? Satisfied that the Tigers did come back from 5 runs down to send the game to extra innings. Also, that it was the first time the Tigers were in a game since Saturday.

Frustrated? Back to frustrated after a 3 game losing streak.