With 32 games in the record books, the season is a fifth complete (or at least a very good approximation). Because the Tigers have gotten off to such a fast start, I thought it would be fun to project final numbers based on these first 32 games. In other words, taking the current totals times five. Continue reading Times 5
Category Archives: 2006 Season
Game 32: Tigers at Twins
PREGAME: The Tigers will try and bounce back from their first late inning blown lead. It won’t be easy as Mike Maroth takes on Johan Santana. Then again, the Tigers keep showing the ability to hit Twins pitching – even if they haven’t had success in the past.
POSTGAME: Jim Leyland sent out a substitution laden lineup against arguably the best pitcher in the game. That’s why it wasn’t that much of a shock that the Tigers were being no hit into the 7th inning. Despite that, the Tigers weren’t that far off. A couple of drives that were just out of the reach of Thames, actually one was within his reach, and Minnesota has as hard a time scoring against Mike Maroth. Not to say that Maroth pitched as well as Santana, because it wasn’t close, just that despite being dominated Detroit stayed in the game without their best players.
And speaking of could-ofs, the Tigers had a bevy of pinch hitters available today. Yet in the 7th inning with the tying run on second base and one out, Leyland left Ramon Santiago to hit against Santana. That move made little sense, and it made even less sense in the 9th inning when he sent Carlos Guillen in to pinch hit with two outs and nobody on. Who knows if Guillen would have been successful, but if I have a choice between two contests where one gives me a one in three chance and the other gives me a one in five chance – the choice is simple.
Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 6th
Toledo 1, Richmond 0
Colby Lewis allowed 7 hits and 2 walks, but managed to keep Richmond from scoring. Ryan Ludwick was the offensive star with a double and two walks.
Erie 5, Harrisburg 2
Kody Kirkland and Kelly Hunt homered while Brent Clevlen doubled. Danilo Sanchez had a rough night behind the plate with a throwing error and a passed ball. Preston Larrsison gave up 5 hits in 5 1/3 innings, along with 3 walks.
Lakeland 5, Daytona 4
Wilkin Ramirez had 3 hits, including 2 doubles, and added his 4th stolen base. Jeff Larish singled and doubled. Jair Jurrgens allowed 3 runs, two of which were earned, in 6 1/3 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 5.
Bulington 8, West Michigan 1
Erik Averill was hit early and often. He allowed 7 runs, 4 earned, in 4 1/3 innings. Dusty Ryan picked up two hits. Michael Hollimon and Justin Justice added doubles. Cameron Maybin was 1 for 4.
Game 31: Tigers at Twins
PREGAME: The Tigers look to raise their record against the Twins to 5-0 on the year. Scott Baker will be taking the mound for the Twins. While the Tigers have had success in the first 4 games, this will be the first time facing Baker this season.
Jeremy Bonderman will try to regain the pitching magic as the Tigers starters have failed to record a quality start in their last 2 games. Let’s nip that in the bud.
Last night featured the return of Dmitri Young and he hit a couple balls well to center, singled in a run, and walked. No matter what you think of Dmitri, it will be nice to have his bat in the lineup. My son got a little confused and started calling the position Desperating Hitter. Given the inconsistency, until Marcus Thames surge last week, it was hard for me to correct him.
Game time is 7:05.
POSTGAME: Yeah, the blown save – not so much a fan. I guess the silver lining is that this is game 31 and this is the first time the Tigers bullpen has surrendered a lead. Todd Jones has had a shaky week, and it will be understandable when people start calling for Fernando Rodney or Joel Zumaya to close.
In other news, the Tigers banged out 8 extra base hits. They had 5 situations where they had a runner on second base and no body out. Only 2 of those runners scored.
Team WPA leaders
Fangraphs, which recently started publishing Win Expectancy graphs for each game, now has season totals for WPA. In terms of the Tigers, the WPA measures reinforce what we already know – the pitchers have been carrying the team.
Hitters -35.7% Starters 283.6% Relievers 202.1%
Now the net for the Tigers is +450%. To win a game a team needs 50% of WPA (each team starts at 50%, and the winner of course is at 100%). So the pitchers are essentially responsible for the team being nearly 10 games over .500, while the offense has them almost a game below .500. This makes sense intuitively because the Tigers haven’t won a slugfest yet. The wins have been blowouts, or close low-scoring games. In a low scoring game, it is quite intuitive that the pitchers would carry a larger weight. In a blowout, while it would seem the offense would carry the day, each additional run has diminishing value. Meanwhile, each additional out secured by the pitchers gets the team closer to a win.
The team leader in WPA is Mike Maroth at 107.1%. He’s followed by Fernando Rodney at 90.9%. The top hitter of course his Chris Shelton at 62.8%. Placido Polanco who has hit for a decent average, but has a poor on base and slugging percentage is tops of the anti-leaderboard at -67.9%.
Series Wrap: Angels at Tigers
You know things are going good when a split is a let down. The Tigers ran out of magic, and Jim Leyland washed his pants on Thursday. The Tigers offense was shut down by Jeff Weaver and Kevin Gregg. While Nate Robertson kept the string of stellar starting alive, Justin Verlander didn’t have his good stuff on Thursday.
| Angels | Tigers | |
| Wins | 1 | 1 |
| Offense | ||
| Runs | 8 | 4 |
| BA | .279 | .175 |
| OBP | .333 | .210 |
| SLG | .441 | .298 |
| HR | 0 | 4 |
| SB/CS | 2/1 | 0/0 |
| Pitching | ||
| BB/9 | 1.6 | 2.0 |
| K/9 | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| ERA | 2.12 | 3.50 |
Series Studs
- Nate Robertson only allowed 4 hits in 7 1/3 innings while fannings 6.
- Brandon Inge had the big homer off of Jeff Weaver. He also hustled his away around the bases to score the winning run off of Alexis Gomez single.
- Fernando Rodney continued his scoreless-ness picking up a fairly uneventful save (except for the HBP).
And those who struggled
- Carlos Guillen failed to reach base in the series.
- Jordan Tata got tagged for a dinger and 3 runs while only retiring one batter.
- Curtis Granderson struggled for the second series with only a single and a walk. However, he did cut down on his K’s with only one strike out.
Game 30: Tigers at Twins
PREGAME: The Tigers face the Twins, hoping to repeat the last series. The only matchup that will be the same though is tonight’s Kyle Lohse-Kenny Rogers re-enactment.
The Twins have been shut-out 3 times in the last week, and Rogers will try to continue and make it tough for Twins batters.
Meanwhile, since the Twins left town, Detroit has only mustered 11 runs in their last 4 games.
Dmitri Young is set to be activated, and is likely to get the start, but Marcus Thames is 7 for his lat 10. Included in that is a homer and single against Lohse on Sunday.
POSTGAME: That struggling offense from the last two series had no problems tonight. After so many games where the starters kept the team in the game, the bats picked up a sub-par outing from Kenny Rogers.
With the Royals knocking off the White Sox, Detroit moves within a half game of the AL Central lead.
Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 4th
Toledo 7, Richmond 4
Another strong outing was turned in by Zach Miner. Miner allowed 3 runs in 7 innings raising his ERA to 1.85. He fanned 3 and walked none. Matt Mantei pitched a scoreless inning, but walked two. Chris Spurling gave up a run on two hits in the ninth. Jack Hannahan hit a grand slam and added a single. Josh Phelps was 3 for 3 with a home run and a walk.
Erie 5, Altoona 3
Brent Clevlen picked up two hits and a walk. Clevlen going into this game was only slugging .327. Kody Kirkland double twice, and Tony Giarratano walked twice. Humberto Sanchez went 7 1/3 only allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. He fanned 5, but did allow 3 walks.
Lakeland, Fort Meyers
Andrew Kown, fresh off his promotion from West Michigan, went 4 innings. He only allowed two hits and a walk with one run crossing the plate. Clete Thomas had 3 hits including a double and homer. Jeff Larish homered, doubled, and walked 3 times.
West Michigan 7, Bulington 3
Dusty Ryan had 3 hits to pace the attack. He is now hitting .351. Cameron Maybin added two hits. Lucas French pitched 7 innings and only allowed one unearned run. He struck out 6 and walked 1. Jay Sborz made his first appearance and allowed 3 hits, a walk, and two runs in 2/3 of an inning. Orlando Perdomo came into get the last out and his ninth save.
Tigers News and Links
The Tigers are getting popular. Winning will do that.
- In his blog, Buster Olney excerpted some information from an upcoming ESPN the Magazine article about Joel Zumaya
That was only the first time. Several talent evaluators who saw Zumaya in spring training believe he has the best fastball anywhere. “In the world,” says a rival executive. “The best pure stuff of any pitcher in pro ball,” says one scout.
- Everybody has probably seen the Tigers near the tops of the Fox’s, ESPN, etc. power rankings. Sabermetric blog Beyond the Boxscore is also a fan
Detroit Tigers (+4) – Yep, your Detroit Tigers are this year’s “fluke early emergence” that could parlay itself all the way to a postseason birth. I’m very impressed in the early going, and these guys have pitched really, really well. Their “Base Runs” allowed is at 85 in 28 games. Which essentially means that their opponents are only producing enough offense to score 3 R/G. That won’t last, but remember, you can’t take away the 10 games over .500.
- John Sickels did a community projection for Justin Verlander. The results are favorable and I’d be very satisfied with a 3.75 ERA and 14 wins.
- Larry Parrish will manage in the International League All Star game.
Game 29: Angels at Tigers
PREGAME: The Tigers go for their third straight sweep with an afternoon get-away-day tilt against the Angels. The Tigers will face Kevin Gregg who is making his first start of the season. In 3 relief appearances he’s allowed a single run in 11 2/3 innings. He’s also yet to allow a home run, and the Tigers have like hitting homers as of late.
Justin Verlander will take ball for the Tigers and look to keep the string alive.
Game time is 1:05pm.
POSTGAME: It had to happen sometime. The pitching staff was going to give up hits and runs at some point. Silly things like a day job kept me pretty much away from the game so I can’t comment too much. I heard bits on the radio including a gem from Jim Price about a diving catch by Murphy
That is one of the all time very good catches that we’ve seen this year
I’m not slamming Jim here, because if any of us talked for two to three hours at a time, we’d all be prone to say some strange things.
Once again the Tigers struggled when they had to board a plane. The first road trip ended with a loss to Texas. The first homestand ended with a loss to Cleveland. And the Angels spoiled the finales of both the last road trip and homestand.
Cautious Optimism Abounds
Woke up this mornin’ feelin’ fine
There’s somethin’ special on my mind
Last night I met a new girl in the neighbourhood, whoa yeah
Somethin’ tells me I’m into something good
(Somethin’ tells me I’m into somethin’)
This whole “Detroit Tigers are winning” thing is new to a lot of us. We’re experiencing things we haven’t felt in a long time, and it’s all very confusing. Continue reading Cautious Optimism Abounds
Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 3rd
Toledo – DNP
Minor League Baseball: Scoreboard: Scoreboard
Nate Bumstead struck out 5 in 5 innings, but he struggled with his control and his defense. He walked 4 and allowed to unearned runs (Erie made 4 errors). Brian Rogers allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 2 1/3 innings of relief. This is newsworthy because those were only the 2nd and 3rd runs he’s allowed this year in 21 2/3 innings. Chris Homer was battered for 4 runs while retiring only one batter. Vincent Blue had 3 hits, a walk, and a stolen base. Tony Giarratano seems to be heating up. He singled, tripled, stole his 6th base and drew a walk. Dmitri Young played first and picked up a double – no word on if he flipped off his helmet.
Fort Meyers 3, Lakeland 1
Only two doubles and 3 singles for Lakeland tonight. Chris Robinson picked up one of the doubles, but is only batting .209. Jeff Larish was 1 for 4. Dallas Trahern pitched a complete game, scattering 9 hits over 8 innings. He walked none and struck out 3.
West Michigan – DNP