I don’t actually hate Thome, it’s more of a respected disdain for all the Tiger pitches he deposits over the fence. Let’s just say I liked him a lot more in the National League. Joe Crede and Thome teamed up to wreck what would have otherwise been a delightful opening day. Alas, it was a repeat of the last game at Comerica from 2005 when the White Sox defeated the Tigers to clinch the AL Central.
My thoughts on Opening Day: Continue reading Thoughts on the Opener – or how I hate Jim Thome
Scranton 4, Toledo 2
Jack Hannahan was 2 for 2 with a walk. The rest of the Mud Hens offense was non-existent. Today’s lineup featured only two hitters with batting averages North of .200 (Hooper and Hannahan).
Altoona 9, Erie 1
Eulogio De La Cruz was pounded once again. He gave up six hits, including a home run, while retiring only two batters. His ERA currently stands at 45.00. Brent Clevlen also continues to struggle and his average has dipped to .150 after going 0 for 4. Kelly Hunt homered to account for Erie’s only run.
Dunedin 6, Lakeland 3
Brent Dlugach homered and Wilkin Ramirez picked up two hits for Lakeland. Josh Rainwater was the Tigers starter and scattered 6 hits and 2 runs over 5 innings of work.
West Michigan 7, South Bend 0 Cameron Maybin continues to hit well as he picked up a couple hits, including a double, and added a stolen base. William Rhymes, Cory Middleton, Mark Haske, and Jeremy Laster all had multi-hit games as well. Virgil Vazquez allowed one hit in four innings, and Andrew Kown followed with 4 innings only allowing two hits while striking out 4.
I’m off to the home opener. This will be the 10th consecutive opener for my friends and I. We stick to the same script pretty much every year. We meet up at a coney island for breakfast, before heading down to Tiger Stadium (yep, you read that right Tiger Stadium). We used to work our way up and down Michigan Ave, but since the team moved to Comerica, we typically just hit Casey’s and Nemo’s. If you find yourself near Tiger Stadium before the game, wander into Casey’s. Chances are I’ll be marinating there for several hours before the game.
Feel free to post any thoughts about the game. Also, if you’d like to share about your Opening Day experiences, I’d love to hear it. Are you going today? How many have you been to? Do you do anything special before/during/after the game?
Charlotte 7, Toledo 1
Colby Lewis had a solid start going 4 innings and only allowing 2 hits against 5 strikeouts. Other than that the game was quite unremarkable from a Mud Hen perspective. Don Kelly who had an impressive spring training at the plate has struggled thus far and is hitting .083.
Erie 4, Harrisburg 0
Tony Giarratano, Brent Clevlen, and Vincent Blue all picked up two hits for Erie. Preston Larrison was perfect for 5 innings and 5 strikeouts.
Lakeland 3, Tampa 2
Clete Thomas homered and added a single. Jeff Frazier was 3 for 5 with 2 double and is hitting .375. Wilken Ramirez added two hits and a stolen base. Kevin Whelan retired all 3 hitters for his second save.
Fort Wayne 11, West Michigan 3
Cameron Maybin went 2 for 4 and is now hitting .462. Erik Averill struggled with his control walking 3 and allowing 5 runs in 4 innings.
It had to end sometime. The Tigers dropped their first game of the season, and their solo hold on first place. Detroit is now tied with Cleveland at 5-1, but I don’t really think anyone is complaining. The roadtrip saw far more positives than negatives.
Kenny Rogers was hit around, and balls seemed to be just out of reach of Tiger defenders instead of being tailor-made double plays that we’d seen in the first 5 games. The defense also committed their first charged error when Carlos Guillen couldn’t cleanly pick a grounder in the hole. Ramon Santiago, filling in for Placido Polanco also appeared to neglect to cover second base for a force out.
And Chris Shelton didn’t continue to do what Chris Shelton does. He was 0 for 4 with 3 strike-outs. His last 5 at-bats have been K-K-K-pop out-K. I guess a .700 batting average is a little too much to expect Big Red to sustain.
So out of all the positives that we witnessed on the road trip, what was the biggest for you? Was it Chris Shelton mashing? The Tigers offense clicking and cranking? An entire trip through the rotation where the starters picked up the wins? The debuts of Joel Zumaya and/or Jordan Tata, or Justin Verlander’s dominant performance?
Granderson was an outfielder at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I saw him play college ball and was impressed. He had a smooth swing, good command of the strike zone, and to me at least he looked like he had good tools, decent speed that helped him on the outfield and on the bases. The only tool that didn’t look at least average to me was his throwing arm.
Granderson hit .483 with nine homers and 17 steals for Illinois-Chicago in ’02, ranking second to Rickie Weeks in the NCAA Division I batting hunt. So we had a guy with an excellent performance track record and good physical tools. I picked him in the second round of my Twins Shadow Draft. In real life, he went to the Tigers in the third round.
He lasted until the third round because scouts didn’t like his tools. The word was that his speed and athleticism were mediocre, and that he wouldn’t hit for much power with wood. But that’s not what I saw in him. I saw a player with solid tools, a good measure of refinement, and a fine track record. He also had a good work ethic and was intelligent.
I was at a function tonight that kept me from listening to the game. When I hopped in the car, I tuned in just in time to hear Dan Dickerosn and Jim Price signing off from a 5th straight Tiger victory. It wasn’t until I got home and had a chance to peruse the box score that I became downright giddy.
This was probably the best test of the season for the Tigers. After facing bottom tier pitchers in their first 4 games, Detroit went up against the Rangers ace Kevin Millwood. On the other side the Tigers were throwing a rookie against a powerful offensive team in a definite hitters environment. They also had a lineup featuring Brandon Inge hitting 3rd, and Vance Wilson in for Pudge Rodriguez. A 7-0 win easily eclipses my expectations for the game.
Continue reading Tigers: High 5, and 0
Okay, the title is somewhat facetious. I know they didn’t actually stumble. They did find themselves trailing for the first time this season. It was an uncomfortable half inning.
Also, Mike Maroth allowed a walk. The “incident” occured with one out in the 5th inning. It broke a string of 22 1/3 innings by Tigers starters without a free pass.
So the Tigers sit at 4-0 with two games to remain in the series. I think everybody would have been satisfied with a 4-2 roadtrip. The Tigers have at least assured themselves of that record. The next two games will be a test with Justin Verlander going today, and Sunday appears to be veteran rest day with Vance Wilson and Ramon Santiago set to get the starts over Pudge Rodriguez and Placido Polanco. On a side note, we’ve seen Santiago as a defensive replacement several times, and yet no Omar Infante at all.
Chris Shelton continued to do what Chris Shelton Ted Williams did. Maybe Gary Gillette needs to rethink his list of the top 10 young sluggers to make room for Big Red. Shelton’s major league leading 5th home run may just further validate Buc’s Dugouts assumption that the Pirates leaving Shelton unprotected was the worst move of the last 5 years in baseball.
Continue reading Tigers stumble, but win
Excuse my enthusiasm, but winning is fun. I certainly thought that 3-0 was possible, but the manner in which the Tigers are doing it has certainly left surprised. Some pleasant Tiger surprises after a thumping of the Rangers:
Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that the Tigers are 2-0. Both games were very well played both offensively and defensively, and I really couldn’t ask for anything more. At the same time, and I don’t mean to be a jerk about this, but it was the Royals. Oh yeah, and it’s only two games. I’m happy the Tigers are undefeated and atop the AL Central all by themselves – but it’s only two games. (I keep repeating this more my benefit than for yours).
That said, there was a lot to like about this series. Jeremy Bonderman and Kenny Rogers turned in the top two starting pitching performances of the season with game scores of 72 and 67 respectively. The pitching staff threw 71% of their pitches for strikes, striking out 20 and only allowing one walk.
Offensively, it is hard to find much to complain about when you hit 8 homers in two games. True, the Tigers only walked once today, but I can let that slide given the 18 hits. Curtis Granderson struggled in the first game, but bounced back with a 3-6 effort in the second game. Pudge Rodriguez today seemed like he really should be the #3 hitter with a 5 for 5 day. Chris Shelton continues to do what Chris Shelton does. Really, the only player to not get in on the action was Magglio Ordonez who is still looking for his first hit. But even Ordonez managed to drive in a run.
Now it’s only 2 games, but the series ended with the best possible outcome.
Yesterday you got my emotional and giddy breakdown of Opening Day. Today I’ll take a look at the game, but from a much more analytical perspective.
For those that read the Hardball Times on a regular basis last season, you may recall Dave Studemund writing about Win Probability Added. That preceding link has a very nice explanation that if you are intrigued I highly recommend reading. If you want the cliff-note version I’ll give it a shot here.
Continue reading Tracking WPA on Opening Day
Aside from getting a win on Opening Day, there were quite a few things from today’s game that made me happy.
Not to diminish Kenny Rogers outing, or Chris Shelton doing what Chris Shelton does, but I think the highlight probably had to be seeing Joel Zumaya in action. I’ve heard all the praise, and I saw him at the Future’s game (from the next to last row of the upper deck). I was ecstatic to see that he lived up to the hype – at least in this outing.
His fastball was consistently 97-99, and his curve ball seemed to have serious break. In fact, even though he ended up walking Mike Sweeney, it wasn’t before he put him on his seat with an inside curveball. (Jeff Weaver may have been a punk, and Sweeney may otherwise be a decent guy, but I’ve always hated him since the helmet throwing incident of 2002. As such I took glee in the confused look on his face after the pitch) As Eddie said in the comments,
Multi-inning dominant relievers are an assett. If they are 21 and throw 99 mph while keeping the ball down, all the better. I am looking forward to the Joel Zumaya era.
As exciting as it was seeing him come out of the pen, I couldn’t help but have visions of him in the rotation.
In any case, it was nice to see him get in right away and to succeed in a game that was still very much in doubt.
Continue reading Winning makes me smile
I’m not going to be doing game thread’s on a regular basis this season. However, opening day is a special occasion. Feel free to post any thoughts about the game in the comments.
I’m heading home from work early to enjoy the game with my family. I planned on breaking out a bunch of junk food as a special treat. Unfortunately the stomach flu has wreaked havoc on the kids this weekend. Instead of hot dogs and pretzels they’ll be enjoying traditional ballpark foods like Saltines and Jello.
Do you have any special plans for today, or do you save it all up for the home opener?