Category Archives: 2007 Season

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 6/27/07

Ottawa 2 Toledo 5
Ramon Santiago had 3 more hits and is now hitting .271. Kevin Hooper and Timo Perez each had 2hits. Jack hannahan had a single and 2 walks. Ron Chiavacci went 7 innings allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, no walks, and 4 K’s. Zach Miner threw a perfect inning of relief and appears ready to come off the DL.

Erie 2 Bowie 1
Mike Hollimon had 2 hits. Clete Thomas singled and had 2 walks. Jair Jurrjens allowed a run in the first, but was otherwise untouchable for 7 1/3 innings with only 5 hits allowed, no walks, and 9 K’s.

Lakeland 2 Jupiter 9
Wilkin Ramirez was 2 for 3 with a walk and his 22nd stolen base. Cameron Maybin went 1 for 4. Chris Cody lasted 4 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 3 K’s.

Lansing 1 West Michigan 4
Audy Ciriaco hit his 4th homer. Scott Sizemore singled, doubled, and walked. Jeramy Laster was 2 for 3. Lauren Gagnier went 7 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 5 K’s.

Oneonta 6 Vermont 2
Mark Brackman started and went 4 2/3 innigns allowing no runs on 5 hits and 3 K’s. Justin Henry doubled, singled, and walked. Kody Kaiser was 1 for 2 with 3 walks. Cory MIddleton had 3 hits.

GCL Tigers 7 GCL Braves 3
Carlos Ramirez had 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Joaquin Guzman went 2 for 4, as did Brent Clevlen. Eleazar Aponte allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 K’s over 5 innings.

Minors News

Matt has done a great job rounding up all the minor league transactions.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 77: Rangers at Tigers

30 Comments

PREGAME: Time to get rid of that case of the uglies that the Tigers have picked up since returning home. Kenny Rogers will try to replicate his debut outing in Atlanta. Meanwhile the Tigers will try to replicate their last effort against Kevin MIllwood.

Marcus Thames is in for Craig Monroe today and Neifi Perez is playing for Placido Polanco.

For more see: TEX @ DET, Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTPONED – Sept 11th make up as a day-night doubleheader

2007 Season

Of Mountains and Molehills

11 Comments

Where I overreact and overthink a couple of topics…

Maggs the spray hitter?

Not that I’m complaining about a guy who is leading the all the Majors in hitting, but do you think that Ordonez is focusing on going for the batting title? His last 8 hits have all been singles, and it seems the majority are to right field. He hasn’t hit a homer since June 2nd. In his last 13 games he only has 4 extra base hits. Let me emphasize again I’m not complaining, over those same 13 games he’s batting .438 and has an OBP of .518 which is quite awesome. I just wonder if he’s looking for singles, a la Placido Polanco, instead of looking to turn on the ball. Then again, it could just be he’s taking what the opposition is giving as well.

Andrew Miller’s Inning Limit

I heard back from the Tigers, and Andrew Miller doesn’t have an innings limit this year. Jim Leyland said it’s too early in the season to get into a discussion about an innings limit, but they’ll continue to monitor him as they do with all pitchers.

I know that there is mixed opinion about pitcher’s workload and corresponding injury risk so I won’t even take the discussion that way. I’ll just remind everyone about Justin Verlander fatiguing down the stretch last year. And Verlander had a full year of professional ball as a starter under his belt.

Interleague thumping

When I thought about how the Central might shake out this year, I didn’t really know which of the 4 teams would end up on top, but I was sure that the division wouldn’t have 3 90 game winners in it. I also thought that the division winner would be right around 90 wins. I thought this because a)there wouldn’t be as many wins against the Indians this year by divisional foes and b)it would be a tougher run through the NL.

Well, the White Sox look to be supplanting the Indians as the 2nd team to beat up on so point A may be a wash. However, the Tigers went out and beat up on the NL 14-4 which was just a shade under the 16-2 mark they posted last year. So maybe they can get back to 95 wins.

Strongest division

I really think all the talk about the AL Central being the toughest division is highly misplaced. The AL Central boasts only the 3rd and 4th best teams in the league. The White Sox are closer to last than 3rd and the Twins are flirting with .500.

I’m thinking if you look west, and to the NL, that’s where things are the most interesting. Sure, their division leading Diamondbacks have only outscored their opponents by 1 run so there is some luck involved. But the division has 4 teams that are .500 or better, and their 5th team has only been outscored by 16 runs on the season. If it’s not the strongest, it’s certainly the most complete.

All Star Voting

Tigers fans have certainly been stuffing the ballot boxes and it’s been great. Magglio Ordonez finally jumped into the top 3 (but the lead is slim so don’t think the work is done) and Gary Sheffield is at 5. Placido Polanco probably isn’t the most deserving second baseman, which is probably Brian Roberts, but he’s a respectable choice. But come on Tigers fans, Sean Casey 3rd? Craig Monroe 15th? I’m all about supporting the hometown guys, and giving the preference among some tough choices to your guy is fine. But I’m not a big fan of blatant blind voting.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 76: Rangers at Tigers

117 Comments

PREGAME: Hopefull it’s a bounce back night, both for the Tigers who played a clunker last night, and Nate Robertson who returns to the rotation after a stint on the DL and a really bad month of May. Nate’s last start was against the Rangers when he allowed 6 runs without retiring a batter. I bet he does better tonight.

The Tigers will face Willie Eyre who was moved from the bullpen to start in place of the injured Vincente Padilla.

For more stats see: TEX @ DET, Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME: I thought I’d go to bed and wake up in a better mood. Didn’t happen. It’s amazing how 2 really poorly played games can wipe out the good will from an 8-1 road trip. The bullpen was awful again, and made worse by fielding gaffes.

Todd Jones and Mike Rabelo had a conference between every single pitch, and still couldn’t get the signs right which is the excuse for the 0-2 fastball to Sammy Sosa. Jones wasn’t supposed to throw the pitch in that spot, but he’d have to throw a pitch at some point. No word on what happened on the Marlon Byrd triple or the Ramon Vasquez single.

2007 Season, Injuries

Rodney DL’d again

4 Comments

Well, that’s one way to make room for Nate Robertson. Fernando Rodney is headed to the DL with shoulder tendinitis.

Rodney was on the DL a month ago with what was described as right biceps tendinitis. He came back in two weeks, and he has pitched eight times since then with mixed results. His velocity has remained inconsistent, and when Rodney reported this week that he was feeling some stiffness in his right forearm in addition to the tightness in his shoulder, the Tigers sent him for an MRI. The MRI showed no serious problems, but the doctors diagnosed tendinitis and recommended that Rodney go 10 days without throwing.

I imagine so combination of Bobby Seay, Chad Durbin, and Tim Byrdak will assume 8th inning duties with a chance of Eulogio De La Cruz.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/25/07

Indianapolis 1 Toledo 9
Ramon Santiago had a 3 hit game. Mike Hessman was 2 for 2 with 3 walks. Chris Shelton and Jack Hannahan each had 2 hit, 1 walk games. Yorman Bazardo started and pitched 7 shutout innings allowing only 4 hits and a walk against 3 K’s.

Trenton 4 Erie 5
Jeff Larish has been struggling, but he did knock his 13th homer as part of a 2 for 4 day. Andrew Kown allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings. Roman Colon allowed a homer and 3 runs in 2 innings.

Brevard County 3 Lakeland 8
Michael Hernandez hoemred and drove in 4 runs. Cameron Maybin tripled and singled. Justin Justice added hits and a walk. Lucas French allowed 10 hits in 6 innings, but only 3 of those came around to score and only 1 was earned. Ricky Steik pitched 3 scoreless innings for the save.

Lansing 4 West Michigan 5
Deik Scram, Jeramy Laster, James Skelton, and Audy Ciriaco all had 2 hit games. Laster and Brennan Boesch homered. Jonah Nickerson allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 K’s in 6 innings.

Oneonta 3 Vermont 5
Kody Kaiser was 3 for 4 with including a double and a walk. Ronnie Bourquin added 3 hits. Paul Nardozzi allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 4 innings with no walks and 3 K’s.

GCL Indinas 4 GCL Tigers 2
Brandon Harrigan picked up 2 of only 3 hits on the night for the Tigers.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 75: Rangers at Tigers

36 Comments

PREGAME: The Tigers return home for the next couple weeks after getting through a 9 game DH-less stint with an 8-1 record.

The Tigers have struggled in the game after Sunday night games, what with getting in late and quite frankly probably being sleepy. But this time they are coming home, and it was a shorter flight, and they didn’t change time zones. So it might not be so bad.

They’ll face Kameron Loe who they saw a couple weeks ago, and knocked out with 9 runs in 2 2/3 innings. In his next start he threw 8 shutout innings against the Pirates and turned in a quality start in his last turn against the Cubs.

Jeremy Bonderman looks to extend his unbeaten streak. He’s had the benefit of some good offense his last few times out. Bonderman hasn’t recorded an out beyond the 6th inning since his first start back from the DL on May 24th.

The real question though is what Tiger will start padding his resume for player of the week honors. There’s pressure to keep it going with Carlos Guillen being the 3rd Tiger in as many weeks to pick up the award.

For more see: TEX @ DET, Monday, June 25, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: All good things must come to an end, and the winning streak is toast. I’ll give credit to the Rangers, they got in later than the Tigers this morning, and put a thumping on them. The team just looked out of sync all game. There were only a handful of hard hit balls for the Tigers. And early threats were squandered.

Jeremy Bonderman wasn’t sharp. His final numbers look okay, but he was all over with his control, especially on a routine throw to first. Eulogio De La Cruz had even more trouble and turned it into a blow out.

Jim Leyland was overmanaging early on. He had Sean Casey steal with a full count to Monroe. He sac bunted Brandon Inge in the second inning, playing for small ball with a big ball offense.

Alas, the streak is over. But at least Granderson got a triple…

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/24/07

Indianapolis 6 Toledo 7
It was a walk off win for the Mud Hens with Jack Hannahan singling home 2 runs with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Mike Hessman hit his 22nd homer and Ryan Raburn added 2 doubles. Virgil Vasquez was knocked around for 6 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks, and only 1 strikeout in 6 2/3 innings.

Trenton 3 Erie 5
Mike Hollimon was 2 for 4 with a homer. Clete Thomas and Matt Joyce also had 2 hit games. Matt Righter started and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings. Kevin Ardoin pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Brevard County 9 Lakeland 3
Wilkin Ramirez homered and walked. Joel Roa added 2 hits, and that was about it for the offense. Kyle Sleeth allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, in 4 innings.

West Michigan 4 Dayton 0
Scott Sizemore was 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and a walk. Matt O’Brien pitched 7 shut out innings on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 K’s. Casey Fien pitched 2 hitless innings for his 4th save.

Tri-City 6 Oneonta 3
Ronnie Bourquin and Casper Wells each had 2 hits. Alfredo Figaro allowed 6 runs on 7 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

GCL Tigers – DNP

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 74: Tigers at Braves

42 Comments

PREGAME: The Tigers and Braves take center stage on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. This hasn’t worked too well this year, and with tonight’s tilt coming at the end of a 9 game road trip it wouldn’t surprise me to see the team struggle.

For the Tigers it will be Andrew Miller who looks to hold down an offense that has mustered 1 run in the last 4 games. Hopefully that number stays meager for at least one more night.

The Tigers will be opposed by Chuck James. James has decent peripherals, but a propensit for allowing the long ball with 14 in 81 innings.

Omar Infante will start in center and leadoff against the lefthander. Interesting to note that despite plans to get Craig Monroe into the lineup in NL parks by having him man centerfield on occasion, that never came to fruition.

For more see: DET @ ATL, Sunday, June 24, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:05

2007 Season

The 4th inning

6 Comments

Billfer note: Commenter Sam has been breaking the season down into 18 game chunks – because 18 games is 1/9th of the season. So each chunk is an inning of the season you see? He’s been leaving these in the comments, and really it deserves more. So without further ado: The 4th inning by Sam.

The 4th Inning is over.

Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record so far in each Inning:

Inn	W-L	RS-RA	HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG	ST-W-L-IP-ERA	RE-W-L-S-ERA
1	10-8	86-79	17-9-235/313/380	5-2-110.2-3.66	5-6-8-4.68
2	13-5	112-97	23-10-308/377/518	9-3-102.1-4.84	4-2-8-5.03
3	7-11	110-96	26-7-310/364/517	7-7-110.2-3.99	0-4-3-7.80
4	13-5	136-75	20-5-324/390/508	13-4-103-4.37	0-1-2-3.47

I have added stats to each inning. ST is the starters, RE is relievers. I will talk more about the pitching later.

The offense averaged 7.6 runs/game. They hit double digits 5 times (15,15,12,11,10). Magglio hit 1-18-.476/.558/.635 (7 doubles). Sheff was 5-19-.385/.474/.708. Guillen was a quiet 5-15-.319/.373/.702. INGE was 3-18-.364/.446/.600 as he should thank God he broke his toe which kept him from over striding. Heck even Neifi was over .200 (.217/.280/.261). The only issue is the Monroe/Thames twins who were a combined 2-13-.230/.256/.356. Their AB’s were limited by a lot of games in NL parks.

I was surprised as anyone by the relievers having a better ERA than the starters. It is kind of funny how the pen had 0 wins (only 1 loss) and 2 saves. In the First inning the pen had 11 out of 18 decisions and 8 saves. The last reliever to get a win was Jose Mesa on May 5 against KC (43 games ago). Another interesting note is that after playing extra innings in 7 of their first 20 games, the Tigers haven’t played one since.

The starter’s ERA was negatively effected by Nate’s performance in Texas on June 5 (6er with no outs). Take away that performance and the starters had a 3.84 era. Verlander led the starters (3-0-1.23). Bonderman was 4-0 but had a 5.70 era. Durbin was 2-2-4.30. Maroth was 2-0 with a 4.24 era but had 32 runners in 17 innings (with 0 Hrs). Andrew Miller split his 2 starts with a 5.56 era.

Out of the pen the Tigers got perfect performances from unlikely sources as Seay, Miner, DLC, and Lopez combined for 12 scoreless innings. Grilli had a 2.08 era in 13 innings. The only relievers over 5 were Ledezma (5.14 in 7 innings) and Rodney (8.10 in 6.1 innings allowing 14 runners!!)

As you can see a 13-5 inning is an impressive performance. The run differential is staggering. The next inning will feature a 13 game homestand with tougher competition (but the Tigers have been better on the road). 10-12 wins in the 5th inning would make me happy.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6/23/07

Indianapolis 3 Toledo 4
Ramon Santiago has been hitting well lately and added a 4 for 4 night. Chris Shelton hit his 6th homer. Corey Hamman started and allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 1 walk, and 4 K’s.

Trenton 2 Erie 7
Clete Thomas was 3 for 4 with a homer and a walk plus 3 stolen bases. Jackson Melian had 2 homers and a walk. Eddie Bonine allowed just an unearned run on 3 hits and no walks over 7 innings. Zach Miner made his second rehab appearance and allowed a run on 2 hits and a walk in 1 inning. Randor Bierd added a scoreless inning.

Brevard County 5 Lakeland 13
A whole lot of offense in this one with Max Leon, Mike Hernandez, and Ryan Roberson all with 3 hit games. Wilkin Ramirez homered, singled, and walked and is now hitting 275/308/439. Cameron Maybin doulbed and walked twice. Angel Castro allowed 10 hits and 3 walks for 5 runs in 6 innings.

West Michigan 4 Dayton 3
Gorkys Hernandez and Lou Ott each had 3 hits. James Skelton continued his hot hitting with 2 hits. Ramon Garcia allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, a walk, and 6 K’s. Ed Clelland pitched 3 hitless innings of relief for the win.

Oneonta 3 Tri-City 2
Mike Sullivan and Chris Carlson each doubles, singled, and walked. Kody Kaiser was finally held hitless with an 0 for 5 4 K night. Guillermo Moscoso fanned 5 while allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. Noah Krol went 1 1/3 with a K for his second save.

GCL Tigers 3 GCL Indians 4
I think Brent Clevlen should be ready to rejoin Toledo soon.. He doubled and homered. Roger Tomas and Kyle Peter each had 2 hits.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 73: Tigers at Braves

51 Comments

PREGAME: And all of a sudden the Tigers have a 5 game win streak. What may be most remarkable, and some kind of record, is that in each of those games, the Tigers have had an inning in which they’ve batted around (or Tiger’d around as my 6 year old son calls it). Five straight games sending 9 men to the plate in an inning.

Today is a Fox “National” game in which only a quarter of the country gets it. That quarter will get to see Justin Verlander in his 2nd game removed from his no hitter.

The Tigers will be opposed by Kyle Davies. Davies has a 5.65 ERA. He’s allowed 10 homers in 71 2/3 innings and he walks a batter every other inning.

For more relevant stats: DET @ ATL, Saturday, June 23, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game time 3:55

POSTGAME: After spending the last month bludgeoning teams into submission, the Tigers tore a page out of the 2006 playbook. A solo homer backed a great starting effort while the bullpen made a narrow margin stand up.

It was the first game the Tigers have won this year when they’ve scored fewer than 3 runs. They won 10 such games last year, and 6 at this point in the season. Then again, the Tigers offense has only failed to muster 2 or fewer runs 11 times this year. Last year it happened 38 times, and 17 at this point in the season.

Justin Verlander has turned himself into the strikeout pitcher that we all thought he could be with 29K’s in his last 22 innings. Like the no-hitter, he had command of 3 pitches, and against a struggling offense he had an easy time of it.

Tim Byrdak surrendered a leadoff double, but retired the next batter and Fernando Rodney retired the next two batters without drama. Todd Jones pitched well in the 9th keeping the ball on the edges of the strike zone and the only blemish was a 2 out full count walk to Andruw Jones. That’s 4 routine nights from the pen in a row, and the results is a 6 game winning streak.

Tigers 2 Braves 1