Category Archives: 2008 Season

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 85: Tigers at Mariners

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PREGAME: Losing streaks aren’t any fun. So let’s keep this one to just two games okay? The Tigers face Carlos Silva which has been good for Detroit this year with the 4.2 innings in his 2 starts and 14 runs.

The Tigers send out Justin Verlander who has been a)striking out more people as of late, b)walking quite a few, and c)racking up big pitch counts. Verlander threw 118 and 115 pitches in his last 2 starts and didn’t make it through the 6th in either. In fact Verlander has broken the 110 pitch mark in 5 of his last 7 starts.

Miguel Cabrera is back in the lineup, but Marcus Thames sits in favor of one of Matt Joyce or Clete Thomas. I’m not a fan of Joyce hitting between Cabrera and Sheffield and I’m not a fan of Thames sitting. But the Tigers actually have more lefties than righties in the lineup tonight.

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Guillen, 3B
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Joyce, RF
  6. Sheffield, DH
  7. Thomas, LF
  8. Rodriguez, C
  9. Hollimon, SS

DET @ SEA, Thursday, July 3, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 10:10

POSTGAME: This one didn’t start out so pretty. Carlos Silva got outs. Justin Verlander needed 25 pitches in the first inning. But things worked themselves out as the night wore on.

The Tigers started hitting line drives off of Carlos Silva and strung enough of them together to score in 4 consecutive innings starting in the 3rd. Justin Verlander continued to struggle with his command, but somehow made it through 6 innings and he kept the Mariners off the board.

  • Some dumb blogger complained about Matt Joyce and his position in the lineup. Of course Joyce gets player of the game honors with 2 doubles and 2 singles.
  • Mike Hollimon gets his first homer and first on field post-game interview and there’s no shaving cream treatment? Disappointing. This team has no chemistry (I’m kidding).
  • I’m a little worried about Justin Verlander’s workload this year. He’s averaging the most pitches per game in the bigs. I don’t feel he’s been abused, but there is talk of moving Verlander up with the off day next week. An extra day of rest might not hurt. This is 3 consecutive games where he hasn’t had real good command. I don’t know if there is a fatigue issue, but it is something to consider.
  • Todd Jones=not good tonight. What was supposed to be an inning of work turned into 24 pitches of hell.
  • Joel Zumaya=good tonight. A couple of hits, but both were weak. Thirteen pitches and nine for strikes. Can’t complain about that.
  • Very nice defense by Clete Thomas. A couple nice catches and an outfield assist.
2008 Season, Roster Management

Miner leaguer

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Zach Miner paid the price for a 4 walk effort on Tuesday night with an assignment to Toledo. Aquilino Lopez who was being stretched out as a starter has been recalled to provide a strike thrower in the pen.

Both moves are warranted, but my first thought when hearing of this was Denny Bautista. The Tigers thought they were better off ditching Bautista than optioning Miner or other optionable pitchers.

Bautista isn’t going to make or break this team so I don’t want to make too much of it. And his qualifications as a strike thrower were dubious at best. I just don’t understand what changed that dramatically that Miner couldn’t be sent down 2 weeks ago.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 84: Tigers at Twins

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PREGAME: Minimalist preview today. For the series win it’s Eddie Bonine and Nick Blackburn. Factoid of the day on opposing pitcher: big reverse platoon splits for Blackburn with 10 of 11 homers allowed coming from righties.

DET @ MIN, Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:10

POSTGAME: Minimalist postgame today. I missed this one completely. Couldn’t even listen in at all. And given a quick perusal of the box score it didn’t seem worth watching the archived version. I guess the Tigers were due for a series loss, and to lose back to back games, and at some point a crippled lineup wasn’t going to be able to piece together rallies, and a rookie pitcher was going to struggle. On to Seattle.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 7-1-08

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Toledo 7 Columbus 9
Jeff Larish homered and walked. Brent Clevlen singled and tripled. Yorman Bazardo was rocked for 7 runs on 7 hits and 5 walks in 4.1 innings.

Akron 9 Erie 1
Dusty Ryan walked and homered driving in the only Erie run. Danny Christensen gave up 8 runs in 4.1 innings.

Lakeland 5 Clearwater 6
Ryan Strieby hit his 11th homer. Cale Iorg went 2 for 5. Jeramy Laster had a single and 2 walks. Both Iorg and Laster stole 2 bases as well. Jonah Nickerson didn’t make it out of the first inning before surrendering 4 unearned runs on a hit and 3 walks.

Fort Wayne 4 West Michigan 9
Hayden Parrott was a double short of the cycle. Audy Ciriaco walked twice and homered. Alfredo Figaro struck out 5 and walked 1 in allowing 3 runs in 6 innings.

Oneonta 0 Lowell 3
Joe Bowen reached base 3 times on 2 walks and a single. Matt Hoffman pitched 4.2 innings of relief and the only hit allowed was a homer while fanning 5 and walking 1.

GCL Tigers – box not available.

2008 Season

Pinch me

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When a team puts together an 18-4 type run, usually said team is doing it by playing well and getting some breaks. Some of those breaks the Tigers have been getting of late have come in the form of pinch hitters.

The Tigers have used pinch hitters 26 times this season and are hitting a robust 435/440/913 in those situations. That’s good, but like so many of the Tigers other stats they look a whole lot better when you look at the month of June.

In 11 June pinch hitting plate appearances the Tigers are 6 for 9 with a walk and a sacrifice fly. Of those hits 2 were homers, 1 was a triple, and 1 was a double. Three of the plate appearances gave the Tigers the lead and 2 tied the score. Yes small sample size and unsustainable production and so forth. But there is no denying the Tigers made the most of some high leverage opportunities.

And what makes it even more amazing is that only one of those 9 plate appearances came from what you’d consider a starter. It’s Jeff Larish and Ryan Raburn and Mike Hollimon, and Clete Thomas, and Matt Joyce getting it done.

Now Jim Leyland I guess deserves a little credit for “pushing the right buttons” but the decisions have largely been elementary. Yesterday Clete Thomas was forced in for an injured Miguel Cabrera. And 9 of the PA’s came in NL parks where it was mostly a matter of hitting for a pitcher.

But there are two of the situations where Leyland had a choice, and made the correct one. Of course there was last night where Leyland went with the platoon advantage and sent in Matt Joyce over Ryan Raburn. The other was a tougher call where he sent in Marcus Thames as a platoon partner for a hot Curtis Granderson. That was of course successful when Thames hit a 2 run go ahead homer.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 83: Tigers at Twins

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PREGAME: I’ll be honest with you. Going into this series I didn’t have big demands. As long as the Tigers didn’t get swept, I figured things would be okay. However, with that requirement out of the way I’m going to greedy and ask for a series win.

Tonight it will be Nate Robertson taking on Scott Baker. With the lefty on the mound today there is no Joe Mauer or Jason Kubel for the Twins.

Baker is riding a 4 game quality start streak, but he’s racked up pitch counts of over 100 by the sixth inning in each of the last 3. That typically isn’t a problem for him against the Tigers who seem to swing early and often against Baker. Baker sports a 2.28 ERA at home with only 2 of his 10 homers allowed at the Metrodome. Miguel Cabrera is out of the lineup so it will be Grandy in center and kids on the corners.

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Guillen, 3B
  4. Thames, 1B
  5. Joyce, RF
  6. Sheffield, DH
  7. Thomas, LF
  8. Renteria, SS
  9. Rodriguez, C

Expect the Twins to test Marcus Thames at first base with a handful of bunts.
DET @ MIN, Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Well, the defense was good. The Tigers turned 5 double plays, including 3 in the first 3 innings. Clete Thomas chipped in a nice diving catch on a foul ball. Of course there were plenty of opportunities for double plays because Nate Robertson (and later Zach Miner) was pretty awful. It was the first time this year that Robertson didn’t make it through 5 and the first time he allowed more than 5. He basically pitched from the stretch all night.

Meanwhile Scott Baker was quite good. He seemingly was ahead of most Tigers hitters either 0-2 or 1-2 and that’s a tough way to hit. It explains why the Tigers were probably going after so many first pitches. From a pitch count stand point that made Baker work, but that’s because they were missing or fouling off those first pitches.

The Tigers got decent middle of the order production with multi hit games for Guillen, Thames, and Sheffield. But run scoring was limited because Granderson and Polanco combined to never reach base.

But all good things must come to an end. Time for a new winning streak tomorrow.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 6-30-08

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Toledo 6 Columbus 4
Erick Almonte was the star tonight with a 3 for 4 night including 2 doubles. Timo Perez added a homer and a walk. Lauren Gagnier fanned 6 and walked 2 allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. Francisco Cruceta allowed an unearned run in 1.2 innings fanning 2.

Akron 6 Erie 5
Kody Kirkland continued to hit with a 2 for 3 night and a walk. Wil Rhymes homered, singled, and walked. Ben Fritz was knocked around for 6 runs in 6 innings with 7 hits and 3 walks.

Lakeland – still sleeping off the 20 inning game from last night.

Lansing 4 West Michigan 0 (10 innings)
Jordan Newton had half of the Whitecaps hits with 2. Mauricio Robles pitched 7 shut out innings. Andrew Hess followed with 2 of his own before 4 unearned runs scored in the 10th.

Oneonta 2 Lowell 14
I’m sure the O-Tigs were thrilled to resume this one. There’s nothing to see here.

Oneonta 2 Lowell 1
David Stokes allowed an unearned run in 5 no-hit innings with 7 K’s. Anthony Shawler and Tyler Stohr each pitched perfect innings to preserve the 7 inning no hitter. Ben Guez doubled twice and walked.

GCL Phillies 1 GCL Tigers 0
Alexis Esponiza had 1 of the 3 Tigers hits. Jordan Tata is pitching at rookie ball which is just really sad. He can’t find the plate anymore. He allowed 3 walks in 2.2 innings. Victor Larez allowed an unearned run in 6.1 innings while fanning 4 and walking 1.

2008 Season, Injuries

Hey look, more injured Tigers

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So Miguel Cabrera slides into the clean-up spot with Magglio Ordonez hitting the disabled list. And promptly gets hurt himself. The diagnosis is hip flexor and the duration is day-to-day.

To add injury to injury, Pudge Rodriguez has spent the entire game grimacing and moving as if he is also in pain. This included a brief visit from trainer Kevin Rand early in the game.

Yeah, the kids have provided a nice lift filling it, but this is taking things to extremes.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 82: Tigers at Twins

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PREGAME: The Tigers and Twins with their records sufficiently padded against the NL, will do battle tonight in the Metrodome. The Tigers will be without Magglio Ordonez. But the Twins placed their right fielder on the DL yesterday as well. Of course Michael Cuddyer is hitting 252/324/376 this year so it isn’t really a fair trade off.

The Twins of course are one of the hottest teams in baseball and had a 10 game win streak snapped on Saturday. Somehow the Twins are scoring at the same rate as the Tigers. I say somehow because while the Twins have an above average batting average they have a below average OBP and as a team they are only slugging .399. In other words they are giving up 50 points of OPS to the Tigers. Their secret is a .313 batting average with runners in scoring position. That leads the AL by a ton with the White Sox second at .284.

As for the Twins pitching staff, they aren’t helped by their below average defense. Opponents are slugging .440 against the Twins which is highest in the league and they have a pretty pedestrian 5.7 K/9. But they are a half walk better per game in not allowing free passes than the next best team.

The pitching match-up tonight is lefty Glen Perkins and righty Armando Galarraga. Galarraga will be facing the Twins for the 3rd time after losing the first two match-ups. He’s also coming off his roughest start of the season. Glenn Perkins has allowed 3 runs in each of his last 4 starts, but the length of said starts ranged from 5 to 8 innings.

For more on the Twins check out Seth Speaks, Stick and Ball Guy, and Twins Geek and Twins Territory.

DET @ MIN, Monday, June 30, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: I think this is the definition of “gutting one out.” This game was a lot of ugly for the first 6 innings of this game from a Tigers standpoint. Armando Galarraga was pitching pretty well, but was getting little defensive support. There were 3 errors and a misplayed ball by Ryan Raburn. The Tigers also failed to cash in on an early 2nd and 3rd – 1 out situation. And they lost their clean-up hitter to injury. Yet some late inning magic leaves the orange and blue striped protagonists feeling good.

A one out single by Curtis Granderson (2 more hits off of a south paw tonight for Grandy) in the 7th mercifully chased Glen Perkins and the Tigers got busy on the parade of arms brought out of the Twins bullpen.

Matt Joyce came off the bench and tripled in the tying run in the 7th inning continuing the string of big freakin’ clutch hits from players on loan from the Mud Hens. And it was Granderson picking up his 3rd hit (which pushed his average over .300) to give the team the lead.

It was a very nice performance from the Tigers bullpen with Casey Fossum retiring 4 batters and Joel Zumaya pitching under some duress after a couple cheap hits in the 9th to get the 1.2 inning save.

2008 Season, Injuries

Contagious oblique spasms land Ordonez on DL

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Magglio Ordonez hits the disabled list with oblique issues. He joins Gary Sheffield and Brandon Inge to become the 3rd Tiger forced out of action by oblique issues. Whether this is a random clustering of bad luck, or an issue with the training regimen remains to be seen. Given that the Javair Gillete has been in charge of strength and conditioning the last several years without this being a recurring problem points me towards bad luck. But it is something worth monitoring and I’m sure it will be addressed.

As for the replacement, it will be Matt Joyce. The Tigers should still have enough pop in their lineup without Magglio, especially if Gary Sheffield can get going and Miguel Cabrera can get his numbers closer to his career line. But this unquestionably weakens the team as they play 7 of the next 13 games against the Twins.

The timing of the injury, aside from the Twins thing, is actually fortuitous. With an off day coming up next week and the All Star Break the following week, Ordonez could get 18 days of rest and only miss 13 games.

2008 Season

Dontrelle Willis makes Lakeland Debut

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Dontrelle Willis, optioned to the minors a couple weeks ago, made his first appearance for the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The results, at least from looking at the game log, were mixed were mixed.

Willis ended up walking 3 in his two innings of work. His first inning was messy with a hit and a run mixed in. But in his second inning he retired the next 3 hitters after a leadoff walk. It wasn’t the dominant outing that you hope for, but I don’t know that it is was a disaster either.

Daytona Top 7th

  • Pitcher Change: Dontrelle Willis replaces Duane Below.
  • Blake Lalli grounds out, shortstop Cale Iorg to first baseman Michael Bertram.
  • Robinson Chirinos walks.
  • Steve Clevenger singles on a ground ball to left fielder Pedro Cotto. Robinson Chirinos to 2nd.
  • Ryan Harvey walks. Robinson Chirinos to 3rd. Steve Clevenger to 2nd.
  • Russ Canzler flies into a force out, right fielder Brennan Boesch to shortstop Cale Iorg. Robinson Chirinos scores. Steve Clevenger to 3rd. Ryan Harvey out at 2nd. Russ Canzler to 1st.
  • Darwin Barney grounds into a force out, shortstop Cale Iorg to second baseman Carmelo Jaime. Russ Canzler out at 2nd.

Daytona Top 8th

  • Jonathan Mota walks.
  • James Adduci pops out to catcher James Skelton in foul territory.
  • Ty Wright flies out to left fielder Pedro Cotto.
  • Blake Lalli flies out to left fielder Pedro Cotto.
2008 Season, Game Post

Game 81: Rockies at Tigers

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PREGAME: Ah, good old game 81. The halfway point in the season. The point at which we can just multiply everything by 2 to see how the final numbers will look.

The Tigers try to close out the first half in style by capping a sweep of the Rockies. They’ll be going up against Greg Reynolds. Reynolds has some pretty scary peripherals. He’s given up 10 homers in 50.2 innings, which is almost as many guys as he’s struck out (15). That could be helpful as the Tigers trot out a lineup that most likely won’t have Magglio Ordonez or Pudge Rodriguez.

For the Tigers it will be Kenny Rogers. He was on the hill for their last loss, the series opener against the Cardinals. Rogers had trouble with his command and seemed to labor through his 5.1 innings.

Angel Hernandez will be the home plate umpire which should lead to lots of frustration for everyone. I’ll be listening to this one on the radio as I head back from Indianapolis, which may be for the best.

COL @ DET, Sunday, June 29, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME: I listened to the first 8 innings of this one. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised when Dan and Jim were reporting that both umpires were upset with Angel Hernandez before the first innning had finished. By all accounts Kenny Rogers didn’t have an easy time of things, and From the Copa’s labeling of Rogers outing as Rasputin-esque seems accurate.

The Tigers offense were warming up for a rout in the first inning before things got tricky. Hits were abundant, but they were all singles save for a check swing double from Hollimon. That is until Dane Sardhina came up with his first big league hit, a 2 run triple. I have to admit I was wondering why Leyland wasn’t pinch hitting.

And props to Todd Jones. Leyland stuck his neck out running him out there 18 hours after Jones was rocked for 4 runs by the same team. Okay, maybe it was a stupid move. But Jones delivered a 1-2-3 inning bringing the first half of the season to a pleasant conclusion.
OOPS UPDATE: How did I forget the 2 innings that Freddy Dolsi pitched? The New Sexy, Freddy Solid, pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 strike outs. I had been lamenting his lack of K-ness of late and the trifecta today were his first since June 10th.