Category Archives: 2008 Season

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Warp 5-16-08

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Toledo 3 Durham 9
It wasn’t a good night for Virgil Vasquez who allowed 6 runs on 3 homers in just 3 innings. Yorman Bazardo came on in relief and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 4.1 innings while fanning 5 and walking none. And in an odd night, Hessman, Larish, and Hollimon didn’t homer. But Erick Almonte did.

Erie – PPD

Dunedin 1 Lakeland 4
Rick Porcello went 5.2 innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s. Brennan Boesch had a 3 hit game while Cale Iorg and Scott Sizemore had 2 hit games. Jeramy Laster homered and singled.

Lansing 3 West Michigan 6
Joe Tucker had 3 hits. Audy Ciriaco and Justin Henry had 2 hits each. Alredo Figaro allowed 3 runs on 6 hitsand 3 walks while fanning 5.

Lansing 5 West Michigan 0
Only 3 hits for the Whitecaps in this half of the DH. Manny Miguelez didn’t make it out of the first inning surrendering 4 runs and only recording 2 outs.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 42: Tigers at Diamondbacks

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PREGAME: Frequently fans will complain when their struggling team has to go take on the best team in the league. I say bring on the Diamondbacks. It’s not like Arizona is going to “cool-off” Detroit. Might as well play them now because it doesn’t actually matter who the Tigers play given their recent production.

The 0-4 skid is awful. Maybe it’s a case of booty tightness that can only be remedied by a visit from Jason Giambi’s thong supplier. (I’ve been waiting all afternoon to write that)

As for the match-up, it will be Dan Haren for the Diamondbacks and Jeremy Bonderman for the Tigers. We’ll see if Bonderman will be more willing to come inside, or if he’s staying away because he’s lost 2.5 mph on his fastball.

As for Haren, he’s been awesome per usual fanning 4 for every guy he walks and only allowing 4 homers in 50.1 innings this year. And at home opponents have mustered only a .518 OPS though Haren has benefited from an unsustainable .227 batting average on balls in play.

The first pitch is pretty important in general, but the numbers are remarkable for Haren. Batters who see a first pitch ball post a 854 OPS but those who see a first pitch strike manage only a .327. The Tigers have been fairly passive on first pitch strikes this year and it will be interesting to see if they deviate in their game plan to be more aggressive.

DET @ ARI, Friday, May 16, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 9:40

POSTGAME: How do they lose thee? Let me count the ways…

Once again it was another game that flat out blew, and it’s not like the Diamondbacks played well. What team successfully sacrifice bunted leading to one of those manufactured runs? The Tigers. What team failed to properly execute a sac bunt leading to an out at third? The Diamondbacks.

What team made a big baserunning gaffe on a missed bunt attempt? The Diamondbacks.

I don’t want to hear how they did it the right way. The Diamondbacks won because the Tigers once again completely broke down in the field. A lazy effort on a foul pop up by Miguel Cabrera wasn’t costly, but Carlos Guillen and Edgar Renteria failing to call for a foul pop ended up costing Bonderman big. And to cap it off Guillen bounced a routine throw to first which plated the losing run.

It was a punch in the gut killing a team that had otherwise played a decent game. Miguel Cabrera hit a 2 run homer which was the first homer the Tigers hit with someone on base since May 1st and the first homer by a right hander since May 2nd.

Jeremy Bonderman was awesome and deserved a better fate than 3 runs in 6 innings. He was pitching to both sides of the strike zone and mixing his pitching well. Yet he has a very generic no decision quality start to show for it.

This season and this game somehow simultaneously blows and sucks.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 41: Tigers at Royals

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PREGAME: Kenny rogers hopes to not be the latest pitcher to receive no run support and Gil Meche will look to extend the Tigers 16 inning scoreless streak. I wish I had something more encouraging to say.

DET @ KCR, Thursday, May 15, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 2:10

POSTGAME: Umm. Again, not a lot to say. I listened to most of this game and it sounded by Dan and Jim’s call that some bad pitching was compounded by some bad luck. Once again stuff happened to the Tigers instead of the Tigers happening to another team. They managed some extra base hits later in the game, but when given a chance to actually climb back in they failed.

Kenny Rogers walked in a run which was the 8th time a Tigers pitcher has done that this year. Last year it happened a total of 9 times. What’s disappointing is that looking at the strike zone (the graphic below is Granderson leading off the game, those strikes were all called), in this game it should have played to Kenny’s strengths. Strikes were being called outside off the plate, but Rogers couldn’t take advantage.

I’m just speechless.

2008 Season, Injuries

Leyland abandons logic in Sheffield mess

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The announcement came out last night that Gary Sheffield’s switch to full time left fielder had come to an end after only 5 games. This latest turn of events isn’t surprising, but the aftermath makes no sense. The Tigers are relegated to carrying a player on the roster who can’t even DH everyday. If only there was some sort of way to deal with injured players so that they wouldn’t take up a roster spot and you could have a substitute for them…

When the news came out that Sheffield was switching to left, it made little sense from a baseball standpoint. Especially since it meant moving better fielding players like Matt Joyce to the DH role. But there was some merit in the move. Given Sheffield and the Tigers problems if there was a chance to get either going I’m all for it. Sheffield didn’t have any miscues in the field, and since the switch he hit 278/458/389 so it cost the team little.

The other reason to be in favor of the move is that it seemed like it would force an action one way or the other. Either Sheffield would respond and show he was okay and get rolling. Or he’d show that he’s not healthy finally prompting what seems to be an inevitable trip to the DL.

But instead we have a player who can’t take warmup tosses between innings and who by his own admission is restricted in his swing and that he “isn’t getting to certain pitches I’d like.”

Now let’s take a step back and look at Sheffield’s recent performance with the nice OBP and empty slugging percentage. In Leyland’s post game presser after Tuesday’s loss he said it’s nice that the Tigers have a good OBP, but he likes slugging and bringing runners around. And yet he continues to trot out a player who admits he can’t drive the ball, who Leyland recognizes can’t drive the ball.

This is bizarre, befuddling, and downright stupid. I understand that Leyland has respect for Sheffield and is trying to do what he can to get him going. But a quarter season of on the job rehab isn’t helping Sheffield and it isn’t helping the Tigers. DL him now. Call up Jeff Larish or Mike Hessman. Larish is left handed and is entirely capable of slugging. Hessman is right handed but can play a couple positions and is entirely capable of slugging. But don’t carry a player who is only capable of playing once a series.
Shoulder relegates Sheffield to the DH

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5-13-08

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Toledo 3 Durham 5
Mike Hollimon singled, homered, and walked. Jeff Larish and Jackson Melian each had 2 hits. Jeremy Johnson allowed 3 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings.

Erie 3 Bowie 5
Wilkin Ramirez, Dusty Ryan, and Jeff Frazier all had 2 hits apiece including homers for Ryan and Frazier. Danny Christensen went 5.2 innings allowing 3 runs while walking 3 and fanning 2. Casey Fien pitched 2.1 scoreless innings.

Lakeland 1 Tampa 3
Cale Iorg and Ryan Strieby had multi-hit games. Jonah Nickerson fanned 5 and walked 1 in 7 innings while allowing 3 runs.

West Michigan 11 Fort Wayne 3
Casper Wells had 4 hits including 2 homers. Audy Ciriaco tripled as part of his 4 hit game and stole 2 bases. Cory Middleton homered and Kyle Peter had 3 hits. Jon Kibler allowed 1 unearned run in 7 innnings of work fanning 6 and walking 2.

2008 Season, Players

Justin Verlander in 150 words or less

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Justin Verlander, the young stud pitcher and AL Rookie of the Year winner in 2006 was anointed ace of the Detroit staff and named the Opening Day starter. However with a 6.43 ERA and only one win he’s been anything but an ace.

Early on there were concerns when his fastball lost velocity. He changed his arm angle and found some mph’s and a tighter breaking ball. But still the results haven’t caught up to his stuff. It has led a former Tigers pitcher to think Verlander is injured, and others to think that Justin is in need of some Doc Halladay type adjustments.

A look at his components is encouraging because he’s not being hit hard, but he is walking too many and not striking out enough. Tigers fans need optimism about Verlander, because remaining playoff hopes rest largely on his shoulder.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 39: Tigers at Royals

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PREGAME: Two days without baseball seems like an eternity. It’s why the All Star break is so painful. Fortunately the Tigers return to action tonight. Unfortunately it will be against Zach Grienke.

Grienke went 7 innings on 99 pitches the last time he faced the Tigers, limiting them to 1 run on 6 hits. He’s thrown a quality start in every outing, save for one when he only made it through 5 innings. In his last two starts he’s fanned 17 and walked 2.

The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson. Robertson has kept the team in most games, lasting 5 to 7 innings and allowing 4 runs with remarkable consistency. But while he’s kept them in games, with those stats, it doesn’t make for a good ERA (6.64) despite a 3:1 K:BB ratio.

Matt Joyce DH’s again.

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

DET @ KCR, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: Another punch in the gut.

I didn’t like Nate Robertson being removed from the game. Robertson had been in a ton of trouble throughout the course of the game, but aside from the Jose Guillen double he wasn’t being hit hard. He had gone through 7 innings on 82 pitches and he was attacking the strike zone and was helped out by an aggressive Royals offense.

But Leyland taking him out isn’t the reason the Tigers lost. It was a bad move especially considering it was done to avoid Robertson pitching to Mark Grudze… who is 8 for 9 in his career against Robertson but who had yet to hit the ball hard in any of his 3 hits that night. It was also the polar opposite of what Leyland has done on several occasions this year where he would leave a floundering and out of gas Justin Verlander in to try and “get him a win.”

The inability of the offense to generate extra base hits, or cash in on scoring chances are reasons the team lost. Edgar Renteria trying to make an inning ending play and failing is a reason they lost. Bringing in Cruceta who got two quick outs and got to two strikes on Jose Guillen before allowing a double wasn’t the problem.

I’m not defending the decision, but it’s not why they lost. Robertson allowed multiple baserunners in 4 innings and didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning all night. The same thing that happened to Cruceta could have happened to Robertson.

But reasons and blame aside, enough is enough already.

2008 Season, Offense

It doesn’t add up

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In today’s Detroit News Tigers beat writer Tom Gage writes about RISP. RISP of course is runners in scoring position and Gage goes on to explain part of the Tigers woes by looking at their performance in RISP situations. Along the way he creates a new metric and applies some faulty logic.

Gage notes that the Tigers are the only team in the AL Central with a RISP batting average lower than their overall batting average. Gage then goes on to compare the Tigers to the division leading Twins:

The Tigers are hitting .264 as a team but .251 with RISP. That’s a difference, math majors, of minus 13. The division-leading Twins? After Sunday’s game, they were at plus 46. Their overall batting average was .265, but with RISP, they were hitting .311.

But here’s the kicker, the Tigers have outscored the Twins this year despite the disparity. The Twins have a better record because they are allowing a run a game less than the Tigers, not because they have a better RISP batting average differential.
Continue reading It doesn’t add up →

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5-12-08

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Toledo 6 Charlotte 5
Dontrelle Willis made a rehab start and he struggled. He walked 3 and allowed 7 hits in 5.2 innings including 2 homers. He threw 46 of his 79 pitches for strikes. Mike Hessman and Jeff Larish homered again, and Mike Hollimon joined in on the fun.

Erie DNP

Lakeland 6 Tampa 2 11 innings
Mike Bertram had two hits. Duane Below fanned 10 in 7.1 innings while walking one and allowing 2 runs.

West Michigan 1 Fort Wayne 2
Kyle Peter had 2 hits. Lauren Gagnier went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, no walks, and 7 K’s.

2008 Season, Players

Miguel Cabrera in 150 words or less

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In case you hadn’t heard the Tigers traded for Miguel Cabrera this off season. They then signed him to a record contract. Cabrera then felt a lot of pressure to perform, but started to hit better when Jim Leyland told him to relax.

While he hit better his defense was a concern so the Tigers moved him over to first base. A position that is a natural fit for him, but Leyland is personally working with him to make sure it’s a smooth transition.

Meanwhile, his offense was coming around when Leyland said Cabrera could be even better if he focused on every at-bat. Since being challenged Cabrera has gone 161/235/161. The slump has columnists calling him a slug and a bust and Cabrera went on the record as missing his Marlins days. But fear not because it smells like he’s on the verge of breaking out of it.

2008 Season, Pitching

Bonderman stays away

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Jeremy Bonderman turned in another disappointing performance in his latest start against the Yankees. It seemed to follow a pattern than Bonderman has established and has led to the worst set of peripherals in his career. Let’s go batter by batter through the first inning to see what went wrong:

Bonderman against Damon:
Bonderman against Damon
Things started out well for Bonderman. He got a first pitch strike on a fastball in the lower outside quadrant. Damon fouled off two borderline pitches on the outside corner before fanning on a slider that bounced up.
Continue reading Bonderman stays away →