Category Archives: 2008 Season

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 16: Tigers at Indians

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The Natural Lightning BoltPREGAME: The Tigers will try to keep rolling along as they send Justin Verlander out to do battle with Fausto Carmona.

Verlander is coming off his best start of the season, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at his final line. He had allowed just 1 run through the first 7 innings against the White Sox on Saturady before things fell apart for him in the 8th. Verlander has struggled against the Indians historically. Last year he allowed 7 runs in 3 of his 5 starts against them, including a 4 homer effort in September.

Carmona’s stats just don’t add up for the Tribe this year. He has 17 walks and only 8 strikeouts in 16 innings so far. Eight of those walks came in his last start against the A’s. Yet his ERA is 2.20. Part of the reason is he’s only allowed 1 extra base hit. Another part of the explanation is his power sinker induces double play balls and opponents have hit into 7 in his 3 games.

DET @ CLE, Thursday, April 17, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: I really have very little to say about this one. I missed the first couple innings while coaching my son’s team. Saw the blow-up in the middle innings, and that’s about it. Verlander seemed to be hitting 94 mph a little more and it came at the expense of his control. I wonder if it was a situation like Todd Jones in spring training where he was over throwing because of all the velocity concerns. Or perhaps he just didn’t have it again.

And the offense generated some chances but couldn’t capitalize. These games are a lot less worrisome after a 3 game win streak.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-16-08

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Toledo 6 Lehigh Valley 4
Timo Perez and Mike Hessman each hit long balls. Brent Clevlen added 2 hits. Jeremy Johnson lasted 5 innings giving up 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks. Blaine Neal got his 4th save fanning 2 and allowing a hit in one inning of work.

Bowie 10 Erie 11
Wilkin Ramirez, Deik Scram, Dusty Ryan, Max St. Pierre, and Danny Worth all had multi-hit games. Scram hit his 2nd homer of the season. Ben Fritz was knocked around for 8 runs in just 4.2 innings.

Sarasota 2 Lakeland 6
Cale Iorg continues to rip the ball picking up his 3rd homer, a double, and a walk. James Skelton singled and walked twice. Michael Bertram had 2 hits and a walk. Matt O’Brien gets the win allowing 2 runs on 8 h its, no walks, and 2 K’s in 6 innings.

West Michigan 1 Peoria 2 (11 innings)
Jordan Newton and Joe Tucker each had 2 hits. Casper Wells drew 3 walks. Phil Nardozi started and allowed 1 run in 3 innings on 2 hits and a walk.

2008 Season, Statistics

Carlos Guillen appreciation time

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There has been great consternation about the Tigers offense over these first few weeks, and rightly so. With things starting to take off, I wanted to step back and recognize the start that Guillen has put together.

How many times have we heard during the complaints about the offense that Clete Thomas and Brandon Inge were the only Tigers hitting? And then we’d laugh at how pathetic it was. Yet all the while Guillen was producing. And not just doing okay, he was terrific.

Going into Wednesday night’s game Guillen had a .372 batting average – 5th in the AL. He had a .698 slugging percentage which was second in the AL. And he was the owner of a .481 OBP which was good enough for 3rd. He ranked second in OPS to only AJ Pierzynski. And he did the bulk of the damage with one leg. He’s managed to hit 5 doubles without being able to run. When there was frustration with the team rushing at-bats it was Guillen who was seeing over 4 pitches per plate appearance.

Yet those accomplishments went largely unnoticed. Maybe it was because he didn’t have gaudy RBI totals, or maybe it was the rather normal home run total. Or maybe he just hadn’t been clutch enough, despite hitting that game tying homer on Opening Day. Yet one of the 2 or 3 best offensive performers in the league was largely unnoticed even by his own fan base.

With the offense starting to roll and Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez finding their groove they will deservedly get the bulk of the attention. But when no one else was producing Guillen was carrying the load.

2008 American League Expanded Leaderboards – Baseball-Reference.com

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 15: Tigers at Indians

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The Natural Lightning BoltPREGAME: The Tigers will look to build on a two game win streak, and relinquish control of first dibs on the waiver wire, as they head into Cleveland. The two teams that are supposed to be at the top of the division are on the bottom looking up.

The Tigers send out rookie Armando Galarraga. Galarraga made one start last year for Texas and he allowed 5 runs on 4 walks and 4 hits in 4.2 innings. But in his two starts at Toledo he was quite impressive with 11 K’s and only 1 walk. Here’s hoping he attacks the strike zone with the big club as well.

While the Tigers send out a replacement starter, the Indians send out C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia hasn’t made it through the 6 inning in his 3 starts this year and he currently sports a 11.57 ERA. I hope he doesn’t find his groove tonight. He has managed to go at least 7 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts against the Tigers.

DET @ CLE, Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Programming Note: For those of you with satellite TV service there is some relevant info about where to find the game tonight:

DIRECTV: Ch. 672 (instead of the normal 669)

Dish Network: Game will not be shown due to lack of an available channel. Dish Network returns for Friday’s Tigers-Toronto game (Ch. 452)

Sorry to those of you who have Dish Network. It looks like it will be a night of Dan & Jim and MLB.com
Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: We’ve seen this before. Pitchers who can’t throw strikes. Hitters rushing through at-bats. A lack of concentration leading to runs on defense. But it’s sooooo much more enjoyable when it’s the others guys doing that stuff.

Continue reading Game 15: Tigers at Indians →

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-15-08

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Toledo 1 Lehigh Valley 4
Timo Perez was the offensive star with 2 hits and a walk. Jackson Melian hit a solo homer. Recently promoted Jon Connolly allowed 2 run over 5 innings on 2 walks and 1 strikeout.

Bowie 5 Erie 6
Jeff Frazier had 2 hits and a walk. Freddy Guzman added two hits and is sitting at .345. Josh Rainwater took the loss with 3 runs allowed in 4.1 innings. Casey Fien pitched 2 scoress innings.

Sarasota 3 Lakeland 17
Cale Iorg and Scott Sizemore each had 2 hits, each homered, and each had 4 RBI. Brandon Timm, Michael Bertram, and Jeff Kunkel all had 3 hits. Jonah Nickerson allowed 2 runs over 5 innings fanning 4 and walking none.

West Michigan 5 Peoria 1
Joseph Tucker and Jordan Newton each had 3 hits and Audy Ciriaco added 2. Alfredo Figaro pitched 7 innings allowing only 1 unearned run on 4 hits while fanning 8 and walking 4.

2008 Season, Injuries, Pitching

Junkballing: Injury updates and more

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Being at the game last night, I’m way behind on the injury updates. But let’s get caught up…

Rodney

It’s not quite official, but it’s looking like Fernando Rodney might be toast – at least for this season. He is headed to Alabama for a consult with Dr. James Andrews. Given his injury prone past, and the pattern or not being able to stay healthy for two months at a time last year, and the inability to throw without pain right out of the gate this year, it’s all bad news.

Granderson

And some good news for Curtis Granderson who took
live batting practice today. He also ran the bases, which I’m less concerned about. I haven’t seen anything from the team about a return date, but I’m guessing it is next week.

Sheffield

Detroit Tigers Thoughts points to an analysis of Gary Sheffield’s shoulder. Reports of tearing scar tissue don’t sound good, but the results have been impressive the last 3 days. Was it what was needed, or is it a short term gain in exchange for longer term risk?

Robertson

This is brand spanking new, but he left tonight’s game with some lat pain on his throwing side. In the locker room Nate said the plan was for some anti-inflammatory medicine and he doesn’t expect to miss a start at this time.

Verlander

Okay, don’t freak out. He may not be injured at all. But Dave Cameron blogging for Fangraphs notes that
Verlander’s velocity is down significantly and his other stats are moving in the wrong direction as well. I think it’s too soon to call it an injury at this point but it is something to watch.

Leftovers

Bless You Boys delves into Craig Monroe’s quotes about being bitter. Like Ian I can appreciate Monroe’s view point. Yes if he’d played better this wouldn’t have happened and so on and so forth. And to his credit he didn’t slam the organization on the way out or after the fact.

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 14: Twins at Tigers

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PREGAME: Last night’s win was great and dramatic and uplifting. It reminded me in some respects of a dramatic come from behind victory against the Blue Jays last September. The win was supposed to propel the team back into the playoff hunt. Instead Chad Durbin came out and gave up 5 runs without making it out of the 3rd inning. So there’s some pressure on Nate Robertson tonight to let last night’s effort emotion carry over.

Robertson hasn’t been sharp in his first 2 outings, but not awful either. Working in his favor are 11 K’s in 10.1 innings. Not working in his favor are 19 baserunners and 198 pitches in those 10.1 innings.

Scott Baker is taking the mound for the Twins. He turned in a gem of a game in Comerica Park where he lost a 1-0 duel on an 8th inning Marcus Thames homer. That might be part of the reason Thames is in the lineup over Jacque Jones tonight despite Baker having 846 OPS allowed against lefties as opposed to .735 for righties.

MIN @ DET, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Now that is the powerful middle of the order in action. Sheffield-Ordonez-Cabrera-Guillen, or 3-4-5-6 all went deep tonight. Maggs doubled in the tying run and the foursome accounted for all 6 RBI. Continue reading Game 14: Twins at Tigers →

2008 Season

Hey Detroit, baseball is fun again

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It’s amazing what a big come from behind victory can do for the spirits of a team, or a fanbase, or a blogger. I was freezing in the stands for this game. Cracking sarcastic remarks about the fates of our Tigers. I saw a glimmer of hope when the team plated 4 runs in the 6th inning to cut the lead to 1 run. I seethed in the top of the 7th as I began to compose my post game report in my head. Needless to say it had a very different working title. But then everything turned around as the Tigers batted around in the top of the 8th inning.
Continue reading Hey Detroit, baseball is fun again →

2008 Season, Game Post

Game 13: Twins at Tigers

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PREGAME: Jeremy Bonderman and Nick Blackburn.

The mind is a strange thing, men. We must begin by asking it…

…”What is losing?”

Losing is a disease…as contagious as polio…

Losing is a disease…as contagious as syphilis…

Losing is a disease…as contagious as bubonic plague…

… attacking one… but infecting all.

But curable.

from The Natural

I’m off to the game.

MIN @ DET, Monday, April 14, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

2008 Season, Managing & Strategy

When managers attack: Part II

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With the Tigers struggling the first two weeks, there has been a lot of grumbling that manager Jim Leyland needs to light into the team. Well, Mount Leyland erupted following today’s game.

Leyland had previously downplayed such a tactic saying that it can’t be a show. It has to be something that is real and genuine. As I watched today’s debacle, specifically the Zach Miner sequence that involved an intentional walk, followed by a wild pitch, followed by an unintentional walk, followed by a grand slam I wondered to myself how could Leyland not muster up the necessary vitriol. Not that Zach Miner deserved to be the sole recipient, it’s not like the team was even in the game up to that point. It was just a glaring manifestation of the poor play that has overtaken this team.

Details of the rant are scant but it sounds like Leyland and the players have been doing some soul searching.

“We look bad,” he admitted Sunday. “You always feel from a manager’s standpoint that you’re not pushing the right buttons. Are you saying the right things? You beat yourself up harder than anyone else. You ask yourself whether you’re doing something different from what you did the last two years.”

We all remember in 2006 when Leyland went off on the team following a lackluster effort on get-away day against the Indians. It was credited with propelling the team forward. My own take is that the rant probably played a small role, but a come from behind win against the A’s a couple days later was the bigger factor. Still, with the last two games coming on top of a 7 game skid to start the season, something or anything is needed. And let’s pray it works. It’s the kind of tactic that you can’t go to over and over again.

2008 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4-13-08

Toledo 6 Buffalo 4
Jeff Larish doubled twice and walked. Brent Clevlen and Matt Joyce each homered. Derek Wathan and Jackson Melian each had 3 hits. Eddie Bonine went 6 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 4 K’s.

Erie – PPD

Lakeland 0 Clearwater 5
Rick Porcello had his roughest outing to date lasting only 4 innings. Still he allowed all of 4 hits and 2 walks while fanning 5 so only 2 runs crossed the plate. Cale Iorg had 2 hits to lead the “attack.”

West Michigan 2 Clinton 6
Chris Carlson had 2 hits, and that was the only noteworthy performance. Jon Kibler pitched 6 innings allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, a walk, and 5 K’s.