Nate Robertson was placed on the DL today (retroactive to the 27th) with a mass in his elbow. Fu Te Ni had his contract purchased. A hearty DTW shout out to East Windup Chronicle which had the Ni call up story before everyone else.
UPDATE: The mass appears to be a cyst that is causing numbness. He’ll be examined this week in Detroit.
PREGAME: The Tigers will lean on Edwin Jackson to try and avoid being swept in Houston. Jackson has been a little afflicted by the walk phenomenon that is spreading like swine flu through the Tigers clubhouse with 10 free passes in his last 3 games.
Russ Ortiz has some pretty dramatic reverse platoon splits with an 840 OPS against for right handers and 663 for left handers.
Detroit vs. Houston – June 28, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: I missed this entire game live. I was at an outdoor thing, and was limited to updates on the Blackberry. The offense looked pretty frustrating from that regard. We were in the car on the way home for the 9th inning and the family let out a huge yelp in the car. When I got home I saw the Cliff Notes version I DVR’d. Not as dramatic but just as satisfying as seeing it live.
A loss today wouldn’t have been the end of the world. The Tigers still have a cushion in the division. It would have been frustrating but I think the team would have coped with it better than the fan base who’s emotions are tied to the mini winning losing streaks the team takes them on, only with a multiplicative factor.
That said, if this season turns out the way we’re all hoping for, the Inge homer could be one of the defining moments. The unexpected star put the team on his back and limping them home on an injured knee. Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson get to be the supporting cast where Granderson and Inge pound it out for the team lead in homers and Thames is one strike from capping a sweep and ends up scoring the tying run.
In other words, the win is likely bigger than the loss would have been.
On Tuesday night Joel Zumaya threw a ball that the Comerica Park gun, and the Fox Sports gun clocked at 104mph. That is freakishly fast and a little hard to believe, at the very least there was probably some rounding up. A check of MLB.com’s pitch f/x data had the pitch 50 feet from home plate at 102.2mph. So the stadium gun was likely a little hot, but that is still obscene. It did make me curious about the fastest pitches thrown this season.
By my check the pitch f/x system has recorded 91 pitches that topped 100mph this season (through 6/25/09). Of those 91 pitches, they basically all belong to Zumaya.
| Pitches 100mph+ | |
| Pitcher | Pitches |
| Zumaya | 84 |
| Verlander | 2 |
| Jimenez | 1 |
| Parnell | 1 |
| Broxton | 1 |
| Lindstrom | 1 |
| Lowe | 1 |
| Total | 91 |
If you order the pitches in descending order, Zumaya actually has the 38 fastest pitches this season (Justin Verlander had the 39th) and 57 of the 58 fastest. Zumaya has 28 pitches at 101mph or faster.
As for the fastest pitch this season? It wasn’t the pitch that finished Bradley which came in a 102.2. But it did come earlier in the at-bat when Zumaya hit 102.7. For good measure he came back the next day and hit 102.6 against Mike Fontenot. Those are the 3 pitches this season top the 102mph barrier.
Duham 5 Toledo 3 (15 inn)
Scott Sizemore and Clete Thomas each had a double and a single. Brent Dlugach homered. Jeff Larish walked 3 times and singled. Wilkin Ramirez had a rough 0 for 7. Luke French fanned 8 in 7 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. Ryan Perry allowed a homer and 2 hits in 2 innings with 1 K. Ron Chiavacci pitched 3 scoreless innings. Matt Rusch allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks, and 3 K’s in 2.1 innings.
Erie 2 Harrisburg 3
Alex Avila homered, doubled, and walked. Jon Kibler allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 6.1 innings despite not striking out anyone. Jay Sborz fanned 3 in 1.2 innings.
Lakeland 9 Sarasota 0
Audy Ciriaco was a triple short of the cycle. Devin Thomas went 2 for 4 with a walk. Andrew Hess pitched 7 innings of shutout ball on six hits and 2 walks with 4 K’s. The recently promoted Jared Gayhart fanned 2 in 2 innings of work.
Great Lakes 1 West Michigan 4
Brandon Douglas had 2 hits. Mark Sorensen allowed just 1 run on 6 hits and no walks in 8 innings.
Oneonta PPD
GCL Tigers PPD
PREGAME: In terms of subplots, you need to look no further than the Tigers taking on “the little pudgy one.” Pudge Rodriguez, the catching-est catcher of all time and his former skipper Jim Leyland have already exchanged phone calls in the days leading up to the series. So it sounds like there are no hard feelings.
The Astros come into the series at 33-37. They post a league average OPS, and a league average batting average with RISP. But somehow they only score 4.10 runs per game (NL average is 4.49). Like the Astros offense, the defense is largely average as well.
Random Factoid of the night: The Astros hitters have the highest ground ball percentage in the NL.
Tonight the ‘stros send out Wandy Rodriguez. Looking at his game logs he seems to be either awesome or awful. His numbers on the whole though are pretty impressive with nearly a K an inning and nearly 3 K’s for every walk allowed. He’s given up 10 homers this year, and 9 have come in his last 4 starts.
Bonus Random Factoid of the night: Wandy Rodriguez has made one start against the Tigers, which coincidentally came on June 26th, 2006.
Justin Verlander will be on the mound for the Tigers tonight. He’s been good.
Tonight’s DH-less lineup is:
Detroit vs. Houston – June 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: What started off so promising turned so frustrating. Verlander wasn’t sharp today. He didn’t have great command (especially to Lance Berkman unless he meant to throw every pitch a foot outside) and he couldn’t put hitters away. That spelled doom as the bullpen was tasked with holding a 1 run lead for 3.2 innings and the pen wasn’t up to the job.
Joel Zumaya finished off the 7th with a couple pitches, but the 8th inning was a disaster. When he couldn’t put Darrin Erstad away everything unraveled and two more walks meant the game was tied and Zumaya was done. Freddy Dolsi limited the damage in a bases loaded 1 out situation to 1 run which isn’t bad for his first appearance.
Durham 2 Toledo 4
Clete Thomas went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles. I ask you this, Clete Thomas or Josh Anderson? Brent Clevlen also went 3 for 4. And Dane Sardhina homered. Yep. Scot Drucker allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks in 5.1 innings. Clay Rapada fanned 3 in 1.1 innings but he also allowed a run, 3 hits, and a walk. Casey Fien allowed just a walk in 2.1 innings with 2 K’s for the save.
Altoona 8 Erie 6
Deik Scram doubled, homered, and walked. Cale Iorg and Andy Dirks each had 2 hits. Pat Stanley allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, 3 walks, and 5 K’s in 5.1 innings. Cody Satterwhite didn’t have it tonight and was lit up for 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk in .2 innings.
Lakeland 0 Sarasota 1
Joe Tucker walked twice and doubled. Lauren Gagnier went the distance and fanned 13 in a tough luck loss.
Great Lakes 0 West Michigan 4
Ben Guez doubled and singled. Brayan Villarreal and Victor Larez split the game and combined for 9 Ki’s, 1 walk, no runs, and 5 hits.
Oneonta 5 Vermont 2
Wade Gaynor was 2 for 4 Alexis Espinoza doubled. Matt Mansilla doubled twice and walked. Jeff Gerbe is resurrected and he fanned 4 and walked 4 in 2.2 innings. Kenny Faulk fanned 3 in 2 perfect inning.
GCL Tigers 2 GCL Yankees 3
Hernan Perez and Elvin Soto each had 2 hits. Rayni Guichardo allowed 2 runs in 5 innings on 5 K’s, 3 hits, and 2 walks.
PREGAME: It’s freakin hot and muggy. So Armando Galarraga keeping the ball on the ground would be a good thing today, otherwise his 15 homers allowed total may grow.
Ted Lily will try to extend his quality start streak to 6. He’s been particularly impressive in his last 4 outings with a 1.98 ERA, and a 23/3 K/BB ratio in his last 27.1 innings.
Seven game win streaks are kind of tough to come by, and the match-up on paper certainly doesn’t tilt the Tigers way. But the real wild card is Chris Chelios. He’ll be throwing out the first pitch. And he’s also sung Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Cubs games. This one could really go either way.
Durham 4 Toledo 2
Scott Sizemore went 2 for 5. Clete Thomas was 1 for 2 with 2 walks. Chris Lambert was very good, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 10 K’s in 7 innings.
Altoona 8 Erie 4
Andy Dirks doubled twice. Luis Marte allowed 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 5 K’s in 7 innings.
Daytona 3 Lakeland 2 (8 inn)
Josh Workman, Jeramy Laster, Devin Thomas, and Joe Tucker each had 2 hits. Charlie Furbush gave up 2 runs on 7 hits, no walks, and 3 K’s in 5.2 innings.
Lakeland 6 Daytona 5
Devin Thomas went 3 for 3 with a walk. Audy Ciriaco and Josh Workman each had 2 hits. Chad Linder went 3 innings and allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, and 3 K’s. Lester Oliveros fanned 3 in 3 innings and allowed a homer. Brett Jacobson was knocked around for 3 runs in .2 innings.
West Michigan – DNP
Oneonta 3 Lowell 0
Rawley Bishop (19th rd) was 1 for 3 with a walk. Adam Wilk (11th rd) allowed 1 hit in 3 innings with 3 K’s and no walks. Cory Hamilton (23rd rd) allowed 1 hit in 2 innings.
GCL Braves 6 GCL Tigers 3
Elvin Giovanni Soto(21st rd) went 2 for 4. Adolfo Reina homered and walked. Bruce Rondon fanned 4 and walked 2 allowing 2 runs on 3 hits in 3.1 innings. Richard Zumaya Zuamay fanned 5 in 2.2 innings, but he also allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.
PREGAME: Last Thursday things were looking bleak for the Tigers. They had lost 4 in a row, and their 2 aces couldn’t even stop the bleeding. So it was Rick Porcello’s turn and he managed to flip the switch. The Tigers have won 5 in a row and made it through an entire turn through the rotation. Now it’s Porcello’s turn again.
On the other side Rich Harden will get the ball for the Cubbies. Harden has struggled with consistency this season. He was rocked by the Indians last weekend and it ran his ERA over 5. His walk rate is rather high (26 in 54.1 innings) and he’s given up 11 homers. But he also has 64 K’s on the year. So he’s entirely capable of shutting down a team, or getting rocked. Hmm.
If you are a Twitter-er, the Tigers are hosting a Twitter event tonight where you can ask questions and there is a ticket giveaway. Follow @official_tigers starting at 7p tonight. (You can also follow me @billfer but I’m not giving anything away).
More of the same with the lineup tonight, except Everett is in for Santiago. Maggs is still 7th after a remarkably uneventful (either good or bad) night last night. (Dusty Ryan will likely play tomorrow, but I’m surprised that he didn’t get the start tonight instead. That’s 4 games in a row for Laird and I’d like to see Ryan worked in a little more.)
Chi Cubs vs. Detroit – June 24, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: The Tigers are finding a way to do just enough, but they’re doing it consistently. Rick Porcello wasn’t great, he allowed 11 baserunners in 5+ innings. But like Jackson on Tuesday, he managed to not be hurt by it (other than the pitch count). And really, it’s turning into a theme because despite numerous jams the last 2 games, the Tigers have limited the damage. I don’t know if that is the Cubs struggling, or the Tigers pitchers doing things right under pressure, but it’s working.
Editors Note: Sorry for the lack of a cohesive post here. Things have been busy lately and while some of these topics might warrant a post, I know it won’t happen in a timely manner. Instead you are stuck with this concoction of stuff.
The Tigers really need to make a point of announcing Alan Trammell as the bench coach. He deserves a round of applause from Tigers fans. This is especially true since he unintentionally played into the Tigers marketing campaign when he said he’d “Always be a Tiger“…
Amber Grand sang the National Anthem on Sunday. Always a treat and I would like to see her in the rotation more often…
The nice thing about the Tigers playing from ahead is that they don’t have to make moves yet. They get to take a longer look at Ordonez/Guillen/Figaro/Galarraga to see what they really need. If they were trying to make up ground, they wouldn’t have that luxury…
Did Dontrelle Willis really refuse assignment? With the clarifications that Eddie provided on option refusal, the team has to submit a written request 4 days in advance. Willis bombed on a Sunday and was DL’d on a Thursday. The timeline would be at least circumstantial evidence to support the claim…
I enjoy keeping score at games. When I do road trips to other parks the scoresheet is my main souvenir. With a few ballparks under my belt the scoresheet by the Tigers is the best. When you combine layout, information, and value ($1) I haven’t found a better one. The worst? St. Louis. Expensive, the pencil costs extra, and it is basically a bunch of ads…
Rick Knapp has received lots of praise this year. As far as I know he’s doing a fine job and you can point to Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson and Fernando Rodney as pitchers who have improved under his watch. You can also point to Armando Galarraga who has performed much worse (and this goes beyond regression to the mean). I just bring this up because the Tigers and Indians are battling it out to see who will walk the most hitters in the AL. In all fairness though, with Willis out of the rotation it should help. Willis has issued 10.5% of the team’s free passes while only pitching 5.5% of the team’s innings.
Brandon Lyon’s walk numbers don’t look too good with 16 in 35 innings. But 6 of those are intentional walks and that leads the AL. Second place on that list is Justin Verlander with 4, 2 of which were to Albert Pujols…
My favorite player for the Lakeland Flying Tigers is Robbie Weinhardt…
I think spending a game as a member of the grounds crew would be really cool. But probably not for one of those games with lots of rain delays…
Lost in the euphoria of last night’s walk-off win the fact that the Cubs had been walking off against the Indians all weekend escaped me…
Durham 10 Toledo 11 (13 inn)
Jeff Larish went 5 for 6 with 2 doubles and a walk. Clete Thomas had a 4 for 5 night with 2 walks. Eddie Bonine started and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings. Clay Rapada game up a run on a walk and 3 hits in .2 innings (both outs were K’s). Casey Fien fanned 4 and allowed just 1 hit in 2 innings. Fu Te Ni pitched 3 innings and allowed a homer (getting the blown save) and struck out 2. Ryan Perry pitched the last 2 innings allowing no hits, 1 walk and he fanned 1 (17 of 26 pitches for strikes).
Altoona 2 Erie 6
Cale Iorg went 2 for 4 and doubled. Deik Scram tripled and walked. Thad Weber made his AA debut and allowed 2 runs on 8 hits, 1 walk and 4 K’s in 6 innings. Zach Simons struck out 4 and allowed only a walk in 2 innings.
Daytona 1 Lakeland 2
Audy Ciriaco and Josh Workman doubled. Matt Hoffman gave up 1 run on 3 hits and no walks in 4 innings. Robbie Weinhardt through 4 innings (odd for a back end bullpen guy, are they stretching him out?) and allowed no runs on 3 hits and 3 K’s.
East AS 6 West AS 3
Ronnie Bourquin homerd and drove in 3 Brandon Doublas doubled. Jared GAyhart pitched a scoreless inning, but Tyler Stohr allowed a run on a hit and a walk.
Oneonta 1 Lowell 2
Jamie Johnson doubled and walked and stole a base. Nate Newman pitched 3 innings of 1 hit ball and recorded 5 K’s.
GCL Tigers 9 GCL Braves 8
Adolfo Reina singled, homered, and walked. Ramon Lebron had a rough day and allowed 5 walks and 6 hits leading to 6 runs in 4 ininngs.
PREGAME: The Cubs come to town, and so does Alan Trammell who says he is Always a Tiger (hey, that sounds like a good marketing campaign). So if you’re heading out to the game tonight (like I am), make sure you have yourself situated by 7:05. The Tigers do announce the base coaches and a standing ovation at a moment that is typically trivial at best, or ignored altogether, would be pretty special. Now on to the game.
Edwin Jackson takes the mound for Detroit. Jackson was recently the subject of a Pitch Count Warrior column at Baseball Digest Daily (h/t Neyer). Jackson hasn’t won in his last 2 decisions, though he hasn’t pitched poorly either with 5 runs allowed in his last 11 innings.
The Tigers will face Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano has 4 straight quality starts under his belt, but he’s also been prone to walks as of late with 17 in his last 32.2 innings.
I’m really hoping the Tigers win tonight, and so is Magglio Ordonez. He was benched and the Tigers won 4 games in a row. I heard callers on sports radio say that the reason for the 4 game winning streak was Ordonez’s absence. So with him back in the lineup, a loss could be difficult for many fans to swallow.
Chi Cubs vs. Detroit – June 23, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday
POSTGAME: It’s rare that I go to 2 Tigers games in a row. It’s why I’m so satisfied with the 2 games that I got to witness. A pitcher’s duel culminating in a walk-off for the good guys?! Are you kidding me?
Edwin Jackson and Carlos Zambrano pitched very similar games. Both were solid. Both got themselves into and out of jams repeatedly with minimual damage. The Tigers had 3 at-bats with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs early on and failed to convert. The Cubs only plated 1 run in a bases loaded no out situation in the first and only scored 1 run in a 2nd-3rd no out situation later on. It was high drama (and high frustration).
Brandon Inge once again comes through with a go ahead homer in the 7th inning and things are looking great. Joel Zumaya comes in and his first pitch is 100. Two quick outs and a pitch that displayed as 104 mph on the stadium gun (and 103mph in pitch f/x) and people were giddy. Then he threw an 85 mph fastball that was launched for a homer. Now there is much complaining about Zumaya throwing the change-up when he was throwing heat past guys. It ended up being a bad pitch, not because of the decision but because of the location. How often do we see Zumaya get hit and then we complain that “he can’t jus throw fastballs by everybody.” He got beat because he didn’t execute his 3rd best pitch. It wasn’t a horrible decision, and fortunately we don’t need to dwell on it.
We don’t need to dwell on it thanks to Don Kelly, Ryan Raburn, and a nice decision by Leyland. Don Kelly who was a full count machine tonight and who saw 26 pitches and drew walks in front of both 2 run homers. And Raburn for making Leyland look smart for forgoing the platoon match-up and going with the superior hitter. And Leyland for what I just said. I’m thankful that Leyland has come around to the idea that Josh Anderson isn’t really a big league hitter and that the situation called for someone who had a shot at thumping the ball.