PREGAME: It looks to be a chilly and blustery night at Comerica Park. The Tigers are looking to extend their winning streak to 4 games and will send out Edwin Jackson to battle Philip Hughes.

Hughes was just added to the Yankees roster to replace Chien Ming Wang. Hughes has dominated AAA for 3 starts this year with 19 K’s and 3 BB’s in 19.1 innings.

The Yankees are a familiar foe for Jackson from his days in the AL East. Derek Jeter has lit him up in 27 at-bats with a 417/481/667 line.

Game Time 7:05

NY Yankees vs. Detroit – April 28, 2009 | MLB Gameday

POSTGAME: It’s my fault guys. I’ll take the hit on this one. I’ve been to 2 Edwin Jackson starts and I’ve seen him pitch 13.1 innings and allow 1 earned run. I’ve seen the bullpen allow 14 runs in those 2 starts. It must be me and Brandon Lyon would prefer never to see me again.

Of course the Josh Anderson misplay is the play that really stood out, but it was actually the 4 pitch walk that Ryan Perry issued to Melky Cabrera that really messed things up. Cabrera was trying to give the Tigers an out, but 4 pitches out of the zone set-up the 2nd and 3rd situation in the first place. But yeah, the Anderson play was catastrophic because the ball was shallow enough that it would have been a tough tag-up situation.

The defense was pretty awful. Beyond the Anderson play there was Everett botching a grounder (more on this in a minute), and Miguel Cabrera not corralling a foul pop-up. There was also a tough play with Granderson and Magglio but I’m not to upset about it.

As for that Everett misplay of a Robinson Cano grounder, the misplay and the at-bat itself may have had a huge impact on the game. Cano battled Jackson for 13 pitches, and he started 0-2 in the count. Jackson was one strike away from being out of the 4th inning and he was at 56 pitches. After Cano’s battle, Everett’s stumble, and a walk to Swisher, Jackson’s pitch count had run to 76. If Cano doesn’t hang in there that long, or if Everett makes the play, there’s a chance that Jackson is still pitching in the 7th.

And to top it all off Hughes was awesome and the Tigers offense didn’t muster anything making runs 2-11 largely irrelevant.

There’s a lot of freaky stats to look at it in this one, but I’ll leave you with this one: Edwin Jackson threw 41 pitches for balls in 6 innings. The bullpen threw 38 pitches for balls in 3 innings.

Columbus 6 Toledo 9
Clete Thomas doubled twice and homered. Don Kelly had 3 hits. Eddie Bonine started and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 3 innings. Ron Chiavacci fanned 6 in 5 innings of 2 run ball.

Bowie 9 Erie 7
Alex Avila doubled and tripled. Jeff Frazier went 3 for 5. Jonah Nickerson allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks in 4.1 innings. Zach Simons fanned 5 in 2 innings, but he allowed 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks.

Tampa 6 Lakeland 0
Jordan Newton in his first game after being promoted went 2 for 4. Audy Ciriaco and Chris Carlson each had 2 errors. Andrew Hess allowed 4 runs in 5 innings, but only one was earned. Scott Green fanned 3 in 2 innings.

Lansing 1 West Michigan 5
Luke Putkonen pitched 6 shut out innings allowing 2 hits and 2 runs while fanning 4. Ronnie Bourquin tripled. Brent Wyatt had 2 hits and a walk.

PREGAME: The Tigers finally return home after spending a good chunk of the season batting first. The Tigers played a MLB leading 13 games on the road to date (the Dodgers have played 13 roadies also).  It will also be the first night game at Comerica Park this season. Tonight they get to face the New York Yankees, a grumpy group of guys who were just swept in Fenway Park.

CC Sabathia will pitch the first game of the 3 game series. Sabathia has had 2 good games and 2 clunkers so far this season. Of course the Tigers are familiar with him from his day’s on Lake Erie. Surprisingly Sabathia has 14 BB’s against 12 K’s. Sidney Ponson had a similar ratio heading into yesterday’s game and the Tigers could barely hit him. For more on the Yankees check out Bronx Banter.

Justin Verlander takes the mound for the Tigers, still looking for his first quality start of the year. Here’s hoping he finds some solid defense behind him. Coincidentally Ryan Raburn is in the lineup for the first time since his adventures in right field during Verlander’s last start.

Tonight’s Starting 9:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Ordonez, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, DH
6. Laird, C
7. Inge, 3B
8. Raburn, LF
9. Everett, SS

Game Time 7:05

NY Yankees vs. Detroit – April 27, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

Continue reading Game 2009.019: Yankees at Tigers →

PREGAME: It’s get-away day as the Tigers play the last game of their 10 day, 9 game road trip. So far they are 4-4 on the trip and 2-2 for the season against the AL Central. It would be nice to push both of those numbers into the winning side.

The Tigers take on Sidney Ponson and I’m hoping for a better game than they put up when leaving LA. Ponson has allowed 30 baserunners in 15.1 innings and he’s walking as many as he’s striking out. The Tigers need to pummel him.

Detroit sends out Armando Galarraga who had to work against the Angels. Current Royals only hav 38 PA’s against Galarraga and there hasn’t ben a lot of success except for Alberto Callaspo who is 3 for 3.

Game Time 2:10

Detroit vs. Kansas City – April 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: So much for the pummelling, but a win is a win. I watched the first 6 innings of this after hte fact in super fast forward mode. Ponson was uncharacteristicaly good. Speaking of uncharacterisitically good, Brandon Inge hit his 7th homer. Both Inge-lovers and Inge-haters should be able to agree that the magnitude of his start is exceptional and unexpected.

Armando Galarraga walked 5, but that was about the only blemish and he continues to rack up a strike out an inning.

Fernando Rodney allowed a solo homer but still preserved the lead, as did Seay and Perry. One thing to keep an eye on. Seay is being used a lot. This was his 9th game and some simple math tells you he’s on pace for 81 appearances.

A 5-4 trip and a 3-2 record in division so far is reason to smile though.

PREGAME: There was a time when Kyle Davies wasn’t scary to face. Now the dude has 21 strikeouts in 18.1 innings and sports a 2.89 ERA. After back to back losses the Tigers are back at .500 and they’ll need to find some way to muster some offense to have a chance at posting a winning record on the road trip. Davies has pretty much scrapped his slider and is throwing his change-up much more. He’s also improved his rate of first pitch strikes.

The Tigers send out Zach Miner who is returning to the rotation after 3 off days in a week negated the need for a 5th starter. Miner pitched a good game against the Blue Jays, and was shelled on a cold and wet day against the White Sox. Hopefully it’s more of the former Miner that shows up. He’s made 2 starts and 5 appearances total at Kaufman Stadium but has yet to allow a run in 18.1 innings.

Game Time 7:10

Detroit vs. Kansas City – April 25, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: That’s a more better. The Tigers played a very nice, crisp, clean game. Offensive – good. Pitching – pretty good. Defense – good.

Zach Miner was shaky the first few innings. He either had too much movement on his fastball, or he was pitching scared. He was living in the right hand batters box against lefties, but he managed to escape any damage. By the end he was cruising and picked up the easy win.

Gerald Laird and Magglio Ordonez hit their first homers of the year and now there are 7 Tigers who have gone deep this year. Laird’s hit was part of a 3 hit night.

Granderson hit his 4th homer in the last 5 games and with 3 homers tonight it is FREE ROAST BEEF SANDWICH TIME. Just print off a box score and head to Arby’s tomorrow. Yeah!

Some excellent defense in this one as well. It was the good Adam Everett and he and Placido Polanco teamed up for some nice plays.

The bullpen, which was used extensively in this one (which I don’t really get) was solid enough. Joel Zumaya pitched a scoreless 9th. He allowed 2 hits but was helped by a double play ball.

Good stuff all around.