Category Archives: 2009 Season

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/19/09

Toledo 5 Columbus 7
Bretn Clevlen had 2 hits. Don Kelly walked twice and homered. Chris Lambert allowed 5 runs on 9 hits with 2 K’s in 4.1 innings. Clay Rapada fanned 2 in 1.1 innings of 1 hit work.

Erie 4 Altoona 6
Jeff Fraizer went 3 for 4 with a double. Cale Iorg added 2 hits. Jonah Nickerson was knocked around for 8 hits and 3 walks and 4 runs in 5.2 innings. Josh Rainwater also allowed 3 hits and 2 walks in 1.1 innings.

Daytona 2 Lakeland 4
Audy Ciriaco had 2 hits. Chris Carlson homered for the second consecutive day and added a walk. Lauren Gagnier went 5.1 innings (5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 4 K’s, 1 HR). Lester Oliveros, Brett Jacobson, and Scott Green pitched scoreless relief.

West Michigan 3 Lansing 4
Jordan Newton homered as part of a 2 for 4 day. Jordan Lennerton had 2 hits as well. Brandon Hamilton struck out 3 and walked none but allowed 2 homers in his 6 innings.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.012: Tigers at Mariners

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PREGAME: It’s a rubber match! Okay, maybe the exclamation point wasn’t necessary. The Mariners haven’t lost a series this year but the Tigers have a chance to take them down.

Today will be Rick Porcello’s second career start. I’d guess his pitch limit would be in the 95-100 pitch range and we’ll see if he attacks the strike zone like he did in his first outing.

Carlos Silva takes the mound for the Mariners. The Tigers beat him mercilessly last year. A 472/500/660 line was what they did to him in 3 games last year and a similar performance would certainly make things easier on Porcello.

Anybody remember the last get-away game the Tigers played in Seattle? It went 15 innings and the Tigers got the win against catcher Jamie Burke?

Game Time 4:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 19, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: A very nice all around effort today. Rick Porcello is the big story getting his first win. He allowed baserunners, and I think with his style he will. There will inevitably a couple of infield hits and jam shots. But with the heavy heavy sinker he chucks he’ll also throw a number of double play balls.

It seemed like he didn’t have pinpoint command early in the game, but in the end he finished with 56 of 86 pitches going for strikes and lasting 7 innings. A little suprised to see Porcello out of the game at that point. I thought this would have been a good opportunity to stretch him out a little more. But I also understand the decision to not needlessly have him throw extra innings.

The pen allowed a run and baserunners, but it was largely inconsequential. It was only noteworthy because Bobby Seay allowed a bloop single, the first baserunner he’s allowed this year.

Offensively the Tigers did what they needed to do against Carlos Silva. And the bottom of the order continued to amaze. On a team full of All Stars, Ramon Santiago was the only one to find a gap all series when he cleared the bases with a double, just 3 of the 5 RBI he had on the day. And Josh Anderson and Brandon Inge continued to mash as well. The Tigers only had 4 extra base hits all series, and Anderson/Inge/Santiago accounted for 3 of them.

On to Orange County.

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/18/09

Toledo 3 Columbus 1
Danny Worth went 4 for 4 with a walk out of the lead off spot. Brent Clevlen singled and doubled. Ruddy Lugo went 5 innings and allowed 3 walks and 4 hits with a single K but only 1 run crossed. We covered Zumaya’s outing already. Casey Fien allowed one hit with 3 strike outs in 2 innings.

Erie 5 Altoona 7
Jeff Frazier homered and singled driving in 3. Ryan Strieby and Deik Scram each had 2 hits. Cale Iorg went 0 for 4 and his batting average dropped to .125. Luis Marte struck out 6 in 5 innings, but he allowed 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.

Daytona 3 Lakeland 5
Andy Dirks and Michael Bertram each went 2 for 4 with a double. Chris Carlson homered. Charlie Furbush pitched 5 shut out innings with 4 K’s and a walk. Robbie Weinhardt fanned 4 and walked 1 in 2 innings.

West Michigan 9 Lansing 6 (10 inn)
Gustavo Nunez, Brandon Douglas, Joe Bowen, and Bryan Pounds all had 3 hits. Mauricio Robles had 10 strike outs in 4 innings. But he also allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. That is kind of a crazy BABIP. Brayan Villarreal fanned 4 in 1.2 innings and Tyler Stohr allowed 3 hits in 2 shutout innings.

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.011: Tigers at Mariners

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PREGAME: I’m still shaking my head about last night’s game. So…it’s a simplistic preview today.

Erik Bedard is striking out lots of people. He has 15 K’s already. The Tigers hadn’t really been striking out a great deal…until last night. The Tigers had also been slugging quite well but had no extra base hits among their 9 knocks.

Edwin Jackson was stellar against the Blue Jays, and just OK against the Rangers. If Jackson has a modicum of command this game could set up nicely for him.

As for TV coverage, this game will be picked up on FS Detroit once the Red Wings game and postgame are completed. Prior to that you can catch the action of FS Detroit +.

Game Time 9:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 18, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Awesome stuff from Edwin Jackson again. The efficiency was reminiscent of the Toronto start and Jakcson went 7 2/3 on 98 pitches. This time though he added 5 K’s. As someone who criticized this trade, I’m happy to be wrong so far.

  • Curtis Granderson looked much better tonight at the dish. He had 2 walks and a single and saw 26 pitches tonight. There was also that money throw to end Seattle’s only scoring chance.
  • Magglio Ordonez looked better tonight also. Unfortunately Miguel Cabrera had one of his only down games for the year and stranded 6.
  • Brandon Inge accounts for both runs, sort of. He gets credit for one and Ichiro gets credit for the other.
  • Fernando Rodney allowed his first baserunner and wasn’t quite as crisp as his first 4 outings, but that runner never made it past first base.
2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/17/09

Columbus 3 Toledo 5
Ryan Raburn went 3 for 3 with a homer and a walk. Brent Clevlen doubled and singled. Lucas French fanned 8 and walked none in 6 innings of 3 hit shut out ball. Scott Williamson gave up all the runs. Freddy Dolsi got the save pitching 1.1 innings with a K.

Erie 3 Altoona 1
Brennan Boesch was 2 for 4. Brooks Brown allowed just 3 hits and a walk in 7 innings.

Daytona 5 Lakeland 1
Chris Carlson, Audy Ciriaco, and Michael Bertram had the only hits for Lakeland. Thad Weber went 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks with 4 K’s.

West Michigan 4 Lansing 3 (10 inn)
Billy Nowlin was 3 for 3 with a walk. Ronnie Bourquin also had 3 hits. Luke Putkonen fanned 7 and allowed 2 walks and 2 hits over 6 shutout innings. Anthony Shawler fanned 3, but allowed 4 hits and 3 runs.

2009 Season, Injuries

Zumaya and Willis rehab progress

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Joel Zumaya is taking his rehab up I-75 to Toledo and Dontrelle Willis will join up with Lakeland next week.

Zumaya hasn’t been particularly effective or accurate in his 2 appearances in Lakeland, and I’m a little surprised he’s moving up so soon. I thought they would have at least wanted him to throw on back to back days.

Willis hasn’t been anywhere on the field, but he’ll take those first potential steps back on Tuesday.

Zumaya and Willis taking next steps in rehab | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.010: Tigers at Mariners

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PREGAME: When one looked at the Tigers early schedule, it was full of teams that finished in the bottom half of their divisions in 2008. The Blue Jays, the Rangers, and the Mariners. So far some of those teams have been pretty good, including the Mariners that are 7-3 and the run-preventingest team in the American League.

The Mariners are only allowing 3.2 runs per game. Their pitching staff is headlined by Felix Hernandez (more on him in a minute) but he’s backed up this season with Jarrod Washburn and Erik Bedard. They were there last year, but not so much effective. Between the staff and an outfield defense featuring Endy Chavez and Franklin Gutierrez gaps are hard to find and opposing teams are only slugging .316. Now those teams have been the A’s, Angels, and Twins. Make of it what you will, but basically we don’t know a lot yet.

Tonight’s match-up is ace on ace with Justin Verlander taking on Hernandez. Verlander is looking for some efficiency after getting knocked about before the 6th inning in his first 2 starts. The Mariners see only 3.61 pitches per plate appearance, the lowest in the AL, so he may find some. In 7 starts against Seattle Verlander has a 1.252 WHIP and 2.91 ERA.

Hernandez has fanned 14 in 13 inning this year. In terms of Tigers with Success, Granderson and Polanco have both hit well against Hernandez in limited at-bats. It would be nice to get off to a quick start on the road trip with those two at the top of the order.

Kenji Johjima has hit the DL, but Ichiro is back from his ulcer issues.

Game Time 10:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 17, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Ugh. If you went to bed and didn’t watch this one, you wouldn’t believe how good Justin Verlander looked by looking in the box score. If you watched the whole thing, you wouldn’t believe how things unraveled in the 5th.

Verlander retired 12 straight and fanned the side in the 4th. But then the Mariners started swinging at first pitches. They had runners on 2nd and 3rd, one out and one run in. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a ground ball to third and Russel Branyan broke for home. He was out by a mile, or would have been if Brandon Inge hadn’t bounced the throw. Instead of a 3-1 game with runners at the corners and 2 outs and the number 9 hitter up, it was 3-2 with runners at the corners and 1 out. A suicide squeeze went for a hit and tied the game. Then there were more hits and 5 runs scored. Four of the runs ended up being earned, but the error completely changed the complexion of the inning and subsequently the game.

  • The Tigers got their 3 runs in the 2nd, and really only hit one ball hard.
  • Cabrera continues to mash with 3 more bullets and he missed a homer by about 2 feet.
  • The Tigers managed 9 hits, but all were singles and two were eliminated via GIDPs.
2009 Season

Live Chat – 9 games in edition

It’s been awhile since we’ve done one of these, but we’ll do a live chat (not the video version) at 11am today. Hope you can make it.

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/16/2009

Columbus 2 Toledo 1
Ron Chiavacci fanned 5, but he also walked 3 and allowed 5 hits for 2 runs in 5.2 innings. Fu Te Ni pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Wilkin Ramirez had 2 hits and drove in the lone run. Wil Rhymes tripled.

Erie 3 Altoona 0
Erie nearly pulled off the a no hitter. Alfredo Figaro went the first 7 innings allowing 3 walks while fanning 5. Zach Simons got through his one inning. But Brett Jensen allowed a double with two outs in the 9th inning. Scott Sizemore went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles and a walk. Cale Iorg went 0 for 4 with 3 K’s.

Lakeland 0 Clearwater 1
Kyle Peter, Andy Dirks, and Kody Kaiser had the only 3 hits and they each stole a base. Duane Below struck out 9 and walked none in 5.2 innings of work. Brett Jacobson got the other out.

Lakeland 6 Clearwater 3
Michael Bertram homered as part of a 3 for 4 day. Andy Dirks and Shawn Roof each had 2 hits. Patrick Stanley pitched a 1 hitter for 5 innings. Lester Oliveros got the hold, but he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 1.2 innings.

West Michigan DNP

2009 Season, Statistics

Off day open thread – statistical nuggets

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With no game on the schedule today, I figured we could open things up a little bit. Discuss whatever you’d like in this space. But…to seed the conversation a little bit here are some early season statistics to ponder:

  • Justin Verlander has only stranded 42.3% of runners
  • Fernando Rodney and Bobby Seay have combined to record 21 outs on only 63 pitches
  • 42.9% of the flyballs Eddie Bonine have allowed have flown over the fence for homers
  • Ryan Perry has thrown more balls than strikes
  • Armando Galarraga, Bobby Seay, and Nate Robertson have gotten hitters to chase balls out of the zone over 40% of the time
  • Over half the pitches to Carlos Guillen, Miguel Cabrera, and Magglio Ordonez have been out of the strike zone
  • Only 5 different Tigers have homered this year, but their team total has them tied for 5th in MLB
  • Only 4 different Tigers have grounded into a double play this year
  • Ordonez hasn’t had an extra base hit yet, but he does lead the team in walks. And he’s hitting in front of a very hot Cabrera
  • The top two offensive teams in MLB this year have been the Blue Jays and the Rangers. Are they the top teams because they’ve each played the Tigers or would the Tigers ERA (4.58 overall, 5.39 when Galarraga isn’t pitching) be better if they hadn’t played such juggernauts?
  • If Placido Polanco were a tree, what kind of tree would he be?

All of these stats and many more can be found at Fangraphs

2009 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap 4/15/2009

Toledo 4 Louisville 3
Mike Hessman went 3 for 5 and Clete Thomas added 2 hits. Ryan Raburn walked 3 times. Scott Drucker pitched 6 innings of shutout 3 hit ball with 2 walks and 7 K’s. Casey Fien allowed a run on 2 hits in 1.1 innings.

Bowie 9 Erie 3
Max Leon, Jeff Frazier, and Cale Iorg each went 2 for 4. Jon Kibler was roughed up for 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Jay Sborz allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk with 2 K’s in 1.2 innings.

Lakeland 1 Clearwater 6
Joel Zumaya made his second rehab appearance, and he allowed 3 runs on 3 walks and 2 hits in 1.1 innings. Kody Kaiser and Shawn Roof had the only extra base hits for Lakeland.

West Michigan 6 Great Lakes 2
Ben Guez, Billy Nowlin and Gustavo Nunez each had 2 hits. Jordan Newton homered for the first time and added 2 walks. Casey Crosby allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and 5 K’s with 1 homer in 3.1 innings. Matt Hoffman came on in relieve and allowed only 2 walks in 3.2 innings while fanning 4. Tyler Stohr recorded all 3 outs via the K while allowing one hit in one inning of work to earn the save.