PREGAME: Holy craftiness Batman. Kenny Rogers and Paul Byrd. That’s 80 years worth of pitcher doing battle tonight.

The Tigers fresh off a 3 game road trip to Comerica Park play a Cleveland Indians team that is showing some signs of life. Since the last time these two teams hooked up, the Indians have been average nearly 6 runs per game. But now that the evil that is Casey Blake is gone, that should work in the Tigers favor.

Rogers pitched well against the Royals his last time out before rain cut his outing to only 6 innings. Rogers has only faced the Indians once this year, and recorded a 7 inning quality start no decision back in June.

Paul Byrd is kind of a middling pitcher against teams that aren’t Detroit. He held them in check his last time out, and only made one start since then, a 5.1 inning, 9 hit, 1 walk game against the Angels.

Gary Sheffield sits tonight, and Marcus Thames is your DH with Matt Joyce playing left field. And Todd Jones is your closer while Fernando Rodney recuperates from his 42 pitch outing yesterday.

1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Carlos Guillen, 3B
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Matt Joyce, LF
7. Marcus Thames, DH
8. Ivan Rodriguez, C
9. Edgar Renteria, SS
DET @ CLE, Monday, July 28, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Not many nice things to say about this one. The Tigers came out aggressive and were trying to jump on first pitches their first time through the order. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, and PUdge Rodriguez hit balls well to the opposite field that first time through, but it resulted in no hits. The offense drew a couple walks the second time through making Byrd work a little, but they still couldn’t mount a rally and in the end mustered all of 4 hits. If there is a silver lining scouts watching Byrd may be enticed enough to take him off the Indians hands.

Kenny Rogers was good for the first 5 innings, but was hammered in the 6th and knocked out after 2 homers and 3 runs.

PREGAME:Here’s where I fess up a little. I’m writing this in the past so I don’t know what happened last night. So I can’t provide much context. The pitching match-up is Zach Miner and Javier Vazquez.

Vazquez looked nasty earlier in the year when he dominated the Tigers leading to a Leyland tirade. Since then he’s been not nearly as good. In his last 8 he has a 6.39 ERA despite striking out a batter an inning. But he can still flash the dominance with 2 10 K starts.

Zach Miner will try to stymie the Sox the same way he baffled the Royals. I think this will be a little tougher task.

CHW @ DET, Sunday, July 27, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: This series felt so much like the Twins series. The Tigers coming off a good series and welcoming in a team they are chasing. A crushing come from ahead loss, a comeback (or two) that falls short, and suddenly the team is trying to avoid a sweep on Sunday.

For that reason Zach Miner’s performance was something special. The 8th starter in the rotation came up and and held down the Sox for six innings with no walks and 5 strike outs. A terrific game.

The offense hasn’t been a problem since the All Star break and after wiping out an early 1 run deficit, added on a couple more throughout the day.

Then there is bullpen flux. Joel Zumaya was supposed to pitch 2 innings and hand the ball to Rodney. Instead he pitched into his second inning before handing over the ball prematurely due to shoulder tightness. Rodney stuck around for the rest of the game, but struggled in the 8th and took all 3 hitters in the ninth to 0-2 counts, and then 3-2 counts, before striking each out.

Zumaya is presumably out for a couple days, and Rodney definitely can’t pitch tomorrow. So if need be the Tigers will have to scramble at the end of the game. At least they have a guy with some closing experience to hand the ball to if need be.

I’m not happy with the series, but I said going in as long as the Tigers don’t get swept they’d still be in OK shape. But it sure would have been nice to take advantage of one of the first 2 games.

PREGAME: One thing about the Tigers team the past couple years, they have a short memory. Crushing defeats don’t seem to linger, and dramatic wins don’t carry over either. That will be important with the Tigers sending out ace Justin Verlander.

Verlander has been great, and he’ll have to do it again. One because the Tigers don’t want to be in sweep avoidance mode on Sunday, and two because the other guy is John Danks who has been pretty good himself.

Danks fans 3 for every batter he walks and has allowed only 8 homers in 118.2 innings which is a huge departure from the 28 in 139 he gave up last year. He’s a lefty with no discernible platoon split.

CHW @ DET, Friday, July 26, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

With the original post at 500 comments, let’s roll things to a new post. It’s also where I’ll hit my postgame.

The Todd Jones Experience

Todd Jones blew it. Todd Jones lost this game. Todd Jones has not been pitching well. The management (Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski) realize this. It’s why Joel Zumaya was left in to close the game in Baltimore. It’s why Leyland said he’d be using him less often. It’s the reason that Aquilino Lopez was warming up before the 9th inning even started.

But this wasn’t a typical Jones outing. There was no rollercoastering. He retired the first 2 hitters with ease and was ahead 0-2 on Quentin. Lopez sat down with Jones firing strikes and being one out away. A single wasn’t even that alarming in and of itself because one of Jonesy’s positive traits is that he keeps the ball in the park (this was only the 11th homer since he rejoined the Tigers in 2006). With a 2 out single, the other team is usually a couple batters away from taking the lead. And then the bomb. This wasn’t a rollercoaster, it was Demon Drop.

Yes, I acknowledge that Jones isn’t as good as Rivera/Papelbon/Nathan/Jenks/K-Rod. They are all better than Jones. I’m sure the Tigers would love to have one of them. But the fact of the matter is that there are about 20+ teams who would love to have one of them. I don’t think they are available so the Tigers are stuck with who they have, or paying through the nose for a veteran player who happens to be having a really good year. That’s worked so well at other positions for Detroit.

As for who they have, zumaya throws fast, as does Dolsi. But both walk a batter an inning. And Dolsi isn’t even striking anybody out. Rodney is probably the best option right now in house, but how does that sit with people?

Pudge

Not a good night for Pudge Rodriguez. There was the double play grounder ending an inning. But most costly was a passed ball turned error turned tie ball game. And he did nothing to redeem himself with the bat.

Leyland

I read through the game log and saw the consternation about brining Robertson back for the 7th. I have to say it didn’t bother me. Zumaya was getting ready and starting an inning with a guy with a pitch count of 82 with a 3 run lead against the bottom of the order didn’t seem like a bad play.

The two calls I thought he did blow were leaving Marcus Thames on the bench and the “stay out of the double play” steal attempt with Cabrera which led to the Ordonez run down. I hate that play in general, and especially given the players involved.

Baserunning

Definitely a mixed bag in terms of baserunning tonight. I won’t kill Ordonez for the rundown because that was the result of a managerial decision. Gary Sheffield got antsy and got a tremendous jump on a steal attempt. So tremendous Floyd hadn’t started his windup. That’s bad.

But it wasn’t all bad. Curtis Granderson had a very heads up play taking an extra base at third when he saw that it was uncovered. Also, Placido Polanco quickly read a wild pitch that didn’t bounce far away and went to second base taking a double play out of order.

Nate Robertson

Very nice bounce back game for Robertson. He walked a few too many with 5, but they seemed to be temporary bouts of wildness (I think 2 were 4 pitch walks) rather than a general lack of control or confidence in pitching in the zone.

Final thoughts

This game was rough. I was there. I was on my feet one strike away from celebrating a victory. Still, the season isn’t over. The series isn’t even over. A sweep was going to be unlikely, and as long as the Tigers can avoid being swept there is still a reasonable chance at staying in this.

PREGAME: Okay, this series is kind of a big deal. The Tigers could pick up 3 games with a sweep and be right in the middle of stuff. They could be swept and be focusing on building the best team of 2009. Or they could inch a little in either direction. It’s also the last time the Tigers get the Sox at home, so taking advantage this series would be helpful.

Tonight the Tigers need to solve the riddle of Gavin Floyd. It’s something they’ve struggled with. In Floyd’s last 5 starts against Detroit he’s allowed a total of 5 runs in 32.1 innings. The last time he carried a no hitter into the 8th inning.

Floyd is much tougher on righties, with lefties posting a .797 OPS. He also is easier to hit on the road. At home he fans 7.1 batters per nine and allows a .177 BABIP. On the road it is a 4.5 K/9 and .273 BABIP.

One thing to note with Floyd is that batters are only posting a .630 OPS on first pitches. Hopefully the Tigers make him work.

On the other side it will be Nate Robertson. Robertson was awful his last time out, and some sort of bounce back statement game would be nice.

CHW @ DET, Friday, July 25, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

Toledo 6 Rochester 9
Freddy Guzman went 3 for 5. Timo Perez had 2 doubles. Mike Hollimon went 2 for 4 with a walk. Anastacio Martinez was knocked around for 9 runs on 11 hits, including 3 homers. Francis Beltran struck out the side in one inning of work.

Erie – PPD

Lakeland 11 Vero Beach 5
Ryan Strieby did it again – homers in 6 straight and 7 of 8 games. Justin Justice and Brandon Timm each had 3 hits. James Skelton doubled, singled, and walked. Jonah Nickerson fanned 5 and allowed 5 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings. Zach Simons pitched 3 perfect innings for the save.

West Michigan 6 Wisconsin 1
Kyle Peter, Justin Henry, Brandon Douglas, Ronnie Bourquin, and Cory Middleton all had 2 hits. Mauricio Robles pitched 6 shut out innings allowing only 2 hits with 4 K’s. Brett Jacobson struck out 2 in one inning.

Oneonta 3 Montana 5
Ben Guez and Hayden Parrott homered for 2 of the 3 Oneonta hits. David Stokes allowed 5 runs in 5 innings on 6 hits. Santo Mieses, Tyler Conn, and Anthony Shawler each pitched a scoreless inning with 2 K’s.

GCL Tigers PPD

PREGAME: The Tigers have now scored 500 runs on the season – exactly. That’s only 19 games later than expected by many. The Tigers also come into today’s game at 2 games over .500. That’s been their highwater mark for the season. It’s a mark they first reached on July 2nd, and they’ve gone 9-9 since then. Their playoff odds as calculated by Baseball Prospectus are at the highest (10.9%) they’ve been since that same day. Can the Tigers break through and move to the coveted 3 games over .500?

To do it they’ll have to get by Zach Grienke. Grienke has been inconsistent of late. He was hammered for 7 runs by the White Sox his last time out, but in his last 7 starts he’s also had 4 outings where he’s given up 2 runs or less. He still has great K and BB rates, but he has allowed 18 homers already this season.

Armando Galarraga threw strikes his last time out. He fanned six and walked none, but 3 of those strikes found themselves in the bleachers and he ended up surrendering 5 runs in 6.2 innings.

DET @ KCR, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 2:10

POSTGAME: I was the idiot blogger arguing that Armando Galarraga couldn’t keep it up – and that was back in May. I’m thrilled he keeps proving me wrong.

A potential no hitter/perfect game is so damn exciting that I don’t know how these guys can settle down and throw a pitch. I was listening at work and I was getting nervous/excited with each pitch. Dan Dickerson by the way did a great job painting the scene and his excitement was evident in his signature “and he GOT HIM ON STRIKES!”

Meanwhile it sounded like Zach Grienke was pitching a heck of a game but had some of the worst luck ever as bloops and ducks found safe harbor between the infield and outfield and a couple of well timed hits staked the Tigers to an early lead.

This was a heck of a bludgeoning that the Royals took and it should quell the jokes (which had been warranted) about the Tigers inability to beat Kansas City.

Things are set up for a monster series with the White Sox. Fortunately for the Tigers things are positioned such that as long as Detroit isn’t swept, things will still be okay. Of course anything the Tigers can do to cut into the White Sox lead – especially while playing in Comerica – would be quite the boost.

PREGAME: The Tigers will try and score some more runs, providing they aren’t too tired from circling the bases last night. They won’t have Jimmy Gobble to beat up because he’s now on the DL.

The Tigers are facing Kyle Davies who they have a tangential relationship with. The Royals decided to take up the Braves offer of Kyle Davies for reliever Octavio Dotel last year at the trade deadline over the pitching prospect the Tigers offered up – which was rumored to be significant and rumored to be Jair Jurrjens.

Davies is coming off a quality start against Seattle, and was one out short of one in his prior start.

The Tigers send out Kenny Rogers who has been giving up more than his share of hits as of late. In his last two starts he’s surrendered 20 hits and 4 walks, but only 7 of those runners came around to score.

DET @ KCR, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: Kenny Rogers pitched a one-hitter over 6 innings to the 8 guys not named Mark Grudzelianekdsaskeak. In a rare outing for Kenny he fanned more than he walked and basically cruised through 6 innings and likely would have had enough for the 7th at least if not for a rain delay.

The offense dispelled questions about “using up their hits” in the 19 run outburst by scoring a run in the first inning. And basically just standing at the plate daring Kyle Davies to throw a strike. Davies was done after 4 innings and a ton of hitters counts.

About those hitters counts, it appears that Curtis Granderson is in a mini-funk. Yes, he has 3 hits in the series, but let’s take a closer look. He went 0 for 5 on Sunday. And of the 3 hits one was a swinging bunt. Another was a grounder through the pitcher that should have been fielded, and the last was a soft liner. But what makes it stand out is that he has been in 3-1 counts continually the last 2 nights, and hasn’t hit the ball hard. I’m not panicing or upset, I’m just sayin…

Placido Polanco had one of those patented, “wow, Polly just hit one out” homers that come out of nowhere and with no one on base. Gary Sheffield drove the ball well missing a homer by about 3 feet and hitting a deep sac fly to centerfield. Carlos Guillen was ripping the ball and had a 12 pitch walk to boot.

The one thing I really question is using both Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya. Rodney appeared by the boxscore at least (yeah, I went to bed) to be nasty, much like in his Baltimore outing (7 of his last 10 outs have been K’s). And using him 2 innings means he’s not available. But then to use Joel Zumaya with a 6 run lead, very late at night, with a day game today, seems to not be very forward thinking.

Toledo 6 Rochester 4
Brent Clevlen had 2 more homers to push his total to 19. He’s hitting .305 and while it took a few turns at AAA, he’s regained prospect status. Jeff Larish, Freddy Guzman, and Clete Thomas all had 2 hits. Eddie Bonine went 7 innings allowing 4 runs, 2 of which were earned, on 5 hits, no walks, and 5 K’s.

Binghamton 12 Erie 3
Jeff Frazier and Wil Rhymes each had 2 hits. Danny Worth returned to the lineup and walked. Luis Marte returned to Erie and struggled. He allowed 6 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in 3.2 innings. And then the pen got hammered.

Lakeland 13 Vero Beach 5
Ryan Strieby is on some kind of tear. He has homered now in his last 4 games and 5 of the last 6. Adam Frost was a triple short of the cycle and had a walk. Jeramy Laster hit a grand slam. James Skelton tripled and walked twice.

West Michigan – delayed

Vermont 4 Oneonta 2
Matt Horman fanned 6, but allowed 4 runs on 3 walks and 4 hits in 4 innings. Lester Oliveros struck out 3 and with 1 walk and 3 hits in 2 innings. Orlando Perdomo struck out two in 1 inning of work. The O-Tigs were 3 hit.
Vermont 4 Oneonta 1
Trevor Feeney allowed just 2 runs in 6 innings. But Oneonta only mustered 4 singles.

GCL Tigers 4 GCL Indians 5
Luis Salas doubled and singled. Brandon Harrington and Brett Anderson had 2 hit games. Jordan Tata made it 6 innings and allowed only 2 runs, but he walked 6 as he continues to struggle.

PREGAME: Don’t know if you heard, but the Tigers are 0-6 against the Royals this year. In those 6 games the Tigers have managed all of 11 runs. They been shut out twice. Tonight’s starter Luke Hochevar held the Tigers to 4 hits, 3 walks, and no runs in 6 innings when the teams met earlier this year. He was hammered in 2 of his last 3 starts but allowed just 1 run in a 7 inning outing his last time out.

For the Tigers Zach Miner returns to the rotation. He made one emergency start in 2007, but that’s it dating back to September 2006. You may remember that start as part of the series when the Tigers blew the division. Miner did his part by recording 1 out, amidst allowing 5 runs.

DET @ KCR, Monday, July 21, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: Too late for a proper recap. Zach Miner was awesome. He wavered a little bit after a 3rd inning single to Gathright. He started floating pitches outside, but he recovered, got the GIDP, and didn’t let another runner touch second base.

And then the offense. The 3-4-5 trio of Guillen-Cabrera-Joyce came to the plate 18 times and only made 4 outs. That makes for good offense. So does the corpse that was known earlier tonight as Jimmy Gobble who was charged with 10 runs in one inning of work. Manager Trey Hillman will likely be charged with crimes against humanity.

The bullpen wasn’t good. Freddy Dolsi was rocked and Aquilino Lopez was also hit hard – but more of his balls found mitts.

Tigers baseball, just when you think it can’t get any worse, it gets a little better. The White Sox and Twins both lose and the Tigers are 5.5 out. Damn that Saturday game.

PREGAME: The Tigers look to salvage a split and stave off baseball irrelevance. The Orioles don’t win on Sundays. They have a 14 game losing streak on Sundays. And the Tigers have their ace on the mound. Maybe if the pitching staff can keep the O’s under 7 runs the Tigers have a chance.

Verlander is pitching on extended rest, which given his workload leading up to the break is probably a good thing. Of course he maybe rusty or overly amped up so that may back fire as well.

Brian Burres isn’t a particularly good pitcher. He doesn’t strikeout many and his walk rate isn’t great either. And he’s left handed. But offense hasn’t been the Tigers problem in this series.

Guillen is back with the team, arriving from the airport just before noon. But he isn’t playing. Instead the infield consists of Cabrera, Inge, Santiago, and Raburn.

DET @ BAL, Sunday, July 20, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:35

POSTGAME: Justin Verlander is my hero. He finally managed to shut down the vaunted Orioles offense, pitching a 3 hitter and recording 26 of the 27 requisite outs. And he did it efficiently too. Not a lot of strike outs, but a lot of weak grounders and pop-ups. He preserved the pen on a day when basically nobody was available and/or trusted.

The offense did enough, extending innings with 2 out hits, and getting some power from Marcus Thames and Magglio Ordonez.

The Tigers leave Baltimore achieving the bare minimum. On to KC.

• On the decision to take Verlander out with one out to go. Yeah, it kinda sucks. And Verlander had pitched well. But how important is the complete game in the scheme of things? It was a 100 degrees and Verlander had lost a couple MPH off his fastball. Eight of the ten pitches he had thrown in the inning missed the strike zone, and pretty badly. Say he leaves him in and he walks another batter, or worse yet gives up a hit, or grooves one when falling behind in the count. Then you’re bringing in Jones to a very high leverage situation.
• And Jones typically makes a situation high leverage without any help. A walk was followed by a phenomenal play by Inge. It probably would have been a web gem, but no Baseball Tonight because it is important to show the ESPYs.
• The 3-4-5-6 hitters combined for 2 homers, 2 singles, a double, and 5 walks. That’s some nice production on a day when the top two hitters didn’t get on base.
• Finally, let’s talk about Brian Runge. Runge is the ump who blew the 10th inning call on Saturday night. His handiwork at homeplate complete, he went over for a stress free day at third base. But given the opportunity to deny the Tigers a run, he jumped all over it. Marcus Thames hooked a deep fly ball down the left field foul pole. Thames kept rounding the base while Runge called it foul. Fortunately he was promptly overruled by home plate ump Greg Gibson. Runge is approaching Angel Hernandez in my book.

PREGAME: It will be Nate Robertson and Daniel Cabrera. Cabrera isn’t on pace to walk over 100 batters for the first time in history. But he’s still walking 4 batters per nine innings. Cabrera typically posted above average K’s numbers in his career, but now he’s only fanning 5 per nine innings.

DET @ BAL, Saturday, July 19, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Worst loss of the year. Blown lead. Blown comeback. Blown call. Blown season.