It’s Cy-nanimous!

Justin Verlander, as expected (and yet…you never know how these things will go, do you?) won the 2011 American League Cy Young Award.

Yesterday Justin Verlander was announced as the first unanimous AL Cy Young award winner since Johan Santana did the same in 2006, the year Verlander won the AL Rookie of the Year award.  Verlander had already won the oddly named Players Choice Player of the Year award on November 3rd, and the unofficial Pitching Triple Crown (leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA).  Now he joins Willie Hernandez and Denny McLain in the three-man Tiger Cy Young club.

Jered Weaver finished a distant 2nd in the voting, followed by James Shields (who pulled down half a million for finishing in the top 5) and CC Sabathia.  Tiger Jose Valverde finished 5th (with one 2nd place vote).  CJ Wilson, Dan Haren, Mariano Rivera, Josh Beckett, Ricky Romero, and David Robertson also received votes.

Some 2011 Verlander statistical highlights:

ERA:  .240 (1st)

Wins:  24 (1st)

Win/Loss %: .828 (1st)

Strikeouts:  250 (1st)

WHIP: .920 (1st)

WAR: 8.5 (1st)

Innings: 251 (1st)

Starts: 34 (1st)

Hits/9 inn: 6.2 (1st)

Not to mention a no-hitter.

Unlike with many awards, reaction around Cy-berspace is a big thumbs-up for the vote.

With the Cy Young under his belt, the question now becomes whether Verlander has a shot at the MVP vote, and whether any pitcher should.  Don Newcome of the Brooklyn Dodgers won an MVP, a Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year;  no one else has won all three before.

So other than a possible MVP vote, what’s next for Justin Verlander?  Winning another Cy Young next year, JV tells Michael Rosenberg.

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In other awards news, Dave Dombrowski was co-winner of Sporting News’ Executive of the Year Award, sharing the vote with Brewers GM (and former Tiger) Bob Melvin.  The award is based on a poll of general managers, assistant general managers, and the like.  Dombrowski joins a short list of Tiger GMs to win the award:  Jim Campbell, who won in 1968, and good ol’ Walter Briggs, Sr. in 1940.  (There is no truth to the rumor that they are planning a Lifetime Achievement Award for Randy Smith).

Dombrowski’s offseason moves (signing Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit), and midseason moves (Doug Fister and Delmon Young) all worked, and it’s hard to think of any serious missteps he made.  One other Dombrowski move worth mentioning:  signing Justin Verlander to a 5-yr, 80MM contract before the 2010 season.  If he hadn’t, Verlander would be a free agent after this season.  Anyone want to hazard a guess how much he would cost to sign right now?

And Old Smokey himself, Jim Leyland, finished 2nd to Joe Maddon for the AL Manager of the Year Award, and ahead of Ron Washington, getting 13 first place votes.  The NL winner:  Kirk Gibson.

Toledo, Syracuse: PPD – rain

Erie 4, Reading 0 (Phillies)
Bryan Holaday went 1-2 with a 3 run homer in the 4th inning to lead the way for Erie.
L.J. Gagnier (RHP) pitched a 7-inning complete game gem: 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 K. Gagnier’s ERA for the year is a respectable 2.63.

Erie 4, Reading 3 (Phillies)
In the second game of a double-header, the Sea Wolves won on a walk-off, two-run double from Rawley Bishop (1B). Jamie Johnson (CF) played an important offensive role in this game as he went 2-3 with a run scored, a walk, and 2 RBI.

Chance Ruffin recorded the win after pitching a scoreless inning while striking out 1 batter.

Lakeland 3, Brevard County 12 (Brewers)
Jared Wesson (LHP) somehow found a way to allow 7 ER in 2 innings of work as a starter; as a result, the outcome of this one was never in doubt.

Avisail Garcia (RF) went 1-4 on the night but picked up all 3 RBI for the Flying Tigers from a three-run homer.

West Michigan 3, Dayton 7 (Reds)
Hernan Perez (2B) went 2-4 with a walk, 1 2B, and 2 RBI. Richard Zumaya’s perfect ERA finally succumbed on this night as he allowed 2 ER in 2 innings of relief work.

Josue Carreno (RHP) took the loss after allowing 4 ER on 6 hits and a walk over 4 innings as the starter. On a positive note, he did manage to K 6 before giving way to the bullpen.

My friend and fellow Tigers blogger Lee Panas published a book this past offseason called Beyond Batting Average. It is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about the advanced statistics used in in baseball today.

I’ve known Lee virtually for a number of years through blogs and forums and in addition to being an excellent analyst, he is very adept at explaining complex concepts in an easy to digest manner. Beyond Batting Average is an extension of the great work that Lee has been doing online for years.

Panas doesn’t just explain the stats, but he also tells you why you should care about them.

In case you think I’m just touting something for a friend, I’m not alone in this assessment. Saber-atti like Tom Tango and Dave Gassko endorse the book. Tigers play-by-play man Dan Dickerson takes it with him as a reference tome on road trips.

Beyond Batting Average is available in paperback form and it is also available for download from Lulu.

PREGAME: We’ll get this up early in case anybody is so inclined to follow along with the Twins/Royals game which gets started just after 4 p.m.

It’s Alfredo Figaro and Freddy Garcia doing battle today. Figaro has an okay start and a bad start under his belt this year. He also has a very solid multi-inning relief appearance against these same White Sox. I have no idea how he’ll do today but I don’t think he’ll be given a chance to cost the Tigers the game.

The Tigers started slow against Garcia but eventually got to him for 7 runs on 10 hits.

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – October 3, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

Kansas City vs. Minnesota – October 3, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: I wish I had something useful to say. I’m not a big believer in “choking” or playing tight or playing without passion. But those beliefs are being seriously challenged as the Tigers have mustered all of 1 frickin’ run in 2 games against the White Sox.

The Alfredo Figaro decision turned out to be a non-event. He wasn’t good but he was pulled before he could inflict any real damage. The result was essentially an Armando Galarraga start. And that damage to either pitcher would have been less had the Tigers defense not picked the same time to collapse.

If Placido Polanco starts the double play in the second inning, that saves a run. If Magglio Ordonez makes his sliding catch (not a routine play, but one that needs to be made) that saves another run.

Miguel Cabrera had a far bigger impact on the game than Figaro. Actually Cabrera’s failures are probably the biggest story of the series. Friday night he had 3 infield pop-outs and a strikeout. Tonight he once again failed to get a ball out of the infield and killed the Tigers last hope with a double play. There have been times when Cabrera has hit bullets at people that result in double plays. The last 2 nights he’s looked like he’s channeling the worst of Brandon Inge.

Adam Everett showed up and had a nice game. He had a couple nice, run-saving, defensive plays. He had a double and he just hooked a potential home run ball foul.

There’s nothing good to say right now.

Now that was some baseball. I listened to the bulk of the day game. Watched the night game. I’m worn out.

It was a tremendous day of baseball. I can look back and say that because the Tigers held on in the nightcap. If that doesn’t happen then it’s a different adjective I use. But in the end we’re right back where we started. After 19 innings of baseball the Twins and Tigers essentially played to a draw. Well, not quite a draw because the seasons for both teams have been shortened.

Game 1

Once again the Tigers got terrific pitching and not enough hitting. And they lost. But oh what a game it was. Rick Porcello was dealing. Nick Blackburn struggled a little early on and the Tigers didn’t take advantage because Blackburn either dialed in or the Tigers got themselves out.

Rob Neyer and Kurt Mensching already broke down this game and some of the decisions implemented by Leyland. Maybe I’m just to use to Tigers baseball, but very little that Leyland does really phases me at this point. I know he’ll make some mistakes, but very few are egregious and many are expected. Maybe that is a free pass, I don’t know.

If the Tigers had won this game though, I’m certain I would have written something about how big Zach Miner came up pitching out of a jam and bridging the gap once again. Wait, I just wrote that anyways.

Finally, there has been much angst written about Gene Lamont’s decision to hold Clete Thomas. I’m generally of the mindset of forcing the issue at home plate and wouldn’t have been upset had Thomas been thrown out at home had he been waved around. But this wasn’t a case of being excessively conservative. Kubel had scooped the ball at the same time Thomas hit 3rd and Kubel wasn’t deep. I think it is a stretch to say the decision cost the team the game.

You hate to see a game lost in large part due to wild pitches, and those were the culminating events. But both teams battled (yeah cliche) and both teams played pretty well (cliche). These were 2 pretty good teams (cliche) and you knew it would go down to the wire (cliche).

It’s easy to read too much into this game and the team’s psyche and compare it to the Twins. The Twins blew some chances as well. They just cashed in first. I don’t know if that has anything to do with heart or choking or any of the other stuff.

Game 2

Yeah, there was some pressure. Nobody really wanted this to be knotted up at the top of the division with 5 games to go. So the effort by not only Justin Verlander but by the offense getting to a pitcher who hadn’t been gotten to was HUGE.

The Tigers, got those big hits that had been missing the previous 2 games. Magglio Ordonez’s 2 out 2 run double might have been the biggest of the night because it provided a cushion and at least in the fans minds made everyone relax a little.

But like so many times when things go well, there were contributions from many. Grandy, Inge, Miggy, Everett. Hits throughout the lineup. Good times.

Now as for Verlander, he had moments of unhittableness, and then some of those unfortunate moments of quite hittableness. The first 2 runs that scored were on Verlande.r The last 2 not as much. The 2 singles that started that 8th inning rally were on good pitches that resulted in seeing eye grounders. And there is room to question the wisdom of Verlander staying in the game as deep as he did. When Leyland went to the mound I was sure Verlander was coming out, but in Leyland’s presser the conversation went something like:

“I told him I don’t have anyone better. That’s my line but with Verlander I mean it.”

Fernando Rodney was also quite good pitching around some shoddy and uncharacteristic defense from Polanco and Granderson. Rodney threw 20 pitches, and 16 of them were for strikes. He was good.

Parting Shots

Both teams went into today hoping to sweep and really put the other team in an uncomfortable position. But both teams went into today really hoping not to get swept. In that respect both teams can walk away somewhat satisfied. With both games being so close both teams can also walk away knowing how close they came to sweeping the day.

• Granderson carried over his Chicago success and added 3 more extra base hits and has homered in 3 straight games. One of those came off of Nathan which is pretty big.
• Polanco kind of had Inge’s Chicago series all in done day. A couple misplays (not routine but we expect more from Polly) and an 0’fer in the first game. Okay, he had 2 hits in the night game and didn’t strike out in 3/4’s of his plate apperances. So it wasn’t that bad at all.
• Speaking of Inge he left that series in Chicago behind him as he had a few hits today
• Does Gerald Laird get the day off tomorrow? I’d hope so. My knees hurt thinking about it.
• How about some props for Andy Van Slyke? He had the left fielders positioned perfectly tonight. There were some hits that looked like bloopers that Ryan Raburn barely had to move for.

The Tigers will be trying to clinch a playoff spot and celebrate the last Detroit World Series Champion when the Twins come to town next week. On September 28th the franchise will honor the 1984 team with a 25th anniversary celebration.

The roster includes 24 member of that club, including trainer Pio DiSalvo. The lineup is:

Continue reading The 1984 Celebration →

PREGAME: The Tigers having assured back to back winning road series will work on back to back sweeps and continue an undefeated September. Everything about that sentence made me happy, other than its run on nature.

The big story is Edwin Jackson’s return to Tampa. Jackson has not had the same sharpness he had in the first half.

It will be big league debut day for Wade Davis. Let’s hope they make it uncomfortable for him the way they did to Carlos Carrasco.

Yes, the ejection of Porcello greatly impacted the outcome of the game, and yes I’ve already ripped into the umpires for the ejection. But the umpires did not cost the Tigers the game, nor did Kevin Youkilis and his hissy fit. Regardless, the Tigers will be feeling the repercussions of this game for the rest of the series.

The umpiring was atrocious the whole night and it didn’t just go against the Tigers. In fact it led to the Tigers offensive outburst in the first. Guillen got away with intereference on his take out slide breaking up a double play in the first. Then the Tigers were gifted a caught stealing in the 2nd (leading to the ejection of Terry Francona) where Lambert was handed an out because he wasn’t capable of notching one on his own. The strike zone was a complete and utter joke (11 Red Sox pitches out of the strike zone called strikes, 5 Tigers pitches out of the strike zone called strikes, 3 Tigers pitches in the zone called balls, 1 Red Sox pitch in the zone called a ball). It was just a horrible job of umpiring all the way around.

The Tigers offense struggled again despite the 5 runs. The 3 in the first came on 2 solid singles, a questionable HBP, an error, and a slide out of the baseline, and another solid single. The offense was then held to 2 hits until the 9th inning when they got to Papelbon for 2 runs.

Lambert was awful…again…and the only nice thing you can say is that he pitched 5 innings. He also became the first Tiger since Mel Rojas to give up at least 5 runs in consecutive relief outings. (Eulogio De La Cruz did it also…sort of…the first game was as a Tiger and the second game was a year later as a Marlin)

At least Alex Avila is still hitting. And Ordonez tripled in back to back games with assists from J.D. Drew.

Other fallout

As mentioned during the FS Detroit broadcast, the X-rays on Miguel Cabrera’s hand were negative, which is the good news. But according to Jim Leyland’s presser after the game Cabrera was pretty sore and is day to day. Also, Lambert was jettisoned and Freddy Dolsi was recalled. Dolsi pitched last night so I can’t see him giving the Tigers too many innings today. And then there is the issue of Armando Galarraga and the flu and who knows if he’ll be able to go tonight. Eddie Bonine pitched on Sunday so he wouldn’t be available as a spot starter.