Grand Rapids Press: Joel Zumaya
Matt Anderson’s line from Toledo today: 3IP, 0R, 1 H, 1 W, 3 K
I didn’t see much of the Tig’s this weekend, and while capping the road trip with a 9-2 win was nice, combining for one run between Friday and Saturday was a disappointment. Especially considering the roll they were on coming off the Baltimore series. Observations from the box scores and game recaps:
-Now that Jim Thome has left the AL, it seems that Aubrey Huff has filled his role of designated home-run hitter. Six games against the Tigers, 5 Home Runs.
-Jeremy Bonderman looks to have pitched another solid game, with out throwing a ton of pitches
-The bullpen, while not being in any save situations pitched 5 1/3 innings with 2 hits, no walks, and no runs during the Tampa series
-Another strong outing by Nate Cornejo where he didn’t strike anybody out. I know that there is some concern about Nate’s non-existent strike out rate, but he continues to get people to hit the ball into the ground. With the type of defense that Munson and Pena have been playing on the corners, and the range that Santiago and Infante have up the middle, that isn’t such a bad thing.
-Joel Zumaya left after the second inning in his start for West Michigan. He’d given up two runs, but I don’t think it was a performance thing. Haven’t seen any reported injuries though. Also, Jeff Farnsworth threw a shut out for Erie extending his scoreless streak to 19 innings
-Disturbing stat of the week: opposing basestealers are 19 for 24 against the Tigers
Tigers Sweep Brandon Inge sporting a new swing hit two home runs and drove in 3.
Anderson to Hens; Avery called up
Baseball America – Daily Minor League Highlights
I think it’s safe to say that everyone had to enjoy last nights game. Well, except maybe Mike Maroth who had Omar Infante and Matt Anderson throw away yet another win-but then again at least he didn’t get a loss. Dmitri Young exploded going 5-5, 2 HR’s, 2 3B’s and 5 RBI. If lashing out at the fans is what it takes to get Dmitri motivated, so be it. Aside from Young, the most refreshing thing about last nights game was the two out hitting. In the third inning, with two outs Infante doubled, Higginson singled, and Young tripled. Pena kept the inning alive with a walk before Monroe flew out to center.
I’m sure that next week Jayson Stark will have some interesting stats about Dmitri’s game, but here are a couple quick ones until then”
-Young had 15 total bases last night. The team didn’t get it’s 15th base until the 4th game of the season
-Young now has 45 total bases on the season, meaning that a third of them came in one game. The barrage raised his slugging percentage from .300 to .429 and his OPS from .555 to .716
-Young had 5 RBI last night. It took him 24 games to get his first 5 RBI of the season
While not a Tiger post, this site is an aggregator of baseball blogs. It includes rss feeds of blogs when possible, and is easy to navigate. The author claims it is still in beta mode, but it is pretty slick.
Philadelphia Inquirer-Higginson: Tigers will survive
There are two reasons for that:
1) Alan Trammell is the manager.
2) Luis Pujols is not the manager.
Philadelphia Daily News-5-25, but Tigers aren’t in tank