“Mr. Cluck has really gotten into his head,” Trammell said, referring to pitching coach Bob Cluck. “Nate is learning how to pitch. It’s a wonderful thing, learning how to change speeds, hit your spots and not trying to blow everyone away. There are a lot of successful pitchers in baseball who do it that way.”
Farm report – 5/5/03
Msicellaneous Stuff
Searching for consistency
After a relative offensive explosion this weekend where the Tigers amassed 23 hits, 13 runs, and 4 HR’s and in only two games, one can’t help wonder if this was just taking advantage of a poor pitching staff of if the bats are starting to come alive. Don’t look now, but the team’s batting average is up to .195. Carlos Pena went 3-4 on Sunday showing opposite field power with a double and home run. So often this season, we’ve seen a struggling hitter put together two games of good swings, only to fall into another 0-fer slump. Here’s hoping that Pena can sustain this, and that he and Craig Monroe (.886 OPS) can rub off on the other hitters.
Small Ball Woes
We all know that scoring runs has been tough for the Tigers, and that big innings have been hard to come by. We know part of the reason is that the bats have been anemic, but is Trammell helping also by giving up too many outs. First there is the issue of base stealing. The Tigers have attempted to steal 20 times and have only been successful 7 times. For a team that is searching for baserunners, that is a lot of outs given up in the quest to get one base. Now granted, it seems that several of the attempts were hit and runs where someone missed a sign, but are they being too aggressive on the basepaths? Or, is this aggressiveness stemming from the lack of offensive production? Also, the Tigers rank second in the Amercian League in the sacrifice bunts. Between the steals and bunts, are the Tigers giving away too many outs? Or are all the sacrifices the result of the starting pitching keeping the Tigers in the game, and the fact that they are typically only down by a couple runs? I don’t have the answers, just raising some questions.
Odds ‘n Ends
-3 of the Tigers 4 wins have come on Sundays
-Bonderman, who threw 118 pitches in a loss 5 days ago was pulled after 88 pitches on Sunday
-Bobby Higginson’s solo HR in the first inning gave him 10 RBI on the season, making him the first Tiger to reach double digit RBI’s this year
-For those of you comparing the Orioles 1988 start, or the Tigers 84 start, the Orioles were 4-25 at this point, and the 84 Tigers were 25-4.
Prospect Watch: Joel Zumaya
Baseball America – Joel Zumaya
Drafted as a 17-year-old, Zumaya is one of the youngest players in the low Class A Midwest League this season at age 18. After striking out 10 in five innings last night, he paces the circuit with 42 K’s in 25 innings.
Broken bullpen
Walks given up by Tiger Starters this year (146 1/3 innings): 40
Walks given up by Tiger Relievers this year (69 2/3 innings): 42
Left Handed hitters agains Left-handed specialist Jamie Walker:
6 for 12, 2 HR’s, 6 RBI
Dmitri Endears himself to Detroit fans
Young: I’d rather be on the road”
The Tigers’ Dmitri Young noticed the sparse crowd Thursday. “Nobody was in the stands behind us,” Young told the Associated Press. “These people don’t care about us. I’d rather be on the road.” The Tigers announced they sold 16,177 tickets for Thursday, when one ticket was good for both games. The first game appeared to have several thousand no-shows. For the second game, no more than 1,000 fans appeared to remain.
Well Dmitri, sorry but I had to work yesterday. I got pissed off enough as it was listening to the games on the radio, let alone going down there. You play for a team that is 3-23, how many people did you expect to see down there?
AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH
Trammell’s not happy
Trammell holds post game meeting after mistake filled game
“This one bothered me. I just had a little chat (with the players),” Trammell said. “One thing that really bothers me, and I’ll be consistent with this, is sloppy baseball. I’ll always be a little bitter when we play sloppy.”
STLtoday – sports
Paquette Wants to go to St. Louis
Paquette says he likes and respects Trammell, whose operation he says is much more structured than that of interim Luis Pujols last year. But, asked if he wanted out, Paquette said, “In a heartbeat. And they know that. I thought something was going to happen at the end of the spring, but it got shot down.”
Baseball America – Prospect Hot Sheet
Baseball America – Prospect Hot Sheet Noochie Varner (Erie) and Joel Zumaya (West Michigan) are “Other Hot Prospects to Watch”
Baseball Prospectus – The Jack Morris Project
Baseball Prospectus – The Jack Morris Project
As I said, I don’t know what the performance record of someone who had successfully pitched to the score would look like. I am certain, though, that for a pitcher to build his Hall of Fame case on the notion that he did such a thing, he couldn’t have put his team behind in nearly two-thirds of his career starts, and he couldn’t have blown leads once a month throughout his career.
Peter Gammons
Wednesday night, Bonderman shut down the A’s with eight brilliant innings and this line: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He threw in the 90’s with a dominating curveball and when Matt Anderson escaped the ninth, the Tigers had their second win of the season, 4-1. “It was a tremendous feeling,” Bonderman said. “It was especially meaningful because the first call I got in the clubhouse was from Billy Beane, who congratulated me and told me how proud he is to have had me in the organization.”