Monthly Archives: May 2006

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 2nd

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Indianapolis 5, Toledo 4
Ryan Ludwick hit his 5th homer and added a walk. Josh Phelps reached base 3 times, as did Tiek Redman and Max St Pierre. Wil Ledezma was pulled after 4 1/3 innings with back stiffness. He allowed 4 hits and walking 2 and fanning 2.

Altoona 6, Erie 1
Jeremy Johnson’s record slipped to 0-3. He allowed 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings. Tony Giarratano tripled and singled twice. That was most of the offense for Erie.

Lakeland – DNP

West Michigan 9, Wisconsin 2 (In progress)
Burke Badenhop went 6 innings allowing only 2 runs while striking out 8. Justin Justice hit a grand slam and doubled. Cameron Maybin added two hits and an outfield assist.

2006 Season, Injuries, Pitching

Tigers Rain Delay Linking

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Stuff of note from the last few days:

  • Dmitri Young’s return seems close. He’s heading to Erie for a rehab assignment. To keep track of Young’s progress, make sure to check the minor league reports.
  • Remember when TV play-by-play man Mario Impemba was blogging on MLBlogs? That blog was kind of abandoned this winter. Well, I just found out he’s been blogging for Fox Sports. This incarnation looks to have launched during spring training and is kept up to date.
  • It also looks like Mario fancies himself a webmaster. He maintains a site about baseball broadcasting called the Sound of Baseball
  • I also happened across a couple of Tiger blogs. Mack Avenue and The Daily Fungo.
  • Much of the Tigers pitching staff success this year is being attributed to meetings that Chuck Hernandez holds with the staff and catchers. In the meetings they discuss how to approach the coming series. According to Vance Wilson this level of preparation is new

    We’re getting good scouting reports. We’re getting together as a group and talking about their lineup and getting good feedback. Chuck’s been awesome. I don’t think we’ve had this kind of preparation in a long time here in Detroit.”.

    Now I always thought that Bob Cluck was a decent pitching coach, and I guess I just assumed this was taking place in the past. Hmmmm

  • In other pitching news it appears that Justin Verlander is battling a blister problem. It sounds like it only causes problems for his curveball.
  • Chris Shelton and Kenny Rogers were named Tigers player and pitcher of the month for April
  • And last but not least, the Tigers are certainly not last nor least. On Baseball Prospectus’ Hit List the Tigers hold the number one spot.
2006 Season, Game Post

Game 27: Royals at Twins

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radarPREGAME:Another two game series with the Royals is about to come to a close – weather permitting. Based on the map, I’m not holding my breath.

If they do play, it will be a matchup of soft tossing lefties. Mike Maroth is set to take on Mark Redman. Redman, as you may remember, was a Tiger for a short spell. He was acquired in exchange for Todd Jones who is a Tiger once again. And then the Tigers traded Redman for 3 pitchers, one of which is Nate Robertson who is in the rotation. This all would have been more interesting if Redman were facing Robertson tonight.

Maroth will try to keep the hitters off balance, as Bonderman did last night. Bonderman did such a good job that the Royals got themselves a new hitting coach.

Game time is 7:05 – theoretically.

POSTGAME: Another strong pitching performance, a couple homers – including one from Craig Insurance Runs Monroe, and the Tigers have their 3rd 5 game win streak of the season. Only 22,000 fans for the series, which is somewhat understandable given the context (Royals, rain, playoff games). Here’s hoping tomorrow night tops that mark.

2006 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – May 1st

Toledo 6, Indianapolis 1
Roman Colon made his first start and pitched 3 innings of one hit ball. Matt Mantei pitched two innings and allowed only one hit while striking out two. He could be close to joining the Detroit bullpen. Chris Spurling pitched 1 1/3 innings for the save. Jack Hannahan drew 4 walks to lead the offense.

Altoona 5, Erie 1
Erie only managed 3 hits, the biggest being a triple from Crhis Maples. Preston Larrison lasted 7 innings, but he gave up 10 hits and only struck out two.

Clearwater 8, Lakeland 1
Clete Thomas picked up two hits, and three strikeouts. Jeff Frazier added a double, while Jeff Larish was 0 for 4. Lance Davis took the loss giving up 5 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Josh Rainwater was ineffective in relief allowing 7 hits and 3 runs in 3 2/3 innings.

West Michigan 9, Wisconsin 4 (First Game)
Matt Joyce and Wil Rhymes each doubled twice while Justin Justice added a double and a triple.

West Michigan 3, Wisconsin 4 (2nd Game)
Cameron Maybin was 2 for 4, as was Ryan Roberson. Sendy Vazquez gave up 4 runs (2 earned) in 4 innings to take the loss. He did fan 5 batters.

2006 Season, Statistics

Series Wrap: Twins at Tigers

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This series will go down in Tiger history as 33-1, which of course was the run differential. This will be good for all kinds of trivia, but I’m not sure what Tiger fans can really glean from it. In fact, I’d say we learned more about the Minnesota Twins than we did about the Detroit Tigers. The Twins are struggling, and while things will inevitably get better, there chances don’t look good this season. Their rough start, punctuated by this series even has some speculating about Johan Santana’s future as a Twin.

But on to the Tigers… Continue reading Series Wrap: Twins at Tigers →

2006 Season, Game Post

Game 26: Royals at Tigers

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PREGAME: The Kansas City Royals come to town for a short two game series. Jeremy Bonderman will try to keep the string of strong outings alive for the Tigers. Bonderman, whose 5.04 ERA probably isn’t indicative of how well he’s pitched, has only really struggled against Matt Stairs (5 for 11, 2 homers).

The Tigers will face Runyelvs Hernandez. He of course started the brawl by beaning Carlos Guillen last year. He was also put on the disabled list for being out of shape.

In meaningless split info, the Tigers will be trying for their first Monday win since they beat these same Royals on Opening Day.

POSTGAME: Another masterful pitching performance for a Tiger starter was the story in the Tigers 3-2 win. Jeremy Bonderman picked up another 9 strikeouts to move him to third place in the AL.

As for whether or not he should have pitched the 9th, a case could definitely be made. Everything was working for him, and he was at 94 pitches. What was interesting to me isn’t that Bonderman didn’t pitch the 9th, it’s that Todd Jones did. Jones got an inning of work on Sunday, so it wasn’t about keeping him fresh. If it was about keeping the bullpen sharp, wouldn’t Joel Zumaya who hasn’t pitched since April 25th, been a better option? Was Jim Leyland managing to the save statistic? And if so, what makes the save more significant than the complete game shut out for his starter?

And once again, Craig Monroe provided insurance runs that became quite important late in the game via a home run.