Monthly Archives: May 2007

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 35: Tigers at Twins

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PREGAME: The Tigers finally get some of that national exposure with an appearance on Fox Saturday Baseball. Of course Fox probably wasn’t looking for a Chad Durbin/Sidney Ponson match-up either so only 8% of the nation will get this game. And thanks to Fox’s exclusivity for Saturday afternoons, MLB.tv won’t be an option for you if you don’t live in Michigan, Minnesota, Northern Ohio, or Montana.

Once upon a time, Ponson was a good pitcher. That was 2003. This year he is 1 for 6 in quality starts.

With Chad Durbin you don’t really know what you’ll get. He was great in 2 of his last 3 starts, but walked 6 and didn’t make it out of the 4th inning in the other. (Half of Durbin’s walks for the season came in that one disaster, so at least it isn’t a habitual problem).

Game Time 3:45

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 5/11/07

Toledo 2 Pawtucket 3 14 innings
Timo Perez and Jack Hannahan homered to provide the offense. Ryan Raburn and Brent Clevlen each had 2 hits. Zach Miner had his best start of the season allowing 3 hits and 1 walks to go along with 6 K’s in 7 innings of shut out ball.

Erie 12 Akron 1
Clete Thomas was a triple short of the cycle as he racked up a 4 for 5 day plus a walk. Andres Torres was a single short of the cycle and walked. Kody Kirkland had 2 hits, a walk, and 2 stolen bases. Mike Hollimon added 2 hits and a walk and Matt Joyce had 3 walks. Jon Connolly allowed 1 unearned run over 8 innings despite allowing 9 hits and no strike outs.

Lakeland 6 Daytona 5 17 innings
Whole lot of baseball last night on the farm. Wil Rhymes was 4 for 9 and Cameron Maybin was 4 for 7 to lead the attack. There always seems to be someone who takes an 0fer on a night like this. Last night the unfortunate soul was Wilkin Ramirez who was 0 for 8 with 5 K’s – kind of like having a slump all on one night. Making it even more challenging, neither starter lasted through the 5th inning.

Cedar Rapids 2 West Michigan 4
Gorkys Hernandez went 3 for 4 and is now hitting 346/410/430. Scott Sizemore added a perfect 4 for 4 night as well. Duane Below pitched 6 shut out innings. He only allowed 4 hits and 1 walk while fanning 14.

2007 Season, Statistics

Times 5

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Wednesday night the Tigers played their 32nd game of the season. That game is significant in that it basically represents one-fifth of the season. While it is a substantial number of games, you can still get some funny results playing the “on pace for game.”

The Offense

Using the Baseball Musings day by day database, it’s easy to get the performance over a given time period. The Tigers offensive performances over the first 32 games can be found here.

Below is a spreadsheet with all the counting stats multiplied by 5: Continue reading Times 5 →

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 34: Tigers at Twins

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PREGAME: Ahh, the Metrodome. Yeah.

Anyways, tonight we have ourselves a rematch of a couple of lefties. The first time Mike Maroth and Johan Santana hooked up the Tigers got the upper hand with some homers by Magglio Ordonez and Marcus Thames. Brandon Inge got the last big fly with a walk off homer off of Jesse Crain.

The Twins will be without Joe Mauer who is on the DL. And Luis Castillo has some sore legs and took the day off yesterday.

Game Time 8:10pm

POSTGAME: There’s just something about taking a game from Johan Santana. Not in the “I hate him” sort of way, but more in the “how are we going to win this game?” sort of way.

Much like the last time they hooked up, the Tigers made Santana throw a lot of pitches the first time through the lineup. Then the second time they started jumping on the first pitch fastballs. The damage was limited, thanks in part to a couple sweet plays by Jason Kubel, but it was enough as Mike Maroth managed to allow only 1 run in his best outing of the year.

It seemed like the Tigers were the beneficiary of the metrodome more than the Twins for a change. Both triples (Guillen and Granderson) were turf induced, and Guillen’s RBI single probably doesn’t make it through on grass either.

And not to be cynical or anything, but as it gets into the late innings does anyone else think of the term “insurance runs” and think they are really “Rodney runs.” Things continue to be a struggle for him.

2007 Season, Injuries, Minors

Virgil Vasquez to start on Sunday

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With Jeremy Bonderman’s finger still causing problems, Virgil Vasquez will take the mound on Sunday Night Baseball. Vasquez has been Mack Avenue Tigers‘ guy to take over Durbin’s spot in the rotation.

Vasquez has been quite solid in his last 5 outings accumulating 31 innings and 41 K’s against 6 walks. He’s only allowed 5 earned runs over that stretch.

The move probably won’t be come official until Sunday, because it will mean removing a member of the bullpen – presumably Aquilino Lopez – to make room.

As for Bonderman, hopefully this is only a one start deal. Right now we’re at the nuisance stage of the injury, and I’d just assume not see it get worse.

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 5/10/07

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Toledo 2 Rochester 1
Ryan Raburn picked up a double for one of the Hens 3 hits. Chris Shelton continues to struggle with 3 K’s as part of an 0 for 4 night. Yorman Bazardo pitched 8 shut out innings. It was kind of a weird stat line with only 2 hits, but with 5 walks and 6 K’s. Usually that means a 6th inning departure because of pitch count be made it through 8 on 107.

Erie – DNP

Lakeland – DNP

West Michigan – DNP

UPDATE: Sorry about disseminating bad information. I checked milb.com this morning quickly, and for each of the other leagues it said there was no scoreboard. It seemed fishy, but I was in a hurry and didn’t probe deeper. All the stats are in the comments. Thanks to Mike G for picking up the slack.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 33: Mariners at Tigers

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PREGAME: I guess it’s just time to start another 8 game winning streak. The pitching match-up certainly looks favorable with Jeff Weaver taking on Justin Verlander.

Weaver has made 5 starts and only lasted 17 1/3 innings. But they’ve been productive innings (for the other team) with 29 runs allowed. Of course, the Tigers seem to struggle against Weaver. His ERA against the Tigers is 2.53 in 3 starts, and that doesn’t even include the post season last year.

On the other side is Justin Verlander, who for only the 4th time this year won’t be facing the Royals.

Game Time 1:05

2007 Season, Minors

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 5/9/07

Toledo 11 Rochester 9
Jack Hannahan had 3 hits and a walk and Timo Perez continues to swing a hot bat with a double. Ryan Raburn and Mike Hessman each homered. Chris Shelton managed a double and a walk. Dennis Tankersley allowed 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings. Preston Larrison surrendered 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks without getting an out.

Erie 5 Altoona 1
It was a 3rd straight gem for Eulogio De La Cruz who pitched 7 innings allowing only 2 hits. He walked 2, fanned 8, and surrendered a homer. Mike Hollimon doulbed and homered and Kody Kirkland went deep as well.

Lakeland 3 Daytona 5
Wilkin Ramirez doubled and tripled for the Flying Tigers. Justin Justice, Wil Rhymes, and Ryan Roberson all homered. Lucas French pitched 6 shut out innings allowing only 4 hits while fanning 9.

Cedar Rapids 9 West Michigan 2
Brandon Timm had 3 hits, and that was pretty much the offense. Lauren Gagnier allowed 10 hits for 7 runs in 5 1/3 innings.

2007 Season, Game Post

Game 32: Mariners at Tigers

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PREGAME: An interesting blurb on ESPN.com this morning cited that the Tigers, the current owners of an 8 game winning streak, haven’t won 9 games in a row since 1984. To keep the streak alive they are going to rely on Nate Robertson to do battle with Cha Seung Baek.

Game time barring rain delays is 7:05pm

POSTGAME: Eh, what are ya gonna do? This game started out great with the Tigers connecting for runs in each of the first 2 innings on a leadoff homer and triple. Meanwhile Nate Robertson retired the first 7 Mariners with ease. Next thing you know the Tigers get stuck on the 3 hit mark while Seattle connects for 10 hits off of Nate Robertson. A poor showing by Jason Grilli pretty much ensured the Tigers weren’t coming back in this one.

  • When Jose Guillen took Nate Robertson deep to take the lead, it was only the 3rd tater that Nate had allowed this year.
  • It seemed pretty clear that the Tigers as a team had a game plan to jump on first pitch fastballs. It appeared to be a decent strategy generating a number of hard hit balls. Trouble was that only a few of them fell for hits. I don’t think this was the team reverting back to their old ways of being overagressive, I think it was by design.
  • Placido Polanco swung and missed twice last night. You just know something wasn’t right.
  • Inge had 2 hits last night pushing his average to .200. Exciting? No. But at least all the starters are off the interstate.

Mariners 9 Tigers 2

Links

links for 2007-05-09

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