Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/22/07

Indianpolis 4 Toledo 8
Brent Clevlen and Mike Hessman both homered and singled. Omar Infante was 2 for 4 with a walk. Jordan Tata had an excellent start allowing 1 run on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 8 K’s in 7 innings. Macay McBride was knocked around for 5 hits and 3 runs in 1 inning of work.

Akron 4 Erie 7
Clete Thomas was 2 for 5 with a homer. Jeff Larish had 2 hits and a walk. Jon Connolly started and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits a walk and no strike outs in 5 1/3 innings.

Sarasota 2 Lakeland 0
Justin Justice tripled and had 2 walks. Lucas French went 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs while fanning 6.

West Michigan 2 Great Lakes 9
Jordan Newton was 3 for 4. Brandon Timm had 2 hits. Jonah Nickerson was knocked around for 6 runs on 8 hits in 4 innings.

Oneonta 2 Brooklyn 4
Crhis Carlson was a triple short of the cycle. Sean Finefrock allowed 4 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings.

GCL Tigers 3 GCL Indians 2
Carlos Ramirez had a 4 hit day. Christopher White added 2 hits. Manny Miguelez allowed 1 unearned run on 5 hits in 7 innings. Richard Zumaya allowed an unearned run in an inning of work while fanning 2.

Game 126: Indians at Tigers

PREGAME: Okay, let’s just take this game so that the series is in hand. Enough rubber games. Let’s just win the series. Deal?!

Tonight it will be Paul Byrd and Justin Verlander doing battle. Verlander should be over the flu, which should help. He gutted out 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees but only fanned 2 and threw 119 pitches.

Paul Byrd can be hittable with a .302 batting average against, but he usually does a good job of preventing those runs from scoring. He’s been all over the place in his last 3 starts which include a complete game 4 hit shutout, a 7 run 2 inning affair against the Yankees, and a 6 inning/8 hit/1 run game against the Devil Rays.

Game Time 7:05pm

CLE @ DET, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Take the walk Pudge! I’m not blaming the loss on Rodriguez, but twice he swung at ball 4 to end the game when a walk would have brought the winning run in the form of Marcus Thames to the plate.

So much for momentum.

  • Verlander has hammered. Even in the first when he escaped allowing one run, the outs were even hammered. This trend continued until it caught up with him in the 4th. He was sitting at 91/92mph very rarely hitting 94. The velocity and overall hit-able-ness are very troubling.
  • The bullpen didn’t fare much better. Zach Miner turned it into a blowout allowing a 3 run homer.
  • Chad Durbin actually pitched pretty good. He came into a 2nd and 3rd 1 out situation and got a pop up and a ground ball. Unfortunately the grounder went through the box scoring a run, and a muff by Granderson made it 2 runs.
  • At least those that thought the team hadn’t been showing life can’t really complain. They knocked the ball around and repeatedly chipped away at sizable leads.
  • Another strong Venezuelan 1-2 punch between Ordonez and Guillen who both homered and added another hit apiece. And both put together good at-bats in late inning situations (Maggs in the 7th and Guillen in the 9th) but without anything to show for them.
  • Cameron Maybin misplayed the first ball hit to him (leading to the first run). He did look more comfortable after that though. Let’s hope this is a real quick learning curve.
  • He did have 2 doubles, and his last at-bat was pretty impressive. He took several close pitches and then went with a pitch on the outer edge. He also showed off an unusual running style with his right arm actually waving

Indians 11 Tigers 8

Sheff ain’t cooking

Gary Sheffield’s shoulder is going to force him out of the rest of the homestand and there really isn’t a timetable for his return. Short term this is probably a good thing, not that he’s hurt of course, but that he’s out of the lineup. Since coming back from a week long break at the beginning of the month, Sheffield is hitting just 196/268/294. He’s clearly not healthy, and while there is a lot of talk about how his bat is feared, the scouting reports are probably already out that he’s not fearsome right now. He only has 5 walks in his last 13 games, which is a decent mark by a lot of players standards, it is a shadow of what Sheffield was doing.

Best case is that he rests up for a week or two and is healthy enough to still help this season (and hopefully in the playoffs). For tonight Sean Casey will bat 3rd. If Curtis Granderson were swinging the bat a little better right now, it would be the ideal time to shift him to the 3 spot and go with some combination of Placido Polanco and Ryan Raburn 1-2 in the lineup.

Beck’s Blog: Sheff’s shutting it down

links for 2007-08-22

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/21/01

Indianapolis 0 Toledo 4
Good night for top young pitchers in the organization as Virgil Vasquez threw a complete game 2 hit shutout. He walked 1 and fanned 7. I’m a little concerned though as he threw 123 pitches. Chris Shelton hit a grand slam homer to plate all 4 runs.

Akron 5 Erie 6
Mike Hernandez, Jeff Larish, Wilkin Ramirez, and Matt Joyce all hd 2 hit games while Mike Hollimon and Kody Kirkland went deep. Eddie Bonine pitched all 7 innings allowing 5 runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and 1 strikeout.

Akron 3 Erie 1
The only offense came from Steve Torrealba who homered and walked. Cory Hamman started and went 2 2/3 innings and allowed only 3 hits, but with 3 walks leading to 2 runs.

Lakeland 1 Sarasota 7
Kyle Sleeth was knocked around for 5 runs in the first inning but stuck around through the 5th allowing 10 hits. He did fan 6 and walked only 1. The Flying Tigers had 3 hits so there’s not much to report offensively.

West Michigan 6 Great Lakes 1
Brennan Boesch had 2 hits and a walk. Jase Skelton and Jordan Newton each had 2 hits as well. It was another great outing for Charlie Furbush who allowed 5 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run while fanning 7 in 7 innings.

Vermont 7 Oneonta 3
Chris Carlson doubled and singled for the only multi hit game, and only extra base hit. Jose Fragoso allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings.

Minor League Baseball: Scoreboard: Scoreboard

Game 125: Indians at Tigers

PREGAME: This is kind of a big series ya think? While I’m not one to put too much on any one series, the Tigers really need 2 out of 3. They can certainly recover from less, but then they are relying on others.

Tonight marks the return of Joel Zumaya and the backend of the bullpen is once again healthy and intact. Now if only they can get a lead to protect so we can hear some Voodoo Child.

The pitching matchup is a rematch of last week’s Fausto Carmona/Jair Jurrjens tilt. The good news is that Carmona can’t really pitch any better than he did in his 8 inning, 4 hit, 10 K performance of a week ago.

The Indians will get their second crack at Jair Jurrjens who had a pretty nice debut with only 5 hits allowed in 7 innings of work.

More good news is that Placido Polanco returns to the Tigers lineup for the first time in a week.

Game time 7:05

CLE @ DET, Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Oh to get back that 2 strike hanger to Jhonny Perralta…Tremendous outings for both Jair Jurrjens and Fausto Carmona. I said Carmona couldn’t get better, and he almost did. The Tigers managed only 3 hits, but 2 were of the long ball variety and that was enough because Jurrjens only allowed a solo shot to Perralta, the only hit of the night.

Jurrjens recorded 20 outs, and 19 of those were courtesy of his fielders. While there was quite a bit of weak contact, like pop ups and comebackers, there was also some luck as a couple of well hit balls found Placido Polanco and Ryan Raburn’s gloves. Jurrjens also wasn’t hurt by 4 walks as 2 were eliminated on double plays. Most impressive may have been the efficiency as Jurrjens recorded first pitch strikes on 17 hitters and was lifted after 78 pitches in the 7th inning.

Of course when he was lifted it meant the return of Joel Zumaya who chucked a 98mph seed right down the middle on his first pitch. He eventually got to 2 strikes before picking up a weak bouncer to end the inning, and his night. A one batter appearance in a tight game may have been the best possible way to break him in.

Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones pitched perfect 8th and 9th innings and next thing you know the game was over at 9pm.

As much as I want to think this is a sign of things turning, I’m just not sure. Just look at the emotional win the Tigers picked up a week ago in extra innings, only to drop 4 of the next 5. Still, it’s a big win and something to build on.

  • After pounding the ball into the ground the first 4 innings, the Tigers looked like they were going to jump all over Carmona late in the game. After the 2 homers int he 5th, the Tigers elevated the ball int he 6th with a couple flyouts, a double for Granderson, and a line drive by Polanco. But Carmona self corrected and that was it as the Tigers went quickly from then on.
  • Very nice catch by the fan on the Ordonez homer, that ball should have been a double but it seemed to fool everyone. Grady Sizemore didn’t say anything and Eric Wedge probably couldn’t see it. But a follow up homer made it a moot point.
  • Talk about your tough luck losses, Carmona threw exactly 2 pitches from the stretch all night.

Tigers 2 Cleveland 1

links for 2007-08-21

En-Inge-matic

Coming off a 3rd straight frustrating loss, Jim Leyland announced that Ryan Raburn would be the starter over a struggling Brandon Inge. With Inge’s recent play, and Craig Monroe’s departure, Brandon has taken over the role of the Tiger that people love to hate. And with statements like the following, he isn’t exactly endearing himself to the fanbase.

“I can’t explain it,” said Inge, batting .242 with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs. “I’m getting pitched like I’m Babe Ruth. Everything is on the corner. I haven’t seen a ball in the middle of the plate for a week.”

Inge is the Tiger that spurs the most polarized debate. Inge bashers point to his high error total and low batting average and advocate for more offense from a power position. Inge defenders point to his exceptional range, his power, and his role as a number 9 hitter. For the first time since Pudge Rodriguez assumed regular catching duties, it is getting harder to find people in Inge’s camp.

Myself, I’m somewhere in the middle. I was a proponent of his contract. I looked at his 265/327/443 line in 2004-2006 and viewed it as a new level of performance. It was (and still is) a far cry from his career numbers up to that point, a meager 198/254/314. line. And coming off a season in 2006 where the the average AL third sacker hit 269/338/442, he was certainly close to average for the position offensively.

What made the contract solid to me is that Inge’s defense is top shelf. Yes he has the errors, but he also rated at or near the top in other more advanced metrics like the probabilistic model of range and John Dewan’s +/ system (both of which account for his errors, and he still ranked high). Three different systems placed his defensive value in the neighborhood of 20 runs, which combined with near average offense makes for an above average player.

Because those 2004-2006 seasons coincided with his age 27-29 peak seasons, I didn’t expect Inge to improve on those numbers. But given his athleticism and body type I also anticipated that he would be able to maintain similar numbers in the near future without a dramatic dropoff. The fact that he had OPS+’s of 108, 100, and 99 in those years mean he was reasonably consistent over that time and it wasn’t a single peak year spiking the numbers.

With all that said, 2007 has been a major disappointment – or at least parts of it. Inge’s season can really be broken down into 3 parts, 2 of which were largely forgettable. He struggled mightily in April, was very productive in May and June, and has looked more like 2003 Inge since the beginning of July.
Inge’s Walks and Strikeouts

Early in the year when Inge was struggling, he was at least drawing walks and hitting for some power with a .163 ISO. He was fanning quite a bit, but that’s part of what you get with Inge. He also was probably battling some bad luck as his batting average on balls in play was very low.
Inge’s batted ball types

In the second act Brandon continued to draw walks a pretty good clip, and he really cut down in his strikeouts. For a 2 month stretch he was a very good player, and a big part of the Tigers offensive surge. His season line on June 25th was 259/356/453 which is quite solid. And then July happened.

The first thing that happened is Inge stopped taking walks. That was right about the same time his line drive percentage plummeted and shortly there after he started to strikeout at a ridiculous rate. A trend that is still underway and manifested itself this past weekend in New York. He’s walked 5 times since July 1st and his on base percentage has plummeted with it. He has 9 extra base hits over that timespan and his slugging percentage is now south of .400.

What is odd is that he’s actually maintained his batting average on balls in play, and as of late the line drive rate is on the way back up. In fact for the season his line drive rate is at 22.4% which is the highest mark of his career, and vastly superior to his 14% last year. And yet his numbers are way down because he can’t put the ball in play.

What about his fielding? I see mixed results. Despite the error this weekend, his fielding percentage is right in line with his career numbers. And if you look at revised zone rating he is second only to Mike Lowell, and he’s made more plays on ball outside of his zone than third baseman except for Adrian Beltre. But his impact defensively isn’t what it was last year, and I attribute that in large part to Kenny Rogers absence. Rogers induced a ton of grounders, and as a lefty the bulk went in Inge’s direction.

As someone who has been an Inge defender in the past I did it based on near average offensive production, combined with stellar defense. Now I’m looking at a player who is far below average at the dish and merely good in the field. I’ll still defend Inge to those who say he is a garbage player, but I can’t defend his production where it is at right now. When it comes to the benching, I think there is probably a little too much being made of it. I could be wrong, but I don’t see it as an extended time period. The Tigers just made two moves to bolster the defense in bringing up Cameron Maybin (I’m not saying this one is working, but it was part of the intention) and Ramon Santiago and if that’s the emphasis then swapping Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge doesn’t make a lot of sense. If there is a platoon it may be based on who the Tigers are starting. If it’s Miller or Robertson I’d look for Inge, but the right handed guns I’d look for Raburn.

And back to Inge’s original quote about being pitched to like Babe Ruth…Maybe it’s worth pointing out that Ruth walked over 2000 times in his career. I’m just sayin…

For Inge data see:

links for 2007-08-20

Game 124: Tigers at Yankees

PREGAME: The Tigers head into today trying to salvage a split in Yankee Stadium. They’ll send out Jeremy Bonderman to try and hold down the Yankees. Bonderman picked up a no decision in his last start, but he pitched a very strong game allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings while fanning 8. Trouble was that was his first quality start since July 19th. Let’s hope it was a sign of him coming out of his funk instead of just a blip.

The Tigers will be opposed by Chien-Ming Wang. Wange doesn’t strike out many, doesn’t walk many, and therefore gets pretty deep into games without crossing the 100 pitch threshold. He also keeps the ball in the park with only 7 homers allowed this season, and only 2 in the Bronx. Left handers have much more success with an 804 OPS as opposed to a 624 for right handers. With the Tigers lefties Curtis Granderson (2 for his last 24) and Sean Casey (5 for his last 24) slumping as of late, this doesn’t bode well – especially with them hitting 1-2 in today’s lineup.

Placido Polanco misses yet another game, and despite previous statements Cameron Maybin will be in left field again. If you’re facing a groundball pitcher, you might as well have your fastest guy playing and trying to beat a few of those out.

Game Time 1:05
DET @ NYY, Sunday, August 19, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Ugly. For the 2nd day in a row the Tigers played the Yankees even for 5 innings, and then were smoked the rest of the way. Jeremy Bonderman struggled with the strike zone walking 4 in the first 2 innings and leaving with 115 pitches in the 6th inning.

The bullpen combo of Zach Miner and Aquilino Lopez made sure the game wasn’t in doubt and that Mariano Rivera could rest. The worst part of Lopez’s performance is that it pretty much insured that it would be he, and not Jason Grilli on the way out when Joel Zumaya is activated on Tuesday.

Ryan Raburn and Mike Rabelo had nice games, combining for 5 hits, but those rallies were thwarted by 3 Brandon Inge K’s and a pop-up. Coming into today Inge was hitting 237/262/351 over the last month with 7 extra base hits, 2 walks, and 38 strikeouts. Throw in an error today that cost the Tigers a run, and their lead, and it’s safe to say he’s the anti-player of the game.

The Tigers have started this 13 game series 2-4 and now really have put themselves in a tough spot over the next 7 games.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/18/07

Columbus 6 Toledo 0
Joel Zumaya made his 3rd rehab start, and this one didn’t go as well. he walked 2, allowed 2 hits, and allowed 2 runs in an inning of work. He also made a throwing error on a pickoff play. He threw 30 pitches, 19 for strikes.

Erie 2 Altoona 1
Burke Badenhop had a nice AA debut allowing 2 hits and just 1 run on a solo homer in 7 innings. Jeff Larish tripled, for the only extra base hit for the Seawolves.

Erie 3 Altoona 0
Randor Bierd pitched 5 innings of no hit ball. Cory Hamman surrendered the lone hit the Wolves allowed in 2 innings. Mike Hollimon allowed 2 hits. Jeff Larish hit his 23th homer and drove in all 3 runs.

Fort Myers 2 Lakeland 5
Mark Haske, Max Leon, and Justin Justice all had 2 hit games. Kevin Ardoin pitched 2 2/3 innings allowing 2 unearned runs on 3 hits and 3 K’s. Josh Rainwater worked 3 innings allowing 1 hit and 1 walk while fanning 2.

West Michigan 2 Fort Wayne 1
Scott Sizemore doubled and Jeramy Laster picked up the only RBI. Matt O’Brien allowed 9 hits and 3 walks in 7 innings, but only 1 run crossed the plate.

Oneonta 14 Tri-City 1
Lots of highlights in this one as the O’Tigs racked up 20 hits. Justin Peter and Chris Carlson had 3 hits apiece. Cory Middleton was a triple short of the cycle. Sendy Vasquez allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

GCL Tigers 2 GCL Yankees 11
Hayden Parrot doubled and singled. Brandon Johnson allowed 5 runs, 2 of which were earned, in 3 1/3 innings. Richard Zumaya had a rough night allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, and 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Game 123: Tigers at Yankees

PREGAME: It looks like a pretty clear mismatch on paper. Chad Durbin is taking on Roger Clemens.

Durbin was knocked around in his last start against the A’s and allowed 10 baserunners in 4 1/3 innings. He walked 4 despite routinely getting ahead in the count because he couldn’t put hitters away, or at least get them to put the ball in play. That won’t be any easier against a very disciplined Yankees team.

Roger Clemens can be quite effective, but it isn’t a sure thing anymore. A look at his game log and it’s easy to see you don’t know what you’re going to get. He has only thrown more than 100 pitches once since the beginning of June so the Tigers may be able to chase him relatively early.

Game Time 3:55
DET @ NYY, Saturday, August 18, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

PREGAME
: Going in this game looked like a mismatch. In the top of the 6th inning it still looked that way, but only for the good guys. The Tigers had just ensured that Clemens had pitched his last inning and had put pressure on him the whole game. Meanwhile Chad Durbin had gone through the first 5 innings on 65 pitches retiring 6 Yankees in a row on a total of 13 pitches in the 4th and 5th. The only concern was that the many missed opportunities the Tigers had wouldn’t come back to haunt them.

That concern was founded as Derek Jeter led off with a single and Bobby Abreu hit a homer that seemed more like a pop-up. Next thing you know Chad Durbin is out of the game without recording an out in the 6th, Roger Clemens is in line for the win, and Tim Byrdak and Jason Grilli combine to slowly limit the bleeding. And the Tigers lose going away.

Curtis Granderson had a pretty poor game with the bat. He hasn’t been hitting line drives for the last week or so, but he had at least been drawing walks. That didn’t happen today, and he was a big part of the reason the Tigers didn’t push more runs across. He fanned in a runners at the corners, no out situation in the 3rd and popped out in a bases loaded situation later on.

As for Cameron Maybin, things were definitely better. He did a nice job placing a ground ball to the right side on a hit and run for his first hit. And he drilled his first homer to striaght away centerfield. He also should have been credited with his first stolen base, but the official scorer didn’t give it to him on a nice play by the Yankees, and a poor one by the Tigers. Marcus Thames fanned with Maybin on first and Inge on third. Maybin was running and had 2nd base stolen. Roger Clemens cut the throw from Jorge Posada and ran over and tagged out Brandon Inge who was breaking for home on the play.

In the end the Tigers let a winnable game slip away, and now have to take the finale to muster a split.

Yankees 5 Tigers 2