links for 2007-08-08

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/7/07

Norfolk 0 Toledo 6 in progress
Marucs Thames singled and scored a run on his rehab assignment. Brent Clevlen had 2 hits and Timo Perez homered. Anastacio Martinez pitched 6 innings of 2 hit ball.

New Britain 3 Erie 6
Jeff Larish was 2 for 3 with a homer, a double, and a walk. Matt Joyce and Mike Hollimon each had 2 hits as well. Jair Jurrjens went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, on 5 hits, a walk and 4 K’s.

Lakeland 2 St. Lucie 3
Cameron Maybin hit his 10th homer and Ryan Roberson hit his 15th. Burke Badenhop allowed 1 unearned run in 7 1/3 innings on 5 hits, no walks and 6 K’s.

West Michigan 3 Clinton 2 in progress
Brennan Boesch homered and walked. Charles Furbush allowed 2 unearned runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 3 K’s in 5 2/3 innings.

Oneonta PPD

GCL Tigers Suspended-Rain

Game 112: Rays at Tigers

PREGAME: Whatever you did last night, do the same thing tonight. The Tigers aren’t nearly as superstitious and have juggled the lineup. Guillen is back at shortstop, Craig Monroe is back in left field, and Pudge Rodriguez returns behind the plate. But fear not Ryan Raburn fans, he’s playing 2nd tonight so Placido Polanco can DH.

Also different will be the starting pitcher. The Tigers go with Nate Robertson. Robertson turned in a quality start last time out against Oakland, but took the loss as the offense did not much.

He’ll be opposed by Jason Hammel making just his 4th start of the season after toiling in the bullpen. Hammell has been tough on lefties allowing just a 212/349/346 line. He has 24 K’s in 30 innings which is solid, but 19 walks to go along with it.

Game Time 7:05pm

TBD @ DET, Tuesday, August 7, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: On to the good stuff in a minute. But first, Dave Dombrowski needs to cut Jason Grilli right now. No discussions with Jim Leyland who has a huge blind spot towards the ineptitude of Jason Grilli. Grilli is what he is, a mop-up guy at best. A really nice guy, great with the kids, but that doesn’t qualify him to pitch in tight games.

Removing Nate Robertson was a questionable decision at best and it was Leyland out thinking himself. And what I don’t understand, is if Leyland didn’t think Nate Robertson could get out of a 2 out, runner on first jam on a night when he had 9 K’s and 0 BB’s, why did he think that Jason Grilli would be able to get out of a bases loaded jam? Much like the Jones-Cleveland-debacle Leyland made several mistakes. It was a mistake taking Robertson out. It was a mistake brining Grilli in. And it was a mistake leaving him in to tie the game.

Part of this is the culmination of the Rogers and Miller injuries because Chad Durbin wasn’t available in that situation due to starting tomorrow. And that left Zach Miner and Todd Jones as the only other available right handers. Which is why a move needs to be made.

Now for the good stuff:

  • The offense was drilling the ball all over the place, and pretty much everyone took place at some point except for Craig Monroe.
  • Great baserunning tonight with Ryan Raburn getting home on a contact play and Curtis Granderson going first to third on a blooper, and even Sean Casey beating out a double.
  • But Curtis Granderson was caught stealing for the first time this year. Kind of a bummer and it looked like he didn’t get a solid first step.
  • Nate Robertson was awesome. He spared the bullpen which could be helpful with Chad Durbin taking the mound tomorrow. Not that Durbin isn’t up to the task, but he’s probably going to be limited at around 75-85 pitches.
  • Curtis Granderson made a rare mistake in centerfield when he completely lost a fly ball and it led to a run. It happens, and it rarely happens to Granderson. But he made up for it with an excellent diving catch in the 9th.
  • Another nice effort for Todd Jones allowing only a ground ball single.
  • The Tigers took advantage of the pitching match-ups that clearly tilted in their favor in these first 2 games. Facing James Shields and Scott Kazimir will definitely be a challenge the next 2 games.

Tigers Minor League Wrap – 8/6/07

Lakeland 4 St. Lucie 7
Danny Worth was 2 for 4 including his first homer. It raised his average to 274 and with 11BB/15K that’s not a bad start for a 2007 draftee at High A. Lucas French allowed 10 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings but only 3 came around to score.

Quad Cities 8 West Michigan 4
Scott Sizemore went 3 for 5 and Michael Bertram and Gorkys Hernandez each had 2 hits. Jeff Gerbe was knocked around for 9 hits and 5 runs lasting only 2 2/3 innings.

Oneonta 4 Lowell 1
Justin Henry was 2 for 4. Casper Wells tripled and drove in 2 runs. Alfredo Figaro allowed just an unearned run on 5 hits while walking 1 and fanning 5 in 6 2/3 innings.

GCL Tigers 3 GCL Phillies 4
Carlos Ramirez had 2 hits and Joe Bowen had 3 hits. Jon Kibler allowed 1 run in 4 innings on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 Ks

Minors News

Matt Wallace takes a look at BA’s best tool rankings for A Ball and waxes optimistic about the Tigers 2B options at the lower levels.

Game 111: Rays at Tigers

PREGAME: The Rays have lost 11 of their last 15 and the Tigers have lost 13 of their last 17. The Rays send out Edwin Jackson who is a good bet to go 6 innings. He’s pitched exaxtly 6 innings in 5 of his last 7 starts, but with mixed results. His last time out he allowed just 1 unearned run on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 5 K’s. Three starts ago he shut out the Yankees for 6 innings, so he can be good.

Justin Verlander battled the Oakland lineup his last time out, not pitching bad, but racking up 106 pitches in 5 1/3 innings.

As for lineup notes, Pudge is having an ankle issue and will miss tonight’s game. Sean Casey moves back to first and bats 3rd while Carlos Guillen takes DH duties. Ryan Raburn is your left fielder tonight.

Listening to Danny Knobler on WDFN tonight, Marcus Thames will start a rehab assignment tomorrow for Toledo and could be back as soon as Thursday’s game.

Game Time 7:05

TBD @ DET, Monday, August 6, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Hey, a win. Yes it’s against the Devil Rays, but for a team that has been struggling against everyone I don’t care who the opponent is.

  • Justin Verlander had a long first inning as he struggled with his control, even hitting a batter with an 0-2 count. He did settle in until 4 straight hits cost him a chance at the win. He did stick around long enough to get through 6 innings. He wasn’t great tonight but good enough.
  • The bullpen came through with 3 innings only allowing one baserunner. Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones retired the 6 they faced with ease. Of course I was nervous with Jones pitching to Rabelo since the two haven’t always been on the same page.
  • For the last week Placido Polanco was the only hot player on offense and ironically he posted an 0 for 4 on a night when the team notched 13 hits.
  • Ordonez and Guillen were the offensive stars and packed quite a punch in the 4-5 spots. Rayburn and Rabelo came through in the 7th, but both had numerous opportunities early on.
  • Speaking of Rodney, Leyland just mentioned that he would be off tomorrow after pitching 2 straight days. Regardless, the strut after the 96mph fastball punch out was nice to see.
  • The Tigers didn’t seemed to be fooled by Edwin Jackson, but they couldn’t push many across the plate either.
  • And congrats to Sean Casey who knocked his first Comerica Park homer of the year, and a timely one at that.

It’s one game, but a win streak has to start somewhere. Let’s hope they can build on it.

links for 2007-08-06

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/5/07

Toledo 3 Columbus 8
Chris Shelton was 1 for 4 with a walk. David Espinosa walked twice. Henry Mateo had the only extra base hit and reached base 3 times. Dennis Tankersly allowed 11 hits and 8 runs and was knocked out in 4 2/3 innings.

Erie 4 Connecticut 2
Kody Kirkland doubled and homered. Jeff Lafish added a double and a single. Dallas Trahern allowed just 1 unearned run on 7 hits in 7 1/3 innings with 4 K’s and 12 ground outs.

Lakeland 1 St. Lucie 11
Cameron Maybin was 1 for 4 with 3 ground balls to third and a line drive to centerfield. Danny Worth was 2 for 4 with a triple. Kyle Sleeth only lasted an inning surrending 5 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. Why is he still on the 40 man roster?

Quad Cities 4 West Michigan 8
Michael Bertram was 3 for 5 with 3 RBI. Jeramy Laster also had 3 hits. James Skelton was 1 for 2 with 3 walks. Matt O’Brien went 8 innings allowing 4 unearned runs on 8 hits with 6 K’s.

Oneonta 18 Lowell 7
Guillermo Moscoso only allowed 1 run in 6 innings, but who cares when the offense plates 18? Casper Wells had 4 hits. Chris Carlson and Ronnie Bourquin each had 3 (including a homerd and 6 RBI for Carlson).

GCL Tigers DNP

Game 110: White Sox at Tigers

PREGAME: I’ll be listening to this one as I jouney back from Indianapolis. It’s Jordan Tata and Gavin Floyd for whatever that’s worth.

One depressing stat to throw at you. So far in this young month Tigers pitchers have pitched to exactly 8 batters while the team has had the lead. Not innings mind you, plate appearances.

Game Time 1:05

BR Game Preview

POST SERIES: I was in Indianapolis this weekend, and so on Friday I only heard chunks of the game (mlb.tv was no help because Indy is in the White Sox black out region). Saturday I saw 90% of the game. Today I heard it all on the radio. So take these comments with those parameters in mind. I also just got done catching up on the comments for all 3 games and I’ll respond to some themes there as well.

  • I’m not sure that Leyland yelling at the players will help. I also don’t think that any of us are qualified to judge the intensity or effort that players are playing with. Teams look more alive when they are hitting well, or pitching well, or doing something well. A lack of execution can easily be confused as a lack of effort. And just because all of our attitudes are bad because of the losing, assuming that players are thinking the same way is quite a leap. Maybe these guys aren’t playing hard, but I know that I’m not in a position to say one way or the other. And as for the game on Saturday, I saw guys battling through at-bats and working each count. I also saw guys hustling, in essence I saw nothing out of the ordinary.
  • And to the comments that “if they keep playing like this they’ll miss the playoffs” I think that’s kind of a given. If you’re out hit and out pitched the rest of the way you’re going to lose a lot.
  • There has been lamenting about the lack of clutch hitting, but I thought the Tigers did a decent job of that on Saturday night. And just going off the radio broadcast it seemed like they were hitting balls hard, but either at people or the Sox were making some fine defensive plays. Today was a different story with no hard hit balls (again according to the radio) and thus very few clutch opportunities.
  • And that’s really all I’ve got. Another bummer of a series. Tampa’s coming into town, but at this point does it matter? I’d almost rather see a contender just to see how the team would respond.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 8/4/07

Thanks to Mike R for compiling this:

Toledo 3, Columbus 9
Brent Clevlen hit a 2-run homerun and Jack Hannahan had an RBI double which was the offense for the night. Ron Chiavacci gave up 5 runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4 in 6 innings of work. Eulogio de la Cruz was beat up in just 2/3rds of an inning. Allowing only 2 hits, he served up 4 runs — primarily thanks to his 3 walks vs. only 1 strike out. Vic Darensburg threw 1 1/3rd scoreless innings.

Erie 3, Connecticut 8
The Sea Wolves pounded out 5 extra base hits and only could scrape across 3 runs. Will Rhymes, Wilkin Ramirez, and Nick McIntyre had the lone RBI’s for Erie. On the mound, Andrew Kown surrendered 7 hits and 6 runs in just 4 innings of work. Matt Righter did his best Jason Grilli and relieved Kown by surrendering 2 HR’s. But, unlike Grilli, both were solo shots and he managed to plow through 3 innings.

Lakeland 8, Fort Myers 7
Cameron Maybin only hit 1 ball on the ground tonight in the victory. Lakeland used 5 different pitchers to piece this victory together and it was in dramatic fashion when, down 7-5 in the top of the 9th, Deik Scram (outstanding name) hit a lead-off double off the wall in centerfield. Maxwell Leon picked a perfect time for his 1st homerun for Lakeland to tie the game at 7. The next hitter, Cameron Maybin, hit an opposite field homerun which proved to be the game winner as Freddy Dolsi came on to get his 21st save of the season.

Quad Cities7, West Michigan 4
Brennan Boesch, Ryan Strieby, Gorkys Hernandez and Santo De Leon combined to drive in all 4 West Michigan runs. The Whitecaps pounded out 10 hits, but Brennan Boesch’s double was the only hit for extra bases. Lauren Gagnier dropped to 4-11 with the loss, allowing 9 hits and 7 runs in just 6 innings. He did strike out 5 and walk only 2, however.

Brooklyn 7, Oneonta 2
Kyle Peter had 3 hits, but that was about it for the offense. The lone RBI’s came from 2B, Justin Henry and Catcher Adrian Cassanova. Mark Brackman got the loss while striking out 5, walking 2, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits in 5 innings.

GCL Phillies 4, GCL Tigers 5
Only 3 of the Tigers 5 runs were earned as the Phillies kicked ball around, making 4 errors in the process. RBI’s came from centerfielder Chris White, catcher Craig Maddux, and SS Joaquin Guzman. Gene Lamont’s son, Wade, was 0-for-2 with 1 strikeout. He’s now down to a dismal .167 average and 23 strikeouts in just 78 at-bats. 2007 3rd round pick, Luke Putkonen, got the start and went 3 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, with 3 strikeouts vs. zero walks.

The 6th Inning

Sam continues his look at each 18 game stretch of the season…

The 6th Inning is over.

Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record so far in each Inning:

                                                Starters:         Bullpen:

   W-L   RS-RA   HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L-IP-   ERA       W-L-S-ERA

1: 10-8   86 -79  17-9 -235/313/380    5-2-110.2-3.66      5-6-8-4.68 

2: 13-5   112-97  23-10-308/377/518    9-3-102.1-4.84      4-2-8-5.03

3: 7-11   110-96  26-7 -310/364/517    7-7-110.2-3.99      0-4-3-7.80

4: 13-5   136-75  20-5 -324/390/508   13-4-103.0-4.37      0-1-2-3.47

5: 11-7   91 -79  23-20-272/357/443   10-5-112.0-3.46      1-2-7-3.33 

6: 7-11   84 -113 17-8 -276/325/415    3-8- 99.2-6.59      4-3-6-4.31 

Wow the 6th inning was ugly! They started with a sweep in Minnesota and then lost 4 straight series since (3 to losing teams). Unlike the 3rd inning when we had an identical record but were killed by a shaky bullpen, they were outplayed in every facet of the game. The Tigers are a mere 84-78 over their last 162 regular season games.

The offense had great contributions from some unexpected places as Rabelo and Rayburn combined for 3-10-410/421/732 in 56 ABs. Granderson 3-8-328/394/547, Ordonez 2-16-324/387/471 and Polanco 2-8-382/408/559 all continue to swing well. Sheff 1-5-175/273/263 is hurt and you figure he may hit the DL at some point. Guillen 0-2-283/317/350 appears to be hurt as he is hitting with no power. The trilogy of Monroe 2-9-240/250/380, Inge 1-6-238/269/349 and Casey 0-4-245/298/283 combined to have a 241/280/337!! Pudge continues to run hot and cold as he was awful 1-4-184/180/265.

I am not sure what has happened to the starting pitching, but they have all collectively seemed to hit a wall. They are averaging 5.5 innings per start and actually had an ERA of 7.08 without the single starts Vasquez and Tata who were 1-0-3.00. Verlander 0-1-5.00, Robertson 1-3-5.47 and Miller 1-1-6.75 were mediocre while Rogers 0-1-10.45 and Bonderman 0-2-10.12 were horrible. Rogers has an excuse in his elbow. I am not sure of Bonderman’s issue, he did have 14 strikeouts in 16 innings?

In the bullpen Capellan and Durbin struggled as they had identical 6.75 eras in 13.1 combined innings. The lefty trio of McBride, Seay, and Byrdak had a respectable 3.86 era but gave up 30 base runners in 16.1 innings. Miner and Grilli were pretty good as they scarped up 3 wins and had a 3.38 era. Jones had 5 saves and a 3.38 era giving up 7 base runners in 8 innings.

This most recent inning was the worst performance since the 5-13 8th inning in 2006. A couple of key guys are dealing with injuries on offense and the starting pitching has hit a wall. A good trade deadline move will often pick up a team emotionally (like Texeria for Atlanta). The Tigers set silently and now must find a way to get their ship righted or they will be watching the playoffs on TV this year.

Game 109: White Sox at Tigers

PREGAME: Still looking for that magic to return, the Tigers turn to Jeremy Bonderman who is coming off the worst start of his career. He’ll do battle against Javier Vasquez. The two hooked up in the front end of the doubleheader last go round with Vasquez getting the better of Bonderman.

Game Time 7:05

BTW: I know we’re all frustrated by the recent play. This is clearly evident in the comments. I don’t have a lot of commenting rules, and one of them is no swearing. The filters pick up the biggies, but there are a lot of other instances of swearing without swearing, like f’d up for instance. Or dropping an asterisk into a word to keep it from being a pure swear word. Please refrain from this as I will start deleting these comments from now on.