Tigers Minor League Wrap 6-30-08

Toledo 6 Columbus 4
Erick Almonte was the star tonight with a 3 for 4 night including 2 doubles. Timo Perez added a homer and a walk. Lauren Gagnier fanned 6 and walked 2 allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. Francisco Cruceta allowed an unearned run in 1.2 innings fanning 2.

Akron 6 Erie 5
Kody Kirkland continued to hit with a 2 for 3 night and a walk. Wil Rhymes homered, singled, and walked. Ben Fritz was knocked around for 6 runs in 6 innings with 7 hits and 3 walks.

Lakeland – still sleeping off the 20 inning game from last night.

Lansing 4 West Michigan 0 (10 innings)
Jordan Newton had half of the Whitecaps hits with 2. Mauricio Robles pitched 7 shut out innings. Andrew Hess followed with 2 of his own before 4 unearned runs scored in the 10th.

Oneonta 2 Lowell 14
I’m sure the O-Tigs were thrilled to resume this one. There’s nothing to see here.

Oneonta 2 Lowell 1
David Stokes allowed an unearned run in 5 no-hit innings with 7 K’s. Anthony Shawler and Tyler Stohr each pitched perfect innings to preserve the 7 inning no hitter. Ben Guez doubled twice and walked.

GCL Phillies 1 GCL Tigers 0

Alexis Esponiza had 1 of the 3 Tigers hits. Jordan Tata is pitching at rookie ball which is just really sad. He can’t find the plate anymore. He allowed 3 walks in 2.2 innings. Victor Larez allowed an unearned run in 6.1 innings while fanning 4 and walking 1.

Hey look, more injured Tigers

So Miguel Cabrera slides into the clean-up spot with Magglio Ordonez hitting the disabled list. And promptly gets hurt himself. The diagnosis is hip flexor and the duration is day-to-day.

To add injury to injury, Pudge Rodriguez has spent the entire game grimacing and moving as if he is also in pain. This included a brief visit from trainer Kevin Rand early in the game.

Yeah, the kids have provided a nice lift filling it, but this is taking things to extremes.

Game 82: Tigers at Twins

PREGAME: The Tigers and Twins with their records sufficiently padded against the NL, will do battle tonight in the Metrodome. The Tigers will be without Magglio Ordonez. But the Twins placed their right fielder on the DL yesterday as well. Of course Michael Cuddyer is hitting 252/324/376 this year so it isn’t really a fair trade off.

The Twins of course are one of the hottest teams in baseball and had a 10 game win streak snapped on Saturday. Somehow the Twins are scoring at the same rate as the Tigers. I say somehow because while the Twins have an above average batting average they have a below average OBP and as a team they are only slugging .399. In other words they are giving up 50 points of OPS to the Tigers. Their secret is a .313 batting average with runners in scoring position. That leads the AL by a ton with the White Sox second at .284.

As for the Twins pitching staff, they aren’t helped by their below average defense. Opponents are slugging .440 against the Twins which is highest in the league and they have a pretty pedestrian 5.7 K/9. But they are a half walk better per game in not allowing free passes than the next best team.

The pitching match-up tonight is lefty Glen Perkins and righty Armando Galarraga. Galarraga will be facing the Twins for the 3rd time after losing the first two match-ups. He’s also coming off his roughest start of the season. Glenn Perkins has allowed 3 runs in each of his last 4 starts, but the length of said starts ranged from 5 to 8 innings.

For more on the Twins check out Seth Speaks, Stick and Ball Guy, and Twins Geek and Twins Territory.

DET @ MIN, Monday, June 30, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: I think this is the definition of “gutting one out.” This game was a lot of ugly for the first 6 innings of this game from a Tigers standpoint. Armando Galarraga was pitching pretty well, but was getting little defensive support. There were 3 errors and a misplayed ball by Ryan Raburn. The Tigers also failed to cash in on an early 2nd and 3rd – 1 out situation. And they lost their clean-up hitter to injury. Yet some late inning magic leaves the orange and blue striped protagonists feeling good.

A one out single by Curtis Granderson (2 more hits off of a south paw tonight for Grandy) in the 7th mercifully chased Glen Perkins and the Tigers got busy on the parade of arms brought out of the Twins bullpen.

Matt Joyce came off the bench and tripled in the tying run in the 7th inning continuing the string of big freakin’ clutch hits from players on loan from the Mud Hens. And it was Granderson picking up his 3rd hit (which pushed his average over .300) to give the team the lead.

It was a very nice performance from the Tigers bullpen with Casey Fossum retiring 4 batters and Joel Zumaya pitching under some duress after a couple cheap hits in the 9th to get the 1.2 inning save.

Contagious oblique spasms land Ordonez on DL

Magglio Ordonez hits the disabled list with oblique issues. He joins Gary Sheffield and Brandon Inge to become the 3rd Tiger forced out of action by oblique issues. Whether this is a random clustering of bad luck, or an issue with the training regimen remains to be seen. Given that the Javair Gillete has been in charge of strength and conditioning the last several years without this being a recurring problem points me towards bad luck. But it is something worth monitoring and I’m sure it will be addressed.

As for the replacement, it will be Matt Joyce. The Tigers should still have enough pop in their lineup without Magglio, especially if Gary Sheffield can get going and Miguel Cabrera can get his numbers closer to his career line. But this unquestionably weakens the team as they play 7 of the next 13 games against the Twins.

The timing of the injury, aside from the Twins thing, is actually fortuitous. With an off day coming up next week and the All Star Break the following week, Ordonez could get 18 days of rest and only miss 13 games.

Dontrelle Willis makes Lakeland Debut

Dontrelle Willis, optioned to the minors a couple weeks ago, made his first appearance for the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The results, at least from looking at the game log, were mixed were mixed.

Willis ended up walking 3 in his two innings of work. His first inning was messy with a hit and a run mixed in. But in his second inning he retired the next 3 hitters after a leadoff walk. It wasn’t the dominant outing that you hope for, but I don’t know that it is was a disaster either.

Daytona Top 7th

  • Pitcher Change: Dontrelle Willis replaces Duane Below.
  • Blake Lalli grounds out, shortstop Cale Iorg to first baseman Michael Bertram.
  • Robinson Chirinos walks.
  • Steve Clevenger singles on a ground ball to left fielder Pedro Cotto. Robinson Chirinos to 2nd.
  • Ryan Harvey walks. Robinson Chirinos to 3rd. Steve Clevenger to 2nd.
  • Russ Canzler flies into a force out, right fielder Brennan Boesch to shortstop Cale Iorg. Robinson Chirinos scores. Steve Clevenger to 3rd. Ryan Harvey out at 2nd. Russ Canzler to 1st.
  • Darwin Barney grounds into a force out, shortstop Cale Iorg to second baseman Carmelo Jaime. Russ Canzler out at 2nd.

Daytona Top 8th

  • Jonathan Mota walks.
  • James Adduci pops out to catcher James Skelton in foul territory.
  • Ty Wright flies out to left fielder Pedro Cotto.
  • Blake Lalli flies out to left fielder Pedro Cotto.

Game 81: Rockies at Tigers

PREGAME: Ah, good old game 81. The halfway point in the season. The point at which we can just multiply everything by 2 to see how the final numbers will look.

The Tigers try to close out the first half in style by capping a sweep of the Rockies. They’ll be going up against Greg Reynolds. Reynolds has some pretty scary peripherals. He’s given up 10 homers in 50.2 innings, which is almost as many guys as he’s struck out (15). That could be helpful as the Tigers trot out a lineup that most likely won’t have Magglio Ordonez or Pudge Rodriguez.

For the Tigers it will be Kenny Rogers. He was on the hill for their last loss, the series opener against the Cardinals. Rogers had trouble with his command and seemed to labor through his 5.1 innings.

Angel Hernandez will be the home plate umpire which should lead to lots of frustration for everyone. I’ll be listening to this one on the radio as I head back from Indianapolis, which may be for the best.

COL @ DET, Sunday, June 29, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME: I listened to the first 8 innings of this one. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised when Dan and Jim were reporting that both umpires were upset with Angel Hernandez before the first innning had finished. By all accounts Kenny Rogers didn’t have an easy time of things, and From the Copa’s labeling of Rogers outing as Rasputin-esque seems accurate.

The Tigers offense were warming up for a rout in the first inning before things got tricky. Hits were abundant, but they were all singles save for a check swing double from Hollimon. That is until Dane Sardhina came up with his first big league hit, a 2 run triple. I have to admit I was wondering why Leyland wasn’t pinch hitting.

And props to Todd Jones. Leyland stuck his neck out running him out there 18 hours after Jones was rocked for 4 runs by the same team. Okay, maybe it was a stupid move. But Jones delivered a 1-2-3 inning bringing the first half of the season to a pleasant conclusion.
OOPS UPDATE: How did I forget the 2 innings that Freddy Dolsi pitched? The New Sexy, Freddy Solid, pitched 2 perfect innings with 3 strike outs. I had been lamenting his lack of K-ness of late and the trifecta today were his first since June 10th.

Game 80: Rockies at Tigers

PREGAME: Once upon a time the Tigers were within one game of .500. With the team playing good baseball I figured that by the end of a 3 game series with the Twins (who weren’t the streaking Twins we see now) that they’d be well on their way to a winning record. Yeah, no so much. So it is with some trepidation that I view the next several games.

Marcus Thames, who Jim Leyland said wasn’t quite right, should return to the lineup tonight. As should Edgar Renteria. But in their absence the kids (Clete and Hollimon) did okay the last few games.

Jeff Francis takes the ball for the Rockies. The Royals blew him up in his last start and Francis is susceptible to the long ball with 16 homers allowed this season with 9 coming on the road where he has a 6.07 ERA. Slightly interesting, statistically insignificant factoid: In 16 starts this year the hitter leading off the game has reached base 9 times with 4 extra base hits. Good boding for Curtis Granderson to continue his hit streak?

Justin Verlander turned in a frustrating yet dominant performance in his last start against the Padres. The 10 strikeouts were good. That they came in only 5.1 innings was kind of amazing, yet problematic. It took Verlander 115 pitches to record those 16 outs, due in large part to a lot of full counts and 5 walks.

COL @ DET, Saturday, June 28, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: With ratings starting to sag it could be the end of Clete and The Shef. However the network may have another show in the pipeline tentatively titled Miggy and the Scrub.

Ryan Raburn acted the role of clean-up hitter tonight, even though it wasn’t by design. Raburn subbed in for an injured Ordonez and had the first big hit of the night in the form of a grand slam. He later walked and scored the winning run when Miguel Cabrera doubled him home in walk-off fashion (that darned first pitch swinging after a 4 pitch walk). The third walk-off win in the 5 games of the homestand so far.

  • Todd Jones blew the save. The first time he’s done so this year and here we are at the end of June. Part of me was upset, but that part kind of went away. Jones hasn’t pitched that good this year, even by his standards. But he’d always found a way to not give a lead away until tonight.
  • I particularly liked the moment in the post game celebration where Jonesy was hanging back, outside of the mob. But when Cabrera broke free Jones was standing there with open arms.
  • When I started to think about the postgame write-up as Jones melted down, I was going to de-emphasize the Jones part and point out how many extra runs the Tigers left on the bases. A growing trend as of late. But it’s the 3rd such time I’ve had those thoughts of late and yet the team has scored at least 7 runs in each of those games. Maybe I’m just getting spoiled with all the opportunities that the offense is generating and should be focusing on the positive.
  • Jim Leyland thought Marcus Thames would get 2 hits tonight, and indeed he did.
  • Unfortunately Curtis Granderson had his 15 game hitting streak snapped.
  • Verlander’s outing was reminiscent of his last time out. A decent number of K’s, a walk or two too many, and a pitch count that kept him from getting through 6 innings.
  • Fernando Rodney seems to have found his old form. He did allow a walk, but that was it in a 12 pitch inning.
  • Oh yeah, and the team isn’t under .500 for the first time since the morning of March 31st.

Game 79: Rockies at Tigers

PREGAME: Ooohhh, subplots abound. There’s that whole Jim Leyland quitting on the Rockies thing, but he’s already made his one statement about that. Plus there is that Jason Grilli commenting on team chemistry thing, and the fact that he pitches awful at Comerica Park.

Of more concern though are the Tigers simultaneous marches to mediocrity and contention. The Tigers are 2 games below the .500 mark and Sunday marks the end of the first half of the season. If Detroit can somehow muster a sweep, they’d be +1 for the first half which isn’t a big deal on its own. But given the struggles of the first 2 months would be a mighty accomplishment.

The Rockies have lost their last 4 and are 15 games below .500. Tonight they send out Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenz has been on a bit of a roll of late allowing only 3 earned runs in his last 3 starts. He strikes out a fair amount, but walks a batter every other inning.

For the Tigers it will be Eddie Bonine making his 3rd career start. The red flag with Bonine in the early going is that he’s allowed 3 homers in his 12.1 innings. And those innings came at notorious non-homer parks Comerica Park and Petco.

COL @ DET, Friday, June 27, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: I’d laud the outstanding efforts of Eddie Bonine and Curtis Granderson, but I’m leery. I touted Gary Sheffield’s awesomeness only to see a GIDP and a K in a hitless stat line. Maybe I should just let Bonine’s 8 innings of 1 run ball and 17 ground ball outs speak for themselves. And offensively, how much commentary is required when a player puts together back to back 4 hit games and extends a hitting streak to 15 games? Those kind of accomplishments don’t need to be propped up by some blogger. They stand on their own.

I will just reiterate a statement I made a few days ago. Watching Granderson go to third is a thing of beauty. There is that moment between first and second when you just know he’s going for the triple. It’s all so smooth with perfectly turned angles to the bases that an engineer can appreciate. But there’s still something about that moment when despite the smoothness, there is that one explosive step where he seems to get an extra gear as he braces himself to round second and head to third. Simply a joy to watch.

  • The Tigers plated 7 runs, but it felt like it should have been so much more. Like Wednesday’s game I can’t really bag on an offense that racks up 15 hits and forces a starter to throw over 100 pitches in 4 innings. But this game seemed like it had double digit runs written all over it.
  • Joel Zumaya had a nice outing. Sure there was the double and wild pitch. But a swinging strike out is what we really were looking for. Most important were no walks allowed.
  • Oh yeah. And Clete Thomas reached base 4 more times. That’s not too shabby.
  • Now if only the Twins would lose.

I will not title this post “Shef is cooking”

So maybe adding Gary Sheffield to the lineup won’t disrupt chemistry. Maybe the winning streak coinciding with Sheffield on the DL was coincidence and maybe he isn’t a cancer. And just maybe, the guy can still play.

I was amazed at the number of people who thought there was causation in that Sheffield being on the DL caused the team to play better. That it caused the rest of the offense to perform. That removing the DH from the bench helped the fielders field better and the pitchers pitch better. The team went 3-6 in the first 9 games when Sheffield hit the DL, but many forgot that.

Yes the team went 15-9 in Sheffield’s absence. They also went 10-4 when Clete Thomas was on the DL. They are 14-5 since Ramon Santiago hit the DL and and 14-4 since they lost Jeremy Bonderman. Not to mention the fact that Sheffield was with the team for the long homestand, just not playing. Yet it was Sheffield who was the problem?
Continue reading I will not title this post “Shef is cooking”

Game 78: Cardinals at Tigers

PREGAME: The teams have a 12 hour turnaround for today’s game. It will be Nate Robertson and Todd Wellemeyer, both of who I would guess didn’t stick around for the end of last night’s tilt.

Wellemeyer has a 3.67 ERA for the season and he’s striking out a little more than 2 batters for every one he walks. But in his last start he was lit up for 3 homers and 8 runs in 3.1 innings. It broke a string of 6 straight quality starts. Wellemeyer is a righty, but righties have hit him better this year with a 721 OPS for the right handers and a 663 for the hooks. I’m not sure that Jim Leyland saw that when he decided to play Clete Thomas instead of Marcus Thames in left today. For his career the numbers are strikingly similar for both sides.

Nate Robertson won his last time out despite allowing 5 runs in 6 innings.

And you guys will see me popping into the comments throughout the game today. For a change I’m not working and can actually watch and comment along.

  1. Granderson, CF
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Guillen, 3B
  4. Ordonez, RF
  5. Cabrera, 1B
  6. Thomas, LF
  7. Sheffield, DH
  8. Hollimon, SS
  9. Sardhina, C

STL @ DET, Thursday, June 26, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: CLETE! SHEF! SERIES WIN! The Tigers snuck away with one today. Nate Robertson wasn’t getting hammered, but he was pitching under stress all day. He only had one stretch where he retired more than 2 batters in a row. But through either luck or skill or Cardinal ineptitude he kept St. Louis off the board with the exception of an unearned run.

The Tigers squandered several chances of their own early on with the middle of the order failing to cash in on several opportunities. In the end though the Tigers came out on the right side of a bases loaded walk.

  • I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Tigers are a better team when Gary Sheffield is hitting. He had some rough ab’s early on with a DP and a pop out, but when the team had to have a homer Shef delivered. The Tigers were down to their last slugger with Hollimon and Sardhina up next. After the long foul I figured that was the ball. For him to do it again was incredible.
  • And how about Clete Thomas. I was one who was expecting Marcus Thames to pinch hit in both bases loaded situations. Yet Leyland stuck with Clete and Clete didn’t chase balls in either at-bat and walked in two runs. Is it possible that left field, which was a vat of suckiness early in the season, is now a fountain of glorious production?
  • Stuff evens out in baseball. Granderson had a few hard hit balls find gloves lately. Today he had a few weak hit balls find holes for a 4 hit day.
  • Fernando Rodney flashed signs of the plus reliever he’s been in the past. He pitched out of a tight jam and then retired the side in order the following inning. Five up, five down.
  • Polanco and Thames ejected in the same series? Polanco didn’t really have an argument because it was a good pitch, but he got tossed quickly. The umpires did not have a good series. I don’t know if one team got hurt more than the other, but it was an awful display of officiating.
  • And another nice outing for Bobby Seay who allowed a 2 out walk but nothing else.
  • It was nice to see Mike Hollimon get a couple hits. I have no problem with him trying for third on that play in the 9th inning. He was barely out and if he makes it the Tigers have the winning run 90 feet away with 1 out. I like the aggressive baserunning so just tip the cap to the Cardinals who did it right in nailing him.

links for 2008-06-26

Tigers trade Bautista

I didn’t get a chance to touch on this last night because I had left for the game when the news hit. The Tigers traded Denny Bautista for Pittsburgh minor leaguer Kyle Pearson. With Bautista DFA’d the Tigers had 10 days to find a home for him. In exchange they get AA right hander Pearson. The 2003 4th round pick has a below average strike out rate (5.74 K/9) and a middling walk rate (3.38 BB/9). He’s 23.

With little leverage the Tigers get little in return. For the Pirates they get a guy who could help them at a very low cost.

Of course the Tigers could have kept Bautista had they utilized the options on Freddy Dolsi, Zach Miner, or Casey Fossum (Fossum could have refused assignment). With Rodney’s health always in question and neither of the big guns having pitched at all this year, I would have preferred the wait and see approach and horded as much depth as possible.