The fans, they do care

Drew Sharp was disappointed in the turnout for last night’s game with “only” 30,000 fans in attendance. But it appears that everyone who wasn’t at the game was watching the game on television as last night’s Tigers game was the highest rated one ever on Fox Sports Detroit. Ever. More than the excitement of 2006. More than the expectations of 2008. Ever.

Last night’s broadcast brought in a 13.6 rating topping the 13.5 that last year’s Opening Day received and the 13.4 that the final game in 2006 mustered. Last night’s game peaked at 18.6 for the final half hour.

Now I’m a little disappointed that the park wasn’t full last night, just as I was disappointed when there were only 25,000 for Ernie’s farewell. But I can’t necessarily call the fans out and I certainly can’t say that they don’t care.

The Tigers have never drawn well when the kids go back to school. Often times it is because the team is out of it, but there are just additional pressures on people’s schedules where a last minute decision to go to a game isn’t feasible. I make it down to about 20 games a year and try as I might I can’t make it down for any of these 4 – and it’s not that I don’t want to. And I’m probably not alone.

So people watch on TV. Sharp says it is “embarrassing” that a town that provides itself on sports passion didn’t fill the park. But the passion is still there. The Tigers game last night was the highest rated show in Detroit. That’s not just among cable outlets. No, it was the highest rated show in Detroit, beating out NCIS which drew a 10.6.

Yeah, I wish the park was full but to call it is embarrassing isn’t accurate. There are pressures in people’s lives that kept them from the park. A lack of passion isn’t one of them.

Game 2009.158: Twins at Tigers

PREGAME: Let’s do this again. After a very long day of baseball, it’s just a regular night at the ballpark. Except that it is the immovable force named Carl Pavano that the Tigers will be going up against.

Pavano’s mastery of all things Tigers and few things not-Tigers is one of those epic mysteries. It’s the stuff of a Time-Life book series (Coincidence? Read the book!). The last time out the Tigers got to Pavano for a ga-jillion baserunners but not so many runs.

In a similar vein, we’ll see of Eddie Bonine’s powers of seduction (I’m for sure going to be the number 1 Google hit for “eddie bonine power of seduction) extend beyond the Chicago White Sox. Bonine faced the Twins once last year and it resulted in a 7-0 loss. Here’s hoping for a better outcome.

Minnesota vs. Detroit – September 30, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME
[audio:http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/onemoretime1.mp3]

I’m in Alexandria, Virginia but it was easy to find Tigers fans. And even fans without a rooting interest were pulling for the Tigers tonight. Pirates fans, and Red Sox fans, and pretty much everyone I ran into was on the Tigers bandwagon tonight. It was awesome. And there was beer.

But meanwhile, those in Detroit took care of business. The boys gave us all reason to be proud. Eddie Bonine was shaky to start, but after allowing 2 runs in the first that would be it for the Twins.

Now we’ve seen before what happens when Carl Pavano pitches and it is mostly frustration and angst for Tigers fans. But tonight the Tigers got him. They got him good. They got him real good.

Brandon Inge and Magglio Ordonez. Two Tigers who have had their highs and lows this season both delivered bases loaded doubles. Both came up huge. Both should be celebrated.

  • I don’t get using Miner in 3 innings and I don’t get using Lyon with a 5 run lead and I don’t get using Rodney with a 5 run lead. But only Miner is likely unavailable tomorrow. And really, tonight is much more important than tomorrow…until tomorrow.
  • Twice the Tigers splashed a Brett Favre graphic over the Tigers game. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
  • Little has been easy for the Tigers this year, but this was as close to an easy win as the Tigers have had in a while.
  • Ramon Santiago has driven in runs in his last 2 starts. Kudos Ramon.
  • Yeah, I’m pretty giddy right now.
  • Oh yeah, 34K in attendance tonight. Way to go Detroit.

Exhausting, Exhilirating, Exhale

Now that was some baseball. I listened to the bulk of the day game. Watched the night game. I’m worn out.

It was a tremendous day of baseball. I can look back and say that because the Tigers held on in the nightcap. If that doesn’t happen then it’s a different adjective I use. But in the end we’re right back where we started. After 19 innings of baseball the Twins and Tigers essentially played to a draw. Well, not quite a draw because the seasons for both teams have been shortened.

Game 1

Once again the Tigers got terrific pitching and not enough hitting. And they lost. But oh what a game it was. Rick Porcello was dealing. Nick Blackburn struggled a little early on and the Tigers didn’t take advantage because Blackburn either dialed in or the Tigers got themselves out.

Rob Neyer and Kurt Mensching already broke down this game and some of the decisions implemented by Leyland. Maybe I’m just to use to Tigers baseball, but very little that Leyland does really phases me at this point. I know he’ll make some mistakes, but very few are egregious and many are expected. Maybe that is a free pass, I don’t know.

If the Tigers had won this game though, I’m certain I would have written something about how big Zach Miner came up pitching out of a jam and bridging the gap once again. Wait, I just wrote that anyways.

Finally, there has been much angst written about Gene Lamont’s decision to hold Clete Thomas. I’m generally of the mindset of forcing the issue at home plate and wouldn’t have been upset had Thomas been thrown out at home had he been waved around. But this wasn’t a case of being excessively conservative. Kubel had scooped the ball at the same time Thomas hit 3rd and Kubel wasn’t deep. I think it is a stretch to say the decision cost the team the game.

You hate to see a game lost in large part due to wild pitches, and those were the culminating events. But both teams battled (yeah cliche) and both teams played pretty well (cliche). These were 2 pretty good teams (cliche) and you knew it would go down to the wire (cliche).

It’s easy to read too much into this game and the team’s psyche and compare it to the Twins. The Twins blew some chances as well. They just cashed in first. I don’t know if that has anything to do with heart or choking or any of the other stuff.

Game 2

Yeah, there was some pressure. Nobody really wanted this to be knotted up at the top of the division with 5 games to go. So the effort by not only Justin Verlander but by the offense getting to a pitcher who hadn’t been gotten to was HUGE.

The Tigers, got those big hits that had been missing the previous 2 games. Magglio Ordonez’s 2 out 2 run double might have been the biggest of the night because it provided a cushion and at least in the fans minds made everyone relax a little.

But like so many times when things go well, there were contributions from many. Grandy, Inge, Miggy, Everett. Hits throughout the lineup. Good times.

Now as for Verlander, he had moments of unhittableness, and then some of those unfortunate moments of quite hittableness. The first 2 runs that scored were on Verlande.r The last 2 not as much. The 2 singles that started that 8th inning rally were on good pitches that resulted in seeing eye grounders. And there is room to question the wisdom of Verlander staying in the game as deep as he did. When Leyland went to the mound I was sure Verlander was coming out, but in Leyland’s presser the conversation went something like:

“I told him I don’t have anyone better. That’s my line but with Verlander I mean it.”

Fernando Rodney was also quite good pitching around some shoddy and uncharacteristic defense from Polanco and Granderson. Rodney threw 20 pitches, and 16 of them were for strikes. He was good.

Parting Shots

Both teams went into today hoping to sweep and really put the other team in an uncomfortable position. But both teams went into today really hoping not to get swept. In that respect both teams can walk away somewhat satisfied. With both games being so close both teams can also walk away knowing how close they came to sweeping the day.

  • Granderson carried over his Chicago success and added 3 more extra base hits and has homered in 3 straight games. One of those came off of Nathan which is pretty big.
  • Polanco kind of had Inge’s Chicago series all in done day. A couple misplays (not routine but we expect more from Polly) and an 0’fer in the first game. Okay, he had 2 hits in the night game and didn’t strike out in 3/4’s of his plate apperances. So it wasn’t that bad at all.
  • Speaking of Inge he left that series in Chicago behind him as he had a few hits today
  • Does Gerald Laird get the day off tomorrow? I’d hope so. My knees hurt thinking about it.
  • How about some props for Andy Van Slyke? He had the left fielders positioned perfectly tonight. There were some hits that looked like bloopers that Ryan Raburn barely had to move for.

Game 2009.157: Twins at Tigers

PREGAME: So….are you freaking out a little? Do you have chills? Are you sweating? Me, not yet. I’m a little grumpy but panic won’t set in until the Tigers are looking up at the Twins. Then I’ll be shriveling lump of despair. Until then, let us cast our gaze upon one Justin Verlander.

It’s probably unfair. How many times has Verlander been put in this position and come through this year? There was the White Sox game when Chicago had tied things up. And the Red Sox game where they were on the brink of being swept.

Of course Verlander doesn’t hit. He could pitch damn near a no-hitter (just ask Eddie Bonine) and it won’t make a difference if the Tigers can’t generate some offense against Brian Duensing. Do you know how many times Duensing has allowed more than 3 runs in a start? Once. July 7th. He shut the Tigers out for 6.1 innings on September 18th and limited them to 5 base runners.

Your, “huh, Gerald Laird again?” lineup is:

  1. Raburn, LF (aka Little Jimmy Jackson)
  2. Polanco, 2B
  3. Ordonez, RF
  4. Cabrera, 1B
  5. Thames, DH
  6. Inge, 3B
  7. Granderson, CF
  8. Laird, C
  9. Everett, SS

So, my buddies and I usually pick a Tiger each game we attend. A simple guess as to who will have the best game. Who is going to come through for the Tigers tonight. Dare I say, “Who’s your Tiger?”

Minnesota vs. Detroit – September 29, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME:

[audio:http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/onemoretime1.mp3]

Do right by Sparky

The support has always been there, but with Sparky Anderson in town again to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1984 team there is a new sense of urgency. It is time to get Sparky’s name on the wall at Comerica Park.

Tom Gage wrote about it last week. Ian Casselberry wrote about it yesterday. Both expressed the case wonderfully and I don’t have much to add – except that after seeing Sparky speak to the crowd Monday night this needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Do right by Sparky

Game 2009.156: Twins at Tigers

PREGAME: The Twins and Tigers lock up in what has been dubbed the Tigers biggest series since 1987. That dubber is Lee Panas, man of metrics and not a purveyor of hyperbole so I tend to agree with him.

By now you know the drill. If the Tigers take 3 (or better) the division is theirs. If the teams split then the Tigers need 2 wins against the Sox or 2 Twins losses against the Royals, or some combination thereof. If the Twins take 3 things are deadlocked going into the final 3 games. If the Twins sweep, well, that would really suck.

The Twins, winners of 5 of their last 7 send out Nick Blackburn. Blackburn pitched 7 shutout innings his last time out. He also pitched a complete game against the Tigers back in July. In 98 plate appearances where the first pitch has been put in play, hitters are OPSing 1.021.

The Tigers, winners of 5 of their last 7, send out Rick Porcello. Porcello got the win in Cleveland limiting them to 1 run in 5 innings. He lost in a quality start against the Twins on September 18th.

The weather is wet and windy and generally yucky so hopefully they play this one.

Yeah, there was a lineup posted here before, but it will likely change with the doubleheader today. So I deleted it. The rest of the post stands though because the pitching match-up is the same. We’ll have a separate post for the nightcap. Oh yeah, and the weather is cold and rainy today also.

Minnesota vs. Detroit – September 28, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

Game 2009.155: Tigers at White Sox

PREGAME: It’s Daniel Hudson and Edwin Jackson doing battle in the rubber game of the series.

Hudson has 4 appearances this season, but he made his first start on Monday against the Twins. He went 5 innings and held the Twins to 3 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits with 4 K’s. He also walked 4. Considering what the Twins have been doing to everybody else lately (they smoked Buehrle and Danks following the Hudson start) that was pretty impressive.

Scouting Hudson’s last outing, it looks like he throws a fastball at about 93-94mph, a change-up, and a slider. The change-up was his best swing-and-miss pitch but also the one he had the least control of.

Jackson will make his 3rd start of the year against Chicago. Despite walking 8 and only striking out 6 in 12 innings only 5 runs have crossed the plate

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – September 27, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: What started out so promising sure did spin out of control by the end of the game. Curtis Granderson got things started with a leadoff homer. That was it for the offense until 1 run in the 6th inning and a couple of “let’s not make this so look so bad” runs in the 9th inning.

Edwin Jackson didn’t seem to enjoy pitching with a lead. He gave back 1 run in the 2nd and then he got down to business retiring 10 in a row. Until the Tigers got him that lead in the 6th and Jackson promptly got XBH’d to death for 3 runs and that was it for his chance at a win.

  • Brandon Inge’s series could only be described as miserable. He was 0 for the series with 8 K’s, 2 E’s, and though it wasn’t an error, he failed to make a play on Alex Rios’ double leading off the 6th.The play wasn’t routine, but it wasn’t exactly web-gemmy either.
  • Curtis Granderson picked up 5 hits in a row between last night and today, and it would have been 7 except for a nice running play by Alex Rios. And these weren’t bloops. Grandy was hitting bullets all over the park.
  • Fernando Rodney…not so much.
  • At least Trey Hillman managed aggressively with a Zach Greinke Cy Young Award in mind and he put in Joakim Soria for a 2 inning save, which he recorded successfully despite some tension.
  • Though Jackson got the loss, I thought he looked better today than in Cleveland. He had better command and his slider seemed to have more bite. The difference in results was that the Indians hit their hard hit balls at people, plus the White Sox have more firepower.

Game 2009.154: Tigers at White Sox

PREGAME: One thing about the divison race has become increasingly evident. The Twins won’t lose. So the Tigers just need to respond by not losing too. Simple right?

Nate Robertson gets the start. I’m sure after watching Eddie Bonine take a loss last night he’s just chomping at the bit.

Freddy Garcia is still alive and pitching tonight for the White Sox. Not only is he still alive, he has a streak of 6 straight quality starts. Egads!

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – September 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME:

[audio:http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/onemoretime1.mp3]

This pretty much tells the story:

290926104_Tigers_WhiteSox_143447828_lbig

This one got off to a scary start. Nate Robertson didn’t have the good stuff tonight. The way some of his breaking balls stayed way out side had me wondering if the groin, g-g-groin, g-g-groin (Cheers reference) injury was flaring up again. He surrendered all 5 runs, and it could have been worse without some nifty defense from Carlos Guillen in left field and a heck of a double play turn by Adam Everett.

The offense will get a lot of attention (and rightfully so) for awaking from a 13 inning scoreless slumber. It turned into a blow out thanks to some hard hit balls, and some weakly hit balls hit to the right spot, and some routinely hit balls that went between infielders.

But could it be that on this night the star is a mop-up man who threw 2.2 innings of scoreless ball to keep the game from getting out of hand and allowing the offense the opportunity to get back into it? Alfredo Figaro’s 1 hit performance tonight was huge, huge I say.

One thing that is, um, mysterious, is why use your primary set-up guy for 2 innings in a blow out? Especially with Seay day-to-day? I don’t get the Brandon Lyon usage.

  • Everybody hit except for Brandon Inge who has 6 K’s in his last 8 plate appearances. Use the game link to see the box score. Lot’s of hits (20) all around.
  • Zach Miner with another strong performance.

Game 2009.153: Tigers at White Sox

PREGAME: The Tigers enter into their final road series of the season. They’ll face a White Sox team who was eliminated from the division crown last night. They’ll face a White Sox team who was just swept by the Twins despite having Mark Buehrle and John Danks go in the series.

The Tigers send out Eddie Bonine. Bonine makes just his 3rd start of the season, but it his second against the White Sox. Back when the White Sox were hot on the Tigers tails Bonine was called on to pitch the backend of a double header and he held the sox Sox to 3 runs in 6 innings.

Jake Peavy makes just his second start since the trade that sent him from the Padres. In his first time out he allowed just 3 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings to the Royals, but 3 runs came around to score.

Detroit vs. Chi White Sox – September 25, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: I can’t really add much that won’t show up in a regular game story. Eddie Bonine allows 2 hits and takes a loss because the offense can’t get anything done. Heck the offense could barely put balls in play with 12 K’s. And Inge made an error. And Adam Everett was used as a pinch hitter for the designated hitter.

Tigers Minors News

Just because the regular minor league seasons are over doesn’t mean there isn’t news coming out about the Tigers prospects. The instructional league is in full swing, the Arizona Fall League is starting, and post season awards are being handed out.

Instructional League

Jacob Turner credit-Roger DeWitt
Jacob Turner

The IL games are underway. Mark Anderson of TigsTown is on site and filing daily reports. The first one was free, but the subsequent ones are premium content. Based on the 2 reports so far Audy Ciriaco has been a star.

The IL is also a chance to see many of the Tigers 2009 draftees in Tigers uniform for the first time. Lakeland resident Roger DeWitt has been hanging around the fields and posting his pictures on Flickr. As has been the case the last few years, Roger was the first to get shots of the Tigers first round picks in action and he has Jacob Turner throwing on one of the practice mounds.

Arizona Fall League

The Tigers have had to make some adjustments to their AFL roster due to the arm problems of Cody Satterwhite and the lingering wrist problem of Ryan Strieby. In a surprise move (at least I was surprised), 2nd round pick Andrew Oliver will take Satterwhite’s spot.

What isn’t known is if Oliver is going because he has really impressed so far and the Tigers want to see what he does against advanced competition in preparation for an aggressive assignment next year, or if he is going by default.

Casper Wells will take Strieby’s spot, but that isn’t so much of a surprise.

Player of the Year Honors

Congratulations to Scott Sizemore and Casey Crosby who took home organizational Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year honors. (As predicted by Take 75 North).

Both had outstanding seasons. Crosby was kept on the 75 pitch limit which did hold down his innings but he still managed 117 strike outs in 104.1 innings. I’d imagine he’d start out in Lakeland next year with an 85-90 pitch limit but he could very well end up at Erie before the year is out.

Sizemore just raked the ball all season. He hit in Erie and continued hitting as he spent the 2nd half of the year in Toledo and he may be pushing Placido Polanco out the door.

Is it time for Ni-Lyon?

Bobby Seay, the Tigers primary lefty out of the pen is hurting. Gerald Laird called for trainer Kevin Rand to visit the mound after he saw something amiss in one of Seay’s pitches last night. Seay didn’t immediately leave the game, but he did after allowing a single to Travis Hafner. Now Seay is on his way to the MRI machine.

Seay, part of the Seay-Lyon tandem who have been so efficient at turning leads over from the starter to Fernando Rodney is likely unavailable today and until the results of his MRI are back is status is uncertain.

Fu-Te Ni is the only other southpaw in the pen. Ni has done a very nice job and is one of the more underrated signings from the offseason. It’s likely that Ni would continue to hold his own in an elevated role. He’s only allowed 2 of the 25 runners he’s inherited to score and the opposition is hitting .196 against him. But as is often the case, it’s the cascade effect that is more worrisome.

The Tigers will likely add another lefty to the pen, and as Kurt points out that will most likely be Clay Rapada. Rapada doesn’t seem to have earned the club’s confidence, but he will likely fill in as the early LOOGY.

The 1984 Celebration

The Tigers will be trying to clinch a playoff spot and celebrate the last Detroit World Series Champion when the Twins come to town next week. On September 28th the franchise will honor the 1984 team with a 25th anniversary celebration.

The roster includes 24 member of that club, including trainer Pio DiSalvo. The lineup is:

PLAYERS COACHES
Rod Allen (OF)
Doug Bair (RHP)
Juan Berenguer (RHP)
Dave Bergman (INF)
Tom Brookens (INF)
Darrell Evans (INF)
Barbaro Garbey (INF/OF)
Kirk Gibson (OF)
Johnny Grubb (OF)
Guillermo Hernandez (LHP)
Larry Herndon (OF)
Ruppert Jones (OF)
Jack Morris (RHP)
Lance Parrish (C)
Dan Petry (RHP)
Dave Rozema (RHP)
Bill Scherrer (LHP)
Alan Trammell (INF)
Milt Wilcox (RHP)
Sparky Anderson (Manager)
Roger Craig (Pitching Coach)
Dick Tracewski (Infield Coach)
Gates Brown (Hitting Coach)
Pio DiSalvo (Trainer)

Continue reading The 1984 Celebration