Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.27.2010

Toledo 6 Buffalo 7
Mike Hessman did in the Mud Hens with 2 homers. Ruddy Lugo allowed 4 runs on 5 hits on a day he didn’t strike out or walk anyone. Daniel Schlereth allowed 2 runs on 2 hits in .2 innings. Jeff Frazier his a 3 run homer. Ryan Strieby had 2 hits and a walk. Ben Guez doubled twice.

Erie – Suspended

Lakeland 4 Palm Beach 5
Alden Carrithers had 2 doubles. Kody Kaiser and Francisco Martinez each doubled and singled. Billy Nowlin homered. Mark Sorensen allowed 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings.

West Michigan 4 Lansing 2
Avisail Garcia went 2 for 3 with a walk. Jacob Turner allowed 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, and he fanned 5 in 5.1 innings. Jose Ortega pitched 2.1 innings of relief and he walked 3 but struck out 5.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.26.2010

Toledo: It was an off day for the Mud Hens. But for those interested MILB.tv will have their Thursday game on at 10:35 this morning.

Trenton 7 Erie 6
Wilkin Ramirez seemed to enjoy himself immensely with a 3 homer day, bringing his season total to 13. Cesar Nicolas also had 3 hits but he was hitting behind Ramirez meaning the bases were mostly empty. Cale Iorg picked up 2 hits. Jon Kibler walked 4 and was knocked around for 8 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings. Luis Marte blew the save allowing 2 runs and a homer.

Lakeland 7 Tampa 2
Kody Kaiser notched 3 more hits and is hitting 476/531/667 over his last 10 games. For May his OPS is 1.011. Alden Carrithers and Gustavo Nunez each had 2 hits. Luke Putkonen went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

West Michigan 5 Lansing 9
Jordan Lennerton went 2 for 4 with a double and a walk making it 4 straight multi-hit games for the first baseman. Michael Rockett, Wade Gaynor, and Mike Gosse all had 2 hits.  Ramon Lebron was rocked for 8 runs in just 2.1 innings.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.25.10

Toledo 6 Syracuse 3
Carlos Guillen picked up 3 doubles, and the dinner tab. Max Scherzer went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk with 7 K’s. Scott Sizemore was 2 for 4. Ryan Strieby had 2 hits and drove in 5.

Erie 0 Trenton 4
Thad Weber gave up 10 hits and fanned only 1 but allowed just 4 runs in 6.2 innings. Shawn Roof had 2 of the 3 hits for the Seawolves.

Tampa 3 Lakeland 10
It was yet another electric night for Charlie Furbush. He went 8 innings and allowed a solo homer along with 3 other hits. But he walked none and fanned 12! That’s 44 strikeouts and 2 walks in his last 28 innings. Brent Wyatt and Rawley Bishop had 3 hit nights. Kody Kaiser and Daniel Fields each went 2 for 4.

West Michigan 3 Lansing 0
Giovany Soto pitched the 7 inning complete game shut out notching 6 K’s. Michael Rockett doubled in 2 runs.

West Michigan 1 Lansing 7
Avisail Garcia, Luis Palacios and Billy Alvino had the 3 hits. Victor Larez didn’t make it out of the 3rd inning before surrendering 6 runs on 9 hits.

Scoreboard – MiLB.com Scoreboard – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.24.10

Toledo 3 Syracuse 6
The Tigers faced uber-prospect Stephen Strasburg, and managed to score. Deik Scram tripled and scored on a wild pitch. In the 4th inning Carlos Guillen singled (1 for 3 with a walk and 2 6-4-3 GIDPs on defense), Jeff Frazier doubled (3 for 4), and Casper Wells followed with a ground ball between third and short. LJ Gagnier allowed 6 runs in 5.2 innings but only 1 was earned, but a couple came around after his own error. Robbie Weinhardt faced one batter and was removed after the ominous “injury delay” according to the game recap.

Erie 4 Trenton 6
Duane Below allowed 5 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 3.2 innings with only 2 strikeouts. Anthony Shawler ate 3.1 scoreless innings. Cesar Nicolas and Michael Bertram each doubled and singled. Josh Burrus hit his 5th homer.

Lakeland 4 Tampa 1
Adam Wilk starred with 8 innings of 1 run ball on only 4 hits. He didn’t walk a batter and he fanned 8. Julio Rodriguez had 2 hits. Alden Carrithers reached base 3 times with a single and 2 walks.

West Michigan 2 Fort Wayne 3 (10 innings)
Jordan Lennerton doubled twice as part of a 3 for 5 day. Alexis Espinoza also picked up 3 hits. Trevor Feeney went 8 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 6 K’s. Melvin Mercedes walked 3 and had a wild pitch in 1.2 innings and took the loss.

Postcard from LA

No, I wasn’t in Los Angeles for this series. This is more of a collection of postcard sized thoughts from the Tigers weekend series against the Dodgers.

Armando Galarraga

The theme for Galarraga was inconsistency with the slider. There were times that it was awesome, like when he got Manny Ramirez and Matt Kemp flailing at pitches well outside of the strike zone. And then there was the at-bat where he hung multiple ones in the middle of the plate to Casey “freaking” Blake. It’s likely that Galarraga has one more start to make a statement before Max Scherzer is busting down the door to come back. Of course there is that other factor known as…

Dontrelle Willis

Willis looked terrific at times. He was getting ground ball after ground ball. He was working efficiently. And then things got funky with 2 outs in the 4th innings. A single, a wild pitch, and a walk seemed to set things in motion. Willis did hang in against Reed Johnson who worked a 9 pitch walk. But then it was  HBP and Willis never looked comfortable again.

That seems to be the story with Willis this year. It is a pretty fine line that Willis walks between effective and excruciating.

Strategery

I’m not so much a fan of National League baseball. I don’t care to see pitchers hitting, or being lifted while they are still effective for a pinch hitter. That said, Saturday and Sunday provided some interesting maneuvering by Jim Leyland. It worked on Sunday, not so much on Saturday.

Saturday we all understand the ramifications of Magglio Ordonez being lifted earlier in the game so he wasn’t available in the 9th inning. It’s kind of the nature of the beast and Leyland went all in earlier in the game. It happens. But I think back to a moment in the top of the 4th inning where the Tigers had 2 on and 2 outs and Armando Galarraga up. I understand wanting more than 3 innings from a starter, but Galarraga hadn’t been particularly effective and the Tigers needed runs. Leyland let Galarraga hit, the inning ended, and Galarraga came back and gave up 3 runs in the bottom half of the inning.

I’m not saying that Leyland messed up. It was the 4th inning after all. But with the benefit of hindsight it is easy to look back and say what if. I guess that’s the draw of NL ball.

Things went better in the 9th inning of Sunday’s game where Dontrelle Willis played a key role without getting in the batters box. It forced Torre’s hand and he did what Leyland wanted by bringing in the lefty. That Sherrill fell behind 2-1 and set up the perfect squeeze situation certainly made everyone look smarter.

R3L2O

The Tigers were remarkably efficient in the famous runner-on-third-with-less-than-2-outs scenarios this weekend. They capitalized in such a scenario in the first inning in each of the 3 games. For the season the Tigers have had 98 R3L2O scenarios and have scored 46 runs. The 47% success rate is below the league average of 49%.

Odds and Ends

  • Danny Worth played some dazzling defense. The fact he has chipped in some singles is gravy at this point. He’s bringing to the table what Adam Everett is supposed to. This is probably premature, but how much more time does Everett have to get his batting average into the .220 range?
  • The Austin Jackson play was scary, but fortunately there doesn’t appear to be physical damage beyond swelling which will hopefully go down quickly. Coincidentally enough there was a segment on Baseball Tonight on Thursday about David Wright’s struggles with the low and outside pitch since his beaning last season. I don’t know about the statistical relevance of those struggles, but it was the first thing that I thought of after seeing Jackson get up and walk off the field.
  • Joel Zumaya was pretty nasty, but his fastball was down in velocity. He was sitting at 98-99mph and only hit 100mph once. I don’t know if this is cause for concern, or if it was done by design. It is something to watch though. Clearly, he was still effective, but he’s had a lot of multi-inning relief appearances and it bears watching.

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.23.2010

Toledo 8 Syracuse 5
Carlos Guillen homered and walked in his second rehab game. Both games they’ve kept him to 3 plate appearances before lifting him. Ryan Strieby hit his second homer after coming off the disabled list. Scott Sizemore doubled twice and Jeff Frazier, Brent Dlugach, and Casper Wells each had 2 hits. Enrique Gonzalez  allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks with 4 K’s in 5 innings. Daniel Schlereth was roughed p for 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.

Altoona 2 Erie 1
Andy Oliver was terrific, allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits in 6.2 innings while fanning 9 and walking 1. Christopher White went 2 for 3 and had 2 of the Seawolves 3 hits. Wilkin Ramirez drew 2 walks.

St. Lucie 4 Lakeland 10
Alden Carritthers doubled, singled, and walked. Rawley Bishop had 2 hits. Kody Kaiser homered. Francisco Martinez doubled and walked and his first week in Lakeland was a breeze as he posted a .375/444/438 line. Brayan Villarreal struck out 6 in 6 innings while allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. Matt Hoffman went 2 scoreless innings of relief. Lester Oliverson, off the disabled list, allowed 4 baserunners and a run while recording 2 outs.

West Michigan 6 Fort Wayne 7
Jamie Johnson went 3 for 5 with a double. Jordan Lennerton, Avisail Garcia, and Mike Gosse each had 2 hits. Jade Todd didn’t make it out of the 4th innings before allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks though he did fan 4. His early exit was due to injury and not ineffectiveness.

Game 2010.044: Tigers at Dodgers

After a promising start to the road trip, the Tigers ran into some problems in Los Angeles. Now they are looking at the unpleasant end of a sweep unless Rick Porcello can muster a strong performance and the offense can find their way against Hiroki Kuroda.

Porcello has been making some progress in his last two starts, one a gem against the Yankees and the other an “OK” type outing against the White Sox where he gave up 4 runs but lasted 7 innings.

Kuroda is yet another Dodgers starter with strong numbers. He doesn’t have significant platoon splits, though the opposition has hit him a little better at Dodger Stadium.

Austin Jackson is out of the lineup again today due to his beaning. While tests were negative Jim Leyland decided he was going to be spelled regardless.

Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 23, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

Tigers Minor League Wrap 5.22.2010

Toledo 2 Syracuse 3
Alfredo Figaro pitched 6 innings with 5 strikeouts and 2 runs allowed on 6 hits and 3 walks. Scot Drucker fanned 4 in 2 innings but gave up a solo homer. Ryan Strieby homered and drove in both runs. Strieby returned from the DL just in time for Jeff Larish to head down with a groin injury.

Altoona 8 Erie 3
Michael Bertram doubled and singled. Justin Henry added a double. Brooks Brown only lasted 2 innings as he was hit up for 7 runs on 7 hits and a walk. Jay Voss ate 4 innings and only allowed an unearned run despite giving up 7 hits and a walk.

Altoona 7 Erie 3
Jeff Kunkel tripled which accounted for the only extra base hit for the Seawolves. Ramon Garcia allowed 5 runs in 4 innings on 8 hits and a walk. Zach Simons fanned 3 in 2 scoreless innings.

St. Lucie 5 Lakeland 2
Brent Wyatt went 3 for 4. Rawley Bishop, Kody Kaiser, Francisco Martinez, and Billy Nowlin all had 2 hits. Mark Sorensen gave up 10 hits in 6.1 innings and all 5 runs. Gil Mejia pitched 2.2 perfect innings with 3 K’s.

West Michigan 12 Fort Wayne 10
Michael Rockett tripled and singled. Alexis Espinoza and Shawn Roof both doubled and singled. Trevor Feeney pitched the first inning on Friday night. Victor Larez started on Saturday and went 3 scoreless innings. Luis Angel Sanz and Nolan Moody both struggled though and combined to give up 9 ruuns in 2.2 innings.

West Michigan 1 Fort Wayne 4
There were no offensive performances to speak of with only 5 singles for the Whitecaps. Jacob Turner fanned 7 and walked none in 4 innings but he was touched up for 3 runs on 5 hits.

Game 2010.043: Tigers at Dodgers

It is one of those unusual 7pm starts for a West Coast game that just never happen. But it is happening. And it is happening with  Armando Galarraga and John Ely on the mound.

Ely has been pretty awesome this season. In 4 starts he has 25 strikeouts, 3 walks, and no homers over 25.2 innings. And he hasn’t walked a hitter in his last 3 starts.

Galarraga joined the rotation when the team needed an extra arm and he stayed in the rotation when Max Scherzer struggled and was sent to Toledo. He struckout 5 and allowed 6 baserunners and 1 run against the Red Sox.

Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 22, 2010 – MLB.com Preview

Links for 2010-05-22