When Jim Leyland said he was going to put Justin Verlander on a strict, but undisclosed pitch count today, who thought it would be 120? It probably is a few more than Jim would have liked, but when you have a pitcher as in control as Verlander was today, 120 doesn’t seem to be a stretch at all.

By the numbers

The numbers really do tell a story of how dominant Verlander was today:

• 23 – The number of consecutive hitters Verlander retired after Torii Hunter singled in the first inning.
• 82% – The rate at which Verlander racked up first pitch strikes
• 9 – The pitches that Verlander threw from the stretch. It’s safe to say he wasn’t pitching under duress.
• 4 – The number of times Verlander went to a 3 ball count. He didn’t walk any batters.
• 3 – The hits allowed.
• 72% – Verlander’s strike rate for the day

That’s pretty much as good as it gets and not a moment too soon.

Everybody else

The bottom of the order led the charge today and 5 runs proved to be more than enough. The bottom 4 in the lineup went 5 for 14 and set the table for Austin Jackson who does what Austin Jackson does. He gets a hit or strikes out. Five ABs, 3 hits, 2 strike outs. It really is incredible.

• Alex Avila reached base 3 times. I’m not sure what was more impressive, his rope double down the line or the 8 pitch walk he worked in the 8th.
• Brennan Boesch continues to hit and picked up another double. Boesch has been mashing first pitch fastballs since getting called up. This time though he jumped on a first pitch slider. It was nice to see the adjustment for the youngster.
• It was unfortunate that Jose Valverde had to come in today. He’s now appeared in 14 of the team’s 26 games and is on pace to make 84 appearances this year. It would certainly help with his goal of 74 saves, but that is a heavy workload.

Tigers 5, Angels 1

I think the scorecard tells the story (as scorecards should). The 4th inning was a thing of beauty and majesty and an inning that won’t be forgotten for quite some time.

The rookies were of course the story of the night. Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch both getting their first career homers in the 4th inning. Austin Jackson’s perfect 5 for 5 was exciting to see. It was a pretty special night and seeing Boesch’s emotion had to bring a smile to even the most jaded of sports fans.

I was at the game (some photos below), and can’t really judge Porcello’s location. What I do know is that he was a groundball machine and happened to give up a homer at the worst time, after 2 ground ball singles. So he was getting the grounders, but like in the other games a few too many balls were drilled as well. So maybe we call it improvement, but there’s still work to be done?

• Johnny Damon was a homer shy of the cycle.
• Ryan Perry game in throwing gas retired the first 3 hitters on strike outs.
• I count eight “4-3” outs on my scorecard meaning it was a very busy night for Sxott Sizemore.
• Phil Coke just couldn’t find the strike zone tonight. On another Coke related note, he seems to be the leader of the bullpen. At least the whole pen followed him down the left field line from the dugout.
• I loved seeing the Tigers aggressive on the base paths late in the game. Austin Jackson stole second, and even Miguel Cabrera went when he wasn’t being held on (Boesch popped out on the pitch).
• I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Gerald Laird’s first homer of the season. Good. I’m no longer remiss.
• Surprised to see Jim Leyland go to his big bullpen guns with such a sizable lead.
• Props to the fan who caught Sizemore’s homer. The bullpen guys offered him another ball in exchange and he willingly tossed Sizemore’s first career homer ball in.

With Carlos Guillen’s hamstring blowing up, he’ll be hitting the 15 day disabled list. This opens up a spot for Brennan Boesch who has been promoted from Toledo. Boesch will make his debut tonight in Arlington.

For those that read the Minor League Wraps Boesch’s name is very familiar. He’s been getting a daily mention due to his 379/455/621 line at Toledo. The left handed hitting outfielder just turned 25 earlier this month and was added to the 40 man roster during the offseason.

Boesch has huge power that finally materialized last year at Erie where he had 28 homers. Boesch has some holes in his offensive game in that he will strike out a lot (24% last year and 17 K’s already this year) and he doesn’t walk very much. But when he hits, he mashes. Don’t expect him to bunt or move runners over.

The loss of Guillen though is significant. While Jim Leyland has rotated numerous people in and out of the lineup this season, the Venezuelan heart of the order has remained intact. Presumably Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge would move into the 5th spot which takes away the lefty bat behind Cabrera.

Fortunately if the Tigers have any position of depth in the minors it is with outfielders. With Clete Thomas on the disabled list with a hamstring problem of his own, Boesch makes the most sense. If he struggles and Guillen is delayed the team can always turn to Casper Wells or Wilkin Ramirez as a stop gap as well.

Columbus 4 Toledo 6
Brennan Boesch continues to pound the ball, going 3 for 4 with a double and he picked up a stolen base. Max Leon had 2 hits and a walk. Alfredo Figaro fought his control and walked 4 and struck out 2 in 5.1 innings. Jay Sborz walked a batter but picked up his 6th save.

Erie 2 Altoona 3
Thad Weber lasted 6 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 K’s. Zach Simons fanned 3 in 2 innings but allowed a run. Audy Ciriaco went 2 for 4.

Lakeland 2 Clearwater 3
Adam Wilk allowed 2 runs on 2 walks, 6 hits, and 1 strike out. Matt Hoffman allowed the go ahead homer in relief. Kody Kaiser went 2 for 4. Billy Nowlin hasn’t found the stroke he had at West Michigan last year and his 4 K night dropped his average to .163.

West Michigan 8 Dayton 3
Jamie Johnson was moved from leadoff to clean-up and he went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a walk. Hernan Perez, Wade Gaynor, and Luis Salas all reach base 3 times as well. Jordan Lennerton homered and singled. Ramon Lebron lasted 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 4 walks, and 3 K’s. Luis Angel Sanz fanned 4 in 3 innings of relief.

The Tigers have added Scott Sizemore, Ryan Strieby, Brennan Boesch, and Audy Ciriaco to the 40 man roster, protecting them from the Rule 5 draft. The roster was at 42, but with the 6 free agents off the roster, and the addition of these 4 players it is now full at 40.

The additions of Sizemore and Strieby are not the least bit surprising. Strieby was one of the best hitters in the Eastern League last year while he was healthy. He’s seemingly blocked at first base and will see increased work in the outfield, but regardless he is too good of a hitter to let walk.  Sizemore of course is the heir apparent at second base with the likely departure of Placido Polanco.

After those two though there was a larger pool of players on the bubble. The Tigers decided to stick with the toolsy (and hopefully starting to translate to production) Ciriaco and the power of Brennan Boesch. Ciriaco finally started to tie those tools into some production late last year where he got his line drive rate up to the teens from June forward. And despite Boesch’s struggles controlling the plate (127 K’s and 34 BB’s last year) he did slug at a .510 clip. It’s interesting though that as Dave Dombrowski talks about improving plate discipline throughout the organization they protected two players who have the strike out and walk rates that Ciriaco and Boesch do.

Among those left off the roster were a handful of pitchers including Luis Marte, Bryan Villarreal, Scot Drucker, and Brett Jensen. I’m not necessarily surprised by the absence of any one of those pitchers, but that none were protected is a little surprising.

Things are likely to change yet as trade rumors swirl and the Tigers have to decide on a shortstop.

Syracuse 2 Toledo 5
Joel Zumaya pitched 1 inning, allowing 2 hits and an unearned run, but he walked no one and fanned 2. Clete Thomas is playing again and was a triple short of the cycle with 2 stolen bases so the ankle is probably okay. Chris Lambert fanned 6 in 6 innings while only allowing 1 run on 4 hits.

Erie DNP

Lakeland 3 Sarasota 2 (11 innings)
Gary Sheffield hit 3rd and DH’d tonight. He flew out twice and walked before being lifted for a pinch hitter. I’m not sure if he aggravated something or if it was part of the plan. Brennan Boesch had 4 hits and Ryan Strieby had 3. Duane Below allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 7 innings while striking out 3. Jay Sborz pitched 3 perfect innings of relief.

Wesst Michigan DNP

Toledo 2 Indianapolis 3
Brent Clevlen homered, singled, and walked and has pushed his average to .313. Mike Hollimon was 1 for 4. Matt Joyce went 0 for 4 with 3 K’s. Yorman Bazardo allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings, walking none and fanning 3. Denny Bautista allowed an unearned run on 1 hit and 1 walk in 2 innings of work. He threw 27 pitches, 17 for strikes.

Altoona 8 Erie 6
Jeff Frazier went 3 for 5, as did Ryan Roberson. Wilkin Ramirez and Danny Worth each had 2 hits, including a homer for Worth. Lucas French allowed 8 runs on 12 hits and 3 walks in 6.2 innings.

Lakeland 11 Dunedin 5
Scott Sizemore and Lou Ott each had 3 hits. Brennan Boesch homered, tripled, and drove in 4. Cale Iorg and Jeremy Laster had 2 hits each.

South Bend 6 West Michigan 1
Roger Tomas went 2 for 3. Casper Wells hit a solo homer for the only Caps run. Jon Kibler allowed 4 runs on 6 hits in 7.1 innings while fanning 8 and walking none.

A flurry of link worthy items, plus just being behind in general leads to the mother of all link round-ups:

Injuries – left handed pitcher edition

Bless You Boys picked up a Buster Olney report that scouts were speculating that Dontrelle Willis may be injured. That could certainly be part of his control problems. Then again, Willis has battled increasing control issues the last couple years so it may be a continuation of a trend. But it sounded like Tigers scouts were confident that the problem had been licked. But what if it isn’t?

Assignable cause is always nice when trying to identify shifts in output (I’m an industrial engineer by trade). Usually if you can find the assignable cause and fix it. But in this case fixing it may mean rest & rehab or even surgery if there is an elbow problem.

Big League Stew has some more. Well, not much more but I like BLS and there’s a cool picture.

Things aren’t going well for Clay Rapada either who is experiencing more soreness.

Injury news – right handed pitching edition

Fernando Rodney was examined by the team orthopod and no structural damage was found and he will resume throwing. That’s the good news portion of this update.

Injury news – blogging center fielder subsection

Let’s hope Granderson heals as fast as he gets out of the box for triples. The mending time is estimated to be really quick where he only misses the first week (via John Fuller, his publicist/manager type guy) or it could be a month if Chone Figgins can be used as a comp. While he could probably start swinging the bat right away, it will likely effect his grip strength. And man, I’d imagine hitting in cold weather would be especially painful.

In his stead Edgar Renteria will leadoff and Brandon Inge will manner center field – at least initially. I have a felling there will be some mixing and matching with Ryan Raburn perhaps getting some extra at-bats as well.

Interviews

Speaking of Granderson, The Grandy Report was able to interview him last week. It turns out Granderson’s favorite subject was math. I wonder if he’s a saber?

Also, Dontrelle Willis got together with Ryan Howard and David Wright during a Topps shoot. Willis grabbed the mike and conducted the interviews himself. This interview keeps getting taken down, so catch it while you can.

THE CONTRACT

I think it’s only appropriate that THE TRADE spurred THE CONTRACT. There is little new news about THE CONTRACT except that it is a 7 year extension as I had speculated initially. My guess on how it breaks out is $15 million in 2009 and then $21 million in each of 2010-2015. It hasn’t been officially announced, but it hasn’t been denied. And Cabrera’s Dad seemed to confirm it to a Venezuelan newspaper. (translation via Google)

“We were expecting this contract,” said Cabrera Navas. “There were two very important things for him to accept the deal: first, that there are other Venezuelans, as Magglio (Ordoñez) and Carlos (Guillen), and second, that we have a good chance to win and go to a World Series.”

The story also said that there are incentives for MVPs, All Star Games, and the like.

Mack Avenue Tigers beat me to the punch and rounded up the opinions on the valuation of the deal. The opinions vary greatly. I’m still sticking with my initial feelings that it is a pretty fair valuation for both sides. In terms of Cabrera’s actual value it seems fair. In terms of Cabrera’s perceived value it appears to be favorable for the club.

Leftovers

Finally wrapping this thing up we look to the Marlins who decided to send Cameron Maybin to the minors for more seasoning. Probably a good move and Maybin will probably still be the starting centerfielder by the end of the year. But Jair Jurrjens locked up a spot in the rotation after a strong spring.

And lastly, Brennan Boesch had some bathroom problems today.

Jonathan Mayo covers the minor leagues and the draft as a senior writer for MLB.com. Mayo also has a book coming out that has some remarkable timing. It is a look at what it is like to face Roger Clemens and is appropriately titled Facing Clemens. The book was written and put to bed prior to the release of the Mitchell Report and will be available on March 1st, though you can pre-order it now.

Regardless of your feelings about Clemens, steroid users, and their place in history, the book looks to be a fascinating read. Mayo interviewed many of the great hitters about what it was like to dig in with Clemens on the mound. Whether or not Clemens did it naturally doesn’t change what the batters experienced when squaring off against the Rocket.

Mayo was kind enough to answer some questions about the now-depleted Tigers farm system as well as a look forward to the 2008 draft.