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  • Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/21/07

    Toledo 4 Richmond 1

    Erie 2 Bowie 5

    Lakeland – PPD Rain

    West Michigan 11 Burlington 2

    Oneonta 3 Mahoning Valley 6

    GCL Tigers 8 TCL Blue Jays 11

  • Game 95: Monarchs at Stars

    PREGAME: In the retro uni’s tonight will be Justin Verlander taking on Jorge de la Rosa.

    I was looking at de la Rosa’s game logs trying to get a feel for tendencies, and I really have no idea what to expect. He has decent control except when he doesn’t, and he strikes out a decent amount except when he doesn’t. What I do see on his splits page is that right handers have a 893 OPS against versus a .687 mark for lefties. And right handers account for 15 of the 16 homers he’s allowed. So I’m guessing/hoping that either Ryan Raburn or Craig Monroe have left field duties tonight.

    Justin Verlander hasn’t been quite the unhittable pitcher we saw in June, but has still pitched through the 7th in his last 2 starts while fanning 13 and walking only 1.

    Game time 7:05pm

    KCR @ DET, Saturday, July 21, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

  • Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/20/07

    Toledo 5 Richmond 8
    Andres Torres went 3 for 4. Jack Hannahan had 2 hits. Chris Shelton doubled and walked twice. Ron Chiavacci allowed 4 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings. Eulogio De La Cruz pitched 2 scoreless innings but allowed 3 baserunners.

    Erie 4 Bowie 3
    Clete Thomas went 3 for 5 to lead the way. Wilkin Ramirez was 0 for 4 with 3 K’s in his AA debut. Dallas Trahern allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 K’s while inducing 13 ground outs in 7 innings.

    Lakeland 3 Tampa 4
    Mark Haske and Joel Roa had 2 hits each. Eleazar Aponte allowed 4 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings.

    Kane County 5 West Michigan 2
    Jeramy Laster homered and Ryan Strieby went 2 for 4. Matt O’Brien allowed 11 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings.

    Oneonta 5 Mahoning Valley 1
    Chris Carlson homered. Kody Kaiser doubled and singled. Devin Thomas singled and walked. Guillermo Moscoso followed up his no no with a 3 hit, 1 run, 8 K, six inning effort.

    GCL Tigers 1 GCL Braves 3
    Christopher White singled and walkd. Luis Arlet added a triple. Jay Sborz allowed 2 hits and 2 runs with 3 K’s in 3 1/3 hours.

    Minors News

    The Tigers announced the signing of 3 players today including 3rd round pick Luke Putkonen. The others are Jonathan Kibler and one Richard Zumaya.

  • Surging Central

    A couple weeks back, on June 26th actually, I wrote that the claim of the AL Central being the toughest division in baseball is probably misguided. Since then the Central has been on a roll.

    Through the games on the 19th this is what the Central has done:

    	W	L
DET	12	6
CLE	12	8
MIN	11	10
CHI	13	9
KC	10	7

    That’s a composite 58 and 40 record, good enough for and .591 winning percentage. And by definition, a good chunk of those wins had to come at the expense of the rest of the AL (if they were just playing each other it would be .500). In fact here’s how the Central fared against the rest of the league by team:

    AL West	W	L
Oak	7	1
LAA	3	0
Sea	4	3
Tex	2	2
		
AL East	W	L
TB	10	1
Bos	6	1
Tor	3	4
Bal	3	5
NYY	1	3

    And just to clarify, the AL Central teams beat Tampa 10 out of 11 tries. The bulk of the damage was done against the Devil Rays, the Athletics and the Red Sox.

    So maybe the Central wasn’t looking strong earlier because they were beating up on each other? In any case, I think they can reclaim that whole toughest division title for the time being. They now sport the team with the best record in baseball, as well as the current wild card leader. And it’s not a top heavy division with the Twins over .500 and the White Sox and Royals merely being not good instead of awful.

    Finally, one last table to look at and that is runs scored and runs allowed per game since June 25th in the Central.

    	RS	RA
DET	4.9	4.2
CLE	5.4	5.3
MIN	5.0	3.9
CHI	5.3	5.2
KC	5.6	3.8

    The Tigers for all the pub their offense has deservedly received has been the worst offense over this stretch. Mind you that they still averaged a hair under 5 runs per game. And look who is tops on both counts, none other than the Kansas City Royals.

  • Game 94: Royals at Tigers

    PREGAME: The Tigers have come home, for a whole weekend no less. And sure the Tigers are taking on the last place team in the division, but this will be no easy task.

    Now I realize I run the risk of sounding Lou Holtz-ish here, but Kansas City has been playing some inspired ball. Over their last 17 games they are 10-7. They also have allowed a division best 3.76 runs per game over that stretch. This isn’t the same Kansas City team that we’ve seen the last couple years – or at least they’re not playing like it.

    Tonight they send out their ace Gil Meche. Meche has a 3.69 ERA for the year and the last time he faced the Tigers he allowed only 3 unearned runs in 8 innings. But he’s been in a bit of a funk in his last 2 starts where he didn’t make it past the 6th inning either time and surrendered 4 runs in one game and 6 in the other.

    Meche actually has fared a little better against righties this year with a 739OPS against righties and 725 versus lefties. Curtis Granderson has cited him as one of the toughest pitchers for him to face. And Jim Leyland will go with Timo Perez again in left field.

    Don’t be surprised to see the Tigers swinging early in the count. When the first pitch is put in play against Meche, hitters are posting a 1.272 OPS with 6 homers.

    The Tigers send out Kenny Rogers. Rogers struggled with a tight zone in his last start and ended up walking 4 and not striking out any before surrendering a grand slam.

    Game Time 7:05pm

    KCR @ DET, Friday, July 20, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

    POSTGAME: Bad pitching, bad fielding, bad hitting. That about covers it. There’s really not a whole lot else to say. Brandon Inge made a sweet barehanded play, Magglio Ordonez picked up another RBI ripping a ball between third and short, and Gary Sheffield homered. That’s about it for noteworthy performances.

    Retro uni’s tomorrow night and that has to bode well right?

  • links for 2007-07-20

  • Negro League Festivities

    This weekend the Tigers will pay tribute to the Negro Leagues and Detroit Stars. This is an annual tradition that will mark it’s 13th year. The Tigers will sport the Detroit Stars uniforms while the Royals will wear Kansas City Monarchs garb.

    This year there is even more going on. This morning at 11:00am a permanent plaque honoring Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes will be dedicated. The ceremony will feature Dave Dombrowski and remarks from Stearnes daughter. Stearnes widow will also be present along with more members of his family. This is open to the public, so if you’re in Detroit this morning stop by. The plaque will be at the corner of Brush and Adams.

    Also, Joe Posnanski the author of The Soul of Baseball“>The Soul of Baseball will be at the game and he’ll be signing copies of his book. Proceeds go to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. You can find him at Gate A from 5:30 to 6:30.

    The Soul of Baseball: Don’t Forget the Motor City …

  • Tigers Minor League Wrap – 7/19/07

    Thanks to Mike R who did the wrap…

    Toledo 3, Norfolk 5
    Offensively, Kevin Hooper, Erick Almonte, and Chris Shelton each had an RBI. Shelton’s numbers are taking a hit as he’s hitting .200/.303/.345 in the month of July. Jordan Tata took the loss after going 5 1/3rd innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks without striking out a hitter. Preston Larrison and Jeremy Johnson combined for the final 2.2 IP and struck out 3 while walking one and allowing one run.

    Erie 1, Bowie 3
    Seawolves hitters combined to strike out 13 times as they put up one run despite out hitting Bowie 7 to 6. Clete Thomas and Matt Joyce each had a triple. Andrew Kown pitched well enough to win throwing 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

    Lakeland 1, Tampa 0
    In what I’m assuming was a rain-shortened game, Lakeland squeezed out a 1-0 win after just 7 innings of play. Burke Badenhop went the full 7 innings allowing just 3 hits, and walking two while striking out 4. Will Rhymes and Jeff Kunkel each picked up two hits and the lone Flying Tigers run was unearned.

    Kane County 1, West Michigan 4
    Scott Sizemore, Brennan Boesch, and Ryan Strieby all had an RBI apiece. Lauren Gagnier allowed 4 hits and one run over 6 and a third innings. Brett Jensen picked up his 18th save in front of 4, 857.

    Jamestown 3, Oneonta 5
    Catcher Devin Thomas had 2 hits including a 3 run homer. 3rd baseman Cory Middleton and Outfielder Casper Wells each drove in a run to complete the Oneonta scoring. Mark Brackman picked up the victory allowing 2 hits and zero runs over 6 2/3rd innings.

    GCL Braves 3, GCL Tigers 4
    2nd baseman, Hayden Parrot (out of West Bloomfield, MI) hit a 2-run homer and had 3 RBI’s. The 19-year-old is now hitting .342/.369/.456 for the GCL Tigers. Gene Lamont’s son, Wade, was 0-3 with a strikeout and is now hitting .180 (11-61) with 18 strikeouts against just 3 walks. Not the pro-ball start he probably envisioned. Dario Carvajal got a no decision despite having a quality start (3 runs allowed, 6.2 IP). 5’11, 157 lbs. Santo Franco picked up his 6th save for the GCL Tigers by striking out 2 of the 3 hitters he faced in the final inning. In 9 2/3rd innings, he’s allowed only 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 13, walking 7, and holding opponents to a .133 average, although, he is 22 in short-season ball.

  • Tigers set attendance record

    Well how about these apples:

    DETROIT – Through the close of business on Wednesday, sales of Tigers tickets for the 2007 season surpassed the previous club record total, which was set in the 1984 World Championship season at Tiger Stadium.

    Tickets sold for the entire season at the close of business Wednesday stood at 2,712,393. The previous record, set in 1984, was 2,704,794. Detroit has sold out 21 of its 44 home dates at Comerica Park and will open the Kansas City series on Friday night with a string of nine consecutive sellouts. The Tigers had a total of 26 sellouts on their way to the American League Championship in 2006.

    “The support of Tigers fans has been tremendous and we look forward to an exciting race over the final months of the season,” said Tigers President, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager David Dombrowski. “I certainly hope fans will begin making their plans now to be at the ballpark and keep the energy level as high as it has been all year.”

  • links for 2007-07-19

  • Game 93: Tigers at Twins

    PREGAME: A Metrodome sweep would be sweet for the good guys, but the series has been a success already.

    Today will be Jeremy Bonderman matching up with Scott Baker. It’s actually a rematch of the Sunday night 1-0 game. The difference maker in that game was of course the Marcus Thames homer. Unfortunately Thames won’t be available today, or any time over the next 15 days as he hit the DL after blowing his hammy. Timo Perez is your newest Perez on the roster.

    Perez’s last productive season was 2002. He has been raking for Toledo, but we’ll see how that translates. Hopefully this is a short term stop gap.

    Game Time 1:10

    DET @ MIN, Thursday, July 19, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

    POSTGAME: I’m writing this blind. I was at work and didn’t see the game, but I did hear parts on the radio, and saw part of the replay, and of course read all the commentary here. So take all this with a grain of salt.

    • The Timo Perez era begins, and it was a rocky start. Twice he came up with runners on 1st and 2nd, and twice he failed. But his second turn was a decent at-bat with a line drive to second. He later singled and walked so it wasn’t a bad debut. Given his Major League numbers I’m still very skeptical, but if he can carry the stick he was swinging in Toledo for a couple weeks it might work out.
    • Pretty impressive to scratch a run across against Joe Nathan, even if it was in his 2nd inning of work.
    • The bullpen came up big again today. They’ve had narrow margins to work with as of late, and they’ve made it stand up. Including and especially Todd Jones who had to face the middle of the order with a 1 run lead each of the last 2 nights.
    • Bonderman seemed pretty good today, until he started to falter that 3rd time through the lineup. Given that the bottom half of the Twins lineup was hardly intimidating today, I’d say it was a pretty average outing for Bondo.
    • These 3 games were exhausting as a fan so I’m sure the players are feeling it as well. But it should be a happy flight home. Here’s hoping that there’s no let up once they are home and taking on the Royals. Gil Meche is a good pitcher, even if he is overpaid.

  • Tigers Minor League Wrap 7/18/07

    Toledo 1 Norfolk 9
    Kevin Hooper doubled twice and Timo Perez added 2 singles and a walk. Yorman Bazardo, a candidate to start in the DH next Tuesday, was roughed up for 11 hits in 5 innings resulting in 6 runs. Tim Byrdak made a rehab appearance and allowed 4 runs on 4 hits, including a homer while retiring only 1 hitter.

    Reading 6 Erie 3
    Mike Hollimon was a homer short of the cycle. Jeff Larish singled and walked twice. Jon Connolly went 5 2/3 innings and allowed 5 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits, 1 walk, and 3 K’s.

    Reading 5 Erie 4
    Jeff Larish, Andres Torres, and Matt Joyce had 2 hits a piece. Matt Righter allowed 4 runs on 8 hits, 1 walk, and 3 K’s in 4 innings.

    Lakeland 5 Palm Beach 4
    Mike Hernandez homered and drove in 2 runs. Lucas French allowed 5 baserunners, and 4 scored.

    Kane county 8 West Michigan 2
    Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch each had 4 hits, the only hits of the night for the Caps. Duane Below allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts in 5 innings.

    Jamestown 2 Oneonta 11
    Casper Wells led the way with 3 hits. Justin Henry and Angel Fiores each added 2 hits. Sendy Vasquez allowed 2 runs on 3 hits, 3 walks, and 5 K’s in 6 innings.

    GCL Indians 5 GCL Tigers 1
    Marc McBratney had 2 hits and a walk. Emmanuel Miguelez fanned 8 and walked 1 in 5 innings, but surrendered 3 runs on 5 hits.

    Minors News

    In a chat today, Jim Callis had a Tigers blurb:

    There’s talk that the Tigers and Crosby have mostly agreed to terms but that they’re waiting to announce the deal to avoid drawing the ire of MLB. Haven’t heard anything new on Porcello. My gut feel is that he winds up a Tar Heel.

    Make of it what you will.