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  • Tiger Minor League Wrap-April 7th

    Toledo 3, Charlotte 1
    Zach Miner struggled a little bit with his control, walking 3 in 4 innings. However, he also K’d 4 Charlotte Knights and allowed a single unearned run. Mark Woodyard picked up the save striking out 3. Ryan Ludwick homered knocking in two.

    Harrisburg 11, Erie 7
    Humberto Sanchez had an excellent start spoiled by a bad night for the bullpen. Sanchez allowed 4 hits and a walk over 5 innings while striking out 8. Eulogio De La Cruz allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk while only retiring two hitters. Offensively, Tony Giarratano was 3-5 with 2 doubles.

    Lakeland 2, Tampa 1
    Kevin Whelan struck out the side to save the game for Christian Martinez who pitched 5 innings of shut out ball. Jeff Larrish was 2 for 4 with a home run.

    West Michigan’s game against Fort Wayne was postponed.

  • More TV games

    According to Rob Parker the Tigers and TV 20 will be airing 15 games. The first game that 20 will pick up is the home opener which will be a simulcast. Otherwise, the schedule hasn’t yet been made available.

    There has been no word yet from either the station or the Tigers, and Parker states that calls weren’t returned. So take this information as you please.

    Assuming this actually pans out, it is great news for excited Tiger fans who are bummed they can’t see their hometown team. It’s too late to see if the Tigers can extend their streak to 4-0 tonight, or for Justin Verlander’s start on Saturday, but more games is always a good thing. Also, for those that don’t have cable – or at least don’t have FSD – they’ll be able to see games for the first time in 2 years.

    UPDATE: Okay, it’s official. The Tigers will have 127 games on television this year. A revised television schedule has yet to be decided. Rod Allen and Mario Impemba will be doing the broadcasts. What happened is that FSN Detroit acquired the rights to 15 additional games – starting in June – that will be aired on TV20 and a network of over-the-air stations.

  • Tiger Minor League Highlights

    The biggest news was the debut of last year’s first round pick, Cameron Maybin for West Michigan. Maybin was 2 for 4 with a triple. Defensively he picked up an assist on an 8-4 double play and made a diving catch. Unfortunately the Whitecaps lost 5-3.

    Mudhens lose 1-0
    The offense was shutdown, but there was good news and it’s name was Wilfredo. Ledezma only allowed 3 hits and 1 run while striking out nine in 4 2/3 innings.

    Erie loses 2-1
    The bats were quiet, but the Seawolves received a strong outing from Nate Bumstead: 5 2/3 IP, 0 BB, 6 K, 2H. Eulogio De La Cruz took the loss in the 10th inning.

    Lakeland loses 6-1
    And yet again, no offense. The Lakeland Tigers only managed 4 hits while committing 4 errors. Fortunately, the good news came from 5 innings with no earned runs from starter Dallas Trahern (5 K’s)

  • Pick your pleasant surprise

    Excuse my enthusiasm, but winning is fun. I certainly thought that 3-0 was possible, but the manner in which the Tigers are doing it has certainly left surprised. Some pleasant Tiger surprises after a thumping of the Rangers:

    • Tiger starters have yet to walk a batter. While Nate Robertson wasn’t dominating like Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman were, he did extend the starter’s walkless streak to 17 2/3 innings. In the meantime the starters have racked up 17 strikeouts.
    • Pudge Rodriguez already has two walks.
    • I’m not really surprised that Chris Shelton can hit, but 4 homers in 3 games to lead the managers is a little more than I expected.
    • The Tigers homers are prime. The first game they hit 3 home runs. The second game they hit 5 home runs. Against Texas in the third game they hit 7 home runs. Now the next prime number is 11. Do you think they have a shot? In case you were wondering last year it took them 17 games before they hit their 15th homer. And the 15 homers in the first 3 games is a major league record.
    • Every decision that Jim Leyland has made has worked out. Curtis Granderson coming off a 3 for 6 day doesn’t get the start in favor of Marcus Thames – who homers. Brandon Inge takes Granderson’s leadoff spot – and homers. Later in the game Granderson comes in as a defensive replacement, and makes a diving catch. It’s absolutely uncanny.

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  • It’s only 2-0 – Recapping the Royals and Tigers series

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that the Tigers are 2-0. Both games were very well played both offensively and defensively, and I really couldn’t ask for anything more. At the same time, and I don’t mean to be a jerk about this, but it was the Royals. Oh yeah, and it’s only two games. I’m happy the Tigers are undefeated and atop the AL Central all by themselves – but it’s only two games. (I keep repeating this more my benefit than for yours).

    That said, there was a lot to like about this series. Jeremy Bonderman and Kenny Rogers turned in the top two starting pitching performances of the season with game scores of 72 and 67 respectively. The pitching staff threw 71% of their pitches for strikes, striking out 20 and only allowing one walk.

    Offensively, it is hard to find much to complain about when you hit 8 homers in two games. True, the Tigers only walked once today, but I can let that slide given the 18 hits. Curtis Granderson struggled in the first game, but bounced back with a 3-6 effort in the second game. Pudge Rodriguez today seemed like he really should be the #3 hitter with a 5 for 5 day. Chris Shelton continues to do what Chris Shelton does. Really, the only player to not get in on the action was Magglio Ordonez who is still looking for his first hit. But even Ordonez managed to drive in a run.

    Now it’s only 2 games, but the series ended with the best possible outcome.

  • Tiger Links – and quick

    A lot of interesting stuff the last couple days, but I’m short on time so here’s a Joel Zumaya -fastball-esque link round-up:

    Tiger Stuff

    Other baseball stuff you might care about

    • striketwo.net: Summarizing the latest news and discussions from 678 MLB blogs: This is a newish site that I’ve become a big fan of. It tracks discussions across the blogosphere. You can view the hottest topics, or keep up to date with what others are saying about your favorite players or teams.
    • Ballbug : This is another tool that tracks discussions on the hottest topics in baseball. Ballbug just launched on Monday. If you’re familiar with memeorandum, this is the same thing but for baseball.
    • ATM Reports: Lee Sinins who publishes the very popular Around the Majors newsletter is doing it via a blog now.

    detroit tigers, baseball, ballbug, striketwo

  • Tracking WPA on Opening Day

    Yesterday you got my emotional and giddy breakdown of Opening Day. Today I’ll take a look at the game, but from a much more analytical perspective.

    For those that read the Hardball Times on a regular basis last season, you may recall Dave Studemund writing about Win Probability Added. That preceding link has a very nice explanation that if you are intrigued I highly recommend reading. If you want the cliff-note version I’ll give it a shot here.
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  • Winning makes me smile

    Aside from getting a win on Opening Day, there were quite a few things from today’s game that made me happy.

    Not to diminish Kenny Rogers outing, or Chris Shelton doing what Chris Shelton does, but I think the highlight probably had to be seeing Joel Zumaya in action. I’ve heard all the praise, and I saw him at the Future’s game (from the next to last row of the upper deck). I was ecstatic to see that he lived up to the hype – at least in this outing.

    His fastball was consistently 97-99, and his curve ball seemed to have serious break. In fact, even though he ended up walking Mike Sweeney, it wasn’t before he put him on his seat with an inside curveball. (Jeff Weaver may have been a punk, and Sweeney may otherwise be a decent guy, but I’ve always hated him since the helmet throwing incident of 2002. As such I took glee in the confused look on his face after the pitch) As Eddie said in the comments,

    Multi-inning dominant relievers are an assett. If they are 21 and throw 99 mph while keeping the ball down, all the better. I am looking forward to the Joel Zumaya era.

    As exciting as it was seeing him come out of the pen, I couldn’t help but have visions of him in the rotation.

    In any case, it was nice to see him get in right away and to succeed in a game that was still very much in doubt.
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  • Opening Day Thread

    I’m not going to be doing game thread’s on a regular basis this season. However, opening day is a special occasion. Feel free to post any thoughts about the game in the comments.

    I’m heading home from work early to enjoy the game with my family. I planned on breaking out a bunch of junk food as a special treat. Unfortunately the stomach flu has wreaked havoc on the kids this weekend. Instead of hot dogs and pretzels they’ll be enjoying traditional ballpark foods like Saltines and Jello.

    Do you have any special plans for today, or do you save it all up for the home opener?
    detroit tigers, opening day

  • Tigers Prediction Thread

    Well I guess it’s finally time that I give up my prediction for the Tigers season. If you’ve been reading the last couple years, you may remember that I did extensive analysis, player-by-player to predict runs scored and runs allowed to arrive at a final win prediction. That was a lot of work so this year I’m winging it.
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  • Opening Day Eve Link-up

    Okay, so it isn’t opening day eve if you’re a White Sox or Indians fan. But we’ll look past that little fact for now…

    The Bird

    Detroit Tiger Tales is hopping on the diary theme. This one takes a look at Mark “the Bird” Fidrych’s magical 1976 season. Here’s the first paragraph of the first entry…

    April 1, 1976

    Last night

  • Jordan Tata Takes Jones spot

    Jordan Tata - Photo Credit: Roger DewittJordan Tata who was set to open the season with Erie will be the beneficiary of Todd Jones’s hamstring injury according to Danny Knobler. Tata had an excellent season for Lakeland last year (2.79 ERA, 3.27 K/BB ratio) as well as a solid spring.

    The move surprises me. Tata hasn’t pitched above A ball, and there are other pitchers (namely Mark Woodyard) who have a little more experience and would have been a decent fit. That said, Tata probably won’t see that much action over what will hopefully only be a 2 week stint. Tata is also 25, so while he lacks experience at the higher levels of the minors, he isn’t exactly a kid, and this doesn’t feel like a “rush job” that could be detrimental to his development.

    As for other roster implications like option years and service time, these will probably both be a non-factor. This is already an option year for Tata, so calling him up won’t make a difference in terms of options. As for service time, if this is truly only a stint that will last a couple weeks, it is doubtful that it would advance his arbitration clock significantly.