Lakeland Day 2: Nationals vs. Astros (AKA Road Trip to Viera)

I won't lie; the drive from Lakeland to Viera is long and actually pretty boring, except when you're going through the part of I-4 where all the Disney World exits are. At that point it becomes downright chaotic. But at any rate, this was the first baseball game I've ever been to that wasn't Tigers or Mud Hens. Of course, it was entirely because I wanted to see Pudge, which I got to do. I didn't get his autograph, but for once, my shyness had nothing to do with it. It was actually due to a combination of a high school glee club that was singing the national anthem and me being in the wrong place. Can't do anything about that (and I JUST missed getting Steven Strasberg's autograph; the coaches made him leave before he got to me). However, my seat was at just about the perfect vantage point for me to watch him (and I was close enough to the dugout that I could hear him laughing at one point; if you've ever heard Pudge laugh, you'll know it's rather distinctive). There are only three downsides: 1) He didn't get a hit, 2) He was only in the game for six innings (which I expected, being spring training and all), and 3) My camera kept auto-focusing on the screen behind home plate instead of the players, so I was constantly battling blurriness. Still, I managed to get a TON of fairly decent pictures of him (and by "ton," I mean bordering on stalker-quantity). I've put the best ones on Facebook, along with the pictures of the other players. And now for some additional notes:

• There was at least one other Tigers fan there, as I saw a guy wearing an Austin Jackson t-shirt. There were also a few Cubs and Reds fans there. 
• This game took FOREVER. I mean, the final score was 14-9 in favor of the home team, and the Nationals scored nine runs in the 8th inning (all with two out), but it was dragging even before then thanks to a lot of hits, walks, deep counts, and long at-bats. 
• At one point, Pudge jogged out to talk to whichever Nationals pitcher was on the mound (he made a LOT of those mound visits in this game), as he was walking back to the plate, the stadium people played an airplane sound effect. That didn't really make sense (I know it's Space Coast Stadium, but it still doesn't make sense).
•  Nationals fans seem rather unsatisfied with Jayson Werth. They cheered for him enthusiastically when his name was announced in the lineup, but after that, whenever he batted, there was a lot of complaining and booing going on. The fact that he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts didn't help matters. I checked the boxscore, and he IS hitting only .077 so far, but it's only spring training. I mean, closer to home, the Tigers middle of the order is hardly setting the world on fire right now, but I'm not worried about them, and most of the fans in Lakeland don't seem to be worried either. 
• Speaking of Jayson Werth, at one point he fouled a pitch straight off the umpire's chest and the umpire didn't even flinch. 
• Unlike in Lakeland, the Space Coast Stadium grounds crew does NOT dance. 
• I also got to see former Mud Hen (with a very brief Tiger cameo mixed in) Jeff Frazier, whom I've met before. He had a nice day with a single and a walk. At one point, though, he nearly took out his third base coach on two consecutive foul balls. 
• Nationals pitcher Garrett Mock began the fifth inning by giving up a hit-by-pitch, a walk, and a three-run homer before getting pulled. As Jim Riggleman was heading to the mound to make the pitching change, an old lady that was sitting near me shouted, "Leave him in! He needs the practice."
• I was sitting about three rows behind the Nationals dugout. During the middle of the game, one of the vendors stopped at the stairway closest to me and gave the familiar "Ice cold beer" shout that you hear at every baseball game. A guy from over near the Astros dugout shouted something, and somehow everyone on the first base side could hear him. The vendor yelled out, "Is somebody dying out there?" to which the guy replied "I'm dying over here!" Apparently there was only one beer vendor in the entire stadium? At any rate, the vendor shouted, "I'll be with you soon, sir." The guy (politely) yelled back "Take your time." The vendor's response? "I won't take as long as this game is." That got laughs and applause from just about the entire stadium. I think even a couple of the players (including Pudge) smiled at that.
• When we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Comerica Park, we sing "root, root, root for the Tigers." At Fifth Third Field, we "root, root, root for the Mud Hens." I always wondered how it got sung if the home team was more than two syllables. Well, as far as Washington is concerned, they just try to condense "Nationals" into that line as best they can.
• I really wanted to see Pudge throw someone out, but the only time a runner took off (and it wasn't a hit-and-run) was when there were runners at the corners and he held onto the ball to make sure the runner at third didn't take off for home. This was the correct move, because the runner sure did look like he was going to try and score. 
• And yes, I did get to see the phenom Bryce Harper. He hit two doubles during the nine-run eighth.
• Finally, I'd just like to point out that I am loving the above picture. That is quite possibly the best picture that I have gotten of any player ever. Anyways, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow it's back to Joker Marchant Stadium to see the Tigers play the Marlins.

Inge to the Rescue Again

Photo: AP

Maybe the Tigers left Weekend Mojo back in Detroit by accident, and Fu Te Ni kindly brought it with him when he made the trip to Houston (I’d make a joke about losing it like you lose your luggage at the airport, but the Tigers have their own plane so that joke wouldn’t really work). At any rate, it took until the ninth inning, but Brandon Inge came up with the big hit. And the Tigers had been down to their final strike when the strikeout-prone Marcus Thames managed to work a walk, and Inge made Valverde pay for that walk, hobbled as he was (Hopefully, it’s nothing that’ll keep him out of the lineup, cuz right now he’s too valuable both with the glove and with the bat). At any rate, I really didn’t see this game (other than watching a couple of innings on the MLB.tv archives). It was over with before I got home from work. I lucked out and DID have an Internet connection, but it was on a computer that didn’t have any sort of Flash player, so I ended up on the auto-refreshing boxscore/play-by-play on Yahoo Sports (I was also able to listen to an inning and a half on the radio while I was at lunch). In some ways, though, I’m kind of glad I did not get to watch this game, because happy as I am about the Tigers’ win, it would’ve killed me to see Pudge be the last out (I did hear that it was a hard groundball, though, so at least he gave Brandon Inge somewhat of a challenge). And hey, at least with this series over, I can be rid of the mixed feelings I was battling all weekend (Well, Friday and yesterday, at least; I don’t really care about Humberto Quintero). By the way, I said I had more thoughts related to my slideshow, but they’re kinda long, so I’m going to save those for Friday’s post, since Thursday is an off-day.

Yesterday also featured a bunch of roster moves. First up, Nate Robertson was placed on the DL and Fu Te Ni was called up to replace him. Apparently, Nate’s got a mass or cyst in his elbow that is pressing up against his ulnar nerve, causing numbness and tingling in his pitching hand. So why did he wait so long? You’d think that after, oh, his second or third ineffective outing he’d go to the trainers and say that his fingers were numb and tingling. Apparently he learned nothing over the last two years from such struggles as those of Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman (twice), Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney, and Todd Jones: Don’t pitch hurt. You’re not effective if you pitch hurt. Also, they decided to make a change in the rotation and swap out Alfredo Figaro and Luke French. French will start on Friday in Minnesota, but he will apparently be available out of the bullpen for the next day or two.

Well, Interleague play in 2009 has come to a close for the Tigers, at least (I know there are still one or two makeup games to be played elsewhere), and though the boys didn’t fare as well as they have in years past, I still say that it beats having to play the Red Sox and Yankees more. Anyways, it’s back to the realm of the DH and onto what has been the Tigers’ favorite division so far this year: the AL West. The Oakland Athletics are last in their division (by a good margin), and they got swept by the Tigers back in May. However, the Tigers have generally not played well in Oakland over the past couple years. At any rate, it’s a late-night affair, and Rick Porcello gets the ball tonight. He ended up with a no-decision his last time out. He hasn’t lost since that game against the Red Sox, but he maybe hasn’t been quite as sharp as he was in May. He’s been throwing more pitches in fewer innings, but so far, he’s been able to limit the damage. The A’s HAVE seen him before, so there is the question of whether or not adjustments will be made, either by Porcello or by the Oakland hitters. He’ll be opposed by Brett Anderson, whom the Tigers beat back in that series in May. He probably pitched better than the numbers would indicate, though, because the A’s infield made four errors behind him (That was that wacky game where the Tigers hit two grand slams and Edwin Jackson pitched three more innings after a rain delay that lasted over an hour). Hope you’ve got the caffeine ready. Your Mood Music for tonight: Oh, how ‘bout some good old-fashioned headbanging? Let’s go back to the early ‘90s and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Totally Different Issues This Time

It seems that whenever the Tigers lose a game in which they leave a lot of men on base, it almost inevitably gets followed by a game in which they get dominated and end up with very few guys to strand. If I were superstitious, I’d say it was karma biting them in the ass. All in all, it was a strange night for Alfredo Figaro, and an even worse night for the offense. Figaro had a disastrous third inning in which he gave up a bunch of hits and a bunch of runs (Rod Allen mentioned that all the hits came on offspeed pitches, so make of that what you will). The other five innings he was in there, well…he wasn’t great, but he was okay, I guess. Leyland said that Figaro got aggressive “only after the horse was out of the barn.” Freddy Dolsi finished things up and yes, I know he didn’t give up a run, but he still scares the hell out of me. Besides, between him and Figaro, it looked like the Tigers had a couple of 12-year-olds pitching for them. At any rate, the two of them combined to only give up three walks, which is certainly more acceptable than 7. In terms of the offense, I may as well not give them their own paragraph, because there’s not a lot to talk about. Santiago homered, and Cabrera and Thames each had a single. That was it. I listened to the radio post-game show and watched the post-game show on television as well (hey, I am nothing if not thorough). Jim Price seemed to think that the hitters helped out Paulino immensely, but Jim Leyland’s attitude would seem to suggest that he thought the Tigers were genuinely overmatched. I’m inclined to believe the manager over the radio color analyst, but I will say this: Brandon Inge was taking some really funky swings all night. He also scraped up his arm, likely on that Michael Bourn rundown that took way too long to complete (cue the Benny Hill music).

Well, at last we’ve come to the end of Interleague play, which this year was not as bountiful a harvest for the Tigers. That’s kind of disappointing to me, because I enjoy Interleague play and this year I can’t really use my #1 argument for it (although I could adapt it by saying that if the Tigers are gonna suck against the AL East, which they’ve done so far, .500 against the National League ain’t so bad in comparison). At any rate, Edwin Jackson will be charged with nipping this little mini-skid in the bud. The Cubs made him work to get his outs last time, but he navigated his way out of trouble with minimal damage and it was only Micah Hoffpauir’s home run off Zumaya which denied him the victory. He’ll be up against Russ Ortiz, who I guess is kind of a middle-of-the-road-type pitcher. His earned run average is pretty good, but he’s not overpowering. However, those “crafty” type pitchers have been known to give the Tigers fits in the past. I’ll be at work from 10 to 5, so it’s quite possible (in fact, likely) that I will miss the vast bulk of this game. Your Mood Music for today: I started this slideshow last year shortly after Pudge was traded to the Yankees, and I never finished it. Given that the Tigers were facing him once again, I decided to go ahead and complete it. I would much rather have made a music video than a slideshow, but the video capture software I have leaves the image really grainy (either that, or I have a crappy VCR hooked up to the computer), and I wouldn’t be able to share it for very long, because YouTube would have it taken down within an hour. At any rate, it is not my best work by any means (I am planning another, more complicated slideshow that I will hopefully have done in time for the Minnesota series, but if I don’t get it done, it’ll have to wait until the next time the Tigers go to Minneapolis), and it is perhaps a bit more emotionally charged than it would be if I had started it today instead of a year ago. No, I am not a teenage girl who has to make slideshows of all her favorite people. I’m a filmmaker at heart, so this is my way of creative expression. At any rate, YouTube kinda screwed up the video when it got uploaded, and the transitions are slower than they should be. By the way, I do NOT have a repository of Pudge Rodriguez photos. I have a massive repository of Tigers photos in general from 2007 and 2008 (and a tiny bit of 2006), of which I ended up using nearly every picture of Pudge that I had. I do have an addendum that I came up with while making this slideshow, but as this post is already too long, I’ll save it for the next blog. At any rate, if you’re not a fan of Pudge, you don’t have to watch it. The song is Ozzy Osbourne’s “See You on the Other Side.”

Wild Zumaya + Hello, Old Friend

Photo: AP

I’ll tell you right up from that I was antsy and restless during this whole game. I thought I knew the reason for that (and that reason was behind the plate for half the game), but maybe I could sense the same thing that Leyland felt. Things started out really good, but then the offense kinda went quiet, at least when there were men on base. Now, is it that the old bugaboo about no clutch hitting back, or is it simply a matter of Wandy Rodriguez (who HAS pitched well this year) making a pitch when he needed to? I suppose we’ll find out soon enough. A lot of heat is gonna fall on Magglio for stranding seven runners, but it didn’t really seem to matter who was at the plate. Cabrera was the only guy in the lineup that did not strand anyone (He also hit a very long home run that I missed). Meanwhile, Justin Verlander had to work very, very hard for most of his outs, so much so that he gave up three runs and threw 118 pitches in only five and a third innings (Could it have been the climate? I know the roof was closed, but from all appearances, it was really humid inside the ballpark. They interviewed Pudge after the game and he was absolutely soaked in sweat, which was kind of nasty, actually). The bullpen was able to hold things down until Zumaya, who was clocked at 105 (my guess is that Houston has a hot gun), but couldn’t find the strike zone, leading to one of the strangest comments ever from Rod Allen: “This is where the Tigers miss Carlos Guillen.” I know he meant that a veteran like Guillen would try to calm Zumaya down, but Zoom’s still gotta throw strikes (and it’s also besides the point, since if Guillen were healthy, he’d be in left field and therefore unable to talk to Zumaya). However, this follows a stretch in which Zumaya hasn’t been that wild. He threw plenty of strikes on the homestand. The only issue he had was the two-run homer by Micah Hoffpauir, but that was due to an error in judgement, not because he was walking people. At any rate, after walking in the tying run, Zumaya had to be pulled and Freddy Dolsi was brought in. I was never particularly crazy about Freddy Dolsi last year, even when he started off the season pitching well, but it’s too early to tell if he’s made any adjustments yet, as he only faced two batters. Still, I know sometimes there’s not much you can do to prevent sacrifice flies, especially when you’re a flyball pitcher, but he could have at least gotten a lazy fly ball off the bat of Tejada, not a bullet that chased Don Kelly to the warning track, for crying out loud.

This game, regardless of the outcome, has been the source of some consternation for me for some time now because I didn’t know how I would react to seeing Pudge against his former team. As it turns out, I paid more attention to the game than I thought I would. And mostly it just felt nice seeing him again, even if he was wearing the “wrong” uniform. By the way, for all you Pudge fans still hanging around the Tigers blogosphere, Jason Beck has a nice blog post in which Pudge discusses Leyland, his future, and what he thinks of the Tigers now. I included one of the photos from it, even though I normally do not post photos following Tiger losses (Pudge is worth an exception). The only part of the game I could not bring myself to watch was any of his at-bats (I also couldn’t bring myself to watch any of Verlander’s at-bats, but that’s because he’s such a bad hitter that it’s downright painful, although I will give him kudos for laying down two sacrifice bunts). I’m sorry I keep being such a wuss about this. I did learn one thing, though: I can’t root against him. I just can’t. The Tigers and Astros could be tied in extra innings tonight and the Astros could have the bases loaded with Pudge at the plate and I STILL wouldn’t be able to root against him (The only similar situations I’ve found myself in were instances last year where Sean Casey and Craig Monroe batted against the Tigers. In those situations, I WAS able to root against them, but I felt bad about it. Pudge is different, though…and I imagine Verlander would fall into the same category as Pudge should it ever come to that someday, though I hope it never does). He struck out his first two times against Verlander, then doubled in his third trip. I guess this sums up my feelings about that: I’m happy that he got a double, but I’m not happy that he scored a run. I think that’s fair enough.

Tonight, it’s Game 2 of this series (and the Tigers have already been granted a bit of a reprieve, because the Cardinals beat the Twins earlier today), featuring Alfredo Figaro against Felipe Paulino. Figaro got the win in his Major League debut and only gave up two runs while striking out seven in five innings, but he had to pitch around a LOT of baserunners. Meanwhile, Paulino is coming off the DL, but he’s got a losing record and his ERA is pretty high. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from this game, either from a pitching or offensive standpoint by the Tigers. I do know that tonight’s lineup is very similar to last night’s lineup, except that Ramon Santiago is at shortstop and Don Kelly is in right field (According to Jason Beck, Magglio is not starting tonight “because of the pitching matchup,” whatever that means). I know I promised that I would have my slideshow for the Mood Music tonight, but as it turns out, Pudge is not in the lineup for Houston, so I’m going to wait until tomorrow (I assume he WILL start tomorrow’s game).