Not Every Game Can Be a Gem

The fact that MLB.tv currently thinks I reside somewhere in western Illinois means that I can watch Mario & Rod over the computer without being blacked out (for the time being). Since I have a computer in my room, I set it up with the intention of falling asleep at some point during the game. I ended up switching to Gameday Audio just so that I could be sure the (somewhat unreliable) wireless Internet connection hadn’t “blinked.” I’ve fallen asleep with games on the computer before, but never Tigers games so it was a bit harder than I thought it would be. Still, I must’ve drifted off sometime during the fourth inning, cuz I remember the Tigers going down in order during the top half, but I don’t recall anything about the bottom half. At any rate, with the way things were going and the sheer number of baserunners that both teams had, I was a bit surprised to wake up this morning and see that the score only ended up being 4-3. But given some of the eggs the Tigers have laid at Angel Stadium in recent years, it’s not a bad score. Now, I didn’t exactly “live through it,” so to speak, which means the only things I have to draw on are the beginning of the game, Gameday, box scores, some news articles, and the radio postgame show (which I listened to this morning), so bear with me, and if I’m totally off on something, let me know. As far as how Galarraga did…well, I guess you can’t have your “A” game every time out, but I imagine it must be absolutely terrifying to take the mound and realize that none of your pitches are working. Still, give him credit for battling for five innings (though a lot of the outs were hit hard) when it looked like he’d get knocked out in the second or third. Given the fact that he struck out the side in the fifth, it looks as though he finally got something to work, but by then he had thrown too many pitches to continue. I’m not gonna gripe about or question the use of Brandon Lyon in this game, because as someone who was signed as a possible closer (and someone who is a strike-thrower and has a track record of being a good setup man), he should be able to handle those sorts of situations, and if he’s faltering, then either there’s a mechanical problem or an injury of some sort.

It was nice to see the home run power come back. Curtis Granderson now officially owns Jered Weaver (4 home runs in 13 at-bats…not too shabby). However, it looks as though once I fell asleep, Weaver made an adjustment, hung around for seven innings, and the Tigers weren’t able to get into the part of the Angels’ bullpen that had been struggling. However, they just about manufactured their way to at least a tie, but the ninth inning demonstrates that there’s sometimes a price to pay for being aggressive on the bases, as exemplified by Josh Anderson getting picked off (them’s the breaks when you’re dealing with a left-handed closer). I’ve heard from blogs and from the radio that the home plate umpire made several crappy calls (apparently, Mike Scoscia thought so too when he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes), and the called third strike on Santiago was one of them, but as I didn’t see it, I can’t comment on it.

By the way, with the injury to Marcus Thames, Ryan Raburn has been called up from Toledo. Also, last night Joel Zumaya made a rehab appearance with the Mud Hens and retired all three batters he faced, which is impressive when you consider that every other Toledo pitcher (including Fu Te Ni and Scott Williamson) was absolutely bombed by the Indianapolis hitters (what started as a blowout ended up with Indianapolis edging out Toledo in a 13-10 slugfest as the Mud Hens made things more interesting late in the game with a grand slam from Mike Hessman and a three-run homer from Dusty Ryan, among others).

We’re set for game 2 tonight, and given what we’ve seen from Justin Verlander stuff-wise, he’s bound to get a win one of these nights. I believe the Angels and Blue Jays are the only two AL teams that he’s never defeated (which is surprising when you consider his struggles against the Indians and White Sox). He’ll be up against lefty Joe Saunders, who had a nice year last year and seems to be off to a good start this year. It’s a shame Marcus Thames ended up on the DL, because I still remember a game last year in which he hit two home runs off of Joe Saunders. Your Mood Music for tonight: I kind of wanted to save this for ‘80s Night, and we’re definitely not in dire straights right now despite the loss, but Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For a Hero” came up on my iPod this morning, and considering it’s Verlander pitching tonight, well, we’re all hoping he can ride to the rescue (so to speak) and right the ship before there is any cause for alarm. By the way, I’d never seen the music video for this song before looking it up on YouTube, and I must say it is bizarre, not to mention cheesy. When I hear this song, for some reason I think of motorcycles and some sort of post-apocalyptic city setting, not cowboys, a fluorescent Indiana Jones, and the Grand Canyon.

Win One For the Bird

Photo: AP

What better way to honor the memory of Mark Fidrych than to beat the last team that he beat? Could it be that the Tigers have finally found someone who CAN beat the White Sox? Yeah, it’s a really small sample size (after all, even Verlander has two wins against them), but given how the White Sox seem to bomb the rest of the Tigers’ starting pitching, Armando Galarraga looked downright brilliant in comparison. They did have a couple threats against him, but he was always able to get out of it (which is consistent with what he did last year). He also got some defensive help from Inge, Laird, Polanco, and Cabrera. This game also featured strong outings from the ‘pen by Seay and Rodney. Ryan Perry was okay, but he definitely needed to throw more strikes.

It’s odd that what started out to be one of those frustrating pitching duels turned into such a blowout. During the first four innings, Jose Contreras looked like the pitcher I heard he was years back, but the Tigers finally broke through in the fifth (largely thanks to Contreras suddenly having control problems). Miguel Cabrera’s already up to four home runs, but then again, so are several other people in the league (jeez, I thought April was when pitching usually dominant, but so many teams’ offenses are hot right now that if these numbers project through the season, you could hit fifty home runs and STILL not win the home run title). Magglio, oddly enough, still doesn’t have an extra-base hit, but he has been drawing quite a few walks in recent games, so hopefully that’s a good sign. Granderson probably should’ve had three hits, but two of the balls that he hit that were absolutely smoked were hit right at Paul Konerko. One thing that kinda got lost once the high run total was put up was the fact that speed actually played a key role in the game. With the game still scoreless in the fifth, Granderson beat out what would’ve been an inning-ending double play for most, and Polanco hit the two-run double right after that. Josh Anderson had the stolen base in that inning, and he also had a bunt single that set up some add-on runs.

Well, hopefully the off-day left the Tigers well-rested and refreshed, cuz now it’s time to embark on a difficult three-city, west coast swing (+ KC). There will be challenges aplenty starting tonight in Seattle. This is definitely NOT going to be an easy series. For one thing, the Mariners have been playing very well to start the season (and that started BEFORE Ichiro came off the DL). For another thing, the Tigers will be up against their three best pitchers. First up, a whole lotta heat. The key for Justin Verlander (who either had major plastic surgery and recovered very quickly, or the cameraman during the last game simply got him mixed up with Rick Porcello) is to keep the freakin’ pitch count low. I’m willing to see him take baby steps. Last time out, he went five innings. How ‘bout six tonight? Felix Hernandez’s season has started out similar to Verlander’s, with one good start and one bad start (though his bad start was not as bad as Verlander’s, and he lasted longer in both games). He’s beaten the Tigers the last three times he has faced them, dating back to July of 2007. I don’t know what the ERA is in that span, but it may be deceptively high cuz there was one game in which he gave up a bunch of runs but came out on top in a slugfest. Hopefully Adam Everett is feeling better, and hopefully this flu does not spread to anyone else. And fortunately, I do NOT work tomorrow so I can stay up for the game without any reservations. I’ve got the caffeine all stocked up and ready to go, so why don’t you all join me for some Tigers late-night? Your Mood Music for tonight: Well, the boys are on the west coast, and strange things happen there, so what better choice than the opening to the Twilight Zone? Hopefully, it won’t be Twilight Zone Hell.

Ring Around the Roster

I don’t know if the Sympathy Pains/Human Voodoo Doll phenomenon has returned or not, but man, have I been sore the past few days, especially on the right side of my back.

I meant to post yesterday, but I didn’t, and this morning’s news would seem to indicate that I am now being punished for my procrastination, cuz really, I do NOT want to have to analyze this. In fact, just the thought of having to analyze it is rather overwhelming. However, I will let you know one thing upfront: It takes a LOT for me to get ramped up emotionally to the point where I let it show on the blog. And this Sheffield situation…well, it ain’t enough to do that. So if I sound nonchalant, well, there you go. I suppose I should start with yesterday’s acquisition of Josh Anderson. It seemed a little odd that Dave Dombrowski’s solution for the problem of too many outfielders was to get another outfielder, but I suppose that with Matt Joyce having been traded away, it brings the Tigers back to the number that they started the offseason with. By evening, the discussion centered around Thames/Larish, and judging by Jason Beck’s tone on his blog post last night, he seemed to be expecting Thames to be released today. Meanwhile, I know the whole thing about the Tigers being too right-handed, but I still prefer Thames over Larish at this point (despite the massive Jeff Larish lovefest that seems to be going on down in Florida). It was quite a dilemma. However, I had forgotten one of the cardinal rules of being a GM: There’s always a third option. From my standpoint, well, I don’t condemn the move, nor do I celebrate it. It’s unfortunate that the Tigers only really got about 3 good months out of Sheffield, largely due to circumstances out of their control. I had the greed factor playing in there too. No one has hit their 500th home run as a Tiger, and now it looks as though we’re stuck hoping that Miguel Cabrera stays around in Detroit long enough to get there. The stolen bases were a nice contribution, too, though I suppose Josh Anderson’ll help that number stay right around where it was. There’s one more thing that bothers me. If the Tigers had gotten to the point where they were obviously willing to eat the entire $14 million contract, you’d think they’d be able to work out a trade with somebody. I know the Rangers were interested earlier in the offseason, but at the time, the Tigers wanted them to take on his salary, and that’s why no trade happened (I also know that the Rangers are not interested anymore, but that’s beside the point). And right now, Sheffield’s being pretty diplomatic about it, but I know there’ll come a time when he’ll start badmouthing the Tigers just as he did the Yankees. I don’t hold that against him, cuz that just seems to be what he does. But at the same time, I know that when it DOES happen, it’s not gonna be much fun either. At any rate, the Tigers are planning on keeping the DH spot open, which is actually what I thought they should do in 2010 once Sheffield became a free agent (though Marcus Thames will probably get the majority of at-bats in that spot, unless Guillen really doesn’t take to the outfield).

And now, for injuries. Joel Zumaya going on the DL shouldn’t come as a surprise at all, and really, neither should Jeremy Bonderman. But I suppose I need to talk about Dontrelle Willis. There’s a lot of conspiracy theories spinning (which you might expect) about how blood tests don’t diagnose anxiety disorders. And they don’t. But a blood test could detect a hormonal or chemical imbalance that may lead to a diagnosis of anxiety disorder upon further psychological testing (in the case of anxiety disorder, the main chemicals involved are usually norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine). I would think that faking something like that would get the Tigers in trouble with either the players’ union or the Commissioner’s office. Besides, if they were gonna make something up, they probably wouldn’t get that creative. They’d probably say he had a dead arm or something. As a pharmacy student, my classes touched on diagnostics a little bit, but our main focus was on treatment. Without digging up my notes, I can tell you that anxiety disorder is usually treated with benzodiazepines like Xanax or Valium, although occasionally they will use an SSRI like Prozac (which is mainly used as an antidepressant). I do not know that much about individual dosing regimens, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to elaborate much more than that, since the Tigers aren’t giving out a whole lot of information due to HIPAA concerns.

I will soon be hard at work on the “official” season preview, but I’m hoping that the fifth starter situation gets resolved before I have to post it. I was really hoping that Nate Robertson could continue the good work of his previous outings, but he had trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark today. I don’t know how that’s going to impact everything, but I was kinda hoping he’d be able to win the fifth starter role. I’m not particularly enamored of him, but A) He’s a much-needed lefty, and B) At this point, the best case scenario regarding Rick Porcello would be that of insurance policy. Assuming Zach Miner has taken over Bonderman’s spot for now, if Nate Robertson begins the season in the rotation and either he or someone else falters or gets injured, Porcello will be right there in Double A waiting to come in. If it’s Porcello in the fifth spot and someone falters or gets injured, then what? There are some guys in the minor leagues who could probably be serviceable, but you’ve already used your ace in the hole, so to speak. It’s kind of like how in the National League, you save your best pinch-hitter for just the right time. Of course, in a rare instance of hypocrisy, I’ll admit that if Porcello were left-handed, I’d be clamoring for him to be in the rotation now, all other things being equal.

And now I think I shall go, before any more comes along that I have to deal with. Also, with it being April Fool’s Day tomorrow, I think I’ll avoid the blogs, cuz someone’s bound to write some stupid “joke” post that’s not funny.