There are pitching duels, and then there are games where you feel like absolutely no scoring will ever happen. And those games end up feeling kind of flat. It did feature a good start by Phil Coke. He was shaky early, but that ability to make adjustments that I observed in spring training turned out to be true in the regular season as well. It was too late to salvage this start, but it was a good step forward nonetheless. Robbie Weinhardt looked good as well, even if he did give up a run.
Meanwhile, the offense was completely shut down by Bruce Chen. I can't give much insight myself because I was visiting relatives and I couldn't pay a lot of attention to the middle part of the game, so I have to go with the analysis from the guys on TV and radio. Dan Dickerson and Jim Price in particular mentioned that on previous occasions when Chen shut the Tigers down, they got the feeling that the Tigers were getting themselves out. This time they felt that Chen was genuinely pitching that well and that the Tigers had no chance. The best opportunity they had was in the sixth inning, when Will Rhymes singled and Magglio doubled with two out, but Rhymes was thrown out at the plate, stranding Miguel Cabrera and his 8-for-16 against Chen in the on-deck circle. I certainly thought Rhymes would be able to make it. It would've taken a perfect relay to get him, and that's what the Royals did. There was some argument over whether he actually got tagged or not. Leyland thought that Brayan Peña didn't have control of the ball. It looked to me like Rhymes actually tagged himself out because as he put up his hands to brace himself, he touched Peña's glove (which I don't blame him for, because you can't really control that). They also loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, but Magglio couldn't come through a second time.
The series wraps up today and it pits Rick Porcello against Luke Hochevar. Porcello had a problem with keeping his sinker down in his last start. Hopefully he can get it down this time, but if he can't, hopefully the bigger outfield of Comerica Park can help him out. Hochevar was the Opening Day starter for the Royals with Zack Greinke gone. He hasn't given up a lot to the Tigers in his career but on the few occasions that he has, it's been at Comerica Park.
Showing posts with label Magglio Ordonez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magglio Ordonez. Show all posts
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
I'll Hold Off Saying What I Really Want To Say...
However, you faithful readers can easily guess what I really want to say. At any rate, I would be perfectly content to merely point out that Brad Penny is boring and slow, but he did nothing to win over Tiger fans yesterday (one more outing like that and he might get the Brandon Lyon treatment at the home opener, although Lyon would go on to become the Tigers' best reliever in 2009). He did settle down a little bit in the third and fourth, only to fall apart in the fifth. Brad Thomas wasn't much help. For all the griping that goes on about him, he only gave up four home runs last year, but he wasted no time in getting his first out of the way this year. Other than that, the only thing of note as far as the pitching is concerned is that this was the first time I got to see Brayan Villarreal pitch and he promptly served up a home run to A-Rod. To his credit, he didn't seem shaken by it, and though he had a slight problem with falling behind hitters, he wasn't missing by much (if he had been pitching the ninth inning, a lot of those calls would have gone in his favor). The defense was shaky once again, but what's weird is that it's largely been the few who are considered "good" defenders that have faltered. The errors in this season so far have come from Brandon Inge, Will Rhymes, and Austin Jackson. I have assurances that Alex Avila will be a very good defender, and yet he's had problems keeping the ball in front of him, although that's not entirely his fault. It's also not his fault that the Yankees stole two bases yesterday. He made real good throws that made it at least close, but it looks as though Penny is terrible at holding runners on. It's like having Bonderman back.
Once again, it seemed like it took the Tigers everything they had to score runs. On the plus side, however, they did get their first two homers of the season out of the way, courtesy of Austin Jackson and Victor Martinez. Magglio Ordoñez left in the middle of the game with soreness in his ankle and is not playing today as a precaution. Since the final televised spring training game, I have noticed that Magglio's a little impatient right now, swinging a bit more than he normally does. I have no idea if that has anything to do with the ankle. I do know that it generally takes him a couple weeks to get going, though, so there's no cause for alarm at this point.
And in another example of "Don't Panic," I will point out that, among others, the Twins and Red Sox are also 0-2, but it would still be nice to get this first win sooner rather than later. They'll have to do it against Phil Hughes, who was strong through most of 2010 but faded somewhat down the stretch. He also got a ton of run support. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer believes he's corrected the mechanical problem that was giving him trouble in spring training (and it turns out it was the same mechanical problem that got him sent to Toledo last year). He did turn in one good start at Yankee Stadium last year (sort of; he threw six shutout innings but I seem to remember there being a whole lot of baserunners in those six innings). With Magglio out, Brennan Boesch is the DH, Don Kelly is in right field, and Victor Martinez is behind the plate. Fasten your seatbelts.
Once again, it seemed like it took the Tigers everything they had to score runs. On the plus side, however, they did get their first two homers of the season out of the way, courtesy of Austin Jackson and Victor Martinez. Magglio Ordoñez left in the middle of the game with soreness in his ankle and is not playing today as a precaution. Since the final televised spring training game, I have noticed that Magglio's a little impatient right now, swinging a bit more than he normally does. I have no idea if that has anything to do with the ankle. I do know that it generally takes him a couple weeks to get going, though, so there's no cause for alarm at this point.
And in another example of "Don't Panic," I will point out that, among others, the Twins and Red Sox are also 0-2, but it would still be nice to get this first win sooner rather than later. They'll have to do it against Phil Hughes, who was strong through most of 2010 but faded somewhat down the stretch. He also got a ton of run support. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer believes he's corrected the mechanical problem that was giving him trouble in spring training (and it turns out it was the same mechanical problem that got him sent to Toledo last year). He did turn in one good start at Yankee Stadium last year (sort of; he threw six shutout innings but I seem to remember there being a whole lot of baserunners in those six innings). With Magglio out, Brennan Boesch is the DH, Don Kelly is in right field, and Victor Martinez is behind the plate. Fasten your seatbelts.
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Tigers Amateur Analysis 2011 Season Preview
After yet another stressful offseason, "real" baseball is almost upon us. Glancing through both blogs and the mainstream media, Detroit writers seem to be the most excited they've been about the team since early 2008. And there is reason for excitement. The offense and bullpen seemed to have been given significant upgrades (you're not going to convince me that the rotation is markedly better, so I'll leave them out of the "excitement" chatter), and against most people's expectations, the team has been competitive for most of the last two years without these new players onboard. And yet I just can't shake this tiny bit of hesitation that I have. Maybe it's because the hype reminds me somewhat of 2008 (and for the record, I was hesitant back then as well, but I kept quiet about it because I figured all those writers and bloggers knew better than I did). The Tigers have put up a good record this spring and the pitching has been especially strong (although as I type this, Max Scherzer has just imploded against the Orioles, giving up three home runs, two to Luke Scott). I know spring performance doesn't necessarily correlate to the regular season, so there's no reason to be cynical as yet, but there have been a couple potential warning signs. Back in early February, the ZiPS projections for the Tigers were released. I don't really pay much attention to these computerized projections, nor do I like making predictions myself, but the projection did say something that I'm inclined to agree with:
Offense: This was probably the big priority of the offseason, and with that, the big signing was Victor Martinez. At the time, I wasn't really enamored of any of the potential big bats the Tigers could sign, but there really weren't any all-around players out there that weren't going to cost an arm and a leg. The choice basically came down to Victor Martinez and Adam Dunn, and given those two, I find Martinez to be more desirable. Dunn has a lot of power (moreso than Martinez, who's no slouch), but he also strikes out a lot. Martinez is a much more selective hitter and doesn't strike out as often, and he hits for higher average. Therefore, he provides better protection for Miguel Cabrera. Martinez may be a sub-par catcher (and so I'd be happy if they kept his stints behind the plate to a minimum), but he is a very good hitter, and not only that, he's a very good switch-hitter. He hits well from both sides of the plate. Detroit is primed to have a very good 3-4-5 in the batting order.
Potential Warning Signs: For some reason, the offense just hasn't been that impressive in the spring. I can't really point to one particular cause. It's just that for the most part, it's been rather blah. Granted, it's sometimes hard to tell in spring training because of all the minor leaguers and prospects that are sprinkled into the lineup, but it still sometimes felt like they needed to get four or five baserunners in an inning to score one run. Both Magglio Ordoñez and Jhonny Peralta in particular have had slow springs. I don't really know how either of them usually fare in the spring, but I do know that Magglio generally starts off the season a little slow and it takes him a couple weeks to get going. If he does that, though, there's going to be people bringing up his age, his ankle, and/or the hamstring problems that he's had off and on during the spring. As for me, however, I'll only get worried if his hypothetical slow start spills over into May. Peralta doesn't have an RBI (and he's only got one more game to get one). He's not expected to hit for a super-high average, and I think it's a bit premature for Lynn Henning to be advocating trading him. Age shouldn't be an issue with Peralta, since he's only 28. When you think about it, you could probably find the potential for something to go wrong with just about every position player on the team (Austin Jackson starting his sophomore year, Victor Martinez being primarily a DH for the first time, Miguel Cabrera's alcohol battles, etc). Odds are that someone's going to have an off year, but it's highly unlikely that everyone will.
Defense: Actually, I'm not going to separate this into "good" and "bad." I'm just going to discuss it. This is probably the area with the biggest potential for meltdown. In terms of good defense among the starters, they have Austin Jackson and Brandon Inge. I still maintain that Miguel Cabrera is a better first baseman than people give him credit for, but he is still error-prone. Everyone else has issues with either lack of range or errors (or both). I'm a little bit worried that after a couple years emphasizing pitching and defense that they're starting to go too far back in the other direction, but at this point, it is what it is.
Starting Pitching: If everyone plays to their potential, the Tigers could have a strong front three in Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello. I'm not sure what they'll get from Phil Coke or Brad Penny, but Coke at least has shown the ability to make in-game adjustments. Penny may well become my whipping boy for the season, mostly due to the circumstances surrounding his arrival. I'm not saying he's a bad pitcher, just that there are pitchers with his level of ability that I'd rather watch. I don't think he makes that big of a difference. If the Tigers weren't good enough without him, they're not going to be good enough with him. But as I said, as long as the front three pitch the way they're capable of and the other two don't totally suck, things should be good.
Potential Warning Signs: Justin Verlander's really the only starting pitcher who has had a good spring. Scherzer and Porcello have been wobbly, Coke's had a few growing pains, and while Penny's numbers look good on the surface, several of the outs he's gotten have been hit quite hard (that and the fact that he's so slow that moss probably starts to grow on his defenders). Penny also has the injury history, as he hasn't pitched for than 100 innings in several years.
Bullpen: Joaquin Benoit was probably the most dominant setup man in baseball last year, and he kind of came out of nowhere to do it. Jose Valverde's looked like he regained his form during the spring (which I guess is to be expected, because his struggles during the second half last year made no sense). There's also quite a few talented hard-throwers in Ryan Perry, Brayan Villarreal (who I still want to see as a starting pitcher), and Daniel Schlereth. With that group, they have to potential to rack up strikeouts in the late innings.
Potential Warning Signs: Benoit's had a good spring, but it's still a good idea to be a little cautious about a guy coming off a breakout year (that and the fact that the very first time I saw him, he was with the Texas Rangers and he was walking Pudge Rodriguez with the bases loaded; I love Pudge, but he is the hardest guy in the world to walk). There's also quite a bit of inexperience, especially with Schlereth and Villarreal. Joel Zumaya should rejoin the team at some point (since from what I've read, what he's going through right now isn't so much "setback" as "slow recovery") but he's got such a tendency for weird injuries that I wouldn't be surprised to see a satellite fall out of the sky and land on him while he's on the mound.
Other tidbits: This is the final year on the contracts of both Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski. I think both have done a good job (though Dombrowski has now on two occasions ripped my heart out, smashed it on the ground, and run over it with a pickup truck). I'm not one to get into GM politics, so I'll leave that to other bloggers. As far as Leyland is concerned, a manager's job is always a tenuous one. He will be fired someday. That's just how it goes. Very few managers go the way Bobby Cox did and simply retire. Whether it's this year, next year, or ten years from now, I can't say. Another thing to keep an eye on is the home vs. road record. What's happened the last few years makes no sense. And obviously, they've got to do a lot better than 29-52 on the road if they want to win the division.
I hope I'm not coming off as cynical, because I don't want to. I've spent the better part of the last three years trying to drag the other Tiger fans out of the darkness, after all. I can see this team going in either direction this year, but the odds are that they'll be competitive. They'll be a flawed good team, but they may well be "good enough."
I still think that the Tigers are likely to win somewhere between 84 and 90 games, but 70 wins would surprise me a lot less than 95 wins - you combine age and lack of depth for emergencies and there's at least the potential for a wheels-coming-off season.I'm not going to get into what they project for each individual player. What I am going to do is go through each facet of the team and discuss what might go right or wrong.
Offense: This was probably the big priority of the offseason, and with that, the big signing was Victor Martinez. At the time, I wasn't really enamored of any of the potential big bats the Tigers could sign, but there really weren't any all-around players out there that weren't going to cost an arm and a leg. The choice basically came down to Victor Martinez and Adam Dunn, and given those two, I find Martinez to be more desirable. Dunn has a lot of power (moreso than Martinez, who's no slouch), but he also strikes out a lot. Martinez is a much more selective hitter and doesn't strike out as often, and he hits for higher average. Therefore, he provides better protection for Miguel Cabrera. Martinez may be a sub-par catcher (and so I'd be happy if they kept his stints behind the plate to a minimum), but he is a very good hitter, and not only that, he's a very good switch-hitter. He hits well from both sides of the plate. Detroit is primed to have a very good 3-4-5 in the batting order.
Potential Warning Signs: For some reason, the offense just hasn't been that impressive in the spring. I can't really point to one particular cause. It's just that for the most part, it's been rather blah. Granted, it's sometimes hard to tell in spring training because of all the minor leaguers and prospects that are sprinkled into the lineup, but it still sometimes felt like they needed to get four or five baserunners in an inning to score one run. Both Magglio Ordoñez and Jhonny Peralta in particular have had slow springs. I don't really know how either of them usually fare in the spring, but I do know that Magglio generally starts off the season a little slow and it takes him a couple weeks to get going. If he does that, though, there's going to be people bringing up his age, his ankle, and/or the hamstring problems that he's had off and on during the spring. As for me, however, I'll only get worried if his hypothetical slow start spills over into May. Peralta doesn't have an RBI (and he's only got one more game to get one). He's not expected to hit for a super-high average, and I think it's a bit premature for Lynn Henning to be advocating trading him. Age shouldn't be an issue with Peralta, since he's only 28. When you think about it, you could probably find the potential for something to go wrong with just about every position player on the team (Austin Jackson starting his sophomore year, Victor Martinez being primarily a DH for the first time, Miguel Cabrera's alcohol battles, etc). Odds are that someone's going to have an off year, but it's highly unlikely that everyone will.
Defense: Actually, I'm not going to separate this into "good" and "bad." I'm just going to discuss it. This is probably the area with the biggest potential for meltdown. In terms of good defense among the starters, they have Austin Jackson and Brandon Inge. I still maintain that Miguel Cabrera is a better first baseman than people give him credit for, but he is still error-prone. Everyone else has issues with either lack of range or errors (or both). I'm a little bit worried that after a couple years emphasizing pitching and defense that they're starting to go too far back in the other direction, but at this point, it is what it is.
Starting Pitching: If everyone plays to their potential, the Tigers could have a strong front three in Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello. I'm not sure what they'll get from Phil Coke or Brad Penny, but Coke at least has shown the ability to make in-game adjustments. Penny may well become my whipping boy for the season, mostly due to the circumstances surrounding his arrival. I'm not saying he's a bad pitcher, just that there are pitchers with his level of ability that I'd rather watch. I don't think he makes that big of a difference. If the Tigers weren't good enough without him, they're not going to be good enough with him. But as I said, as long as the front three pitch the way they're capable of and the other two don't totally suck, things should be good.
Potential Warning Signs: Justin Verlander's really the only starting pitcher who has had a good spring. Scherzer and Porcello have been wobbly, Coke's had a few growing pains, and while Penny's numbers look good on the surface, several of the outs he's gotten have been hit quite hard (that and the fact that he's so slow that moss probably starts to grow on his defenders). Penny also has the injury history, as he hasn't pitched for than 100 innings in several years.
Bullpen: Joaquin Benoit was probably the most dominant setup man in baseball last year, and he kind of came out of nowhere to do it. Jose Valverde's looked like he regained his form during the spring (which I guess is to be expected, because his struggles during the second half last year made no sense). There's also quite a few talented hard-throwers in Ryan Perry, Brayan Villarreal (who I still want to see as a starting pitcher), and Daniel Schlereth. With that group, they have to potential to rack up strikeouts in the late innings.
Potential Warning Signs: Benoit's had a good spring, but it's still a good idea to be a little cautious about a guy coming off a breakout year (that and the fact that the very first time I saw him, he was with the Texas Rangers and he was walking Pudge Rodriguez with the bases loaded; I love Pudge, but he is the hardest guy in the world to walk). There's also quite a bit of inexperience, especially with Schlereth and Villarreal. Joel Zumaya should rejoin the team at some point (since from what I've read, what he's going through right now isn't so much "setback" as "slow recovery") but he's got such a tendency for weird injuries that I wouldn't be surprised to see a satellite fall out of the sky and land on him while he's on the mound.
Other tidbits: This is the final year on the contracts of both Jim Leyland and Dave Dombrowski. I think both have done a good job (though Dombrowski has now on two occasions ripped my heart out, smashed it on the ground, and run over it with a pickup truck). I'm not one to get into GM politics, so I'll leave that to other bloggers. As far as Leyland is concerned, a manager's job is always a tenuous one. He will be fired someday. That's just how it goes. Very few managers go the way Bobby Cox did and simply retire. Whether it's this year, next year, or ten years from now, I can't say. Another thing to keep an eye on is the home vs. road record. What's happened the last few years makes no sense. And obviously, they've got to do a lot better than 29-52 on the road if they want to win the division.
I hope I'm not coming off as cynical, because I don't want to. I've spent the better part of the last three years trying to drag the other Tiger fans out of the darkness, after all. I can see this team going in either direction this year, but the odds are that they'll be competitive. They'll be a flawed good team, but they may well be "good enough."
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Lakeland Day 3: Tigers vs. Marlins (Wherein the Tigers Lose But I Still Win)
- Andy Dirks does a pretty funny imitation of Chris Berman.
- Before the game, Justin Verlander was giving an interview for a Boston TV crew when in the middle of the interview, he suddenly realized his pants were unzipped and unbuttoned. That got a huge laugh from the fans near the clubhouse.
- Apparently on days when Magglio Ordoñez is the DH, he never takes his shin guard off. He was even warming up with it on.
- In the third inning, some guy behind me randomly yelled out (very loudly), "Armando! Where's Armando?" Um, okay (Look, I love Armando Galarraga and I wish very much that he was still with this team, but even I admit that Max Scherzer is a better pitcher).
- In the same inning, once Scherzer gave up the three-run homer to Matt Dominguez, the same guy yelled out "Toledo!"
- I had never seen Charlie Furbush pitch before. He has a very slingly delivery. Hopefully he's usually not as slow as he was today.
- There was a guy behind me cheering on Cabrera in Spanish (It might have actually been the same guy yelling for Armando, because one of his cheers was "Viva Venezuela"). Then he started yelling "Thank you Magglio!" as Maggs was standing in the on-deck circle.
- I also got autographs from Rob Brantly, Ben Guez, Tom Brookens, and Rafael Belliard.
- Tomorrow will be my final game here in Lakeland. The Tigers take on the Phillies again. And this time my new camera will have a better lens than it did today.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Feliz Navidad from Tigers Amateur Analysis
I’d like to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Feliz Navidad. Hope everything is going well. Enjoy this video, courtesy of Jib Jab. What better way to celebrate the holiday than with dancing Venezuelans?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Welcome Back, Maggs
Wouldn’t you know it? The Tigers crossed off the last item on my offseason wish list even before Christmas. As you have undoubtedly heard by now, Magglio Ordoñez has been re-signed to a one-year deal (Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a very busy week and I haven’t had much internet access). Maggs apparently turned down a couple of two-year offers by other teams to return to Detroit, so it seems the rumors of his desire to stay with the Tigers were genuine. He’s gone on record as saying he’d like to finish his career with the Tigers, and I don’t have a problem with that at all. I was actually a little disappointed that it wasn’t at least a two-year deal, but it’s nice knowing we haven’t seen the last of Magglio in the Olde English D. And with that, the team is as close to how I want it as it’s going to get and the Tigers don’t need to do anything else (Well, technically, they still need to sign their three arbitration-eligible players, but I’m not anticipating any problems with that). Seriously, my needs are met and I would be perfectly happy for the Tigers to not show up in the rumor mill for the rest of the offseason (although I am concerned that, given the fact that everything’s all wrapped up so early, Dave Dombrowski will not be able to resist doing something that I will regret). I don’t think I’ve liked the players on the team this much since 2007. I can’t make any predictions on if they’ll win the division or not, but as long as the team remains the way it is now, I’m sure going to love them.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Belated Winter Meetings Wrap-Up
Sorry about not posting in the past week. I’ve had finals taking up my time. At any rate, we got through the Winter Meetings without anything disastrous happening. The only thing rumor to have come out of the meetings that concerns me somewhat is the Tigers’ supposed interest in Tom Gorzelanny. Now, there were rumors of the Tigers expressing interest in Josh Willingham, Fred Lewis, and another trade candidate outfielder whose name escapes me right now (and it’s driving me nuts that I can’t remember who it was), but all those struck me as nothing more than due diligence. I just have a feeling that the Gorzelanny rumor has legs, even though we haven’t heard anything further about it (Remember, the Tigers tend to be one of the most stealthy teams when it comes to moves). You’ve already had my take on starting pitchers, so I’ll not rehash it here. If the Tigers were to get another starter, he’d better be a star that would clearly put them over the top. Gorzelanny does not fit that description. I’m not saying he’s a terrible pitcher (though one does have to take into consideration that he’s spent his whole career in the National League), but he wouldn’t be much of an upgrade (if any) over what is in place already. And the same goes for just about every other starter on the trade and free agent market with the exception of a few that the Tigers don’t figure to be in on at this time. However, things turn and happen quickly with this team. Dave Dombrowski loves to keep bloggers on their toes. For all I know Zack Greinke will be in an Olde English D by dinner tonight (which I may not feel happy about personally, but I can’t argue against professionally).
Moving on from starting pitching to the outfield, there’s not a lot of news on the Magglio Ordoñez front. Both Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford signed ridiculous contracts, which means Maggs is probably the top outfielder left on the market (It’s getting to the point where the Tigers might have been better served picking up the option of his old contract). Now, all the rumors and quotes attributed to Magglio himself suggests that the Tigers are still his first choice, as I haven’t heard of him talking about any other team, but Scott Boras is sure to make things more complicated. It would not surprise me at all if he tried to get the Angels interested (after all, the Angels were considered the big losers in the Crawford sweepstakes). The Rangers were considering him as a plan B in case they didn’t sign Vladimir Guerrero, and at one point I heard that the Phillies were interested, though signing Cliff Lee probably takes them out of it (as a side note, I’m already dreading the onslaught of “OMG! The Phillies have the best rotation EVER” articles that are sure to come). MLB Trade Rumors keeps trying to match him up with the Blue Jays, but I haven’t seen anything beyond opinion that the Blue Jays “should” be interested. The common belief is that now that Cliff Lee has signed, the other top free agents should begin to topple like dominos (as another side note, if that’s the case, he picked a bad week to sign; I’m really busy this week). But stay tuned.
Finally, I have a couple minor notes from this week: First, at the Winter Meetings, the Tigers signed catcher Omir Santos, pitcher Chris Oxspring, and shortstop Argenis Diaz to minor league deals (I think all are expected to be in Toledo when the season starts). Second, Ignacio Serrano of ESPN Deportes reports that the Tigers have refused permission for Armando Galarraga to pitch in Venezeula this winter (link is in Spanish). So to recap, Galarraga doesn’t have permission, Guillen is still rehabbing, Magglio has said he wouldn’t (though his team is trying to get him to play during the round robin), and I don’t know what Victor Martinez is doing. That leaves Miguel Cabrera, who left the door open the last time I saw a quote from him, but I can’t imagine he will unless his team is in a playoff chase (and admittedly, I haven’t looked at the Venezuelan league standings recently). Finally, the Tigers announced today that they have released Alfredo Figaro so that he can go pitch in Japan for the Orix Buffalos (for some reason, I thought they were the Orix Blue Wave, but I don’t pay that close attention to NPB so I guess I deserved that). You should know me well enough by now to know that I have absolutely no problem with this. Plus, I know just what they can do with that open roster spot…
Moving on from starting pitching to the outfield, there’s not a lot of news on the Magglio Ordoñez front. Both Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford signed ridiculous contracts, which means Maggs is probably the top outfielder left on the market (It’s getting to the point where the Tigers might have been better served picking up the option of his old contract). Now, all the rumors and quotes attributed to Magglio himself suggests that the Tigers are still his first choice, as I haven’t heard of him talking about any other team, but Scott Boras is sure to make things more complicated. It would not surprise me at all if he tried to get the Angels interested (after all, the Angels were considered the big losers in the Crawford sweepstakes). The Rangers were considering him as a plan B in case they didn’t sign Vladimir Guerrero, and at one point I heard that the Phillies were interested, though signing Cliff Lee probably takes them out of it (as a side note, I’m already dreading the onslaught of “OMG! The Phillies have the best rotation EVER” articles that are sure to come). MLB Trade Rumors keeps trying to match him up with the Blue Jays, but I haven’t seen anything beyond opinion that the Blue Jays “should” be interested. The common belief is that now that Cliff Lee has signed, the other top free agents should begin to topple like dominos (as another side note, if that’s the case, he picked a bad week to sign; I’m really busy this week). But stay tuned.
Finally, I have a couple minor notes from this week: First, at the Winter Meetings, the Tigers signed catcher Omir Santos, pitcher Chris Oxspring, and shortstop Argenis Diaz to minor league deals (I think all are expected to be in Toledo when the season starts). Second, Ignacio Serrano of ESPN Deportes reports that the Tigers have refused permission for Armando Galarraga to pitch in Venezeula this winter (link is in Spanish). So to recap, Galarraga doesn’t have permission, Guillen is still rehabbing, Magglio has said he wouldn’t (though his team is trying to get him to play during the round robin), and I don’t know what Victor Martinez is doing. That leaves Miguel Cabrera, who left the door open the last time I saw a quote from him, but I can’t imagine he will unless his team is in a playoff chase (and admittedly, I haven’t looked at the Venezuelan league standings recently). Finally, the Tigers announced today that they have released Alfredo Figaro so that he can go pitch in Japan for the Orix Buffalos (for some reason, I thought they were the Orix Blue Wave, but I don’t pay that close attention to NPB so I guess I deserved that). You should know me well enough by now to know that I have absolutely no problem with this. Plus, I know just what they can do with that open roster spot…
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Winter Meetings, or Jumping Out of a Plane Without Knowing If You Have a Parachute or Not
It’s kind of fitting that the Winter Meetings are in Orlando this year, because I have a life experience that kind of relates to this. I last went to Disney World in 2004. I was twenty years old, it was just me and my best friend, and for the most part, it was a very enjoyable vacation. One thing that I did not enjoy, however, was the Aerosmith roller coaster. Now, I’m not necessarily a wuss when it comes to roller coasters and thrill rides (Supposedly the most intense ride at Disney World is Mission Space and I loved that, cheesy storyline aside), and I don’t get motion sick at all, but I don’t like really big roller coasters and I really don’t like going upside down (It’s not necessarily a fear thing; I just find the sensation to be unpleasant). I knew full well that the Aerosmith roller coaster does go upside down, but through sheer stubbornness I insisted on riding it anyways just so I could say that I had (Also, my other best friend is a big Aerosmith fan and I wanted to make him jealous; hey, I never said my reasons were entirely mature). I can’t really say I’m glad for having done it, since I didn’t really “prove” anything (nor can I say I regret doing it), and I definitely can’t say it changed my outlook on those types of roller coasters, because I hated the ride just as much as I thought I would. Why am I telling you all this? Because right now I feel almost the same way I did while I was standing in line for that ride. There’s just such a potential for undesirable things to happen over the next four days that I can’t help but be uneasy. Now, if you read my offseason preview (and you should have), you’ll already know my take on all the different facets of the Tigers. Those haven’t changed, so I’m not going to rehash them here.
Other Tiger fans will give you a veritable grocery list of players they want signed or acquired at the Winter Meetings, consisting of a bunch of big bats, about ten starting pitchers, a few relievers, maybe a couple catchers, two shortstops, and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s not going to happen on this site. I have one, and only one request, and that is Magglio Ordoñez. I believe my request is perfectly reasonable and that I am not asking for too much. I won’t say no to Jayson Werth if it comes down to that, though I prefer Maggs. I also won’t say no to a lefty reliever, but honestly, once the Tigers get that one big bat (be it Magglio or Werth), I think they’ll be good to go. I really do. And I’ve written enough stories, drawn enough pictures, and edited enough videos to know that if you start to try to “fix” little tiny flaws and pick at stuff to try to make something good into something perfect, usually you just screw it up. The Tigers made that mistake three years ago. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Still, I can’t shake this awful feeling that my words will not be heeded. After all, it seems like the Tigers just can’t help but make their presence known for the entirety of the Winter Meetings and have to be involved in some huge megadeal. I’m starting to think it’s some sort of psychological complex (Plus, you never know when Mr. Ilitch will take a liking to a player). I hope, for all our sakes, that I am wrong. Either way, it’s going to be one roller coaster of a week. Please make sure your safety bars are in place and that all loose objects are secured.
Other Tiger fans will give you a veritable grocery list of players they want signed or acquired at the Winter Meetings, consisting of a bunch of big bats, about ten starting pitchers, a few relievers, maybe a couple catchers, two shortstops, and a partridge in a pear tree. That’s not going to happen on this site. I have one, and only one request, and that is Magglio Ordoñez. I believe my request is perfectly reasonable and that I am not asking for too much. I won’t say no to Jayson Werth if it comes down to that, though I prefer Maggs. I also won’t say no to a lefty reliever, but honestly, once the Tigers get that one big bat (be it Magglio or Werth), I think they’ll be good to go. I really do. And I’ve written enough stories, drawn enough pictures, and edited enough videos to know that if you start to try to “fix” little tiny flaws and pick at stuff to try to make something good into something perfect, usually you just screw it up. The Tigers made that mistake three years ago. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Still, I can’t shake this awful feeling that my words will not be heeded. After all, it seems like the Tigers just can’t help but make their presence known for the entirety of the Winter Meetings and have to be involved in some huge megadeal. I’m starting to think it’s some sort of psychological complex (Plus, you never know when Mr. Ilitch will take a liking to a player). I hope, for all our sakes, that I am wrong. Either way, it’s going to be one roller coaster of a week. Please make sure your safety bars are in place and that all loose objects are secured.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Latin Links: December 3
I am going to try to do a post previewing the Winter Meetings sometime over the weekend, but no promises. In the meantime, there has been a little bit of Tiger-related news out of Latin America to share (most links are in Spanish):
- This morning, Carlos V. Rodriguez of the Venezuelan newspaper Lider posted a tweet regarding Magglio Ordoñez that basically translates to “A source close to the player confirms that all signs point to Magglio returning to Detroit.” I don’t know what that means in terms of actual contract negotiations, and this is the first time I’ve read anything from Rodriguez, so I am unsure of his track record, but his Twitter site is followed by other Venezuelan writers that I’ve found to be reliable, and his tweet was retweeted by Jason Beck (along with my translation of it), so take that for what you will. At any rate, this story has gained traction and has appeared over at The Hardball Times (again, along with my translation; big thank you to Craig Calcaterra for that) and other sites.
- On a related note, I came across some winter ball news, thanks to my discovery of Lider. In addition to his tweet heard ‘round the blogosphere, Carlos V. Rodriguez reports that Magglio will not be playing winter ball this year, instead choosing to focus on his next contract. Additionally, Cesar Augusto Marquez (also at Lider) reports that the president of the Leones del Caracas has asked permission to have Armando Galarraga pitch for them later in the year, but he probably will not (Galarraga could not be reached for comment, according to this article).
- I also found this video from some point during the season where Armando Galarraga talks about soccer. I haven’t had the chance to listen to it myself yet, but I figured I’d share the link in case any of you had interest.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Torturous Names + MVP Talk
There are no major moves to speak of today, but the Tigers did add some players to the 40-man roster in preparation for next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Now, I’m not a prospect expert, nor do I wish to be, so I will leave the detailed analysis of the additions to those bloggers who have more of an interest in minor league matters. This is probably the first year that I recognize the names of all those added, though again, I can’t tell you much about them besides the bare minimum. After all those moves, there was one space left on the 40-man roster. That got filled a few hours later when the Tigers signed a career minor league reliever by the name of Alberto Alburquerque, and he is supposed to compete for a bullpen job in spring training. Are the Tigers trying to make my life difficult? Am I going to have to repeatedly type “Alburquerque” all through next season? If that’s the case, then the Tigers owe me one (And I know what that could be!). Anyways, Alburquerque has never pitched above Double-A, but a lot of teams were after him, hence why the Tigers had to sign him to a major league contract. And since I’m not the prospect expert, I’ll leave it at that.
Because of Thanksgiving, I don’t expect there to be a ton of signings or trades this week, but this has been kind of a strange offseason because of the stepped-up deadlines, so you never know. Tomorrow is the deadline to offer arbitration to the departing free agents with Elias ratings. The Tigers have three: Gerald Laird and Johnny Damon are both Type Bs, and Magglio Ordoñez is a Type A. MLB Trade Rumors, for one, does not expect the Tigers to offer arbitration to any of them. I understand not offering arbitration to Damon or Laird, since I find that there would be a good possibility of them accepting and the Tigers don’t have much desire to have them back, but I don’t see that there’s much risk in offering arbitration to Magglio. I really don’t think Scott Boras would let him accept, and speaking purely as a fan, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he did. However, there is probably some compelling argument out there for why they won’t and I just haven’t picked up on it, and since the arbitration process is not really something I’m interested in, I’ll leave it at that. Tomorrow will also mark the announcement of the AL MVP. As I said last week, for Miguel Cabrera to have had a shot, we would had to have seen Austin Jackson beat out Neftali Feliz for Rookie of the Year, and that didn’t happen. And of course, there are plenty of valid arguments for Josh Hamilton just as there are for Cabrera. However, the arguments for Hamilton that I keep seeing are really dumb ones. There was one MLB.com article that quoted a voter who said he voted for Hamilton because of an “incredible 3-month stretch” and that took the Rangers from a first-place tie on June 1st to a 9 ½ game lead on September 1st. Too bad the season is five months long, not three. If you’re going to use that argument, you may as well have given Michael Cuddyer the MVP last year. It was his ridiculously incredible September that gave the Twins their surge last year. Second, this argument ignores the fact that the Athletics and Mariners weren’t very good to start with, and the Angels lost Kendry Morales on May 29th and never recovered (in stark contrast to the Twins, who only get better when they lose their big stars). And the arguments about his battles with drug addiction are compelling, but Miguel Cabrera has also overcome substance abuse problems of his own. And by the way people dismiss Cabrera by saying “The Tigers were not a playoff team” you’d think they’d started the season in last place and stayed there, which is not how it happened. In the end, however, I think my arguments will fall on deaf ears because there’s just too much media love for Hamilton. What’s a Tiger gotta do to get himself an MVP?
Because of Thanksgiving, I don’t expect there to be a ton of signings or trades this week, but this has been kind of a strange offseason because of the stepped-up deadlines, so you never know. Tomorrow is the deadline to offer arbitration to the departing free agents with Elias ratings. The Tigers have three: Gerald Laird and Johnny Damon are both Type Bs, and Magglio Ordoñez is a Type A. MLB Trade Rumors, for one, does not expect the Tigers to offer arbitration to any of them. I understand not offering arbitration to Damon or Laird, since I find that there would be a good possibility of them accepting and the Tigers don’t have much desire to have them back, but I don’t see that there’s much risk in offering arbitration to Magglio. I really don’t think Scott Boras would let him accept, and speaking purely as a fan, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he did. However, there is probably some compelling argument out there for why they won’t and I just haven’t picked up on it, and since the arbitration process is not really something I’m interested in, I’ll leave it at that. Tomorrow will also mark the announcement of the AL MVP. As I said last week, for Miguel Cabrera to have had a shot, we would had to have seen Austin Jackson beat out Neftali Feliz for Rookie of the Year, and that didn’t happen. And of course, there are plenty of valid arguments for Josh Hamilton just as there are for Cabrera. However, the arguments for Hamilton that I keep seeing are really dumb ones. There was one MLB.com article that quoted a voter who said he voted for Hamilton because of an “incredible 3-month stretch” and that took the Rangers from a first-place tie on June 1st to a 9 ½ game lead on September 1st. Too bad the season is five months long, not three. If you’re going to use that argument, you may as well have given Michael Cuddyer the MVP last year. It was his ridiculously incredible September that gave the Twins their surge last year. Second, this argument ignores the fact that the Athletics and Mariners weren’t very good to start with, and the Angels lost Kendry Morales on May 29th and never recovered (in stark contrast to the Twins, who only get better when they lose their big stars). And the arguments about his battles with drug addiction are compelling, but Miguel Cabrera has also overcome substance abuse problems of his own. And by the way people dismiss Cabrera by saying “The Tigers were not a playoff team” you’d think they’d started the season in last place and stayed there, which is not how it happened. In the end, however, I think my arguments will fall on deaf ears because there’s just too much media love for Hamilton. What’s a Tiger gotta do to get himself an MVP?
And with that, I probably won’t post again until next week unless there’s some major news to be had. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Peralta's Staying + More Venezuelan Uneasiness
First off, a belated congratulations to the San Francisco Giants and their fans for the World Series win. They simply outpitched the Rangers and totally shut their big bats down. And they beat Cliff Lee twice. Meanwhile, the Rangers kind of looked like they had the yips, kind of like the Tigers did in 2006 and the Rays in 2008. And now, onto Tiger news...
Over the weekend, it became apparent that the Tigers have found themselves a shortstop for the time being. Jhonny Peralta has agreed to a deal that is for two years with a third-year option. Actually, the deal looks remarkably similar to the one Brandon Inge got a couple weeks ago (I’m not sure if the fact that they have the same agent has anything to do with that). The announcement has been met with a bunch of grumbling about how Peralta is Edgar Renteria Redux. I actually said as much when the Tigers first acquired him, but that never really manifested, and his defense wasn’t all that bad. Still, I would rather they had just picked up the option on his prior contract and try to upgrade the shortstop position next offseason. At the same time, there has to be a reason why Dave Dombrowski didn’t want to pick up that option, and he hasn’t said what that was. Therefore, there is currently not enough information available to make an educated opinion on this deal. But I do know that there was not a very good selection of shortstops on the free agent market this year, and right now I’m so gun-shy when it comes to trades that part of me doesn’t even want to fathom that as an option. Besides, I’m more concerned with other players, so I really don’t feel strongly towards this deal either way (positive or negative).
Speaking of which, a couple of articles appeared on Tigers.com that dealt with a couple guys I have concern for. As I pretty much expected, Armando Galarraga has been granted Super Two status for his arbitration years. Before I go on, I would like to point out that I know perfectly well what Super Two is, and I do not need to have it explained to me. What puzzles me is Jason Beck’s reaction to the whole thing. His tone in the article seemed to suggest that it changes everything in regards to how the Tigers would deal with Galarraga this year. I’m not sure why it would. After all, I fully expected him to be arbitration eligible this year (that stemmed from the fact that I overestimated his service time, not that I expected Super Two status). Beck even mentions in his own article that the Tigers fully expected him to be arbitration-eligible, so I’m not sure what the issue is. I find it hard to believe that having four arbitration years instead of three has any effect on the outcome of the first arbitration year. It’s not like all of a sudden they have to pay him ten million dollars next year just because he’s a Super Two. And as I said before, non-tendering him would be a foolish move, and Jason Beck seems to be the only one entertaining that as a serious possibility. Still, the article does nothing to instill confidence that he’ll remain with this team much longer.
While we’re on the subject of pessimistic news, we have another article telling us that it’s going to be very difficult to re-sign Magglio Ordoñez. Scott Boras is up to his old tricks, to no one’s surprise, telling everyone who stands still long enough that “lots of teams” have contacted him about Magglio. Boras is going to do what he does with all of his clients: get teams in a bidding war, get teams to bid against themselves, and make every team’s fans sick of the process. I am going out on a limb here, but I have noticed that one of Boras’s favorite tricks seems to be getting a player’s old team involved in the bidding process. He did it a couple years ago, trying to get the Texas Rangers involved while the Tigers were trying to negotiate re-signing Kenny Rogers (Rogers, to his credit, proceeded to fire Boras and represented himself). Therefore, it would not surprise me to see Boras trying to court the White Sox. I know there’s some bad blood between Maggs and Ozzie Guillen, but I’ll hearken back to my previous example and point out that Kenny Rogers was not on good terms with the Rangers when Boras tried to bring them into it. Plus, the White Sox are in need of an upgrade at DH, no matter what Ozzie says. But whatever he does, Boras is going to make sure this becomes a knockdown, dragged-out fight and we’re all going to hate it. Missing from this analysis is what Magglio thinks of all this. Near the end of the season, Miguel Cabrera told reporters that Magglio told him he wanted to return. Maggs himself echoed that sentiment to a Venezuelan reporter about a month ago, but it remains to be seen who is more in control in this player-agent relationship. It also remains to be seen just how long Dave Dombrowski will put up with Scott Boras’s antics. The Tigers have been pretty good at dealing with Boras in the past (re: Pudge, Maggs, Rogers, and most recently Johnny Damon), which is probably the only good sign in this saga, but with a big bat being their most pressing need, if they tango with Boras too long and lose out on Maggs, the alternatives may already be gone. And people wonder why I’m developing a serious distaste for the offseason.
Over the weekend, it became apparent that the Tigers have found themselves a shortstop for the time being. Jhonny Peralta has agreed to a deal that is for two years with a third-year option. Actually, the deal looks remarkably similar to the one Brandon Inge got a couple weeks ago (I’m not sure if the fact that they have the same agent has anything to do with that). The announcement has been met with a bunch of grumbling about how Peralta is Edgar Renteria Redux. I actually said as much when the Tigers first acquired him, but that never really manifested, and his defense wasn’t all that bad. Still, I would rather they had just picked up the option on his prior contract and try to upgrade the shortstop position next offseason. At the same time, there has to be a reason why Dave Dombrowski didn’t want to pick up that option, and he hasn’t said what that was. Therefore, there is currently not enough information available to make an educated opinion on this deal. But I do know that there was not a very good selection of shortstops on the free agent market this year, and right now I’m so gun-shy when it comes to trades that part of me doesn’t even want to fathom that as an option. Besides, I’m more concerned with other players, so I really don’t feel strongly towards this deal either way (positive or negative).
Speaking of which, a couple of articles appeared on Tigers.com that dealt with a couple guys I have concern for. As I pretty much expected, Armando Galarraga has been granted Super Two status for his arbitration years. Before I go on, I would like to point out that I know perfectly well what Super Two is, and I do not need to have it explained to me. What puzzles me is Jason Beck’s reaction to the whole thing. His tone in the article seemed to suggest that it changes everything in regards to how the Tigers would deal with Galarraga this year. I’m not sure why it would. After all, I fully expected him to be arbitration eligible this year (that stemmed from the fact that I overestimated his service time, not that I expected Super Two status). Beck even mentions in his own article that the Tigers fully expected him to be arbitration-eligible, so I’m not sure what the issue is. I find it hard to believe that having four arbitration years instead of three has any effect on the outcome of the first arbitration year. It’s not like all of a sudden they have to pay him ten million dollars next year just because he’s a Super Two. And as I said before, non-tendering him would be a foolish move, and Jason Beck seems to be the only one entertaining that as a serious possibility. Still, the article does nothing to instill confidence that he’ll remain with this team much longer.
While we’re on the subject of pessimistic news, we have another article telling us that it’s going to be very difficult to re-sign Magglio Ordoñez. Scott Boras is up to his old tricks, to no one’s surprise, telling everyone who stands still long enough that “lots of teams” have contacted him about Magglio. Boras is going to do what he does with all of his clients: get teams in a bidding war, get teams to bid against themselves, and make every team’s fans sick of the process. I am going out on a limb here, but I have noticed that one of Boras’s favorite tricks seems to be getting a player’s old team involved in the bidding process. He did it a couple years ago, trying to get the Texas Rangers involved while the Tigers were trying to negotiate re-signing Kenny Rogers (Rogers, to his credit, proceeded to fire Boras and represented himself). Therefore, it would not surprise me to see Boras trying to court the White Sox. I know there’s some bad blood between Maggs and Ozzie Guillen, but I’ll hearken back to my previous example and point out that Kenny Rogers was not on good terms with the Rangers when Boras tried to bring them into it. Plus, the White Sox are in need of an upgrade at DH, no matter what Ozzie says. But whatever he does, Boras is going to make sure this becomes a knockdown, dragged-out fight and we’re all going to hate it. Missing from this analysis is what Magglio thinks of all this. Near the end of the season, Miguel Cabrera told reporters that Magglio told him he wanted to return. Maggs himself echoed that sentiment to a Venezuelan reporter about a month ago, but it remains to be seen who is more in control in this player-agent relationship. It also remains to be seen just how long Dave Dombrowski will put up with Scott Boras’s antics. The Tigers have been pretty good at dealing with Boras in the past (re: Pudge, Maggs, Rogers, and most recently Johnny Damon), which is probably the only good sign in this saga, but with a big bat being their most pressing need, if they tango with Boras too long and lose out on Maggs, the alternatives may already be gone. And people wonder why I’m developing a serious distaste for the offseason.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The 2010 Season Review
And so the prognosticators got it right, but only the end result. The Tigers finished their season at .500 exactly, but I don’t think those people who predicted that would have expected the long and winding road that got them there (so basically, they were right for the wrong reasons). This was one roller coaster of a season. There were magical moments of euphoria, and there were times we were thrown into the ultimate depths of despair. And at the same time, it felt like this season absolutely flew by. All this brings about a real random jumbling of thoughts, but I will attempt to organize them here.
In my season preview, I wrote that the theme of the season could be “Redemption.” In some ways, that was fulfilled, and in other ways it wasn’t. The Tigers as a team certainly didn’t make up for being passed by the Twins at the wire last year. But on a personal level, Miguel Cabrera certainly more than redeemed himself to the fanbase. He did not have a good ending to his 2009 season, to say the least, and I know for a fact that there was a lot of lashing out at him by the fans. But whether it was the bad press or the loss in game 163, Miguel realized he had a problem and he got help for it. And with those demons seemingly behind him, he had himself one hell of a year, one which unfortunately ended six games too soon. With the exception of a few trolls on MLive and Facebook, he’s earned the respect and love of Tiger fans everywhere (and thank goodness Facebook changed their display so that I no longer have to read those moronic comments). Now it’s up to the voters to acknowledge that. Obviously Cabrera’s big hurdle is that the Tigers fell out of the playoff picture by late August (although I’d like to point out that Josh Hamilton had a horrible April and missed almost all of September and the Rangers still made the postseason easily). I really don’t think that the postseason should play a factor in MVP, just as I think offense should not be a factor in Gold Glove selections, but such is the case with subjective voting. The last time a player in a non-playoff team won the AL MVP was in 2003. It’s happened more recently in the NL. Albert Pujols won MVP in 2008, a year the Cardinals finished in third place, so there is historic precedent, just not a lot of it. But MVP or no, it was a lot of fun to watch Cabrera this season. There were a couple games in which he came to bat in the ninth inning when the Tigers were trailing, and I just knew he’d tie the game. The two specific instances I remember were a game against the Angels and another one against the Orioles. Obviously, those instances dwindled once injuries claimed the other big hitters in the lineup, and he had somewhat of a slow September, but it was still a great season for him.
It’s a pity that injuries took out so many of the key Tigers all at once. You can extrapolate and spit out all the numbers you want, but the reality of the situation is that you don’t know what would have happened. Still, the trouble started right out of the All-Star Break, when they were swept in a four-game series in Cleveland, and this was before anyone major got hurt. Whether they would have been able to turn things around with Magglio and Guillen will forever remain unknown (plus, you don’t know if Dave Dombrowski would have been more aggressive in a Trade Deadline deal if those two were healthy). Obviously, July 24th was a real low point in the season (and a really bizarre point for me, because I subliminally predicted that something bad would happen in that game). Getting no-hit a couple days later was even less fun. Throughout that whole bad stretch, I sensed a lot of fight in the team. There were a lot of close games and one-run losses, but they just kept coming up short. Maybe they were overachieving in the first half, but I don’t think they were as bad as they sometimes looked in the second half. Sure enough, things did finally even out and they did play pretty well in September up until the last road trip.
You can’t discuss 2010 without mentioning what at times seemed like a thousand different rookies playing for the Tigers. I’ve spent the past several days sorting through what seems like hundreds of unlabeled videotapes, many of which are games from the 2008 season (It may have sucked as a season, but damn, there were a lot of guys on that team I liked; by the way, I will probably have a post later on some of the more amusing moments I saw on those tapes). Watching those tapes, the thought crossed my mind that it’s amazing how quickly the Tigers have gone from being one of the oldest teams in baseball to being one of the youngest. However, they have a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in Austin Jackson, who unfortunately couldn’t quite finish his season over .300, but was impressive nonetheless. And as good as his offense was, his defense was even better. Brennan Boesch had a good first half and then just fell off the map in the second half. I knew he would have to regress a little bit, but I don’t think he was supposed to drop THAT much. And then there was the parade of rookies including Casper Wells, Robbie Weinhardt, and Will Rhymes, all of whom have become fan favorites (I don’t suppose the fact that they’re all on Twitter hurts the matter).
On a personal level, it was quite a season for me. I got to go to Comerica Park three times, and saw three really good games. I also went to three Mud Hens games (though none of those went as well; the Hens lost all three of those games). Between the Tigers and Mud Hens, I saw four out of the five pitchers in the Tigers’ starting rotation (the only one I did not see was Bonderman, which I’m not too sad about). And thanks to those Mud Hens games, I got to meet several players, including Robbie Weinhardt, Casper Wells, and Rick Porcello. I had a question answered by Armando Galarraga in an online chat. My Venezuelan Mafia picture was seen by Magglio Ordoñez. Perhaps my biggest nerd moment of the season was when Miguel Cabrera came down with a kidney infection. I knew with about 95% certainty what his treatment regimen would be. One thing I do regret (a lot, actually) is that I didn’t go to any Mud Hens games in April or early May (the reason for why I regret that should be obvious).
But of course, the moment that will resonate the longest will be Armando Galarraga’s 28-out perfect game and the blown call heard ‘round the world. So many facets of that make it an incredible story. This is a pitcher that very few fans believed in, so the feat in and of itself is quite an accomplishment. And I hope one day it will be counted officially as a perfect game. But he created such a moment of class and sportsmanship out of it, a moment that took him above perfect games and blown calls and all that sort of thing. There was such a huge outpouring of love for him in the following days. It was incredible to watch. I know things didn’t go the way he wanted to after that. He spent most of the rest of the season frustrated, for a variety of reasons. First he had some problems with thinking too much on the mound, then he rattled off about six really good starts in a row but only won one of them due to lack of run support or bullpen meltdowns, and then he had three terrible starts in a row (one of which I would consider to be my personal low point of the season, just because of the way I reacted to it). I think that final start was very important for him from an individual perspective. He may have taken the loss, but he was tremendous, and his postgame interview would seem to suggest he finally found peace with himself. We’ll probably never see him again in the Olde English D, but he’s given us a story that will not soon be forgotten (unless you’re the MLB ad person in charge of “Year of the Pitcher” commercials).
That just about does it for the season review. Coming soon: The offseason preview, although if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, you’ll know most of what I’m going to say.
In my season preview, I wrote that the theme of the season could be “Redemption.” In some ways, that was fulfilled, and in other ways it wasn’t. The Tigers as a team certainly didn’t make up for being passed by the Twins at the wire last year. But on a personal level, Miguel Cabrera certainly more than redeemed himself to the fanbase. He did not have a good ending to his 2009 season, to say the least, and I know for a fact that there was a lot of lashing out at him by the fans. But whether it was the bad press or the loss in game 163, Miguel realized he had a problem and he got help for it. And with those demons seemingly behind him, he had himself one hell of a year, one which unfortunately ended six games too soon. With the exception of a few trolls on MLive and Facebook, he’s earned the respect and love of Tiger fans everywhere (and thank goodness Facebook changed their display so that I no longer have to read those moronic comments). Now it’s up to the voters to acknowledge that. Obviously Cabrera’s big hurdle is that the Tigers fell out of the playoff picture by late August (although I’d like to point out that Josh Hamilton had a horrible April and missed almost all of September and the Rangers still made the postseason easily). I really don’t think that the postseason should play a factor in MVP, just as I think offense should not be a factor in Gold Glove selections, but such is the case with subjective voting. The last time a player in a non-playoff team won the AL MVP was in 2003. It’s happened more recently in the NL. Albert Pujols won MVP in 2008, a year the Cardinals finished in third place, so there is historic precedent, just not a lot of it. But MVP or no, it was a lot of fun to watch Cabrera this season. There were a couple games in which he came to bat in the ninth inning when the Tigers were trailing, and I just knew he’d tie the game. The two specific instances I remember were a game against the Angels and another one against the Orioles. Obviously, those instances dwindled once injuries claimed the other big hitters in the lineup, and he had somewhat of a slow September, but it was still a great season for him.
It’s a pity that injuries took out so many of the key Tigers all at once. You can extrapolate and spit out all the numbers you want, but the reality of the situation is that you don’t know what would have happened. Still, the trouble started right out of the All-Star Break, when they were swept in a four-game series in Cleveland, and this was before anyone major got hurt. Whether they would have been able to turn things around with Magglio and Guillen will forever remain unknown (plus, you don’t know if Dave Dombrowski would have been more aggressive in a Trade Deadline deal if those two were healthy). Obviously, July 24th was a real low point in the season (and a really bizarre point for me, because I subliminally predicted that something bad would happen in that game). Getting no-hit a couple days later was even less fun. Throughout that whole bad stretch, I sensed a lot of fight in the team. There were a lot of close games and one-run losses, but they just kept coming up short. Maybe they were overachieving in the first half, but I don’t think they were as bad as they sometimes looked in the second half. Sure enough, things did finally even out and they did play pretty well in September up until the last road trip.
You can’t discuss 2010 without mentioning what at times seemed like a thousand different rookies playing for the Tigers. I’ve spent the past several days sorting through what seems like hundreds of unlabeled videotapes, many of which are games from the 2008 season (It may have sucked as a season, but damn, there were a lot of guys on that team I liked; by the way, I will probably have a post later on some of the more amusing moments I saw on those tapes). Watching those tapes, the thought crossed my mind that it’s amazing how quickly the Tigers have gone from being one of the oldest teams in baseball to being one of the youngest. However, they have a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in Austin Jackson, who unfortunately couldn’t quite finish his season over .300, but was impressive nonetheless. And as good as his offense was, his defense was even better. Brennan Boesch had a good first half and then just fell off the map in the second half. I knew he would have to regress a little bit, but I don’t think he was supposed to drop THAT much. And then there was the parade of rookies including Casper Wells, Robbie Weinhardt, and Will Rhymes, all of whom have become fan favorites (I don’t suppose the fact that they’re all on Twitter hurts the matter).
On a personal level, it was quite a season for me. I got to go to Comerica Park three times, and saw three really good games. I also went to three Mud Hens games (though none of those went as well; the Hens lost all three of those games). Between the Tigers and Mud Hens, I saw four out of the five pitchers in the Tigers’ starting rotation (the only one I did not see was Bonderman, which I’m not too sad about). And thanks to those Mud Hens games, I got to meet several players, including Robbie Weinhardt, Casper Wells, and Rick Porcello. I had a question answered by Armando Galarraga in an online chat. My Venezuelan Mafia picture was seen by Magglio Ordoñez. Perhaps my biggest nerd moment of the season was when Miguel Cabrera came down with a kidney infection. I knew with about 95% certainty what his treatment regimen would be. One thing I do regret (a lot, actually) is that I didn’t go to any Mud Hens games in April or early May (the reason for why I regret that should be obvious).
But of course, the moment that will resonate the longest will be Armando Galarraga’s 28-out perfect game and the blown call heard ‘round the world. So many facets of that make it an incredible story. This is a pitcher that very few fans believed in, so the feat in and of itself is quite an accomplishment. And I hope one day it will be counted officially as a perfect game. But he created such a moment of class and sportsmanship out of it, a moment that took him above perfect games and blown calls and all that sort of thing. There was such a huge outpouring of love for him in the following days. It was incredible to watch. I know things didn’t go the way he wanted to after that. He spent most of the rest of the season frustrated, for a variety of reasons. First he had some problems with thinking too much on the mound, then he rattled off about six really good starts in a row but only won one of them due to lack of run support or bullpen meltdowns, and then he had three terrible starts in a row (one of which I would consider to be my personal low point of the season, just because of the way I reacted to it). I think that final start was very important for him from an individual perspective. He may have taken the loss, but he was tremendous, and his postgame interview would seem to suggest he finally found peace with himself. We’ll probably never see him again in the Olde English D, but he’s given us a story that will not soon be forgotten (unless you’re the MLB ad person in charge of “Year of the Pitcher” commercials).
That just about does it for the season review. Coming soon: The offseason preview, although if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, you’ll know most of what I’m going to say.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
And Then There Was One
Okay, there is other business to attend to. Because of the rainout last night, the Tigers and Indians will play a “traditional” (i.e. you see two games for the price of one ticket, so it’s not done as often cuz ballparks don’t make as much money that way) doubleheader starting at 4:00 today. The pitching matchup for the first game is the same as it was last night, so no need to rehash that one. The second game features Josh Tomlin against Justin Verlander (in his last start of 2010, unless he wins tonight and can somehow talk Leyland into letting him start on Sunday). Both of them are coming off complete-game wins. Verlander was brilliant in his last start, and would have shut out the Twins if not for some untimely errors in the ninth that led to an unearned run. That was his second complete game in a row. Tomlin was beaten by the Tigers back on August 21st (I was at that game), but he has pitched decently in September. He has given up exactly three earned runs in every start he’s had this month except one, where he gave up six to the Royals. And so Tigers fans have a big block of baseball in store for them tonight. I do not know how I'm going to do this. I may do a brief post between games or I might do one big post tomorrow on both games.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
These are the Times that Try Men's Souls
When all else fails, get literary. Anyways, I’ve got some analysis, reporting, cheerleading (because no one else will), and previewing to do, and not much time to do it in. First, last night’s game, minus the injuries (I’ll get to those in a minute). Rick Porcello was not as sharp as he had been in Cleveland
Of course, the more serious blow had nothing to do with the score. All day yesterday, I had a really odd feeling about this game, like something would happen that would set off a chain of events leading us all down an unpleasant and undesirable path. I think I found what was bothering me. Magglio fractured his ankle sliding into home plate and will be out 6-8 weeks. Was it because he was already dealing with soreness in that ankle? I don’t know. It looked like he got his spikes stuck in the dirt as he was beginning his slide. Perhaps that was the final blow that snapped an already weakened ankle, although if that’s the case and the ankle was already that feeble, it was probably only a matter of time before that happened and he should not have been playing anyways (It’s hard to say, because they were really vague about what the original injury was other than it was “sore”). On the other hand, it could have just been a freak thing that would have happened even if his ankle were completely healthy. The Tigers have also had to place Carlos Guillen on the DL with a calf strain. There’s no timetable on him, although I can’t imagine he’d be out as long as Magglio. All signs point to the Tigers calling up Jeff Larish and Will Rhymes. Larish you already know from his previous stints with the Tigers. Will Rhymes has been one of the hottest hitters for the Mud Hens recently. He doesn’t have a lot in the way of power (though he did homer in a Mud Hens game I was at recently), but he has some speed, having stolen 20 bases for the Hens. And he’s not real tall, but then again, neither is David Eckstein. And now I’m going to get on the soapbox, because no one else will. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in Tigerdom, and that’s understandable, but I say to you: The season is not lost! Magglio certainly wouldn’t want them to give up, and if they do, shame on them. This is still a very winnable division, and the White Sox and Twins are both dealing with key injuries of their own. Plus, all this has happened before the Trade Deadline. It’s entirely possible that Dave Dombrowski can go get a bat or two. There are two, and only two, players who are the true lifeblood of this team. Those would be Verlander and Cabrera. The loss of either of those two would be a season-killer. Only in that case would I give up this early. There is just too much baseball left to be played to pack it in now. The Tigers got oh-so-close last year, and they only had consistent production from two, maybe three guys. There’s no reason that some of the underperformers this year can’t step it up. As the Twins taught us last year, sometimes all it takes is one hot month. And I will remind you that the Tigers still have fourteen games remaining with the division leaders (as well as six against the Twins). And so I tell you: Do not go gentle into that good night.
At any rate, the Tigers don’t have a lot of time to cry over spilled milk. There’s a lot of baseball to be played today with a day-night doubleheader. Unfortunately, I work today, so I will miss the day game. This is especially frustrating because they switched the starting pitchers, and so now Armando Galarraga will start the day game. Also, I am fairly certain that this will be his last start for the Tigers, although I am not as certain of that as I was before last night’s game. For a while there, it looked like the Tigers were going to acquire a starting pitcher, and that may still happen. It’s possible that Galarraga would be included in such a trade, but either way, the new starting pitcher would almost certainly replace him in the rotation. Also, the Tigers need a spot starter on Wednesday. I heard from Dan and Jim on the radio last night that they would prefer to have someone in the bullpen start and not have to make a roster move, but that’s entirely dependent on what happens the next few days. If Galarraga can give some good innings and spare the bullpen like he did in his last start, he might be okay. But I still think the odds are against him. It’s probably not a particularly good matchup for him, because he’s prone to giving up home runs (always has been; that’s fine as long as they are solo shots) and the Blue Jays hit a lot of home runs. He hasn’t faced them since 2008, where he made one decent and one very good start against them. The Blue Jays will start lefty Brett Cecil, who I admittedly know very little about. He struggled in three starts toward the end of June, but his July numbers have been pretty good (against the Yankees, Twins, and Royals). Johnny Damon is the only Tiger who has faced him (0-3). The nightcap will feature Jeremy Bonderman against Jesse Litsch. Bonderman was shaky in his last start against the Rangers, although he came away with a no-decision. Litsch does not have a real good ERA, but I seem to remember him getting locked into a pitching duel with Armando Galarraga back in 2008 (which the Tigers eventually won).
Of course, the more serious blow had nothing to do with the score. All day yesterday, I had a really odd feeling about this game, like something would happen that would set off a chain of events leading us all down an unpleasant and undesirable path. I think I found what was bothering me. Magglio fractured his ankle sliding into home plate and will be out 6-8 weeks. Was it because he was already dealing with soreness in that ankle? I don’t know. It looked like he got his spikes stuck in the dirt as he was beginning his slide. Perhaps that was the final blow that snapped an already weakened ankle, although if that’s the case and the ankle was already that feeble, it was probably only a matter of time before that happened and he should not have been playing anyways (It’s hard to say, because they were really vague about what the original injury was other than it was “sore”). On the other hand, it could have just been a freak thing that would have happened even if his ankle were completely healthy. The Tigers have also had to place Carlos Guillen on the DL with a calf strain. There’s no timetable on him, although I can’t imagine he’d be out as long as Magglio. All signs point to the Tigers calling up Jeff Larish and Will Rhymes. Larish you already know from his previous stints with the Tigers. Will Rhymes has been one of the hottest hitters for the Mud Hens recently. He doesn’t have a lot in the way of power (though he did homer in a Mud Hens game I was at recently), but he has some speed, having stolen 20 bases for the Hens. And he’s not real tall, but then again, neither is David Eckstein. And now I’m going to get on the soapbox, because no one else will. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in Tigerdom, and that’s understandable, but I say to you: The season is not lost! Magglio certainly wouldn’t want them to give up, and if they do, shame on them. This is still a very winnable division, and the White Sox and Twins are both dealing with key injuries of their own. Plus, all this has happened before the Trade Deadline. It’s entirely possible that Dave Dombrowski can go get a bat or two. There are two, and only two, players who are the true lifeblood of this team. Those would be Verlander and Cabrera. The loss of either of those two would be a season-killer. Only in that case would I give up this early. There is just too much baseball left to be played to pack it in now. The Tigers got oh-so-close last year, and they only had consistent production from two, maybe three guys. There’s no reason that some of the underperformers this year can’t step it up. As the Twins taught us last year, sometimes all it takes is one hot month. And I will remind you that the Tigers still have fourteen games remaining with the division leaders (as well as six against the Twins). And so I tell you: Do not go gentle into that good night.
At any rate, the Tigers don’t have a lot of time to cry over spilled milk. There’s a lot of baseball to be played today with a day-night doubleheader. Unfortunately, I work today, so I will miss the day game. This is especially frustrating because they switched the starting pitchers, and so now Armando Galarraga will start the day game. Also, I am fairly certain that this will be his last start for the Tigers, although I am not as certain of that as I was before last night’s game. For a while there, it looked like the Tigers were going to acquire a starting pitcher, and that may still happen. It’s possible that Galarraga would be included in such a trade, but either way, the new starting pitcher would almost certainly replace him in the rotation. Also, the Tigers need a spot starter on Wednesday. I heard from Dan and Jim on the radio last night that they would prefer to have someone in the bullpen start and not have to make a roster move, but that’s entirely dependent on what happens the next few days. If Galarraga can give some good innings and spare the bullpen like he did in his last start, he might be okay. But I still think the odds are against him. It’s probably not a particularly good matchup for him, because he’s prone to giving up home runs (always has been; that’s fine as long as they are solo shots) and the Blue Jays hit a lot of home runs. He hasn’t faced them since 2008, where he made one decent and one very good start against them. The Blue Jays will start lefty Brett Cecil, who I admittedly know very little about. He struggled in three starts toward the end of June, but his July numbers have been pretty good (against the Yankees, Twins, and Royals). Johnny Damon is the only Tiger who has faced him (0-3). The nightcap will feature Jeremy Bonderman against Jesse Litsch. Bonderman was shaky in his last start against the Rangers, although he came away with a no-decision. Litsch does not have a real good ERA, but I seem to remember him getting locked into a pitching duel with Armando Galarraga back in 2008 (which the Tigers eventually won).
Saturday, July 10, 2010
[Insert Appropriate Elvis Song Here]
I forgot that last night was Elvis Night, or I would have played some Mood Music for you. At any rate, Justin Verlander had his curveball working really well last night. He also finally got a couple pickoffs, which I knew he was looking for all season. I’m not sure what happened in the sixth. Robbie Weinhardt did a terrific job in his outing. Unfortunately, Ryan Perry couldn’t get an out in the ninth and had to be bailed out by Jose Valverde. Meanwhile, the Tigers jumped on Francisco Liriano like they did the last time they saw him. I’ve never seen him like that against Detroit
Today the Tigers and Twins are on big Fox. Jeremy Bonderman is coming off a rough start in which he allowed two 3-run home runs and got ejected because of a wacky strike zone. He won his last start against the Twins, but had to pitch out of trouble quite a bit. There are theories that he’s entering a dead arm phase because he hasn’t pitched much the last couple years. Meanwhile, Nick Blackburn continues to struggle, although he pitched well against the Tigers back inMinnesota
Today the Tigers and Twins are on big Fox. Jeremy Bonderman is coming off a rough start in which he allowed two 3-run home runs and got ejected because of a wacky strike zone. He won his last start against the Twins, but had to pitch out of trouble quite a bit. There are theories that he’s entering a dead arm phase because he hasn’t pitched much the last couple years. Meanwhile, Nick Blackburn continues to struggle, although he pitched well against the Tigers back in
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Force is With You, Brandon Inge
I completely forgot it was 80s Night at
As I said, I did not see Dontrelle Willis, so I can’t comment on the Tigers’ approach against him, although considering they got five runs off him, I’d say it was a good one. I know Magglio hit a two-run homer off him, and that was the first time he’d ever faced Dontrelle as an opponent. But once it became a battle of the bullpens, the numbers clearly favored the Tigers. And with two out in the bottom of the eighth,
The series of awkwardness continues tonight, and we get to see another former Tiger on the mound in the person of Edwin Jackson.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hello Again, Old Friend
Here we have conclusive evidence that Pudge Rodriguez should NOT stand next to Miguel Cabrera. Seriously, that looks Photoshopped. Could there be a bigger contrast in height? (I have been told by those who have met Cabrera that you don’t realize just how huge he is until you stand next to him). At any rate, it was real nice to see Pudge again (and I was thrilled that the public address announcer still calls him “Pudge” even though he’s now a visiting player), and he got a real nice reception from the crowd. And I can’t say I’m really that disappointed that he got a single. Perhaps it’s not so great that it drove in a run, but that’s only because Adam Dunn was standing on third. At any rate, Max Scherzer pitched a decent game. It looked to me like he was fighting the command of his fastball (both in terms of not throwing it for strikes and giving up 0-2 hits), but his slider and changeup were working really well, as he got several swings and misses on those pitches, plus they allowed him to throw fastballs for called third strikes in areas where he normally might not get away with them. The bullpen did a terrific job, although Jose Valverde made things a little nervous in the ninth with a hit batter and a walk. I wonder if he might be tired, because he’s now pitched in the last four games (with an off-day mixed in). It’d be nice for him if the Tigers could score lots of runs tonight, enough to make it a non-save situation.
As expected, there was a lot of complaining about having Ryan Raburn in the leadoff slot, but it paid off, because he had two hits and four RBIs. Basically, he was the difference in the game. It was also good to see Magglio back in the lineup, and he responded by getting four hits (important since the Nationals have decided that Miguel Cabrera is getting nothing to hit in this series). The other offensive leader of the day? Gerald Laird, who finally shook off his bad luck for at least his first three at-bats and got three hits. He could easily have had four, but had to settle for a lineout to center instead. As an aside, I’d like to mention that the production truck was one big pile of fail last night. There were at least two shots where the camera was out of focus, there was an unnecessary lingering shot of the Nationals’ dugout, and several lower thirds and graphics were displayed at the wrong time.
The series continues tonight with Justin Verlander on the mound. Verlander beat the Pirates in his last start despite the fact that his fastball was “horrible” (his words, not mine). He’s never faced the Nationals before, but he does have some history against a few of their hitters, one of whom is Pudge (1-4 with a double). The Tigers will face Livan Hernandez, who you could describe as a crafty righty. Jim Leyland says he one of the smartest pitchers in baseball, and I’ve already said how to defeat smart guys. The Tigers last saw him in 2008, where they got a lot of baserunners against him but not much in the way of runs, and you got the sense that Hernandez was firmly in control the entire time. Miguel Cabrera has a whopping FIFTY-SEVEN plate appearances against him (I didn’t even know that many were possible). He’s 14-53 with 5 doubles, a home run, 10 RBIs, and 12 strikeouts, so it’s not like he owns him. Some of the other Tigers have faced him before as well, but Johnny Damon is the only other one with significant history against him (but he’s only 2-13). Gerald Laird is 2-4, and maybe that is why he is in tonight’s lineup (plus the three hits last night couldn’t hurt matters).
As expected, there was a lot of complaining about having Ryan Raburn in the leadoff slot, but it paid off, because he had two hits and four RBIs. Basically, he was the difference in the game. It was also good to see Magglio back in the lineup, and he responded by getting four hits (important since the Nationals have decided that Miguel Cabrera is getting nothing to hit in this series). The other offensive leader of the day? Gerald Laird, who finally shook off his bad luck for at least his first three at-bats and got three hits. He could easily have had four, but had to settle for a lineout to center instead. As an aside, I’d like to mention that the production truck was one big pile of fail last night. There were at least two shots where the camera was out of focus, there was an unnecessary lingering shot of the Nationals’ dugout, and several lower thirds and graphics were displayed at the wrong time.
The series continues tonight with Justin Verlander on the mound. Verlander beat the Pirates in his last start despite the fact that his fastball was “horrible” (his words, not mine). He’s never faced the Nationals before, but he does have some history against a few of their hitters, one of whom is Pudge (1-4 with a double). The Tigers will face Livan Hernandez, who you could describe as a crafty righty. Jim Leyland says he one of the smartest pitchers in baseball, and I’ve already said how to defeat smart guys. The Tigers last saw him in 2008, where they got a lot of baserunners against him but not much in the way of runs, and you got the sense that Hernandez was firmly in control the entire time. Miguel Cabrera has a whopping FIFTY-SEVEN plate appearances against him (I didn’t even know that many were possible). He’s 14-53 with 5 doubles, a home run, 10 RBIs, and 12 strikeouts, so it’s not like he owns him. Some of the other Tigers have faced him before as well, but Johnny Damon is the only other one with significant history against him (but he’s only 2-13). Gerald Laird is 2-4, and maybe that is why he is in tonight’s lineup (plus the three hits last night couldn’t hurt matters).
Friday, June 11, 2010
I Still Feel Shortchanged
As it turns out, I finished my exam early enough that I was able to get home in time to watch the game, although it didn’t exactly bring the thrill I was looking for. Max Scherzer had an outing very similar to Jeremy Bonderman’s last week against Cleveland Comerica Park
I was a little surprised by the fact that John Danks had not beaten the Tigers since 2008, since he usually pitches well against them. That was certainly the case yesterday. There were only three hits, singles from Guillen, Laird, and Inge. There were quite a few walks, however, but nothing ever came of them. I mean they had Miguel Cabrera in the right situation, with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth with a 3-2 count, and he struck out on a changeup in the dirt. Cabrera only ended up with one hit in the entire series (and again, for his sake, he needs to do better against White Sox pitching). I think the absence of Magglio from the lineup hurt them a lot, especially yesterday, because he had insane numbers against Danks. The last report on him was that he was going to be examined by the team doctor once he got back toDetroit Kansas City
And so now the Tigers head home and Interleague play starts up again. First up are the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates. They seem to be in the midst of another losing season, but the Tigers will face their best pitcher in the series. That’s tomorrow, though. Tonight they’ll see Ross Ohlendorf, who has pitched reasonably well recently but still has yet to get his first win of the season. The fun fact they like to spread about him is that he’s smart (I still say that Galarraga is the smartest Tiger pitcher, though I have no definitive evidence to back that up). He did beat the Tigers last year. And the individual pitcher vs batter matchups aren’t all that encouraging. Granted, no one has more that five at-bats against him, but only two Tigers have hits against Ohlendorf. Miguel Cabrera has a single, and Don Kelly has a double. It looks as though everyone else got outsmarted. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander was sensational againstKansas City
I was a little surprised by the fact that John Danks had not beaten the Tigers since 2008, since he usually pitches well against them. That was certainly the case yesterday. There were only three hits, singles from Guillen, Laird, and Inge. There were quite a few walks, however, but nothing ever came of them. I mean they had Miguel Cabrera in the right situation, with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth with a 3-2 count, and he struck out on a changeup in the dirt. Cabrera only ended up with one hit in the entire series (and again, for his sake, he needs to do better against White Sox pitching). I think the absence of Magglio from the lineup hurt them a lot, especially yesterday, because he had insane numbers against Danks. The last report on him was that he was going to be examined by the team doctor once he got back to
And so now the Tigers head home and Interleague play starts up again. First up are the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates. They seem to be in the midst of another losing season, but the Tigers will face their best pitcher in the series. That’s tomorrow, though. Tonight they’ll see Ross Ohlendorf, who has pitched reasonably well recently but still has yet to get his first win of the season. The fun fact they like to spread about him is that he’s smart (I still say that Galarraga is the smartest Tiger pitcher, though I have no definitive evidence to back that up). He did beat the Tigers last year. And the individual pitcher vs batter matchups aren’t all that encouraging. Granted, no one has more that five at-bats against him, but only two Tigers have hits against Ohlendorf. Miguel Cabrera has a single, and Don Kelly has a double. It looks as though everyone else got outsmarted. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander was sensational against
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Day After
I am writing to you from the campus of
The offense certainly woke up. Like I said, I missed just about all the damage they did to David Huff, but I was around to (sort of) see the damage done to the Indians’ bullpen. It was a big day for Magglio, who had 5 RBIs and finished a single shy of the cycle (denying him a Corvette, according to
And now, like me, the Tigers have hit the road. They’ll be in
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Not Exactly One For the Ages
This is gonna be a short post, because I have to go to work soon, but I really don’t have a lot of insight on this one anyways. I spent the first few innings on the phone with the game kind of in the background, and then I spent the ninth inning watching the FS Florida feed on MLB.tv because Roy Halladay was throwing a perfect game (just wish it was against the Twins and not the Marlins). At any rate, Rick Porcello was having trouble getting the sinker down, as evidenced by the large number of fly ball outs (He kept Magglio busy in right field, that’s for sure), but he pitched well enough to win. He just didn’t get any run support. The bullpen seems to have gone into somewhat of a rut, because they’ve given up multiple runs in three straight outings now (Hey guys, can we not slump together? One at a time, okay?). Meanwhile, there was nothing doing against Brett Anderson or the A’s bullpen. It seemed as though there were a lot of balls hit hard right at people, particularly Gabe Gross and Kevin Kouzmanoff. And for some reason, the baseball gods hate Gerald Laird this year. He just can’t catch a break, getting robbed of a home run in his first at-bat (Gabe Gross finally gets revenge for Justin Verlander’s no-hitter, I suppose), then hitting a couple of hard ground balls right at guys in his other two at-bats. With the tying run at second base in the sixth inning, Magglio ripped a line drive right into Kevin Kouzmanoff’s glove. That’s kind of how it went all night.
So today, it was supposed to be Armando Galarraga’s start (just like I was supposed to have the day off), but instead, Max Scherzer will be called up. However, Galarraga is still in the rotation, as it is Dontrelle Willis who has gotten the heave-ho. To tell you the truth, they actually got more out of him than I thought they would this season. I had hoped he’d be able to redeem himself this year, because I like him as a person, but it was not meant to be. And from a personal preference standpoint (nothing to do with results), I like Galarraga better. So anyways, Scherzer’s been tearing it up atToledo
So today, it was supposed to be Armando Galarraga’s start (just like I was supposed to have the day off), but instead, Max Scherzer will be called up. However, Galarraga is still in the rotation, as it is Dontrelle Willis who has gotten the heave-ho. To tell you the truth, they actually got more out of him than I thought they would this season. I had hoped he’d be able to redeem himself this year, because I like him as a person, but it was not meant to be. And from a personal preference standpoint (nothing to do with results), I like Galarraga better. So anyways, Scherzer’s been tearing it up at
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