Quick Bits

To tell you the truth, I don’t really have a lot to say, but I signed up for Twitterfeed last night and I apparently screwed up by posting the final installment of 2010 and the AL Central too soon after it “found” my post from last week. Therefore, I want to post something today to make sure it’s working correctly. So here’s some Quick Bits for you:



• We’re down to three in our search for the final two starting pitchers (And I’ll put my neck on the line and say there’s a golden opportunity for Armando Galarraga to hone his command in Toledo and come back once someone in the Detroit rotation gets injured or starts to struggle. He just has to take advantage of it; as I said last time, his stuff looks plenty good enough). Some are including Eddie Bonine in the hunt along with Bonderman, Robertson, and Willis. However, while I think Bonine’s got a good shot at taking the injured Zach Miner’s role as the swing man in the bullpen, I believe the Tigers would likely only name him as a starter if two of the other three really crashed and burned over the final few spring training games. Everyone’s been kinda holding their collective breath, waiting for that to happen (especially with Dontrelle Willis), but so far, it hasn’t.


• Meanwhile, Lynn Henning thinks that the Tigers are going to release Dontrelle Willis. While that is a possibility and I think the Tigers came into spring training prepared to eat the $10-12 million on someone’s contract (after all, they released Gary Sheffield very close to the end of spring training last year), Henning’s primary argument seems to be that D-Train’s not throwing as hard as he used to (Or perhaps he was talking to Carlos Lee, who, when asked by FS Houston’s Jim Deshaies if he was impressed by Dontrelle’s pitching, replied, “Uhhh…not really”). John Parent at Motor City Bengals provides an excellent rebuttal to this argument, and I also think that Henning’s not providing a strong enough reason. It’s as if he wrote the bulk of this article weeks ago (likely focusing on command, not velocity), and then when Willis continued pitching effectively and not fitting his script, he decided to change “not throwing strikes” to “not throwing hard” and run the article anyways. But remember, Henning’s got a 50/50 chance of being right no matter what his argument is (command, velocity, tilted hats, whatever). Either Dontrelle will be released or he won’t be, but even if he is, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Henning knew about it.


• Matt Sussman at MLive writes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article about how to improve extra innings. I (along with most baseball fans, I suspect) don’t mind the current system (because you rarely get games that go beyond 12 innings or so, and once you get beyond that point, it’s late and you get kinda giddy and punchy anyways), but it made for an interesting read. His first suggestion (starting each extra inning with men on base) was actually a rule in the Olympics (as well as the World Baseball Classic, I believe), so it’s not as farfetched as it may seem. His only other suggestion that I might entertain is allowing one player to re-enter the game in extra innings.


• There seems to be an injury epidemic among closers in the AL Central. The major one is that Joe Nathan has a torn ligament in his elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery, which means his 2010 is over before it even started. However, the Twins lead such a charmed existence that some career minor leaguer is likely to come in from Triple-A and rack up, like, 60 saves or some ridiculous number like that. Indians’ closer Kerry Wood has a lat strain and will miss 6-8 weeks, and Bobby Jenks has been dealing with a calf injury, but he’s expected to be ready for Opening Day (he pitched yesterday, as a matter of fact). Nevertheless, Jose Valverde and Joakim Soria have gotta be just a little concerned.


• Finally, the Tigers play the Nationals tonight in a rare spring training night game. I know it’s only on the radio and not on television, but any chance of Pudge making the trip to Lakeland? (There was a time when I couldn’t bear the thought of him in a uniform other than the Olde English D, and I still miss him, but time has gotten me used to the concept. I still can’t watch him bat against the Tigers, though).

Quick Bits

I wish I had more for you the other day, but I couldn’t think of anything and I felt the need to post something. Today’s post isn’t going to be organized very well, as real life activities have kept me occupied, but here’s a random collection of my thoughts on this Wednesday morning:

--My take on the whole trade situations: I fervently don’t want to trade any of the names mentioned, though you can’t be totally against trading a player ever. The only scenario in which a trade would be acceptable to me would be if the Tigers managed to pull off a big steal (and by that, I mean it would include someone who would make a major positive impact NOW, not five years down the road). The payroll argument is not a particularly strong one at this point because of all the money that’s coming off the books at the end of next season, so salary relief really won’t be needed. Now, it’s possible to pull off a steal by trading away Edwin Jackson (and if the reports that Dave Dombrowski was asking for Brandon Morrow and Shawn Kelley from the Mariners are true, it looks like that’s exactly what they are trying to do, at least right now). It’s still possible with Granderson, but less likely because Granderson isn’t that expensive and he’s a vital part of the team. With Miguel Cabrera, it would be nearly impossible to recoup his value. It’s unlikely that any prospect would measure up, and any money saved by trading away his contract would eventually go towards signing a player like him.

--The arbitration decisions panned out pretty much the way everyone expected them to. Even Dave Dombrowski has publicly stated that he expects both Rodney and Lyon to decline. I, like most I’ve talked to, would like to see them re-sign Lyon, but I wouldn’t go more than two years. Also, if Jason Beck is correct and the Tigers would have to move payroll, I might be a little more hesitant (see above bullet point).

--Over the weekend, MLB Network was running a marathon of old All-Star Games. I happened to watch the end of the ’97 ASG, the entire ’94 ASG, and the beginning of the ’95 ASG (back when the National League won on occasion). It was…amusing, for lack of a better term. I don’t remember if I actually watched either game back in ‘94/’95/’97 (I would’ve been in middle school at the time). With several players, I definitely knew who they were regardless of whether I remembered them playing or not (like Cal Ripken Jr. and Mark McGwire). There were others with names I recognized but didn’t know much more about them beyond that (Chuck Knoblauch, Matt Williams, etc), and this included guys who I know better as broadcasters (such as Mark Grace). Then there were a few to whom I thought, “Who the hell are you?” It certainly shocked me to see how young Mariano Rivera looked in 1997. Along that same line, it was funny to hear the broadcasters refer to certain players as “kids” when I view them as hardened veterans.

--Fun fact: Off all the players who participated in the 1994 All-Star Game, three are still active: Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, and Pudge Rodriguez (though there’s a strong possibility that the Big Unit will retire now that he’s got his 300th win). Pudge in particular was of interest to me (not surprisingly). It was funny hearing Bob Costas refer to him as the “young, 22-year-old catcher from the Texas Rangers” because I’ll never see him as a 22-year-old. And apparently his nickname wasn’t widely known at the time because the broadcasters never used it (though it did say “Pudge” on his wristbands). It must’ve become more prominent by 1995 because those broadcasters DID call him Pudge. Three random things that I observed were that he looked shorter in those days, his pants were too tight, and he had pretty much the same amount of plate discipline that he does now (which is, to say, not much). Also, Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver were slightly less annoying in the mid-90s.

--This has almost nothing to do with baseball, but I tried playing a Madden game for the first time last night. Now, I suck at video games, so I played it on that super-simplified “Family Play” setting that they put in there for, like, 8-year-olds. Well, I ended up winning the game 73-0 (That included a touchdown on the kickoff return, sacking the quarterback in the first two defensive plays, at least three interceptions that were returned for TDs, and one player who scored five touchdowns). I get the feeling that “Family Play” is a little too easy even for me, but then I look at the instruction manual and see the 3000 different commands that you have to know on normal play and it’s a bit much. I’m the same way when it comes to MLB The Show. I always play in manager mode on that game, and on the easiest setting. Plus, I know it’s just a game, but I’m not real thrilled at the prospect of commentators talking about how bad I am.

--I am currently working on a light-hearted feature regarding the MLB.com Holiday Catalog. Provided tragedy (i.e. a bad trade) does not strike before I get it finished, I will have it up as soon as I’m done (It might not be until next week, though. Exams and work are taking up a lot of time).

And So It All Comes Down to This

As I didn’t see any of yesterday’s game, I’ll be brief about the game recap. While I listened to the game during my lunch break, the White Sox tied the game 1-1. When I checked in later, the score was 4-2. So those other runs came in a hurry. I have no assessment of Edwin Jackson, other than to pass along the message that Jim Price thought his stuff was better than it had been in Cleveland, despite the final line. Meanwhile, I told you Daniel Hudson was pretty good against the Twins, did I not? He even duplicated the one inning where he lost sight of the strike zone, as well as the results (giving up only one run). And so we’re done with that series, at least until this weekend.

And now we have come to THE series. This one is pretty much for all the marbles, so to speak. The last time there was a series this critical for the Tigers in the regular season was 1987 against the Blue Jays. I was four years old then, and so I have no memory of that. They’re celebrating the ’84 World Series team tonight (I don’t remember that, either). But onto the game. A lot of people think the Tigers have collapsed or are in the process of collapsing because of losing the big lead in the division, but as Kurt points out, they’ve actually done about the same as they’ve done all year (albeit they’ve been a bit more streaky about it), and we were given assurances by all the columnists, pundits, stat heads, and sabremetricians that all Detroit had to do was hold their own. They’ve done that, but the Twins have just flown in the face of every math calculation and simulation that you can throw at them. And the mind-boggling thing is that ever since Morneau was lost for the season, they’ve played better than any point in the season that they had him. That makes no sense. We keep getting told that the Twins aren’t good on the road, and yet they had won every game on their current road trip until finally getting slowed down by Zack Greinke yesterday (and yet, even against the combination of Greinke and Soria, the Twins STILL banged out eleven hits). You’ve heard all the scenarios of what happens if each team wins a certain number of games in this series (though I find it a bit worrisome that the media and bloggers are acting as though the Twins taking three of four is the worst case scenario; We don’t want to fathom what the REAL worst-case scenario is, do we?). And so, there are two things that have been true most of the season that must hold true for the Tigers to win out: The Tigers play very well at home (only the Yankees and Red Sox are better), and their pitching is better than Twins pitching (though this good pitching oftentimes does not show up AGAINST the Twins). And it goes without saying that, due to the pitching matchups, the first two games are huge. Rick Porcello was pretty good in his last start, though he had to dodge a lot of traffic on the basepaths early in that game against the Indians. The last time he saw the Twins, he gave up three runs and lost. His lone shutout appearance came against the Twins back in May at Comerica Park (And it would behoove him to get that sinker working tonight because it is REALLY windy). Nick Blackburn typically does not pitch well at Comerica Park. However, after going through an awful second half, he has been really good in his last three starts, including his last one, where he threw seven shutout innings against the White Sox, and is a big reason why the Twins are as hot as they are now. And I’ll admit it: I am absolutely terrified right now. My gut feelings and intuition have taken the Tigers almost into the range that I thought they were capable of (Remember, I said they had the ability to win 85-90 games and contend. I promised nothing beyond that). Beyond this point, I have no idea what will happen.

And Sometimes, All it Takes is One Mistake

Just like last time, I can’t offer a whole lot of insight into this game, as it was the bottom of the eighth when I got home. I did get to listen to most of the top of the fifth on the radio, and that’s when all the damage was done. Justin struck out ten, but from what I hear, when they did make contact, it was hit hard somewhere. And I suppose the moral of this story is that you may as well let Ichiro get his pesky little infield singles, cuz it beats giving up bombs to him. Meanwhile, I did caution you that the Tigers only beat Ian Snell in Pittsburgh because of Rick Porcello’s bat, as odd as that sounds. And it’s not like Snell was stranding baserunners left and right. The Tigers never did put up much of a threat. They had six hits for the game, but Magglio had three of them.

I want to talk about Pudge just a bit more, and then I promise I’ll shut up about him (unless something meaningful happens further down the road). After the Tigers’ game ended, I loaded up MLB.tv and started watching what remained of the Twins-Rangers game. Pudge was 3-for-4 in his return. I only saw his final two at-bats, and he grounded out his final time up (against Joe Nathan), but he had a solid single to right in the sixth or seventh inning (can’t remember which). I’m not one to memorize batting stances or particular types of swings (unless they’re really distinct like Ichiro’s, and in that case you can’t help but memorize), but when Pudge gets base hits like that, he has a swing that looks like no one else’s. I realized that I missed seeing that swing. I watched him a couple of times with the Astros, but seeing him in a Rangers uniform, it felt (almost) right (Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, since I don’t really remember him from when he was a Ranger the first time. I know I saw him, but I have no memory of him prior to his days in Detroit). Maybe I’ll watch Rangers games a little bit more than I would have (as long as the Tigers are not playing, of course). Okay, I’ll shut up now.

Today is the rubber match of this series, and the last game before the Tigers have to head out to the west coast. Given the fact that the Tigers generally don’t play well on the west coast, it would behoove them to win today. Jarrod Washburn had a good start his last time out against the Royals, and now has the task of facing his old team. That ought to induce a few mind games. And since I don’t work today, I’ll FINALLY get to see him pitch. The Mariners will send out the Australian lefty, Ryan Rowland-Smith (and the fact that he has a hyphenated name just blows Rod Allen’s mind). The Tigers have faced him a few times as a reliever and once as a starter. You should remember that game, though you may not remember Ryan Rowland-Smith. It was that 15-inning game last year in Seattle. The Tigers finally won that game 2-1 because the Mariners ran out of pitchers and sent backup catcher Jamie Burke to the mound to pitch the fifteenth inning. It was also probably Nate Robertson’s best start of the 2008 season (nine innings, only one run). However, that also means that they only got one run off Ryan Rowland-Smith. It came on a solo home run from Ryan Raburn. With a lefty on the mound and Granderson in his typical August slump, he gets the day off (and he might get tomorrow off, too, with Oakland starting a lefty). Clete Thomas gets the nod in center field.

Finally Some Late Heroics

Photo: AP

REALLY short post today, as I have to go to work in about half an hour. It was the top of the eighth inning when I got home from work, so I arrived just in time to see two normally rock-solid relievers have meltdowns, one on each team. For some reason, Bobby Seay has not pitched well against the Twins and the Mariners this year (I still remember the two-run homer he gave up to Russell Branyan last month). However, he managed to vulture a win when the Tigers put up four against Mark Lowe. That home run that Alex Avila hit was a BOMB. Even Cabrera was impressed by it, judging by his postgame interview. The Tigers followed that up with some really good at-bats to retake the lead. And one game after making three errors, Ryan Raburn made up for it with some really good baserunning, first by tagging up on Aubrey Huff’s deep fly ball, then by turning Cabrera’s mistake into a steal of home.

There was some big news yesterday concerning a beloved former Tiger. Yes, Pudge Rodriguez has gone home, so to speak. The Rangers acquired him from the Astros to back up Taylor Teagarden. He must really want the chance to get back into the postseason for him to give up a starting job like that (Though maybe he also took a look at the fact that Teagarden is currently hitting .198). I like the Rangers better than the Astros anyways. And if he can’t be in Detroit, then the next best thing is for him to be with the team he came up with and where the fans absolutely love him (This news created quite the Pudge lovefest on Bless You Boys last night). So this is great news, for the most part.

Tonight, Justin Verlander takes the mound for the Tigers. He was sensational against the Red Sox. He hasn’t faced the Mariners since April, where he had a really bizarre loss. He was perfect and downright dominant through four innings, only to give up five runs in the fifth. He stayed in until the eighth and gave up six runs. Hopefully, this outing looks more like the first four innings of that start and less like the last three. He’ll be opposed by Ian Snell, whom the Tigers last saw with Pittsburgh. In fact, that was the only game that they won in that Pittsburgh series. They won that game 3-1, with two of those RBIs coming off the bat of Rick Porcello. I’ll be at work tonight, so you know what that means.

You're Getting a Lump of Coal

Can we finally be rid of the stupid Christmas in July promotion? At any rate, I think Luke French pitched decently, and probably would’ve had a better line had it not been for a couple errors/defensive mistakes (For some reason, the Tigers haven’t played good defense behind Luke French, although Polanco made a nice play on a line drive that he turned into a double play). Tigers’ pitching as a whole did not walk anybody. Meanwhile, as far as the offense is concerned, well, where’s Pudge when you need him? I mentioned that the Tigers had had their way with Jarrod Washburn in recent years, but I neglected to mention that Pudge (who owns Washburn) provided a lot of the damage. You can’t really point towards failure at scoring opportunities, because there really weren’t that many opportunities (I’m not sure Granderson’s triple counts, because with two outs, you only get one chance to score him). Ironically, through the last turn through the rotation, the only win came on the one night the pitching was kinda crappy.

Now we’re all knotted up at the top of the AL Central with the White Sox coming into town, so this weekend’s series could be very good or very bad. We’ve got a full slate of baseball today with the doubleheader. And the White Sox are coming off of Mark Buerhle’s perfect game (Anyone else not want that to happen?), which means that Hawk Harrelson’s head isn’t even gonna fit into the press box. What I’m kind of astounded by is that Buerhle’s perfect game came against the Rays, who have a good offense anyways and in particular possess speed, speed, and more speed. You’d think one of them would’ve managed a piddly little infield single at some point (especially since Buerhle gets lots of ground balls). At any rate, though, that means we will not have to see him in this series. For Game 1, the Tigers will face Jose Contreras. Contreras is normally a punching bag for the Tigers, but in his first start back from the minors back in June, he absolutely shut them down, which had all of us in fits. However, he proceeded to rattle off several good starts after that, almost halving his ERA in the process, so maybe it was not a fluke. He has not been quite as sharp recently. Justin Verlander was sharp in his last start, but not sharp enough, as the Tigers only scored one run. The White Sox are one of his two “problem” teams, though he got a complete game win against them at U.S. Cellular Field in June, outdueling Jon Danks. Carlos Guillen is back, too, after going 3-for-4 (all singles) in Toledo last night. He did not play the whole game, but the Mud Hens had a 10-run third inning and the Syracuse Chiefs had position players pitching for them for the bulk of the game. Guillen still can’t play the field or bat right-handed, so for now he’ll be a left-handed DH. Josh Anderson has been DFA’d, but I do hope he clears waivers and gets sent to Toledo. He would be a very useful call-up in September as a late-inning pinch-runner. I will try to do a recap of this game before the second game starts.

Run Support is a Beautiful Thing

Photo: AP

(Semi) quick post today, as I just got home from work and I don’t have a lot of time to elaborate on the finer points of last night. Suffice it to say, Edwin Jackson pitched superbly. He may have fallen behind hitters a little bit more than I’m comfortable with, but it doesn’t really show up in the boxscore, and he’ll be going into the All-Star Break on a high note. And while I can’t say the offense was rolling, they did get three runs for him early, which is more than they usually do. Ironically, the big hit was a two-run single off the bat of lefty Josh Anderson (who was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw; while I appreciate his aggression on the bases, it has gotten him into trouble recently). By the way, is it just me, or is Brandon Inge maybe caught in a bit of a cold snap? He had an important base hit early last night, but didn’t really do much after that. And that’s pretty much how he’s been on the entire homestand. The Marcus Thames home run in the eighth inning was both a blessing and a curse, because it provided much-desired insurance, but also ensured that Fernando Rodney would not pitch well. Why couldn’t Brandon Lyon pitch the ninth and not Rodney? I don’t remember Leyland ever using Todd Jones in this many non-save situations before. Finally, a couple injury notes: Zumaya was taken out of the game in the eighth inning with a bloody thumb. There seems to be some confusion as to whether it’s a cut or a blister, but I know I saw him messing with his thumb while he was warming up in the bullpen, so it’s something he knew about when he took the mound. Also, some of us have observed that Cabrera has slowed down at the plate over the past week to ten days. Could he be banged up as well? There were a couple shots of him in the dugout last night talking to Leyland and Kevin Rand, and they seemed to be looking at his knee. If that’s the case, hopefully the time off during the All-Star Break will do him some good.

But Edwin Jackson’s fine performance was definitely not the highlight of baseball last night. Back when I did my season preview, I made the “gut feeling” prediction that there would be one no-hitter this year, and it would be in the National League. Whether I was right about there only being one remains to be seen (though if one of the Tigers’ pitchers wants to throw one, I’ll gladly be wrong), but I was correct about the league. Congratulations to Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants. I watched the ninth inning, and it sure was exciting. His only baserunner reached on an error in the eighth (If I was Juan Uribe, I would make myself scarce for some time). The Tigers saw him last year in Interleague play, and fittingly enough, it took them until the fifth or sixth inning to get their first hit. I also remember Ryan Raburn hit a pinch-hit home run that either tied the game or put the Tigers ahead (It was a game that the Tigers eventually won). But it’s a great redemption-type story. Sanchez is a very talented lefty, but he was struggling this year to the point where he got sent down to the minors, and then called back up and put into the bullpen. He was only inserted back into the rotation because Randy Johnson is on the DL. I’d say he earned himself another start. And the great thing is that his dad had flown in from Puerto Rico to see his son, and it was the first time he ever saw him pitch in the majors in person. So good job, Jonathan Sanchez.

Tonight is the Negro Leagues Tribute Game in which the Detroit Stars host the Cleveland Buckeyes, and everyone wears those wacky, baggy throwback uniforms. The pitching matchup features Armando Galarraga against Carl Pavano. Those two faced off back in May, and it wasn’t pretty. For Galarraga, it touched off a long two months worth of struggles. He has shown signs of turning things around, first by gutting his way to a victory against the Cubs, then battling control problems to beat the A’s before a fantastic performance his last time out against the Royals, only to settle for a no-decision. This could be the telling start. Prior to his disastrous outing against them in May, Galarraga had pretty much dominated Cleveland, but the Indians are much more patient and have a much better offense than the Royals. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I am nervous nonetheless. Carl Pavano hasn’t been all that bad for the Tribe. He’s had some really good starts (including one against the Tigers in the aforementioned May game), and he’s been pretty good recently. I think the only reason his earned run average is so high is because when he does have a bad start, it’s a REALLY bad start. The Tigers have already lost one throwback uniform game. It’d sure be nice for them to win this one. By the way, this marks the first time since 2005 that Justin Verlander has NOT started the Negro Leagues game. I love Justin, but I was getting curious as to how silly the other starting pitchers look in those wacky Detroit Stars uniform.

Hey, We Beat Zack Greinke!

Photo: AP

I can’t give you a lot of firsthand insight into this game, because by the time I got home from work, it was the bottom of the eighth inning and there were two out. At any rate, from what I’ve heard, Luke French did a decent enough job. Billy Butler solved him almost immediately and he fell behind a few hitters, but you can sometimes get away with that sort of thing when you’re facing a normally below average offense like the Royals (and yes, with the injuries they’ve had, I would classify the Royals’ offense as “below average” rather than “underachieving,” like I did with Oakland). It looks as though the bullpen turned in a strong performance, capped off by Rodney’s perfect ninth. Meanwhile, the offense didn’t manage a whole lot against Royals’ pitching (which, against Greinke, is to be expected), but they were able to manufacture a few runs (and take advantage of some mental lapses by the Royals’ defense), which they did with great success early in the year but hadn’t done a lot of lately. As I’ve said before, I don’t find small ball to be that entertaining, but it’s nice to be able to do it, cuz that’s usually the only way you’re gonna beat guys like Zack Greinke, and with the Tigers’ pitching staff being reasonably strong, you can eke out a few wins that way. By the way, Brandon Inge’s bat seems to have gone quiet over the past few days, but he’s still got that defense. And he made Web Gems last night. Nothing like a little free publicity.

Before last night’s game, Jim Leyland announced that the newly called-up Clete Thomas will form one half of a left-right platoon with Magglio Ordoñez in right field. While I can’t say I’m happy about the decision from an “uneducated fan” perspective, from an “educated fan” perspective, it makes logical sense, and I can’t come up with any rational argument against it. As of right now, Maggs hasn’t provided Leyland with much incentive to not make such a move, and judging by his (brief) comments, Maggs knows and understands this. And from the perspective of a general manager, it provides Dave Dombrowski with the chance that Maggs won’t reach enough plate appearances for his option to automatically vest (simply because the vast majority of people in this world are right-handed), and it’ll give the Tigers an opportunity to resolve this contract problem without things getting (too) ugly (This is why I hate contract negotiations). Now, it still might not work. The plate appearances thing will largely be dependent on the schedule (For instance, last year the Tigers went through a stretch of two or three weeks without facing a lefty, while on the last road trip this year, five of the nine starting pitchers they faced were left-handed). For the record, currently the White Sox and Indians both have three lefties in their rotation, while Minnesota has two and Kansas City has one. Also, if Clete Thomas struggles or gets injured, then what do you do? Still, I like Magglio a lot, and it’s sad that they’ve had to resort to something like this. I went through something very similar last year when Leyland decided to alternate Pudge and Inge behind the plate, and I came up with what I deemed to be a very reasonable proposal then and I think that proposal fits well now: It’s up to Magglio to play his way back into the lineup more. If he gets hot and starts mashing lefties, then Leyland should give him the chance to start a little bit against righties (maybe against some that he’s had good numbers against, at least to start out with). And then see how it goes from there. In Pudge’s case, he got hot almost immediately after the alternation started, but that whole thing ultimately lasted about two weeks at the most, because Brandon Inge ended up on the disabled list shortly thereafter, so Pudge became the starting catcher again by default. I’m not sure if he would’ve been given that job had that not happened (he DID earn it, though, no matter what anyone else says), but it is worth noting that Pudge did catch most games even after Brandon returned, right up to a few days before he got traded. I understand that the contract situation complicates matters a little more in Magglio’s case (meaning there’s a lot less wiggle room), but I still think it’s a reasonable proposal.

Okay, with the heavy roster analysis stuff out of the way, I’d like to mention a couple of oddities about the last two games. First, remember the second game where a guy sitting behind the dugout caught a large bat shard one-handed while talking on his cell phone? He was at the game last night, too. I noticed him in one of the crowd shots during the ninth inning. Also, I forgot to mention this in the last post, but right before Polanco hit the two-run homer, Bruce Chen struck out Granderson and the Royals started jogging off the field thinking it was the third out. That is the third time in the last two weeks that a team has lost track of how many outs there were. It happened to the Dodgers, and then later in the week it happened to the Red Sox (that was the game in which the Red Sox blew a 10-1 lead in the late innings).

The Tigers are off today, and tomorrow night starts the last series before the All-Star Break. It’ll be against the Indians, who will likely be kind of limping in (although as I write this, they DO lead the White Sox 6-2 in the second inning). The Indians have a good offense, much better than the Royals (and with some of the Tiger pitchers having issues with the Royals, that might be a problem). Their pitching continues to be a major issue, although the Tigers will be facing their two most effective starting pitchers in this series (at the same time, they are sending THEIR two most effective pitchers out there as well). There seems to be some confusion as to whether the Indians are starting Cliff Lee or Carl Pavano tomorrow night, but the majority opinion seems to lean towards Cliff Lee, so I’ll go with that. The Tigers have beaten Lee twice this year, although they didn’t exactly knock him around either time (and both times, he was just plain outdueled by Justin Verlander). Lee’s only 4-8, but he’s got a really good earned run average, so he must not be getting a lot of run support. The Tigers will be sending out Edwin Jackson, who also doesn’t get a lot of run support, and based on who he’s up against, he probably shouldn’t expect much for this game, either. Two pitchers who don’t get much run support? Something’s gotta give. And the Tigers may be off today, but I am not. I will be at tonight’s Mud Hens game, and hopefully I’ll have a full report for you tomorrow. By the way, you still have about an hour left to vote Brandon Inge (and his running mate, Shane Victorino) into the All-Star Game. They were both leading their respective leagues as of two o’clock, but not by much, so now is not the time to be complacent. Keep voting!

Homemade Perfection

Photo: AP

Man, I think the Tigers escaped every single one of these games on the homestand by the skin of their teeth (hell, that statement could even apply to the entire winning streak), but the important thing is that they were able to do just that. Armando Galarraga got off to a rough start, and as a result, eventually got saddled with four earned runs in six innings, but I was encouraged by his pitching after the first inning. In some respects, he looked better than he did in the three quality starts he put up during his winless stretch. He made some mistakes in the strikezone that got hit hard, but he also threw a lot of pitches that looked like they belonged in the arsenal of the Galarraga of old. I saw quite a few good sliders in there. Perhaps there are three things about his final line that are especially encouraging. First, he only gave up six hits, which is not excessive for the time he was in there by any means. Second, he only walked one batter. Third, he struck out five batters, which is the highest number he’s gotten since the last time he won. And though I’m not real big on sabremetrics, he DID get quite a few swings and misses. So all told, he’s not quite back to being El Prestidigitador, but I think this start was a step in the right direction.

Once the Cubs got the three-run homer in the first inning, I was concerned because Ted Lilly had been pitching extremely well and I wasn’t sure he’d give up more than three runs. As it turns out, the Tigers’ history of punishing lefties won out. Ramon Santiago got the Tigers on the board first with a two-run homer (He’s got five now this year; at what point does he cease to be a “surprising” source of power?). And then a day after breaking the heart of nearly every woman in Tigerdom, Magglio Ordoñez DID homer. I still stand by what I said previously, although I will add that the placebo effect is an amazing phenomenon. If you’re gonna be superstitious about it, you could just as easily argue that Maggs homered because I ate macaroni and cheese for lunch yesterday, or because one of the cats decided to climb up the window shade and broke the frame. That has a nice ring to it: “Every time a cat breaks a window shade frame, Magglio hits a home run.” Yes, I’m sure by now you’ve realized that while I can take major problems like bases-loaded walks in stride, I get mad at really stupid things that are largely inconsequential. By the way, Magglio is selling his hair on eBay. I know it’s for a good cause, but it’s still CREEPY. Anyways, back to the offense. Miguel Cabrera continued his hot streak (though he’s got a long way to go if he wants to catch Ichiro), as did Ryan Raburn. And thanks to all of them, here’s your broom:


Interleague play winds down this weekend as the Tigers head to Houston for one more taste of National League-style baseball. The Astros have been near the bottom of the NL Central for most of the season, which doesn’t make a lot of sense since they have okay pitching and with some of the hitters they have, you’d think their offense would be better. Still, remember what the Pirates did to us. At any rate, Justin Verlander takes the hill tonight. He bounced back marvelously from that bad start in St. Louis to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s gonna have to give them some innings tonight, because I would think Bobby Seay, Brandon Lyon, and possibly Fernando Rodney are all unavailable tonight. Meanwhile, he’ll be up against Wandy Rodriguez, who has had a weird season, in that he started out pitching well enough to almost rival Zack Greinke, only to then go through a stretch where he got pounded every time out (which led to a mini-soap operaish controversy involving the catchers, the Astros’ GM, and whether or not he was tipping his pitches). Recently, he’s been either really bad or lights-out. Which brings me to the dilemma involving his batterymate. While I have become accustomed to not seeing him around Comerica Park anymore, I am still just as fond of Pudge as I was the day I picked him to be my favorite (and yes, I know he’s only batting around .250 this year, but he IS throwing runners out with a good amount of consistency). July 30th was the low point in the 2008 season for me, and truth be told, I’m not sure how I feel. It’s not that I can’t abide seeing him in another uniform (though seeing him wear a number other than 7 is exceptionally strange). It’s more that I don’t know how I would feel seeing him oppose the Tigers. I did not watch the one game last year where he came back to Comerica Park with the Yankees, marking the only occasion in the last three years that I have deliberately missed a game. It’s quite a conundrum. I don’t have very long to figure things out, though. Still, I’d like to think that Pudge has had a lasting impact on the Tigers that he was teammates with, and that that influence is part of the reason why the Tigers are playing well this season. That’s the beauty of catchers. Those intangibles. I’m not doing Mood Music tonight because I meant to use a slideshow that I myself started after Pudge was traded last year but did not finish. However, it’s still being uploaded to YouTube (literally), so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow or Sunday (unless it gets deleted for copyright issues before then). I would've used something from Michael Jackson, but I can't find one that's appropriate that allows embedding at this late notice. Yikes!

Fireworks and Flirting with Disaster

Photo: AP

We’ll get to the Magglio hair saga in a moment, but first, I do have a game to comment on. Tigers pitching certainly gave up a veritable parade of baserunners all night, but somehow managed to limit the damage. Leyland certainly wasn’t happy about the walks, in particular. However, if you think about it, this has gone on for the entire homestand with the exception of the Verlander game. I suppose I shouldn’t be picky, since they’re making good pitches when they need to and they’ve won all these games, but it’d be nice to have a Tiger pitcher just shut down the opposing offense completely for once.

The Tiger hitters did not have quite as many chances as the Cubs, but for once, the Tigers were receiving bases-loaded walks instead of giving them up (though I wonder how many bases-loaded walks the Tigers have given up if you take Dontrelle Willis and Ryan Perry out of the equation). Miguel Cabrera and Gerald Laird provided some early fireworks before the main event from the International Freedom Festival (which I had never heard of before last night…Hey, I’ve never lived in Michigan, so how was I supposed to know about it?). However, the difference came after the dropped pop-up by Geovanny Soto (whom I actually like, despite the fact that he’s not hitting much this year; he’s throwing out runners, he’s nice-looking, and he’s Puerto Rican). Again, the Tigers took advantage of an error.

Now to tackle the unpleasant task of Magglio’s hair, or lack thereof (By the way, it wasn’t just Magglio. Vladimir Guerrero shaved off his dreadlocks last night as well). First of all, you’re not going to convince me that any homerun that he hits from hereon out is anything but coincidence (or the result of hard work in the batting cage). Second of all, while he does not look awful like Brandon Inge did after he shaved his head last year (nor does he look like Armando Galarraga), I still don’t like it because now he just looks like everyone else. There’s nothing distinguishing about his appearance anymore (and remember, I didn’t watch a lot of the Tigers prior to 2006, so I’ve never really watched a short-haired Magglio before outside of some old photos and video of his White Sox days), and that’s disappointing. This has also, very predictably, caused a gender split on the blogosphere. The guys are ecstatic, while the women are bummed (I maintain that the men were just jealous). There was also some discussion about how it must feel better for him because it was 90 degrees yesterday, which reminded me of what I said last year when the Tigers were in Baltimore and Fernando Rodney and Brandon Inge had both shaved off their hair because of the heat:

Would you guys stop being a bunch of wusses about the heat? I hate being hot,
and yet I’ve had plenty of experience fencing wearing the full equipment (heavy
jacket and helmet) in a hot, sweaty gym and an even hotter, sweatier racquetball
court, and my hair goes down to the middle of my back.

Today, the Tigers go for the sweep (and a perfect homestand). They’re gonna need Armando Galarraga to go deep into this game because the bullpen was taxed last night (every pitcher was used except Freddy Dolsi). Armando needs a good start, because I imagine the leash is very short by now. There’s been speculation that he would’ve been pulled after four innings in his last start even if there hadn’t been a rain delay, but I think they would’ve at least tried to nurse him through the fifth, just so he could get the win. As I’ve said, his pitches have just looked different than they used to, and apparently it’s different in a bad way, given the results. And I have started wondering in earnest whether or not he’s hiding an injury. I haven’t been able to watch a start of his since the start he made in Chicago (work gets in the way of those things sometimes). I want to see the return of El Prestidigitador, not his evil twin (who throws different-looking pitches that aren’t effective). The Cubs will send out lefty Ted Lilly, who is having a good year with a very good earned run average. I’m hoping for a quick Tigers’ victory, because I go to work at 4:00.

Galarraga: May 2008 vs. May 2009

I trust you all had a nice, productive off-day, and now it’s back to work. As we count down the hours until tonight’s game, I’m sure we’re all thinking that it’d be nice for Armando Galarraga to join in on the recent spate of great Tiger pitching, both because he’s on a personal two-game losing streak and because the seeds of doubt may be starting to creep into the minds of some, given his “unproven” status. For comparison’s sake, I decided to look into how he pitched last May. Here are the final lines from his five May 2008 starts:

May 2nd: L @ MIN, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR (also WP, HBP)
May 7th: ND vs BOS, 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR (also HBP)
May 17th: W @ ARI, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
May 23rd: L vs MIN, 6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR
May 28th: W @ LAA, 8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR

Without actually looking at the lines from his last three starts this year (‘cuz I’m lazy), the numbers seem pretty similar. He finished out the month 2-2 with a no-decision mixed in, but the only start he had that wasn’t shaky in some fashion was the May 28th start against the Angels, in which he fell two outs shy of a complete game. Perhaps May just isn’t his month (Indeed, it seems like he did his best pitching in April, June, and August last year). As I’ve said before, I’m not real big on sabermetrics and ultra-detailed statistics, so I’m not going to analyze batting average on balls in play or the percentage of swings and misses he gets on his slider, nor do I care to read anyone else’s analysis of it. At any rate, a couple things I have observed are that when he’s going right, he has a knack for making adjustments and limiting hits when the opposing team has guys on base. Big innings against him have been exceptionally rare, and given that there has been one in each of his last two games, you’d think he’d be on the verge of an adjustment of some sort. The problem is that he has struggled against the Twins so consistently that if he were to pitch badly tonight, you’d almost have to be forced to ignore this start and wait for the next one (Hey, the White Sox and Indians accounted for TEN of Verlander’s 17 losses last year; he’d’ve had a winning record otherwise). I can’t guarantee that he WILL be able to make the adjustment, but it’s still too early to say that he WON’T. And this is where I abandon all the numbers and stats and say that I’m totally rooting for the guy, because he is a great story and he strikes me as a very smart person, and I like smart people. In fact, I think the only pitcher on the Tigers’ staff that I root harder for is Verlander, and that’s simply a personal preference. I am just too softhearted for this business. At any rate, I figured I’d throw my two cents and lack of predictions out there.

Justin Verlander is the Man

Photo: AP

I don’t know how many of you listen to Tigers games on the radio (given the general dislike of Jim Price amongst Tigers fans, I’m going to assume it’s not that many), but for those of you who don’t, I need to explain something: On the radio, they always play the intro to “Detroit Rock City” when they come out of commercial for the ninth inning (whether it gets played for the top half or the bottom half of the inning depends on whether the Tigers are at home or on the road and whether or not they have the lead). So imagine my surprise when, on my drive home from work (9:00), I hear “Detroit Rock City” being played. Damn, that was a short game. At any rate, through a combination of the radio and the TV, I was able to experience the bottom of the ninth along with the rest of you (and yes, luckily I saw the final two outs on TV). I have since utilized MLB.tv to watch most of the rest of the game (“most” as in the bottom halves of innings as well as the top of the eighth, when the Tigers scored their only run), so I can at least provide a little bit of my own insight, though what more can you say, really? I think Justin Verlander is trying to serve Zack Greinke notice. He totally fought off all those demons he had at Progressive Field and locked ‘em all away, at least for one night. He sure has been racking up the strikeouts and notched complete game #1 for the Tigers this season (with the way he’d been throwing, you kinda felt like he would do it at some point). Of course, none of this happy talk would have been possible without an amazing, spectacular play by Curtis Granderson, who showed off his basketball skills as he leaped up to rob Grady Sizemore of what would have been a heartbreaker of a walk-off home run. Of course, I was immediately reminded of the play he made a couple years ago at Comerica Park to rob Wily Mo Peña in a game against the Red Sox. That play may have been flashier from a visual standpoint, but the play he made last night was definitely more significant.

Tonight’s game features sinkerballer Fausto Carmona against hard-thrower Edwin Jackson. Jackson’s been haunted by lack of run support and a really bad seventh inning his last time out. He has good numbers against Cleveland in his career, though he’s only made one start at Progressive Field. Carmona started off the season really rough, but has pitched better recently and always seems to stymie the Tigers now matter how much he’s been struggling. However, the Tigers all of a sudden have a lot more left-handed bats at their disposal (Anderson, Thomas, Granderson, Larish, and the switch-hitter Santiago), as well as more speed from those left-handed bats. Leyland has said as much, and he also said that Cabrera might DH and Maggs might get the night off. I work tonight (and, for the record, I hate closing on Saturdays), so I’ll be limited to the late innings once again.

Galarraga, El Prestidigitador

Photo: G. Newman Lowrance (Getty Images)

I know several people online have taken to calling Armando Galarraga “The Little Cat” (obviously in reference to Andres), but forget that. Given both his knack for card tricks and his ability to somehow Houdini his way out of jams (and look really good doing it), Armando’s nickname SHOULD be “The Magician” (or if you prefer the Spanish, as in the title, “El Prestidigitador,” although that’s a really hard word to say; you could also use “El Mago,” but that actually translates closer to “wizard” than “magician”). Whatever you want to call him, Galarraga did a fine job working around some control problems, and managed to get six innings in (which, you’d think with five walks and seven strikeouts, he’d’ve thrown more pitches than he actually did). Still, he needs to work out those control problems, because his next start is against Cleveland, and even though he’s never lost to them, the Indians typically have a much better offense than the Royals, and he probably won’t be able to get away with five walks again. Rodney gave up the home run to Mike Aviles in the ninth, which makes two straight appearances in which he’s given up runs, so that may be a little bit of a concern, but he looked okay after the home run.

When you think of pitchers that you have to manufacture runs against, you usually don’t think of Sidney Ponson. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Tigers WERE able to manufacture the critical run. Ponson totally defied his scouting report (which had him pegged as walking a lot of guys) and pretty much threw nothing but strikes. I’d complain about it more, but if he struck out Polanco, then maybe there was more at work than the Reyes Effect. Luckily, Brandon Inge was able to take advantage of pretty much the only mistake he made, and once again, there was some nice (and, as it turns out, important) small ball contribution from the bottom of the lineup (Anderson, Everett, and Sardinha).

After being on the road for all but five games this month, it’s time for the boys to don the home whites for a while. However, this homestand figures to be anything but easy. They’ll eventually have to face 13 games in a row against division opponents, but first up is the New York Yankees and the media circus that comes with them. It’s well-documented by now that the Yankees have not pitched well so far this year, but they’re still at .500 (so they can definitely outslug you). Tonight, CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander oppose each other for what seems like the 500th time now, and it pretty much never lives up to its “Big Pitching Duel” billing. Usually what ends up happening is that one of them pitches reasonably well while the other gets clobbered, and the potential for that happening again is really high. Both pitchers have struggled, though Sabathia’s ERA is better and he’s been okay over his last few starts (with the exception being his last start against Oakland). He’s still thrown a lot of pitches in a short amount of time and he’s walked more than he’s struck out (then again, so had Sidney Ponson prior to yesterday). The Tigers last saw him in early April last year, when he was REALLY struggling, and they scored a ton of runs off him (that was the night Armando Galarraga got his first win). He’s not struggling quite THAT much right now. On the flipside, if you look at Verlander’s basic stats, the only bad numbers are his ERA and the fact that he throws too many pitches per inning. He isn’t walking a lot of guys, the opponent’s batting average against is pretty low, and he’s racked up quite a few strikeouts, so basically nothing makes sense about him right now. As a result, people have started delving into his more advanced stats, and this is where my amateur status comes into play because I don’t understand most of what that covers. For example, Billfer has an in-depth article that explores whether the problem lies with something Justin is doing while in the stretch, but 90% of that article may as well be in Chinese because I have no clue what he’s referring to. I read an article before Verlander’s last start which suggested that at the present time, opponents are just bunching their hits together against him, which may be related to a problem pitching in the stretch. Leyland has said that Justin’s stuck in a mode right now where he goes out there “waiting for something bad to happen,” and there might be some truth to that. In just about all his starts this year, he has pitched well until he gives up a run or someone makes an error or there’s a bloop hit or something to that effect and then, well…I don’t want to say he gives up, but it’s like he gets frustrated and loses focus, which just opens the floodgates. Then there’s the old theory that he’s tipping his pitches, which hasn’t been explored that much recently, but it’s one that has kind of stuck ever since his rookie year, and it usually centers around Chicago and Cleveland (the two teams that have hit him the hardest, generally). If there is any bearing to the theory, it may have expanded beyond those two teams, because over the past four years, a lot of White Sox and Indians have moved on to other teams (for instance, Franklin Guitierrez was traded from the Indians to the Mariners), and with them go the scouting reports. Whatever the reason, I would dearly love Justin to win tonight, if for nothing else than to get people to stop saying mean things about him (There, I just showed my immature side). It will not be easy for him, since he’s got the Yankees tonight, and then the Indians and White Sox. He has faced the Yankees three times in his career (once in the postseason). In 2007, he had an okay start against them at Yankee Stadium (similar to his postseason start), followed by a brilliant start against them about ten days later at Comerica Park. He only made one start against them last year, and to say it was a disaster would be an understatement (By the way, did I mention that I did not see that game?). One thing that I’d be especially happy to see tonight is good defense, because so far this year, Justin’s been victimized by some awful defense in just about every outing. In all honesty, his ERA should actually be lower than it is right now (though still not great), but official scorers in Anaheim make really strange decisions. Your Mood Music for tonight: I know you’re not going to understand this, but I DON’T hate the Yankees. That probably stems from the fact that I went to New York when I was eleven and loved it. Regardless of the reason, I just don’t hate them. However, I realize that I am in the minority here and to just about everyone else, they are the Evil Empire. So I’ll just be tongue-in-cheek, and to that end, what better music than the Darth Vader Theme?

I Warned You About the West Coast

Man, first game on the west coast and ALREADY we’re in Twilight Zone Hell. What happened? Justin Verlander pitched the best game I’ve seen from him in a long time (better than the start against Texas), and he STILL gave up six runs. And for the most part, it was just that fifth inning (you can’t even call them fluke hits, because the balls were hit hard, moreso than any out he got). Peripherally, you got everything you would’ve wanted out of him: 7.1 innings, a low pitch count, lots of strikes, only one walk, eight strikeouts, and 99 miles per hour. Even Leyland can’t figure it out. There is only one parallel I can try to draw, and it actually isn’t one of Verlander’s games. It was in ’07 during Interleague play in a game against the Atlanta Braves. Kenny Rogers and John Smoltz were locked in a scoreless pitching duel. Both pitchers were totally on their game and pitching very, very well. Then all of a sudden in the sixth inning (with two outs), the Tigers strung a bunch of hits together and scored 5 runs against Smoltz. It’s somewhat reminiscent of last night’s game cuz that just came out of the blue as well. Of course, in Verlander’s case, he got victimized by his defense again. For some reason, the defense just hasn’t been there for him in his first three starts this season. All the other pitchers get spectacular plays, and he gets costly errors (mostly from Inge). The errors cost him an inning (and a win) against Texas, and last night it may have cost him the game. Had Inge been able to not make the error, Russell Branyan would’ve been a dead duck at the plate and there would’ve been two outs, meaning it would’ve been unlikely that Franklin Gutierrez would bunt. But it looks as though Seattle has evolved into the type of team that you can’t allow them opportunities to force the issue. Verlander said he’s going to have a séance to the baseball gods. He’s probably joking, but he’s certainly welcome to do so provided he doesn’t do anything stupid that’ll piss me off.

By the way, the Tigers DID outhit the Mariners, but all nine of their hits were singles. Granted, Miguel Cabrera probably could’ve had three doubles, but he hit the ball so hard each time that it got to the outfielder really quickly (apparently there are times when you can hit the ball TOO hard). And the only reason his first single was not a home run was that he didn’t get it up high enough. He’s really the only one who hit the ball hard in the second inning when the Tigers got their three runs. Guillen had an infield single that was really a double-play ball bobbled by Beltre (so both Gold Glove-caliber third basemen made miscues in this game, though Inge’s was more costly), and Inge hit a ground ball in the right spot. And I don’t know why Santiago was given a sacrifice while Gutierrez got credit for a bunt single.

By the way, I had a dream last night that Brandon Webb no-hit the Tigers. Does anyone else find this disturbing?

It doesn’t get any easier for the Tiger hitters tonight as they’re up against Erik Bedard, who seems to have regained his form. I was taking a look at the press pass online, and to my surprise, most of the Tigers have had very few at-bats against Bedard (a lot of 0-for-2s or 1-for-4s or the like). The only one with a significant number is Laird, who has had 14, but not much success. Miguel Cabrera is only 1-for-6 off Bedard, but that one hit was a home run. Edwin Jackson has good career numbers against the Mariners, but so did Verlander. Please, no more Twilight Zone Hell. By the way, I have a small request that Gerald Laird switch to wearing long pants, not because of any Fashion Police issue, but because I keep getting him mixed up with Brandon Inge when he’s at the plate. They have, like, the exact same legs. Your Mood Music for tonight: Well, as most of you know, Safeco Field is apparently right next door to a train yard, cuz you can hear the trains throughout the whole game. In honor of that, I thought it would be most fitting to present Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”