Tigers vs. Twins Aug 9, 2009 (I was there!)

I got to see the Tigers win a game in person! A first time for me. I've seen about 12 games in person, but they have always lost until yesterday. Here are some of my impressions-

It was very HOT!



We saw Marcus Thames hit his 100th career home run- (very lucky pic)





That ball landed about 40' away from where we were standing (in Section 148). Cabrera followed him with a homer of his own.

Earlier in the game Curtis Granderson stole his 20th base of the season.



We missed the back to back home runs that the Twins hit in the 4th (we made a beer run and walked down to Section 148, so we couldn't see the field. But after the Twins pulled ahead in that inning the Tigers came back with a major 4th inning of their own (including Thames' and Cabrera's home runs). Offensively each Tiger starter scored a run or drove in a run. Washburn did not have a great game, but kept the Tigers in the game. Lyon impressed me. Rodney gave up a bullet home run to Cuddyer- I mean that left the park in a hurry! but otherwise got 3 ground ball outs to Inge to end the game. Tigers win 8-7.

Comerica Park is great. I don't think there is a bad seat in the house. We were in Sec 343 which is waaay up and down the left field line (we were almost in line with the foul pole). There was a nice breeze through the whole game, so we didn't bake in our own juices. The fans were all having a great time (nobody was obnoxious around us).

We weren't there in time to catch batting practice (maybe next time).

Overall a great day watching the Tigers win an important game. Right now they are losing to the Red Sox 3-4 but I think they will turn this game around too.

Game 88: Tigers @ Yankees

Tigers 3- Yankees 5

Okay, if I have to be at work at 6 am on a Saturday and there is nothing to do right now I can at least catch this blog up a little. (Just keep the coffee coming!)

Last night the Tigers blew a game against the Yankees. Joel Zumaya deserves most of the blame, but there is enough to go around. There were many encouraging things in that game too.

Hits-

• Luke French can get Yankees out! In his 3rd Big League start he allowed 5 hits in 5 innings and only 1 earned run. He had 3 strike outs. Unfortunately he gave up 3 walks too. But the Tigers were winning while he was pitching.
• Curtis Granderson takes baseball seriously! He started the game with a double and followed up in the 5th with a homerun. He also made some nice plays in the field. Lynn Henning of the Detroit News suggested that Curtis needs to "make baseball his fixation". Last night Granderson did.
• Clete Thomas and Josh Anderson can throw! Thomas got hung with an error in the 1st for a throw that was off line from Right field to catcher Laird. I don't think it should have been an error- but the run scored and somebody had to be blamed for it I guess. If nothing else he gave the Yankees something to think about as they ran. Josh Anderson redeemed himself for a dumb error by gunning down Posada at home from Left.

Misses-

• Too many runners left on base. Last night there 18 runners left behind. Burnett was vulnerable and the Tigers didn't take enough advantage. They were 1 for 12 with Runners in Scoring Position.
• Errors. Last night there were 3 of them, the two I mentioned above and one on Inge that I didn't see. (And I'm not convinced that Thomas' was really a error).
• Zumaya. At this point he deserves an entire post of his own. He can not (or will not) pitch effectively right now. He came on in the 7th last night and served up 5 hits and 1 walk. Rod Allen of FSN Detroit commented that "it looks like (Yankee batters) know what's coming!" This stat was brought up in the Bless You Boys Game Thread last night...
  

  I’m not a fire Jim Leyland guy but if Leyland puts him in the 7th or 8th inning again with a lead he should be fired. Last 9 outings (counting tonight) he has 4 blown saves and 8 earned runs allowed … he is done!

  by tigerfaninChicago

I checked my stats and we have to go back 14 appearances to find a really effective game for Zoom. He has given up 11 runs in that time frame (10 earned). A big part of his problem is that he can't find the plate. In those 14 games he has given up 13 walks. Then there are the 16 hits on top of the walks. Right now I don't see how Leyland can trust Joel with any situation.


To sum it all up. The Tigers could have and should have won last night's game against the Yankees, but they let it slip away. Both Chicago and Minnesota won, to the Tigers' lead over those teams was diminished by 1 game.

Verlander takes the ball today against Sabbathia.

Catch up... Week 11 & 12

Almost swept? A sweep! (A "benching" and a haircut!) Another sweep! Almost swept? Do you see the pattern here?

Week 11
4 W, 2 L

The Tigers were on the verge of being swept out of St. Louis (in a nightmarish re-run of the '06 World Series filled with pitchers' errors, fielders' errors and little scoring). But Detroit pulled it together for the last game of the series and then marched into Milwaukee and earned a sweep over the Brewers. In the last 4 games of the week the bats scored 28 runs on 45 hits, apparently the slump was over.

Week 11 was, by far, the worst week of the year for fielding. The Tigers made 9 errors in the week (almost all of them in St. Louis). Improved defense has been a trademark of this 2009 team, but Busch Stadium apparently befuddles gloves and arms wearing the Old English D. Inspite of week 11 the Tigers continue to do very well. For a great explanation of what this improvement means for wins and losses, check out another of Lee's articles on this key at Tiger Tales.

Because of the lack of production from Magglio Ordonez, Jim Leyland kept him out of a few games to try to "get him started". Mags has clearly not produced at the plate this year and his fielding is slipping. He doesn't make errors (2 so far this year) but he doesn't get to balls as easily as faster, younger players do. Kurt lays it out very well here. The beauty of baseball is that numbers don't lie. But- they also don't tell the whole truth. This deserves its own posting, but I don't have time so I'll do it here: Magglio Ordonez has been a fantastic player for the Tigers. He plays every day. He doesn't complain. He is a terror against the White Sox (that is worth extra points for me). He hit The Home Run that put the Tigers into the 2006 World Series (that picture is still my computer screen background). You can't cut him loose to save the salary (as some have suggested). There is another reason that such a thing would be a seriously sleezy thing to do- although there aren't many details to be found, it is clear that his wife is seriously ill. That has to impact a player, just as it would impact anyone trying to do their job while the personal life in in upheaval. To see no drop in his production would indicate that he is a heartless SOB (which he clearly is not). Work him through it, help him where you can. Wait until he is freed from the burden of his wife's problems and we will all be rewarded with a rejuvinated Magglio to help the Tigers in the stretch this fall.

Week 12
4 Wins, 2 Losses

The Tigers were more like the Tigers we are getting used to during Week 12. The bats cooled off, the gloves recovered and the pitching (for the most part) kept the team in the game. Verlander has not dominated lately like he did in May and early June but he finished the week with 8 wins. Rick Porcello also finished the week with 8 wins. Jackson should have at least that many by has 6. Gallarraga got his 4th win this week (and seems to have figured out something or other about pitching in 2009). Figaro was given a chance to be the 5th starter (replacing Willis who is on the DL again for causing the fans so much anxiety). Figaro won his first game but was shelled in Saturday's game against the Astros. Leyland thinks he was too timid and he was sent down and will be replaced by French.

One thing that was different about Week 11 and 12 was the home runs. Detroit hit 24 homeruns in 12 games! We have not seen that kind of power in a looonngg time. I don't track HR seperately in my spreadsheet, but Inge and Granderson both have 18 for the year. Cabrera has 16. Thames has 5 in only 27 games. Even Polanco is getting in on the act, hitting 2 the last two weeks! Clearly they are not playing "small ball" right now.

Standings:

Team Place Games Back

Detroit 1st -
Minn 2nd 4.0
Chicago 3rd 5.0
KC 4th 9 1/2
Cleveland 5th 12

roster moves:
Robertson to DL ("mass on elbow")
Ni up from Toledo to replace Robertson
Figaro up and back to Toledo
French up to replace him
Guillen is apparently feeling better

Week 10: A rough ride...

Week 10: 4 W, 4 L

This was a week that I will admit I was very worried about. There were 5 games schedules in Chicago against the White Sox (and the Tigers just don't seem to win there). Then there was the expectation of starting against National League teams (who have been easy pickings for Detroit the past few years). Well, things didn't turn out quite as I had expected.

Firstly the Tigers went into Chicago and looked pretty good. They took 3 out of the 5 and should have won another. When it was all over the White Soxs were 5 1/2 games behind the Tigers. I felt that a significant test of this Tigers' team had been met and passed. But then...

The Tigers went to PNC Park in Pittsburg and were owned. I don't know how else to describe it. It didn't help that the Galarraga and Willis were terrible. No, that doesn't surprise me anymore (I'm sorry to say). But the batting was anemic to say the least. Detroit scored 9 runs in the series (3,3,3). Maybe Verlander and Jackson can win with that kind of run support, but nobody else can. Porcello realized it and went and drove in 2 runs for himself, thus giving himself the only win of the series.

I brought up (in the last post) that the number of runs per game was bad. Well, in Week 10 it got worse. Over these 8 games the Tigers averaged 3.38 runs/ game. The batting average was .212! It is actually a wonder that a team batting so poorly won 4 games. Leyland is trying to fix things. Marcus Thames was activated and has batted .310 with 2 HR already. Don Kelly was brought up from Toledo and is hitting .333 has 2 RBI in just 3 games. But Ordonez continues to struggle (3 hits, 3 runs this week), as does Granderson (6 hits, 2 runs scored). Cabrerra had 1 run on 4 hits (though his one run won the 3rd game against the Sox). In fact the best hitters on the team right now are Inge, Everett and Raburn. They combined for 14 runs this past week.

Pitching has been either lights out or lit up this week. Verlander pitched a complete game for win number 7. Porcello also picked up his 7th win this week. Bonderman made a brief appearance for the Tigers and realized that he was not ready for the Big Time yet. Galarraga had one decent game and one absolute disaster. Willis was also both okay and decidedly NOT okay. Willis apparently realizes that he cannot continue. He told Jason Beck that what he was doing could not continue. Here is a snap shot.

Honestly, today was just unacceptable. I can't put my team in that type of hole. Can't beat anybody pitching like that. It's very tough to pitch when you're in a jam every inning. I'm going to have to finally do something, or somebody else is going to have to go out there to help this ballclub win. Because I just can't go out there and do that.

Ian already put his $.02 worth last week. Today Bilfer makes the case that Willis' time in Detroit has to be over. I have to agree. Galarraga is enough of a mystery for the rotation. With the year that Verlander, Jackson and Porcello are putting together they, quite honestly, don't deserve to have every 5th game thrown into the gutter. The Tigers' have a great chance to make the playoffs this year but they have to have a decent chance to win on all game days.

Week 10

Place Game Back
Tigers 1st
Twins 2nd 3
W. Sox 3rd 4 1/2
Royals 4th 5 1/2
Indians 5th 6

Week 9- Boston and LAA

Week 9 ended up as the first losing week of the season for the Tigers, who lost 4 and won 2.

Many people have mentioned it, but it must be said again- this team is not hitting right now for a lick! At least not when it counts. Here are the numbers....

Week 9 had a total of 44 hits in 187 At Bats, for a Batting Average of only .235. Their BA has been dropping like a rock for the past 4 weeks. In Week 6 they had a .304 BA, Week 7 was .260, Week 8 .272 and now .235. The number of runs scored per game has, of course, dropped right with it to 3.50 this week. And there is no power to make up for the lack of hits- Week 9 had 9 extra base hits (and only 1 home run- Thomas' grand slam today against the Angels).

Pitching is the biggest reason that this team is still in this race at all (that and a weak Central division). Here is a stat the entire pitching staff should be proud of: The Tigers have allowed the fewest runs in the American League. And it really isn't close- Detroit has allowed 241. The next best is Boston at 257 allowed. The starters' ERA is 3.92 for the year. Verlander earned Pitcher Of the Month for the AL in May. Porcello earned Rookie of the Month for the AL in May. Jackson just quietly shut down everything in front of him in May.

Defense also continues to be strength for the Tigers this season. As of today they have the 3rd best fielding percentage in the American League (.988) and have only committed 25 errors in 55 games. This past week was actually one of their worst with 5 errors committed.

Verlander and Jackson allowed a total of 1 run this week over 17 innings. The only blemish on the starters' record was Willis' melt down. There are many calls for his head because of his "performance" on Thursday (where he allowed 5 runs on 5 walks in the 3rd inning after shutting Boston down in the 1st and 2nd).

Another episode in Tiger related life was the on again, off again "final" destruction of Tigers' Stadium. I have great memories of seeing games in Tigers' Stadium when I was younger. But I have great memories of seeing games in Comerica Park too. As long as I have a place to see the Tigers play I'm a happy camper.

Week 9
2 W, 4 L
1st place

Place Games Back
Det 1st -
Min 2nd 3.0
Chi 3rd 4.5
KC 4th 6.5
Cle 5th 7.0

Next week is a rare 5 game series with the White Sox and then the start of the happy hunting grounds of Interleague play!

Some things I see out there...

It's an off day while the Tigers settle back into Comerica Park and wait for the Red Sox to show up. So I've been reading around the web. These are some posts others have made about the Tigers that I thought were cool:

These two are from Baseball Musings- both about Tigers' pitching. The first is about Verlander vs. Greinke. The second article looks at the extremes seen in the Tigers' staff. Here's the money quote:

The Tigers, unfortunately, also produced the worst ERA in May...His (Galarraga's) 0-5 record helped keep the rest of the division in the pennant race.

Here is a look at how Edwin Jackson is improving while pitching for Detroit (via TigerTales).

Not to leave the batters out of the love, here is something Curtis Granderson wrote on his blog. Thanks to Ian at Bless You Boys for linking it.

The Detroit Tigers Weblog looks at where some of the ex-Tigers have ended up this year and how they are faring.

Mack Avenue Tigers looks at the catching situation.

Back to Verlander- Jason Beck tells us that Justin has been nominated for the MLB Clutch Performer of the Month (May) Award. Beck also tells us that Bonderman had a very good game last night for the Toledo Mudhens. Here's the quote you probably want to see:

"he looked like a Major League pitcher."

Looking at other teams in the AL Central there is some bad news for the Indians. Grady Sizemore was put on the DL for an imflammed elbow for 2 weeks. Apparently if rest doesn't help he will look at surgery, which could take him out for an additional 6 weeks.

I just saw that Cleveland has placed Rafael Betancourt on the DL also with a groin strain. Cleveland has 8 players on the DL right now. The Indians are 22-30 and 7 1/2 games behind the Tigers.

The White Sox are starting to put together a run up the standings again. Apparently their lead off guys are starting to figure some things out. On May 1st the White Sox were in 1st place in a very tight race. By May 15th they had dropped 4 games below .500 and 3 full games behind first place. Today they are back in 2nd place and 4 full games behind the Tigers, though they are on a 3 game winning streak. Detroit goes to Chicago for 4 games next week. It could be very interesting.

Week 8: 4 W- 3 L

Week in Review- Road Trip edition

This past week the Tigers ran into two men who seem to defy the laws of statistics: Matt Grienke pitching for the Royals and Luke Scott hitting for the Orioles. Other than that they played well. Here comes the science....

Detroit played a 3 game series against Kansas City early in the week. Verlander and Porcello dominated the Royals, Justin pitched a shutout through 7 and Porcello allowed only 2 through 6. Jackson ran into the amazing Matt Grienke pitching for the Royals. Grienke allowed 1 run and pitched an entire game. His ERA after that outing was 0.84! Detroit did nothing to damage his reputation.

Then Detroit went to Baltimore a.k.a. the Land of Luke Scott. Here is some perspective on Luke Scott- he was traded to Baltimore last year from Houston and since then has absolutely destroyed Tiger pitching. He has played in 13 games against Detriot and homered in 12 of them. It just seems that his purpose on earth is to keep the Orioles in games against the Tigers. Some of the best times of my week were spent reading the comments posted about Mr. Scott. Here are some of the best.

From Bless You Boys

i hate that guy

http://www.fromthecopa.blogspot.com

by rock n rye on May 29, 2009 8:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

From Roar of the Tigers read this, this and this.

All of this attention to Scott was deserved by the Tigers blogosphere. He hit the game winning home runs on Thursday, Friday and the game tying homerun on Saturday until Clete Thomas unloaded for his 2nd HR of the day to put Detroit ahead for good.

So, all in all the Tigers did well. They won more games than they lost on this road trip. In fact, they have not "lost" a week yet this year, playing at least .500 ball every week this year. Pitching and defense are keeping the team in the game until the batters put something together. The slugging percentage for the week was .407 and continues a 3 week slide in that category. Leyland keeps playing with the batting order to see what works the best. In fact today Granderson batted cleanup for the first time in his MLB career (and hit his 2nd HR in 2 days).

At the end of the week:
28 - 21
First place in the AL Central.

Team Place GB
Det 1 -
Chi 2 4
Min 3 4 1/2
KC 4 5 1/2
Cle 5 7 1/2