Archive for May, 2005

May 20, 1935 Tiger 8, Athletics 6 (14-13)

Tommy Bridges scrapped his way through eleven innings of work to bring home the win. In a line you won’t see these days, Bridges gave up six runs on fifteen hits and had five strikeouts. With the Tigers up 5-3 in the ninth, the Athletics scored two to put the game into extra frames, only to have the Tigers put three runs up in the eleventh to win it in Philly.

Centerfielder Pete Fox and Hank Greenberg both hit homeruns and doubles for the Tigers. Fox drove in two runs while Greenberg scored twice.

The win gave the Tigers a winning record for the first time in the season. From here on out, they’d never dip back below .500 as they pursued their first World Series Championship.

For those baseball fans out there looking for a great read, I highly recommend the “The Baseball Same Game: Finding Comparable Players From the National Pastime.” Armed with Lee Sinins’ Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia, author Steve Lombardi provides both a statistical and a historical analysis on pairs of players who are statistically comparable.

This book has a little something for every baseball fan. Each player pair are compared statistically, then Mr. Lombardi provides a nice narrative detailing the history of each player and his conclusions on why they’re similar. So the statheads get their stats, the historians get some history, and for those of you like me who are both, you get a ton of useful information.

Probably the most interesting comparisons are those between Hall of Fame players (or near Hall of Fame Players) and those who didn’t make it in. At times it almost seems like the whim of the voters decide who gets in, as opposed to the players accomplishments.

There are plenty of former Tigers, and while I don’t want to give too much away, my favorite pairing was Goose Gossage and John Hiller. Goose Gossage is one of my favorite pitchers (who didn’t throw for the Tigers) and I feel he warrants consideration for the Hall of Fame. John Hiller is one of my all time favorite players, and it was nice to see him matched up favorably with one of the very best.

You can pick up The Baseball Same Game by clicking here. You won’t be disappointed. And you can check out more of Steve’s work at his website NetShrine.com.

May 19, 1935 Tigers 16, Senators 6 (13-13)

The Tigers scored in seven of their nine innings as they crushed the Senators. They got off to a good start by putting four runs up in the first, and never looked back. Rookie starter Joe Sullivan cruised along until the eighth when he gave up a run. They tagged him for five in the ninth, but the six runs could only bring the Senators to within ten of the Tigers.

Ironically the Tigers scored their 16 runs without hitting a homerun. They had two triples (Gehringer and Greenberg) and two batters with three RBIs (Gehringer and Rogell). Billy Rogell had the biggest game at the plate as he went four for five.

The win put the Tigers at .500 for the first time in the season since they started 1-1. They still trailed the White Sox by five games, but they were slowly inching their way up the standings.

Tigerblog writer Jeff Gray did an excellent column on Dave Dombrowski over at Goat Riders of the Apocoplypse. Be sure to check this out. You can also check out more of Jeff’s work at his own site, Under the Bleachers.

The Tigers won yesterday, and have clawed their way back up to the .500 mark. Unfortunately, the still somewhat hot Sox are 17 games above .500 and the Tigers have a long way to go (8 1/2 games) to catch up to them. Tigers have won seven of their last ten, and with two more wins, can finish the first quarter of the season with a winning record. At the 40 game mark last year, they were 19-21.

May 18, 1935 Tigers 6, Senators 4 (12-13)

A three run sixth inning put the Tigers in front for good as starter General Crowder gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk. He struck out two Senators.

Charlie Gehringer hit a homerun and drove in two. Third basemen Marv Owen drove in two runs.

In my quest to own every baseball card ever created, I thought it would be cool to try to build a relatively older set. I recently bought 1,000 loose 1979 Topps commons and minor stars, and while it went a long way towards finishing the set, I’m now stuck with a ton of doubles.

If anyone’s interested in these cards, drop me a line and maybe we can work out a trade.

May 17, 1935 Senators 10, Tigers 8 (11-13)

Schoolboy Rowe was knocked out of this one early as he gave up ten hits in 3 1/3 innings. The Senators jumped out to a 7-0 start after four innings only to see the lead completely disappear with a seven run seventh inning by the Tigers.

The Senators answered with three runs in the bottom half of the seventh, and that was enough for them to hold onto to the win. Charlie Gehringer scored twice, Hank Greenberg drove in two, and Gee Walker went three for four in the loss.

May 16, 1935 Tigers 7, Senators 2 (11-12)

Tommy Bridges pretty much shut down the Senators as they didn’t touch him for a run until the ninth inning. In all, he gave up only six hits while striking out nine.

Hank Greenberg remained red hot as he went two for four with a double, a triple, and an RBI. The Tigers benefited from six errors by the Senators, three of which came in the second inning when the Tigers put their first two runs up on the board.

Sometimes it’s nice being ahead of the curve. While Tigerblog isn’t the longest blog running (heck, it isn’t even the longest Tigerblog running by a long shot), I do feel I sort of got in before baseball blogs, and blogs in general, really came into there own. This blog has been around for a little more then two years, and when I started, I remember having a lot fewer options as far as website links.

Now, blogs have basically gone mainstream and everyone has them. Whether it’s radio personalities (S&L in the Morning and Terry Foster) and now TV announcers Mario Impemba, it seems like blogs are everywhere.

So it’s interesting that guys like Billfer and Ryan Sosin paved the way for blogging in Detroit only to see the big boys (i.e. so called real media) come in and lay their own claim to their internet.

Tigerblog was mentioned in the Detroit Free Press today. A pretty interesting column on MLBlog’s new service, and Bleacher Guy, Billfer, and myself were all mentioned.

Dave Dombrowski is the man in charge of the Tigers’ future. His title is the ever-so-grand President, CEO, and General Manager, meaning that he is in charge of well, everything, except perhaps which kind of pizza pizza is sold at the Comerica Park concession stands. Dombrowski came to the Tigers three-and-a-half years ago with one of the jazziest resumes in baseball, building both the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins into contenders, and even prematurely breaking them down at the behest at management. But what player personnel decisions did he make? Now that we have the benefit of hindsight, which moves showed foresight, which moves were duds? This post begins a four-part series looking back on Dombrowski’s major transactions. This week, the Expos years.

Dombrowski joined the Expos organization from the Chicago White Sox in 1986. In 1988, he was named general manager. At age 32, he was the youngest top exec in baseball history. UPI named him baseball’s top exec in 1990, and the Expos won awards as baseball’s top organization in 1988 and 1990.

When Dombrowski took the reins for the 1988 season, he inherited a team that had won 91 games, and was led by a core of Dennis Martinez, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Andres Galarraga, all of whom were in their prime, and all of whom (save Raines) would stay with the team until after Dombrowski left.

1988:

–Otis Nixon signed as a free agent. He got slightly less than the average salary, which is good, because he was never an average hitter, but boy was he fast. He was not going to be the answer in center.

–Traded Jeff Reed, Herm Winningham and Randy St. Claire to Cincinnati Reds in
exchange for Tracy Jones and Pat Pacillo. Dombrowski got the young players in this trade, but they didn’t pan out, and he gave up three borderline major leaguers to get them. A minor failure.

–Traded Mitch Webster to Chicago Cubs in exchange for Dave Martinez. A nice trade. Martinez was six years younger, cheaper, and immediately a better player, logging 1400 or so at bats for the Expos over the next few years, and he shunted Nixon right to the bench. Both players lasted a long time; Martinez played until 2001 and appeared for 10 teams.

–Traded Casey Candaele to Houston Astros in exchange for Mark Bailey. Candaele was a much better major-leaguer, but he was tiny and not particularly fast, and he played the outfield. The key stats for this trade: Candaele: 5’9″ 165, Bailey: 6’5″ 195. A reasonable risk for Dombrowski, even if it didn’t pan out.

–Traded Floyd Youmans and Jeff Parrett to Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Kevin Gross. A minor coup. Youmans was done in the majors and Parrett had a career as a mediocre relief pitcher ahead of him, but Kevin Gross would become a league-average starter for a long time, even if he’d get priced out of the Expos’ range by 1991.

–Traded John Dopson and Luis Rivera to Boston Red Sox in exchange for Spike Owen and Dan Gakeler. A small win. Owen would hold down shortstop for the Expos for the next few seasons, albeit without much hitting. Gakeler made his only ML appearances for the Tigers, and pitched about as you’d expect.

1989:

–Traded Mark Bailey and Tom O’Malley to New York Mets in exchange for Steve Frey. Dombrowski gave up on the physically-impressive Bailey and foisted him, along with, O’Malley, a career AAA player, on the Mets for Frey, who became an effective lefty reliever. A good job of getting something for nothing.

–Traded Neal Heaton to Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Brett Gideon. A good job of getting nothing for something. Heaton, though never a star, had a few good years left; he’d spend them pitching in Pittsburgh. Gideon never really made it.

–Traded Randy Johnson, Brian Holman and Gene Harris to Seattle Mariners in exchange for Mark Langston and a player to be named later; Montreal Expos received Mike Campbell. Finally, Dombrowski’s first big move. The Expos would later be known for all the star players they sold off to other teams and it’s easy to forget that in 1989 they were buyers. At the time of the trade on May 25, 1989, the Expos sat at .500, only three games out in the NL East, and they had the worst pitching staff in the National League. Langston was already a star, coming off great years in 1987 and 1988. In one respect the trade worked: Langston had a 2.39 ERA with the Expos, and their pitching improved to the middle of the NL pack. In a bunch of others it didn’t: the Expos finished at .500, exactly where they were at the time of the trade, Langston would sign a free-agent deal with the California Angels at the end of the season, and the Expos had to throw in a young player named Randy Johnson. No one knew Randy Johnson would become RANDY JOHNSON — he had the strikeouts, but he was wild, wild, wild. Still, no one could hit him, even then, even if they could watch ball four sail by with surpassing ease. Brian Holman was a good young pitcher whose shoulder fell apart, and Harris was never any good. A bold move by Dombrowski, but not one that history looks at kindly.

–Traded Sergio Valdez, Nate Minchey and Kevin Dean to Atlanta Braves in exchange for Zane Smith. Things looked good for a while after Langston was in the fold. When the Expos made this deal in early July of ’89, acquiring Smith (who one of my friends insists is the ugliest baseball player of all time) for very little, they were in first place. Smith would also pitch well down the stretch, before Dombrowski parleyed his giant (for the time) $2m salary into a great young outfielder the next season.

–Traded Mike Blowers to New York Yankees in exchange for John Candelaria. By late August, things had begun to slip. The Expos were still playing .540 ball, but had been caught from behind by the streaking Cubs, Cardinals, and Mets. Candelaria, coming off a long and successful career, couldn’t stop the bleeding, and would be released at seasons end. Blowers had a good career as a utility man. A net loss, though a reasonable shot in the thick of an increasingly grim pennant race.

1990:

–Oil Can Boyd signed as a free agent. Boyd got a two-year, $1.5m contract to replace Bryn Smith, who signed a much larger contract with the Cardinals after an excellent season. Dennis Boyd would put together a beautiful season in 1990, truly his last hurrah. A good signing for the still-competitive Expos.

–Traded Zane Smith to Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Scott Ruskin, Willie Greene and a player to be named later; Montreal Expos received Moises Alou (August 16, 1990). 1990 was a quieter year in Youppi-land. The Expos were still a decent team with an excellent pitching staff of Martinez, Boyd, Smith, Gross, and Mark Gardner and had added young players like Larry Walker and Delino DeShields to their lineup. Still, the Pirates were unbeatable at the top of the NL East (those were the days), and Smith, an impending free-agent, was sold off for spare parts and a future star slugging left-fielder. Moises was only 23 and had made just 5 major-league at-bats at the time; that he was a PTBNL makes me think Dombrowski got lucky.

1991:

–Traded Tim Raines, Jeff Carter and a player to be named later to Chicago White Sox in exchange for Ivan Calderon and Barry Jones; Chicago White Sox received Mario Brito (February 15, 1991). Raines had been the face of the franchise since 1980, the only player left from the Expos glory years, and the biggest star ever to don Expos blue. In 1991, he was only 31, but was coming off two subpar years. His speed was still there, but his power was gone and he was getting expensive, though he would play at a reasonable level until 1988. Calderon would be Tim Raines plus some outs on the basepaths in 1991 but was just as expensive and out of baseball in three years, and Jones was decent out of the pen. Perhaps the trade was a wash at best, but it was certainly an unsentimental move, a lesson that should be kept in mind should the Tigers ever get a reasonable offer for Pudge or Dmitri Young.

–Jeff Fassero signed as a free agent. Fassero was 28 and had never pitched in the majors. He would be a an effective lefty reliever immediately and a good starter by 1994. An inspired move.

–Traded Tim Burke to New York Mets in exchange for Ron Darling and Mike Thomas. By July, when this trade happened, the Expos were seven games under and suffering through their first truly crappy season in years. Darling was still an effective pitcher, but, they had to give up Burke, a decent reliever, to rent him for a couple of weeks.

–Traded Oil Can Boyd to Texas Rangers in exchange for Jonathan Hurst, Joey Eischen and a player to be named later; Montreal Expos received Travis Buckley. A good move to unload free-agent to be Boyd after getting a decent year out of him, even if the prospects the Rangers gave back were middling. Eischen is still left-handed, and still pitching.

–Traded Ron Darling to Oakland Athletics in exchange for Matt Grott and Russell Cormier. This happened not three weeks after the Expos aquired Darling; it had to be some sort of delayed three-way trade, a la Mike Piazza to the Marlins. As far as grand plans go, this one fizzled. Cormier isn’t even the most famous Cormier ever to play in the Montreal organization. Tim Burke, the new Met, turned out to be the best player moved in the Darling shenanigans.

——————————————-

In September of 1991, Dombrowski left to take the reins of the expansion Florida Marlins for more money, more control, and a larger budget. What’s his legacy in Montreal? Effective player decisions within a budget. Dombrowski generally eschewed free-agent signings in favor of building through trades, acquiring undervalued and solid veterans for spare parts. The free agents his organization did sign were generally low-risk and moderate reward. The team was better when he got there than when he left, but that’s most likely a result ever-tighter financial restrictions. Dombrowski’s highest profile move, the acquisition of Mark Langston for Randy Johnson, was his biggest failure, a trade that should get mentioned more often than it does, and certainly more often than the Alexander-for-Smoltz deal (at least the Tigers won the division in ’87).

Not covered above, but just as important for the franchise, was the organization’s solid record in the draft (Marquis Grissom, Rondell White, Gabe White, Cliff Floyd, Mark Grudzielanek, Kirk Rueter) and in signing international players and other minor-league free agents (Miguel Batista, Wil Cordero, Matt Stairs, Antonio Alfonseca, Ugueth Urbina, Mike Lansing, Jeff Fassero). Coupled with solid development of young players signed under other regimes (Walker, DeShields, Galarraga, Mel Rojas), Dombrowski’s organization had built the foundations for what would become the best team in baseball in 1994.

Hopefully everyone’s enjoying the three new writers for the site. While I’ll pipe in on occasion, this will allow me to get ahead on the diaries and work on a couple of other projects I’ve been trying to get started on.

This was one of those rare weekend days where I didn’t have anything going on, so I got to spend some quality time with my son with the TV on in the background. I got to see the last few innings of the Tigers game, some of the Pistons game, and also the end of Phantom Menance. Any day that involves watching baseball with my kid is a good one.

Unfortunately the Tigers lost, and they left the game pretty dinged up. It’s interesting to see how the outfield situation has evolved. At the beginning of the spring, we were looking at an outfield of White/Sanchez/Ordonez and only one of those guys have really played. Pudge left the game with a bruised toe, and Dmitri Young left later in the game with a twisted ankle. Fortunately x-rays were negative on both, but even if they both miss a couple of games, they’ll leave large holes to fill.

Tampa Bay rolls into town on Tuesday. In the meantime, hopefully the Tigers can lick their wounds on during the off day, and a complete lineup out there to win two of three.

May 15, 1935 Yankees 4, Tigers 0 (10-12)

Hall of Famer Red Ruffing held the Tigers to six hits in one of his two shutouts of the season. Charlie Gehringer tagged him for two of the Tigers six singles.

Joe Sullivan threw seven quality innings but took his first loss of the season.

May 14, 1935 Tigers 10, Yankees 4 (10-11)

Hank Greenberg homered and drove in four, while Charlie Gehringer had three hits, scored twice, and drove in two as the Tigers pummelled the Yankees.

General Crowder didn’t throw his best game, but thankfully he had enough run support. He gave up four runs, ten hits and five walks while striking out only one Yank.

For the first time since starting the season 2-3, the Tigers had pulled themselves to within a game of the .500 mark.

We went to Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak tonight and saw Mike Green. To say the guy was funny would be a huge understatement, because the guy was really hilarious. He had a very unique style, and there was very little downtime between laughs.

And the guy has his own webpage. Be sure to check him out at Oreoman.com . He has a live CD that’s highly recommended that’s highly recommended (if you want to laugh..

May 13, 1935 Tigers 3, Yankees 0 (9-11)

By far the best start of the season for Rowe, he went the distance and gave up only four hits and a walk, while striking out five.

Gee Walker hit a solo shot and Charlie Gehringer drove in a run with a double as the Tigers inched closer and closer to the .500 mark. They still had a long way to go as they already had a five game deficit behing the league leading White Sox.

OK, so it’s been in the Tiger news lately that the team, with its recent run of excellent pitching outings, has reduced its staff-wide ERA under 4.00. So, that got me to thinking… And to exploring the wonderfulness that is baseball-reference.com. When was the last time a Tiger team kept its staff-wide ERA under 4.00? Come on, now, no cheating… Just give it to me off the top of your head. The prize goes to the student who guessed (admit it, it was just a guess)… 1988. What with the awful teams (and pitching staffs) in “The Lost Years”, plus having to pitch 81 games a year in the bandbox called Tiger Stadium before “The Lost Years”, getting the staff ERA under 4.00 just hadn’t happened for a really long time.

On the other hand, let’s not forget that no team in the American League had a staff-wide ERA under 4.00 last year (and, when considering staff-wide ERA, it’s just not fair to compare to any team in the National League, where that automatic out comes up every 9th man). Not even the Johan Santana and Brad Radke Twins (with an excellent bullpen, too), who led the league at 4.03. There were only 2 teams under the 4.00 mark in 2003, the Hudson-Mulder-Zito A’s and the Mariners (extreme pitchers’ park). In 2002, four teams managed an ERA starting with a 3, the A’s (Hudson-Mulder-Zito), Angels (WS Champs), Red Sox (Pedro and staff) and Yankees (well, they’re the Yankees, no explanation necessary). Only two teams in 2001 (Mariners and A’s) turned the trick, and in 2000, nobody did it (the Red Sox led the way at 4.23). In 1999, only the Red Sox came in under 4, and even they required a more precise calculation, as their official 4.00 ERA is actually rounded up from 3.9986. The Yankees had the 114-win juggernaut season back in 1998, and they were the only team in the league under 4 that year. In 1997, the under-4’s were the Yanks, Orioles and Blue Jays. In 1996, the Indians led the league in ERA… at 4.35. In 1995, it was the juggernaut, 100-wins-in-a-144-game-schedule Indians leading the way again, this time at 3.81, but they were the only team under 4. In strike-shortened 1994, the White Sox were the lone team under 4. In 1993, both colors of Sox were under 4, but nobody else. Which leads me to 1992, when only 5 teams had staff-wide ERAs above 4. Those would be the Rangers (4.09), Indians (4.11), Yankees (4.21), Mariners (4.55), and the Tigers bringing up the rear (4.60).

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s been quite the offensive era, hasn’t it? A full 13 years since the majority of the AL had staff-wide ERAs under 4. As of this writing, the Tigers are among 5 teams with staff-wide ERAs under 4 (the White Sox leading at a ridiculous 3.14, the Twins at 3.49, and the Angels at 3.74 ahead of the Tigers’ 3.86 and the Orioles at 3.96).

I know what you’re thinking… So what’s the point of all this? Well, the experts’ take on the Tigers as they headed north from Spring Training was that the free agent signings of this past off-season were shaky (check), and that the real key to the success of the Tigers will be how the starting rotation fares (and I don’t think that even the most ardent Tiger fan would have disputed this). In other words – so far, so good. Despite the early struggles in the wins and losses columns, there are reasons to yet have hope for this year’s team. My, but that feels good to realize as late as mid-May… For a change. Don’t look now, but we’re only 4.5 games behind the wild card as of today.

Game 1 (Final Score: 2-0, Tigers win)

The Tigers sent Nate Robertson to the mound to continue the win streak started by winning the previous series against the Angels 2-1. Nook Logan smacked a leadoff triple to left to start the game against the Rangers’ Chris Young only to be stranded as the next three batters couldn’t get the job done. Logan was the only base runner for either team to make it past first base safely until the eighth inning.

Hats off to both Robertson and Young, who seemed to have all the batsman stumped for most of the game. This streak of dominance ended when Rod Barajas hit a leadoff two bagger. Barajas, the catcher, was replaced by Laynce Nix on the base paths. Gary Matthews Jr. laid down a sad bunt that Ivan Rodriguez quickly fielded and threw out Nix at third. The next two Rangers batters also weren’t up to the task and surrendered easily to end the inning.

Ex-Tiger Francisco Cordero came in to relieve Young in the ninth and face the heart of the Tigers’ order. Rodriguez and Rondell White went down quickly, but Cordero did Dmitri Young a favor and walked him on five pitches. On a full count, Craig Monroe hit a triple, scoring Young and giving the Tigers the lead (1-0). On a side not, I love watching Young chug around the bases since he looks like he’s trying so hard to run quickly. Carlos Pena added some insurance by singling Monroe home in the next at bat (2-0).

Jamie Walker came in to face Hank Blalock after Ramon Martinez ended a productive inning. He gave up a single and was replaced by Ugueth Urbina to close out the game. Urbina threw a lot of pitches that inning even though he got the job done. He made it interesting by issuing a one out walk to Kevin Mench, giving Richard Hidalgo runners on first and second with only one out. Hidalgo hit a fly that wasn’t deep enough to advance the runners and pinch hitter David Dellucci swung and missed strike three. The winning streak stands at 3 games.

Game 2 (Final Score: 4-5, Rangers win)

I had to open my mouth about the winning streak. Sigh. Jason Johnson got into a spot of first inning trouble when he allowed two singles to Michael Young and Mark Teixeira, who were sent home on Hank Blalock’s double (0-2). Alfonso Soriano hit a deep fly ball to right for a double, scoring Hank Blalock (0-3).

Extra bases were again a concern for Johnson in the second inning when Gary Matthews Jr. doubled to left. Due to some poor hitting, he was stranded at third. On the third pitch of the third, Blalock hit a solo home run making the hole even deeper (0-4). Chan Ho Park cruised through the first five innings surrendering only a few hits including the wasted one out triple by Rondell White in the fourth.

In the six inning, the wheels came off Park’s pitching parade. Carlos Guillen and White hit a pair of singles with Guillen advancing and White out on Dmitri Young’s fielder’s choice. Craig Monroe singled, scoring Guillen, advancing D. Young, and bringing up Ramon Martinez, who flied out (1-4). Omar Infante was up next and he jumped on Park’s second pitch, hitting it for an RBI double (2-4). Ex-Tiger Doug Brocail entered the game to stifle the rally, only to allow the third and fourth runs of the inning on singles by Nook Logan and Brandon Inge (4-4). Ivan Rodriguez struck out ending the big inning.

Johnson held the lead for a half inning until he surrendered a second solo shot to the powerful (career .384 Slg.) Matthews Jr. (4-5). The Tigers rallied again in the eighth with runners on second and third (one out used) but wasted the opportunity. Johnson completed the game for the Tigers and took the loss while former Tiger farm hand Francisco Cordero closed it out successfully. This was a disappointing result since the Tigers got 9 decent innings from Johnson and the hitters left 10 men on base.

Game 3 (Final Score: 6-5, Tigers win)

Again the Tigers found themselves in a decisive game three. I must say I enjoy seeing the Tigers in almost every series this year, especially on the road. Young Wilfredo Ledezma was riding a 3 game losing streak and he went up against a similarly situated Pedro Astacio.

Both pitchers were solid through 3 innings before they decided to give the fans a show in the fourth. Dmitri Young’s leadoff double would have been wasted except Nook Logan homered off Astacio staking Ledezma to the lead (2-0). In the bottom half, Texas threatened with Mark Teixeira reaching first on Ledezma’s error and Alfonso Soriano inexplicably drawing a walk. Ledezma got the next man to fly out, leaving himself to deal with Richard Hidalgo. Well, he sure dealt with him, hitting him and loading the bases. He also dealt with Mark DeRosa, walking him on four pitches (2-1). Sandy Alomar Jr. continued the two out rally by plating Soriano and Hidalgo with his single to left (2-3). At last, the inning was over when power hitter Gary Matthews Jr. flied out.

After a scoreless fifth, Franklyn German relieved Ledezma in the sixth only to give up a triple to Kevin Mench and an RBI single to Richard Hidalgo before settling down nicely (2-4). Happily he didn’t allow any walks this outing. Kameron Loe relieved Astacio and pitched, well, a bizarre inning. He allowed two infield singles, a stolen base, and a two run wild pitch with Logan scoring from first after the Alomar throwing error, tying the game up (4-4). After the walk on the wild side, Doug Brocail came out again to pitch to the Tigers in the eighth. He pitched just badly enough giving the Tigers a single, a walk, and an RBI single by none other than Carlos Pena (5-4).

In the eighth, Logan hit a single, stole second, and made it to third on a wild pitch, setting the stage for Inge’s sacrifice fly (6-4). Walker and Farnsworth combined for scoreless seventh and eighth innings, bringing in the revitalized Urbina to close the game out. He made things interesting with a solo shot to David Dellucci but finished the game and series out (6-5).

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	TB	AVG	SLG
C Guillen	10	2	3	0	0	3	0.3	0.3
B Inge	12	0	5	2	1	6	0.417	0.5
O Infante	8	2	3	1	0	4	0.375	0.5
N Logan	12	2	8	1	0	10	0.667	0.833
R Martinez	7	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
C Monroe	11	2	4	2	1	6	0.364	0.545
C Pena	8	0	3	2	0	3	0.375	0.375
I Rodriguez	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J Smith	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M Thames	4	1	1	2	0	4	0.25	1
R White	8	0	3	0	1	5	0.375	0.625
D Young	12	3	2	0	1	3	0.167	0.25
Totals	109	12	32	10	5	44	0.294	0.404

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
K Farnsworth	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
F German	1.1	3	1	1	0	0	8.18	2.73
J Johnson	8	8	5	5	0	6	5.63	1
W Ledezma	5	3	3	0	3	4	5.4	1.2
N Robertson	8	6	0	0	1	3	0	0.88
J Walker	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
U Urbina	2	1	1	1	1	3	4.5	1
Totals	26	21	10	7	5	18	3.46	1

Okay, I’ve been having some problems with some of my prewritten entries, so I’m going to have to play catchup this weekend. I’m sorry for not being current. I did a better job last year (pre-kid) keeping up with the diary.

May 11, 1935 Senators 10, Tigers 7 (8-11)

The Tigers took a 5-3 lead into the eighth inning, only to see the Senators tie it up in the eighth, and then put two more runs on the board in the ninth. The Tigers came back, and tied the game up with the critical run being Jo Jo White’s steal of home, only to see the Senators score three times in the twelth to win the game.

Hank Greenberg hit another three run homer, and Charlie Gehringer drove in two runs in the Tigers loss.

With my kid being sick, I couldn’t get this up sooner, but I’m going to be on the radio in like a half hour (7:40 Detroit time). You can hear me at KRMS Radio. They have a link that lets you listen in. The Hardball Times has had someone on every Wed for a short bit, and it’s my turn.

« Previous Entries | Next Entries »

Powered by
WordPress

Click to advertise

http://every1bets.com