Archive for the '2006 Tigers' Category

The White Sox tagged Tiger’s pitching for three homeruns today and the Tiger’s offense was quiet for the second straight game in the Tigers’ loss.  Craig Monroe got things started with a two run shot in the second inning, but then Jim Thome answered in the top of the third with a two run shot of his own.  The White Sox then took the lead when Joe Crede hit a two run homerun in the top of the sixth.  Chris Shelton doubled home a run in the sixth, but that was the closest the Tigers got the rest of the game.  Joel Zumaya relieved Bonderman and Paul Konerko took him deep in the eighth inning.

Jeremy Bonderman struck out eight in seven innings, but he gave up the two homeruns.

So the Tigers drop to 5-2.  Still not bad.  They have the day off tomorrow, and then they have afternoon games against the White Sox on Wednesday and Thursday.

It had to end.  A five game winning streak is something to be proud of, but this is a very long season.  In 2004, the Tigers won their first four, and by the end of the month, they were hovering just a game above .500.  So while I “want” the Tigers to win 90 games, I’m just not sure yet whether this is the team.  I spoke of Sparky Anderson’s rule in a previous post, and that’s to wait 40 games so I’m biding my time.

Chris Shelton had his worst game of the season by far.  He went hitless and struck out three times.  Curtis Granderson had a nice game though.  He went two for two with two walks and a double.

I listened to the game on the radio, and it’s hard to question Jim Leyland’s decision to keep Kenny Rogers in there to face Brad Wilkerson.  He had struck him out three times previously and Jamie Walker struck him out in the ninth inning.  It was just that one fluke at bat, the two run double, that ended up making the difference.

The home opener is tomorrow.  I don’t have tickets so I’ll be keeping an eye on things at work.  Hopefully the Tigers can get back on track against the struggling White Sox.

In the top of the eighth inning, Chris Shelton struck out.  I know it’s hard to believe that Chris Shelton actually made an out, but I have a feeling he might make a few more this season.  All kidding aside, what a start for Shelton.  He’s hitting an even .700 with nine extra base hits.  Nine RBIs and even runs in five games.  Simply awesome.

Justin Verlander was no slouch yesterday either.  He threw seven shutout innings and gave up only two hits with seven strikeouts.  He got into trouble in the fourth but he pitched his way out of it.

The last time the Tigers had a start this good was 1985 when they started 6-0.  If they surpass that, then we’re getting into franchise record territory.  In 1984, the Tigers won their first nine games.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Tigers do once they get back to Comerica Park.  While the Tigers have gotten some good pitching, it’s been their offense that’s really opened some eyes.  But they played Kansas City with bad pitching and now at Texas in a hitters park.  Regardless, I’ll be enjoying it all while I can.

It’s the bottom of the fourth inning and Justin Verlander is getting into trouble for the first time.

Chris Shelton has tripled twice already today.  His batting average is now .722 and his slugging is now 1.889.  Simply incredible.  And he’s still only struck out once.  I remember talking to a friend of mine prior to the season about Shelton and I said he’d be good for like .280 with 25 homeruns and you see what you get.  I figured he’d be reliable without any real chance of breaking out, but he’s proving me wrong (not that it’s the first time) at least early here in the season.

Verlander had runners at first and second with one out and struck out the last two guys to get out of the inning.  Tigers 5, Rangers 0.

Chris Shelton just hit his fifth homerun of the season.  Man this guys on a tear.  I expected him to be a decent .280/25 homerun guy but with this start, he could easily top the 25 homeruns.  The Tigers are up 4-1 heading into the fifth inning.

Brian A., who’s a frequent comment at Detroit Tigers Weblog has started a blog where he hopes to track the Tigers via Win Probablity Added (WPA).  WPA has it’s flaws, but the one thing I like it about is, when you get a close game or a back and forth game, it’s fun to see the swings.  Tigers WPA is where he’s posting his results and he started with yesterday’s win over the Rangers.

Tomorrow, I start my only “diary” of the year.  Over at Reds Cutting Edge, I continue the exploits of the Big Red Machine and track the 1976 Reds from beginning to end.  Another blogger, Jon Earving at the Tom Seaver Fan Club, will be doing the same thing with the 1986 Mets.

Minor League Baseball kicked off their season today and the Toledo Mudhens lost their home opener to the Charlotte Knights 1-0.  Wil Ledezma took the loss but he had a pretty impressive start.  He gave up only a single run on three hits in 4 2/3 innings.  He struck out nine and walked two.  I’m still pretty high on Ledezma and people tend to forget that people were talking about him last year the same way people are talking about Justin Verlander this year.

The Erie Seawolves lost their first game 2-1 in ten innings.  Lakeland lost 6-1 and Cameron Maybin went two for four with a triple and a run in West Michigan’s 5-3 loss to Fort Wayne.  Four minor league games, four losses.

It looks like the Tigers are going to start 3-0.  It’s 9-3 in the bottom of the seventh and the Tigers have hit six homeruns.  Chris Shelton went yard twice and now has four and Brandon Inge and Marcus Thames both hit their second of the season.  Magglio Ordonez and Craig Monroe both hit their first homerun of the season.

I love it whenever the Tigers win.  And with the last few years, I’ll take all of the wins I can get so don’t take this the wrong way.  Driving home I listened to our local sports radio station (AM 1270) and you would have thought the Tigers won the World Series or something.  Ninety wins seemed almost a foregone conclusion to some of the people calling in.  And what do these people have to base this all on?

Two wins over one of the worst teams in baseball.  Today the Tigers manhandled the Royals.  Ivan Rodriguez had a stat line that looked like something out of a video game.  Five for five with a homerun and five RBIs, and he was a triple short of the cycle.  In all, five Tigers homered.  And Jeremy Bonderman looked good.  Eight strikeouts and only three hits in 6 2/3 innings.  Chris Spurling struck out one and Jamie Walker struck out two.

All good stuff, but we’re two games into the season.  I’m a huge proponent of what Sparky Anderson used to say.  Give me 40 games.  Then you’ll know who’s for real and who’s not.

The Tigers head to Texas so in my opinion, this will be their first true test.  This is a stacked lineup in a hitters park.  If the Tigers split the four game series and head into opening day with a 4-2 record, I’d be pretty happy.  More then that, and then I’ll get a little excited.

What a game for Chris Shelton today.  Single, Home Run, Home Run, Line Out.  And the line out was a shot that was speared by Mark Grudzielanek that could have easily been a single.  So four at bats and four well hit balls.  He won the game and Carlos Guillen gave the Tigers some insurance with a solo shot in the eighth to make it 3-1.

Joel Zumaya also had a nice couple of innings.  He got into a jam in the seventh but got out of it, and he struck out three in two innings.  Not that he’ll throw like this every day, but between his two innings and Fernando Rodney throwing a perfect ninth, it kind of makes the Todd Jones signing look more and more pointless.  Zumaya even touched 100 on the gun.

I was a little surprised that Kenny Rogers was this good.  Granted it’s the Royals but he threw six innings and gave up only a single run on three hits.  He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.  And he did it all with only 81 pitches.  A great start as a Tiger.

This was the Tigers’ third straight opening day win.  On Wednesday, Jeremy Bonderman will throw against Joe Mays.  We know the Flint native well after seeing him more then enough when he played for Minnesota.

Alright, this is the time of year where I usually make a fool out of myself by making predictions that ultimately look, well, foolish.  Last year I predicted the Tigers would win 84 games.  Enough said.

In my Tiger preview over at the Hardball Times, I already laid out where I think the Tigers will end up.  I see them finishing in fourth place with 79 wins.  Here’s a few additional Tiger predictions……

This is a repeat prediction, and I probably would have nailed it had Jeremy Bonderman not gotten shut down last September.  The last time the Tigers had a 15 game winner was 1997.  Meaning if they don’t do it this year, the franchise will have had a decade long drought.  The last guys to do it are Willie Blair, who’s been out of the league since 2001, and Justin Thompson, who got hurt, was traded to Texas, and made the news by actually coming back and throwing in some games for the Rangers last year.  Last year, Mike Maroth and Jeremy Bonderman both won 14 games, and this year I think Bonderman will finally get over the hump.  I’m predicting Bonderman to have a 17-9 record.

Whenever I bring up Brandon Inge’s fielding prowess to, how’s the nice way to put it, a less informed person, the subject always gets back to Inge’s 23 errors last year.  What people fail to point is, he started 42 double plays and he finished the season with 14 fielding runs above average.  Eric Chavez, who won the gold glove last season, made only 15 errors, but he had only 9 fielding runs above average.  Inge at third base was worth half a win more on the field then Chavez at third base according to Baseball Prospectus.

Hot off the press is John Dewan’s Fielding Bible.  In the book, a +/- forumla is used to rank fielders by position.  Of course I’m not going to tell you how it’s calculated, because you should buy this great book (and I couldn’t do it justice).  Eric Chavez finished with a +15 and was the third best third baseman in MLB.  His figure was tops in the American Leauge.  Just behind him, at +12 and fifth in MLB, was Brandon Inge. Inge came out slightly ahead in range, but Chavez blew him away on fielding bunts (Chavez had an A+ rating).

So say Chavez was better.  The point is, he was barely better, and this was Inge’s first full season at third base.  I’m going to predict that Inge brings his errors down into the high teens and gets the recognition he deserves by bringing home a gold glove.

Finally, Chris Shelton will lead the team in RBIS and Curtiz Granderson will lead the team in both runs and batting average.  Magglio Ordonez will lead the team in homeruns, but it’ll be another unspectacular season for the Tigers in that category, so I’m thinking around 25.

Here’s how I think things will turn out around the rest of the league:

AL East – New York Yankees

AL Central – Cleveland Indians

AL West – Oakland A’s

NL East – New York Mets

NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals

NL West – San Francisco Giants

AL Wild Card – Toronto Blue Jays

NL Wild Card – Philadelphia Phillies

AL MVP – Gary Sheffield

NL MVP – Albert Pujols

AL Cy Young – Johan Santana

NL Cy Young – Jake Peavy

AL ROY – Justin Verlander

NL ROY – Josh Willingham

AL Pennant – New York Yankees

NL Pennant – New York Mets

World Series Champs – New York Mets

And then there was one.  Jeremy Bonderman is now the sole remaining player that the Tigers got from the Athletics when they traded Jeff Weaver.  Makes you wonder if they’re shopping him right now.  Although there’s also the chance that he clears waivers and we keep him.

No big surprise here.  German didn’t do much this spring, and he was out of options.

UPDATE

Alright, the radio story I got this from said that German was cut, which I guess wasn’t completely false.  It looks more like we’re waiting for him to clear waivers to we can send him down to Triple A Toledo.  So if looks like German isn’t gone.

Alright, the site has now been moved over to WordPress, for the better in my opinion.  I’m now hoping to get the site cleaned up.  Links have been ignored and I have a ton of comment spam I need to clean up.  I even have some drafts of writing that I never posted that I wasn’t aware of.

One minor snag, and you should be reading this if you’re coming from an outside link to a specific post, is we never figured out how to match up those links so every single link I got from someone who sent you to specific story is going to come up with a 404 error and you’re probably reading this right now.  The only thing I can say is, if it’s subject related, do a search.  If you have approximate date, check the archives.  I apologize for that but it was an unfortunate part of the process.

My site is going to move over to new hosting sometime today so if you stopped by now and check in later, the site might not be up. Please be patient as I’ll most likely be up and running by tomorrow morning.

I was in Boston when the Tigers traded Jeff Weaver in 2002. In fact, Weaver was set to throw that day at the game I was attending at Fenway Park. At the time, it was Weaver for Carlos Pena, Franklyn German and a player to be named later. I hadn’t heard of German at the time nor had I heard of Jeremy Bonderman (who ended up being the PTBNL). I had heard of Carlos Pena though.

Earlier that year, Pena had opened the season for the A’s on a solid note. He hit seven homeruns in 87 at bats but his strikeouts were also pretty high (27). His May ended up being horrible though. He went four for 37 and struck out eleven times. By the end of the month, he was back in the minors.

In July, he was dealt to the Tigers and he had a solid second half. He hit twelve homeruns and finished with a .253/.321/.462 line for the Tigers. He was touted as being a gold glove fielder at first base and most expected that Pena would be the Tigers’ first baseman of the future.

In 2003 and 2004, Pena was the starter at first base. He showed some plate discipline in 2004 (70 walks) but his strikeouts continued to rise as well (146 in 2004). And the gold glove and smooth hands never really materialized. In all four seasons with the Tigers, he finished with a negative fielding runs above average. He did show some promise by hitting a team high 27 homeruns in 2004 but he was criticized for hitting .241.

2005 looked a lot like 2002 for Pena, except for the solid April. Pena spent more time below the .200 mark then he did above it and hit only three homeruns (two of those were in one game). By the end of May, he was playing for Toledo and he lost his starting first base job to the emerging Chris Shelton.

Pena found his swing in the minors and was called back up to play for the Tigers on August 19. He proceeded to six homeruns and had 12 RBIs in his next five games, four of which the Tigers won. He hit nine more homeruns the rest of the season and brought his batting average “up” to .235. His late season flurry was an encouraging sign and the only thing stopping him from reclaiming the starting job was an outstanding season by Chris Shelton.

In 2006, Pena had a horrible spring. He went eight for 50 with only one homerun and four RBIs and he was cut this morning. While I’m not completely surprised, I think the Tigers may have given up on him a season too soon. While he is 27, I would have liked to have seen him get one more season with the team and I think he’ll find time somewhere else. And I know there were money considerations, but I thought Pena had a better chance of having a solid season then Dmitri Young does.

Now we get to see where he ends up. The Yankees could use some help at first base. The Red Sox won’t be in the market because they just picked up Hee Sop Choi. The Reds could be an option and you could also possibly see him go back to Oakland.

I’ll comment on this more tonight or tomorrow, but Carlos Pena was released today. I find it hard to believe that he’ll stay available for long as someone will take a flyer on him. I know the Reds had Scott Hatteberg, but Pena might not be a bad pickup for them. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Yankees get in the mix either. Jason Giambi is penciled in as the starter at first base, but he’ll probably see just as much time at DH. It also wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up back with the team that traded him to Detroit, The Oakland A’s.

I know this is old news in the relative sense, but Justin Verlander was chosen as the Tigers fifth starter. I originally wanted to draw parallels between Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman in 2003, but the two don’t really match. Jeremy Bonderman had never played in college and the top level he had played was Single A. Verlander had a chunk of time at AA Erie and even two so-so starts at the big league level AND played college ball.

What I’m hoping doesn’t happen is something similar to 2005 and Wil Ledezma. Ledezma was hit hard and early and got sent down, where he continued to struggle (and developed, from what I understand, a little bit of an attitude). I’m not sure of Verlanders makeup, but in just looking at his numbers last year, he doesn’t have a ton to prove in the minors.

Joel Zumaya also appears to have made the cut and he’ll be coming out of the pen. Earl Weaver always liked to develop his pitchers by giving them a season out of the bullpen and he’s one of the masters so I like this decision. It gives Zumaya a chance to face some big league pitching and hopefully it will get him ready for a spot in the rotation in 2007. Regardless, a Zumaya, Franklyn German, Fernando Rodney, Jamie Walker, and Todd Jones bullpen doesn’t sound “that” bad to me.

Of course it’s only a little over a week until the season starts. You can wipe the slate clean beginning April 3.

My Tiger preview is posted at the Hardball Times. I’ll be throwing out my annual predictions here soon.

The Tigers sent a bunch of players down to the minors. None of them were too surprising except for one standout. Brent Clevlan really had a great spring. He was 10 for 31 with two doubles and three homeruns. While I didn’t expect him to play for the Tigers this year, I think we really have a solid prospect who I’m hoping to see as a regular some time in 2007. He makes Craig Monroe expendable for certain.

It’s just unfortunate that the Tigers have several “okay” corner outfielders that are in the way of Clevlan. Monroe’s decent but not great. Thames is just as good and it’ll be interesting to see if he gets a chance under new management. Speaking of Thames, he’s also had a great spring. 13 for 39 and he and Curtis Granderson lead the team with four homeruns. With Monroe on the shelf with a bad shoulder, my guess is the starting outfielders will be Thames, Granderson and Ordonez with Logan being the fourth. I’m not sure if they’ll keep a fifth because Dmitri Young is also supposed to get some time out in left field.

Also worth noting is Matt Mantei was released. Nothing earth shattering here as Mantei has never been able to stay healthy.

Carlos Pena’s fate hasn’t been decided yet either. He’s having a rough spring, although Shelton hasn’t really lit it up either. But Young’s only gotten seven at bats so far, so I have a feeling they’re waiting to see whether he’ll be ready for opening day or not.

And none of the Tigers starters have shined this spring. The fifth starter job is still up for grabs, but more troublesome is Jeremy Bonderman’s rough spring. I know spring doesn’t count, but you’d hope that he’d be doing okay especially with all of the split squad games and the dilution of talent because of the WBC. Kenny Rogers has been just as bad.

Justin Verlander gets the start this afternoon against the Dodgers so hopefully we’ll see him throw a decent game. We’re getting to the point where teams are narrowing things down so the Tigers will be facing teams that will more clearly reflect what they’ll go up against during the season. Also you should start to see the starters throw five innings. The seasons two weeks away, and now’s the time to get ready.

***UPDATE***

I might have been premature in my Marcus Thames/Craig Monroe arguement. Monroe played in his first game today as a DH and homered in his first at bat.

Earlier this week, I criticized Jeff Passan regarding his column on Roger Clemens. Since I highlighted that one, I should be fair and point out the fact that I really enjoyed his column on Jeff Bagwell. Good stuff.

I was a little sad when I read this story about the likely demolition of Tiger Stadium. While you hate to throw around the word “love” with an inanimate object, Tiger Stadium definitely holds some magic for me. While I vaguely remember my first game at the ballpark, I remember a little more vividly what I think was my second time there for a twilight doubleheader. We tried to leave early, but our car was blocked in so we went back to the park and watched the end of the game. I remember John Wockenfuss hitting a grand slam in that second game. I thought he had also hit one in the first game, but when I went to retrosheet, I couldn’t find a doubleheader where Wockenfuss hit a homerun in each game, but he may have hit two in that one game. The best I could tell, this is the boxscore of that game.

The oddest story has to do with the final time I was at the ballpark. It was the second to last Sunday game before the stadium closed and the Tigers were playing the Red Sox. My sister was nice enough to get four tickets from where she working, so I was set there. Then I ran into a problem. I made phone call after phone call and nobody could go. Even my dad had something going on that day. I was determined to go, and headed down to the ballpark, figuring I could give the tickets to a family of three.

So I got down there and hung out by the ticket box. I was kind of scoping out the crowd, trying to figure out who I wanted to sit next too. I probably took a little longer then I needed to, but this eventually turned into a blessing because out of the crowd walked my friend Dana. Now you’re probably wondering why I wouldn’t have called Dana to go since he was obviously interested in the game. Well….

Dana lives in Columbus, OH (or in the suburbs). On a whim that day, he brought his sister in law and her husband up to see the ballpark before it closed. They hadn’t bought tickets yet, so they obviously sat with me. But it was definitely one of the strangest moments I’ve had. Whenever Dana and I talk about it, the only word we use is “weird.”

The Tigers lost, but I didn’t really care. I was able to go down on the field to check it out. It was the first and last time I was out on Tiger Stadium’s infield. It’d be nice if they opened it up one last time for people to visit, but I don’t see that happening. But while they can take the ballpark away, they can’t take away the memories.

Growing up, a played quite a few role playing games, and Dungeons and Dragons was what we played most of.  I’ve kept up with the hobby, yet I haven’t played in quite some time.  This is a cool site I’ve been using to keep up with Dungeons and Dragons.

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