Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Back on May 11, the conclusion of the Yankees' lone series in Detroit this season got rained out, so the Yanks are stopping off in the Motor City for a Labor Day matinée on their way down to face the first-place Rays. The Yanks are 1-4 against the Tigers thus far this season, the one win coming in Detroit in the last game the two teams played. That was Darrell Rasner's second start of the year, in case you weren't sure just how long ago that was.
Back then, the Tigers were a disappointing team that was hitting a bunch, but not enough to overcome the awful performance of their starting pitchers. Though the Tiger hitting has cooled off a bit and their pitching has improved, the team is still a disappointment, lingering below .500 in a season in which they were expected to crush their division.
Justin Verlander starts for the Bengals this afternoon. He's been wildly inconsistent. In eight second-half starts, he's allowed one run or fewer three times and five runs or more the other five with nothing in between. He'll face Sidney Ponson, who has allowed 11 runs in his last 6 2/3 innings over two starts. Neither pitcher has faced the opposing team this season.
Today is September 1, which means major league teams are allowed to expand their rosters beyond 25 men. With their top two minor league affiliates in the postseason (a good sign for the future of the major league club), the Yankees have started slowly by bringing back Chad Moeller and calling up lefty reliever Phil Coke. That's a pretty wild turnaround for Coke. Barely more than a month ago he was a double-A starter who thought he had been traded to the Pirates in the Xavier Nady deal. Now he's a major league relief pitcher with the Yankees. Not bad.
Coke, who is 26, combines with 25-year-old Alfredo Aceves to give the Yankees a pair of potential long-men in the pen down the stretch, though Aceves' performance yesterday suggests he could emerge as a high-leverage guy with a quickness. Coke posted a 2.51 ERA in 20 starts and three relief outings for double-A Trenton this year, then moved up to triple-A and spent most of his time there pitching out of the pen with superior peripherals (22 K, 5 BB, 0 HR in 17 1/3 IP), but worse results (4.67 ERA). On closer inspection, that ERA is inflated by his adjustment to his new level and his new role, as his ERA over his last ten outings was 2.70.
Word is the bullpen will receive further reinforcement tomorrow when Joba Chamberlain is activated, though if Ponson has a third-straight bad outing today, Joba, Aceves, or even Coke could wind up taking Sir Sidney's next turn in the rotation.
Detroit Tigers
2008 Record: 66-70 (.485)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 68-68 (.497)
Manager: Jim Leyland
General Manager: Dave Dombrowski
Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Comerica Park (101/101)
Who's Replaced Whom:
Brandon Inge has replaced Ivan Rodriguez in the lineup
Dane Sardinha (minors) has replaced Rodriguez on the roster
Zach Miner has replaced Jeremy Bonderman (DL) in the rotation
Jeff Larish has replaced Bonderman on the roster
Fernando Rodney (DL) has replaced Todd Jones (DL)
Kyle Farnsworth has replaced Francisco Cruceta (minors)
Casey Fossum has replaced Clay Rapada (minors)
Gary Glover has replaced Freddy Dolsi (minors)
25-man Roster:
1B - Miguel Cabrera (R)
2B - Placido Polanco (R)
SS - Edgar Renteria (R)
3B - Carlos Guillen (S)
C - Brandon Inge (R)
RF - Magglio Ordoñez (R)
CF - Curtis Granderson (L)
LF - Matthew Joyce (L)
DH - Gary Sheffield (R)
Bench:
R - Marcus Thames (OF/1B)
L - Jeff Larish (3B/1B)
R - Ryan Raburn (OF)
R - Ramon Santiago (IF)
C - Dane Sardinha (C)
Rotation:
R - Justin Verlander
R - Zach Miner
L - Kenny Rogers
R - Armando Galarraga
L - Nate Robertson
Bullpen
R - Fernando Rodney
R - Kyle Farnsworth
L - Bobby Seay
R - Aquilino Lopez
L - Casey Fossum
R - Gary Glover
L - Dontrelle Willis*
15-day DL: R - Jeremy Bonderman, R - Todd Jones, R - Joel Zumaya, R - Vance Wilson (C)
*September call-up
Typical Lineup:
L - Curtis Granderson (CF)
R - Placido Polanco (2B)
R - Magglio Ordoñez (RF)
R - Miguel Cabrera (1B)
S - Carlos Guillen (3B)
R - Gary Sheffield (LF)
L - Matthew Joyce (DH)
R - Edgar Renteria (SS)
R - Brandon Inge (C)
This is an interesting match-up on 9/1. If someone told you in March that both the Yankees and Tigers would be playing out the string with a whole month to go, not many would believe you. Back in May, I can remember hoping this game would be rained out so that it would be replayed at a time when the Yankees would be full swing. Sadly, that time never came.
Unfortunately, Girardi and Cashman are not willing to accept the reality (probably more the former), so we will see a few more starts from Ponson, Rasner and Pavano instead of Hughes and even Kennedy, whom I don't think has a big major leageue future.
On my agenda for the final month is seeing the Yankees do everything to help Moose out as he goes for 20 (I would even save Mo for 1+ inning saves for his games); seeing if Cano can play a whole month without a mental lapse; rooting for Jeter to pass the Iron Horse (my all-time Yankee favorite along side Mattingly); seeing if Mo can post his best ERA and ERA+ of his career (he is second in both to 2005); and seeing how far Arod can get to Reggie before the end of the year.
On the MLB front, I am looking forward to seeing the Rays clinch, will be rooting against the Sox and Dodgers in their playoff drive, and will start getting warmed up for Cubbie mania. I'd also like to see no one hit 45 HRs, as MLB power numbers return to sanity.
2009 already started for me and it's a beautiful day out.
Xavier Nady (last 14 games):
.281/.317/.421 .738 OPS 15K:3BB
Xavier Nady (last 21 games):
.277/.333.458 .791 OPS 23K:5BB
While not terrible, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence for next season with that kind of production in either RF or at 1B.
Now, if MLB decides to get involved, then it shouldn't do so only in this case, just because this one play is deemed "important." They should get rid of hometown scorers and employ MLB "neutral" scorers at all games.
My even crazier thought is simply to eliminate "errors" as a scoring category. If you hit the ball and make it on base, you get a hit, no matter how it transpires. Is this unfair? Maybe in some cases. But it would be a much more elegant system than relying on the judgment of team employees to determine what should or should not be an out.
Grrrr.
i think as long as the yankees are happy with the progress IPK is making on the changes and adaptations that they have asked him to work on, he's not going to be traded. FWIW, this is from Chad Jennings after IPK's last start:
"Nardi Contreras sounded very happy with what he saw from Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in their most recent starts. Contreras said he made a very slight mechanical adjustment with Hughes and it obviously really helped him. Kennedy struck out 11 last night and Contreras made a "whewww" sound when I asked how he looked (it was an impressed kind of whewww, not a relieved kind of whewww). Kennedy just smiled when I asked him about, then said it was a good one, but he didn't go into specifics."
Sounds like Ted Lilly to me, but I bet we expected him to be a two and got rid of him because he wasn't.
It's human nature to pay attention to an anomaly. I have seen more weird plays this year than I have ever seen. It makes ya stop and think, "Wow, probably won't see that again anytime soon. If ever. " Keeps things interesting. Whenever I go to a game I hope that I witness something i can talk about forever. Such as a no-hitter.
And if C.C. is a competitive person, I bet he cares about the decision. Whether or not he would admit it is another story.
I think that's true every year.
I understand what you mean by "statistical anomaly," but I think to say it's "just" that is to do a grave injustice to pitchers and their performance.
Obviously there may be more or less luck involved in a no-hitter, but come on, surely the pitcher may claim some credit for making his pitches and keeping the ball away from the fat part of the bat, no?
Again, I understand your point, I just think you overstate the case by reducing what may actually be a superior athletic performance to "just a statistical anomaly."
It may literally be that, but this particular anomaly is indicative (or may be) of superior performance.
Call it what you like, it's smell is no less sweet.
12 If I had to pick to be at a near no-hitter or the real deal, I would most certainly pick the real deal. And I would have a better time talking about it. : )
What's the average OPS for a RFer? Add in average at best defense and slow foot speed... is this the best we can do?
Wow.... can we give this game back?
1 besides a-rod catching & passing mike schmidt and getting closer to reggie, he's only 1 measly extra base hit from 1,000, which i think is amazing at barely 33 years old. looks like his long streak of 35 HR, 100 RBI, 100 Runs,(10 years straight) is likely to end though...
5 yeah, that call was bogus. CC should've had a no-no. 3 walks & an error. total bollocks.
c'mon x-man!
http://tinyurl.com/5cmj9r
mmmmmmmhhmmmm
Oh Do Dah Day!
hopefully Maddux can win tonight and tie Roger on the career victories list... Big Unit goes for #295 later, as well...
http://tinyurl.com/5dn33f
Who wants to lose this game more, folks?!
For every strikeout where he makes someone look silly, there's always a crushing moonshot to serve as the complement.
(As for the Knooks, does anyone with half a brain still watch them?)
np = bob dylan's Street Legal. braves-marlins on mute...
81 eh eh eh! ; )
bases loaded - again - for a-rod...
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=19516
Ah, he did pitch some here, but I may have missed those games.
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2001/05/2010-free-agents.html
Player Club
First Basemen
Carlos Delgado NYM
Jason Giambi NYY
Ross Gload * KC
Wes Helms FLA
Aubrey Huff BAL
Nick Johnson WAS
Adam LaRoche PIT
Robb Quinlan LAA
Matt Stairs TOR
http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=18535
;-)
i pictured him totally differently btw.
the fa classes are not too exciting the next 2 years. i really hope this offseason is not as disapointing as this season.
Top fifth: A lot of playoff preview stuff to write, so I haven't been able to keep the same detailed notes I usually do when Phil Hughes starts. He does look much better than the last time I saw him, though. The gun here in Syracuse is a little tough to read sometimes, but I've generally seen Hughes sitting at 92-93 mph with his fastball, and the curveball and changeup seem much sharper today than the previous two times I saw him (I didn't see his most recent start). Nothing seems especially different, he just seems to be locating his pitches much better. The result is seven strikeouts and one run through five innings.
Phew.
Oh, and Sidney, the next game is in Toronto. You want to go to Toronto. We'll meet you there. Really.
Sure he can claim credit for such actions. But which is the better performance, a no-hitter where the pitcher walks four or five men, or the one-hitter where he strikes out 15 and gives up a bleeder or a bloop?
Whether CC gets credit or not for a no-no doesn't make his game any less great.
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