Carlos Guillen will probably need season-ending shoulder surgery if he does not show signs of improvement soon, the Detroit Free Press is reporting. The Tigers will probably wait until the All Star break to make a decision. They’ll want to move quickly after that, because they’ll probably have to make a trade to replace Guillen in the lineup. The Tigers are in a position where they can add to their payroll if that’s what’s needed to keep them in contention.
The Tigers used the 9th overall pick in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft to select Jacob Turner, a right handed pitcher from Westminster Christian Academy in Missouri. Turner throws hard and has a huge upside, but unfortunately he might end up being difficult to sign. He might still decide to play college ball at North Carolina, where many are expecting him to develop into a top 5 prospect. On the other hand, Turner was also projected to be a 15-20 pick, so being selected at #9 might indicate to him that there is more risk in trying to improve his draft status at college and he should take what’s being offered to him right now. Even with a lowball bonus offer, Turner will still be one of the richest people in Detroit. I wonder if he’s interested in buying General Motors.
The city of Detroit has run out of money and simply can’t pay to do anything with the remaining Tiger Stadium structure other than tear it down and recycle it. That was the decision made by the city council last night. Expect to see demolition crews taking down those final pieces of history in the near future. This is a sad day for Tigers baseball and baseball history in general. So many great memories from that stadium that will soon just be memories. I can understand why they’re doing it though, as keeping the old structure there would have been very costly to the city and a museum or high school/college ballfield wouldn’t have come close to generating the revenue needed for upkeep. The stadium is victim of Detroit’s current (and likely future) economic woes. Things probably aren’t going to be getting better either. I encourage anyone reading this to take a road trip this year to see the Tigers play in their wonderful new ballpark. The team and the city would greatly appreciate it.
Jeremy Bonderman threw 8 innings of shutout ball on Sunday in a rehab start in the minors. He gave up just 6 hits and struck out five. 66 of his 98 pitches were strikes. Bonderman has looked good in the minors and we shouldn’t be surprised to see him back in the majors within the next week. As The Detroit Tiger Weblog mentioned, the Tigers have a day-night doubleheader scheduled for next Monday against the White Sox. The second game would be a likely opportunity to test out Bonderman’s arm.
Home plate umpire Paul Schrieber apologized for making contact with Magglio Ordonez after making a terrible third strike call on the Tigers slugger. See for yourself in the video below:
Dontrelle Willis is back pitching in the major leagues again, but the Minnesota Twins rocked him on Wednesday night en route to a 14-10 win. Although Willis gave up 4 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, there were some positive signs. He only walked two batters in that span, which might indicate that he has some control back. Willis has been on the DL for the start of the season as he tried to figure out what went wrong with his pitching motion.
Willis’ official injury was listed as an “anxiety disorder”, which many in baseball might say was just a severe case of the “yips”. Yips are a mental blockage that can cause severe anxiety during crucial moments of physical activity. Golfers are the most common victims of yips, but it has also happened in baseball many times before, including Chuck Knoblauch when he played for the Yankees (for about a month he had trouble making a clean throw from his position at second base to the first baseman) and Rick Ankiel when he was still a pitcher and had trouble hitting the backstop, let alone the catcher’s mitt.
Edwin Jackson pitched 6 innings of scoreless ball against the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, but he still came away with a no decision as the Tigers lost 11-0. 10 of those runs came in the top of the 7th inning, when a combination of Tigers relief pitchers entered and then exited the game as the Yankees circled the bases. The kicker was a grand slam home run surrendered to Yankees backup catcher Jose Molina, subbing for Jorge Posada on the night because Posada runs like my disabled grandmother… after she’s been hit by a bus.
Placido Polanco had the highlight night for Tigers hitters, going 1 for 4 with a double. Yeah, that was really the best performance we had last night. Brandon Inge was 0 for 2 with a walk, which I guess means he did better than the average Tiger hitter. He’s carried the team thus far this season, I think the least we can do is name part of the stadium after him. Comerica Inge just has such a nice ring to it.
Justin Verlander finally got his first win of the season, outdueling Yankees ace CC Sabathia for a 4-2 Tigers victory. Verlander gave up 7 hits over 7 innings, but walked none and only gave up one extra base hit. He was really in command of the Yankees lineup all day, and even some of the hits he gave up were just little bloops over the infield.
Magglio Ordonez had the big hit for the Tigers, a 2-run homer in the 6th inning that proved to be the difference in the ballgame.
The one poor performance for the Tigers on the day was Fernando Rodney, who gave up 2 earned runs in a 9th inning relief appearance.
The Tigers now hold a 1 game lead over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central.
It’s no fluke that Brandon Inge is suddenly a dangerous power hitter in the Tigers lineup. He finally got around to making the adjustments in his swing that hitting instructors have been telling him about for years. His hands are higher up and away from his back shoulder — a suggestion he received from hitting coach Lloyd McClendon at the end of last season.
Not only should we expect Inge’s power numbers to go up, but his batting average should get much higher as well. In the past few years, he’s flirted with the Mendoza line, a batting average no major league player wants anywhere near his name. His batting average on balls hit into play was atrocious last year, a sign that he’s not hitting the ball hard enough.
Tigers starter Armando Galarraga pitched 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball as his team leads the division rival White Sox by a score of 9-0 in the 8th inning. Miguel Cabrera has continued his hot start by hitting another home run today, his 4th of the season. He also has a stolen base in the game. Placido Polanco has also helped out with a double and 3 RBIs. White Sox starter Jose Contreras lasted just 5 1/3 innings and gave up the first 4 earned runs in the game and 5 runs overall.
- June 2009 (4)
- May 2009 (2)
- April 2009 (6)
