Posts Tagged ‘Magglio Ordonez’
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From Disabled List to Third in the Order?April 27th, 2008
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February 4, Curtis Granderson signs a five-year contract extension with Detroit.
March 22, Phillies pitcher Travis Blackley breaks a bone in Granderson’s hand.
April 23, Granderson bats 2-4, scoring 3 runs in his season debut.
After missing twenty-one games with a broken finger, Curtis Granderson has picked up right where he left off. Showing the extra base power he displayed in his breakout 2007 season, he has already racked up four extra base hits in as many games. A year removed from hitting 38 doubles, 23 triples, 23 home runs, and stealing 26 bases, Granderson is back on track hitting at a .353 clip. A stabilizing force, he is burning up the gaps at Comerica Park with his glove and bat.
With Granderson back setting the table, lead-off fill-in’s Clete Thomas and Ivan Rodriguez will return to their old roles. Thomas, not expected to see major league action this April, was shifted to Triple-A Toledo where he will pick up regular at-bats. Pudge will revert to the lower half of the order, bringing his .302 lifetime batting average with him. After a rough offensive start, the Tigers can finally trot out all their expected opening day lineup.
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An Offense Enlightened, A Rotation in OrbitApril 25th, 2008
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After hitting the snooze button the first two weeks of the season, Detroit bats have vaulted out of hibernation. The Tigers completed their second sweep of the year on Thursday, dismantling Texas 37-10 in a three-game series at Comerica Park. Whether by long ball or bases on balls, the Tigers scored their most runs in three consecutive games since putting up 47 against Baltimore in August 1993.
Expected to light up the scoreboard this season, Jim Leyland’s crew tormented Texas pitching in front of the home fans. Despite injuries to designated hitter Gary Sheffield and second baseman Placido Polanco, the Tigers pounded out 35 hits and took 20 walks in the series. Centerfielder Curtis Granderson finally re-joined the starting lineup after missing the first twenty-one games. Detroit’s spark plug batted lead-off, provided a home run, three runs batted in, and three walks. Read more
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Return to NormalcyApril 24th, 2008
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About a week ago, I wrote an article on the Twins’ failings in the bullpen. But a lot changed in a week, and that angle had to be ditched– well, not completely. I’m still going to bring up what happened, but we now have light at the end of the tunnel.
Things were looking scary for the Twins when, in the span of one week, the Twins’ mighty setup men managed to blow three big divisional games. The culprits: Pat Neshek, Matt Guerrier and Jesse Crain.
Neshek began the mess by giving up a grand slam to Joe Crede in the opening game against the Chicago White Sox on April 7 to spoil a 4-3 lead in the seventh. The Twins went on to lose 7-4. Guerrier started the inning by loading up the bases for Neshek, so we can’t give Neshek all the blame, but he did give up the shot to bring them all in.
Then on the following Monday, Guerrier and Neshek managed to blow a five-run lead and eventually, the game, to the slumping Detroit Tigers 11-9.
Crain followed suit the very next night, spoiling a solid start by Scott Baker by giving up a rocketing two-run homer to Detroit’s Magglio Ordonez in the eighth inning to give the Tigers a 6-5 win and two-game series sweep.
The result of rough week for the setup corps was a combined nine runs given up and three losses in just 3 1/3 innings pitched, ballooning their combined ERA to 8.95 on the season to go along with their 0-3 record.
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Stop! Don’t Panic YetApril 10th, 2008
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The Detroit Tigers upped their payroll from $95 million in 2007 to $138 million this season, making theirs the second highest in baseball. This splurging has so far proven ineffective.
After adding coveted veterans Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and Edgar Renteria to the books, owner Mike Ilitch has been blessed with just one victory in Detroit’s first eight games.
Is it time to panic? Conventional wisdom says no.
If the 2007 season showed us anything, it is that slow starts do not set the tone of a season. Just ask the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Colorado Rockies. They all rose from the ashes to reach the playoffs last year. The less-than-impressive Phillies began 3-10 and stormed past the free-falling Mets in September. The flailing Cubs once dropped six in a row, falling to 22-31 but pulled themselves up by season’s end to capture the NL Central. And the Rockies completed one of the most impressive runs of our generation, streaking all the way to a World Series after compiling an 18-27 record. Read more
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The Problem with PredictionsApril 7th, 2008
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Every year, sports broadcasters - regardless of the sport - begin that particular sports’ season with a series of predictions. These predictions range from individual player predictions and team predictions, to division predictions and even championship predictions… you name it, they’re already thinking about it before the professionals step on the court/field/rink/whatever. Broadcasters will proceed to tell you, with their own mystic authority, exactly who will be good, who will be a waste of paycheck, who will be undervalued, who will be the best and worst teams, and which two teams will make the championships. Many will even go as far as to claim, with conviction and fervor, that they “know” who is going to win it this year (despite the team’s hundred year dry spell, and all those curses that have been plaguing that team for decades). Read more