Spring Training updates from Allikazoo
by allikazoo on Mar 10, 2010 11:30 AM EST
in News
0 comments
Hey guys! By the time this post goes up, I'll be on my way to Lakeland with my dad to take in a few days of Tigers spring training baseball.
I just wanted to give a heads up to everyone that I'll be blogging here whenever I can, including photos and hopefully some videos. I plan to "live tweet" from the games when I'm not shooting photos - I will be tweeting at @norunsupport, so if you're interested, please follow along there. That account normally contains tweets that alert you to posts on my other mostly-baseball blog - so if you decide to unfollow after spring training, I won't be offended!
BYB regulars frisbeepilot and wepri31 (Jason and Wendy, respectively) will be joining me at some point. If you are also in Lakeland drop me a line! I'll be at the games the 10th-15th, though I am probably not traveling for the away game on the 11th. Hope you enjoy my ramblings.
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Morning lede: Today's media topic du jour is relief pitchers
by BigAl on Mar 10, 2010 10:51 AM EST
in Morning Lede
2 comments
No, I'm not your normal host, the esteemed Kurt Mensching. Yes, I'm back! Unfortunately, a medical issue had me on the DL for a few weeks, but all is now somewhat well.
As Kurt has been working his fingers to the bone here at BYB, and needs a little R & R, I'll be covering for him today. In fact, we're going to try to work out a schedule between us where I can take the occasional load off of Kurt when it comes to game threads and recaps, so he can do what he does best, write opinion and analysis.
I know what you're saying...Enough of the jibber jabber!
Let's tour the tubes of the internets, and see just what is going on in Tigers nation!
You can tell it's spring training for the local media, as they have to crank out content when not much of importance is going on in Lakeland. (Yes, Tigers baseball is important, but it is early on). So we get feature pieces on fringe players...
Speaking of which, the Freep's John Lowe has a long feature piece on the Tigers' lone Aussie, and one of several left handers vying for a bullpen gig, Brad Thomas.Here's Thomas' money quote:
"We gathered that the World Series was like the grand finals of soccer in Australia,"
I have no idea what Australia's grand finals of soccer are, but they must be exciting...for an Aussie.
I swear the Detroit media guys get together every day in Lakeland, and discuss what will be the topic du jour of the day. Today's topic must be relief pitchers, as Lynn Henning's latest at the News is a review of Ryan Perry's spring. The money quote regarding Perry is from the Marlboro Man, Jim Lelyand:
"Right now, he's on quite a mission,"
To be honest, I was slightly confused by the News, as the picture with the piece is not of Perry, but the Nationals' uber-prospect, Stephen Strasburg. And we wonder why the 4th estate is losing readership...
After the jump...more epic stories about relief pitching!
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Official Bless You Boys Fantasy League update!
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 9, 2010 9:35 PM EST
in News
9 comments
Hey all, just wanted to update you on the Official Bless You Boys Fantasy League (earlier post here).
We filled all 12 spots over the weekend with a good mixture of BYB regulars and newcomers, as well as fantasy league newbies and veterans alike. The big thing that makes everyone start on a bit more even of footing is that this will be the first auction league for all of us.
Without further ado, here the participants:
1. Me!
Team name: Superior Monsters
I wanted to participate in an auction and never had the chance. But since CBSSports.com's Fantasy Baseball Commissioner League makes it so easy to set one up and run one, this is a great chance to do something new. I don't know how I'll finish but I do know I won't overpay for Albert Pujols!
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Tigers survive Strasburg's debut to beat Nationals, 9-4
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 9, 2010 6:35 PM EST
in News
15 comments
Stephen Strasburg made his major league spring training debut today. And that was nice and all for him. But I don't care, frankly.
Because Austin Jackson homered with a high-arcing shot to center field. Not off Strasburg mind you. It came in the middle of the game when the Tigers' batters made a mess out of the Nationals' pitchers. Still, it was the second or third good thing Jackson did on the day. Earlier, he turned a lazy left field single into a double by wisely taking the extra base. All I know about him is what I see in box scores and a very small sample size of a single game on television. But so far, I like what I see.
Don Kelly had another nice game himself. Besides showing he is a perfectly capable third baseman, Kelly had a nice day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
I didn't watch the whole game, but two other things struck me. One, Magglio Ordonez's opposite field home run was a nice shot. Using the whole field like that will be pretty useful in Comerica. And Brennan Boesch's diving catch in right field was quite nice. I thought that was Clete Thomas flying through the air in the late innings!
As for the Tigers' pitching? The guys who'll break camp with the team -- Rick Porcello, Ryan Perry, Jose Valverde -- all did pretty well, limiting the Nationals to two hits and one walk.
All in all, a nice game to watch for the first one of the year on TV.
Comment of the Night
Critiquing the Nationals announcers' use of "old fastball" vs. "young fastball" in analysis, Dale S wrote:
The old fastball
doesn’t understand that "rap music" the young fastball listens to these days
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Sabermetrics Open Idea Thread
by Mike Rogers on Mar 9, 2010 3:30 PM EST
in Open Threads
2 comments
I fess up to it: I'm not a great 'ideas man.' That makes for sporadic blogging during the off season on my part. So, what we have here is anything you'd like to see me cover in the future -- be it sabermetrically or not -- that pertains to the Tigers. I do have a couple things in the pipeline, including another Saber 101 piece.
Please leave any ideas or links to anything you found interesting that you'd like to see applied to the Tigers in the comments. I've got a very small grasp on doing a lot with PITCHf/x (you can see examples at my old blog here), so if you'd like to see some of those, or even better explanations of advanced stats, let me know!
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Grapefruit League Gamethread: Tigers at Nationals
by Kurt Mensching on Mar 9, 2010 12:00 PM EST
in Game Threads
338 comments
Detroit Tigers
at Washington Nationals
When: 1:05 p.m.
Where: Space (Ghost Coast to) Coast Stadium, Viera, Fla.
Media: MLB Network will show the game in the Michigan market - this will also be on mlb.tv if you're a subscriber.
Tigers pitchers: Porcello starting. Bonine, Figaro, Perry and Valverde also on the list.
Tigers lineup: Jackson CF, Thomas LF, Ordonez RF, Cabrera 1B, Guillen DH, Kelly 3B, Avila C, Dlugach 2B, Santiago SS. (Sizemore was scheduled to start at 2B but is getting the day off due to stiffness in his hurt ankle)
Nationals pitchers: Stephen Strasburg. Do any of the others matter? Not today..
Nationals lineup: Morgan CF, Guzman SS, Zimmerman 3B, Wllingham LF, Kennedy 2B, Desmond RF, Duncan 1B, Whitesell DH, Nieves C.
Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson is scheduled to be the first batter against the Nationals' 2009 first-overall draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, who will be making his Grapefruit League debut. Casper Wells, who hit a grand slam off Strasburg in the Arizona Fall League, will travel with the Tigers to have a reunion.
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Twins closer Joe Nathan most likely out for season
He has a torn ligament in his elbow, the same one he recently had surgery on.
1 day ago
allikazoo
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