2014 Week 9 Notes: 4 vs. Minnesota (4-0), 2 vs. Pittsburgh (1-1), 1 at Pittsburgh (0-1)
· 05/26: DET 2, MIN 0 Noodles Hahn CG, 0 R, 8 H, 0 BB, 8 K, W (6-2, 2.34) Cecil Travis 3-4, RBI
· Noodles got his second shutout of the season, a dominant effort. He did throw a lot of pitches, so we might look to get him out of his next start an inning or two earlier than normal.
· Yankee 24-year-old centerfielder Ty Cobb will miss the next 4 months with a severe concussion. Cobb is hitting .394 so far this season, with 19 RBI.
· 05/27: DET 6, MIN 2 Miguel Cabrera 2-4, GS (9), 4 RBI (40), 2 R Dennis Eckersley 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K, W (6-3, 3.90)
· A great outing by Eckersley, and big Miggy's grand slam was obviously quite huge for us. His acquisition could be what makes this season.
· Cabrera has also now hit in twelve consecutive games, raising his average to .316. His beautiful flames are back where they belong and Carlos Baerga is on fire as well.
· 05/28: DET 5, MIN 4 Carlos Baerga 3-5, 3 2B, RBI, 2 R Miguel Cabrera 3-4, RBI, R, BB
· Baerga also scored the winning run on a walk-off grounder to second in the 9th. Cecil Travis hit a soft grounder to second and they tried to make the play at the plate, not in time!
· Gerardo Parra was injured in the top of the 1st sprinting to catch a ball in the gap and blasting into the wall. His diagnosis is pending, so Ludwick will move to LF and Steve Brodie will start in RF.
· Jerry Adair is also slightly banged up, with a mild hip strain that will keep him day-to-day for 5 days. Tigers policy will see Adair sit these 5 days.
· 05/29: DET 3, MIN 2 (10) Red Schoendienst (MIN) 4-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R Dupee Shaw 9.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 2-3, 2B, RBI, ND
· Dupee Shaw pitched a very nice ballgame, and we win another game in walk-off fashion, this time with a bases-loaded base on balls to catcher Rick Wilkins!
· The four-game sweep of the Twins bring us to 1.5 games behind the first-place White Sox. We are doing better in the division than the wild-card race, where we are 3 games back.
· 05/30: DET 7, PIT 4 Jim Abbott 8.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 7 K, 1-4, RBI, W (4-3, 4.85) Julio Franco 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI, R, 2 BB, SB (8)
· Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 15 games, and Cecil Travis now has an 11-game streak. Ryan Ludwick saw his streak snapped at 10 games with an 0-4 day.
· 05/31: PIT 9, DET 3 Curtis Granderson (PIT) 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI, R Claude Hendrix (PIT) 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 K, W (4-2, 3.08)
· Well, you can't win them all, but its still disappointing to see our five-game winning streak ended. Cabrera and Travis kept their streaks alive, 16 and 12 games, respectively.
· Carlos Baerga now also has an eleven game hitting streak going. The lads have been really stroking the ball lately, and that's the biggest reason for our run of good results.
· Steve Brodie strained his hip flexor legging out a double, and he'll be day-to-day for three days. The Tigers will have a short bench for the next few days as Adair is still out as well.
· We got horrible news on Gerardo Parra today, as tests divulged a broken bone in his throwing elbow. He'll miss seven months, so obviously, the rest of 2014.
· With Brodie hurt as well, youngster Merito Acosta will see some playing time. He really isn't ready for the Show, but he needs playing time anyway, since he's on the MLB roster.
· Harmon Killebrew of the Blue Jays won the AL Player of the Month for May, and Billy Southworth of the Phillies took home NL honors.
· Garland Braxton of the A's won AL Pitcher of the Month, with Andy Benes of the Washington Nationals winning the NL award.
· The AL Rookie of the Month goes to the Royals Danny Hoffman, while the National League's top rookie this month is Pablo Sandoval of the Pirates.
· Cincinnati and Baltimore made a trade today, with Baltimore receiving SP Edinson Volquez and $3M in cash in exchange for 23-year-old minor league closer John McMullin of the Reds.
· 06/01: PIT 4, DET 1 Zack Greinke (PIT) 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, W (6-4, 2.85) Kirby Puckett 2-5, 2B, SB (7)
· Cabrera has now extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a double in the contest. Cecil Travis has also upped his streak to 13 games, with Carlos Baerga at 11.
· Next Week: 1 at Pittsburgh, 3 at Baltimore, 2 vs. Tampa Bay
Well, after this 5-2 week, our Tigers now sit in sole possession of second place, 2.5 games behind the division leading Chicago White Sox, but 2.5 games ahead of the third-place Cleveland Indians who are five games back in the division.
Along with Chicago, we are now the only teams in the AL Central with a record above the .500 mark. Injuries have plagued us, but luckily, other than the injury to Gerardo Parra, they have not been of the serious variety. Unfortunately, we gave up a lot of our minor-league depth in order to make the Cabrera trade and the Parra trade (irony), so we may have to move one of our major league players for some additional depth on the roster. At present, we only have 24 men on the active roster, as we only have one actual player in our minor league system, in 21-year-old reliever John Strike. We don't want to carry 13 pitchers, so if we do make a trade, it will hopefully be us giving up one player in exchange for two. Johnny Pesky's name has been rumored to be available in trade, as he doesn't play much for our Tigers and is awfully unhappy about it.
Regardless, our Tigers keep plugging away and are really making me proud at present. Our owner is still worried, but honestly, Mr. Geffre, you are a stick-in-the-mud and I don't think you'll be happy unless we're 10 games up in the division or locked into a playoff spot. The league just started, I don't think we should be under the pressure we are under, as we were NEVER looked at as a favorite in this division.
Thank you as always for following along with the Level Playing Field and we hope to see you again next week after another hopefully solid week for your Detroit Tigers!!
