Drew VerHagen

Tigers 6 White Sox 0

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The Tigers ended a miserable season on a positive note by taking the season finale 6-0 over the White Sox. Daniel Norris and the much maligned bullpen combined on a three hit shutout.

The 74th win of the 2015 campaign was good for a last place Central Division finish and will provide the Tigers with a top 10 draft pick next season.

Here is my Good, Bad and Ugly for the 2015 season:

The Good:

  • James McCann finishes the year without making an error.  He has taken over the #1 catcher position
  • J.D. Martinez followed up last year’s impressive year with another one finishing with 102 RBIs, not bad for a guy the Tigers got for virtually nothing.
  • Justin Verlander looks like he will come back and be the Ace of Tigers staff in 2016
  • Nick Castellanos had a good year at the plate.  Remember this was only his second year.
  • Drew VerHagen, Alex Wilson, and Blaine Hardy look like they will be competent arms out the pen
  • Miggy won is fourth batting title

The Bad:

  • Victor Martinez’s injury riddled season
  • Miggy’s injury ridden power numbers
  • Castellanos’s play at third base
  • The inability to play as a team.  No part of the team “picked up” the other
  • Finishing in last place in the AL Central

The Ugly:

  • The base running – leading baseball in runners thrown out at home plate and just the overall incompetence on the base paths.
  • Hitting into the most double plays in baseball
  • Pitching – 28th in ERA 4.64
  • Bruce Rondon being sent home

The season in over for the Tigers but I’ll still be posting throughout the post season.  I’m predicting a Mets | Blue Jays World Series.  I’d like to see Granderson get a WS ring.

A big Flashin’ Leather Thank You to everyone that reads and comments!  I really appreciate your support!

White Sox 4 Tigers 3

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Here’s the good news:

  • JV struck out nine, walked one, and allowed only two earned runs in six complete innings.  It looks like he could be the Ace of next year’s staff.
  • Miggy had three hits including his 18th HR of the season.  Perhaps he can be healthy for next year.
  • VerHagen looks like he can be an arm out of the pen next year.

The best news is that the 2015 Detroit Tigers season will end later this afternoon.

I’m looking forward to the playoffs and the start of hockey season.

Tigers 7 Twins 4

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Daniel Norris looked good in his first start coming off of the DL.  He only gave up one run in 4.2 innings.  It is a shame he was on a low pitch count and had to come out of the game because the pen couldn’t hold his slim 2-1 lead, nothing new here.

The Tigers offense battled, despite hitting into four more double plays, and finally took the lead for good in the top of the 12th.  They also got a huge boost from Ian Krol who picked the entire bullpen up, including VerHagen and Hardy who were not good tonight. Krol pitched three scoreless innings, the 10th, 11th, and 12th, after Bruce Rondon blew a 4-3 lead in the 9th.

Blaine Hardy has been struggling for the last week or so.  Yesterday’s and tonight’s outings may not show up in his numbers but he’s not getting the outs he’s called upon to get and not stranding runners.

J.D. hit his 37th homer of the year and recorded his 95th and 96th RBIs.  With Miggy struggling, I guess J.D.’s quest for 100 RBIs is what I’ll be tuning in for.

Tyler Collins had a good night, he drove in two runs and had a nice outfield assist.

This game meant and series meant nothing to the Tigers but the Twins missed a chance to improve their position in the Wild Card race.

Tigers 5 Twins 4

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Alfredo Simon pitched well, better than his final line indicated.  He ran into some bad luck in seventh but this was a quality start. Both VerHagen and Simon’s outings would look and feel better if they had a little luck but both pitched well.

Victor Martinez had three hits and should have, should have, had four. This is his first three hit game since July according to Mario Impemba.

James McCann had three hits, raising his batting average to .276. I didn’t realize, he hasn’t made an error all season.  This is a very impressive rookie campaign.

Drew VerHagen and Alex Wilson both looked good out of the pen and the Tigers have a chance for a series win tomorrow night.

The Twins missed a chance to pick up a game on the Yankees and Blue Jays who both lost tonight.

UPDATE: I almost forgot to mention the perfectly executed hit and run and safety squeeze the Tigers pulled off in the top of the ninth inning. These two plays resulted in the fifth and winning run.  My first thought was, bravo.  My second thought was, ‘where has this been all year?’ In any case, I guess it is better late than never.

Twins 7 Tigers 1

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J.D. continues to hit the ball hard and Kyle Ryan looked good in out of the bullpen.  I was really happy with Ryan’s performance because Ausmus had to make another early call to the pen and Ryan delivered 4.2 solid innings.  Ryan and VerHagen just might be long relief options for 2016.

Andrew Romine is a solid utility player that can flash leather at any position and can swing the bat just enough.  I haven’t said enough about him this year.

I’m not sure if anybody else noticed but Nick Castellanos has similar offensive numbers to Minnesota’s All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier.  Nick “The Quick” is hitting, .250, with 15 hrs and 68 rbis.  Dozier is hitting .239, with 27 hrs and 70 rbis.  The homer are way higher for Dozier but he only has two more runs batted in. I know you expect more power from third base but I I couldn’t help it, the numbers just struck me as interesting.

Blue Jays 5 Tigers 3

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The Tigers fell to eight games under .500.  They couldn’t do much against R.A. Dickey.

Matt Boyd looked okay. He was inconsistent. Some innings good. Some not so good. All in all not bad but for a young guy.

VerHangen and Feliz were not bad out of the pen.

The Jays are just rolling and are now my pick to come out of the A.L.

I hope Miggy is not going into a slump.  He hasn’t looked great the last two games. I know that’s a tough thing to say but he’s pretty much what I look forward to when I tune.

Angels 8 Tigers 7

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Seven runs should be enough to win a game but you know the story.  Basically, I’m tuning in to watch J.D. Martinez, James McCann, hopefully Miggy win a batting title, and perhaps JV return to an ace level pitcher.  Other than that, there’s not a whole lot to watch.

If the Tigers were getting anything out of Victor, this offense would be putting up numbers like the Blue Jays, but he’s is just a wasted spot in the order.  He is very difficult to watch. He’s doing nothing.

If I were Huston Street I wouldn’t have pitched to Miggy in the eighth.  I don’t care if he were 0-20 against me.  He’s hitting just under .500 since his return from the DL and Victor was on deck. No way. Actually, I don’t care who was on deck. The Angels are lucky Miggy didn’t burn them.

VerHagen looked pretty good tonight.

FYI: Nick Castellanos’s base running is exponentially worse than his fielding.

I wonder how playoff ticket sales are going?

Blue Jays 10 Tigers 5

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The Blue Jays avoided a sweep by putting 10 runs on the Tigers pitching staff, seven off of former Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander. For four innings JV looked pretty good. He surrendered only one run in the first off of a bloop double and a ground ball single then retired 13 straight.  He got into trouble in the fifth and that was all she wrote.

Ausmus found no relief in the pen either. VerHagen, Wilson, Hardy and Farrell didn’t look very sharp collectively. That being said, when a team scores seven off the starter you probably aren’t going to win too many of those games.

I was really impressed with former Tigers prospect and current Jays second baseman Devon Travis.  It is a small sample size but he looks like a keeper. I’m not sure if you saw Mike’s comment, from Minoring in Baseball, from yesterday’s post.  Yesterday when McCann picked off Travis at first it was an “all Whitecaps play, McCann to Avila, picking off Travis.”  There is something nice about homegrown talent.  Unfortunately there is not a lot of it on the Tigers.  Which brings me to another thing I’ve been thinking about.

Dave Dombrowski’s philosophy seems to be draft power arms then trade them for what you need to fill out the roster.  It is hard to argue with the success he’s had with the trades he’s made.  The Tigers have gotten the better end of the vast majority of his deals.  However, shouldn’t baseball be littered with former Tigers pitchers?  The only one I can think of that is still around is Andrew Miller?  Is the scouting that bad that nobody the Tigers scout and draft ever pans out anywhere?  I guess Cameron Maybin looks like he’s turned things around but he’s not a pitcher, but who else?

Indians 6 Tigers 2 (Game 1)

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I think we’ve seen this move before. The Tigers lost their third straight game, second straight to the Indians, and first of a double header.

Rookie Drew VerHagen didn’t look too bad but he only lasted five innings. We all know what happens when the Tigers need more than two innings from the bullpen.

Here’s a hint, (whisper) they don’t win.

Not that the offense was any help. They had seven hits, struck out 11 times and walked once.

Right now the Indians are 5.5 games back.

I hope Max can strop the bleeding or this could get ugly again.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural