The Jays' opponent this weekend is riding high, having won three in a row.
Break up the Tigers!
Overall, of course, it's a sorry outfit that makes the trip up Hwy. 401, and the Jays hope to deal Mike Maroth his twentieth loss tonight. The Tigers have underwhelming pitching, mistake-prone baserunning and defence, and good hitting by players named Young -- but utterly wretched production at the plate from the Detroit "hitters" who actually are young. You wouldn't expect a team with a 37-102 record to do a lot of things well. Accordingly, the Tigers don't.
Things to watch for this weekend include a starting pitcher from Ottawa on Sunday; a utility infielder from Leamington, who can hopefully shake off an injury in time to get some game action at the Dome; and the answer to this question: How much fun can Roy Halladay have with this opposition lineup on Saturday?
On to the Advance Scout!
* Everyone knows about the Tigers' losing ways. Last Saturday, they joined the '62 Mets as the only teams in baseball history to have lost 100 ballgames before September 1 ... Amazingly, though, Detroit took three straight after dropping Monday's opener against Cleveland ... Alan Trammell on the winning streak: "It feels awfully good, but we have to keep it going" ... A 6-17 finish is required to avoid matching the modern-day loss record of those infamous Mets ... Trammell: "I hope to God it doesn't happen" ... On September 1, the Tigers clinched last place in the sad-sack AL Central ... Trammell: "I don't want anyone's sympathy" ...
* Tonight's opponent, Mike Maroth, is sitting on 19 losses ... In a macabre twist, Brian Kingman, baseball's last 20-game loser (1980), will be at SkyDome tonight ... As Geoff Baker noted in his entertaining piece, Kingman will be cheering for the Tigers hard -- and invoking an authentic Louisiana voodoo doll to prevent Maroth from matching his "feat" ... A furious Trammell has made it perfectly clear that Kingman is not welcome as a guest of the Tigers ... Maroth has more going for him than a 19-loss season; his wife, Brooke, is pregnant with their first child ... The last 8 starts by a major-league pitcher with 19 losses: 4-0, with four no-decisions ...
* Tomorrow's opponent, Nate Cornejo, has recorded more walks than strikeouts over his career ... This year, his ratio is an unacceptable 48/36 -- and he's only struck out four batters in a game once all season, at Cleveland in July ... Righties are hitting .314 off the burly 23-year-old ... Cornejo pitched quite well in his last start against the White Sox on Sunday, but took a hard-luck defeat ...
* Danny Patterson, who passes for the closer on a team with ten fewer wins overall than Eric Gagne has saves, has been reliable since his July recall ... He was roughed up on Sunday for four runs, but pitched a scoreless ninth in yesterday's matinee to earn his third save ...
* Warren Morris, platooning at second base, is just 2 for his last 15 (.133) ... The singles hitter is slugging just .381 on the season ...
* Alex Sanchez, whose playing time has been scaled back of late, has stolen 40 bases -- but has been caught 22 times ... Brush up, Mr. Hinske: He remains a master of the bunt single ... Sanchez has been bothered by a bruised hip lately -- hence, Trammell pinch-ran for him with a catcher, Brandon Inge, yesterday ...
* Leamington's own Danny Klassen is on a six-game hitting streak ... He only has four walks to accompany his 24 strikeouts, though, which contributes to his .292 OBP ... 12 of his 17 hits have been singles ... Klassen suffered a mild groin strain on Wednesday. Hopefully he'll return at some point this weekend ...
* Longtime Tiger (and certainly unique in that regard) Bobby Higginson suffered a pulled hamstring on Saturday, and seized the opportunity to drop the appeal of a two-game suspension after his demonstrative ejection on August 10 ... He returned to the starting lineup in yesterday's game ... His .373 slugging percentage is on pace to be a career low, and his .237 batting average is his worst since his 1995 rookie season ... Higginson opined that veterans feel the effect of the poor season more acutely than rookies: "When I was a young player, we lost 109 games in '96, and it didn't really affect me that much. Now, where we are, it bothers me a lot more, because I understand what this means in history" ...
* Still-promising Carlos Pena, 25, is in a dreadful 2-for-27 slump (.074) ... Both of his hits, however, were home runs -- giving him 18 on the season ... He's racked up 104 strikeouts already ... After fanning three times on Wednesday, Pena avoided the Golden Sombrero in style with a go-ahead homer in the eighth ...
* Delmon's big brother, Dmitri Young, had a 16-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday ... With 28 home runs and a .553 slugging percentage at Comerica Park, Young was a deserving All-Star ... Young hit the decisive home run in Tuesday's 8-6 win over Cleveland ...
* At first glance, it seems that catcher Brandon Inge is going through a disastrous season at 207/266/364 ... Incredibly, though, those numbers are all career highs for the third-year man ... And take heart: Inge was recalled on August 7. After his first-half stint with the Tigers, he was sitting on 150/225/275 numbers ... He's hit a more-than-respectable 309/343/521 since his recall, winning the full-time job ...
* His backup, much-traveled A.J. Hinch, has had an injury-riddled year and has put up 182/211/303 numbers ... Hinch was called up on Monday after suffering a left groin strain ... Gary Knotts gave Hinch credit for calling a great game in yesterday's 2-1 gem ...
* Shortstop Ramon Santiago, who just turned 24, has been a zero at the plate this season at 218/284/274 ... Much better-regarded for his glove, Santiago dropped a routine popup in the ninth in yesterday's 2-1 Tigers win ... Patterson bailed out the second-year man by retiring Jody Gerut ...
* 22-year-old rookie Cody Ross is one of those rare Rickey Henderson types ... I'm not suggesting he has a devastating combination of power, speed and savvy. But he does bat right and throw left ... The 1999 fourth-rounder made his first big-league home run a memorable one on Tuesday, hitting a grand slam off of Cleveland's Cliff Lee ... Ross became the fifth major leaguer already this season to make his first career dinger a slam ... Unfortunately, the game will be memorable to Ross for more than one reason. Ross beat out a bunt later in the game, but tripped over first base and painfully tore the ACL in his right knee ... He's out for the year, but should recover in time for next year's training camp ... Ross "heard something snap," but kept his sense of humour. While writhing in pain, his first words to his trainer were "That was a good sacrifice bunt, wasn't it?" ...
* 25-year-old Andres Torres was called up as his replacement. He's been shuttled between Toledo and Detroit, going just 218/255/289 with the big club ...
* Rookie reliever Brian Schmack has been effective since his August 24 debut, allowing just one run in six appearances ... Schmack earned his first-ever win on Tuesday night ... He's no spring chicken, though, as he'll turn 30 in the offseason ...
* Shane Halter is enduring a dreadful 224/282/350 season ... More accurately, Tigers fans have been enduring Halter's season, month after unproductive month ... Halter did provide the fans with some gratification on Wednesday, though. After muffing a Coco Crisp grounder in the ninth, Halter watched sadly as Crisp came around to score the tying run. But Halter redeemed himself with a walkoff home run in the eleventh off of Cleveland's Jose Santiago ... Halter: "I don't think I've ever hit [a walk-off] before, not at any level" ... Halter also came through on a hit-and-run attempt yesterday, to Trammell's delight and even surprise: "Our percentages haven't been too high on hit-and-runs this year" ...
* Toledo Mud Hens fan favourite, Craig Monroe, is just 2 for his last 25 (.080) ... He's batting just .222 on the season ...
* Old friend Kevin Witt has been sitting lately as the Tigers have faced a southpaw-heavy schedule ... He's just 1 for his last 12 (.083) ...
* Catcher/outfielder (!) Ben Petrick has disappointed as a Tiger at 220/276/396 ... He did hit an important home run on Wednesday, however ...
* Trammell pointedly declined to call up shortstop Omar Infante, as a lesson for not being more "attentive" on defence when toiling at AAA ... Infante: "I respect the decision. This was a bad year" ...
* 20-year-old Jeremy Bonderman has been demoted to the bullpen ... He's trying a new windup, in which he no longer brings his arms above his head ... Bonderman: "I don't ever want to be an average fourth starter in the rotation. I want to be the big guy. I'll work and do whatever it takes to get there" ...
* Knuckleballer Steve Sparks was waived and quickly signed by Oakland ... Sparks: "I've got a lot of strong feelings for the Tigers organization...I wish, deep down in my heart, that I had made more of a difference here" ...
* The pride of Ottawa, 25-year-old Chris Mears, makes his second start on Sunday in front of friends and family ... Mears gave up three runs on seven hits in four innings in his first start, Monday against Cleveland ...
* The Detroit Free Press is running a contest in which "the Tigers' losses can be your gain" ... Correctly predict the final number of Detroit defeats by this coming Tuesday, and you could win two tickets to next year's home opener, plus a 1984 Kirk Gibson poster and a copy of the book "Century of Champions" ... E-mail freebies@freepress.com, and include your name, address and phone numbers ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
8 Torres
5/4 Klassen/ 4 Morris
7 Monroe
DH Young
3 Pena
9 Petrick
4/5 Halter
2 Inge
6 Santiago
vs. RH
8 Petrick/Sanchez
4 Morris
9 Higginson/Monroe
DH Young
3 Pena
7 Witt
5 Halter/Klassen
2 Inge/Hinch
6 Santiago
Pitching Probables
Friday: LH Maroth vs. Hendrickson
Saturday: RH Cornejo vs. Halladay
Sunday: RH Mears vs. Escobar
Bullpen Usage
Long: Roney R, Spurling R, Eckenstahler L, Bonderman R
Short: Schmack R, Anderson R, Rodney R
Setup: Walker L, German R
Closer: Patterson R
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030905015247999