Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

Keeping us professional ballplayers happy before, during and after the game is no easy chore. In particular, for this moment’s sake I want to discuss the importance of our batboys. First off, if you don’t love baseball, there really isn’t much room to be a full time batboy. Now I am not speaking of the little six year olds who get to be on the field for the first two innings, but the kids who show up to the field when we do and spend as much time with us at home as anyone else. To make a small point on the guest batboys/girls; Our hitting coach Benny likes to play small jokes with these kids. Things like when the two coaches have their pre-game meeting Benny will send the poor kid out to take second base to the umpires to have it inspected. Or always the classic, go ask the other dugout if they stole our bucket of curveballs. It’s sad but it is these little fun jokes which make coming to the field fun everyday. Anyway, I digress, back to the real story. As I was saying our full time batboys do everything from shagging balls during batting practice to getting us food and ice cream before the game (yes that’s right; before the game). Basically the majority of chores we need done go through our crew of clubhouse rats, and I mean that with all due respect. It takes a different kind of person to put up with us day in and day out with all the complaining, bickering, demanding, swearing and downright disregard for any kind of manners. But that is what being part of a team is, they are as much a part of our daily lives as any of our other teammates. And on a final note, they are pretty good at picking up the bats.

Yes folks, I am familiar with some of our fellow Americans competing in the Beijing games. One of whom is a baseball player, Clayton Richard, who was supposed to be one of the aces for pitching staff had he not been called up to the major leagues. Clayton and I were teammates at Michigan, and now he had to pass on the Olympics to play in the bigs for the White Sox, and I am here writing about him. Go Figure. I am proud to say I played with guys like that because it gives me motivation to try and re-join them one day. Is it a little bit of a name drop and ego boost? Of course, but admit, if you trained with this next person you probably would to. My other acquaintance, (I cannot yet call him my friend but maybe we can change that in the off season) is probably one that you won’t expect. Perhaps one of the Korean ping pong players, or another obscure baseball player no one else has heard of, one might assume. Wrong again. How about Mr. Phelps? That’s right, yours truly has trained side by side (in the weight room, not the pool) with the most decorated Olympian ever. As you may or may not know, Michael trains and attends school at the University of Michigan. Not only have I trained with him, but I have had a few classes as well with our amphibious friend. I can’t speak of how he was as a student, we were in a public speaking class and all he had to do was say, “Hi, I’m Michael Phelps. Check out this gold medal.” I’m guessing this was good enough for an A because that’s pretty much the way I remember it. I usually liked introducing myself to classes along with the interesting fact about myself and people turn around and think, ooooh an athlete. However on this occasion I almost decided to change my name that day for fear of getting laughed at. How is anyone supposed to follow that? I guess when you are in the presence of that kind of greatness you simply have to back away and stay humble. Oh, and try to get an autograph.

I have written much about the trials and tribulations of my life on the road. Most of this is due to the fact that being on the road usually lends itself to providing better stories than at home because at home everything is familiar and comfortable, and on the road guys usually find a way to do something out of the ordinary. This latest trip has provided us with just that, physically the bus riding has been very uncomfortable, and also in recent days we have won three straight. However, also on this past trip I have been able to be a little more comfortable than on any other trip. My girlfriend, Amanda, has been accompanying me in Midland for our series against the Loons. Being able to spend quality time with the people you are closest to means more to a ballplayer than most people think. Not that I don’t enjoy spending the majority of my days with the same guys, (trust me I do we find ways to have our share of fun) but to have someone around who doesn’t really care all that much how the game goes and just gets excited to see me out there has a different feeling. Well recently she likes to read me the box scores and stats of the other teams in the organization now, and she knows what the WHIP stat means, so I guess you can say she is getting a little more interested (ladies, this is what happens if you date a ballplayer long enough. Consider yourself warned). I think if everyone on our team was able to have their significant other as a roommate on the road, I bet things would be a little more cheerful once we got to the field, and we might smell better too.

The Hens lost to the Bats 10-8 and both Jeff Larish and Brent Clevlen hit their 20th homers of the season.  Larish needed to go yard twice and he drove in four while Clevlen left the park once and he drove in two runs.  Clevlen finished a perfect four for four and he was a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Eddie Bonine fell to 12-3 with a rough start.  He gave up six runs on nine hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Casper Wells went yard three times in the SeaWolves 11-2 win over Harrisburg.  He finished with five RBIs and he joined three other hitters who left the park.

Lucas French improved to 6-11 with a nice start.  He gave up one run on seven hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings.

The Flying Tigers lost to Clearwater tonight 5-1.  The hitters managed just six hits and two of those came off the bat of Justin Justice.  The leftfielder also drove in the lone Lakeland run.

Dontrelle Willis fell to 0-2.  He gave up five runs (four earned) on ten hits with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  Almost as important, Willis didn’t walk a single batter.

Jonathan Kibler had a fantastic start and he improved to 12-4 in the White Caps 5-0 win over the Loons.  He gave up just a pair of hits with nine strikeouts in the shutout.

Kody Kaiser provided the bulk of the runs with a three run blast, his eighth long ball of the season.  Joseph Tucker went three for four with a run and an RBI.

Luis Sanz improved to 4-2 on the season with a solid start in the GCL TIgers 7-5 win over the GCL Braves.  He gave up two runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts in six innings.

Chao-Ting Tang doubled twice and scored two runs.  Luis Salas had two hits including a solo homer.

It is funny how the smallest things in the game of baseball can make the biggest difference. Currently I am working on throwing my fastball consistently more down in the strike zone. Some may say, “well duh, isn’t that what you always do?” Well what looks like ‘down’ to most people is not ‘down’ to a pitcher. ‘Down’ to a normal eye is what you see on Sportscenter followed by the distance the ball traveled. However, to a pitcher ‘down’ is the good old ground ball to the second baseman which helps me throw those 6-7 innings a game (which I haven’t yet but my teammates have). Since I don’t want to end up being that guy on the highlight spinning around to watch the ball, I am trying to throw the ball a little lower for now. Also since the typical pitcher throws his fastball around seventy percent of the time one would would assume that it would be pretty important to make sure that when it is thrown, there is a great chance it will not leave the yard. Just to let you know the amount of space we are dealing with here, the difference between the ‘downs’ is about 4-7 inches. Yes, that’s all. Trust me, none of this is easy, if it was I wouldn’t be writing about it describing how critical all this is. No worries for now though, I have everything under control, and if you don’t see me on the highlight reel, well consider it a good thing.

Chris Lambert fell to 11-7 on the season after a rough start in the Hens 8-4 loss to Indianapolis.  He gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings.

Jeff Larish and Clete Thomas both homered and drove in a pair of runs.  Freddy Guzman went two for four with a double and a run.

The SeaWolves scored four runs in the first inning and then held on to beat Reading 4-3.  Guillermo Moscoso had an impressive outing the mound and he won his first start since getting promoted to Erie.  He gave up one unearned run on three hits and a walk with ten strikeouts in six innings.  He now has 82 strikeouts in 58 innings this year and he only has fourteen walks and a .190 batting average against.  Not bad for a guy who didn’t show up many prospect lists last year.

Jeff Frazier went two for four with a double, two RBIs and a run.  William Rhymes was a perfect four for four with a double, a triple and a run.

Lakeland took home both of their games in a doubleheader with the Yankees.  Game one was a 2-1 win and Duane Below got it done on the mound.  He gave up one run on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.  Ryan Strieby and Devin Thomas both belted solo homers for the Flying Tigers two runs.

Game two was a 4-2 win.  Jonah Nickerson improved to 10-3 and he gave up two runs on five hits with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.  Louis Ott went two for three with two RBIs while Michael Bertram went one for two with a walk and two runs.

The White Caps couldn’t get it done at the plate as they were held to a single run on six hits in their 7-1 loss to Kane County.  All six hits were singles and Joseph Tucker had three of them. Audy Ciriaco singled and he drove in the lone run.

Lauren Gagnier was roughed up and he fell to 1-6.  He gave up six runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.