Tigers Minor League Baseball Blog

The White Caps had a tough time at the plate and they were held to just six hits in a 2-1 loss to the Wizards.  The lone run of the game came on a solo homer in the fifth inning by Adrian Casanova.  Kyle Peter was the only White Cap with two hits.

Lauren Gagnier had a nice start go to waste.  He fell to 1-4 and he gave up two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings.

Being demoted in any line of work is never fun, nor does it lend much room for confidence in any further hope for success. But in baseball whenever a player is hurt or gets sent down a level, it is especially hard because once again you are back at square one. For me I had to start from lower than scratch. With an injury right out of the gate into my pro career, I had to do more than get healthy, I had to prove that I was worthy of the opportunity I had been given. When you struggle because of something that is happening on the field, you are still on the field. When you don’t even get to throw or hit because of injury, it’s like taking the ability to lie from a lawyer; Your best assets are gone. The best metaphor I can think of for professional baseball is that it is like a highly functioning industrial machine. Sometimes parts of the machine break down and have to be thrown out or don’t work like they used to, and need to be tuned up. However, for the whole machine to work it has to be running at all times. So, whenever a part is taken out, a new one has to be brought in. Then once the machine is up and running smoothly again, the old part has to wait until another kink in the line appears where they can be put back in. For those who are promoted it’s a huge step forward because it means you are one step closer to the Major Leagues. However there is never any room to let up because once you are a key part of the machine, it is your job to make sure things keep running smoothly because there will always be another just like you, waiting in the wings to step up and take your spot in the line.

There’s only one sound in the universe that when you hear it, one is immediately taken back to their fifth grade cafeteria. This is the sound of 5,000 excited school kids all gathered in one place on a field trip. The field trip location today was Fifth Third Ballpark, also known to me as home field. The second I stepped out of the tunnel I said to myself, “God, I’m right back in my elementary school cafeteria.” My next thought was, “Is this a good, or bad thing?” Well we never really got the chance to find out because the game was rained out in the bottom of the first inning, when we were threatening I might add. I can sympathize with the little kids however because I can remember going to games that got rained out. So we all tried to do our part and have some fun and sign a few autographs to give them something to go home with. From inside the clubhouse though, I can’t say that there was all sad and sorrow going around. Like I said before any rest is good rest, but I have to admit, it would have been nice to take one back from Kane County.

Lauren Gagnier fell to 1-3 on the season with a rough start in the White Caps 10-3 loss to Kane County.  He gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.  Gagnier has struggled this year although there’s some reason for optimism because he’s struck out 42 in 29 innings.  If he can stop giving up so many hits (32), then his last start when he threw six shutout innings is more of a glimpse of what’s to come.

Kody Kaiser was the hitting star in the loss.  He went three for four with a double and a run.