Baseball Historians

A six-run sixth inning put the Dodgers back in the game as they scored one in the ninth to pull off a 10-9 win over the Dbacks.
James McDonald went 4 1/3, giving up three runs on six hits. He was pulled in the fifth in the middle of the Dbacks five-run rally. Sturtze and newly-signed [...]

NY Mets Manager Jerry Manuel has announced that rookie LF Daniel Murphy will bat 2nd and veteran Livian Hernandez has won the 5th starter job. Some minor tinkering and so forth to come, when the final roster is announced I will post here. 
MLB preview posted by Sunday……

Jeremy Bonderman was put on the 15 day disabled list today and that would allow him to come back as early as April 14th so he’ll miss the whole first week and at least part of the second week.  I’m curious to see how they get him innings while on the disabled list and it [...]

Yeah, I know Gibby has two big postseason home runs but one means more to Tiger fans then the other.  I posted a great piece on Tigers Corner by Bill Dow this morning on game five of the 1984 World Series. It contains extensive quotes from Kirk Gibson himself, as well as Sparky Anderson and [...]

Wow, I didn’t see this one coming.  The Tigers cut bait on Gary Sheffield despite the fact that they’ll still be on the hook for his $14 million salary this year.  This is one of those moves that could make or break the Tigers and their front office.  If Sheffield goes on to have a productive [...]

Clayton Kershaw ran into trouble in the first two innings, giving up three in the first and four in the second. Six of the seven runs were earned, and he tossed two scoreless after that before leaving after the fourth. Broxton and Mota then each tossed a scoreless inning, with Mota’s a perfect 1-2-3-, before [...]

The Tigers are seven innings into their spring game against the Nationals and so far so good.  Armando Galarraga threw five solid innings in which he struck out nine and walked just one and his lone blemish was a two run homer by Ryan Zimmerman.  Outside of the home run and the walk, he only [...]

Jason Schmidt made the unexpected start on Sunday, and fanned three of the first six batters he faced. He gave up two runs in the second and was pulled in the third after giving up another run. Sturtze and Threets finished the inning but not before the Padres knocked in two more runs. Kuo, Wade, [...]

Gavin Floyd pitched six shutout innings, allowing seven hits to the Dodgers while also having seven strikeouts. The Dodgers managed to score one in the eighth but it was too little too late. Manny Ramirez and Rafael Furcal each had two hits for the game.
Randy Wolf sailed through five innings before getting roughed up and [...]

The Tigers trimmed three more from their major league camp with two players hitting the disabled list and then Rule 5 pick Kyle Bloom getting shipped back to the Pirates.  No surprise that Joel Zumaya is beginning the season on the disabled list but the unusual one is Dontrelle Willis’ anxiety disorder.   The specifics aren’t [...]

Gil Meche held the Dodgers scoreless through his seven innings in Friday’s loss. The Dodgers managed just five hits, three by Manny Ramirez, who went 3 for 3 at the plate, batting third. The Dodgers avoided the shutout loss with Doug Mientkiewicz’s RBI-single in the ninth. Manny will bat third in the lineup for the [...]

The Tigers had their regulars today yet they still managed just five hits and their only two runs came off a Matt Treanor homer in the seventh.  Carlos Guillen had two of those hits and while Miguel Cabrera singled in three at bats, he struck out the other two times.
The big news was Justin Verlander’s [...]

James McDonald proved he’s capable of being the fifth starter after going three shutout innings with three strikeouts in Thursday’s start against the Rockies. McDonald and Elbert held the Rockies to two hits until the fifth, when Eric Milton allowed the Rockies to rally for three runs. He gave up three more in the seventh [...]

Veteran RH SP Freddy Garcia, a 5th starter candidate , was assigned to the minors Wednesday. Garcia(0-3 with a 16.71 spring ERA) was beat out  by fellow free agent signee Livian Hernandez for the last rotation spot. Garcia is still recovering from 2007 shoulder surgery and makes a nice insurance policy if he can regain [...]

Eric Stults and Claudio Vargas gave up a combined eight runs as the Brewers went on to beat the Dodgers 12-8.
Eric Stults had a scoreless first but was pulled in the third after being tagged for four runs. It was Claudio Vargas who took the loss, though, being pulled in the fourth after surrendering four [...]

Yesterday I mentioned the passing of John Brattain.  If you’d like to donate money to his memorial fund, stop by the Hardball Times.  They set up a special paypal account to accomodate this.
Other then the injuries and Scott Williamson, the Tigers had a pretty nice gam today.  Zach Miner threw some solid innings and Placido [...]

Buried in this Free Press article is an interesting little tibdit.  The surprise isn’t that the Tigers are trying to shop some of their excess players who no longer have options but how low their season ticket sales are.  They talk about shopping Marcus Thames to save just the $2.275 million (isn’t that chump change [...]

Nate Robertson was having a rough inning then he took a throw off his hand.  Adam Everett also tweaked himself (I think it was his hamstring, but wasn’t paying close enough attention).  Miner is throwing now.  2-1 Tigers with two outs in the bottom of the first.
***UPDATE***
Scratch the hamstring thing.  Now they’re talking about an anke [...]

My Five Questions piece on the Detroit Tigers was posted today at the Hardball Times.  If you have a hard time getting to the site, be patient.  They’ve gotten a deluge of traffic mostly because of John Brattain’s passing.

The Dodgers led 6-2 going into the eighth, but the bullpen couldn’t hang on as the Mariners beat the Dodgers 8-6 in Tuesday’s night game.
Clayton Kershaw made the start, holding the Mariners to two runs on three hits with six strikeouts. He left in the sixth with one out after giving up a triple. Tanyon [...]

The Tigers didn’t play today, but there was plenty of bad news to make up for it.  First, I already touched on George Kell’s passing.  Later in the day, I then found out the fellow THT writer John Brattain   I never got to meet John but he began writing around the same time I did [...]

George Kell passed away today at the age of 86.  While I never got to see him play, Kell is one of the guys I listened to extensively because he was the television broadcaster for the Tigers in the 1980s.  My condolences go out to his family.

The Dodgers got a 10-4 win over the Angels Sunday, but not before losing starter Chad Billinglsey after just two innings. Billingsley had a 1-0 lead when he took the mound in the first, but gave the Angels a 4-1 lead after two, including a two-run homerun to Erick Aybar in the second. Billingsley, as [...]

Defending WBC champion Japan used 2 big innings(the 5 run 4th,4 run 9th) to defeat Team USA 9-4 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles Sunday night.The USA ends the 2009 WBC with a 4-4 record , Manager Davey Johnson’s squad was beset by injuries and players who refused to participate. 
Team USA got off to a [...]

Not a whole lot of news from Mets camp, slow week. The biggest news is that it appears that veteran free agent signee Livian Hernandez has won the 5th starter job with his strong spring. The team sent down top pitching prospect Jonathon Niese last week along with C Robinson  Cancel, signaling Hernandez has won [...]

Randy Wolf was outstanding through six innings, holding the Rangers scoreless and giving up just one hit with six strikeouts.
Mota, Kuo and Cory Wade each then tossed an inning apiece, with Kuo giving the Rangers their first run with a solo shot to Chris Davis  and Wade having a rough ninth, giving up three runs, [...]

The Dodgers took a 9-4 loss on Friday despite Vargas only giving up one run following a three-run first inning for the Dodgers.
James Loney, Blake DeWitt, and Delwyn Young each had RBI singles in the first to put the Dodgers up 3-0. DeWitt ended the night with three hits. Vargas made the start and gave [...]

Prior to today’s game, it was announced that Zach Miner’s name was being pulled out of the rotation race.  Of course he answers with three shutout innings of relief today in the Tigers 4-3 loss to the Yankees.  He allowed three hits without a walk and he struck out in relief of Clay Rapada, who [...]

Tampa Rays 3b Evan  Longoria, the 2008 AL Rookie of the Year, was added to to the Team USA roster for the final round Thursday. He replaces Atlanta Braves superstar Chipper Jones, who injured an oblique. No further updates or injury news at this time, The USA plays defending WBC Champion Japan Sunday at 8 [...]

Jeremy Bonderman made his spring debut tonight to some mixed results.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the first couple of innings, but Bondo threw two shutout innings.  He did yield two hits and two walks though but it’s definitely something to build on as his spring season progresses.
Dontrelle Willis was roughed up again.  I [...]