A sad goodbye

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Harry Kalas, the Phillies' Hall of Fame announcer, died at 1:20 p.m. today, the Phillies announced.

Mr. Kalas collapsed in the press box at Nationals Stadium in Washington at about 12:30 and was rushed to George Washington University Medial Center.

The cause of the death was not announced. Today's game against the Nationals will be played, but the team will not visit the White House tomorrow.

"We lost Harry today," David Montgomery, the team president, said. "We lost our voice."

Mr. Kalas, who was found unconsious, missed most of spring training after undergoing undisclosed surgery in Feburary. That surgery was unrelated to the detached retina that sidelined him for part of last season.

Mr. Kalas, who turned 73 on March 26, has broadcast Phillies games since 1971. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 as the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award. He is entering the final season of a 3-year contract that he signed in December 2006.

Anchors aweigh

With all the adventures on the high seas of late, it is interesting to note that one player -- and only one -- in MLB history is listed as being born at sea. It was Ed Porray, who pitched for Buffalo in 1914. (Oh, why couldn't it have been the Pirates?).

Porray appeared in three games (the 95th anniversary of his debut is Friday) and went 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA.

Baseball-reference.com lists Porray's birthplace as "A ship on Atlantic Ocean."

News and notes

Highlights from the Tigers' press notes:

Yesterday marked the first time since July 2, 1993 that Detroit won a game after trailing at least 4-0 in the eighth inning or later.

The last time the Tigers won their first 3 home games was also 1993.

Detroit's relievers have retired 24 consecutive batters going back to the ninth inning of Friday's game against Texas.

Brandon Inge will play game No. 1,000 today with Detroit. He is the 14th active player to reach 1,000 games with just one team. Inge's homer yesterday was No. 100 in his career.

Since 2005, Inge leads all AL third basemen in assists and is second in total chances. (Which seems remarkable considering he saw so little action at 3B last year.)

Magglio Ordonez's .322 BA since the start of 2005 is the best in the AL. Placido Polanco is third, with a .320 mark.

Detroit had four winning streaks last year of four games or more, but no win streak longer than six.

O's Week 1

The O's bashed their way thru Week 1 taking 2 of 3 from both the Yankees and the Rays to complete the opening homestand at 4-2. 

The O's hit .289 and scored 6.5 runs/game.  Kudos to hitting coach Terry Crowley for having the lumber ready for Opening Day.

O's pitching had a 5.67 ERA for the week.  The starting pitching performed surprisingly well, posting a 3.73 ERA.  The bullpen was alternately great and awful in posting an 8.34 ERA.  Danys Baez and Jamie Walker were untouched.  George Sherril, Dennis Sarfate, Matt Albers and Jim Johnson pitched so-so.  Chris Ray struggled and Brian Bass was outright awful.  

To the pitching staff's credit, only the Kansas City Royals issued fewer walks in Week 1 than O's pitching. 

It's off to Texas and then Boston in Week 2.  Hopefully, the bullpen rounds into form and it remains too early for hitters to expose the O's starting pitching weakness.  That and continued hot bats will make for another fun week to be an O's fan. 

Top spot

Detroit is alone in first place in the AL Central. The last time the Tigers were in first place was August 16, 2007.

Big W

Brandon Inge started Detroit's rally with a homer and capped it with a two-run single as the Tigers scored 6 times in the 8th inning of a 6-4 victory over Texas. Brandon Lyon tossed two perfect innings and Fernando Rodney got another save. The Tigs' bullpen has not allowed a baserunner in its last 7 innings of work.

It is way too early to get too excited, but Inge's new stance/approach at the plate, which produced five homers in the exhibition season, seems to be helping. Plus, he's got five walks and only two strikeouts. He's batting .304/.448/.870 after one week. He's scored seven runs and driven in seven runs. As great as his slugging is, he still trails Miguel Cabrera (.960).

Detroit is 4-3 this year, compared to 0-7 last season. Now, the White Sox come to town. The Tigs were 6-12 vs. Chicago last year. You have to go back to 2004 to find a year in which the Tigs won the season series (11-8). Since then, Detroit is 25-49 vs. CHW. I would think winning a series from their nemesis could be helpful.

Extra, extra

Since the start of the 2007 season, Curtis Granderson has collected more extra-base hits than all but one player in the American League. Granderson entered today with 65 doubles, 36 triples and 47 HR during that span.

The only player to exceed Granderson's 148 extras is Alex Rodriguez (with 153).

Nearly perfect

Aside from errors by Brandon Inge and Adam Everett -- who were supposed to improve the Tigers' defense -- Detroit got just about everything it wanted today in a 4-3 win over Texas. Justin Verlander gave up only 2 hits over five innings and the bullpen fired four innings of hitless relief. Nate Robertson got the victory while Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the ninth for the save. Everett atoned for his miscue with a two-run single and later scored the winning run.

The Tigs are 3-3 this year and improved to 10-3 against the Rangers dating back to September 2007.

Potenially good news: Joel Zumaya is going to start his rehab assignment.

Tick tock

All five of Detroit's games this season have been completed in less than 3 hours. Prior to today's 2:56 affair, the previous four all clocked in at less than 2:45.

Let's keep the Rangers in town

When people talked about Detroit scoring 1,000 runs in 2008 and winning the World Series, they obviously were under the mistaken impression the Tigers played only Texas. Last year, the kitties scored double digits against the Rangers in 4 of 9 meetings (and in three other games scored eight runs in each!). Detroit averaged better than 9 runs per game against Texas, which would have led to more than 1,500 runs over a 162-game schedule.

Today, Detroit beat the Rangers 15-2. Miguel Cabrera hit a grand slam and drove in 6. Armando Galarraga pitched 7 strong innings. It was a tough return to the bigs for Texas pitcher Kris Benson, who allowed 10 hits and eight runs in 5.

So the Tigers are 2-3, which is a much better start than the 0-7 a year ago. Still, they probably should be 3-2 and the pitching looks like it could be an adventure all season. I think I read somewhere that teams should win 60-65% of the games in which they score 5 runs (and the percentage increases with each additional run). Right now, the Tigers are 1-1 when scoring 5 runs and 2-1 when scoring 5 or more. We'll see how that plays out.

Nick Adenhart

I didn't know much about Nick Adenhart prior to the past several days. I watched some of the game he pitched Wednesday night and was stunned and saddened to hear of his death, which was made even more senseless by the circumstances.

The San Francisco treat

Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum lasted only 3 innings last night against Milwaukee, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs. The performance matched the shortest of his career and provided this great dialogue (from MLB.com):

Lincecum proved to be unintentionally amusing as he expressed his intent to maintain perspective.

"I'll try to take it with a grain of rice and move on," he said.

Rice?

"Rice, salt, whatever. I'm half-Asian," Lincecum said.

Lincecum's outing matched Sandy Koufax, in 1966, for the briefest by a reigning Cy Young Award winner.

Clunk

On one hand, I don't worry about the Tigers losing their opener. They were facing Roy Halladay on the road, so you would figure on a loss. The way it went down, however, was like 2008 never ended. Justin Verlander was rocked for 8 earned runs, matching his career worst. I don't think there were many cheap hits, either. The trouble all started with a two-out walk in the first; several minutes later, it was 4-0 Jays.

Detroit did rally a bit, getting within 9-5, and Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge hit homers, but it was tough. The Tigers made two errors, including one by sure-handed (or formerly sure-handed?) Adam Everett.

Edwin Jackson will try to turn it around tonight against David Purcey.

2009 Mets Preview: The Pitchers

The 2008 Mets' pitching and defense weren't as superlative as the offense, but they still bested the league average by allowing 4.41 runs per game (the average was 4.63). The team's 103 ERA+ ranked sixth in the league. This year's starting staff is basically the same as the group that did a solid job last year, aside from perhaps some improvement in the fifth starter role. The bullpen, however, has been almost completely remodeled and this could be the piece that puts the Mets over the top in the NL East.

Johan Santana
2008: 16-7, 2.54 ERA, 234.1 IP, 206 K, 63 BB

A starting pitcher can't do much more than lead the league in both ERA and innings pitched as Santana did in 2008. A bullpen that coughed up seven leads after he left probably cost him the Cy Young Award, but he was at least one of the three best pitchers in the league. The fact that he did all this while posting the lowest strikeout rate of his career is a bit puzzling and troubling and I don't really expect him to post another ERA under three, but I have little doubt that he'll fill the role of ace admirably once again.

Mike Pelfrey
2008: 13-11, 3.72 ERA, 200.2 IP, 110 K, 64 BB

Pelfrey is another starter whose record doesn't reflect how valuable he was in 2008. It was a breakthrough year for the former first round pick. His strikeout totals don't look too impressive but he and his sinker do a great job keeping the ball in the park as he allowed just twelve home runs all year. He may never match Santana's low ERA, but the twenty-five year old Pelfrey could be very valuable for years to come if he repeats last season's quality and durability.

John Maine
2008: 10-8, 4.18 ERA, 140 IP, 122 K, 67 BB

Maine lost significant time in 2008 to a bone spur in his right shoulder, but surgery has apparently taken care of the problem. He has yet to give the Mets a full, healthy season, which has contributed some to the team's September troubles. But when he does take the mound in good health he is a solid mid-rotation starter. He will only turn twenty-eight this year and doesn't have a lot of wear and tear on his arm, having pitched his first full major league season in 2007. There is certainly a chance that he will put it all together for 200 innings and if he does that, the Mets' could have a rather formidable rotation.

Oliver Perez
2008: 10-7, 4.22 ERA, 194 IP, 180 K, 105 BB

I could probably just fill this space with a picture of myself shrugging my shoulders and looking confused. I like Oliver Perez and am glad he's back, but he can be quite maddening at times. At the very least I am pretty confident he'll pitch a good number of innings and strike out a bunch of people. Beyond that, who knows? Last year he led the majors in walks and he has been pretty awful in both the World Baseball Classic and Spring Training. On the other hand, he pitched better under pitching coach Dan Warthen last year than he had under Rick Peterson in the first half. In 2009 he will probably be the Met most likely to walk seven batters in an inning but also among the top two most likely to throw a no-hitter.

Livan Hernandez
2008 with the Twins and Rockies: 13-11, 6.05 ERA, 180 IP, 67 K, 43 BB

Well, one thing the Mets didn't have last year was a fifth starter who could reliably go out and pitch for six or seven innings without getting completely annihilated. So now they have that. Hernandez will do what he does, eat up a lot of innings while giving his team the chance to win 7-5. Hopefully Jonathan Niese will get on a roll at AAA at some point and save us from this.

That brings us to the bullpen. The only relievers who played a significant role in 2008 and are returning in 2009 are Pedro Feliciano and Brian Stokes. Feliciano somehow lost the ability to retire right-handed hitters in 2008, but he still did a good job against lefties and will likely do the same this year. Stokes had a solid year and should be okay in low leverage situations this year.

Bobby Parnell pitched a few innings in the majors last year but should have a bigger role this year. I was never too impressed with his numbers as a starter in the minors, but as a hard-throwing reliever, he may find his niche. Darren O'Day and Sean Green are a couple of newly acquired righties who should look pretty good by virtue of not being Aaron Heilman or Scott Schoeneweis.

And then there's the big two. JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez could give the Mets the best eighth and ninth inning combination in the league. The only question, aside from how to split up the proceeds from 70s buddy cop movie-themed "K-Rod and Putz" merchandise, is Putz's health. If he is recovered from the elbow troubles that bothered him last season, he could be the best reliever in the Mets' 'pen. Rodriguez won't save 62 games for the Mets, but he should give them the most reliable closer they've had in years.

All of this adds up to a team that should once again be very competitive in the National League East. The Phillies and Braves both have good teams, so I don't expect the Mets to have an easy road to the playoffs, but I feel good about this team. Last year, my official prediction was 95 wins. The Mets fell six short. But I am undeterred.

Offical prediction: 93 wins

Batters up - outfield edition

Hey, welcome back Joe!

Now, let's take a look at the Tigers' outfield.

LF - Carlos Guillen: Batted .286/.376/.436 in 489 PAs last year. Interestingly, the AL averages for third basemen (where Guillen saw most of his time last season) and left fielders is identical. Guillen's BA and OBP exceed the averages substantially while the slugging is modestly better, too. Hopefully, playing LF will help Guillen's back woes. And, hopefully, he can play the position without incident.

CF - Curtis Granderson: Batted .280/.365/.494 in 629 PAs last season. Scored 112 R in 141 games. Led the AL in triples for the second consecutive year. Walked 19 times more than in 2007 and struck out 30 times less. Keep in mind, he led the AL in whiffs in 2006, so he's made great strides. He could move into elite status this season.

RF - Magglio Ordonez: Batted .317/.376/.494 in 623 PAs last year. He is to the outfield what Placido Polanco is to the infield when it comes to consistency. The dude is a .312 lifetime hitter. Throw out his first full season in 1998 and two seasons that saw his playing time limited because of injuries, and Maggs has driven in 100+ runs in 7 of the remaining 8 seasons (and he had 99 RBI in the other!). Age will become a concern, like Polly, but there's no reason to believe he will not produce at his usual level. If the Tigs fall out of the race, he most likely will end the season with a contender.

DH - Marcus Thames: Batted .241/.292/.516 in 342 PAs last year. Marcus Markley Thames should exceed 400 PAs for the first time in his career now that Gary Sheffield is in Flushing. Thames doesn't walk or get on base with frequency. He hits homers. He could top 40 this season.

Bench - Josh Anderson: Batted .294/.338/.426 in 146 PAs for the Braves last season. He stole 10 bases in 11 attempts. I don't know much about him, but Baseball Prospectus says he's a fifth outfielder. So, as long as none of the regulars is injured, it seems Anderson is well cast.

2009 Mets Preview: The Hitters

Throughout the offseason a number of people have talked about the Mets' need to add a bat. But really, the fact that they scored five runs in the last three games of the season doesn't change the fact that the Mets had a great offense last year. The 2008 Mets tied for second in the National League in runs scored with 799, 4.93 per game, and ranked third in the league with an OPS+ of 100. And everyone who was any good last year is back this year. True, Luis Castillo and Brian Schneider are also back. But most of the important offensive players are young enough to be counted on to keep up their recent production. I certainly wouldn't have minded if the Mets had added a second baseman who can hit the ball more than 150 feet through the air, but this is not enough to doom the bats to mediocrity.

Catcher
2008 NL average: .255/.328/.387
2008 Mets average: .249/324/.378

The 2009 Mets have the same crew of backstops as the 2008 team: one guy who can't hit and one guy who can't stay healthy. And even that was good enough to be about league average last year. Brian Schneider hit a little better than he had the previous couple of years while Ramon Castro saw his slugging percentage drop more than 100 points from his big 2007. Now, I wouldn't be shocked if Schneider slugged .300 or Castro came down with Ebola virus, but I think the more likely result is another adequate season from this position. Given the rarity of guys who could theoretically hit a home run on the Met bench, I would also like to see Jerry Manuel use Castro as a pinch hitter late in games once in a while, but I won't get my hopes up.

First Base
2008 NL: .277/.359/.479
2008 Mets: .271/.348/.497

Carlos Delgado is one of the big questions of 2009 given his age and the ridiculousness of his 2008 second half. But as you can see from the overall averages, first base was not a huge plus for the Mets in 2008, due in large part to Delgado's awful start. A thirty-seven year old Delgado may not be able to slug .606 like he did in the second half of last year, but he was so good in that second half that he can fall off somewhat and still be a very useful hitter. I would bet on him getting the 31 home runs he needs to reach 500 and if he does that, I think the Mets will have done well at this position.

Second Base
2008 NL: .271/.338/.408
2008 Mets: .258/.339/.338

So, even in his apparent postmortem state, Luis Castillo can draw a walk or two. You'd think that at some point pitchers would realize that Castillo hitting the ball is not a bad outcome for them and just throw it down the middle, but apparently they haven't yet. Of course, none of this matters because according to the talk out of Spring Training, Castillo is in The Best Shape Of His Life. I mean, I don't know how Met fans can hear that and still be worried. The fact that the Mets didn't bother to sign a decent backup at this position further supports the conclusion that Castillo is gonig to have a big year. Everyone should just calm down.

Third Base
2008 NL: .265/.335/.441
2008 Mets: .302/.390/.531

David Wright is only twenty-six! The only question is whether this will be the year he gets that elusive MVP award.

Shortstop
2008 NL: .276/.334/.404
2008 Mets: .292/.353/.466

Jose Reyes is only twenty-five! Okay, it would be nice if Reyes could keep up his tremendous production all the way through September at some point and finding a backup better than Alex Cora to give him a rest every once in a while might help with that. But really, with a left side of the infield like this, it's easy to understand why the Mets would want to just sit back and watch.

Left Field
2008 NL: .271/.350/.453
2008 Mets: .273/.334/.396

This is a position where the Mets are taking a pretty big chance in 2009. But, as you can see from last year's stats, there's not much place to go but up. Daniel Murphy's stats prior to last season do not look like those a future major league left fielder, but he hit over .300 with a good number of walks in both Binghamton and New York last year. It's reasonable to be wary that this might be a fluke, but watching Murphy last year and seeing his approach, which had him seeing 4.25 pitches per plate appearance, has me pretty optimistic. I don't expect he'll hit for a lot of power like a prototypical left fielder and his defense is still a work in progress, but I think he can put up a high on base percentage with enough doubles to keep the slugging respectable. At the start of Spring Training there was talk of platooning Murphy, but at this point Jerry Manuel seems to have fallen hard for the kid. Seriously, I think I saw him writing "Jerry Murphy" over and over in the margins of his notebook during a recent press conference.

Center Field
2008 NL: .267/.334/.426
2008 Mets: .283/.373/.486

Carlos Beltran: great center fielder or the greatest center fielder? No one in the NL is in either his league or the same ballpark. All signs point to him having another great all around offensive year and winning another Gold Glove (the deserved kind, not the Nate McLouth kind). Anyone who is unsatisfied with what the Mets are getting for their $119 million is not paying attention.

Right Field
2008 NL: .271/.344/.444
2008 Mets: .283/.347/.423

If Ryan Church could hit for a full season like he did for the first two months of last season, the Mets would really have something. But that's unrealistic. After his concussion problems last year and the way he failed to hit in the second half, it's hard to expect much from him. I do think he'll at least play good defense for as long as he's in the lineup. But with Fernando Tatis and now Gary Sheffield on the roster, the Mets have a few chances to get more offense out of this position than they did last year.

If Church does stay healthy and productive, the Mets might have the best bench they've had in a few years, at least offensively. Tatis's .267/.369/.484 line last year was pretty surprising, but he's only thirty-four. If he can get regular work backing up all four corners, he could be a big contributor again. Sheffield may not have much left, but for the league minimum, I am glad Omar Minaya gave him a shot to try to prove otherwise. Those two along with Castro could give the Mets solid power off the bench. Jeremy Reed should provide a little outfield defense once in a while. And Alex Cora can probably stand at second base or shortstop occasionally without too much trouble.

Altogether, this looks like one of the top few offenses in the league to me. There's no way to know how Citi Field will play, but if it's no more offense-dampening than Shea, I think this team should score in the neighborhood of eight hundred runs again. If they can save about fifteen of those for the final weekend, all the better.

Batters up - infield edition

C - Gerald Laird: Batted .276/.329/.398 in 381 PAs last year for Texas. He should be adequate for Detroit, at a position where adequate makes one almost super. Matt Treanor is the backup.

1B - Miguel Cabrera: Batted .292/.349/.537 in 684 PAs. He led the AL with 37 HR and drove in 127. There are indications 2009 could be better. Miggy was .284/.349/.489 during the first half of last season as he learned a new league. He was .302/.350/.601 the second half. He should be enjoying life in the cleanup spot, where he flourished at the end of last year. Jeff Larish is the backup at just about ever corner. He should be able to provide some pop from the left side.

2B - Placido Polanco: Batted .307/.350/.417 in 629 PAs. He is as steady as they come, although his age is starting to become a concern. Solid with the glove. Gives production well above his $4.6 million salary. Ramon Santiago is the backup. Santiago put up an OPS of .870 last season in 156 PAs. Can't expect a repeat; his 4 HR nearly equaled his total (6) for the previous six years.

SS - Adam Everett: Batted ... oh, who cares? Everett hasn't posted an OPS+ above 80 since ... ever. He was brought to Detroit for one reason, to flash the leather. As long as he stays healthy and can make the plays in the field, the Tigers (especially the pitchers) will be happy.

3B - Brandon Inge: Batted ... oh, who cares? Inge was returned to third for one reason, to flash the leather. He actually had a productive spring at the plate. With the whole fuss over his position in the past, he might have a decent year with the bat. If he can simply get his OPS back to the .750 to .775 range (from the .675 neighborhood), he would be a tremendous asset.

Hit the ground running

Last year, Detroit started the season 0-7. With that memory fresh, many are talking about how important it is for the Tigers to start quickly this year. I agree. And here is another reason: The Tigers open the campaign with 10 games in 10 days. In 2008, Detroit had two days off before even reaching game No. 8.

Fortunately, six of the 10 games are at home. Detroit opens Monday in Toronto (Justin Verlander vs. Roy Halladay) and then hosts Texas and the White Sox. Then the Tigs get a travel day to head to Seattle, followed by LA and KC. At least they get a day off between Seattle and LA. But it is clear, particularly with the uncertainty around this squad, that Detroit needs to be ready to spring from the gate.

Tigers' roster

Courtesy the Free Press:

Starting pitchers: R Armando Galarraga, R Edwin Jackson, R Zach Miner, R Rick Porcello, R Justin Verlander.

Relief pitchers: R Eddie Bonine, R Brandon Lyon, R Ryan Perry, R Juan Rincon, L Nate Robertson, R Fernando Rodney, L Bobby Seay.

Catchers: Gerald Laird, Matt Treanor.

Infielders: 1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Placido Polanco, 3B Brandon Inge, SS Adam Everett, 1B/3B Jeff Larish, SS/2B Ramon Santiago.

Outfielders: LF Carlos Guillen, CF Curtis Granderson, RF Magglio Ordoñez, DH/LF Marcus Thames, OF Josh Anderson.

We'll look at the team in more detail the next few days, but a bench of Treanor, Larish, Santiago and Anderson indicates the Tigers' regulars better stay healthy.

Nate the Grate

Nate Robertson is unhappy being moved to the bullpen. He did not demand a trade, but said his time in Detroit might be nearing an end. Given that he's owed $17 million through 2010, it's unlikely anyone will take Robertson off the Tigers' hands.

While I appreciate what Robertson has done for the Tigs in the past, and admire that he still wants the ball, sometimes you wonder what guys like this are thinking. Robertson posted a 5.52 ERA and allowed 25 baserunners in 14.2 IP this spring. He was 7-11 with a 6.35 ERA last year. Only once in his career (2006) has his ERA+ been better than average. His hits allowed and walks have increased since 2006 and his strikeouts have dropped slightly.

In fairness to Robertson, Zach Miner, who got the final starting spot, fared no better overall this spring. But Miner was 8-5 with a 4.27 ERA last season, including 5-2/4.30 as a starter.

Maybe Robertson can work his way back into the rotation. But at this point, he needs to earn it, which is something he doesn't seem to understand. If Robertson simply accepted the demotion and recognized he was largely to blame, this would sit better with me.