Beck's Blog

Jackson still day to day, could miss few more days

Jason Beck — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:27:33 +0000

The fact that Austin Jackson said his abdominal strain didn’t feel any better Thursday than when he first suffered the injury Wednesday night wasn’t much of a surprise. If anything, it figured to feel worse once he had a chance to rest and some soreness settled in.

While he’s taking it day by day, though, he’s acknowledging the possibility that this could take a few days to get better and not risk aggravating it into a more severe injury.

“It’s pretty much still day-to-day,” Jackson said after the game. “We’re going to see how it feels tomorrow and kind of go from there. I really didn’t expect it to feel any different today, just because it happened last night. Getting up early, it was a little stiff. That’s pretty much what I expected. …

“I think it’s just going to take a few days to really get a good idea of how it feels, start moving around and twisting and bending, things like that.”

He wasn’t sure, he said, whether he’ll make it back this weekend against the Pirates.

“It just depends on how it feels when I come in each and every day,” Jackson said.

As for closer Jose Valverde, he said he felt better Thursday, but wasn’t sure whether he’ll be available Friday. He wants to pitch, but he doesn’t want to risk aggravating his back and turning that into a longer-term injury.

Valverde’s situation affects Jackson’s, as far as the Tigers roster is concerned. While Valverde is out, the Tigers have an extra reliever on the roster, and one less position player. While Jackson is out, the Tigers are down another position player. Add it up, and while they’re both out, the Tigers bench consists of backup catcher Gerald Laird and one position player. On Thursday, it was Ramon Santiago, who pinch-hit for Don Kelly and hit into a double play to end the seventh inning.

Thursday: Tigers vs. Twins

Jason Beck — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:24:02 +0000

Just finished up talking with Austin Jackson, who was getting treatment on his abdominal strain. He said it got a little more sore after resting on it last night.

“It’s definitely stiff,” he said. “I can’t imagine we’ll try to push it.”

Jackson believes it remains a day-to-day issue. If they can have him spend the day getting treatment and potentially have him available Friday against the Pirates, they’ll make that trade-off. The downside is that it leaves them with just two players on the bench today. Backup catcher Gerald Laird is one of them. Ramon Santiago is the other.

TIGERS

Don Kelly, CF
Andy Dirks, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Delmon Young, DH
Alex Avila, C
Brennan Boesch, RF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Ryan Raburn, 2B

P: Doug Fister

TWINS

Ben Revere, CF
Brian Dozier, SS
Joe Mauer, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Justin Morneau, DH
Trevor Plouffe, RF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Drew Butera, C
Jamey Carroll, 3B

P: P.J. Walters

Jackson leaves with mild abdominal strain

Jason Beck — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:43 +0000

The Tigers have gotten an impressive start at the plate from third-year leadoff man Austin Jackson, but they now have to wonder if their offense can get going without him. Jackson left Wednesday’s game against the Twins after four innings after suffering a mild abdominal strain on a swing.

Jackson is listed as day-to-day.

“It was on the swing,” he said. “I think it was something that I was out front [on the swing] and probably was in a position where I stretched it out a little bit, the abdominal.”

Rand accompanied Jackson back into the dugout and down the stairs to the clubhouse as Don Kelly took over in center field to begin the fifth inning. Leyland said he wanted to think about his lineup before deciding who would lead off Thursday. If Jackson’s out, then the Tigers will be down to 11 position players thanks to the roster move that brought up Brayan Villarreal and optioned out Danny Worth.

Jackson didn’t rule out playing Thursday afternoon, but didn’t sound optimistic.

“Hopefully it won’t be anything where I have to go on the disabled list,” Jackson said. “I think we’ll see how it feels tomorrow and just go day-by-day, just doing the necessary treatment. … It’s going to be something where I have to get here early and do some treatment on it and see how it feels after that.”

Any loss of Jackson is a huge concern for the Tigers. While Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are the star hitters in the lineup, Jackson has been the catalyst from the leadoff spot so far this year. The 25-year-old entered Wednesday ranked sixth in the American League with a .323 batting average and .409 on-base percentage, numbers he built on with singles in each of his first two at-bats Wednesday night.

Jackson also ranked fourth among AL hitters with 27 runs scored and ninth with 20 walks.

Jackson’s three-run homer Tuesday in Chicago completed an eight-run sixth-inning comeback against the White Sox, sending the Tigers on their way to a critical 10-8 win.

Valverde day-to-day with lower back strain

Jason Beck — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:00:55 +0000

Just got back from the Tigers clubhouse, where closer Jose Valverde is likely out for the next couple days after straining his lower back against the White Sox on Tuesday.

Valverde said he underwent tests on Tuesday, and the results came back fine. Now, he said, it’s a day-by-day situation.

“I’ll take a couple days and be ready for Pittsburgh,” Valverde said.

Valverde said the back wasn’t bothering him while he was warming up in the bullpen. The first time he felt it was the second pitch he threw to Adam Dunn. He pitched to three more batters after that before he winced on a 2-1 pitch to Alex Rios.

In the meantime, manager Jim Leyland said Joaquin Benoit will “probably be” the closer. The exception would be if Benoit has thrown a couple more days or the matchups beg for somebody else, such as left-hander Phil Coke.

Wednesday: Tigers vs. Twins

Jason Beck — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:29:08 +0000

Ramon Santiago, 6-for-21 lifetime off Twins starter Nick Blackburn, gets the start at short, which has happened a few times lately as a way to keep him fresh while Ryan Raburn and Danny Worth get most of the starts at second base. Jhonny Peralta is 5-for-26 off Blackburn.

“The other thing,” manager Jim Leyland said during pregame, “is we have to try to get Santiago going a little bit, too.”

Santiago is batting .154 (8-for-52) this season with a double, triple and five RBIs.

The Twins, meanwhile, have activated Justin Morneau from the disabled list (sore left wrist) have him in the lineup at first base. Ryan Doumit is catching, with Joe Mauer at DH.

Denard Span was scratched with right hamstring tightness. Erik Komatsu takes his place.

TIGERS

Austin Jackson, CF
Andy Dirks, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Delmon Young, DH
Alex Avila, C
Ryan Raburn, 2B
Brennan Boesch, RF
Ramon Santiago, SS

P: Rick Porcello

TWINS

~~Denard Span~~ Erik Komatsu, CF
Brian Dozier, SS
Joe Mauer, DH
Josh Willingham, LF
Justin Morneau, 1B
Ryan Doumit, C
Trevor Plouffe, RF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Jamey Carroll, 3B

P: Nick Blackburn

Raburn talks about struggles

Jason Beck — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:17:32 +0000

Ryan Raburn gets it. He’s frustrated, too. He was looking for better than this, especially after hitting six home runs in the first half of Spring Training.

He knows his history of strong second half numbers as well as anybody, but it doesn’t make it any easier for him.

“No, it’s not at all,” Raburn said, interrupting the question. “I felt so great early in the spring. Even in the beginning of the season, I felt great. I worked so hard to try to get off to a better start and everything, and just everything kind of snowballed. Like I said, it’s a long year. It’s a daily grind. Hopefully these last few games, hitting some balls hard, definitely can build on it. Mainly, hopefully, they start falling in.”

Hopefully, he said, his ninth-inning double is the start of the turnaround, even though his two strikeouts earlier felt like a continuation of the struggles.

“It’s an irritating routine I’ve had for the past few years, you know,” he said, “but it’s definitely something I’ve dealt with and gone through before. So it’s nothing new, just it’s not real fun. Like I said, you just keep battling and grinding it out, and eventually it’s going to click and hopefully today was the start of it.”

One thing that was noticeable: He stopped himself when he was about to use the word luck, then used a different term.

“I’ve hit some balls good,” he said, “just haven’t had much … the results haven’t quite been there.”

Raburn also drew the second of the three straight two-out walks from A’s pitchers that drove in the Tigers’ go-ahead run. The 1-for-3 outing raised his batting average to .135, about the same level where he has been every other day for the past week and a half. He’s just 12-for-89 on the season, five of them for doubles.

Verlander: Callous shouldn’t affect next start

Jason Beck — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:44:14 +0000

The thing about a callous on a pitcher’s finger is that many of them pitch with it just fine, as long as it doesn’t bust open. Some pitchers will try to throw enough with one so that it hardens and doesn’t bother them once they have to pitch in a real game.

Verlander’s issue Sunday caught him by surprise, and it sure caught the Tigers by surprise. Verlander was worried enough about it that he went upstairs from the dugout and into the clubhouse to try to hide it from view.

“I looked down there towards the end of the seventh inning and it was bleeding,” Verlander said. “So when I came out of the seventh, I knew that I’d be going back out [normally], but I told [pitching coach] Jeff [Jones] and the trainers to come up with me … because I obviously don’t want to alert the whole world that I might have something going on.

“We got up here, we talked about it. After getting up here and working on it, I think it’s going to be fine.”

Jones and Jim Leyland seemed to think Verlander opened it up on changeups, though they weren’t certain on that.

If it was a specific pitch, though, then why wasn’t it an issue for Verlander in past starts, or past seasons?

“I wouldn’t say it’s been bothering me,” he said. “I’ve just been cognizant of it. I don’t why it’s something that’s never happened to me before, but it seems like maybe every start kind of wears [the skin] down a little bit. This is the first one, really, where it’s kind of blown up on me, where I’ve had any physical issue with it. I’ve been able to deal with it fine. I’m not worried about it going forward.”

Verlander went into a little bit of detail about the process of building it up before it gets knocked down.

“Usually I go a couple starts and nothing happens,” he said, “and then when I feel like I’m in the clear, it rips on me, and I don’t really know why. I really felt like I had a pretty good callous built up. Last time it happened was like two or three starts ago, not quite as bad. So we’re going to talk about some things, hopefully get it back to where the callous is there and then find some ways to protect it, maybe use some moisturizer so it’s not so dry there, so that it won’t just rip on me.”

Sunday: Tigers at Athletics

Jason Beck — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:42:47 +0000

No Tigers have matched up against A’s starter Jarrod Parker yet, so they have no matchup numbers to rely. However, left-handed hitters are just 5-for-37 (.135) against Parker this year, compared with 10-for-34 (.294) from right-handed batters. That’s not going to make a big difference in the Tigers lineup, where Andy Dirks and Brennan Boesch are going to man the corner outfield spots.

Meanwhile, Justin Verlander is going to face an A’s lineup that’s missing Yoenis Cespedes, Jemile Weeks, Kurt Suzuki, Kila Ka’aihue and now Brandon Inge. Josh Reddick and Seth Smith are red-hot right now, but still, on Mother’s Day in Oakland, this could be interesting.

TIGERS

Austin Jackson, CF
Andy Dirks, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Delmon Young, DH
Alex Avila, C
Brennan Boesch, RF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Ryan Raburn, 2B

P: Justin Verlander

ATHLETICS

Cliff Pennington, SS
Collin Cowgill, CF
Josh Reddick, RF
Jonny Gomes, DH
Seth Smith, LF
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Daric Barton, 1B
Anthony Recker, C
Eric Sogard, 2B

P: Jarrod Parker

Saturday: Tigers at Athletics

Jason Beck — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:42:13 +0000

Austin Jackson, Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Raburn both get days off in the middle of a long stretch of games. For Peralta, though, it’s the second day off in three games. It’s not believed to be a health concern, more of a matchup concern, with Peralta 1-for-21 off Brandon McCarthy. Raburn, however, supposedly had his back lock up on him last night, the byproduct of a dive he made Thursday. He’s taking batting practice today, but you can see him stretching his back.

The A’s had to make some adjustments to their lineup after both Yoenis Cespedes and Kila Ka’aihue were scratched.

Don’t be surprised if this ends up being a pitchers duel, not just because of the pitchers but also the field. The odd start time, 5:05 out here, is similar to the start times the Tigers had for the ALCS games here back in 2006, and shadows were a problem. Also, the way the field is lined up, the sun could be a factor for outfielders.

TIGERS

Don Kelly, CF
Andy Dirks, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Delmon Young, DH
Alex Avila, C
Brennan Boesch, RF
Ramon Santiago, SS
Danny Worth, 2B

P: Doug Fister

ATHLETICS

Jemile Weeks, 2B
Daric Barton, 1B
Josh Reddick, RF
Jonny Gomes, DH
Seth Smith, LF
Brandon Inge, 3B
Kurt Suzuki, C
Eric Sogard, SS
Collin Cowgill, CF

P: Brandon McCarthy

Inge-sanity in quotes

Jason Beck — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:52:28 +0000

Lots of reactions from both clubhouse to Brandon Inge’s last couple nights against his old team. Here’s a sampling, bolding by me:

Inge on this stretch: “The way I was last year and early this year, it seemed like when I got good wood on the ball, it went right at somebody. There is a flip side, that things usually should balance out. I know things don’t go like this all the time, so you do the best you can to stay level-headed. It’s a crazy game. Ups and downs.”

Inge on new hitting coach Chili Davis: “I don’t like thinking about my mechanics whatsoever. I just like to get in the box, feel comfortable and let my batting practice and everything I’ve worked on take over in the game. He’s been great about that. He’s basically let me go. A good bit of information here and there just to keep me on track but more so on approach than anything else. That’s what I like. He and I mix well.”

Inge on facing old teammates: “It’s such a mixed emotional feeling, it’s hard to explain. I want to do well and I want to hit the ball. Every time I get in the box, my mindset is to take a good swing and basically smash the ball, hammer the ball somewhere. But right after it’s done, it’s like, ‘Man, these are my buddies I just messed up a little bit.’ … I’m happy because I’m having fun.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland: “We threw him a lot of strikes, and he’s really swinging well right now. He’s got a second wind and it’s a good thing obviously for him. He’s swinging the bat as good as I’ve seen him swing it for a while. We probably didn’t expand the zone enough, but he’s in a pretty good groove right now.”

Tigers catcher Gerald Laird: “We figured he’d be locked in this series. I mean, he’s a competitor. He got released by this organization and he feels like he has something to prove. That’s the nature of the game. He’s a competitor. We left some pitches out over the middle of the plate and he didn’t miss.”

Tigers infielder Danny Worth: ”He’s swinging well. He’s hitting balls hard both sides of the field. He’s looking good up there.”

A’s outfielder Josh Reddick: “What else can he do? He’s been great. I don’t know what the guys across the way were thinking when they let him go, but we’re happy to have him here and happy to have him swinging the bat like he is.”