Tigers win longest NYP game

07/20/2006
Deik Scram was having a rough afternoon on Thursday at KeySpan Park.
But the center fielder delivered a two-run single in the 26th inning as the Oneonta Tigers defeated the Brooklyn Cyclones, 6-1, in the longest game in New York-Penn League history.
An 18th-round pick by Detroit in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, Scram was hitless in his first 11 at-bats as his batting average fell 38 points to .250. He redeemed himself in the 26th against Mark Wright, a first-year outfielder who had not pitched during three years at the University of Mississippi.
After Wright (0-1) walked Jeffrey Kunkel and Joseph Tucker, both of whom moved into scoring position on Louis Ott's sacrifice, Scram singled through the right side to break a 1-1 deadlock. The base hit opened the floodgates for Oneonta (18-11).
Singles by Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch produced another run before Sizemore scored on an error by first baseman Timothy Grogan to make it 5-1. With two outs, Angel Reyes singled to center field to cap the scoring.
"He was trying to make sure he didn't walk anyone else," Brooklyn manager George Greer said of Wright, who pitched in high school. "He laid the ball in there, and they hit some ground balls that found holes."
Randor Bierd (1-0), the Tigers' eighth pitcher, capped a spectacular effort by the bullpen with two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and struck out one to secure Oneonta's fourth straight win.
After starter Christopher Cody gave up one run on four hits over six innings, Timothy Robertson, Casey Fien, Derek Witt, Jose Fragoso, Brett Jensen, Christopher Krawczyk and Bierd combined for 20 scoreless frames.
Fragoso held the Cyclones (13-16) hitless during his five-inning stint, limiting them to two walks while fanning two.
The longest New York-Penn League game had been last year's 22-inning marathon between the Batavia Muckdogs and Auburn Doubledays. That contest started on July 7, was suspended after 20 innings and completed on Aug. 14. The longest game in Minor League history remains Pawtucket's 33-inning victory over Rochester that began on April 18, 1981, and ended two months later on June 23.
Brooklyn had a handful of chances to stay out of the history books. In the 11th, the Cyclones' first two batters reached against Witt, but Jacob Eigsti bunted into a forceout, Timothy Grogan grounded out and Ivan Naccarata flied to center field.
An inning later, Daniel Cummins reached on catcher's interference to load the bases with two outs before Jonathan Sanchez was retired on a grounder to second base. And in the 16th, Eigsti was hit by a pitch and sacrificed to second by Grogan. Naccarata flied out, Joe Holden was intentionally walked and Fragoso retired Jon Schemmel on a comebacker.
"I'm disappointed we didn't win the game," Greer said. "As the opportunities presented themselves to us, we didn't take advantage."
Oneonta was not without its chances in extra innings. Ryan Strieby led off the 12th with a double and pinch-runner Brandon Timm took third on Jordan Newton's sacrifice. But he was stranded as reliever Jeremy Mizell retired Tucker on a groundout and got Louis Ott on a called third strike.
Tucker drew a leadoff walk in the 15th and made it to third with two outs before Boesch struck out. In the 22nd, the Tigers stranded a runner at third and in the 24th, they left the bases loaded.
Brooklyn starter Eric Brown gave up one run on five hits over seven innings. He had a 1-0 lead until Strieby singled home Ronald Bourquin in the fourth. Six relievers blanked Oneonta for 18 innings until the five-run 26th.
The teams combined for 34 hits -- just five for extra bases, 14 walks, seven walks and left 43 runners on base in the six-hour, 40-minute marathon. The game featured 684 pitches thrown by 15 pitchers, who combined for 36 strikeouts.
Greer watched most of the record-setting marathon from the clubhouse. He was ejected in the bottom of the first after arguing a force play at second base.
"It was just different," said Greer, who was involved in 19-inning Texas League game as a player in 1971. "I watched the game on closed circuit TV. ... You're not playing, you're watching. You can't seem to control anything when you're not involved."

Source: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/

Notes: Tigers-Sox rivalry heats up

07/20/2006
DETROIT -- What was originally described as an apology now seems to be part of a developing rivalry between the Tigers and White Sox.
Craig Monroe wanted no part Wednesday night of a war of words when asked about his contact with catcher A.J. Pierzynski near home plate following Monroe's go-ahead grand slam. After reading comments from Pierzynski claiming Monroe apologized to him, plus comments from Sox pitcher Javier Vazquez taking issue with Monroe for watching the home run, Monroe wasn't going to keep quiet Thursday.
Ironically, it was Vazquez, not Pierzynski, who took issue with Monroe on his home run posture.
"He definitely did. But that's part of baseball," Vazquez said of Monroe after Wednesday's game. "Nowadays, guys who have hit 10 home runs in the big leagues think they can do that. That's something we see every day, not only him. Every day we see it."
Monroe didn't want to make a big deal out of it after the game, saying he probably wouldn't have done it if he could do it all over. After reading Vazquez's comments, he wasn't quite so forgiving.
"Here's 40,000 Tigers fans and probably one of the biggest moments for the Detroit Tigers," Monroe said. "So you know what? It's an exciting time. Don't be mad at me."
Because the ball went down the left-field line, Monroe said, he took a second to make sure it was going to stay fair. From there, it was the heat of the moment. If they had wanted to hit him with a pitch for it, he said, he'd be happy to take his base.
Dealing with Pierzynski was another matter. Though Monroe originally said the contact was his fault after the game, he also said he didn't want to start anything. Once he read Pierzynski's claims that Monroe apologized when he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, he realized something had already started.
"I don't really know if it was an apology," Monroe said. "Basically, I think I asked him in my sarcastic way, 'Is that elbow necessary? Was that really necessary?' I said, 'You understand the game. It was a big part of the game. It's a big moment.' Come on, let's be honest. It was a big moment for the Detroit Tigers. He nodded his head and sat back down, too. It wasn't really any confrontation. I said what I needed to say to let him know that I thought [the elbow] was unnecessary."
Replays showed Pierzynski was right near home plate as Monroe crossed. The brush-up happened just as Monroe turned towards the dugout after being congratulated. The two could be seen exchanging words as Marcus Thames led Monroe back to the dugout.
"I'm not trying to hurt my team by doing something to get ejected from the game and cost myself 10 days," he said. "This is a big, important time for us as a team. Why do something right now to cost yourself 10 days and not get a chance to do something to help your team win? I don't know if that's their way, but whatever.
"To me, that's a sign that [Pierzynski] wants to do something. He wants to get in their heads. He wants to [tick] you off. He wants to make you mad. So now you get out of your game plan. You get out of what you're trying to do, and now you're playing mad and you're trying to do more, when in reality I don't have to do more, just continue to relax. Well, they're not going to change my mindset. I'm going to continue to do what I do."
Thursday's remarks were news to Pierzynski, who said it was "bush league" for Monroe to alter his remarks.
"He hits me and now he's accusing me of throwing an elbow," Pierzynski said. "You know, whatever. He's the one who made the mistake and now I'm being blamed for it. Like I said last night, he apologized to me and now he's changing his story. I don't know where that's coming from.
"It's kind of funny that all of a sudden the story got completely turned around. Now, I'm the one ... just standing there. I don't know where I'm supposed to go. The guy hits a home run and you just stand there behind home plate. I don't remember going anywhere else. It's kind of funny."
Monroe, too, had a chuckle about it. So did some of his teammates, who were at Wrigley Field last month when the best-selling T-shirts in Chicago featured a photo of Cubs catcher Michael Barrett punching Pierzynski with the words, "Who said the Cubs can't hit?" At least two players were wearing those shirts Thursday.
"You know what, guys? The bottom line is everybody in baseball knows that's A.J.," Monroe said. "Let's be honest. That's him. He likes confrontation. He likes to play this role like he's so tough. Well, that act is just tired. It's just tired."
More on Monroe: He started in left field Thursday for the first time since July 2 at Pittsburgh. Marcus Thames started at designated hitter, where Monroe had been playing for most of the last month after returning from a sprained ankle in June.
"I'll mix that up probably quite a bit before the end of the season," Jim Leyland said. "One will play left. One will DH."
Dmitri back soon? The more Dmitri Young hits for Triple-A Toledo -- he had two more hits Wednesday at Pawtucket to improve to .500 (13-for-26) with the Mud Hens -- the more his return to Detroit becomes a matter of when rather than if. It appears it could be this weekend.
Asked whether Young's rehab assignment will run its full course of 20 days through Monday, Leyland said, "No, it won't run its full course." He would not elaborate.
The Athletics are scheduled to start right-handers in all three games this weekend at Comerica Park, creating an opportunity for the switch-hitting Young.
Celebrity sightings: Famed actor Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard were seen in the stands at Comerica Park Thursday, a day after they were spotted at Cincinnati's Great American Park.
Hanks -- who was wearing a Tigers cap -- Howard and comedian Dennis Miller are traveling around on a short tour of ballparks following Hanks' 50th birthday earlier this month. They had also been to Camden Yards in Baltimore and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/

Zumaya's triple-digit heat stifles Sox

07/20/2006
DETROIT -- Plenty of young relievers thrive on adrenaline. Joel Zumaya hits triple digits on it. The White Sox are discovering how much adrenaline he has.
When Zumaya entered Thursday's rubber game in the seventh inning, the Tigers had just tied it. When he went out for his second inning of work, the Tigers had given him a lead to protect. He doesn't need much motivation to throw 99 mph, but an extra burst of energy will help him get to 101.
On Thursday, he hit that mark no fewer than five times, no matter which radar gun was being read. His energy didn't register with the Sox until his fist pump on his way off the mound.
"That's what makes him so good," first baseman Chris Shelton said after the 2-1 win. "Even when his adrenaline gets pumping, he doesn't let it work against him. It just helps him."
Zumaya hadn't pitched in six days since fixing a mechanical flaw over the weekend. The Tigers had rested him for a few days to have him ready for Chicago, but with Tuesday's loss and Fernando Rodney protecting Wednesday's lead, the 21-year-old right-hander hadn't had a chance to enter.
Once he entered Thursday's game in the seventh, it was as if he had six days of pent-up energy propelling his pitches towards home plate. His first pitch hit 100 mph on the Comerica Park radar gun, 99 on the ESPN broadcast. Chris Widger bunted that pitch foul, and ended up striking out on three pitches, the last hitting 101.
After Brian Anderson connected for a one-out single, Zumaya fired away at pinch-hitter Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi. He overpowered the latter with four straight triple-digit fastballs, the last of which Iguchi grounded to third base to end the inning.
Some late-inning relievers have trouble sitting in the dugout between innings, especially if a rally forces them to sit for an extended stretch. Once the Tigers took the lead, Zumaya seemingly had a new burst of life to go with a one-run advantage. He had the middle of the White Sox order coming up, but it didn't matter.
"I wasn't thinking about anything," he said. "My job is to go out there and get those guys. I've faced those guys plenty of times already. I know what my job is, and I know how to pitch to guys."
Unlike his work in the seventh, when he threw just one offspeed pitch the entire inning, Zumaya mixed his stuff more often in the eighth. He didn't give Jim Thome two straight fastballs, inducing a groundout on a 2-2 offspeed pitch. He threw back-to-back changeups to start off against Paul Konerko and missed on his way to a four-pitch walk.
With the potential tying run on base, Zumaya went back to his power arsenal. He threw back-to-back fastballs past Jermaine Dye before spotting a breaking ball on the outside corner for a called third strike.
That brought up Joe Crede, who had homered in each of the first two games of the series and driven in Chicago's only run Thursday. Zumaya went after him with three straight fastballs clocked at 100 mph, putting Crede in a 1-2 count. His next fastball registered at a mere 98 mph, but it was high, and it sent Crede down swinging.
Zumaya pumped his fist and hopped off the mound towards the dugout. Crede, taking none too kindly to the display, stared out towards him. His White Sox teammates weren't happy about it afterwards.
"I think we've gotten used to it," Konerko said. "He's got a great arm. What can you say? I guess ... the only thing you can say about that is if it ever works the other way, you can't take offense to what happens. I don't think we have guys that would do anything there ..."
Ironically, the first Major League home run given up by Zumaya came off Konerko's bat here April 10.
Zumaya wasn't sure what the big deal was about.
"Put [yourself] in my shoes," he said. "You've got the fans all standing up. They know you have 1-2 on the guy and you've got to go right after them. I reared back and threw as hard as I could and ended up getting the guy out.
"That was a big out, man. You've got the tying run on first and Crede can easily take that ball out. It was a really big out, and that's just the way I pitch. I show a lot of emotion when I get a big out like that."
It might end up being another piece of what seems to be a simmering rivalry between two teams that entered Thursday with the best records in baseball. But Zumaya feeds off competitive fire enough as it is.
"I think Zumaya's a pretty confident kid," manager Jim Leyland said. "He's going to have some ups and downs, but he's a tough kid."

Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/

Thames, Shelton help Tigers win finale

07/20/2006
DETROIT -- The Tigers keep opening eyes around baseball. This time, the eyes were Tadahito Iguchi's.
Hours after Craig Monroe beat the White Sox with a grand slam Wednesday night, Marcus Thames won the series with a slide. His takeout of Iguchi at second base kept the seventh inning going for Chris Shelton, whose two-out double pushed the Tigers ahead for a 2-1 win Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
It was the kind of play that usually heats up rivalries. Given the chatter going on between clubhouses Thursday morning, the environment was ripe for that. But it's a play everyone applauded, from the sellout crowd to the visiting dugout.
"It was great," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "That's the way to play the game. That's the way people should play the game. I think when you do that, you show intensity. I was applauding."
That's the type of play most any team would make, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. The idea that only certain teams play hard, he said, is a myth. Every team does. Thames simply had the opportunity to do it at the right time.
"It was the difference in the ballgame," Leyland said.
It was one of the few opportunities the Tigers had against White Sox starter Jose Contreras. The split-finger artist hadn't lost a decision in a year before falling in his last start. The way he was pitching Thursday didn't show any sign he'd lose again.
Contreras scattered three hits through five innings and had retired nine straight batters entering the sixth. Two 3-0 counts from there helped doom him.
Contreras fell behind on Curtis Granderson, who hit a 3-1 pitch for a bloop double down the left-field line leading off the sixth. Two batters later, Ivan Rodriguez hit a bouncer through the middle for an RBI single, tying the game.
After Joel Zumaya (5-1) relieved Kenny Rogers for a scoreless seventh, the Tigers went back to work against Contreras, who again fell behind a hitter when he couldn't afford it. Thames drew a four-pitch walk with one out in the inning to put a runner on base for Monroe, who had tripled to deep center and flied out to the right-center-field fence in his previous two at-bats against Contreras.
This time, Contreras (9-2) got Monroe to hit a ground ball to third base. But Joe Crede's throw to second forced Iguchi across the bag to catch it and drew him into Thames' sights.
Thames knows about physical play, having gone to college on a football scholarship, but he doesn't relish contact. When he saw Iguchi coming across his line of sight as he was running into second base, he anticipated a play.
"The third baseman hung him out to dry," Thames said. "It was a bad feed from him. I don't want to hurt a guy, but I want him to know I'm coming in and trying to make sure he doesn't get off a good throw."
The only toss into the air was Iguchi. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Thames slid hard and late to the inside of the bag, his legs catching the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Iguchi above his left ankle and flipping him over without a throw.
"Everybody in the league would've done that," Leyland said. "The White Sox do that. I don't see anybody not playing hard. That's just baseball, but that's good baseball."
It was about as adept as Thames gets when it comes to baserunning. Much of his contribution has been at the plate, where his 19 home runs lead the club. With 37 of his 65 hits this year going for extra bases, he doesn't stop at first base very often. Much like in football, he didn't know he had made a difference until the play was over.
"When I got up, I heard the crowd going crazy," he said, "so I knew something good had happened."
With Monroe safely at first base, up came Shelton, whose 0-for-14 slump was deeper than the 0-for-10 Monroe carried before his grand slam Wednesday. Shelton couldn't carry the ball out, but his drive to the fence in left-center field was just as effective in allowing Monroe to score.
"You just want to contribute," said Shelton. "Anytime you can contribute, it's big. Hopefully this will spark something and we can roll off a few more big hits."
Contreras' second straight defeat was also his first loss in his last five starts versus the Tigers, against whom he had been 7-2 lifetime with a 3.36 ERA.
As dramatic as Wednesday's win was for the Tigers, Leyland joked that he had awakened in the middle of the night with nightmares about Contreras' pitches. Contreras crossed the Tigers up Thursday by throwing a changeup that they hadn't seen before.
"We talked about it before the game: We've gotta go out and be aggressive against him," Leyland said. "If you get something to hit, better get a good swing on it early, because he can pick you apart."
Yet the sometimes free-swinging Tigers struck out just once against Contreras, who had fanned at least three batters in all 17 of his previous starts this year.
"I wouldn't say we exactly knocked him around," Leyland said. "We didn't knock the [tar] out of him, but we won the game."
The only way they could win, Leyland said, was if Rogers gave them a chance. Rogers, who had struggled over his last four starts, had to rely on his craftiness to do it. He loaded the bases with one out in the fourth with help from two walks and escaped with just one run allowed. After taking a line drive off his chest and throwing the ball away for a single and an error, he stranded another runner on third in the fifth by striking out Jim Thome looking at a breaking ball on the outside corner.

Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/