Wednesday's Matchup

[kar...@aol.com]

It begins slowly, almost silently. First one 8^th inning come from behind victory followed by another. And suddenly the Tigers have won two games in a row and find themselves just one game away from fourth place and two games out of third. The battle for fourth place begins Wednesday night at 7:05 PM EDT at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Indians will not give up fourth place without a fight and they will send their ace CC Sabathia to the mound to defend it. To face Sabathia the Tigers will send rookie right hander Armando Galarraga who will be making his first ever start for Detroit.

27 year old left hander C.C. Sabathia broke in with the Cleveland Indians in 2001 with a brilliant rookie season. He went 17-5 with a 4.39 ERA. But it may have been too much, too fast for the young man. In 2002 he was expected to be the ace and was still learning how to be a major league pitcher. Sabathia struggled to a record of 13-11 with a 4.39 ERA in 2002. He improved to 13-9 with a 3.60 ERA in 2003 but then slipped back again to 11-10 with a 4.12 ERA in 2004. There were questions about his weight and his work ethic. Still Sabathia was only 24 and still maturing. In 2005 he had another strong season going 15-10 with a 4.03 ERA. Hurt early in 2006 he missed a few starts. But once he got going he had a pretty good season going 12-11 with a 3.22 ERA. His win total was hurt by a very weak Cleveland bullpen but he had career highs in strike outs (172), complete games (6) and shutouts (2) as well as a career low of 44 walks. That led to an outstanding 2007 season in which Sabathia went 19-7 with a career best 3.21 ERA. He also posted a new career high of 209 strike outs and won the AL Cy Young award. 2008 is off to a rough start for Sabathia. In 3 starts he is 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA coming into Wednesday’s game.

Sabathia is a power pitcher who features a fastball in the 94-99 mph range along with a sharp breaking slider, a slower bigger breaking curve ball and a changeup. Sabathia has done a better job in recent years of using his off speed pitches to help set up his fastball. Still the heater is his best pitch and Sabathia is an overpowering pitcher consistently among the leaders in the AL in strikeouts. Also in recent years he has cut down on his walks. In 2007 he walked just 37 in 241 innings leading to an outstanding K/BB ratio of 5.65 to 1. Sabathia also does a good job of keeping the ball down in the strike zone and getting ground ball outs. He had a 1.3 to 1 GB/FB ratio in 2007 allowing only 20 homeruns. So far in 2008 Sabathia has struggled with his command. He has been wild, walking 9 in 14 innings, and he has allowed 24 hits including 3 homeruns in 18 innings pitched. The only normal number is that he does have 13 strike outs. Sooner or later one would expect that Sabathia would return to form. But in his first 3 starts he has been very much un-Sabathia like allowing 18 runs in 14 innings pitched.

Sabathia is 13-8 with a 4.30 ERA in 25 career starts against Detroit. Last year he was 3-1 in 5 starts against Detroit despite an unimpressive 5.29 ERA. In 32 1/3 innings he gave up 19 runs on 38 hits (5 homeruns) with 5 walks and 26 strikeouts. Magglio Ordonez is 14 for 55 with 4 doubles, a triple and 2 homeruns against Sabathia. Brandon Inge is 5 for 43, Carlos Guillen is 12 for 38 with a double and a homerun, Pudge Rodriguez is 8 for 34 with 4 doubles, Placido Polanco is 10 for 34 with 2 doubles and a homerun, Marcus Thames is 7 for 26 with 4 doubles and a homerun and Ramon Santiago is 7 for 21 with a double. Jacque Jones is 5 for 20 with a triple, Gary Sheffield is 5 for 16 with 2 doubles and a homerun, Curtis Granderson is 2 for 11, Edgar Renteria is 3 for 9 with a double, Ryan Raburn is 3 for 9 with 2 doubles and Vance Wilson is 2 for 7 with a homerun. 

26 year old right hander Armando Galarraga made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers in 2007. Originally signed out of Venezuela by the Montreal Expos in 1998 Galarraga had his ups and downs as he spent nearly a decade working his way through the minor league systems of the Expos/Nationals and the Rangers. In 2002 he had Tommy John surgery and that cost him most of the 2002 and 2003 seasons. In December of 2005 he was one of 3 players traded to Texas from Washington in exchange for Alfonso Soriano. Galarraga began the 2007 season in AA Frisco where he was 9-6 with a 4.02 ERA in 22 starts. He was promoted to AAA Oklahoma City where he was 2-2 with a 4.74 ERA in 4 starts. Galarraga was then brought up to Texas to make his major league debut. He pitched in 3 games for Texas including his first major league start and was 0-0 with a 6.23 ERA. In February of 2008 he was traded to Detroit. He began the 2008 season at AAA Toledo where he was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. With the knee injury to Dontrelle Willis, Galarraga has been called up to make his Tiger debut against Cleveland on Wednesday night.

Galarraga throws a fastball in the low 90’s with some movement on it. He also features a pretty good slider and an average changeup. What impressed the Rangers most about him were his strike outs. In AA he averaged 8 strike outs per 9 innings in 2007 and in his brief trial at AAA he had 7.66 strike outs per 9 innings. In his 2 starts this season for the Mud Hens Galarraga had 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. His control numbers were not so impressive. Galarraga walked 3.5 per 9 innings at AA Frisco and 4 per 9 innings at Oklahoma City. In spring training with the Texas Galarraga continued to be on the wild side walking 7 in 6 2/3 innings but in his 2 starts at Toledo he had only 1 walk in 12 innings. Galarraga has an above average fastball and a decent slider and if he can consistently command the strike zone he can be a very effective pitcher. But consistent location has been his problem. He has allowed too many walks and in his brief major league trial left some pitches up and in the middle of the strike zone allowing 8 hits including 2 homeruns in 8 innings. The key to success for Galarraga is to throw quality strikes that are down and on the corners of the plate. When he falls behind hitters or his pitches get up in the zone he will get into trouble.

Wednesday will be the first ever start for Galarraga against the Cleveland Indians. And he gets the luck of going up against 2007 Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. On a side note Armando is not related to former all-star first baseman Andres “El Gato Grande” Galarraga. Though coincidentally both players are from Venezuela and both began their careers in the Montreal Expo organization. 

  

    

 

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[Smith, Brad]

>It begins slowly, almost silently. First one 8th inning come from behind victory followed by another. And suddenly the Tigers have won two games in a row and find themselves just one game away from fourth place and two games out of third.

Give it up, Karlun. Need I remind everybody that no team with Jeremy Bonderman on its roster has ever won a world series? For all practical purposes, the Tigers' season is over.

Brad

________________________________

From: listmgr...@lists.ibl.org on behalf of kar...@aol.com
Sent: Wed 4/16/2008 1:07 AM
To: tig...@lists.ibl.org
Subject: Wednesday's Matchup

It begins slowly, almost silently. First one 8th inning come from behind victory followed by another. And suddenly the Tigers have won two games in a row and find themselves just one game away from fourth place and two games out of third. The battle for fourth place begins Wednesday night at 7:05 PM EDT at Progressive Field in Cleveland. The Indians will not give up fourth place without a fight and they will send their ace CC Sabathia to the mound to defend it. To face Sabathia the Tigers will send rookie right hander Armando Galarraga who will be making his first ever start for Detroit.

27 year old left hander C.C. Sabathia broke in with the Cleveland Indians in 2001 with a brilliant rookie season. He went 17-5 with a 4.39 ERA. But it may have been too much, too fast for the young man. In 2002 he was expected to be the ace and was still learning how to be a major league pitcher. Sabathia struggled to a record of 13-11 with a 4.39 ERA in 2002. He improved to 13-9 with a 3.60 ERA in 2003 but then slipped back again to 11-10 with a 4.12 ERA in 2004. There were questions about his weight and his work ethic. Still Sabathia was only 24 and still maturing. In 2005 he had another strong season going 15-10 with a 4.03 ERA. Hurt early in 2006 he missed a few starts. But once he got going he had a pretty good season going 12-11 with a 3.22 ERA. His win total was hurt by a very weak Cleveland bullpen but he had career highs in strike outs (172), complete games (6) and shutouts (2) as well as a career low of 44 walks. That led to an outstanding 2007 season in which Saba!

thia went 19-7 with a career best 3.21 ERA. He also posted a new career high of 209 strike outs and won the AL Cy Young award. 2008 is off to a rough start for Sabathia. In 3 starts he is 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA coming into Wednesday's game.

Sabathia is a power pitcher who features a fastball in the 94-99 mph range along with a sharp breaking slider, a slower bigger breaking curve ball and a changeup. Sabathia has done a better job in recent years of using his off speed pitches to help set up his fastball. Still the heater is his best pitch and Sabathia is an overpowering pitcher consistently among the leaders in the AL in strikeouts. Also in recent years he has cut down on his walks. In 2007 he walked just 37 in 241 innings leading to an outstanding K/BB ratio of 5.65 to 1. Sabathia also does a good job of keeping the ball down in the strike zone and getting ground ball outs. He had a 1.3 to 1 GB/FB ratio in 2007 allowing only 20 homeruns. So far in 2008 Sabathia has struggled with his command. He has been wild, walking 9 in 14 innings, and he has allowed 24 hits including 3 homeruns in 18 innings pitched. The only normal number is that he does have 13 strike outs. Sooner or later one would expect that Sabathia!

would return to form. But in his first 3 starts he has been very much un-Sabathia like allowing 18 runs in 14 innings pitched.
Sabathia is 13-8 with a 4.30 ERA in 25 career starts against Detroit. Last year he was 3-1 in 5 starts against Detroit despite an unimpressive 5.29 ERA. In 32 1/3 innings he gave up 19 runs on 38 hits (5 homeruns) with 5 walks and 26 strikeouts. Magglio Ordonez is 14 for 55 with 4 doubles, a triple and 2 homeruns against Sabathia. Brandon Inge is 5 for 43, Carlos Guillen is 12 for 38 with a double and a homerun, Pudge Rodriguez is 8 for 34 with 4 doubles, Placido Polanco is 10 for 34 with 2 doubles and a homerun, Marcus Thames is 7 for 26 with 4 doubles and a homerun and Ramon Santiago is 7 for 21 with a double. Jacque Jones is 5 for 20 with a triple, Gary Sheffield is 5 for 16 with 2 doubles and a homerun, Curtis Granderson is 2 for 11, Edgar Renteria is 3 for 9 with a double, Ryan Raburn is 3 for 9 with 2 doubles and Vance Wilson is 2 for 7 with a homerun.

26 year old right hander Armando Galarraga made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers in 2007. Originally signed out of Venezuela by the Montreal Expos in 1998 Galarraga had his ups and downs as he spent nearly a decade working his way through the minor league systems of the Expos/Nationals and the Rangers. In 2002 he had Tommy John surgery and that cost him most of the 2002 and 2003 seasons. In December of 2005 he was one of 3 players traded to Texas from Washington in exchange for Alfonso Soriano. Galarraga began the 2007 season in AA Frisco where he was 9-6 with a 4.02 ERA in 22 starts. He was promoted to AAA Oklahoma City where he was 2-2 with a 4.74 ERA in 4 starts. Galarraga was then brought up to Texas to make his major league debut. He pitched in 3 games for Texas including his first major league start and was 0-0 with a 6.23 ERA. In February of 2008 he was traded to Detroit. He began the 2008 season at AAA Toledo where he was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. With the kn!

ee injury to Dontrelle Willis, Galarraga has been called up to make his Tiger debut against Cleveland on Wednesday night.

Galarraga throws a fastball in the low 90's with some movement on it. He also features a pretty good slider and an average changeup. What impressed the Rangers most about him were his strike outs. In AA he averaged 8 strike outs per 9 innings in 2007 and in his brief trial at AAA he had 7.66 strike outs per 9 innings. In his 2 starts this season for the Mud Hens Galarraga had 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. His control numbers were not so impressive. Galarraga walked 3.5 per 9 innings at AA Frisco and 4 per 9 innings at Oklahoma City. In spring training with the Texas Galarraga continued to be on the wild side walking 7 in 6 2/3 innings but in his 2 starts at Toledo he had only 1 walk in 12 innings. Galarraga has an above average fastball and a decent slider and if he can consistently command the strike zone he can be a very effective pitcher. But consistent location has been his problem. He has allowed too many walks and in his brief major league trial left some pitches up and!

in the middle of the strike zone allowing 8 hits including 2 homeruns in 8 innings. The key to success for Galarraga is to throw quality strikes that are down and on the corners of the plate. When he falls behind hitters or his pitches get up in the zone he will get into trouble.
Wednesday will be the first ever start for Galarraga against the Cleveland Indians. And he gets the luck of going up against 2007 Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. On a side note Armando is not related to former all-star first baseman Andres "El Gato Grande" Galarraga. Though coincidentally both players are from Venezuela and both began their careers in the Montreal Expo organization.



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