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[kalinecountry]

Berry scatched from lineup due to knee discomfort.
LAKELAND, Fla. -- For the second day in a row, Tigers manager Jim Leyland had Quintin Berry written into his starting lineup. For the second consecutive day, Leyland had to scratch Berry's name when the speedy outfielder felt discomfort in his left knee.
This time, the Tigers are going to give Berry a few days for treatment.

An examination Wednesday by Dr. Sal Montenegro, including X-rays and an MRI, confirmed tendinitis in Berry's knee, where the patella meets the quadriceps. Head athletic trainer Kevin Rand said Berry will be treated with physical therapy and medication for the next few days, then re-evaluated.

Rand confirmed that Berry was dealing with the condition at the end of last season.
"He rehabbed it through the offseason," Rand said, "then he made a move that re-aggravated it the other day."
If it's going to happen, it's better that it happen early in the spring, when there's enough time for Berry to rest and still be ready for the season as long as the treatment works. There's also less pressure to rush him, and for him to rush back.

That said, it leaves the Tigers thin in their outfield ranks for a while, even this early in camp before any cuts have been made. Andy Dirks worked out before Wednesday's game with the team, including batting practice, but he hasn't yet been cleared to play. Dirks said they're going to "play it by ear," though he wasn't on the initial travel list for Thursday's game against the Rays in Port Charlotte.

Meanwhile, Brennan Boesch continues to work his way back from the right oblique strain that has sidelined him for the past week and a half.
from the Tigers official site

 

[kalinecountry]

Scherzer cleared to start Sunday against Braves.
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Max Scherzer is scheduled to make his first start of the season in Sunday's 1:05 p.m. ET game against the Braves on MLB.TV after getting through a lengthy session of batting practice without trouble.
Scherzer threw 50 pitches and said he felt fine. At this point, Scherzer is ready to approach Sunday like he would any normal Spring Training outing.
The debut at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, Scherzer said, will allow him to get six starts. The right-hander made seven starts last spring, but he believes six is enough for him to be ready for the regular season.
"I didn't want to increase my Spring Training load," Scherzer said. "We looked at last year, and there was no reason for me to take on extra starts."
Scherzer said the muscular soreness in his shoulder that he battled last fall is no longer a problem. The main concern is the wear and tear of his innings totals over the last couple years, topping 210 each time when postseason starts are included.
from the Tigers official site

 

[kalinecountry]

Porcello favoring curveball over slider early.
LAKELAND, Fla. -- The storyline with Rick Porcello going into Spring Training was the slider he was working on with pitching coach Jeff Jones over the past month. Two starts into the Grapefruit League season, his curveball has been a bigger pitch for him.
If Porcello is going to throw one breaking ball, it might be his choice.

Among the mix of pitches Wednesday against the Braves was a steady collection of curveballs. One worked out well, freezing Dan Uggla for a called third strike with runners on second and third and one out in the opening inning. Another hit Reed Johnson on a three-ball count to create the jam in the first place.

Good and bad, they were hard to miss, much like his previous outing against the Braves last Friday. The slider hasn't been seen. One scout watching Wednesday's outing said he didn't see any sliders, only curveballs when Porcello chose to go to a breaking ball.
Porcello confirmed as much.
"Right now, I'm just working on one breaking ball," Porcello said, "just working on getting the command of one and establishing that, and we'll go from there."

That doesn't mean the slider won't show up later, but it's not a priority now.
Porcello flirted with both at various points last season, and he had success at different stretches with each. As a young pitcher, the Tigers have preferred him to focus on one, usually the slider in past years, but they've been open to him working on both.

Porcello gave up three runs on four hits over his two innings of work in Detroit's 5-3 to Atlanta on Wednesday. All three runs came in on a first-inning home run by Juan Francisco, who jumped on a 1-0 fastball.

In a regular-season situation, it wouldn't be a pitch manager Jim Leyland would favor in that count. In this case, Leyland said, he just made a point of it.
"He just didn't make a very good selection, but I don't think he would've done that during the season," Leyland said. "With first base [open], to get behind 1-0 and throw a fastball in that situation, he wouldn't do that during the season."
from the Tigers official site

 

[kalinecountry]

Porcello has solid spring outing.
Friday's home opener for the Atlanta Braves against the Detroit Tigers was a quick-moving, if not terribly eventful spring training game, with the JV squad in the game by the sixth inning and a handful of prospects, mostly on the Tigers' side of the aisle.
Rick Porcello sat at 92 mph and touched 94 in his two-inning stint as Detroit's starter, throwing mostly fastballs; the pitch didn't have a lot of life, but he was around the zone with it. His 76-78 mph curveball had good depth and some angle with an 11-to-5 break, with one hanger that he got away with, and his changeup at 83-84 had good fading action.

To read more of Keith Law's scouting report from the Detroit Tigers' spring home opener, become an Insider today.

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/02/31525-previewing-coming-attractions/#more-10864
3/15/25 Preview of coming attractions.
from HighHeatStats

What are the make or break years for major-leaguers? While there is obviously no 100% rule that applies to every player, a good rule of thumb is 3/15/25. Come again? What I mean is that players who compile at least 15 total WAR over three seasons, aged 23, 24 and 25, will usually have long and productive careers. But, those who don?t ? well, not so much.
After the jump, I?ll explain further and preview some of the current breed of future stars.

 

[kalinecountry]

http://motorcitybengals.com/2013/02/27/detroit-tigers-lineup-improves-greatly-from-2012/
Detroit Tigers? Lineup Improves Greatly From 2012.
from motorcitybengals-tigersblog

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/20...tifying-the-games-grittiest-players-and-teams
True ?GRIT?: Quantifying the Game?s Grittiest and least grittiest Players and Teams.
from beyondtheboxscore

 

[kalinecountry]

February 28 in Tigers and mlb history:

1931 - Ban Johnson dies in St. Louis, at age 57. Johnson had served as the founder and first president of the American League from 1901 to 1927. He was a dynamic and dictatorial leader until subdued by the advent of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who took office as the first Baseball commissioner in January 1921. Johnson will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1937.

1986 - In Major League Baseball's sternest disciplinary move since the 1919 Black Sox were banished for life, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth gives seven players who were admitted drug users a choice of a year's suspension without pay or heavy fines and career-long drug testing, along with 100 hours of drug-related community service. Joaquin And?jar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Dave Parker, and Lonnie Smith will be fined 10 percent of their annual salaries to drug abuse programs. The commissioner also doles out lesser penalties to 14 other players for their use of drugs.

1989 - The Veterans Committee elects Red Schoendienst and Al Barlick to the Hall of Fame. Schoendienst served as a second baseman and manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Barlick was a major league umpire for over 29 seasons.

2000 - American League umpire John Hirschbeck is elected as the first president of the World Umpires Association, which was recognized by the National Labor Relations Board a few days ago.

2002 - Major League Baseball announces it has rehired five umpires who had resigned during the 1999 season as part of the ill-fated strategy concocted by Richie Phillips and the Major League Umpires Association. They are Gary Darling, Bill Hohn, Larry Poncino, Larry Vanover and Joe West. Four other umpires, Drew Coble, Greg Kosc, Terry Tata, and Frank Pulli, are allowed to retire.

2011: Miguel Cabrera makes his first appearance since his drunk driving arrest and goes 0 for 2 with a walk in a Tigers victory.

Tigers players birthdays:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lil_Stoner
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stoneli01.shtml
Lil Stoner 1922, 1924-1929.

Tigers players who passed away:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Dizzy_Trout
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/troutdi01.shtml
Dizzy Trout 1939-1952.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Harvey_Kuenn
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kuennha01.shtml
Harvey Kuenn 1952-1959.

from Baseball Reference

February 29 in Tigers and mlb history:

1896 - Western League president Ban Johnson asserts that "the Western League has passed the stage where it should be considered a minor league - it is a first-class organization, and should have the consideration that such an organization warrants." Four years later Johnson will act upon this belief, taking the first steps toward moving the WL - renamed the American League in 1900 - to major league status.

1968 - Lena Blackburne dies in Riverside, New Jersey, at age 81. A former major league infielder and manager, Blackburne has been the source for his eponymous rubbing mud, used by umpires in both leagues to rub down new balls. He leaves the mud business to his boyhood friend, John Haas.

1972 - Hank Aaron signs a major league record-breaking contract with the Atlanta Braves, calling for $200,000 annually for three years.

2000: Manager Sparky Anderson, 19th century star Bid McPhee, and Negro League slugger Norman (Turkey) Stearnes are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Tigers players birthdays:

from Baseball Reference

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19729
Painting the Black: Count to 300.
from Baseball Prospectus

 

[kalinecountry]

http://beck.mlblogs.com/2013/02/28/thursday-tigers-at-rays-4/
Thursday: Tigers at Rays.
from JasonBeck'sTigersblog

 

[kalinecountry]

http://marioimpemba.com/1/post/2013/02/als-potential-is-a-key.html
Al's potential is a key.
from MarioImpemba'sTigersblog

 

[kalinecountry]

http://beck.mlblogs.com/2013/02/27/wednesday-wrapup-so-about-that-porcello-slider/
Late Wednesday wrapup: So, about that Porcello slider ?
from JasonBeck'sTigersblog

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.freep.com/article/201302...ael-belliard?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Detroit Tigers
Sudden bout with cancer leaves Tigers' Rafael Belliard feeling scared -- then lucky.
from the freep

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.freep.com/article/201302...notes-quotes?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Detroit Tigers
Notes, quotes from Wednesday's loss.
from the freep

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.freep.com/article/201302...-classic-mlb?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Detroit Tigers
MLB stars suit up for their countries in World Baseball Classic.
from the freep

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.freep.com/article/201302...der-contract?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Detroit Tigers
Tigers need to pay Justin Verlander what he wants.
from the freep

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2013/02/detroit_tigers_over-under_how_31.html
Detroit Tigers over-under: How many games will Andy Dirks start in left field?
from Mlive

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...pitch-mars-Rick-Porcello-s-effort-Tigers-loss
One pitch mars Rick Porcello's effort in Tigers loss.
from the detnews

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...plans-injuries-irk-Tigers-manager-Jim-Leyland
Travel plans, injuries irk Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
from the detnews

 

[kalinecountry]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...than-Tigers-Brennan-Boesch-replace-Granderson
Yankees will aim higher than Tigers' Brennan Boesch to replace Granderson.
from the detnews