Yardbarker: Justin Verlander

Evening Prowl: Voting Verlander, Ernie Harwell and Granderson's Hitting

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:00:13 -0500

MLive.com's Steve Kornacki was the one voter who put Justin Verlander on the top of his AL Cy Young Award ballot. (25 went to the winner, K.C.'s Zack Greinke, with two going to Seattle's Felix Hernandez.) Kornacki based his vote on Verlander showing toughness under pennant race pressure, something Greinke and Hernandez didn't have to worry about. Jason Beck transcribed highlights from last night's interview between Bob Costas and Ernie Harwel...

Justin Verlander Finishes 3rd in AL Cy Young Award Vote

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:35:36 -0500

Justin Verlander Finishes 3rd in AL Cy Young Award Vote For the second day in a row, a Detroit Tigers pitcher finishes third in voting for a postseason award. The Royals' Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award, receiving 25 of 28 first-place votes. Seattle's Felix Hernandez finished second, getting two first-place votes. Verlander finished a distant third, but did receive one first-place vote. That was from MLive.com's Steve Kornacki.

Cabrera, Verlander, Porcello win 2009 DIBS Honors

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:55:39 -0500

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera and starting pitcher Justin Verlander were voted the Tigers' top positional player and top pitcher of 2009, in a vote conducted by the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes.

Verlander and Cabrera Have DIBS on Tigers Awards

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:05:11 -0500

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP With 19 wins and 269 strikeouts among his many impressive stats, Justin Verlander was voted Tigers Pitcher of the Year and Most Improved Player by the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes for 2009. Browse more photos » After a two-year hiatus, the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes (or "DIBS") have reunited to nominate their choices for the top Detroit Tigers p...

2009 SBN Baseball Awards: AL Cy Young Award

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:38 -0500

This week, we're posting the results for each of Major League Baseball's regular season awards, as voted upon by the SB Nation baseball bloggers. (Each site gets two ballots; Mack Avenue Tigers' Kurt Mensching helped me out with a vote.) Today's announcement is for the 2009 Cy Young Award balloting. I'm sure everyone can guess who won this one, but did the Tigers' candidate make the vote interesting? Rk Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts 1 ...

Do the Tigers Need to Clinch Before Sunday?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:45:09 -0500

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP Should the Detroit Tigers do all they can to avoid having to pitch Justin Verlander on Sunday and save him for a playoff opener? Browse more photos » Last night on "Baseball Tonight," Buck Showalter expressed his belief that the Detroit Tigers needed to win the AL Central before Sunday, so they wouldn't have to use Justin Verlander for the season finale.&n...

Hypothetically Speaking: The Justin Verlander Contract Extension?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:15:00 -0500

After a strangely inconsistent 2008, Justin Verlander has regained his form and established himself as one of the top pitchers in baseball. In the much tougher American League, Verlander has put together a tremendous, and at times dominant, season. He is 17-9 with a 3.41 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and most impressive of all: 256 K in 217 IP.Verlander has become the ace that everyone thought he'd become. I'd like to tell you that I'm surprised, but Verlander's stuff is so good that I expe...

Game 152: Tigers at Indians

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:30:18 -0500

Justin Verlander (16-9, 3.44) vs. Carlos Carrasco (0-2, 9.64), 7:05 p.m. EST The Tigers have a series win in hand, but have a chance to get one more game tonight. (I'm always hesistant to use the "s" word, which rhymes with "weep," for fear of a jinx.) With the Twins off tonight, Detroit could add a half-game to their lead in the AL Central. Carlos Carrasco's major league debut was a memorable one... for the Tigers. Starti...

Game 148: Tigers at Twins

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:00:20 -0500

Justin Verlander (16-8 3.34) vs. Carl Pavano (12-11 4.91), 4:10 p.m. EST The Twins struck first in this weekend's series with last night's 3-0 win over the Tigers, cutting Detroit's lead in the AL Central to three games. Will the Tigers' bats show up to the Metrodome to support their pitching ace? Justin Verlander had one of those games in his last start. For five innings against the Blue Jays, he was dominant, allowing just two hits with six s...

Justin Verlander: Fast Pitches and Fast Toy Trucks

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:20:15 -0500

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP Browse more photos » Yesterday's New York Times had a profile of Justin Verlander, written by Ben Shpigel. It was a possible preview to a pitcher the Yankees could face in the first round of the playoffs (twice, unless the Yanks opt for a longer series with an extra day off), and Verlander's success against them this season is mentioned. But overall, the feature l...

Game 143 Overflow Thread

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:22:37 -0500

This game just fell off the table, with Justin Verlander suddenly pitching batting practice in the fifth inning. The Blue Jays just feasted on those hanging breaking balls. But there's still two innings for the Tigers to mount a comeback. Has optimism left the building? Blue Jays 5, Tigers 2 heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Game 138: Tigers at Royals

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:05:09 -0500

Justin Verlander (16-7, 3.29 ERA) vs. Robinson Tejada (1-1, 3.61 ERA), 8:10 p.m. EST The Tigers had their six-game winning streak broken by the Royals last night (blowing a three-run lead in the process). Can they get a new streak going with their ace taking the mound? Justin Verlander has won his past three starts, the last two of which were victories over the Tampa Bay Rays and Jeff Niemann. His last start was particularly dominant, as he held the Rays t...

Game 2009.138: Tigers at Royals

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:11:34 -0500

PREGAME: Justin Verlander takes the mound tonight for the Tigers sitting at 222 strikeouts for the season. That ranks as the 11th best single season mark in Tigers history. If things go as planned tonight he should at least get to 9th and if he’s feeling frisky he has an outside shot of moving into [...]

How Unhittable Has Justin Verlander Been?

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:16 -0500

If you tuned into ESPN2's telecast of Monday night's Tigers-Angels game, perhaps you saw that Justin Verlander leads the major leagues in swinging strikes with 366. Jayson Stark adds to that, reporting that Verlander also leads the majors in pitches fouled off, with 626. Those two statistics led Stark to the following conclusion: He'll have thrown 1,000 pitches this year that the poor hitters out there swung at but didn't put in play. (For the record, he...

Game 89: Tigers at Yankees

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:35:06 -0500

Justin Verlander (10-4, 3.38) vs. CC Sabathia (8-6, 3.86), 1:05 p.m. EST Didn't that last game just end? After a tough loss in which the Tigers blew a late-inning lead to the Yankees, they try to bounce back quickly for a Saturday matinee. And maybe that's the best thing for them, to get that loss out of their system as soon as possible. CC Sabathia lost two of his last three starts before the All-Star break, giving up 12 runs and 22 hit...