Casey Fossum

Subject: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:53 am

ERA of 27.00! He can only get better from here!
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bow

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:55 am

lol, that wasn't how he wanted to present himself!
Go Casey! Ahhh... i missed that "Go Casey".
GO CASEY!
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"I'm on a mission. Mark my words: I'll be back, and I'll be able to do what I've been doing." Joel Zumaya

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:01 am

Uhhh yeah, 27 is a bit high...
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"Contrary to what everybody else thinks, I still think I can come back and help this team."

Todd Jones on shoulder injury.

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:06 am

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:00 pm

I was wrong. ERA of 135.00.

Countdown until it's below 100.00...

Countdown until it's above 200.00...

Which will happen first? :shrug:

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bow

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:22 pm

06/04/2008 4:46 PM ET
Fossum's long trip ends in right place
Reliever hoping to return to pre-surgery form
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- Casey Fossum signed with the Tigers out of Spring Training thinking it was the best opportunity for him to pitch in the big leagues. He couldn't have figured it would be this long of a journey -- not literally, anyway.

Fossum hadn't set a wake-up call, but he was getting one anyway when the hotel phone rang in his room around 9 a.m. ET. He was in Louisville with the Toledo Mud Hens, and he had turned off his cell phone. The Tigers needed him in Oakland, and they had to call the landline to do it. That's where the journey began.

Within hours, Fossum was on a five-hour flight to San Francisco with a connection in Dallas. He arrived San Francisco right before game time, but with the heart of rush-hour traffic, taking a cab across the bay wasn't a good option. So there Fossum was, taking the train like so many folks going home from work, only he was trying to get to work.

By the time Fossum was in uniform and in the bullpen, Dontrelle Willis was finished with his outing. Fossum wasn't sitting for long before he was warming up.

"I was expecting to pitch," Fossum said. "I kept telling myself I might get in the game."

It was his turn to start for Toledo, so he was ready for some pitches. As it turned out, he faced just two batters in the eighth inning before giving way to Zach Miner. At that point, it was past midnight ET.

Fossum had another long flight awaiting him after Wednesday's series finale, this time heading back to Detroit, but travel always feels better in the big leagues.

For Fossum, it was a longer road back than he had hoped. He was in camp with the Pirates this spring when he realized his chances were slim not only of making the big club, but making the rotation at Triple-A Indianapolis. He requested and received his release and was looking around for an opportunity when Tigers pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, his old pitching coach at Tampa Bay, called him with one.

"I was excited to have an opportunity to play for a team like the Tigers when Chuck called," Fossum said.

To take advantage, however, Fossum would have to find the form he had before shoulder surgery near the end of the 2006 season. He struggled to do so last year, and without many innings this spring, he was still trying to shore up his mechanics when he arrived in Toledo in April, signed as a potential replacement to the just-released Tim Byrdak.

It was a move back into the starting rotation that finally helped things click.

"I just needed innings to figure out how I felt when I was healthy," Fossum said.

He can actually pinpoint the time when he figured out the change. It was the fourth inning of his first start on May 10 against Charlotte.

"I just started doing something that I can remember that I used to do," Fossum said. "I just started breaking my hands a little bit earlier at the top of my windup. It's something I used to do. It just took some innings to find that rhythm in my mechanics. Ever since then, it's gotten better every time I've gone out there. I finally just found it."

His fastball, in turn, has risen from the upper 80s to now around 92 mph.

Manager Jim Leyland believes Fossum can be a useful part of Detroit's bullpen, though not necessarily as a left-handed specialist. How he works out in the relief mix is going to be a work in progress regardless, with so many changes looming as injured arms come off the disabled list.

For Fossum, it was a long route to the place where he wanted to be. But it was worth it.

"I think I just forgot how to pitch," Fossum said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:24 pm

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:06 pm

*doesn't feel quite so bad about poor Andrew's 27.00 era earlier this year* Whew

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:21 pm

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:37 pm

Subject: Re: Casey Fossum Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:14 am