Tigers Weekly 2008 Season

WEEK 10: 6/6/08 - 6/12/08

Good week for the Tigers!  It's been a while 
since I've started a Weekly with such a positive 
tone.  Not only did the Tigers pile up some wins, 
they did so against foes from the AL Central.  
Specifically, the Tigs enacted some revenge on 
Ozzie and the Sox, sweeping three games at 
Comerica.  The success did not come without 
some losses, however.  Jeremy Bonderman is out 
for what appears to be the season with a blod 
clot in his shoulder.  Further, Dontrelle Willis 
looked awful in his start on Monday and was sent 
to Lakeland (single-A) to figure things out.  In 
Dontrelle's favor is that he took the demotion like 
a man and understands that he's not doing anyone 
any favors by staying with the team right now.  
Best of luck to the D-Train getting back on the 
tracks.  

-------------------------------------------------

Week of 6/6 - 6/12

Record:  5-2  LWWLWWW

Undy-Five-Hundy:  It's still embarrassing, but the 
sweep of the White Sox left the Tigs eight games 
undy.  With Interleague Play going into full swing 
here, we'll see if the record gets the expected 
boost.  This week was a step in the right 
direction, or as the guys on Sportscenter put it, it 
got the Tigers pointing north.

Up Next for the Tigers...

June 13-15  Los Angeles
June 16-18  @ San Francisco
June 19     no game scheduled...

AL Central Standings...

CWS  37 29 -
MIN  32 35 5.5
CLE  31 36 6.5
DET  29 37 8
KCR  26 41 11.5

Tigers Division...

CHC  43 24 -
|
SFG  30 37 13
SDP  30 38 13.5
DET  29 37 13.5
COL  26 40 16.5
KCR  26 41 17

Tigers News and Notes:  Lots of moves this 
week. Here's the Cliff's Notes version...

OUT: Clete Thomas (15 day DL: sprained 
ankle), Jeremy Bonderman (blood clot), 
Dontrelle Willis (sent to Lakeland)

IN: Brent Clevlen, Michael Holliman (infielder 
from Toledo), Clay Rapada

OUT then IN: Aqulino Lopez (bereavement list)

One more note, pitcher Eddie Bonine will make 
his first major league start Saturday against the 
Dodgers.  With both Bondo and Willis leaving 
the rotation, that solidifies Armando Galarraga 
there, but creates a vacancy.  For this start at 
least, Bonine gets the call.  If he sticks around, it 
seems a safe bet that he won't get motion 
sickness on the team plane.  

-------------------------------------------------
Tiger of the Week...
-------------------------------------------------

With three saves and a win, the clean-shaven Todd Jones wins Tiger of the Week honors. The closer has been the most consistent Tiger this season, saving all eleven chances while keeping his ERA at 4.07. This week he was especially good, giving up three hits and a walk in 4.1 innings of work, but most importantly he surrendered no runs.

With the Tigers looking to dig out of this hole they've created, there is little room for blowing games that they lead in the ninth inning. Jones is probably the player whose mistakes will be most magnified when they occur, so his immaculate record so far is good for him and great for the club. Say he blows a couple of those saves this week, then the record would have been 3-4 as opposed to 5-2. God Bless Todd Jones and what he's meant to the bullpen. He throws strikes, he stays healthy, and he gets the job done.

-------------------------------------------------
Griffey Joins 600 Club...
-------------------------------------------------

Ken Griffey Jr., the guy who struck out four times 
in one game against Justin Thompson and then 
snubbed Thompson at the All-Star Game, 
became the fifth player in major league history to 
blast 600 home runs.  He now needs just nine 
home runs to tie Slammin' Sammy Sosa (The Earl 
of Cork) for fifth on the career home run list.  

The feat received surprisingly little buzz from the 
press, most likely due to the fallout of the steroid 
investigations.  The lack of coverage is a bit 
unjustified, however, as Jr. has never been 
implicated in any of these scandals.  Griffey, who 
missed significant time from 2001-2006 with 
injuries, could be sitting on 700 right now and 
making a serious run at Bonds.  Now 38, it 
would take a real effort to reach the mark of 762.  
The real threat to that mark is Alex Rodriguez, 
who has 528 dingers and is just 32 years old.  

For a comprehensive list of league leaders 
(single-season and career), see baseball-
reference.com at the link below:

Click HERE for acticle from Baseball Reference

There's really a lot of information there.  For 
instance, did you know Mark McGwire is the all-
time leader in at-bats per home run at 10.6?  OR 
that nobody hit more sacrifice flies than Eddie 
Murray's 128 (Cal Ripken Jr. can only stew with 
his 127)?  I love that website.  

-------------------------------------------------
Poll Question...
-------------------------------------------------

Interleague play will dominate the majors for the 
next couple of weeks.  In the past, this time of the 
season has been very good to the Tigers.  They 
will play the Dodgers, then at San Francisco and 
at San Diego, and then come home to face the 
Cardinals (no Pujols) and Rockies (NOT at 
Coors).  What will be the Tigers' record over 
these fifteen games?  Will the national league be 
the launching pad for a resurgence, or will the 
Tigers fall on their faces and miss a good 
opportunity to turn ther season around?    

-------------------------------------------------
Game Linescores...
-------------------------------------------------

June 6:  Cleveland 4 - Detroit 2
Starters:  CLE: Byrd: 7IP
           DET: Verlander 7IP
CLE  000 300 010  4 7 0
DET  000 001 100  2 5 0
W: Byrd      (3-5)
L: Verlander (2-9)
S: Borowski  (5)

---

Toolie Sees a Ball Game:  Yep, I went to this 
game, and it was boring as heck.  The Tigers put 
just five men on base, and two of those were solo 
home runs.  Verlander was less than impressive, 
allowing two walks to score in the fourth inning.  
Really, other than the fourth, there were no high-
intensity innings.  There were no mid-inning 
pitching changes, so the game went pretty 
quickly.  Casey Blake again hurt the Tigers with a 
two-run single, and Ryan Garko (quickly 
becoming my least favorite Indian) hit a solo shot 
in the eighth to ice it.  On a historical note, we 
witnessed Jeff Larrish's first major league homer.  
Cuppy Coffee took the Dunkin' Donuts race.  

Post-game, the fireowrks were good, but we 
could see that stormy weather was on the 
horizon.  About eight minutes away from our car, 
the heavens opened up and completey drenched 
us.  It was amazing that the ten minutes that we 
were vulnerable to really getting soaked is the 
time that the rain and wind decided to unleash.  It 
made for a less than comfortable ride back to 
Clarkston, with six dripping people in a sedan.  

Congrats go out to Chas "Michael Michaels" 
Claus on his engagement to Emily "the Indian" 
Sawyer.  We attended the game with jst about 
the entire Claus family, which ensured that the 
night was a good time (something the Tigers 
could not do).

---

June 7:  Cleveland 4 - Detroit 8
Starters:  CLE: Laffey 6.2IP
           DET: Rogers 7IP
CLE  020 001 001  4  8 0 
DET  000 200 06X  8 11 2
W: Miner     (2-2)
L: Kobayashi (3-3)
S: Jones     (9)

June 8:  Cleveland 2 - Detroit 5
Starters:  CLE: Sowers 4IP
           DET: Galarraga 5.2IP
CLE  001 001 000  2 5 0
DET  110 300 00X  5 8 1
W: Galarraga (5-2)
L: Sowers    (0-1)
S: Jones     (10)

June 9:  Cleveland 8 - Detroit 2
Starters:  CLE: Lee 5IP
           DET: Willis 1.1IP
CLE  350 000 000  8 6 1
DET  000 200 000  2 7 0
W: Lee    (10-1)
L: Willis (0-1)

June 10:  Chicago White Sox 4 - Detroit 6
Starters:  CWS: Contreras 6IP
           DET: Robertson 6.1IP
CWS  011 000 110  4 12 1
DET  000 131 10X  6 14 0
W: Robertson (4-6)
L: Contreras (6-4)
S: Jones     (11)

June 11:  Chicago White Sox 1 - Detroit 5
Starters:  CWS: Vazquez 6IP
           DET: Verlander 9IP
CWS  000 100 000  1  4 0
DET  030 101 00X  5 11 0
W: Verlander (3-9)
L: Vazquez   (6-5)

June 12:  Chicago White Sox 1 - Detroit 2
Starters:  CWS: Buehrle 8IP
           DET: Rogers 8IP
CWS  010 000 000  1 5 0
DET  000 001 001  2 8 1
W: Jones (2-0)
L: Dotel (3-3)

-------------------------------------------------
Readers Write In...
-------------------------------------------------

Dan "Chip" Stevens

Toolie,     

In response to your question of whether or not 
Dontrelle should be back in the rotation I am 
going to use this as an opportunity to go off on 
Jim Leyland.  I am not just looking for a 
scapegoat and I know the track record of Jim 
Leyland in the past, but my friends can attest that 
I was against this hiring from the beginning.  

Jim Leyland is the worst manager in the major 
leagues (and I am not over exaggerating).  I am a 
baseball truest and it seems every game I am 
questioning his thinking.  Yes!  He is a great 
"players" manager, but when it comes to X's and 
O's and making game decisions there is no one 
worse!  This guy comes from the National 
League....  will you please bunt a player over to 
second or third with less than two outs in the late 
innings when you are down a run?  How many 
days off does our players need?  They work 3 
1/2 hours a day for crying out loud!  Unless there 
is an injury or you are the catcher, you don't need 
a day off every week.  How many times have we 
been down in the late innings and someone like 
Brandon Inge comes to the plate with runners on 
with Magglio or Guillen sitting on the bench?  
When asked about it Leyland responds by 
saying, "It's their day off."  Are you kidding me?  
He never goes with the percentages when making 
pitching changes either. 
He goes by his "gut."  Yes, he will even admit to 
that.  I think his gut is taking more days off than 
his players.  Guillen.... our 3rd basemen..... no 
wait a minute, our first basemen......  oops, he is 
our DH, right.......  ahhh, I got it he is now our left 
fielder......  What the hell is going on?  He wanted 
to save his knees, right?  so, let's put him in left 
field where he will have to run all over the place.  
Yes it was only one game, so I guess its not that 
big of a deal, right?  Just like last year with 
Sheffield after putting him in the outfield for one 
game leading to an injury that will last half the 
season.  Who was more surprised than Polanco 
when he was batting in the number 3 spot the 
other night?  He has never batted number 3 in his 
career, but Jim Leyland knows best.  I guess we 
need to find the right combinations.......  I heard 
Cabrera is pitching tomorrow night.  Maybe that 
will turn things around?!?     

Are you done hearing me complain yet??????  
But no there's more........I know that players can 
go through long stretches of unproductivity but 
how does a team with seven all stars in the 
starting line up go through it all at the same time 
(with the exception of maybe Ordonez)?"  When 
asked about team chemistry, Leyland responds 
that that is a bunch of "mumbo Jumbo.... its a 
class you take in high school."  These guys are 
showing no passion for the game or each other.  
That falls on Leyland!  Maybe he needs to retake 
that class!

Are we a triple A club?  We have seen more 
triple A players up on this team than when we 
were so called bad!  Yes, we have had some 
injuries, but how in the world do you have any 
continuity when there is a revolving door between 
the Tigers and the Mud Hens?  By the way has 

anyone seen that Mike Hessman leads their 
league in homeruns and has a .292 average to 
boot.  We probably couldn't use him anyway, our 
new DH the mighty power hitter Jeff Larrish has 
secured that spot.  Are you kidding me?  I could 
go on and on and on and on....... but I will cut the 
final straw here.  Let's take our best pitcher.... the 
one who hasn't given up more than 3 earned runs 
in any game this year, and put him in the bullpen, 
so that our worst pitcher can take his place.  
Willis didn't even have one good outing in all of 
Spring Training or the regular season.  I know the 
guy makes alot of money, but give me a break!  
At the very least put Robertson in the bull pen --- 
not our best pitcher.       

I have coached for 15 years and know that 
winning and losing is rarely about how good the  
manager or the coach is, but the kind of players 
and talent you have.  However, when you have a 
good group that loses the manager easily gets 
exposed for the fraud that he is!  This is the case 
in D-town my friends! I will always love the 
Tigers, but Jim Leyland has to go! 

Dan Stevens.........

-------------------------------------------------

Nic "Gilby" Gilbert...

Just came across this tonight from the recap of 
today's (Thursday's) game.

In the last four starts for Kenny Rogers he is 0-0 
with all 4 games being no decisions.  Yet he has 
lasted at least 7 innings in each start and only has 
given up 4 earned runs.

Watching the Tigers rebroadcast of todays game 
and it was just mentioned that Vance Wilson will 
probably be retiring because he just snapped 
another ligament in his elbow he just has Tommy 
John surgery on will rehabing and he will be out a 
minimum of one year if he comes back.  Who are 
the backup catchers in the system besides Inge 
now?

Editor's Note:  Here is a link to the story...

Click HERE for article from Detroit Tigers.com

-------------------------------------------------

Toolie's Trashtalk...

I really don't have time to talk trash this week.  
Wedding in two weeks and The Scorekeeper 
and I have business to take care of.  I just think 
we need to see the Tigers beat up on the NL 
West, which is severly down from last season, 
and of course clobber the Cardinals when they 
come to town.  

A quick shout out to the Liouville Sluggers, the 
MSU Math Department softball team, who will 
play for the Grad League title on Monday.  MSU 
Grad League Softball; it's FAN-tastic.  

As far as managers go; they seem to be highly 
revered when they are winning and maligned 
when they are losing.  But as Stevens pointed 
out, it's usually not the managing that makes a 
baseball team good or bad.  

Go Tigers.

I'm out.
 





-----------------------------------------------------

Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.  
 
If you know anyone that would like a subscription to TW,
send an email to editor@tigersweekly.com and give their
names and e-mail addresses. If your e-mail address is
changing, drop a line and it will be updated...

Play Ball!

-----------------------------------------------------