Tigers Weekly 2009 Season

WEEK 9: 6/1/09 - 6/7/09

We started off last week talking about how
important the next two weeks are to the Tigers
season and they start off the stretch losing four
straight games. Boston came in and just beat
the Tigers up. The only chance they had was
when Papelbon walked the bases loaded with
no outs and then the Tigers decided to not
make contact again on three straight strikeouts.
In the Angels series they lost the first game
even with Verlander pitching a gem, as they
lost 2-1 in the 9th inning. However, just like
almost every week this season, they picked up
wins on Saturday and Sunday and turned a 0-4
week into a 2-4 week. What a big, big grand
slam off the bat of Clete Thomas. A two game
winning streak heading into a five game in four
day series against the dreaded White Sox is
what this week brings. At least the White Sox
are currently struggling worse than the Tigers
(2-5, while being outscored 35-17 and hitting
.189). Something tells me that this will change
quickly, only because it's the Tigers coming to
town. Is this the year the Tigers can change it
around?

New Subscribers...

Brad Shires

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6/1 - 6/7

Record: 2-4 -LLLLWW

Undy-Five Hundy: Well the first losing week
of the season did not come until this week (the
first week of June) and the undy-five hundy
index stayed in the negative. That in itself is a
major feat and we all will gladly take it
(although another win or two this week would
have made things much better looking). By
winning the last two games and the series
against the Angels, the undy-five hundy index
is still sitting at negative five on the season.

Up Next for the Tigers...

June 8 - 11  @ Chicago White Sox (1-2) (5 games in 4 days)
June 12 - 14 @ Pittsburgh Pirates (0-0)

AL Central Standings...

     W   L   GB
DET  30  25  -
MIN  28  30  3.5
CWS  26  30  4.5
KC   24  32  6.5
CLE  25  34  7.0

Tigers Division...

     W   L   GB
LAD  39  20  -
|
BOS  33  24  5.0
MIL  33  24  5.0
DET  30  25  7.0
NYM  30  25  7.0
STL  31  26  7.0

Tigers News and Notes: On Sunday the
Tigers activated Marcus Thames from the
disabled list and sent Jeff Larish back to
Toledo (AAA). Marcus said his hellos and
then proceeded to hit 2 singles in his first two
appearances at the plate against the Angels.
Thames will do a lot of the DHing with some
LF worked into the mix as he tries to fully
regain the power from being off for so long.

In the middle of the week, Miguel Cabrera
pulled his hamstring and missed a couple
games. He was back in the starting lineup on
Sunday, but was pulled in the fifth inning. It
looks like he may be out a few more games, as
every time he was on the bases he was holding
his hammy. Zach Miner is also nursing a sore
Achilles and is day-to-day as well.

Although it did not happen this week, Jeremy
Bonderman will be activated from the disabled
list on Monday and will start his first game of
the 2009 season in the second game of the
double header against the White Sox.
Hopefully his health is 100% and he is a sign
of good things to come this season. He will be
playing for a starting spot in the rotation.
Willis, Bonderman, and Galarraga are now in a
three-way competition for two starting spots.
Leyland said he will not use a 6-man rotation.
It will be very interesting to see if the mini-
competition will boost any of their
performances coming up in the starts ahead.
Someone will be the odd-man out and not in
the rotation, and maybe not on the team. Wait
and see!

A last note, Carlos Guillen still cannot swing a
bat and the near future outlook is not looking
so good. Leyland basically said that Guillen is
out for the long-term and he has not been able
to do many baseball activities.

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Tiger of the Week...
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Tiger Homerun Kings of the Week...
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            Season  Weekly  Weekly
Player      Total   Total   No(s)               

Gonzalez (SD) 22     2     (21, 22)
|
Thomas         4     1     (4)
|
Granderson    13
Inge          12
Cabrera       10
Larish         4
Raburn         3
Santiago       3
Laird          2
Ordonez        2
Everett        1
Polanco        1
Ramirez        1

In a very strange week (first losing week of the
year) the Tigers only hit one homerun this
week, but boy was it a big one. Tie game,
bottom of the eighth, bases loaded, two outs,
Clete Thomas at the plate and a line-drive blast
to left made a very down week turn completely
around. Maybe this can be a catalyst for many
more good things to come in Chicago.

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The Season to Date...
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After nine weeks into the season, the Tigers
have played a total of 55 games. In those 55
games, the Tigers have come away with 30
wins and 25 losses. Below breaks down the
Tigers record versus each of the thirteen teams
the Tigers have faced to date. As you will
notice from the divisional breakdown, the
Tigers are two games above five hundred in the
central and own the AL West (thanks to Texas).





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All-star Voting Continues...
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Get out and vote. That is the word around
Tigertown right now. Miguel Cabrera is
currently fourth in voting at first base. If you
would like to see a Tiger starter in the All-Star
Game in St. Louis, then Cabrera is about your
only chance. No other Tiger is even close in
this voting (although with the way Verlander
continues to pitch and Zach Greinke is starting
to struggle, Verlander may have a chance at the
starting pitcher spot). Paper ballots are in the
ballpark on the lower concourse and electronic
voting can be done at www.tigers.com/vote.
Do not be afraid to cast your daily vote. Let's
see how many Tigers we can get into the
game! Also online, the Tigers are doing a
voting contest. If you cast at least 20 ballots
online and select Tigers as your favorite team,
you will automatically be entered into a
drawing for two tickets to the August 4th game
against the Orioles and also get to meet the
All-Star Tiger(s). Click here to vote for your
Tigers now!

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Interleague Play 2009...
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Starting this upcoming weekend will see the
final two and a half straight weeks of
interleague play. This year's schedule has all
sorts of interesting matchups and prospective
games.

Colorado Rockies - May 22-24 (weekend):      W L L
@ Pittsburgh Pirates - June 12-14 (weekend)  
@ St. Louis Cardinals - June 16-18           
Milwaukee Brewers - June 19-21 (weekend)     
Chicago Cubs - June 23-25                    
@ Houston Astros - June 26-28 (weekend)      

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GOODBYE TIGER STADIUM...
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This weekend started a sad time in Tigertown,
as the final section of Tiger Stadium started to
come down. Early this spring the home plate
section was left standing as preservation groups
tried to secure funding to save it. After funding
was rejected last week, the city council voted
7-1 to complete the demolition project. Two
hours into demolition a judge issues a
temporary restraining order and demolition was
halted, but first thing Monday morning a judge
lifted the stoppage and demo work resumed.
May we all be able to securely hold those fond
memories of the good ole ballpark with
benches and obstructed views.

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Poll Question...
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With Tiger Stadium completely being torn
down this week, what is your fondest memory
of the ballpark? Who did you attend the game
with, what team were they playing, who were
the star players, etc. Brings some old time
excitement back for those lifelong Tiger
diehards.

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Fan Ballpark Photo Board...
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Developing at Tigers Weekly is the fan photo
section. We are asking all baseball fans to send
in their pictures from stadiums across America
and to write about their experiences at the
park. Pictures and memories do not need to be
of Comerica Park. All stadiums are welcome.
Please take a look at http://www.tigersweekly.com/
Photos/TWReader.htm to see all of the pictures
our viewers have already sent in. 

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Game Lines of the Week...
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Monday, June 1st
--- NO GAME SCHEDULED ---

Tuesday, June 2nd           7:05 pm
Starters:  BOS - Matsuzaka  5.0 IP
           DET - Porcello   4.1 IP
                        R  H  E  (W - L)
Boston     102 002 000  5  9  0  (30-22)
Detroit    100 000 000  1  9  2  (28-22)
  W    Matsuzaka  (1-2)
  L    Porcello   (6-4)
  S    ---

Wednesday, June 3rd          7:05 pm - ESPN
Starters:  BOS - Beckett     7.2 IP
           DET - Galarraga   7.0 IP
                        R  H  E  (W - L)
Boston     200 020 060 10 13  3  (31-22)
Detroit    000 000 050  5  3  1  (28-23)
  W    Beckett    (6-2)
  L    Galarraga  (3-6)
  S    ---

Thursday, June 4th          1:05 pm
Starters:  BOS - Wakefield  6.2 IP
           DET - Willis     2.1 IP
                        R  H  E  (W - L)
Boston     006 000 000  6  6  0  (32-22)
Detroit    030 000 000  3 10  0  (28-24)
  W    Wakefield  (7-3)
  L    Willis     (1-3)
  S    Papelbon   (14)

Friday, June 5th            7:05 pm
Starters:  LAA - Santana    8.2 IP
           DET - Verlander  8.0 IP
                         R  H  E  (W - L)
Los Angeles 000 000 002  2  7  0  (28-25)
Detroit     000 000 001  1  6  1  (28-25)
  W    Santana	  (1-2)
  L    Rodney	  (0-1)
  S    Fuentes	  (15)

Saturday, June 6th          7:05 pm
Starters:  LAA - Escobar    5.0 IP
           DET - Jackson    9.0 IP
                         R  H  E  (W - L)
Los Angeles 100 000 000  1  4  0  (28-26)
Detroit     200 000 00x  2  8  0  (29-25)
  W    Jackson	  (6-3)
  L    Escobar	  (0-1)
  S    ---

Sunday, June 7th            1:05 pm
Starters:  LAA - Saunders   6.0 IP
           DET - Porcello   5.0 IP
                         R  H  E  (W - L)
Los Angeles 300 001 011  6 11  1  (28-27)
Detroit     202 000 05x  9  8  1  (30-25)
  W    Zumaya      (2-0)
  L    Arredondo   (1-3)
  S    ---

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Reader Write In...
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Crasnick on the Tigers' SPs from ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?
columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=4221583

Derek Muller

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Greetings, Tiger fans, from Michigan's # Sox
fan (The nation's #1 Sox fan now occupies the
White House, of course. Sometimes things just
work out the way they're supposed to): I'm glad
to see that you're off to another great year
following the Tigers. Just a couple of
comments.

Grounding into double plays is never good.
Naturally, a man has to be on first base for the
situation to arise, but the hitter doesn't have to
complete the deal. This stat was one of the
three huge weaknesses that doomed your heroes
to last place last year. The other two were 
walking too many guys and playing poor defense. 
The Tigers improved their D considerably by 
acquiring Everett and Anderson, and by giving 
Santiago and Thomas more PT. Guillen has been 
considerate enoughto be out of the lineup quite
often, also contributing to the improved glove
work. The pitching staff is certainly throwing
more strikes as well, and as a result your 
pesky Bengals now occupy first place. But the
continued inability of five key hitters in the
middle of the lineup--Cabrera, Ordonez, Polanco,
Inge, and Guillen--to stay out of the twin 
killing has prevented Detroit from running away
with what is clearly a very weak AL Central. How
Guillen made the list with so few AB's should
be especially troubling to Tiger fans.

Which brings me to Inge. He will probably quit 
hitting into so many double plays before too long,
when he resumes striking out all of the time. All
kidding aside, TTO guys like Jim Thome don't hurt
you as much as you think they would, because in 
most situations the strikeouts are just like any 
other out, and they keep you out of the double 
play. But Inge doesn't walk enough or homer often
enough to become a TTO guy.

Adam, Tiger fans' infatuation with Brandon Inge 
is one of baseball's greatest mysteries. In every
good baseball town (and Detroit is surely one of
those), fans fall in love with a third-rate player
whom they come to believe is much better than he 
really is. For example, last year many deranged 
Cub fans actually believed that Mark DeRosa was 
the team MVP. The Windy City sports talk radio 
shows were burning with indignation when their 
hero was summarily dispatched to Cleveland for a
couple of middlerange minor league prospects 
during the off season. They couldn't believe it!
Cleveland probably wishes they had the middle-range
minor league prospects back, as DeRosa has
returned to earth.

I'm afraid the same fate lies in store for Inge.
The guy is 32 years old, for gosh sakes.
Including this year's fast start, Inge's career-
average triple crown stats look like this: .238-
17-69. His lifetime .307 OPS and .398 SLG
reveal that the .238 BA is hollow--he's an even
worse hitter than his horrible batting average
leads you to believe! And he's a major league
third baseman! How many players in the entire
history of baseball have suddenly learned to hit
at age 32? None. Zero. Nada. Nobody. Ever. The 
inexorable operation of the law of regression 
to the mean guarantees that the real Brandon Inge
will show up soon. Should he manage to defy the 
odds by having that rare late-in-life career year
in '09, the 2010 season will inevitably be a 
debacle for the ages.

Usually the guy whom local fans adopt as their
"pet" player fits into a certain pattern. He's a
hustling, smart player, keeps his mouth shut,
and doesn't make a whole lot of money, by the
standards of his profession. What's always
puzzled my about Detroit's love affair with
Inge is that he doesn't fit the profile. He's a
whiner and complainer, he's the club's master
of bonehead plays, and he's hugely over-paid
(again, by the standards of his profession). The
only reason the Tigers didn't dump him after
acquiring Cabrera two seasons ago is that his
big contract made it impossible to find anyone
willing to pay so much for so little.

But life is full of mysteries. Enjoy Inge's hot
streak while it lasts, Adam.

Keep up the good work, Tigers Weekly!

LEFTHANDED LOUIE

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Toolie's Trashtalk...
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The week began in the gutters. Couple that
with a couple bad losses by the Wings and GM
filing for bankruptcy protection and you get
some very down times in the D. However, the
Tigers got back to their winning ways and beat
the Angels the last two days and the Wings
took it to Pittsburgh like it was their little
league club. Clete Thomas of all people
provided the grand slam lift as the Tigers head
off to Chicago for a five game series. The
Tigers need every lift they can get as they are
just 4-13 in Chicago since July of 2007. Here's
to good fortune and winning ways for both the
Tigers and Red Wings. May we greet you all
next week with a Tigers winning road week
and another Stanley Cup added to the trophy
shelf. Go Detroit Go!

TIGERSWEEKLY.COM

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Play Ball!

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