Game 77 Recap

Tigers 5 Rangers 2

Todd Jones can indeed pitch a 1-2-3 inning in a save situation. Yes, I know refrains along the lines of blind squirrels finds nuts and sun shining on dog's behinds will greet that statement. But it does occur every now and again. Kenny Rogers scoreless streak ended at 11 innings after surrendering a sac fly in the 6th inning of this afternoons game. Gary Sheffield ended his 14 game home run drought with a insurance 2 run shot in the 7th. Sean Casey is just one point below .300, and might have gotten that hit to push him over instead of two intentional walks had the pop fly machine Craig Monroe not been hitting behind him. Bottom line, Tigers notched a win when they needed one, and that's all that matters.

Tiger Hero:
Carlos Guillen. Has been coming up with clutch at bats all year, today was no exception.

Tiger Zero:
C-MO for 4. The only Tiger not to reach base. Nine walks were issues by Texas pitchers and Craig never got past a 3 pitch at bat.

Tigers Record:
W - L
46 - 31
1st Place AL Central (Cleveland 0.5 GB)

The Tigers have an interesting weekend with two intriguing pitching match-ups; Justin Verlander vs. Johan Santana in a battle of two likely AL Cy Young candidates, then two outstanding young prospects in Kevin Slowey vs. Andrew Miller. They also get the national spotlight again with the afternoon game on Saturday (which I'll be at and more than likely blamed for the loss), and ESPN on Sunday. Par for the course with the last couple of weekends so the recaps will be scattered throughout.

Game 76 Recap

Tigers 6 Rangers 9

I have been there for 8 of the Tigers 15 home losses, so I'm used to the bullpen blowing leads...but twice in the same game? Todd Jones will take all the heat for this one, but Craig Monroe seriously needs to get his act together. The line drive in the 7th was hit right at him. Maybe since he refers to himself in the third person,the only thing I can think of is that he was hoping that extra guy would help him catch it. That was unforgivable laziness on his part. Say what you will about the bullpen, but at least they're trying. I sure would like to see Sheffield or Thames starting in left tomorrow to send a message to Craig. Unfrickingbelivable...

Tiger Hero:
Sean Casey. 3 for 4 and drove in half of the Tigers runs.

Tiger Zero:
Grilli, Byrdak, C-MO, and Jones, ruined a good night for Nate

Tigers Record:
W - L
45 - 31

Game 75 Recap

Tigers 3 Rangers 8

While the Tigers can't win them all, losses like this aren't particularly fun to watch. In what looked like an audition to not get sent down to Toledo when Nate Robertson returns tomorrow, Jim Leyland trotted out Macay McBride and Eulogio De La Cruz out to face the Rangers in the 8th and 9th innings. McBride held his own striking out one while allowing two hits. The run credited to him was one of four surrendered by De La Cruz. DLC did his best Fernando Rodney impression tonight. He was erratic, the runner he inherited moved to first to third on two consecutive errant pitches. He imploded, allowing three runs to score off of three hits, one being a home run by Jerry Hairston. Then, after all the smoke cleared he got a strikeout to end the inning. Jeremy Bonderman took his first loss of the season, based in part to his recent trend of moving the patented first inning blowup to later in the game. This game is was in the third. The Rangers took a page out of the Tigers playbook scoring 4 runs on Jeremy Bonderman with 2 outs in the inning, all hits were singles. The inning was extended by a throwing error by Bondo, but was ended with a nice throw from the outfield by Craig Monroe.

Tiger Hero:
Curtis Granderson. Another triple to brings his MLB leading total to 14.

Tiger Zero:
Eulogio De La Cruz. After this performance it's looking like Frankie goes to Toledo

Tigers Record
W - L
45 - 30
1st Place AL Central (Cleveland 1 GB)


Tomorrow's game features Nate Robertson return to the mound. As you may recall, Nate's 6 run first inning vs. the Rangers on June 5th was the last time we saw Nate in action. For what it's worth I'll be there first hand to see if Nate's "tired arm" has healed.

Game 73 & Game 74 Recaps

Game 73

Tigers 2 Braves 1

Game 74

Tigers 5 Braves 0

I don't care if Atlanta batters have been struggling, what the Tigers pitching staff did this weekend was impressive. In the three game sweep, Tiger hurlers allowed 1 run, on 13 hits, while walking only 7 and striking out 25. These type of performances are what the Tigers need to keep them atop the AL Central for the long run.
Some quick notes:

• Carlos Guillen drove in 4 of the Tigers 12 runs this weekend, going 4 for 9.
• The Tigers 3-4-5 hitters went 12 for 35
• Chad Durbin in his first relief appearance pitcher 3 scoreless innings, scattering two hits while getting three strikeouts. Plus he recorded a save and his first career RBI with a sacrifice fly.
• The Tiger bullpen pitched 9 scoreless innings, allowing only 6 base runners (3 hits and 3 BB) while getting 7 K's.
• The Tigers are at home until the All-Star Break, where hopefully more than a few Tigers will maker the trip to San Francisco. Vote NOW!!!! (25 votes per e-mail!)

Tigers Record:
W - L
45 - 29
1st Place AL Central (Cleveland 2 GB)

Game 72 Recap

Tigers 5 Braves 0

The Tigers showed that they had confidence in Kenny Rogers, dealing away Mike Maroth hours before Rogers was to make his first start since the World Series. Rogers repaid that confidence with one of the best pitching performance this year by a Tiger. Kenny started off kind of shaky, hitting lead off batter Kelly Johnson on the first pitch. He pulled himself together and only allowed two more Atlanta batters to reach base the rest of the six innings he pitched. The Tiger bats exploded for a five run 6th inning, with all five runs coming with two outs, to give Rogers the lead. The bullpen took over and was nearly perfect, with only one batter reaching base with a walk. It's games like these that have to scare the crap out of the rest of the AL.

Tiger Hero:
Kenny Rogers, Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay and Eulogio De La Cruz. Two hits, one walk and a HBP. That's all these guys allowed.

Tiger Zero:
Sean Casey. He's been hot of late, but today was the only Tiger (pitchers excluded) that didn't get a hit.

Tigers Record:
W - L
43 -29
1st Place AL Central (Cleveland 1 GB...Thank you Nationals!)

So About that Extra Spot in the Rotation...

Everyone knows that Kenny Rogers comes off the DL, and into the starting rotation tomorrow in Atlanta. What is uncertain is the situation of the rest of the pitchers on the roster. The first move is most likely new acquisition Macay McBride to Toledo, as he's not even listed on the team depth chart. Even with that move, the Tigers rotation features six starters, with a seventh (Nate Robertson who was pitching a no-hitter in Erie before he hit his pitch limit) returning soon. Andrew Miller is a starter and should continue to start...in the minors. Miller needs that full year a la Justin Verlander to build up that arm strength that will carry him thorough the 2008 season.

That still leaves 5 spots for 6 pitchers. Chad Durbin I think will win that fifth spot for two reasons: 1) he's pitched well enough to deserve it. 2)I think Mike Maroth would get more in a trade than Durbin. So what to do with Mike Maroth, who has been trade fodder ever since Kenny Rogers' first rehab outing? Well The Tigers certainly picked a great time to have a pitching surplus, as many teams across the majors have pitchers taking trips to the DL, so here's a few teams and scenarios that I've been bouncing around.

Los Angeles Dodgers:
They just lost Jason Schmidt for the season and have a wealth of bullpen talent. So could the Tigers get Jon Broxton or Chad Billingsley for Mike Maroth? Only if David Dombrowski has pictures of Dodger GM Ned Coletti in a very unflattering situation. The best Maroth could drum up is probably Brett Tomko or Rudy Seanez, who are basically are right handed Mike Maroths.

Atlanta Braves:
Having just dealt Wil Ledezma to them, I don't see the Braves in the market for another Tiger lefty. Atlanta will probably set their sights on Chicago's Mark Buerhle for that help in the rotation. But in a perfect world, wouldn't it be nice to see the Braves repay the Tigers for the Smoltz-Alexander trade with a Maroth for prized catching prospect Jarrod Saltamacchia deal?

Florida Marlins:

Could Dombroski strike a deal with his former employer to send Maroth to the Fish to give Dontrelle Willis some veteran back-up to fuel a playoff push? Marlin pitchers have been on and off the DL all year, having Maroth around to eat up some inning in a spacious ballpark could be intriguing for the Marlins. Florida is 7 games back of the NL Wild Card mostly due to the hot start of the teams out west. But they sit only 4.5 games back of first in the NL East. If they stay close, they could be buyers at the trade deadline. Unfortunately Maroth might be lost in the shuffle by then. If Florida showed some interest the guy I'd go after is Henry Owens. He was the Marlins closer earlier this year, but lost his job to injury to Kevin Gregg. If he is healthy he could be a good 7th-8th inning set-up man.

Toronto Blue Jays:
The Jays have 3 starters on the DL, and relievers such as Casey Janssen, Scott Downs, or Jeremy Accardo could be had for the right price. Had B.J. Ryan not been hurt for the year the a deal might be made. We can always hope that Manager John Gibbons gets mad and challenges one of them to a fight, then they could be had cheap.

St Louis Cardinals:
The pitching staff is in bad shape. How bad? Kip Wells with his 11 losses and 6.75 ERA is listed as the #1 starter. Compared to Kip Wells, Mike Maroth would seem like Johan Santana. With the pitching staff is such a horrid state, I wouldn't really want a pitcher in return. Who then? Well how about Chris Duncan. the power hitting lefty had been converted to an outfielder and has made a few mistakes in the outfield. His natural position? Why it's first base. I know Sean Casey's started to turn things around, but if the Tigers could get a guy who's splitting time with Juan Encarnacion and Ryan Ludwick, and has hit 13 home runs in 58 games this year and a career .349 OBP. This deal probably won't happen due to Jim Edmonds injury, but hey to make it happen I'd even thrown in Marcus Thames.

So that's what I have. Who knows where or even if Maroth will go anywhere. He's a good guy and having suffered through the rough times, It'd be nice to see him on the field if the Tigers make it back to the World Series this year. But if trading him means the Tigers are better equipped to win it all, then see you later Mike.

On Deck:
Out and about again this weekend. I'm hoping I'll be able to watch Kenny's return tomorrow. More than likely I'll have to weekend recap sometime after Sunday night's game or Monday.

Game 71 Recap

Tigers 8 Nationals 4

The story of the day coming into the game was the trade of Wil Ledezma to the Braves for lefty Macay McBride. The move basically was a trading a guy that had done well in the past, has potential, but has struggled lately, for a guy that had done well in the past, has potential, but has struggled lately. The only difference is McBride is two years younger and can be sent to the minors. Not the lefty pitcher we thought would be moving *cough*mikemaroth*cough*, but with shots of Dave Dombrowski chatting on the phone during the game, and an off day tomorrow, I'm sure the moves aren't finished. As for the game itself, things pretty much stayed static with the Tigers racking up hits on Nationals pitching. Only two extra base hits out of the Tigers 13 today though. Maggs went 3 for 4, lifting his batting average to .383, up 13 points from the start of this series. As for the Bullpen, well other than Jonesy's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, wasn't that bad. Subtract Jones performance, and the bullpen had a stat line of 7 hits, 3 walks, 1 run, 7 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched. Four of those runs came tonight.
Let's just hope the Tigers keep the pitching and hitting up when they head into Atlanta to face a Braves team who were just outscored 15-0 in their last two games vs. the Red Sox.

Tiger Hero:
Omar Infante. His marathon at bat in which he fouled off 8 pitches, ended up with an RBI single and kept the bases loaded and allowed the Tigers to score three more runs that inning.


Tiger Zero:
Fernando Rodney. He shall be known from here on out as WTFernando. His pitches were scatter shot as he took over for Tim Byrdak and promptly added two runners with a walk and a plunking. Ronnie Belliard represented the tying run at the plate before hitting a deep fly ball to get Rodney out of the inning.

Tigers Record:
W - L
42 - 29
Tied 1st Place AL Central