Detroit Tigers 2008

Another chance for the Tigers to pick up ground .... At least 3 games should have been picked up in the last 2 weeks.

White Sox are losing tonight and of course the Tigers have no desire in tonight's game, they pulled close, but in the 5th and 6th they decided to go down 1,2,3 on about 5-7 pitches each .... What ever happened to the team that use to work the count and make pitchers pitch to them ?

They just have no drive or no one to ignite the spark that is so desperately needed.
Pitching was good tonight, but no hitting tonight, once again, it one or the other.

Twins 3 Tigers 2
Last night's Tiger loss , the Tigers had many chances to get a base hit with RISP and failed miserably.
Cabrera seems like the only one that is hitting regularly, Guillen and Palonco are hitting a little.
Sheffield has like a pop up, a fly short ball and a ground out, I think they were all in the first 2 pitches, not much like the selective Sheffield that is known to work the count and pound a mistake pitch.

Why are these guy's so inconsistant ?

Jimbo
 
At the break

Ok,
Tigers have managed to make it to .500 at the half way point (they were there at the real halfway mark too).
Not bad considering they were what 12 gb at one time.
IF they can get the injured back and healthy for the second half, maybe we can see the real team that was suppose to be playing when the season started.

Remember Curtis Granderson was on the DL for about the first month, he got hot when he came back, then struggled and now has his avg. back to just about .300 actually .292 at the moment.

The Loss of Magllio Ordonez has hurt, I don't have any info as to when he will be back.
Sheffield is down as well, haven't heard much about him either.
When he IS healthy he is the straw that stirs the Tigers drink, for some reason, certain players just have a way , he has that certain something about him.
Just think , when he got here the talk was that he would do nothing but tear the clubhouse apart, I've seen just the opposite.

Justin Verlander in the last 1.5 months has been the potential Cy Young that he will some day win, he's been very good, had one bad inning the other night or he would have had another complete game as well.

Many of the AAA Toledo Mud Hens have come up and done a stellar job, Matt Joyce , Clete Thomas and Ryan Rayburn in particular.

Of course former Mud Hen Marcus Thames has been very good as well in a split role, starting and role playing as well.

Andre Gallaraga has done a fabulous job when the starting pitching went south.

I look for this to probably be Kenny Rogers last year
Bonderman is out for the year.

So, overall, for the Tigers to be at .500 and only 7 GB at the break with all the injuries has been quite amazing when you look at it.
Do they have enough to start playing well in the second half and win or make the playoffs ?
It's hard to say, are the injured coming back to play at thier expected level, if so, then YES they can make it back, if NOT, probably not.

IF the Twins continue to play the way they have of late, they will win the division going away.

Any and all that would like to add to my assessments of their first half, feel free to join in.

Jimbo
 
Andre Gallaraga has done a fabulous job when the starting pitching went south.

debe0901_galarraga_N.jpg


The Big Cat is now a pitcher?
 
2 months ago if you would have told me they would be 7 back at the break I would have been thrilled, now I'm disappointed. If they had some of their late game mistakes back they should be 3 or 4 back. I think they can make a run in the division, if everyone could get hot at the same time they can run off another 18 of 22 run and get back there. They have to start performing against their own division though.
 
2 months ago if you would have told me they would be 7 back at the break I would have been thrilled, now I'm disappointed. If they had some of their late game mistakes back they should be 3 or 4 back. I think they can make a run in the division, if everyone could get hot at the same time they can run off another 18 of 22 run and get back there. They have to start performing against their own division though.

I'm not a disappointed as I could be, I think I have seen a lot better ball in the last month than they played in most of the first half.
Like I mentioned above, if we get a few key parts back from injuries, I think they will be fine.

btw, The White Sox can't continue this pace the rest of the year, but I think the Twins can.

Jimbo
 
Got to thinking, Tigers have 47 wins (should be about 55, but they have screwed up so much in games they should have won) thru 94 games.
You would normally guess that 94-95 wins should win the division.

They have 68 games left, figuring they need to play at least .600 ball to make it.
If they were to win 95 games they would have to play .705 ball, I don't see that happening. (that would be winning 48 out of 68).
41 wins would have them playing .600 ball the rest of the way.
88 wins should NOT win the division.
IF they played .660 ball, t hat would have them winning 45 games and that gives them 92 wins and that just MAY win the division.

If they get healthy, maybe they could do it but they would have to win the games they should and not let the ones get away that you would expect them to win.

Jimbo
 
Ordonez will be back Thursday. As for Sheffield, who cares? Matt Joyce, and the rest of the AAA crew have been playing great in his absence. Starting pitching will tell the tale of this season, and with possibly 2 rookies in the rotation for the rest of the summer, I can't feel too good about or chances. Right now the Sox have the best pitching in the division, so you have to like their chances of riding this out. I'm still looking for Dombrowski to make a trade for a fifth starter.

As for Jones, geez Jimbo, what's a guy got to do? 14 out of 16 save opportunities. Sure, he likes to make it a little exciting sometimes, but he has gotten the job done. If you haven't been paying attention, Dolsi is doing a fantastic job in the late innings, and the Tigers did draft a closer with their first pick. Word is that the Tigers will take a look-see this September. In the meantime, they are looking for a fifth starter, and I say give Zumaya a chance. What do they got to lose?
At any rate, 7 games is just a game a week, between now and September, when the real season starts. The Mets blew a bigger lead last season in the last 2 weeks of the season.

GO TIGERS!!!!
 
Ordonez will be back Thursday. As for Sheffield, who cares? Matt Joyce, and the rest of the AAA crew have been playing great in his absence. Starting pitching will tell the tale of this season, and with possibly 2 rookies in the rotation for the rest of the summer, I can't feel too good about or chances. Right now the Sox have the best pitching in the division, so you have to like their chances of riding this out. I'm still looking for Dombrowski to make a trade for a fifth starter.

As for Jones, geez Jimbo, what's a guy got to do? 14 out of 16 save opportunities. Sure, he likes to make it a little exciting sometimes, but he has gotten the job done. If you haven't been paying attention, Dolsi is doing a fantastic job in the late innings, and the Tigers did draft a closer with their first pick. Word is that the Tigers will take a look-see this September. In the meantime, they are looking for a fifth starter, and I say give Zumaya a chance. What do they got to lose?
At any rate, 7 games is just a game a week, between now and September, when the real season starts. The Mets blew a bigger lead last season in the last 2 weeks of the season.

GO TIGERS!!!!

I agree that Jones has done the job, but I can't handle the Heart Attack every other night.
Can't we get a solid guy that just comes in and gets them out ... like a Rivera, Papelbon type guy.
I think Zumaya is getting his act together, almost there, Rodney may never get there this year.
I have heard Dombrowski is looking for a Starting pitcher, but have not heard any names, if he's no better than the 4-5 guys we now have, why bother.

I hear that Willis is re tooling his delivery in Florida, thet will probably be late Sept. or next year for that.

Yes, Dolsi, another guy from the minors is doing a great job.

As I mentioned to Jason earlier, the Tigers have an a great oppertunity to get right back in it and quickly.
They have 4 with Baltimore, 3 with KC, 3 with the White Sox, and 4 with Cleveland to end the month.
IF they get a good start ti could get real interesting ....

White Sox have 3 with KC, 3 With Texas, 3 with the Tigers and 4 with the Twins.

Minnesota has 3 with Texas, 3 with the Yankees, 3 with Cleveland and 4 with the White Sox.

After it all shakes out, if Detroit gets out to a good start it will be real interesting, If they don't it may be over bu then ....

Jimbo
 
Here we go, On to the second half (2/5th actually) of the baseball season. :D

Tigers pick up some guy named Ordonez, Magglio Ordonez I think it is, any one heard of him, know anything about him ?

Jimbo
 
I just don't get a warm & fuzzy about the Tigers making a push to the pennant this season. Of course, I sure hope I am wrong!!!

This is a very hard Tigers team to figure out.
Provided the pitching come out strong, some of the pen is pitching better, the hitting is still inconsistant, hopefully Magglio coming back will help straighten things out, Curtis Granderson has to continue to progress with his hitting...

Jimbo
 
Tigers squeak out a win tonight. going into the 9th with a 2 run lead, they bring in thier closer .... ah their roller coaster.... Jones and he gives up a run and had men at 1st and 3rd with one out in a one run game and manages to get out of it.

Leyland said they played well.... I thought they played barely better than .500 team should play, they need to play a whole lot crisper than they did tonight if they are going to go anywhere

Jimbo
 
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I cannot believe the Tigers are keeping Rentaria out there playing SS and hitting the ball on the ground everytime up while it's a known fact that he has a bad hammy.
I think he's hit into 2 rally threatning DP's so far tonight.

Jimbo
 
Dombrowski blew it on that trade, but I'm giving him a pass. Would have been nice to still have Jurjenns, and his 9(?) wins to fill the #5 spot in the rotation. But then, given the pitching we've had the last 2 nights, I'd settle for anybody. Watching Zumaya give the winner last night was disheartening to say the least, but then again he should have never been in that situation, we did have a 6 - 0 lead after the first inning. Just maddening how this club just isn't coming together.
My suggestion now is to move Guillen back to SS. (He couldn't be any worse in the field than Renteria has been). Next put Inge back at 3rd base on the days he's not catching. That will improve the left side ogf the infield defensively at least.
Sorry Jimbo, just not impressed with Sheff this season. Injuries may have finished a brilliant career.
 
Dombrowski blew it on that trade, but I'm giving him a pass. Would have been nice to still have Jurjenns, and his 9(?) wins to fill the #5 spot in the rotation. But then, given the pitching we've had the last 2 nights, I'd settle for anybody. Watching Zumaya give the winner last night was disheartening to say the least, but then again he should have never been in that situation, we did have a 6 - 0 lead after the first inning. Just maddening how this club just isn't coming together.
My suggestion now is to move Guillen back to SS. (He couldn't be any worse in the field than Renteria has been). Next put Inge back at 3rd base on the days he's not catching. That will improve the left side ogf the infield defensively at least.
Sorry Jimbo, just not impressed with Sheff this season. Injuries may have finished a brilliant career.

Renteria is not nearly the player he once was, I was not impressed when they got him, but he is a close friend to Guillen so I think that had a lot to do with him coming here.

Rayburn and Santiago can both play a good SS for them.

fwiw, Zumaya gave up the tying run, but Dolsi gave up the winner in EI's

But, you are right , with a 6-0 lead in the 1st inning, they should have had an easy game.
I said when the Tiger half of the inning was over that they better keep scoring and they failed to until it go to close.

Jimbo
 
Today, you get a whole different game, Tigers looked sharp and Justin Verlander looked very good again.
Gave up 3 hits and 1 run in 8 2/3rds.
Verlander started the season something like 1-8 and is now almost back to .500 at 8-9.

After checking the stats, he was 2-9 with a 5.05 ERA on June 6. He's 6-0 with a 2.30 ERA in eight starts since.

Tigers crawl back to 6.5 back as White Sox get beat by KC again.

Minnesota will be in 1st place very soon, then Detroit will be hard pressed to pick up anymore ground, seeing the Twins are still playing very well.

Jimbo
 
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Tigers are on the way to winning 3 out of the first 5 coming out of the break.
The last two games look much sharper than they have been playing.
Maybe good things are around the corner, it's going to depend on the pitching.

Hopefully, Dombroski goes out and get a # 2 pitcher , if they can.

Meanwhile, the White Sox are losing so far and the TWINs are getting it handed to them by the Yankees !!!

Tigers have to finish off this game and pick up ground whenever possible, with Minnesota right on the White Sox tail, Tigers will be chasing them as well soon.

Jimbo
 
Tigers are on the way to winning 3 out of the first 5 coming out of the break.
The last two games look much sharper than they have been playing.
Maybe good things are around the corner, it's going to depend on the pitching.

Hopefully, Dombroski goes out and get a # 2 pitcher , if they can.

Meanwhile, the White Sox are losing so far and the TWINs are getting it handed to them by the Yankees !!!

Tigers have to finish off this game and pick up ground whenever possible, with Minnesota right on the White Sox tail, Tigers will be chasing them as well soon.

Jimbo


I'm starting to get the feeling, with the way things are going, that the sextet of Tampa, Boston, NY, Chicago, Minny, and Detroit will be battling it out for three postseason spots. The Angels, of course, would have the fourth spot.
 

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