This time it was Luke Hochevar who made the Tigers look feeble at the plate.  The end result is the Tigers third straight loss and it’s their ninth loss in eleven games since sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx a couple of weeks ago.  The Tigers managed just six singles and the only hitter with a pair was Miguel Cabrera.  Magglio Ordonez singled but that was pretty much negated because he grounded into a double play.  The only other hitter to reach base twice other then Cabrera was Curtis Granderson, who singled and drew a walk.

Justin Verlander picked up just his second quality start of the season but because of the lack of offense, it turned into his fourth straight loss.  He gave up just two runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.  I still don’t know what’s wrong with Justin.  His walk rate is up and his strikeout rate is down.  That’s usually a deadly combination.  And while he didn’t give up any yesterday, he’s also on pace to give up more homeruns.  If we didn’t need a turnaround so badly, I’d say we give him some extra rest.

Sparky Anderson always said it’s tough to judge a team until 40 games are in the bag and that’s where the Tigers are at right now.  Unfortunately, it’s not pretty and they’re eight game below .500 with a 16-24 record.  Only the Mariners have a worse record in the American League.  Still, they’re just five games out first place so if they can put together a seven of ten streak or something along those lines, they could see a pop in the standings.  And the Indians just moved into first place so that cream has finally risen to the top.

It’s get away day so we have an afternoon game.  Kenny Rogers gets the ball for the Tigers and he’ll face Gil Meche.  Neither have had a good start to the season so we’ll see which one turns it around today.

The Tigers are 16-23 with just one game left to the quarter point of the season.  The Tigers got their share of base runners with nine hits and four walks but they hit into two double plays and they stranded nine men.  Matt Joyce belted his second homer of the season and Carlos Guillen doubled home Placido Polanco for the Tigers only two runs of the game in the 3-2 loss.

Nate Robertson had his best start of the season go to waste.  He gave up just two runs on ten hits without a walk and he struck out two in seven innings.  He needed just 82 pitches to get through those seven frames.

Francisco Cruceta got off to a nice start in the eighth inning when he got the first two batters but he gave up a double to Jose Guillen and a then he walked Brett Butler.  Mark Teahen then hit one up the middle and while Edgar Renteria made a nice play to get there, he did this goofy backhanded flip that was no where close to the bag.  This allowed Guillen to scamper home for what would eventually be the game winning run.  It’s a catch-22.  He could have held on and had no chance of getting the out, yet held the bases loaded.  Instead, he took the chance to get out of the inning and it backfired.

On Sunday, I talked about how Magglio Ordonez seems to be one of the big drives in the Tigers wins.  He finished zero for four and of course the Tigers lost. 

Justin Verlander gets the nod tomorrow and he’ll face rookie Luke Hochevar.  I’m interested in seeing how this number one draft pick throws and it’d be nice if Justin Verlander can turn his season around.

The Tigers game was one of three in the midwest (as well as several minor league games) to get rained out today.  No replacement date has been set.  Too bad the Yankees didn’t have the day off tomorrow like the Tigers or they could have made it up then.  If you want your Tigers fix, head on over to the 1968 Tigers site to see how they’re doing early on.

It’ll be a nice two day break for the Tigers though as they get set for a week long road trip beginning in Kansas City.  Nate Robertson is listed as the expected starter after he missed his start this afternoon so Jim Leyland isn’t going to mess with the rotation.  The red hot Zach Greinke will get the nod for the Royals.

The Tigers finished with a split of their two games with the Yankees.  Friday was a typical Todd Jones nailbiter while yesterdays game was a beatdown that saw Jeremy Bonderman struggle again.  This is his fourth start where he’s walked more then he’s struck out where as last year, he did it just twice all season.  Bobby Seay pitched three scoreless frames but he allowed an inherited runner to score while Francisco Cruceta threw two scoreless innings to close things out.  He struck out two and he’s holding lefthanders to a .100 batting average against (1 fo 10).

It’s nice to see Magglio Ordonez heating up.  After starting the season 11 for 47 with a .234 batting average in his first twelve games, he’s gone 34 for 96 (.354) since.  He’s hitting left handed pitching at a .444 clip so that’s been a help too.  It also seems like as Magglio goes, so does the Tigers.  In their 16 wins, he’s hitting .422/.493/.719 but in their 22 losses, he’s hitting .228/.291/.329.  Also encouraging is he’s hit much better at home (.372/.405/.615) so if he can keep that up, the Tigers might be able to even up that home record when they get back into town.

The Tigers haven’t made an error since Monday when Edgar Renteria made a pair of errors in the Tigers loss to the Red Sox.  Carlos Guillen hasn’t made an error since that disaster of a game against the Twins last Sunday.  I got a few questions about the flip between Guillen and Miguel Cabrera and while I haven’t finished my homework, I did find some interesting things on Bill James Online.  The past two years, Edgar Renteria has been one of the best players at shortstop going to his left (up the middle) but one of the worst going to his right.  Carlos Guillen, while somewhat more mediocre as a fielder, showed more strength going to his right then to his left.  That doesn’t bode well for balls hit between the two because that gap is playing to both fielders’ weakness.  Granted, third is a different play then shortstop so time will tell. 

I’m interested in checking out the Red Sox/Twins game tonight.  It’s still hard to believe that even after a tough week, the Tigers are still just 3 1/2 games back.  A series win this week over the Royals means they’ll head into the Diamondbacks series in fourth place instead of last.  I know that shouldn’t mean much but it hurts that much more seeing the Tigers down there in the cellar.  We got way to used to that prior to 2006.

The Tigers lost two different four runs leads and needed to come back in the ninth inning against Jonathan Papelbon to end their five game losing streak tonight.  The game winning hit was a texas league single off the bat of Placido Polanco and it also happened to be his fifth hit of the ballgame. 

The Tigers racked up eighteen hits in this one.  Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield had three hits each while Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez and Matt Joyce had two a piece.  Joyce drove in his first run, scored his first run and picked up his first all in one game.

Armando Galarraga was cruising in this one until the fourth inning when the flood gates opened.  He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings and both Zach Miner and Francisco Cruceta gave up two a piece.  Todd Jones picked up the win with a shaky but scoreless ninth inning.

The Tigers can salvage a split tomorrow.  It’ll be Josh Beckett going up against Justin Verlander in the series finale.

Tim Wakefield had a pretty good start, huh?  The Tigers were held to a mere three hits in their 5-0 loss to the Red Sox and they made Tim Wakefield look like a Cy Young candidate.  Unlike last night, they didn’t even get the walks to go with the lack of hits.  Ivan Rodriguez doubled and Curtis Granderson and Carlos Guillen both singled and that was it.  It’s the fifth time this year the Tigers have been shut out.

Nate Robertson didn’t gave a great start either and he fell to 1-4.  He gave up four runs on ten hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  Freddy Dolsi made his major league debut and he gave up a solo homer to Manny Ramirez on his very first pitch.  Welcome to the bigs Freddy.  Dolsi was called up when Denny Bautista hit the disabled list.

Armando Galarraga will try to break the streak tomorrow night.  The Red Sox will throw Clay Buchholz.

It seems like it’s feast or famine for this year’s Tigers and at least the last four games, it’s been a famine.  The Tigers followed up nine walks with just three hits and the end result was eleven men left on base in a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox.  Gary Sheffield drew three of those walks and Marcus Thames had the big hit for the Tigers with a two run single that capped off a two run seventh inning. 

I’m not a huge fan of the lineup changes, but at the end of the day, lineup construction has just a small effect on a given game.  I know Gary Sheffield has a sub-.200 batting average, but he has a team high 20 walks.  Then again, the guy who replaced him in the three spot, Carlos Guillen, is right behind him with eighteen.  What I thought would have made more sense would have been to drop Granderson and his 1.192 OPS down and then move Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen into the 1/2 slots.  The problem then is, you don’t want to drop Granderson all the way to sixth.  I’ll have to run the numbers in the lineup calculator when I get a chance to see what the numbers say make the most sense.  It was interesting seeing Ivan Rodriguez hitting behind Matt Joyce though.

And have you noticed Granderson has struck out just six times with ten walks in his twelve games back.  Not too shabby.  It’s also funny that he’s just one homer back of the team lead after missing all of that time.

Matt Joyce drew a walk in his first big league plate appearance but finished the game 0 for 2.  It’ll be interesting to see if he gets the start tonight with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on the mound.

Jeremy Bonderman fell to 2-3 and he made two big mistakes (homeruns to Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis.  Clay Rapada and Todd Jones also gave up runs that didn’t help out the cause.

Nate Robertson gets the nod tonight.  He’s coming off of his first win of the season, but he’s given up at least four runs in all six of his starts this season.  Despite the struggles, he leads the Tigers with 27 strikeouts and he’s only walked nine but hitters have a .294 batting average against him.

The Jacque Jones era ended with a whimper today as the Tigers designated him for assignment after a tough first month to the season.  He was hitting a tepid .165/.244/.253 and with the lack of power, the Tigers must have felt it was time to cut bait.  The bad thing is, he did this bad against righties because he was given just four plate appearances (all strikeouts) against left handed pitching.  Not that this means anything, but historically, Jones has done well in April.  His career line is .287/.341/.450 and that includes this past April that really brought those numbers down.

Matthew Joyce gets the nod and he was kind of at the right place at the right time.  The Tigers twelfth round draft pick in 2005 out of Florida Southern, Joyce tore up the New York-Penn League (.332/.394/.453 in 247 at bats) in his first minor league.  Since then, he had struggled up until this past season.  He put up mediocre numbers in West Michigan in 2006 and then he skipped Lakeland to play at Erie last year where once again he seemed over his head.  This year he seemed to put it together and at Toledo, he was hitting .299/.367/.526 and he already has five homers.  He’s hitting .304 against right handed pitching and it was the left handed bat that probably caught people’s eye when it came time to decide who got the nod.

Joyce is 0 for 2 with a walk tonight as the Tigers are down 4-1.  I’d be nice if he could help the Tigers get something done against Dice-K here.

What a nice start.  Curtis Granderson led off the game with his fifth homerun of the season and then the first five Tigers who came up to bat all came around to score in a six run first inning.  Kenny Rogers was given a six run lead but unfortunately, he and the bullpen couldn’t hang on as the Twins rallied for one in the fourth, two in the fifth and then four in the seventh to complete the improbable comeback.

Just to put it in perspective using win probability added, the Tigers had a 90% chance of winning the game after the top of the first inning alone.  The odds went all the way to 96.7% when Kenny Rogers struck out the first two batters in the fourth inning.  A double and a single later, and it popped to just 92.1%.  Even after the RBI double in the seventh inning, the Tigers still had a 61% chance of winning but the two run single by Joe Mauer off of Bobby Seay was the nail in the coffin that flipped the game from the Tigers being the favorites to the Twins being the favorites.  Win Probability Added has it’s fault, but the two run single by Mauer was definitely a big hit and it’s reflected as much using WPA.

Zach Miner took the loss despite those two runs coming with Bobby Seay on the mound.  Francisco Cruceta did it again with a shutout ninth in which he struck out two and got two ground ball outs.  So far so good, it’d just be nice to use him a high leverage situtation to test his mettle.

The three loses push the Tigers into last place and the Twins, who have now won five straight, find themselves in first place.  Still, just three games seperate first and last place so the standings could look very different this time next week.

Unfortunately, the Tigers have a tough week.  They’re at home, but they start with four games against the Red Sox.  Game one is tomorrow.  Denny Bautista hit the disabled list this weekend with a short shoulder so that hurts.  Hopefully Cruceta can step in and pick up the slack in his abscence, although it’d be nice to have both of those guys as an option.

The Tigers swept the Yankees.  I missed how long it’s been, but I thought they said the last time the Tigers swept the Yankees in Yankee Stadium was some time in the 1950s.  This game didn’t get off to a good start though.  Nate Robertson walked Johnny Damon, gave up a single to Derek Jeter and then served up a three run bomb to Bobby Abreu.  Three batters up in the first and three runs but he recovered nicely to pick up his first win of the season.  He gave up another run in the fifth on a Shelly Duncan single but the Tigers answered with two in the sixth and two in the seventh to finish with an 8-4 win.

Zach Miner threw 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief and his ERA is now below eight.  Francisco Cruceta then made his Tiger debut in the ninth.  He walked the leadoff hitter then on an odd play, Shelly Duncan lined it to Guillen, who couldn’t handle it.  Fortunately, Abreu thought Guillen initially caught it and those lost steps allowed Guillen to recover and get the fielders choice at second base.  A ground out and a line out later, and the Tigers had the sweep.

It was the Miguel Cabrera and Ramon Santiago show.  Cabrera homered, tripled, drove in three and drew a walk.  Santiago double, tripled, scored a run and drove in two.  Eight of the Tigers eleven hits were for extra bases in this one.

The White Sox were idle so the Tigers are now just a game and a half back of first place and one game below .500.  Next up are the Twins and it’ll be Scott Baker going up against Armando Galarraga in the opener.  The only day game in this series will be Sunday.

The Tigers took their second straight game over the Yankees tonight in a 6-2 win and Placido Polanco drove home two of the Tigers six runs on a pair of solo homers.  Marcus Thames also went yard and he belted his second homer of the season, a two run shot in the fifth inning.

Jeremy Bonderman had one of his better starts to the season and he improved to 2-2.  He gave up two runs on five hits and two walks with a strikeout in 7 2/3 innings.  Clay Rapada continued his solid work out of the pen and he got the final four batters out to close out the game.  He has yet to give up a run in his seven innings of work and at least so far, Tim Byrdak is long forgotten.

The Tigers made a move today as they sent Jason Grilli to the Rockies for minor league hurler Zachary Simons.  The right hander has fourteen strikeouts 13 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies High A affliate and he looks like a converted starter.  Last year he repeated Low A and struck out 64 and walked 31 in 70 2/3 innings.  He’s hardly a top prospect but this was more of a roster move because the Tigers are making room for Francisco Cruceta, who’s been nothing short of awesome this season.  He has 15 strikeouts and three walks in seven innings but walks are a concern.  He has major league stuff, but he’s been mired in Triple A since 2004 so it’ll be interesting to see if he can finally put it together.

The Tigers go for the sweep tomorrow.  Nate Robertson gets the nod against Ian Kennedy.  Then it’s off to Minnesota for a three game set against the Twins.

Baseball fans will have something to do Tuesday night when the Detroit Public Library holds their third annual Ernie Harwell Collection Baseball History Symposium.  You’ll get two interesting speakers including former major league pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee.  One of the more eccentric characters in the game, I’m sure Lee will be incredibly entertaining to listen to.  Also on the slate is Mike Shannon, who will be talking about his new book, “Willie Mays:  Art in the Outfield.”

It’s Tuesday, May 6, 2008.  Start time is 6:30 and there’s no admission.

The top four spots in the lineup accounted for eight of the Tigers eleven hits and they both drove in and scored all six runs in a 6-4 win over the Yankees.  Placido Polanco had a team high four hits and he drove in one and scored twice.  Curtis Granderson hit his third homer and he scored three more times while Gary Sheffield went yard with a two run shot off of Yankees start Phil Hughes.  Magglio Ordonez had just one hit, but he joined Shef with a team high two RBIs.

Kenny Rogers had a tougher start then his box score indicated.  He walked the bases loaded in the third inning but pitched out of that jam and he went on to throw six solid frames.  The end result was his second straight win and he gave up two runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.  Todd Jones got into trouble in the ninth inning and he gave up a run but he had three to work with so he picked up his fifth save of the season.

Jeremy Bonderman takes on Andy Pettitte tomorrow.  It’ll be interesting to see what the Tigers lineup looks like with a lefty on the mound.

Be sure to check out Billfer of Detroit Tigers Weblog fame on WDET 101.9 this morning.  He’ll be on around 11 am for a bloggers roundtable with a few other Detroit area bloggers you might recognize.

Justin Verlander and Jared Weaver appeared to be locked into a solid pitching duel but that last just three innings until the Angels got to Verlander.  A run in the fourth, a run in the fifth and then three more in the sixth did Verlander in and he needed Zach Miner to get the final out in the sixth inning to stop the damage.  He gave up six runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.  Jason Grilli threw two more shutout innings and he hasn’t been credited with a run in his last six outings.  The net result is, his ERA has been whittled down to a very respectable 3.29.

The Tigers were held to just five hits and two of them came off the bat off Magglio Ordonez.  He also walked twice and scored one of the runs in the 6-2 loss.  Ivan Rodriguez doubled and he drove in a run.

Next up are the Yankees.  Phillip Hughes throws against Kenny Rogers tomorrow as the Tigers get a much needed day off.  It’d sure be nice to see Rogers throw a good game.  He’s given up four runs on or more in his previous three starts.

It was a long but very interesting weekend with the SABR Detroit Chaper’s Baseball Race and Integration Symposium.  I learned a ton about the Negro Leagues as well as baseball in the 1950s and 1960s.  Deacon Jones joined us for the bus tour and he was a wealth of information and interesting stories.  I had the privilege of eating brunch today with Mickey Briggs (grandson of former Tigers’ owner Walter O. Briggs) and Don Lund (former Tiger player and front office employee) and they had some interesting stories.  Then Deacon wrapped it all up with an outstanding keynote speech.  The two panels (one on the Red Sox and one on the Tigers) also did a fine job of summarizing and describing some of the issues the two teams had integrating.  Good stuff, and the plan is to do it something similar next year.

Magglio Ordonez doubled his season homerun total today with a pair of longballs in the Tigers 8-2 win over the Rangers.  Ordonez finished the contest three for four with four RBIs while Curtis Granderson, Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn all went yard in the game as well.  For Granderson and Raburn, it was their first of the season. 

The last time the Tigers had five homers in a game was back on June 18, 2006.  In fact in that game, they tied a team mark with eight homeruns in a game.

Jeremy Bonderman struggled at times and while he gave up just a pair of runs, he walked seven.  He did strikeout seven as well.  Zach Miner was the pitching star though and he had his best outing the season.   He walked one and struck out three in 3 1/3 shutout innings to pick up his first win of the season.

Next up are the Angels.  Nate Robertson goes for his first win of the season tomorrow night while the Tigers hope to hand Ervin Santana his first loss.  The Tigers will be going for their fifth win in a row as they slowly try to creep their way out of the cellar.

I’ve gotten a few emails about this weekend’s SABR festivities.  The good news is, we now have a website so you can check out the details at SABR Detroit.  There’s links on how to sign up but some of you were nice enough to ask how you can help.  I can think of three ways, two of which are old and one of which I’m introducing here.

1)  The easiest way to help is to sign up and take part in the activities.  Whether it’s the bus tour, the brunch or the symposium (or all three), we’d love to have as solid of a turn out as possible.  Who knows, if you attend the brunch, you could personally ask Willie Horton how it felt to make Lou Brock his bitch on that play at the plate in game five of the 1968 World Series because you could be seated at his table while you eat your eggs (I hope Lou Brock doesn’t read Tigerblog).

2)  We’re still looking for sponsors.  If you have a business or website you’d like to promote, send me an email (you can do so on the sidebar part way down the page) and we can talk.

3) The newest way to help out is to take part in the raffle I dreamed up this afternoon.  Here’s how it works.  You donate $10 towards the symposium and you get one entry in the drawing.  If you donate $50, you get two extra entries (so that’s seven total).  The prizes will help you fill out your baseball book library as follows

Three Second Prizes - One copy of each of the following:

Tigers Corner 2008
Tigers Corner 2007
Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006
Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2007
Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008

For the grand prize, you get all of the five books listed above plus a copy of the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia 5th Edition.  I figure the Amazon.com value of the second prize is worth around $60 while the grand prize probably would cost you around $80.  All are fine products.  Only one prize per participant.

The preferred method of payment is paypal.  There’s a link right below this paragraph so click on it, enter how much you want to contribute and I’ll attach the number of entries to your email address when I randomly pick the winners.

If you’re not into paypal, just send me an email and we can discuss.  I have some reservations about using other payment methods but I don’t want to exclude anyone.

I’ll take entries though Monday at 9 pm.  I know that’s past the event, but it’ll give those people who just stop by on Monday a chance to take part in the contest.  All proceeds will go towards the cost of the symposium and you also get my heartfelt thanks.

Curtis Granderson returned tonight and all hell broke loose.  The Tigers picked up nineteen runs and they did it on fourteen hits and ten walks.  Carlo Guillen had a team high five RBIs and three hits and hopefully that puts him out of his little slump.  Ramon Santiago probably had the oddest stat line.  He was the only starter who didn’t pick up a hit but he drove in two and he scored three times.  Curtis Granderson went two for four with two walks, two RBIs and three runs.  Not a bad season debut for the centerfielder.  It’s nice to have you back Curtis.

It’s hard to believe the Rangers were up 5-0 in this 19-6 blowout.  Kenny Rogers had a rough start and he gave up six runs in 3 1/3 innings before the pen did a fine job.  Clay Rapada threw 1 2/3 innings of no-hit ball and he improved to 2-0 while Aquilino Lopez continued his fine season with three shutout frames.  His ERA now sits at 0.52.  Jason Grilli closed it out with a shutout ninth.

Jeremy Bonderman will try to help the Tigers win their fourth straight.  The Rangers have Scott Feldman taking the mound in the 1 pm start.  Expect some lineup craziness with the Tigers having this long game and then having to turn around tomorrow with an afternoon game.

The last time Ramon Santiago homered, the Tigers were en route to 119 losses in a season.  Yeah, it was way back in 2003, August 1 to be exact.  And after calling Santiago probably the worst hitter in all of baseball, he’s added yet another thing to the long list of things I’ve been proven wrong about with a strong start to the season.  He’s 7 for 15 and he has four RBIs after driving three today.  His homer in the third capped off an inning in which two other Tigers went yard.  Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera hit back to back jacks earlier in the inning.

It was also nice to see Justin Verlander get back on track.  He improved to 1-3 and he gave up one run on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings.  Jason Grilli closed out the game with a shutout ninth while Bobby Seay struck out two in 1 1/3 shutout frames.

The Indians look like they’re going to win so the Tigers will have to sit in last place at least one more day.  Kenny Rogers gets the start tomorrow while Luis Mendoza gets the nod for the Rangers.

And in case you missed, Francisco Cruceta looked awesome in his minor league debut.  He struck out six and didn’t give up a hit in three innings for Toledo tonight.  More bullpen help is on the way.

Hopes must have been pretty high for the 1935 Tigers.  They were just a year removed from their record breaking season in 1934, but the loss they suffered to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series must have been tough.  With pretty much that entire team returning, the Tigers fell flat to start the 1935 campaign and through their first eleven games, they were 2-9.

Enter Joe Sullivan.  The left hander had just made his big league debut a week before and he was given the ball for his first major league start on April 28, 1935.  The Tigers won that game 5-3 and that started a streak where the Tigers won six of seven.  Three of those six games came on Joe Sullivan starts and while the lefthander would be relegated to the pen by mid-season, he helped spark a run that would eventually push the Tigers to their last consecutive American League pennant.

Fast forward to 2008 and we have Armando Galarraga.  He gave up just three hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 5 1/3 shutout inning this afternoon against the Jays and he became the first Tiger with a pair of wins to his credit.  More importantly, he made a bad situtation look okay by throwing the Tigers to a split in their four game series with the Jays.

At the plate, Ivan Rodriguez went four for five with an RBI while Edgar Renteria went two for four with his third homer and a pair of runs.  With the two hits, he now supplants Clete Thomas, who went one for four, as one of two Tiger regulars (Carlos Guillen) that are hitting .300 or better.

The Rangers roll into town beginning tomorrow and their 7-13 record matches Detroit.  They’re riding a four game losing streak though so hopefully the Tigers can pile on.  Justin Verlander goes for his first win while the Rangers put Vincente Padilla on the mound.

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