So Max Scherzer got hammered. Yet the Tigers came back and won. An epic day it was. This is what the Tigers must do if they have any shot at winning the division.
The Tigers put up 5 runs on Scott Baker, and got to their bullpen for 6 more. Final 11-6 Detroit.
Come on Kitties win tomorrow and gain some ground in the Central.
Bondo gets the start tonight looking to build off of his last outing. He needs to go at least 6 innings tonight to allow the bullpen to rest a little bit. In his last outing against the Angels he gave up 3 runs to the first five batters. Then he settled down and only allowed one infield hit over the next 19 batters.
So what does Bondo have to do to find success in the league? A couple of bullets and maybe we can find the answer.
So our Tigers have really struggled with their starting pitching. This is one area I really thought would be a strength for this team coming into 2010. It hasn’t really worked out that way. Verlander is 1-1 with a 6.95 ERA. Porcello is 1-2 with a 7.91 ERA. Willis and Bonderman haven’t been much better. I realize that its early in the year, but the Tigers need to do something.
Well DB, what do they do you might ask? I have a couple of ideas. First off Joel Zumaya has been lights out. This guy, after all of the injuries and set backs has a 2-0 record, with 13 K’s 0 BB’s in 12 innings of work. There was talk a couple of years ago about making Zumaya a starter. I think now may be the time to do this.
What do the Tigers have to lose(I know a big part of their pen). This team must keep pace with the red hot Minnesota Twins. Maybe just maybe Zumaya is primed for a starters roll.
The other option at this point is to call up Armando Galarraga. Through 4 starts this young season, Galarraga is 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting just .180 against him. With the way that some of the Tigers starting pitching has been struggling, He is a viable option at some point in this season.
Jeremy Bonderman overcame a rough first inning and the Tigers stormed back in the 9th to give them a 4-3 victory.
Bondo looked really good, after the first inning. I was very pleased with what I saw. We know that Bondo is probably never going to be the hard thrower that he was. Yet last night his two seamer had lots of movement on it and he was able to throw the breaking ball for strikes. This is what we need out of Bonderman.
Cabby you are the MAN!!
After the pain and trauma we’ve endured the last two seasons watching Dontrelle Willis pitch, he goes out pitches lights out and loses. Our offense sucks. 9 hits today and no runs scored. 9 fucking hits and nothing to show for it.
I am now officially in the fire Lloyd McClendon camp. I’m not saying all of the hitting woes are his fault, but something has to be done to pull these guys heads out of their asses. There is big league talent on this team who hit like little leaguers.
Anyways enough with the rant……I’ll see you tomorrow after Porcello shuts the Angels down.
| DOTW | Tigers | Angels |
| Monday | Dontrelle Willis (0-0 4.91 ERA 5BB 7K) | Joel Pinero (1-1 2.77 ERA 3 BB 9 K) |
| Tuesday | Rick Porcello (1-0 4.09 ERA 2 BB 5 K) | Scott Kazmir (0-1 13.50 ERA 3BB 2 K) |
| Wednesday | Jeremy Bonderman (1-1 9.00ERA 6 BB 9 K) | Jered Weaver (2-0 2.84 ERA 3 BB 21 K) |
| Thursday | Justin Verlander (0-1 6.88 ERA 5 BB 15 K) | Joe Saunders (1-2 4.26 ERA 4 BB 8 K) |
The Tigers invade Los Angeles looking to take down the perennial AL West powerhouse Angels. I’m going to be honest. I feel this is a series that could make or break this season. I know we’re not even a month into the year yet, however this is the best team we have faced and we need our bats to come alive if we have any hope of winning the Central.
That being said, this Angels team is loaded. Yes I know that their record is only 6-7, and yes I know that they have scored less runs than the Tigers have. But this team has so much pitching depth, I fully expect them to easily win the West(yet again).
Our Starters haven’t been good over the course of the last week and a half. My hope in this series is that our pitching is good enough to keep the Angels Struggling and our offense can come from some where. Our pitching and bats both need to improve in a major way if we are going to make any kind of run this year.
So I’ve got to apologize to my readers for my absence. I’ve had a very busy week which capped off with a trip to Ann Arbor for the University of Michigan Spring Game. You can read all about my trip here.
The Tigers kicked off a very tough early season west coast swing. After losing two of three to Kansas City the Big Cats rolled into Seattle where they promptly lost the first two games of the series. Thankfully I missed most of both of these games, although I did see a little bit of Verlander’s performance and he looked pretty good.
Today I arrived home in enough time to turn on FSD-HD and watch Max Scherzer and the Tigers beat the Mariners 4-2. Scherzer looked impressive, going 6 innings, striking out 4 while only walking 1. This was a good outing for the young righty.
The Tigers scoring started with Miguel Cabrera’s 3 run homer in the top of the 3rd. That was all until Austin Jackson singled home a run in the top of the 8th.
Tigers offense continues to suck. They have been outscored 61-58 this year. They continue to strand way to many runners, I’m not quite ready to call for Lloyd McClendon’s head just yet….but its coming. These guys just can’t seem to hit when there is runners in scoring position.
The bullpen continues to be very good, which they have to be with the starter not going especially deep into games. I’m still hoping for .500 on this road trip, but if they continue to hit like they have it will be more like .250.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a preview of LA.
Well once again Brian Bannister baffled the Tigers lineup for 6+ innings. And once again Late in the game the offense roared to life(you see what I did there?).
Bannister shut the tigers down for the first 6 innings of this game. Giving up only two hits. However in the 7th everything changed and the Tigers stormed back to take a 6-5 victory. That puts the Tigers at 6-2 with a chance to be 7-2 before there long west coast swing.
I’m not going to break down the performance of the team today. I haven’t the energy to go back and re-watch the game. But I do have a couple of thoughts…
Dontrelle Willis looks like he is back. Yes his control is not perfect, and yes he gave up 4 earned in 5 innings of work. Yet the D-Train looks like his stuff is good again. When he misses he doesn’t miss by 4 feet.
Gerald Laird had a couple of hits today which is a good thing. However Posednik had a stolen base off of him and Willis. If its not offense its defense I guess.
Could the Tigers asked for a better start to 2010? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. I’ll see you all with a recap tomorrow night, followed by a preview of the Mariners. See you then.
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t get to watch much of today’s game. I had other things going on…..sue me.
What I do know is our defense let us down. Scherzer gave up 5 runs with only two of them being earned. It sounded like he turned in another solid performance.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of 4/13 game. GO TIGERS and thanks for once again killing my predictions. Some seer I am.
| DOTW | Kansas City | Detroit |
| Monday | Luke Hochever (0-0 0.00 ERA 2 K) | Max Scherzer (0-0 0.00 ERA 3 K) |
| Tuesday | Brian Bannister (0-0 1.50 ERA 3 K) | Dontrelle Willis (0-0 3.00 ERA 4 K) |
| Wednesday | Kyle Davies (0-0 4.50 ERA 3K) | Rick Porcello (1-0 3.60 ERA 3 K) |
For the second time in the young 2010 season, the Royals and Tigers meet up, this time from beautiful Comerica Park. In the first series of the season, the Tigers took 2 of 3 from KC.
The Tigers currently rank 4th in the AL in total batting, while the Royals rank 12th. The Tigers rank first in the AL in total pitching and KC ranks 13th. Early in this young season the Tigers look like legitimate contenders while the Royals look like the Royals.
In the Monday game we get a rematch of the gem from last Wednesday between Scherzer and Hochever, a game in which the Royals won. Scherzer was brilliant in his Tigers debut, while Hochever was brilliant for the Royals.
The good thing about playing the Royals is we get an opportunity to face their bullpen, and in this series we won’t have to see Zack Greinke.
I like the Tigers to take at least 2 out of 3 and I think if we catch to level we are capable of, there is a very good chance we could once again be pulling our brooms out.
Tigers Record (5-1)
At one point in this game the Tigers were down 7-1. But as we all know baseball is a funny game and funny things happen every once in awhile.
Cleveland stormed out of the gates scoring 5 runs on Justin Verlander in the first inning. Verlander settled in nicely after that only allowing 1 more run in 5+ innings of work. Eddie Bonnine then came in and gave up 2 earned in 3 innings of work. Verlander wasn’t particularly impressive for the second straight outing. I’ve kind of had flashbacks to his slow start of 2009. Hopefully he can get things turned around in a hurry.
Going into the bottom of the 7th Cleveland led 8-3 and then the Tigers offense got rolling. Sizemore doubled in a run in the 7th, Inge and Guillen both double in runs to make it 8-6 after 8.
The 9th was one of the most memorable performances in recent memory. Mags started things out with a sharp single to left. Cabby followed it up with a walk. Guillen rips a double into the right field corner, Mags scores. 8-7 Tribe. Inge is then thrown out on a beautiful play by Asdrubal Cabrera, runners still on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Santiago draws a walk to load the bases, Leyland decides to pinch hit Johnny Damon for Laird. Damon walks in the tying run on 4 pitches. Guillen scores on a wild pitch. BAM SWEEP!!
I started to get down on our offense early in this game, but they came through when they had to aided by a sub par pitching performance by the Tribe.
Record (4-1)
Truth be told I didn’t know what to expect from Jeremy Bonderman coming in to the 2010 season. I pretty much knew that he wouldn’t be the guy that threw 96 mph anymore, but aside from that I had know idea.
Well Bonderman showed me something today I didn’t really expect. He had a change up that was great. I heard through out spring that this was a pitch he was trying to master, and boy did it look good today.
Bonderman went 5 strong innings and his bullpen backed him up as the Tigers pulled out a 4-2 win. We as fans couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season.
Early thoughts on the 2010 season
Record (3-1)
So this year couldn't have started much better. The youngster Rick Porcello threw 5+ innings of 2 run ball. The offense delivered 3 unearned runs on David Huff in the 5th on a throwing error by Johnny Peralta. The bullpen continued with 4 innings of shutout ball. So far 2010 has been kind to the Tigers.
Now I'm not ready to hand them the division title just yet. There is still 158 games to be played, but 4 games into the season, things look solid.
Hero's
| DOTW | Tigers | Indians |
| Friday | Rick Porcello | David Huff |
| Saturday | Jeremy Bonderman | Mitch Talbot |
| Sunday | Justin Verlander (0-0 7.20 era) | Jake Westbrook (0-1 11.25 era) |
So to be completely honest with you I had to do a bit of research on this Cleveland Indians team. Gone are the days of CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee,and Victor Martinez. Tiger killer Grady Sizemore remains in the lineup(unfortunate isn’t it ).
We get to see our first look at young Rick Porcello tomorrow. I’m expecting big things from the kid who finished 3rd in Rookie of The Year voting. David Huff faces him, Huff pitched in Cleveland last year, going 11-8 with a 5.61 ERA in 23 starts. I’m not into predications but I say Detroit easily wins this game in front of a packed home crowd.
Bondo makes his return to the bigs on Saturday, facing off against Mitch Talbot. Talbot who won the starting job late in spring, finished spring training on a rough note, giving up 6 earned in 5.2 IP. Let’s hope this carries over to Saturday and Detroit can own his ass. We may need to put up a bunch of runs in Bonderman’s stuff isn’t good.
Justin Verlander squares off against Jake Westbrook in the series finally on Sunday. Verlander’s first start wasn’t a bad one but it wasn’t a particularly good one either. However this is a guy who will win right around 18 games, so nothing to be worried about. Westbrook on the other hand had an awful opening day against the ChiSox. He went 4 IP gave up 5 earned and walked 4. If this guy is Cleveland’s number one started it could be a long year for the Tribe.
I look for our offense to fair better against Indians starting pitching than they did against the Royals. Cleveland has a pretty “meh” staff, so here’s hoping that our O can unleash some devastation.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | PC-ST | ERA |
| Willis | 6.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 88-54 | 3.00 |
| E.Bonnine (W, 1-0) | 1.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21-16 | 0.00 |
| R.Perry | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21-11 | 3.86 |
| J.Valverde | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14-9 | 4.50 |
Dontrelle turned in 6 solid innings of work as the Tigers defeated the Royals 7-3. Willis started the game a little bit shaky allowing a run in the first, but he dug in and really settled down after that. His control wasn’t very good, in fact at times I wondered if this was the same old version of the D-Train. What he did VERY WELL was get hitters to ground into the double play. 3 of em to be exact.
The Tigers offense once again demolished the KC bullpen. Their pen gave up something like 14 ER in 10 IP. It’s too bad we can’t play KC’s pen about 159 more times.
Heros
Goats
Preview of the Cleveland series coming shortly.
Tigers record (1-1)
It was a cold rainy night in Kansas City and pitching dominated the hitters at Kauffman Stadium. Max Scherzer showed why the Tiger’s were willing to give up Edwin Jackson. Joel Zumaya showed that maybe, just maybe he is back. Jose Valverde showed that maybe we should miss Fernando Rodney.
Scherzer and Luke Hochever were both outstanding tonight. Scherzer went 6 innings allowed only 1 hit, walked 2 and struck out 3. Hochever was even better, giving up 5 hits and walking only one in 7.2 IP. KC scored its first run of the game on a Chris Getz single off of Fu Te Ni.
Things took a dramatic turn in the top of the 9th. Joakim Soria struck out the first two batters he faced. Then mighty Miguel Cabrera stepped up to the plate. A 10 pitch battle ensued and on the final pitch Cabby hit one off of the right field foul pole. Game tied 1-1.
Fast forward to the top of the 11th. Carlos Guillen singles home Don Kelly who was pinch running for Mags. Tigers take a 2-1 lead. The next batter or maybe it was two batters later, Cabrera was picked off trying to steal third. This becomes very important in the next half inning.
So in the bottom of the 11th Valverde comes on the close things out for the Tigers. First Batter Albero Callaspo works the count deep and then promptly hits one over the right field fence. Then two batters later Rick Ankiel doubles, Scott Sizemore drops the ball and Willie Bloomquist scores. Boom game over. Thank God there is still 160 more to be played
Hero's
Goat’s
Well so it’s a long season, no reason to get to pissed about one game. The pitching was great and Valverde just had an off night. I’ll see you all tomorrow after the D-Train makes his 2010 debut. Peace.
For anyone interested there is a facebook fan page here. I’m trying to make We Own The Central a big thing, but you know, my terrible writing style is probably hindering me. Join if you want, especially if you think this blog is a piece of crap.
It was a day that started off well, took a bad turn in the 5th and then was broken wide open in the 7th. Justin Verlander went 5 innings giving up 4 earned runs while striking out 6. Greinke who battled control problems early in the day, out-dueled Verlander, but Kansas City’s woeful bullpen gave up 6 runs in the 7th which sealed the deal for the Tigers.
Verlander was not in mid season form today. He looked solid for the most part, but Yuniesky Betancourt sent a deep shot over the left center field wall in the bottom of the second to give KC a 2-1 lead. Verlander went on to set 10 in a row down after that, but again worked himself in to trouble in the 5th. Billy Butler singled in two runs to give KC a 4-1 lead, at that point you couldn’t wait for KC to go to its pen.
The Tigers scoring started out in the 1st when Magglio Ordonez was able to score, when Carlos Guillen hit a towering pop up that was misplayed by Willie Bloomquist. Greinke then held their bats in check until Cabrera’s RBI single in the 5th cut the deficit to 4-2.
You realized just how bad the Royal’s pen was in the 7th, after A strong outing by Greinke things just went to hell for them. It all started with a Sizemore walk. 6 runs later later the Tigers held an 8-4 lead. The bullpen did the rest holding KC to 3 hits the rest of the way.
Hero’s
Goats
The series resumes Wednesday with Max Scherzer(making his Tiger’s debut) taking on Luke Hochevar at 9:10 eastern time. Hopefully the Tigers can start off 2010 with a two game win streak. I’ll see you then. GO TIGERS!
How is it possible to lose a 4 run lead? Bad decisions that's how. Both the Yankees and Boston played mediocre last night. The Yankees started off great with Posada putting the Yankees on board first with a solo homerun. Granderson, showing how comfortable he is in pinstripes produced a homerun with his first his first hit as a Yankee. Everything seemed to be going accorded to Joe Garardi's plan, until he left Sabathia in for an inning too long. It took Gardener stealing home to light a fire under Boston's ass. Park came in pitching for the Yanks and handed the game to Boston. I might not be happy with the outcome of the game, but it was very exciting to watch. The rest of the series should be good.
It’s here, opening day, Major League ballparks are filled, the hot dog vendors have their carts out, and we are ready to play ball. This day should be a national holiday. What better way to kill off the remainder of winter than baseball? Plus we get the Men’s National Championship game tonight a 9:21(Go Butler!). Overall it is a great day worthy of all of our admiration. Makes me proud to be an American.
| Tigers | Royals | |
| Monday | Verlander | Greinke |
| Wednesday | Scherzer | Hochevar |
| Thursday | Willis | Bannister |
Tomorrow at 4:10 Eastern Time, The Tigers kick off their quest for the 2010 Central Division crown against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals finished 2009 tied for last in the division with a record of 65-97.
The Royals send 2009 Cy Young award winner, Zack Greinke to the mound to face Verlander on opening day. These are two guys who finished in the top three of the AL Cy Young voting. The Tigers as a team hit .176 against Greinke in 2009 although few teams faired much better.
On Wednesday we send Max Scherzer to the hill to face Luke Hochevar. Scherzer was acquired from Arizona in the Edwin Jackson deal, will get his first shot at American League hitting. Hochevar last season had a rough go of it(7-13 6.55 ERA) He’s a guy that throws strikes(46 walks last year in 143 IP) so hopefully the Tigers can put the ball in play and make some noise.
The series wraps up on Thursday as we send the D Train to the hill to face Brian Bannister. Willis is looking to get on track for the first time since he has put on a Tigers uniform. This is a guy who has given up something like 947 walks in only 17 innings of work(Yeah I exaggerate, so what) so hopefully he can prove that he has turned the corner and make this a year to remember. Brian Bannister is the same pitcher he has always been, not over powering, but he has pretty good command and could have had a much better season last year if he received any kind of run support.
I'm very happy, and excited to be on board with Dark blue. My two top loves in this world: sex, and baseball. Since im sure no one wants to hear about the good stuff, I'll stick to baseball. I will be trying to give you a good view on all of baseball. My top three favorite teams are (in order) The Yankees, The Tigers, and the Braves. One day I will make it to a World Series game. My perfect day would be in the Bronx watching the Yankees beat Boston, munching on some dogs and beer. The countdown has started to opening day, so without trying to be lame... PLAY BALL!
I realized shortly after starting this blog, that there are some things that are better done with others. This list includes(but is not limited to) sex, video games, poker, football, gangbanging, etc. Well we can add blogging to that list, a 162 game season is a bit much for one guy to handle, so what did I do? Well I went out and got some help from one of the best in the business. The Seventh Son is joining me in my pursuit of the best blog in baseball.
SS, will be giving you a broader view of the Major League Baseball world. His scope is much bigger than mine, he realizes that there is other teams worth covering besides the Tigers, I on the other hand only believe the Tiger’s are worth covering, but that is a story for another time.
Read his stuff, do it, it cures cancer so I’m told.
So as I write this, we are a little more than 60 hours away from the first pitch of the Tiger’s 2010 baseball season. And what a treat that first game will be. Zack Greinke faces Justin Verlander in what should be an absolute gem. I can’t remember a year I was more excited about. Then to get this pitching match-up on opening day is like you know, the best thing evah.
