Tigers Weekly 2008 Season

WEEK 3: 4/16/08 - 4/23/08

"Here's to a winning record this week!"  - 
Toolie's Trashtalk, April 15

Well it didn't look like it would happen after the 
weekend, but the Tigers have since rattled off 
three straight wins to inch closer to a winning 
record.  There was a lot of significant happenings 
this week:  Curtis Granderson made his first start 
of the season, Armando Galarraga looks great 
while filling in for Dontrelle Willis, Carlos Guillen 
and Miguel Cabrera will be trading places, and 
Ramon Santiago hit his first home run since 2003.   
FSN's commercials, "April in the D," are now 
starting to make more sense as the Tigers pull 
their weight.  The Red Wings are into the second 
round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pistons 
look to win their opening playoff series, and the 
Tigers are back in striking distance of division 
leader Chicago.  April and May are great months 
for Michigan sports fans.  

You'll notice this week that Tuedsay's game was 
recapped by Nic "Gilby" Gilbert.  This is 
something that I encourage anyone who attends a 
game to do.  If you go to a game, feel free to 
send in a brief account of your experience.  Give 
a few pieces of information that those of us not 
able to be there might like to hear.  It is especially 
cool to get these from out-of-town fans who get 
to the Tigers on the road.  I always say The 
Weekly is at its best when I'm doing less than half 
the writing (which hasn't been the case lately... 
somebody pick me up!).  

-------------------------------------------------

"Week" of 4/16 - 4/23

Record:  5-3  WLWLLWWW

Undy-Five-Hundy:  I saw the Reds fired their 
general manager.  The headline read something 
like "Reds fire GM after 9-12 start."  9-12?  
That's just three games undy!  Did the owner 
believe that the Reds would be a powerhouse this 
season?  It's far too early in the season to be 
stressed out about being three games undy five-
hundy.  The Tigers are one game under that 
mark, and we certainly expect to see 
improvement and have the time to make that 
happen.  The start was bad but things appear to 
be getting better.  I think Dave Dombrowski's 
job is safe.    

Up Next for the Tigers...

April 24        Texas
April 25-27     Anaheim
April 28        no game scheduled...
April 29-May 1  @ New York Yankees

AL Central Standings...

CWS  11 9 -
MIN  10 11 1.5
KCR   9 11 2
DET   9 13 3
CLE   8 12 3

Tigers News and Notes:  Armando Galarraga 
made two starts this week in place of Dontrelle 
Willis.  Making room for Galarraga was reliever 
Francis Beltran, who was sent to Toledo.  Curtis 
Granderson was activated before Wednesday's 
game against the Rangers.  That marked the 
temporary end of Cinderella story Clete Thomas' 
run with the Tigers.  Thomas was optioned to 
Toledo and will likely stay there until the next 
outfield injury.    

-------------------------------------------------
Tiger of the Week...
-------------------------------------------------

Andres Galarraga was known as The Big Cat, 
even though he never played for the Tigers.  
Armando Galarraga is a Tiger, and his first two 
starts were much appreciated.  I am dubbing the 
newest Tiger starter "El Tigre."  You could call 
him "Little Cat", I guess, but that doesn't sound 
cool to me.  Besides, six-foot-four isn't exactly 
little.

Galarraga was aquired this offseason in a 
trade with the Rangers.  The Tigers had to give 
up Chris Shelton to get him, and right now the 
move looks brilliant.  Since then Shelton was 
released by Texas, so Galarraga was essentially 
free (kind of reminds me of the Carlos Guillen 
deal).

Before getting to the majors he started two games
in Toledo and went 2-0 in twelve innings with a 
2.25 ERA, eleven strikeouts and one walk.  After 
making the step up to the majors he continued his
success by racking up two wins in two starts with
a 1.50 ERA, ten strikeouts and four walks.  Very 
similar.  With the rotation struggling the way it
is, performances like this from an unlikely source
provides a huge boost.  El Tigre says the Rangers
made a mistake when they dealt him.  So far he 
seems to be right.  The 2-0 Galarraga is your 
Tiger of the Week.

-------------------------------------------------
Switch-a-roo...
-------------------------------------------------

The defense hasn't been great this season, 
especially the Carlos Guillen experiment at first 
base.  For some reason, Guillen just hasn't been 
comfortable at the "easiest" of the infield 
positions.  On the other side, Miguel Cabrera has 
already racked up five errors at third (he's no 
Inge over there).  The difficulties have lead to 
Leyland switching the two in the field.  Both 
players seem to be OK with the move: 

"It's fine for me and it's good for this team," 
Guillen said.

I like the move.  We'll see how it goes. 

-------------------------------------------------
Poll Question...
-------------------------------------------------

Say Armando Galarraga continues his fine 
pitching.  What do you think should be done 
once Dontrelle Willis returns?  Should El Tigre 
stay in rotation in favor of some other pitcher 
(Rogers, Robertson, Willis)?  If he doesn't stick 
in the rotation, would you like to see him move to 
the bullpen or would it be better to keep him 
starting in Toledo?   

-------------------------------------------------
Game Linescores...
-------------------------------------------------

April 16:  Detroit 13 - Cleveland 2
Starters:  DET: Galarraga 6.2IP
           CLE: Sabathia 4IP
DET  021 071 011  13 17 0
CLE  100 000 100   2  3 1
W: Galarraga (1-0)
L: Sabathia  (0-3)

April 17:  Detroit 1 - Cleveland 11
Starters:  DET: Verlander 5IP
           CLE: Carmona 6.2IP
DET  000 001 000   1  7 0
CLE  030 025 10X  11 13 0
W: Carmona (2-1)
L: Verlander (0-3)

April 18:  Detroit 8 - Toronto 4
Starters:  DET: Rogers 6.2IP
           TOR: Purcey 4.1IP
DET  100 002 401  8 10 0
TOR  010 030 000  4  3 1
W: Rogers  (1-3)
L: Accardo (0-3)

April 19:  Detroit 2 - Toronto 3
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 5IP
           TOR: McGowan 7IP
DET  001 000 100  2 9 2
TOR  110 010 00X  3 7 0
W: McGowan   (1-1)
L: Bonderman (1-2)
S: Ryan      (2)

April 20:  Detroit 3 - Toronto 5
Starters:  DET: Robertson 5IP
           TOR: Burnett 5IP
DET  000 210 000  3  6 0
TOR  100 400 00X  5 10 0
W: Burnett   (2-1)
L: Robertson (0-2)
S: Accardo   (4)

April 21:  Detroit 5 - Toronto 1
Starters:  DET: Galarraga 5.1IP
           TOR: Marcum 5.2IP
DET  040 001 000  5 9 0
TOR  000 000 001  1 6 2
W: Galarraga (2-0)
L: Marcum    (2-1)

April 22:  Texas 2 - Detroit 10
Starters:  TEX: Padilla 3IP
           DET: Verlander 6IP
TEX  010 000 100   2  8 0
DET  025 000 03X  10 11 0
W: Verlander (1-3)
L: Padilla   (2-2)

---

Gilby Sees a Ballgame

Game two of the season for me, with the first 
game deserving no report as the entire world got 
to witness my first game on ESPN with the butt 
kicking at the hands of the White Sox.  With 
tickets courtesy of Kevin, a season ticket holder 
in Grand Rapids who gave me the chance to see 
a game from the right field grandstands, I made 
the trip with myself, Lindsay, and Shaun.

Keeping this short and sweet, holy home runs 
Batman.  The Tigers came the closest you can 
ever come to hitting back-to-back-to-back 
homeruns without actually doing it.  Ordonez 
(getting his 1,000 RBI Congrats) and Cabrera 
both jacked homers to left and then Jones put a 
ball 418' to dead center that surely looked out 
but still landed for a triple.  Two batters later with 
the score 5-1 RAMON SANTIAGO, yes I said 
that correctly, belts a homerun 380' to right to 
make it 7-1.

A couple innings later and the Tigers leading 7-2, 
they bat around the order.  The funny thing is, the 
Tigers only had one hit in the inning and no errors 
were commited.  Along the way there were a 
couple walks, a couple bases loaded run scoring 
fielder's choices, a few hit batsmen, and oh yes 
the lonely single.  It was a truely a unique inning.  
Overall there were four homeruns hit on the game 
and two almosts.  And the strange thing was 
there wasn't any type of wind the entire game.  It 
was truly a good day for baseball.

And my final note of the game, I cannot believe I 
watched a game in which Miner, Seay, and Grilli 
pitched and only one run was scored.  And to 
top that, I watched a game in which both Grilli 
and Miner had more strike outs than base on 
balls.  Truly remarkable.

Tigers only 5 games under 5 hundy.

Gilby 1-1 on the year.

---

April 23:  Texas 6 - Detroit 19
Starters:  TEX: Mendoza 1.2IP - DET: Rogers 
3.1IP
TEX  230 100    000   6 11 1
DET  051 10(11) 10X  19 14 1
W: Rapada    (2-0)
L: Francisco (0-1)

-------------------------------------------------
Readers Write In...
-------------------------------------------------

Due to technical difficulties, reader write-ins
were unavailable this week.

-------------------------------------------------

Toolie's Trashtalk...

Now this is the hitting I expected to see from day 
one.  In the last couple of days the Tigers have 
exploded for twenty-nine runs.  Miguel Cabrera 
is up to five homers on the season and the spark 
plug Curtis Granderson has finally made his 2008 
debut.  After falling behind 5-0 tonight against 
Texas things looked bleak.  But the pitcher for 
Texas seemed very weak and I thought "we can 
get to this guy."  I wouldn't have said that two 
weeks ago, but "instant runs" (as Ernie Harwell 
called them) are now a part of the Tigers' bag of 
tricks.  

Lost in the 19-6 beat-down was Kenny Rogers' 
fourth rough outing in five starts.  Rogers is 
walking a ton of hitters (fifteen in 24.2 innings) 
and tonight failed to get through five innings for 
the third time.  Rogers' success in 2006 was 
monster in getting the Tigers to the playoffs and 
his performance in the post-season was 
legendary (yes, legendary; had they won the 
series that year he would have been MVP and his 
performance would be up there with some of the 
all-time greats).  He will need to be better for the 
Tigers to return to prominence.

Just saw a highlight of Johan Santana hitting a 
double against the Nationals.  He was frustrating 
enough to watch dominate on the mound; I can't 
imagine having to deal with him beating us with 
his bat as well.  Unfortunately, the Pandora's Box 
of the DH cannot be closed, and we'll never 
again have pitchers hitting in the AL.  It's just a 
more strategic game without the DH, and I love 
to watch it.  But since chicks (and others) dig the 
long ball, the DH is here to stay.  

Today I reminisced by watching clips from the 
final game at Tiger Stadium on YouTube.  If you 
watch Fick's rooftop blast, you'll hear the 
announcers comment how Al Kaline predicted a 
Fick homer before the game.  In mid-sentence, 
Fick tees off.  I still get chills when I recall the 
feeling at in the Stadium that moment.  What a 
different memory it would be had the result been 
a 10-0 Royals victory.  That night was just 
magical.

It's great to have Granderson back, but there are 
still holes in the lineup.  Both Gary Sheffield and 
Placido Polanco are battling nagging injuries, 
which has led to a short bench for Jim Leyland 
(not so much of an issue in the AL).  The full line-
up could be in there soon, but a lot of love should 
be given to Clete Thomas, Brandon Inge, and 
Ramon Santiago who not only filled in, but 
significantly contributed while they were in there.  
Just check out the stats:

Thomas:  61 AB, .295 AVG, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 SB
Inge:  60 AB, .250 AVG, 9 R, 13 RBI, 2 HR, 
12 BB, 1 SB
Santiago:  18 AB, .389 AVG, 5 R, 6 RBI, 1 HR, 
3 BB

Good week, boys, good week.  The Tigers will 
be on showcase once again in their weekend 
series with the Angels.  Last time they had this 
exposure they were embarrassed by the White 
Sox.  And last season when they played the 
Angels on Sunday Night Baseball in Anaheim the 
game was over before it began (ask Chas "Grey 
Fox" Claus about that; he was there on Baseball 
Road Trip).  Maybe we're catching the Halos at 
the right time, though.  Two of their top pitchers 
(John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar) are out.  

Day game tomorrow as the Tigers go for the 
sweep.  Jeremy Bonderman, however, is 
markedly worse in day games (16-27 in day 
games, 41-37 at night).  It's time to buck that 
trend.  1:05 PM gametime; have those AM 
radios ready to go.

I'm out.
 





-----------------------------------------------------

Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.  
 
If you know anyone that would like a subscription to TW,
send an email to editor@tigersweekly.com and give their
names and e-mail addresses. If your e-mail address is
changing, drop a line and it will be updated...

Play Ball!

-----------------------------------------------------