TigersWeekly.com: 2010 Season - Week 6: 5/10/10

Wins, rains, shutouts, Eminem Jim Leyland and Jay- Z, more wins, a loss scattered about, and a 5-2 week against the Yankees and Red Sox. WOW! You’d be lying to yourself if you could have predicted this week the way it played out. A rainstorm created havoc on pitching staff with a double header created on Wednesday. Instead there was a shutout split. On Saturday, the Tigers came back to win the game from five down for the fourth time this year. Usually if a team has two five run comebacks in an entire season it is considered a special year. Let’s just hope that the Tigers have not used up all of the special comeback magic this early in the season and there is more in store (hopefully it’s not needed). Speaking of Saturday, the post-game fireworks seemed to happen in the interviews and press as all kinds of Tiger moving goodness took place. There was so much player movement on the week that it takes an entire section to talk about it below. Looking ahead the Tigers face the White Sox for the first time this season (yes you read that right). Then it’s off to the West Coast once again for the last West Coast trip of the season thankfully. A quick two game set in Oakland and then a visit to good ole Dodger Stadium. Pitchers have been taking some BP this past week in anticipation for the first interleague series of the season. The weekend should be very interesting, but hopefully someone can surprise us with an unexpected hot bat from the nine spot. The downside of the series is one of the “hot” bats in the lineup will have to sit each day and come on in a pitch-hit role only. The following week has the Tigers going to Seattle again for two final games of the trip and then a second off day of the week sends the team home for awhile (16 of next 22 at home taking us all the way through the All-Star break). WHAT A WEEK! ----------------------------------------------------- 5/10 – 5/16 Record: 5-2 W-WLWLWW Undy-Five Hundy: Unexpectedly, the index skyrocketed further in the negatives this week. Five wins, two loses and the index goes back to NEGATIVE SIX for the second time this season! Let’s hope it can continue dig its grave even deeper this year. ----------------------------------------------------- MLB Standings... ----------------------------------------------------- AL Central Standings.... Tigers Division... W L GB W L GB MIN 23 14 - TB 26 11 - DET 22 16 1.5 \ CLE 15 20 7.0 TOR 23 16 4.0 CWS 15 22 8.0 SF 21 15 4.5 KC 14 24 9.5 DET 22 16 4.5 CIN 21 16 5.0 STL 21 17 5.5 ----------------------------------------------------- Up Next for the Tigers.... ----------------------------------------------------- Week One May 17-18 Chicago White Sox (0-0, 0-0 Home) May 19-20 @ Oakland Athletics (0-0, 0-0 Away) May 21-23 @ Los Angeles Dodgers (0-0, 0-0 Away) Week Two May 24 No Game Scheduled May 25-26 @ Seattle Mariners (1-2, 1-2 Away) May 27 No Game Scheduled May 28-30 Oakland Athletics (0-0, 0-0 Home) ----------------------------------------------------- Tiger News and Notes... -----------------------------------------------------

For the second time in three weeks, Dontrelle Willis was scratched from a start with flu-like symptoms. Brad Thomas started against the New York Yankees in his place.
Due to the rainouts and taxed bullpen, pitcher Alfredo Figaro was called up from AAA Toledo. Making room for Figaro on the roster, Ryan Raburn was sent down to Toledo. Figaro did not fare so well in his first outing against the Yankees on Wednesday however and was sent back to Toledo on Friday morning.
Replacing Figaro on the roster, the Tigers went back to 13 offensive players when the recalled Casper Wells from Toledo. Wells was not batting all that well in Toledo, but the Tigers wanted to give him a chance with Raburn not being able to be recalled for a few more days due to the 10-day mandate.
Initially Wells was just here for the Friday and Saturday’s games, but then the player carousel continued on after the long 12-inning game on Saturday night. As expected Armando Galarraga was recalled from Toledo and started the game on Sunday. A starter was needed due to the double-header on Wednesday against the Yankees and Leyland did not want to pitch anyone on short rest. What was unexpected was that instead of Wells being sent down, starter Max Scherzer was optioned down and Galarraga was told he had a spot in the rotation for the near future.;
With the Scherzer move, the Tigers did not stop, as they also sent down a struggling Scott Sizemore and brought up another rookie in infielder Danny Worth. Worth (24) played in 36 games at Toledo this year, batting .274 with 2 HRs, 15 runs, and 14 RBI. The key here is he is a speedster as he had 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts. Worth has played 9 games at shortstop, 23 at third base, and 5 at second base. Expect second base to be split between Worth, Don Kelly, and Ramon Santiago with Santiago probably now playing almost every day between 2B and SS. This will be really interesting to keep an eye on.
Another Saturday moved caught mostly everyone off-guard when Jim Leyland announced that when Carlos Guillen returns from the disabled list (still at least 1-2 weeks away) he would become the starting second baseman for the Tigers. While Guillen moving to 2B raises a lot of questions (mainly he can still play the infield?) it answers the obvious question of what to do with the hot power hitting Brennan Boesch. Expect Guillen to be back with the Tigers around the time the Tigers return from their last West Coast trip on the season on May 28th.
Next on Saturday, unfortunate news came down that reliever Zach Miner has a partial tear in his elbow. He is still exploring his options, but in all likelihood Miner is out for the year and possibly longer. If Miner opts for surgery, Tommy John surgery is in his future and the road to recovery is rather long.
Lastly on Saturday, the Tigers announced that Justin Verlander would be pitching on short rest on Tuesday in the day game against the Chicago White Sox. He was originally scheduled to pitch on Wednesday. Now that Verlander has been moved up a day, he is now scheduled to also start the finale of the Los Angeles Dodgers series at Dodger Stadium..

----------------------------------------------------- Tiger of the Week... ----------------------------------------------------- If Austin Jackson easily took Major League Baseball by storm and won rookie of the month honors, then Brennan Boesch is just racing by him and the rest of the league’s rookies in May. When Boesch was called up to the majors, he had been swinging a decent bat in Toledo but he was known as a contact hitter (usually on the first pitch). Well when you continually see first pitch strikes in the majors, you tend to run into a few balls. And that is exactly what Boesch has been doing time and time again. Only problem is, the balls being hit are being smoked to the walls in the outfield. Just in the last week, Brennan is batting .481 (13-27) with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homerun, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts. Mix in the three runs and eight RBI and Boesch had an unbelievable week. On the season Boesch is up to .380 at the plate and his power is unbelievable. His hits are just rocketing to the outfield and it does not matter where the pitch location is, he is finding it. In fact, he is so hot and showing such adaptation to the major league lever that the Tigers sent Scott Sizemore back to Toledo and announced that Carlos Guillen will move to second base. This allows Boesch to stay in left field and switch to DH when Johnny Damon plays the field. Boesch’s play this season is what is called earning your place in the lineup (even if it came very quickly). For his continued hot streak, Brennan Boesch is this week’s Tigers Weekly Tiger of the Week. ----------------------------------------------------- Tiger Homerun Kings of the Week... ----------------------------------------------------- Season Weekly Weekly Player Total Total No(s) Konerko (CHW) 13 - - \ Cabrera 8 1 (8) Ordonez 5 1 (5) Boesch 3 1 (3) Damon 2 1 (2) Santiago 1 1 (1) \ Inge 3 - - Avila 2 - - Guillen 1 - - Laird 1 - - Jackson 1 - - Kelly 1 - - Sizemore 1 - - Everett - - - Kelly - - - Wells - - - Worth - - - \ Raburn - - - ----------------------------------------------------- Poll Question... ----------------------------------------------------- With Interleague Play 2010 about to take place this weekend, which National League team are you most excited for the Tigers to be playing. Secondly, which NL team not on the Tigers schedule this season would you like to see on the schedule and why? ----------------------------------------------------- Arby's Index... ----------------------------------------------------- Not much excessive swinging this week. But we will forgive them this week with all the wins that still took place. Arby’s Index +3 (April 26, April 30, May 5) We Tigers fans are hungry, hungry, hungry. Keep the free grub coming Tigers! ----------------------------------------------------- 2010 Player Tracker... ----------------------------------------------------- A couple weeks ago Curtis Granderson went on the DL with a torn groin. Last week Fernando Rodney went back to the setup role. This week Max Scherzer and Scott Sizemore were both sent down to AAA Toledo. So much for the side-by-side positional comparisons we had been looking at.

----------------------------------------------------- Fan Ballpark Photo Board... ----------------------------------------------------- Once again this year at Tigersweekly.com, we have a devoted a photo section to the fans of MLB and the Detroit. We are asking all baseball fans to send in their pictures from stadiums across America and to write about their experiences at the park. Pictures and memories do not need to be of Comerica Park, as all stadiums are welcome. Please take a look at http://www.tigersweekly.com/Photos/TWReader.htm to see all of the pictures our viewers have already sent in over the years. ----------------------------------------------------- Game Lines of the Week... ----------------------------------------------------- Monday, May 10th 7:05 pm ESPN Starters: NYY - Mitre 4.1 IP DET - Thomas 3.0 IP R H E (W - L) New York (AL) 002 000 020 4 8 1 (21-10) Detroit 210 010 10x 5 8 0 (18-14) W Bonine (3-0) L Mitre (0-1) S Valverde (9) Tuesday, May 11th 7:05 pm --- GAME POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN --- Wednesday, May 12th 1:05 pm GAME ONE Starters: NYY - Vazquez 7.0 IP DET - Porcello 7.0 IP R H E (W - L) New York (AL) 000 000 000 0 4 0 (21-11) Detroit 000 002 00x 2 5 1 (19-14) W Porcello (3-2) L Vazquez (1-4) S Valverde (10) Wednesday, May 12th 1:05 pm GAME TWO - ESPN Starters: NYY - Hughes 7.0 IP DET - Bonderman 7.0 IP R H E (W - L) New York (AL) 101 000 006 8 10 0 (22-11) Detroit 000 000 000 0 6 1 (19-15) W Hughes (5-0) L Bonderman (1-2) S --- Thursday, May 13th 1:05 pm Starters: NYY - Sabathia 6.0 IP DET - Verlander 6.2 IP R H E (W - L) New York (AL) 000 000 000 0 4 0 (22-12) Detroit 010 203 00x 6 11 2 (20-15) W Verlander (4-2) L Sabathia (4-2) S --- Friday, May 14th 7:05 pm Starters: BOS - Buchholz 6.1 IP DET - Scherzer 5.0 IP R H E (W - L) Boston 500 100 001 7 10 1 (19-17) Detroit 100 000 010 2 5 0 (20-16) W Buchholz (4-3) L Scherzer (1-4) S --- Saturday, May 15th 7:05 pm ***12-inning Game Starters: BOS - Lester 7.0 IP DET - Willis 3.1 IP R H E (W - L) Boston 003 120 000 000 6 9 0 (19-18) Detroit 001 003 020 001 7 10 1 (21-16) W Valverde (1-1) L Delcarmen (1-2) S --- Sunday, May 16th 1:05 pm Starters: BOS - Lackey 7.0 IP DET - Galarraga 5.2 IP R H E (W - L) Boston 001 000 000 1 7 0 (19-19) Detroit 021 200 00x 5 9 0 (22-16) W Galarraga (1-0) L Lackey (4-2) S --- ----------------------------------------------------- Reader Write In... ----------------------------------------------------- I enjoy listening to baseball games more than I enjoy watching them. I adored listening to Harwell as a kid and can still hear his voice when I think about listening to the games. He was brilliant, funny, engaging, and made summer feel so carefree. I've spent this morning (with tears in my eyes) reading stories about Harwell, and the grace with which he treated everyone around him. I am astounded at the time he took to care for people that he didn't know. In their writing, many people mentioned that even if you didn't know him, you felt like you did. I couldn't agree more. Even though I've never met Ernie, I somehow feel that I've lost a friend, someone who brought great joy to my life. Ernie touched so many lives through his broadcasts, his personality and his love for Detroit. God bless you, Ernie, and thank you for everything. Adam Goyt ----------------------------------------------------- Here's a weird stat for you: The Tigers became the first team to win four straight series at home against reigning playoff teams since 1995: April 27-29 Twins 2-1 April 30-May 2 Angels 3-0 May 10-13 Yankees 3-1 May 14-16 Red Sox 2-1 What does it mean? Maybe nothing. But it’s nice to see the boys perform against top competition. Mike Claus ----------------------------------------------------- Toolie’s Trashtalk... ----------------------------------------------------- The word of the week has to be "change." Players were being called up / sent down faster than you could say Pete Incaviglia. Casper Wells? Danny Worth? By the end of the week we learned that the plan will be to have Carlos Guillen play second base upon his return from the disabled list! You'd think these were the last desperate attempts of a floundering baseball club, but these Tigers just went 5-2 against the Yankees and Red Sox. Strange times. Regarding Guillen, I'm dying to know what you all think of this possible move. If you swap out Sizemore for Guillen, you obviously have a more serviceable bat (a switch-hitter who hits about .100 points higher). The issue will be whether Guillen can handle second base. Sizemore was no Ryne Sandberg over there, having committed five errors already, so that will make it unlikely that Guillen will be a noticeable downgrade defensively. The big question I have is whether he will be able to stay healthy playing second base on most days. Hopefully Sizemore will start hitting in the minors and get back to the majors swinging a hot bat. I can't see Carlos at second base lasting all season, but it will be good to have both his and Brennan Boesch's bat in the lineup. This week the Tigers and Yankees split a day-night double-header. One of the adages of baseball is that it is difficult to sweep both games of a double- header. This site broke down double-header stats back to 2002, and found that there have been more sweeps than splits recently. http://www.freemlbbaseballpicks.com/historical-
double-header-records These days it seems that more double-headers are the day-night variety and not the traditional style. I wonder if that has anything to do with the balance, and if splits dominated in the era of traditional double-headers? According to the Wikipedia page on double-headers (not that you can really trust this), the Elias Sports Bureau claims that sweeps occur 26.2% of the time, lending some strength to the old saying. The Reds are in first place... when was the last time they were relevant? If I remember correctly, they lost a one-game playoff with the Mets sometime in the last 15 years, but haven't really seen much of the post-season since the Chris Sabo days. The Reds are usually the last team I think of when going through my mental NL Rolodex, but for now the last shall be first. Still, I'd bet on the Cardinals to come out of the Central. It's May 17th and we STILL haven't played the White Sox. Tonight was supposed to be the first of eighteen against the Pale-Hose, but the game was postponed. Tuesday's game may also be postponed... at least it's still early enough that the two teams would be able to avoid the dreaded five-games-in- three-days series. I don't know what Ozzie Guillen would have done, though. Without Carlos Guillen in the lineup he can't make his patented move to the bullpen to "turn Carlos around," as Rod would put it. Two things coming up this week: the last road trip to the west coast and the first interleague series of the season (against the L.A. Dodgers). If you follow the Tigers on the radio, you have no doubt heard Jim Price bemoan these games against the senior circuit. The worst part about interleague, according to Price, is that it robs teams in each league of more historical matchups. Teams like the Tigers often play two series a season against the Yankees and Red Sox (old AL East foes, and money-makers at the ticket gate). Big-market teams that have natural rivals don't suffer for this, as they get a cash-cow series against those rivals. We have had to suffer many series against the Rockies and Diamondbacks (zzz). Still, interleague play offers something different in a long season. I always enjoy seeing what the Tiger pitchers are able to do at the plate (like Jason Johnson blasting a home run at Dodger Stadium in 2005, or Fernando Rodney taking his cuts at Wrigley in 2006). The Tigers were a lot of fun to watch this week, and they really over performed. The first game they started Brad Thomas... and won. Verlander and Porcello looked great as their efforts contributed to shutouts of the Yankees, giving the Tigers a 3-1 series win. Then, the Tigers trotted out Scherzer, Willis, and Galarraga against Buchholz, Lester, and Lackey and won that series 2-1. The Tigs have been dynamite at home, so make sure you get down to Comerica to enjoy some games! Justin Verlander vs. Dallas Braden on Wednesday night; both of those pitchers have no-hitters (Braden's was a perfect game). If you can stay up late (the game starts at 10PM) you could see a beauty. I'm out.

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WEEK 6: 5/10/10 - 5/16/10