Tigers Weekly 2010 Season

WEEK 13: 7/5/10 - 7/13/10

In a week that saw the Tigers go 5-1 that included a 
come from behind dramatic win, a sweep, and a 
winning series against a division rival the Tigers 
ending up sitting in second place at the end of the 
week.  The Tigers played about as perfect baseball as 
you could ask in a week that the really needed to do 
well, yet the white hot Chicago White Sox passed 
the Tigers by half a game.  Chicago is now 25-5 in 
their last thirty games dating all the way back to the 
start of June when the Tigers dropped two of three 
to the Sox.  The good news for all Tigers fans is this 
year the red hot streak is happening in the middle of 
the year and the White Sox just lost their ace for the 
season.  The bad news is there are now three teams 
instead of two who have a real shot at the division 
championship.  Good to see the late inning homerun 
dramatics from Miguel Cabrera and Johnny Damon.  
It was also nice to see Tigers hitting jump on top of 
pitchers early and often this week too.  Brennan 
Boesch by week’s end just received enough at bats 
to qualify him for the league leader board in the likes 
of average, slugging percentage etc (ranks 4th in both 
categories listed presently.

The start of the week is the All-Star break in 
Anaheim.  On Monday, Miguel Cabrera competes in 
the Home Run Derby.  Hopefully he can show up 
Brandon Inge and hit at least one homerun this year.  
On Tuesday, the All-Star game will take place with 
World Series advantage on the line.  Since Justin 
Morneau of the Minnesota Twins is dealing with a 
rather serious concussion, Cabrera will get the nod as 
the starting second baseman.  The other Tiger on the 
roster also was named a “starter” this week when 
Jose Valverde was named the AL closer and would 
be used should the AL have a lead in the 9th inning 
of the game.  Late Sunday, word came to camp that 
Justin Verlander was added as an eleventh hour 
replacement for one of three pitchers who started 
Sunday making them ineligible for any appearance in 
the All-Star game.  This puts this year’s Detroit Tiger 
All-Stars at three.  It is always great to see the Old 
English D being represented.

Looking ahead to the back half of the week, the 
Tigers will travel to Cleveland to play the Indians in 
a four game in three day series.  This is one of two 
rainout games that still need to get made up from 
previous months.  The Indians have been playing 
better ball as of late, but the Tigers have seemed to 
have their number this season.  We can only hope 
that trend will continue.  Projected starters have Max 
Scherzer facing Jake Westbrook on Friday, Justin 
Verlander facing Fausto Carmona in game one on 
Saturday, and Rick Porcello facing Mitch Talbot in 
the second game on Saturday.  Jeremy Bonderman is 
slated as the Sunday starter against a Cleveland 
pitcher still unannounced.  The first two matchups 
will pit two quality pitchers against each other back 
to back.  A three and one weekend series would be 
nice, anything less would be a major letdown coming 
off the break.

The rest of the season is being laid out to be rather 
tough for the Tigers, while the Minnesota Twins have 
the “easier” of the schedules.  In fact, many baseball 
experts are saying that the Tigers have the toughest 
remaining schedule from the remaining “contending” 
teams.  While the Tigers feasted on the bottom 
dwelling teams at home the last month, once the 
Tigers leave Cleveland, they will not face another 
team under .500 until Cleveland comes back to town 
in late August.  If Detroit is sitting in first come the 
end of August, it will hopefully mean that the Tigers 
got through the “tough” stretch by actually winning 
some ball games and playing playoff baseball early.  
One saving factor for the final week of the season is, 
although the last seven games are on the road (not a 
Detroit strength so far this year), they will face the 
Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles.  You 
can never count those chickens early, but those seven 
games should be very winnable at season’s end.

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7/5 – 7/13
 
Record: 5-1 WWW–WWL

Undy-Five Hundy:  Five wins and only one loss 
means the index climbs into double digits for the 
first time this season.  Index sitting at NEGATIVE 
TEN!!!

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MLB Standings...
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AL Central Standings....    Tigers Division...

      W   L   GB                  W   L   GB  
 CWS  49  38   -             NYY  56  32   -
 DET  48  38  0.5            \
 MIN  46  42  3.5            TEX  50  38  6.0
 KC   39  49  10.5           CHW  49  38  6.5 
 CLE  34  54  15.5           DET  48  38  7.0
                             COL  49  39  7.0
                             LAD  49  39  7.0

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Up Next for the Tigers....
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Week One                                             				

July 12-14       ALL-STAR BREAK (ANAHEIM)
July 15          No Game Scheduled
July 16-18       @ Cleveland Indians   (6-2, 1-1 Away)
                  (4 game series)

Week Two                                             				

July 19-21       Texas Rangers         (2-2, 0-0 Home)
July 22-25       Toronto Blue Jays     (0-0, 0-0 Home)

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Tiger News and Notes...
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After his start on Tuesday, pitcher Armando 
Galarraga was optioned back to Toledo.  The 
main reason Galarraga was sent down was to 
take advantage of the All-Star break and get an 
extra bullpen arm up for the next few games.  
Galarraga is expected to make one start in 
Toledo and then will be recalled thereafter.  
Over his last few games, Galarraga has really 
struggled and making an extra start and some 
side sessions in Toledo will allow him to retool 
his mechanics and hopefully come back extra 
strong.
Taking Galarraga’s place on the roster is 
rookie Robbie Weinhart who is another hard 
right handed thrower for Leyland to use in the 
bullpen.  Over his last 13 appearances, 
Weinhart has not allowed a single run.  For the 
season in Toledo, Robbie has compiled a 1.98 
ERA with 18 Ks and only 4 BBs.  Unless the 
Tigers catch “lightning in a bottle” it is 
expected that Weinhart will be sent back to 
Toledo once Galarraga is needed again after 
the break.  This past week, Weinhart made 
three appearances and got a couple huge 
double play balls turned in his favor to get out 
of big jams.  If Weinhart can continue to be an 
effective pitcher, he just may earn his keep on 
this roster..
It was announced that Rick Porcello will be 
recalled to pitch the second game of the day 
night double header on Saturday in Cleveland.  
It has not been determined if he will go back 
down once his start is made.
This week also saw what everyone anticipated 
when Joel Zumaya was transferred from the 
15-day DL to the 60-day DL.  Early news is 
that he should be recovered in time for spring 
training so we shall wait and see.
 
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Tiger of the Week...
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This week’s Tiger of the Week finally stepped up to 
the plate and the contract the Tigers signed him for.  
Johnny Damon finally decided to make himself known
on a team with some heavy hitters and headline makers
(Cabrera, Boesch, Ordonez).  Tuesday’s game alone had
weekly award for Damon written all over it.  First, 
Damon recorded his 2,500th hit in the game.  Then in
the eleventh inning, with one on Damon put a deep 
fly ball to right out of the park and gave the Tigers
a walk-off win (Damon’s second of the season in 
fact).  It was a nice touch to be able to celebrate
the mini milestone of 2,500 hits by having Damon also
be the hero with the walk off homerun.  A side 
nomination note goes to Miguel Cabrera for allowing
Damon’s dramatics when he blasted his homerun in the
ninth inning to tie the game and force extras.  
Johnny also would hit another homerun on Saturday 
that essentially put Minnesota out of their misery 
for the game.  If Damon’s power can return, the 
lineup will become all the more dangerous to 
opposing pitchers. 
 
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Tiger Homerun Kings of the Week...
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                 Season  Weekly  Weekly
Player           Total   Total   No(s)               
Bautista (TOR)      24     3     (22,23,24)
\
Cabrera             22     2     (21,22)
Ordonez             11     1     (11)
Damon               6      2     (5,6)
Avila               4      1     (4)
Worth               1      1     (1) <-1st Career HR
\
Boesch              12     -      -
Inge                6      -      -
Guillen             5      -      -
Laird               2      -      -
Raburn              2      -      -
Santiago            2      -      -
Jackson             1      -      -
Kelly               1      -      -
\
Sizemore            1      -      -
Wells               -      -      -

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Poll Question...
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With the All-Star Game now upon us, we can reflect 
back and ask questions about the first half of the 
season.  Which team and which player in each league 
have been the biggest surprise and the biggest 
disappointment so far?  Each category has many 
nominations and arguments for and against players 
and teams.  Let’s see what you can come up with.  
Let the debates begin.

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Arby's Index...
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Boom Boom Powwwwwwww went the Tigers bats 
on Saturday at Comerica Park on the “national” 
broadcast.  Miguel Cabrera got the party started with 
a 2-run shot in the first inning.  Alex Avila and 
Magglio Ordonez each had solo shots in the second 
and third innings respectively.  And then Johnny 
Damon capped off the four homerun game with a 3-
run shot in the 5th inning.  Pure power was on display 
in the bright afternoon atmosphere and the Tigers 
made sure that each swing found the seats for 
another Tigers victory.

Arby’s Index +6

(April 26, April 30, May 5, May 28, May 30, July 10)

We Tigers fans are hungry, hungry, hungry.  Keep 
the free grub coming Tigers!

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The 2010 All-Stars...
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The MLB Leader Board...
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Tiger Quick Hits...
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Hitting        Stat   Rank  Change
Team Bat Avg   .275    4th  (+1)
Home Runs      76     19th  (-2)
RBI            381    16th  (+2)
Hits           812     6th  (+4)

Pitching       Stat    Rank  Change
ERA            4.29   20th  (-1)
K              552    25th  (-1)
Saves          22     13th  (+1)
WHIP           1.39   20th  (-1)



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Fan Ballpark Photo Board...
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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.

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Game Lines of the Week...
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Monday, July 5th            1:05 pm
Starters:  BAL - Millwood   1.0 IP
           DET - Oliver     1.2 IP
                          R   H  E  (W - L)
Baltimore   151 000 002   9  14  1  (25-57)
Detroit     530 020 20x   12 17  2  (44-37)
  W    Bonine     (4-0)
  L    Hendrickson(1-4)
  S    ---

Tuesday, July 6th           7:05 pm
***11-inning Game
Starters:  BAL - Arrieta    6.1 IP
           DET - Galarraga  6.2 IP
                            R   H  E  (W - L)
Baltimore   000 000 311 00  5  17  0  (25-58)
Detroit     010 000 022 02  7  13  2  (45-37)
  W    Perry      (2-4)
  L    Hernandez  (3-7)
  S    ---
  
Wednesday, July 7th         7:05 pm
Starters:  BAL - Bergensen  6.0 IP
           DET - Scherzer   7.0 IP
                          R   H  E  (W - L)
Baltimore   000 000 101   2   7  0  (25-59)
Detroit     101 020 00x   4  11  1  (46-37)
  W    Scherzer   (6-6)
  L    Bergensen  (3-6)
  S    Coke       (1)
  
Thursday, July 8th          
--- NO GAME SCHEDULED ---

Friday, July 9th            7:05 pm
Starters:  MIN - Liriano    1.2 IP
           DET - Verlander  5.1 IP
                          R   H  E  (W - L)
Minnesota   000 101 001   3  11  0  (45-41)
Detroit     250 000 00x   7  11  1  (47-37)
  W    Verlander  (11-5)
  L    Liriano    (6-7)
  S    ---
  
Saturday, July 10th         4:10 pm    FOX
Starters:  MIN - Blackburn  4.0 IP
           DET - Bonderman  6.0 IP
                          R  H  E  (W - L)
Minnesota   002 100 100   4  6  0  (45-42)
Detroit     211 030 00x   7  8  1  (48-37)
  W    Bonderman  (5-6)
  L    Blackburn  (7-7)
  S    Valverde   (19)
  
Sunday, July 11th           1:05 pm
Starters:  MIN - Pavano     7.2 IP
           DET - Oliver     4.2 IP
                          R   H  E  (W - L)
Minnesota   200 020 020   6  10  0  (46-42)
Detroit     000 000 210   3   6  0  (48-38)
  W    Pavano     (10-6)
  L    Oliver     (0-3)
  S    Rauch      (20)
  
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Reader Write In...
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Re: Poll Question.
 
For the American league I think Jared Weaver should 
have made it especially being in his hometown 
ballpark. Side note: I love how ESPN etc is pumping 
this all star game as being in LA. For anyone who 
lives out here we just laugh. Anaheim is a completely 
different city. It's like saying Muskegon is a suburb 
of GR. For the NL Joey Votto. Omar Infante made 
it and he's a backup on the braves C'mon.
 
I'll be watching an my old "Who's your Tiger" the 
Friday after the all star game my wife and I will be 
watching the Rays take on the Yankees in NY. Can't 
wait to see Granderson although now I'm glad we 
got Austin Jackson.
 
R.I.P. Probie

Anthony Morano

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Two points concerning the latest edition of the 
Weekly:

This may sound a bit heartless, but I think it 
may be time to let Joel Zumaya go.  After a 
phenomenal 2006, it seems like he just cannot 
shake the injury bug and has yet to have a 
healthy and truly productive season since then.  
Tigers Management has given him plenty of 
opportunities, but after 4 years, I think we 
should go after another 7th and/or 8th inning 
pitcher to make us more competitive.  That 
said, anybody know what Zumaya's contract 
situation looks like?  Would we have to pay 
him a ton of money if we cut him after the 
season?

I agree with Toolie.  I'd rather have the Tigers 
competitive every year and finish in second 
place (and miss the playoffs every year) than 
have management go all out, have one great 
season, and then suck for a decade.  Growing 
up, the Tigers were always horrible and I was 
never able to get into baseball until 2006, to be 
honest.  The years since then have been great 
for baseball in Michigan (even 2008, which 
was an OFF year rather than the norm it used 
to be).  Dombrowski has definitely made some 
mistakes, but I am generally pleased so far 
with his tenure.

-Josh "Nexium" Bilsborrow

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Shouldn't Inge be the Tiger of the week every week?  
The man wears a soul patch for crying out loud.

Justin Carroll

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Toolie’s Trashtalk...
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The Tigers hit the All-Star Break on the heels of 
another great home stand capped off by a series win 
over the Twins.  They couldn't finish the sweep on 
Sunday, but Oliver vs. Pavano didn't look very 
promising before that game began.  In somewhat 
ironic fashion, the Tigers were passed by the White 
Sox on the last day of the first-half and find 
themselves in second place in the Central.  It was 
even Kansas City getting swept in Chicago that 
allowed the Sox to overtake the Tigers!  At least this 
isn't the end of the season.  

It looks like the Central will be a three-team race, 
and going into the break the Sox have the upper 
hand.  Despite losing Jake Peavy for the remainder 
of the season. Chicago still possesses four solid 
starting pitchers.  Further, some of their dormant bats 
(like Carlos Quentin) are beginning to wake up.  The 
break couldn't get here fast enough for Minnesota, 
who struggled mightily in the last three weeks.  For 
the Tigers it really is a tale of two teams: the home 
Tigers and the road Tigers.  In their last three 
stretches, the Tigers went 8-1 at home, 3-6 away, and 
7-2 at home.  The split now stand at 32-13 at home 
vs. 16-25 on the road.  

The schedule to start the 2nd half is somewhat 
promising: 4 games in Cleveland (twin-bill on 
Saturday) and then seven at home against a couple of 
pretty good teams (Texas and Toronto).  THEN it 
gets tough, and I'd say we'll have nary and easy 
series until Cleveland comes to Detroit on August 
20th.  Two series' each against the White Sox and 
Rays, road series' against New York and Boston, and 
a home series against Anaheim.  I'd love to see the 
Tigers within a couple games of first place at that 
point.  

Biggest surprise of the first half: Brennan Boesch.  I 
really haven't raved enough about this guy, but he's 
been nothing short of phenomenal.  Don't think that 
Cabrera's numbers aren't somewhat a product of the 
protection that Boesch is providing.  He just 
SMOKES left-handed pitching, and he's been 
collecting a good amount of base-hits to the opposite 
field recently. 

Biggest bust of the first half: Rick Porcello.  While 
it's not unusual to see a second-year player go 
through a "sophomore slump," the Tigers were 
counting on Porcello to be their #2 starter.  Now that 
player appears to be Max Scherzer, who has been 
great since coming back from Toledo.  Porcello's 
name has even surfaced in trade rumors, which 
would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the 
season.  If Rick can turn things around this year he 
could provide a huge lift to the rotation (can't lean on 
the likes of Andy Oliver forever).  Scott Sizemore 
was also a disappointment as a hitter, but being able 
to move Guillen to second solved a different 
problem, so that was sort of a neutral exchange.  

Can't wait for the All-Star Game!  Miguel Cabrera 
gets the start at first and Jose Valverde is sure to get 
some work in the late innings.  Justin Verlander joins 
them as a late-addition, giving the Tigers three 
representatives.  I'd say that's pretty fair 
representation.  Boesch and Jackson were probably 
the next most-deserving Tigers, but they're just 
rookies and need to pay their dues (actually, throw 
Magglio in that mix).  

About 18 days left before the trade deadline.  What 
happens in the next 10 games could have a big effect 
on what moves (if any) the Tigers make.  The injury 
to Zumaya creates some more need in the bullpen, 
and the Tigers could use another starter.  There's 
been some talk about acquiring starting pitcher Dan 
Haren and shortstop Steven Drew from Arizona... 
Haren isn't having a great year, but he has the 
potential to dominate.  Drew may be an 
improvement, but he doesn't excite me too much.   

Go American League!  

I'm out.





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