Detroit Tigers week in review: week 19

Well that was not the best week for the 2013 Detroit Tigers. It is a little hard to fathom that they lost to the Kansas City Royals twice in one day when Justin Verlander started one of those games and pitched well but once again during much of last week the offense went cold. Why this lineup remains so streaky is beyond me, but it add a lot of drama to games and whenever Miguel Cabrera comes up to bat something special is about to happen. However, he is only one of nine and it seems that the other eight are somehow coming up a little bit short during different stretches. The good news is the team did rebound and win the series, their fifth consecutive series win at home, and still lead the Cleveland Indians by a full 7 games.

As always we look for answer in the splits and even though the Tigers went 5-5 over their last 10 the splits look very good. their overall record is 73-51 and that is more in line with the other teams that are leading their divisions currently. They are 40-21 at home and 33-30 on the road. This is still a very good baseball team, they just need to figure out how the offense goes so cold for such long stretches than instantly comes back to life. If they can figure that out they look virtually unstoppable.

The good:

• Max Scherzer- Mad Max has become automatic Max. 18-1 is an unreal number. Back that record up with a team best 185 strike outs and a 2.82 ERA and there is little doubt he is the American League fave to win the Cy Young award. 
• Jose Iglesisas- How good is this kid? Talk about the human highlight reel. He is batting .268 but his value and the fun in watching him is all when he has the glove on. He might go down as the best mid season acquisition by GM Dave Dombrowski. 
• Joaquin Benoit- 16 saves, 11 holds and a 1.57 ERA. I am not exactly sure why he wasn't given the closers role back in spring training but hey that is a decision that will get overlooked if the Tigers perform the way we expect them too. 

The bad:

For one week we are gonna suspend the bad awards for individuals and just say that 5-5 record over the last 10 against the level of competition this team faced last week isn't acceptable. Why this offense allows itself to get shut down is beyond me, and the only answer I have is the lack of vocal leaders in the Tigers' clubhouse. There is not a guy who can fire this team and that has been an issue for much of the last two seasons. We saw it last year in the World Series and if they are serious bout taking the next step it is an issue that needs to be addressed. 

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2013 Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 17

So the Detroit Tigers go out and play the Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillis, win 6 of 7 and leve us without much to complain about. What on earth will all us Tigers fans do this week? Oh ya complain about the jackass umpire who think he is the show by running Miguel Cabrera for well basically for nothing. Dude, if you show me one person who bought a ticket to see you call balls and strikes I will conceded this point but until then you are a total jackass. In fact you are the Joshua Lobdell jack off of the week...congratulations. This game is not about you...do your job and do it well and the best thing about ti is we won't even know or care who you are. That is the life of an umpire my man.

So after spending the weekend blowing smoke and saying how the bullpen is fine that way it is it took General Manager Dave Dombrowski about five seconds to pull the trigger on a trade. They have added Jose Verras from the Houston Astros for prospect Danny Vazquez and a player to be named. That is a good move and it seems the team still needs to make another move. We shall see.

So of course we look at the splits. The Tigers are 59-45 and in first place by three games. That is still the second worst win total of the six teams in first place and that becomes more important as we progress to the fall and the playoffs. The Tigers are 7-3 over the last 10 (and a chunk of those games were played without Cabrera), and they beat up on the teams they should have this past week. that is important and for July they were 16-8 hopefully that means they will start to heat up and quit making the race for the division a race. It should not be. We will have to see what the addition of Verras does for the pen, but it has to be an improvement.

The Good:

• Victor Martinez- Is Victor back? He all of a sudden is hitting .270 with 9 home runs and 59 RBI. If he keeps it up 1-6 this is the best lineup in baseball. The offense needs to stay hot and keep the pressure off the pitching staff. Victor and Prince Fielder are the keys to that. 
• Matt Tuiasosopo- finally we have a big enough sample size to say this kid is legit and maybe should be playing everyday in left. With just over 100 at bats Tui is hitting .301 with some power. But 31 K's means he needs to have a little more patience at the plate
• Joaquin Benoit/Drew Smyly- the two reasons Dombrowski could get in front of the media and make a credible argument that the bullpen isn't as bad as the fans and media makes it out to be. These two guys are locking it down out there. 

The Bad:

• Prince Fielder- It is hard to say bad when the guy is hitting .261 with 17 jacks and 75 RBI. However considering who he hits behind and in front of it seems like he should be doing more damage. he came top the plate how many times yesterday with the bases full? That is kind of the point here. 
• Phil Coke- Do I really need to continue?
• Alex Avila- He just cannot hit MLB pitching and his far off his career numbers. We have now seen what this guy is and a championship team needs a guy who can produce out of the catcher's spot. 

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Detroit Tigers week in review: Week 15

It was a very up and down week for the Detroit Tigers. The fan base got all worked up when they dropped a series to the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park mid week, but the team rebounded nicely with a series win over the Texas Rangers over the weekend. Justin Verlander stepped up yesterday and id not allow his team to lose a series and put up another impressive performance. He went seven innings and only gave up one hit as the Tigers cruised to 5-0 victory. Still thought the team's struggles have left them just 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians and it doesn't look like Terry Francona is gonna let this team wilt like Indians team of the past. The tigers have made this more of a race that nit really should be, but hey that is baseball.

There are some rumors that the Tigers the interest in Tim Lincecum. It makes a lot of sense if they were going to sue him out of the bullpen, but the question becomes who would they be willing to give up for him? The Tigers do not have a lot of depth in their organization currently and the pieces they have they need on the big club to make a solid push towards the playoffs. I could see them trading away Rick Porcello or maybe even Drew Smyly for Lincecum but that seems like a steep price at this point.

For now the season is more than half over, but we have reach the symbolic half way point the Major League All Star game.  The next two weeks are going to be very interesting indeed.

The Good:

• Miguel Cabrera- he is leading the team in every major offensive category. He is a beast, and somehow out performing last year when he was the AL MVP and Triple Crown winner. Without a doubt he has not only earned his salary but maybe even outperformed his enormous contract. 
• Victor Martinez- A big part of why the offense has stayed hot is Victor in the five hole. He has raised his average to .258 with 8 home runs and 50 RBI. Think about that he has 50 RBI hitting after Cabrera and Prince Fielder. It looks like he has returned to form and if he stays hot the is one less thing for the Tigers and their fans to worry about. 
• Joaquin Benoit- those of you who think the Tigers need a closer should really look at the numbers. Benoit has 8 saves and 9 holds and a 1.64 ERA. Pair that with a K/9 of 11.74 and realize he is the closer what the bullpen needs is a solid 7th and/or 8th inning guy 

The Bad:

• Phil Coke- Not only can't Coke get outs, but at times it doesn't even look like he can throw strikes. He has struggled all year against right handed batters, but lately he is struggling against everyone. He has given up 29 hits in 29.1 inning pitched and his ERA is around 6.00, simply not good enough
• Alex Avila- At this point I would rather see Bryan Pena and/or Bryan Holaday each day then Avila. He is hitting just .177 and is a big reason why the bottom of the order struggles so much. 
• Ramon Santiago/Hernan Perez- Losing Omar Infante to the DL has really hurt the production at second. I like both Santiago and Perez defensively but offensively neither one is getting it done. Hopefully Omar comes back after the break and gets right back into the swing of things. 

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