For your consideration…

1. 50 years ago today the Tigers acquired RHP Herm Wehmeier from the Cardinals for cash. How much cash? Not sure. In seven games in 1958 (three starts), Wehmeir finished with a 1-0 record and a 2.38 ERA. The Tigers released him 368 days later.

2. On this date in 1994, Tigers legend Neifi Perez, then with Central Valley Rockies (California League), pulls an unassisted triple play on a line drive.
3. Who knew? The Tigers are 17-16 all-time against the Yankees at Comerica Park. On the other hand, the Tigers are 150 games under .500 all-time at Yankee Stadium.

Enjoy the weekend.

The other day I sent an instant message to Ian Casselberry asking if, perchance, the Tigers may be feeling some buyer’s remorse regarding the Miguel Cabrera trade.

I admitted to Ian that it’s way early but that doesn’t mean that panic is not setting in everywhere around Comerica Park — but never at Fungo HQ!

So, I’m lobbing it out there: Are the Tigers wondering what they signed themselves up for over the next seven years?

Maybe.

Fast-forward to this afternoon and the latest installment of Jayson Stark’s Rumblings and Grumblings on ESPN.com. This time he reviews the off-season trades and the Tigers’ deals are getting anything but passing grades.

6. Braves-Tigers (RHP Jair Jurrjens and OF Gorkys Hernandez for Edgar Renteria): “At this point, Atlanta has won that deal,” said one scout. “Jurrjens [4-2, 2.84] has been their most consistent starter.”

Ouch.

And if you think that’s a harsh assessment, get a load of this:

Read the rest

It’s been quite a week for birthdays in the Tigers’ galaxy, starting with May 2. Let us review.

Remember these guys?

• Jim Walewander, 46 — A fan favorite in 1987 and ‘88, Walewander captivated the media with tales of his aluminum-foil window treatments and affinity for the Dead Milkmen, described in Wikipedia as a “satirical punk band.” The prototypical good-glove-no-stick guy, Walewander played exactly 162 games in his career — 141 with the Tigers, nine with the Yankees in ‘90 and 12 with the Angels in ‘93 — with a .215 average, one homer and 14 RBI. He actually had one more steal than RBI. He wore number 32 with Detroit.

  

• Keith Moreland, 54 — This short-timer had a brief Tigers career (90 games, wearing number 30) in the awful 1989 season. The Tigers traded Walt Terrell to the Padres for Moreland and Chris Brown. He was traded to the Orioles near the trade deadline for Brian Dubois.
• Steve Grilli, 59 — Jason’s dad pitched in 69 games for the Tigers (wearing the same number 49 that Jason would wear 30 years later) over the 1975-77 seasons with a 4-3 record, 4.51 ERA. He also pitched in one game for the Blue Jays in 1979.

• Gates Brown, 69 — Who doesn’t love the Gator? Left-handed hitting, number-26-wearing William James Brown played 13 seasons with the Tigers as a pinch-hitter extraordinaire. His two best seasons were 1968 (.370) and ‘71 (.338). For his career (1963-75) he finished with a .257 average, 84 homers and 322 RBI. He later served as hitting coach, leaving after the 1984 season because the Tigers wouldn’t give him a raise into the obscene $70,000 range. I may be off on the dollar amount. If I am, my brother will remember it precisely.

And some others…

May 4

• Brian Maxcy, 37
• Rick Leach, 51

May 5

• Dave Gumpert, 50

May 6

• Phil Clark, 40
• Tom Bolton, 46

May 9

• Ron “Action” Jackson, 55

The Gist: The Tigers couldn’t hit Tim Wakefield, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The lack of plate discipline arrived just in time to send the Tigers to a 5-0 loss to the Red Sox. That’s five in a row, if you’re counting. And my man, Tigers starter Nate Robertson? Oof.

The Quote: “I think the main thing is to not lose sight of how good we are.” — Jim Leyland

The Stat: 2. The pathetic number of hits the Tigers mustered against Wakefield.

Up Next: Red Sox at Tigers

Armando Galarraga (2-1, 1.88) vs. Clay Buchholz (2-2, 3.71)

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Jeremy Bonderman spotted the Red Sox four runs, leaving the Tigers to figure out Daisuke Matsuzaka on a night that he was totally figure-outable. Matsuzaka walked eight and gave the Tigers plenty of opportunities to blow the game open. Alas, Detroit dropped its fourth straight, losing 6-3. We’ll all have to wait at least another day to see — or at least get a glimpse of — how the new lineup configuration works.

The Quote: “I think I threw the ball really well.” — Bonderman.

The Stat: 2. The number of errors by Tigers shortstop Edgar Renteria.

My Two Cents: Patience. Patience. Patience. That’s what I keep telling myself.

Hi, folks. If you downloaded episode #46 on Monday, you received a partially edited show. Some of the edits didn’t “take” in the file I uploaded for your enjoyment.

A freshly edited version of episode #46 is now available. Please delete Monday’s episode from your iPod or iTunes and re-download it at your convenience.

My apologies!

The Detroit Tigers Podcast is not affiliated in any way with the Detroit Tigers Baseball Club or Major League Baseball.

ESPN recaps — but no highlights?! — available here, here and here.

The Gist: The Tigers lost virtually every way possible in the Twin Cities this past weekend. They wouldn’t hit on Friday, couldn’t hit on Saturday, and hit for only a few innings on Sunday. Of course, Detroit couldn’t escape the Metrodome without a few turf-aided hits that sting like a hot poker in the eye.

The Quote: “We’re tough to watch sometimes.” — Jim Leyland

The Stat: 7. The number of games Gary Sheffield played in left in 2007.

My Two Cents: Long-time readers of this space well-know my animus toward third-person referencing, free-swinging, rally-killing Craig Monroe. So, it should come as no surprise to you, then, that my weekend took a dramatic turn for the worse when he homered off of Justin Verlander on Saturday night.

At that point, how could I argue with my son that watching “Oswald” wasn’t a better idea? If things don’t turn around quickly for this team, I have a feeling I’ll be watching more Noggin programming than is allowed by law.

Welcome to The Detroit Tigers Podcast, the podcast for Tigers fans, by Tigers fans. This is Episode #46, a 30-minute podcast recorded live from Scottsdale, Ariz. and Columbus, Ohio.

In this episode our guest is Craig Calcaterra — a.k.a., the Shyster behind ShysterBall.com, one of the best baseball blogs around.

Download the audio file or grab the RSS feed here.

Listen to the podcast in our nifty sidebar player –>

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Comments? Leave a message on the new listener line: (602) 903-5174.

Theme music for the podcast produced by Paul Minshall.

Livan Hernandez had command of his pitches and the Tigers on this night. Magglio Ordonez hit a long home run in the second, and the team loaded the based with nobody out in the same inning, but then Ivan Rodriguez hit a short fly ball to right on which Miguel Cabrera did not attempt to score from third base. Jacque Jones then hit into an inning ending double play. Hernandez was able to hold off all Tiger threats for the rest of his seven-inning stint.

The Twins were able to get to Armando Galarraga for four runs on six hits which was enough to hand him his first loss of the season. Galarraga also gave up a bases loaded walk with nobody out and a RBI double play ground out which accounted for two of those runs. Aquilino Lopez came on in the seventh and got the first out of the inning, but then surrendered four runs on six hits before giving way to Denny Bautista who got the Tigers out of the inning.

I thought the tough night was over, but in the eighth, the Twins were able to get three more runs off Bautista. He allowed a walk, a wild pitch, and a single to score one run which was followed by a passed ball by Brandon Inge. The Twins then got the other two runs in the inning on a double to deep right field and an infield single to first. This was followed by another infield single to first before Francisco Cruceta came on to strike out Mike Lamb to end the inning.

A lot of the Twins 16 hits in this game were legitimate, but they also got a few strategically placed balls that the Tigers just could not field. This was just a game that happens to even the very best teams on occasion.

We’ll just chalk this one up as one of those.