July 22, 2009

Wednesday Walewanders

In our recent Fungo Pulse Check, readers said — barely — that they prefer the Tigers go after Toronto’s Roy Halladay (38 percent, 10 votes) over Oakland slugger Matt Holliday (27 percent, 7 votes).

Interestingly enough, almost as many votes came in for “Neither” (35 percent, 9 votes) as votes for Halladay. Personally, I’d like [...]

July 6, 2009

Disco Demolition Night 30 Years Later

Yeah, so Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney ruined our night tonight. We’re used to that. Take heart. The Tigers still cling to first place.
Doesn’t do much for you? Me either.
So instead of cursing the Tigers bullpen, let’s travel back 30 years to July 12, 1979 and revisit Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, courtesy of [...]

April 24, 2009

Zumaya Up, Bonine Down

Certainly Joel Zumaya’s return is the big story, but you have to feel for Eddie Bonine, don’t you?
Seems like such a footnote. But that’s baseball, right? Will he return to Detroit? My guess is he will…sometime this year.

February 25, 2009

2009 Player Profile: Fernando Rodney

Fernando Rodney #56

Height: 5′ 11″ | Weight: 220
2008 Stats: 0-6, 4.91 ERA, 13 Saves

In a bottom-line business like major league baseball, fans tend to overlook stats such as 49 strikeouts in 40 innings or 13 saves from a late-inning reliever like Fernando Rodney. Six blown saves and an ERA a whisker under five are more [...]

December 27, 2008

The Top 10 Tigers Stories of 2008: #6 – Joel Zumaya Gets Hurt Again

The Tigers were likely ecstatic when Joel Zumaya managed a quicker-than-expected return from shoulder reconstruction. A healthy Zumaya (and Fernando Rodney) was to revitalize a rickety bullpen and fill in the sizable reliability gap late in games. Except they didn’t.
Zumaya was cleared to play in late June and appeared in 21 games (23.1 IP).
It all [...]

November 6, 2008

A Bummer of an Outlook for the 2009 Tigers

ESPN.com’s trip through each MLB team’s roster continued today with write Jonah Keri’s lens focused on the American League Central and the Tigers.
If you’re looking for a positive outlook to end your week, look elsewhere. Here’s a taste:
Aside from a younger, more athletic band of glove men, the Tigers need about a half-dozen new pitchers. [...]

September 29, 2008

Catching Up on a Week of News

Every time I sat down to write about a bit of Tigers news in the past five days, another shoe would drop and I’d think “I’ll write about both of those items.” Then another and another, etc.
So, as I wait out this Tigers/White Sox rain delay from bright, sunny Phoenix, it’s time to weigh in [...]

September 12, 2008

More Shoulder Trouble for Zumaya

Sure, why not? Add another significant injury to the list.
Joel Zumaya’s throwing shoulder has gone kaput again and it doesn’t offer much hope for this guy’s long-term potential, does it?
The Tigers announced today that Zumaya will be shut down from all baseball activity for the next six to eight weeks because of a non-displaced stress [...]

August 15, 2008

Back in Time: 2008 is 2005

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Here we are, approaching the third weekend of August, and the Tigers are mired in third place, nine-and-a-half games out of first place. And, as I’m always reminding myself, only five games out of last place. This was supposed to be like 1984, 1968 or even 1945. It [...]

July 30, 2008

Pudge Follow-up

Watching ESPN’s report about the Pudge trade to the Yankees. Peter Gammons says:

The Tigers-Pudge relationship “had run its course.”
Jim Leyland told him that the Tigers can’t run Zumaya and Rodney out there every night and the team needed bullpen depth.
The Tigers believe Brandon Inge is ready to take over behind the plate.
“On that stage in [...]