Tigers thoughts while listening to a pounding rain:

I attended the Tigers Winter Caravan one time, in 1991 when I was living in Kalamazoo and had some connections with the local paper. Back then, only the media was invited. Or so I thought. I walked into a Kalamazoo hotel and saw dozens of fans asking for [...]

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 [...]

Whenever I watched Brandon Lyon pitch for the Diamondbacks the past couple of seasons, my immediate reaction was always he’s a younger Todd Jones.
Fact is, he throws harder than Jones — which can’t hurt — but no one is going to confuse him with Joe Nathan.
Last season wasn’t a pleasant one for the D-backs’ [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

Welcome to August! In the Phoenix area we ring in the month with 113 degrees…but a mere 20 percent humidity. The poor Tigers head to Tampa where the temperature and humidity are 86. God bless Willis Carrier.

So how did July end up for the Tigers? Even. As in 13-13. Here are some other tidbits that [...]

Todd Jones is no longer the Tigers’ closer. The statement is as true today as it was on this date in 2001. That’s the day the Tigers sent Jones to the Twins for lefty Mark Redman.
In 2002, his only full season with Detroit, Redman went 8-15, 4.21 in 30 starts. The Tigers traded Redman to [...]

The Score: Tigers 5 – Orioles 1
The Gist: Justin Verlander dominated — 8.2 IP, three hits, three walks, three strikeouts — and Magglio Ordonez and Marcus Thames went yard to lead the Tigers to a series split against the pesky Orioles. Brandon Inge made the play of the week, if not the year, for the [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 6 – Orioles 5
The Gist: Gary Sheffield went yard (almost twice), as did Marcus Thames and Brandon Inge, and Kenny Rogers pitched just good enough to win the opening game of the four-gamer against the Orioles. Magglio Ordonez went 1 for 5 in his return from the DL. In [...]