June 28, 2008

Game 80: Breaking Even, Straining Latissimus Dorsi

The Score: Tigers 7 - Rockies 6
The Gist: Ryan Raburn hit his first career grand slam and Miguel Cabrera’s bottom-of-the-ninth laser to right center drove in the tying and winning runs to save Todd Jones’s neck. Saved, that is, from the choking hands of Justin Verlander or, quite possibly, Jim Leyland. Verlander allowed two runs [...]

May 9, 2008

Game 37: Rogers Rolls, Homers Hibernate, Jones Nearly Ruins It All

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Game #37 featured a terrific outing from #37 Kenny Rogers, three hits from Pudge Rodriguez and ridiculous ninth inning from Todd Jones. Luckily, and most importantly, it all added up to a Tigers’ 6-5 win over the Yankees. Rogers gave the Tigers a quality start — 6 IP, 9 H, [...]

May 1, 2008

A Look Back at April

Tigers April Record: 13-15
Individual Batting Leaders (minimum 20 games, my totally subjective criteria)

Average: Carlos Guillen, .321
Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, 5
RBI: Cabrera/Ordonez, 19
OBP: Guillen, .414
OPS: Guillen, .938
SLG: Guillen, .524
SB: Guillen, Pudge Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, 3

Individual Pitching Leaders

Wins: Five pitchers tied with two each - Jeremy Bonderman, Armando Galarraga, Aquilino Lopez, Clay Rapada, Kenny Rogers
ERA

Starter: [...]

April 21, 2008

Game 20: Armando Does It Again

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: While he wasn’t as sharp as his Tigers debut in Cleveland last week, Armando Galarraga gave the Tigers another solid outing in the finale at SkyDome — or whatever — 5-1, to earn a split against the Blue Jays. The bullpen was superb though Todd Jones allowed a ninth-inning home [...]

April 9, 2008

Game 8: Tigers 1-1 on Wednesdays in 2008

The Gist: It took more than a week, but the Tigers left the field with a win on Wednesday night, 7-2 over the Red Sox. Naturally, Todd Jones did his thing to make any level of comfort more than a bit tenuous. Huzzah, Marcus Thames! The man simply delivers when the Tigers need him. Jeremy [...]

March 28, 2008

The 1984 Hernandez/Bergman Trade Revisited

In case you’d forgotten, it was 24 years ago this week that the Tigers swung a deal with the Phillies that changed the 1984 season for the Tigers dramatically — and instantly.
On March 27, 1984, the Tigers acquired lefty reliever Willie Hernandez and first baseman Dave Bergman from Philadelphia in exchange for OF Glenn Wilson [...]

January 14, 2008

On this Date in 1999: Brad Ausmus Returns Before Leaving Again

It’s hard to tell whether former Tigers general manager Randy Smith liked catcher Brad Ausmus or had it in for him. After all, Smith dealt for or dealt away Ausmus five times in seven years.
The first time was in 1993 when Smith was an assistant GM with the Rockies. Ausmus went to the Padres [...]

December 16, 2007

Emptying Out the Mental Notebook

There have been lots of thoughts percolating around my head lately. Now that I’ve cleared my driveway of snow for the third time today, it’s time to get those thoughts out to the masses.
Brandon Inge
If you recall prior to the 2004 season Mr. Inge acted like a petulant little child when the Tigers signed Pudge [...]

November 1, 2007

Zumaya Out, Mariano Rivera In?

So Joel Zumaya’s out until…well, who knows? Not to worry, the Tigers might have a fall-back position in the person of Todd Jones. Unless he signs with the Braves or some other team in the southeast.Worried? Me too.I wonder if the Tigers front office is mulling a call to Mariano Rivera’s agent. He could be [...]

September 16, 2007

Rolling a 300: How Does Todd Jones Stack Up?

By earning his 300th career save on Sunday (in typical fashion: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K), Tigers’ closer Todd Jones joins some select company on the all-time saves list.Here’s an abbreviated list with some of the most recognizable names (checkout the complete list): (* - active [...]