Verlander and Cabrera "Off the Charts"

Kirk Gibson comes to Detroit.

Welcome back sports fans!  This weekend we celebrate some of the 1984 World Series Tigers returning to Detroit for the Sparky Anderson Number Retirement Ceremony.  However Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell are not returning solely for the ceremony.  They bring the National League West leading Arizona Diamondbacks into town.  Gibby has managed them to a slim lead in the NL West over the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants with Alan Trammell as his bench coach.

Since our last report the Tigers have managed to complete a series sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays by beating them in Detroit for the first two games in May, and finishing them off with a win on June 13th for the rain postponed final game.  The Tigers moved on to take 2 of 3 from Cleveland in Comerica Park grabbing a temporary hold on first place in the AL Central before heading on the road.  Currently Cleveland is back out front again by a game, mostly due to the Tigers National League rules games played on the road trips to Colorado and Los Angeles where they dropped both series to the Rockies and the Dodgers losing 2 of 3 to each team.  Even though the Tigers record was 2-4 on the road trip, there have been some highlights, and returning from the road trip has triggered some roster changes as well.

First the roster changes (see Regular Season 2011 page).  Brandon Inge returns the the lineup at 3rd base after his rehab stint in Toledo following his bout with mono.  Ryan Perry also returns to the bullpen after spending most of June in AAA Toledo working on his control issues.  Danny Worth (although some wonder why it wasn't Ryan Raburn) heads back to Toledo to make room for Inge.  Worth was hitting well until the road trip, and only managed to hit .111 (1 for 9) on the trip even though he had hit .400 (8 for 20) to date before then.  Adam Wilk leaves for Toledo as well to make room for Ryan Perry in the bullpen.  Wilk has had a very good showing with the Tigers, and side-by-side he's posted better numbers than Perry walking only 1 hitter over 10 and 2/3 innings with 8 strikeouts to Perry's 9 walks in 10 and 1/3 innnings with 10 strikeouts.  The Tigers prefer Perry's higher strikeout per inning ratio if he can maintain his control.  So Perry's return is Wilk's undoing, since the Tigers needed another right-hander in the pen and Wilk becomes the victim of too many left-handers.

Justin Verlander - Cy Young year?

The road trip saw some dismal hitting from some batters and dismal pitching from most of the pitching staff.  As mentioned Worth went 1 for 9, but also the other utility infielder Ramon Santiago is in a slump as well going only 6 for 44 in June and 0 for 9 on the road trip.  Andy Dirks slumped as well getting only 3 hits in 15 at bats.  Every pitcher on the team with only two exceptions had issues in the National League Ballparks during the trip as well.  If it weren't for Al Alburquerque and Justin Verlander the road record may well have been worse than 2-4.   There were some highlights, both pitching and hitting that made some of the loses close and got the Tigers their two wins.

Miguel Cabrera - top of the charts.

Justin Verlander pitched another gem for his 2nd complete game in a row, and Miguel Cabrera along with Brennan Boesch continue to hit and hit well.  The Tigers are also getting some timely hitting from utility outfielder Casper Wells who has hit some key home runs lately, and Magglio Ordonez is back in the lineup and showing signs his bat is coming back as lethal as it has ever been.  Tigers hitting should improve now that they are back home with the ability to put the DH back in the lineup.  Miguel Cabrerra has managed to hit himself to the top of the leader boards in the American League and lately has been... literally..  "Off the Chart" he's hitting so well! (See the Hitter Trends Chart.)   Justin Verlander has done the same thing, having the best year of his career.. and is on track for a Cy Young season this year leading in several American League Pitching categories and pushing his numbers off the top of the pitching chart! (See Pitcher Trends Chart.)

The Inter-league play continues for the Tigers with the  Diamondbacks in town for a three game series over the weekend followed by an American League makeup game against the Toronto Blue Jays. They finish out Inter-league play with the NY Mets bringing rumored trade players shortstop Jose Reyes and thirdbaseman David Wright into town for a mid-week three game series, finishing with the Diamondbacks "nemesis", the SF Giants for a three game series over the 4th of July weekend.

Will the Tigers try to get Reyes in a trade before the July deadline.. perhaps to play 2nd base?  Stayed tuned.. there should be a VERY good 2nd half of the season coming up.

GO TIGERS!   ---Rob

Photo Credits:

Kirk Gibson by Christian Petersen - Getty Images

Justin Verlander by Chris Schneider - Associated Press

Miguel Cabrera by Robin Buckson - The Detroit News