The Tigers have just finished a BRUTAL stretch of Inter-league play as the first half of the season winds to a close. They took 2 of 3 from the Diamondbacks at home, and then Jose Reyes and the Mets came to town and ate Tiger pitching alive scoring 32 runs in 3 games taking 2 of 3 from the Tigers. Next the World Champion SF Giants came to town and shut down Tiger hitters winning 2 of 3 and lighting up Tigers pitching for 15 runs in one of the wins. All told Tiger pitching gave up 51 runs in 5 games spanning the Mets and Giants series' and much like a starting pitcher getting knocked out of the game early, the Tigers Pitching Coach Rick Knapp was fired at the end of Inter-league play being asked to "hand over the ball" to Tigers Bullpen coach Jeff Jones.
The current road trip started with a series against the LA Angels where the team proceeded to drop the first 2 of 3 games, but then recovered and won the last game carrying the momentum into the road series against Kansas City winning the next 2 as well for a 3-game win streak, before giving up 13 runs to KC in game 3 of 4. Verlander finishes out the last game against KC and the 1st half of the season before heading into the All-Star break this coming week.
After the All-Star break the Tigers will be facing the American League Central and West starting with a 3-game weekend series against the White Sox followed by a 2-game matchup with the Oakland A's both at Comerica Park. Next are road trips to play a 4-game weekend series against the Twins at Target Field followed by 3 more against the White Sox before returning home for a 4-game weekend series against the Angels once again.
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| Rick Knapp packs his bags. |
There have been a lot of changes on the Tigers roster during the latter half of June and beginning of July. Most notable is the coaching change mentioned above after the inter-league play, and Tiger pitchers will have to be better from here on out against their American League counterparts. Since mid-June we've seen Brandon Inge return from the DL, righty reliever Ryan Perry return from AAA Toledo, Adam Wilk being sent down to make room for Perry, and Carlos Guillen start his rehab assignment in Lakeland and then Toledo. We've also seen Daniel Schlereth be replaced by Brayan Villarreal after struggling against the Mets, and Phil Coke struggle and finally be relagated to the bullpen having his rotation spot taken by Charlie Furbush. Then right-handed late-inning stopper Al Alburquerque went on the DL with arm soreness being replaced by Lester Oliveros in the bullpen. Finally righty Brayan Villarreal was sent BACK to AAA Toledo about the same time Rick Knapp was fired and lefty reliever Adam Wilk was recalled from AAA less than 2 weeks after being sent down to make room for Ryan Perry. LOTS of changes, as the Tigers struggle to settle the pitching staff down. We will hope the revolving-door attitude with the pitchers will stop soon, otherwise it will be a long 2nd half for the Tigers.
Good news, bad news.. who's improving, who isn't? The latest trends are posted to the Pitcher Trends and the Hitter Trends pages. If you look closely you'll see some good signs..and some concerns. Current season-to-date numbers are also listed on the Regular Season (2011) page. Pay attention to the green and red colored numbers. These are above or below average indicators. We like to see a lot of green.. particularly with the pitchers.
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| Valverde Slipping? |
So who's up? Who's down? We'll start with Pitching.. and looking at the trends for the latter half of June you can see MOST of the pitchers struggled against the NL teams. David Purcey in particular was awful during the appearances against the NL teams. It also becomes obvious looking at Al Alburquerque's numbers taper off that he was having issues before heading to the DL. One area that should STILL be a concern however is Jose Valverde.. he has been in a tailspin since his peak on June 17th, and has just barely managed to stay alive in his latest save opportunities. Could be trouble ahead. The good news is that starters Porcello, Scherzer and Penny appear to be rebounding. Porcello has had two good outings, Penny has been steady in his last two and Max Scherzer finally put a decent game together winning against Kansas City. Phil Coke has also found his home again in the bullpen and started trending up. Even reliever Ryan Perry (ranked dead last on the team) who started terribly has found a way to improve, although only slightly so far. David Purcey may even have corrected his month-long slide. Let's hope so, because right now the trade of Scott Sizemore to Oakland for Purcey is looking like Oakland got the better deal (Sizemore is hitting .300 since being traded).
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| Cabrera slumping in July? (.161) |
Hitting is another area of concern. Even as well as the Tigers have been hitting there are some troubling indicators. First of which is the noticeable slide in the top Tiger hitters. Peralta has stayed consistent, but Cabrera (.161 in July), Avila and Victor Martinez have all been slipping. Martinez has even taken a nose-dive over the last week or so. Cabrera and he (the heart of the Tiger order) have been striking out more than you would normally see. One has to wonder if Martinez' bruise on the right shoulder suffered behind the plate on July 2nd might have something to do with it? Avila seems to be sliding heading into the All-Star break as well. Let's hope the Tigers two catchers recover for the second half of the season and the trend is only temporary.
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| Magglio is back! |
Good news on the hitting front is that finally Ryan Raburn is showing signs of turning the corner. He has trended up for the last week or so. Magglio Ordonez has also been on the upswing. Magglio has hit .281 since returning from the disabled list and is showing no signs of slowing down. The other good news is that switch-hitting Carlos Guillen is due to return from his rehab assignment (hitting .286 in AAA Toldeo) after the All-Star break. So even if the current hitters go cold (Avila, Cabrera), a fresh veteran bat should be back in the lineup soon. In the meantime, the part-timers.. Kelly, Santiago, Wells, Dirks.. all seem to be filling in admirably and improving. Wells and Dirks in particular are hitting at a decent level.
That's it for this week.
GO TIGERS! ---Rob
Photo Credits:
Rick Knapp by Fabrizio Costantini - Wall Street Journal
Jose Valverde by John T. Greilick - Detroit News
Miguel Cabrera by Robin Buckson - The Detroit News
Magglio Ordonez by Robin Buckson - The Detroit News
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