Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record for each innings in 2008:

 

      Starters:         Bullpen:

    W-L   RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L-IP-   ERA     W-L-S-ERA

1:  6-12  74 -112    15-10-262/345/404    3-9- 96.2-5.96    3-3-3-5.28

2:  9-9   98 -87     21- 6-261/350/426    5-8-105.2-5.11    4-1-2-3.61

3:  8-10  89 -75     19- 2-275/326/442    8-5-109.2-4.19    0-5-4-3.83

4:  11-7  85 -74     19- 8-268/350/416    8-4-113.0-3.27    3-3-5-5.17

5:  12-6  86 -78     25- 6-297/347/476    6-4-106.1-4.23    6-2-6-3.43

6:  9-9   118-96     25- 8-299/368/483    8-6-105.0-5.49    1-3-2-4.03

7:  7-11  93- 103    26- 8-265/353/455    7-7-104.0-4.67    0-4-4-4.92

8:  8-10  91- 118    27- 8-263/335/475    4-8- 92.2-6.90    4-2-5-4.68

9:  4-14  87- 114    23- 7-245/330/410    3-7- 99.1-5.98    1-7-3-7.11

 

In the 9th was an abomination. Four wins was the worst inning the team has had since the 7th inning if 2003 (2-16). Three of the four wins came in the last weekend of the season against a Rays team that was busy celebrating their first ever division championship. The end of the season left a bad aftertaste in everyone’s mouth.

 

Leyland has now managed the Tigers for three years. The teams combined records in those three years (broken up by thirds):

 

Innings 1-3 (beginning third of seasons): 89-73

Innings 4-6 (middle third of seasons): 99-63

Innings 7-9 (last third of seasons): 69-93

 

The question for 2009 is not if the team will fade at the end of the year, but when the team will start fading. Let’s look at each of the 3 years:

 

2006: The team had a 76-36 record and a 10-game lead on August 7th, they then went 19-31 the rest of the year and lost the division.

 

2007: The Team had a 59-38 record which was the best record in baseball and a 2-game lead on July 23rd. They get swept at Chicago in a double header the next day on route to a 29-36 finish.

 

2008: After a horrible start, the team climbs back to a 52-49 record on July 23rd. They are within 5 games of the White Sox. A blown save by Todd Jones against the White Sox starts a 22-39 run to end the season.

 

 

Onto the Analysis of the 9th Inning:

 

Starting Pitching: Miner continued to pitch well. Freddy Garcia did well in his showcase for 2009. Galarraga was hurt by seven homeruns. Verlander finished a really bad campaign with a thud. Robertson and Willis were horrible and Kenny Rogers is probably done.

 

Name

GS

IP

W

L

K

ERA

WHIP

Zach Miner

3

19 1/3

0

1

11

4.19

1.09

Freddy Garcia

3

15   

1

1

12

4.20

1.13

A Galarraga

3

19 1/3

1

1

14

6.05

1.09

Justin Verlander

3

16 2/3

1

2

14

5.40

1.68

Nate Robertson

2

11 2/3

0

1

9

6.17

1.29

Dontrelle Willis

3

12 2/3

0

1

13

8.53

1.97

Kenny Rogers

1

4 2/3

0

0

2

13.50

2.14

 

Bullpen: I love slurpees from 7-11, but a team ERA of 7.11 from the Bullpen is an absolute joke. Lopez, much like Miner, put up decent numbers this year but gets no respect in terms of a future job.

 

Name

IP

W

L

S

K

ERA

WHIP

Aquilino Lopez

8   

1   

0   

0   

11   

2.25

1.00

Freddy Dolsi

6 2/3

0   

1   

0   

11   

2.70

1.35

Clay Rapada

4 1/3

0   

0   

0   

2   

4.15

1.85

Chris Lambert

9   

0   

1   

0   

7   

5.00

1.78

Bobby Seay

8 2/3

0   

1   

0   

14   

8.31

1.73

Gary Glover

8   

0   

0   

0   

8   

6.75

2.13

Fernando Rodney

5   

0   

2   

3   

6   

9.00

2.60

Casey Fossum

3 2/3

0   

0   

0   

2   

12.27

2.45

Nate Robertson

2 2/3

0   

0   

0   

2   

10.13

3.00

A Galarraga

0   

0   

1   

0   

0   

-

-

Kyle Farnsworth

1   

0   

1   

0   

1   

54.00

9.00

 

 

The offense had some bright spots. Dusty Ryan hit well and proved that he can hit major league pitching. Miguel Cabrera continued to hit. Hats off to 29-year old Mike Hessman, who has now surpassed 300 career homeruns (288 in the Minors and 13 in the Majors). Curtis Granderson slumped terribly. Brandon Inge continued to not hit and almost ended up below .200, but inexplicably was told he is the starting 3B for 2009?

 

 

Name

G

AB

HR

RBI

SB

BA

OBP

SLG

Miguel Cabrera

18

69

4

11

0

.290

.324

.522

Dusty Ryan

13

40

1

5

0

.325

.378

.450

Jeffrey Larish

15

30

0

3

0

.367

.367

.500

Placido Polanco

13

48

1

4

0

.312

.353

.438

Ramon Santiago

12

31

3

4

1

.194

.342

.548

Mike Hessman

5

10

3

4

0

.400

.455

1.300

Gary Sheffield

14

49

3

7

2

.224

.367

.429

Dane Sardinha

3

5

0

0

0

.400

.625

.400

M Ordonez

18

66

2

15

0

.273

.329

.379

Edgar Renteria

12

37

1

7

0

.270

.282

.432

Marcus Thames

9

30

1

5

0

.267

.312

.400

Matthew Joyce

16

37

0

0

0

.216

.383

.270

Ryan Raburn

10

32

0

4

1

.219

.306

.281

C Granderson

18

71

4

9

2

.113

.212

.310

Brandon Inge

16

53

0

5

1

.151

.246

.226

 

 

The 2008 Tigers were one of the most disappointing teams in Detroit Sports History. Expected to compete for a World Championship, they instead finished last place and looked totally listless in the last six weeks of the season.

 

Will they bounce back for 2009? I have a tendency to think so. In my opinion, I still have a lot of faith in Dave Dombrowski and think the organization will rebound. I must say though that Jim Leyland may be one of the most overrated managers in the history of baseball (.494 career winning percentage).