A look back at the year that was 2007 here at the Detroit Tigers Weblog…

January

• The Tigers inked Timo Perez and Bobby Seay. Seay would turn out to be pretty good while who could have fathomed the consternation Timo would cause.
• I began writing more than most cared to know about first pitch swinging and other stuff about plate appearances.
• Tigerfest is a sell out, and really cold.
• Jim Leyland calls out Neifi Perez, in what would be the beginning of a tumultuous year.

February

• The Tigers flipped Jeff Frazier for Yorman Bazardo.
• We get historical and look at the worst offensive seasons of all time.
• Spring Training kicks off.
• Everybody is worried about Curtis Granderson’s strike outs.

March

• A bunch of hit batters in spring training? Benches clear in a scrimmage against the Red Sox.
• Leyland announces that Pudge will bat leadoff against lefties. It wouldn’t last long.
• Kenny Rogers has a blood clot. The first of many injuries to come.
• The Tigers sign their first baseman of the future, shortstop Carlos Guillen.

April

• It’s Opening Day! Bonderman gives up first inning runs and the bullpen loses the game in extra innings.
• The Tigers have some late game heroics as Pudge Rodriguez hits a 3 run homer in the 9th inning to earn a victory against the Royals.
• Jeremy Bonderman pitches a tremendous game against the Blue Jays but the Tigers come up short in extra innings.
• Simply horrible news as we find out that Tigers fan Brian Bluhm was among those killed in the tragedy at Virginia Tech.
• Polanco refuses to swing at anything he can’t make contact with.

May

• I go all the way to Kansas City to see the Tigers play, and Joel Zumaya’s finger explodes
• Hey look, another pitcher is injured. This time it’s Bonderman.
• Wil Ledezma has a hard time getting people out.
• Andrew Miller makes his first start and does pretty good.
• Fernando Rodney hits the DL.
• Brandon Inge breaks his toe, and starts to hit good.

June

• An auspicious start to the month as Todd Jones gets pulverized and Jim Leyland just lets him take as the Tigers lose a game they had no business losing.
• The Jose Mesa era ends quickly, but not quick enough.
• Nate Robertson joins the DL party. He’d later go on to nearly pitch a perfect game while rehabbing.
• The Tigers draft Rick Porcello. Ilitch gives the slot system the middle finger.
• The Tigers played an uneventful game against the Brewers. Well, uneventful for the Milwaukee hitters.
• Vance Wilson has Tommy John surgery, and Roman Colon breaks a teammate’s face.
• Two less members of the 2003 team are around as Ledezma and Mike Maroth get traded.

July

• The Tigers place 5 on the All Star team. Five and a half if you count Bonderman being one of the last chance guys.
• Neifi Perez gets suspended for testing positive for a stimulant
• The Tigers head into the All Star break on a 5 game win streak including a sweep of the Red Sox featuring some Pudge heroics and a Grandy homer saving catch.
• Bruce Froemming needs to retire.
• Guillermo Moscoso throws a perfect game for the Oneonta Tigers.
• People love them some Tigers as Detroit sets an attendance record.
• The Tigers stand pat at the trade deadline and avoid trading Cameron Maybin for 2 months of bullpen help.

August

• Mike Rableo – the anti-save
• Andrew Miller hits the DL.
• Jair Jurrjens makes his debut.
• Cameron Maybin makes his debut and a 3rd member of the 2003 team is traded. Coincidentally it was the Tigers last day in first place.
• The Tigers play the Yankees. The game is delayed 4 hours and of course goes to extra innings and Guillen hits a walk off. It was neat.

September

• Maggs wins player of the month honors for August. Just another month in an incredible season.
• The Tigers improbably blow another key game – this one in Oakland as Jack Hannahan comes back to get them.
• Jeremy Bonderman finally admits to elbow pain ending his season.
• Granderson gets his 20th stolen base securing the quad-20.
• The Tigers come back from 3 runs down with none on and 2 out in the 9th inning.
• A look at which Tigers are more prone to swinging at balls and taking strikes.
• The nail in the coffin.

October

• The Tigers bring back Pudge for 2009
• The Tigers move quick to resolve the shortstop situation and ship out Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurrjens for Edgar Renteria.

November

• Somewhere a butterfly flaps its wings, and Joel Zumaya needs surgery.
• I made one last trip to Tiger Stadium.
• The Tigers trade Omar Infante, a 4th member of the 03 team and get a left handed bat in Jacque Jones.
• The Tigers D according to PMR
• The Tigers bring back Boras-less Rogers.

December

• Holy Freakin Crap! and a lively debate ensues about Brandon Inge.
• The Chris Shelton era ends.
• A look at Comerica Park’s park factors

Site Info

Once again DTW saw substantial growth in 2007 and for that I offer sincere thanks to everyone who stopped by, subscribed to the feed, or linked to the site. For the year the site had 326,595 unique visitors and 613,209 page views according to stat counter. Those numbers were 217,986 and 449,751 last year. The biggest days in terms of visits were the 3 days around the Willis/Cabrera trade. Those days surpassed the other highest volume day which was in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

In terms of posting volume, there were 727 posts this year (728 including this one). And you the reader contributed 18,718 comments. The most commented on post was the 3:30 in the morning game with 440 comments. There are more stats available for your perusal here (I like stats, what can I say?)

Once again, thanks to everyone for another great year!