The Tigers have taken two turns through the rotation. The first was largely encouraging. A Max Scherzer 1 run effort and reasons for hope from Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman highlighted the pass with rough but acceptable outings from Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. This second turn though…oh man.
Using the Baseball Musings Day by Day Database it is easy to see how the starters have fared over the last 5 games and it isn’t pretty. The 12 walks issued over the 5 starts is borderline acceptable. But outside of that it is a matter of picking which number is most troublesome. Is it the 42 hits or the run-an-inning pace or the fact that strikeouts are few and far between? Or do you go with the result of all the ineffectiveness which is a bunch of short outings?
This isn’t rocket science. The starters have to pitch better. All of them. With only 4 of the hits being homers, there is some hope that the BABIP will drop. But the teams that the Tigers have faced (Indians/Royals/Mariners) are far from offensive juggernauts making this all the more concerning.
The third pass through the rotation begins today with Justin Verlander. The Tigers are the only team to not have a starter record an out after the 6th inning. That needs to change and the sooner the better.
Great graphic Bilfer.
It sure does single like the Tigers have been singled to death.
Do you think opposing teams are under orders to take pitches and work counts with the Tigers? Is it the inability to throw strike one? Trying to throw the perfect pitch every time? Trying too hard because the offense is still so limited? With the Royals is it the familiarity of six games in about 10 days?
Very, very discouraging, especially since as you noted, it’s coming against the weaker offenses.
Thanks. Graphics aren’t my strong suit.
What’s interesting to me is the difference in reaction (not here per se, but with Tiger fans in general) to Bonderman and Willis. The way I see it they’re very similar. Great success around ’05 and ’06, a decline in ’07, and a frustrating lack of productivity and inability to be productive contributors since. New hope in ’10 with a bounce-back first start followed by a disastrous 2nd start. Both are badly overpaid, both are still young and still talented.
Bondo gets almost universal support while Willis is considered a self-evident example of front-office ineptitude, who doesn’t deserve a spot in the organization let alone the major league staff.
So why the big difference in perception? Is it just that we’re more accepting of the physical vs mental difficulties? Is it that Bondo had his success with the tigers while Willis was with the Marlins? Or is it something else?
I’ll bet Orlando Hudson has his own theory.
Well, which one are you implying has the physical difficulties and who has the mental difficulties. Personally, I’ve never found much difference in perception between the two. Bondo has been called horrible names and I refuse to even repeat any.
I think he is wrong on Dye and about baseball. 72% of players are american .11.9% of players are Afro-Americans.12% of America´s population is Afro-American. Willis has received the same support received by Bondo, who has been nurtured by Detroit for 77 years in the Majors.
The public , the fans are other thing. Bondo was called mentally disabled by someone commenting in this blog but in general he has received less attacks than Willis. There is no Designate Willis blog but still…
And of course is not only baseball look at Tiger , he didnt do worst than certain ex president: extrajudicial agreement on rape charges, attacked a woman during the wake of the man who was her husband , sexually harassed another woman and had sex in the workplace. And he doesnt have problems finding sponsors. Or the white QB, nobody said anything until he was cleared. He didnt received the Kobe treatment or the Tiger´s one
sorry, seven years. There is no edit feature
chicken or egg question of the day: are the KC Royals leading the AL in team batting average because they faced the Tigers staff 6 times, or are the Tigers pitchers last in the AL in batting average against because they’ve faced the Royals 6 times.
Discuss.