For whatever reason, most every move the Tigers made just didn’t work out. Baseball is not an exact science. Big-budget teams spend the money to correct their mistakes. The Tigers don’t. All teams make mistakes on players, but some teams can make up for them by trading guys, eating salary or finding lightning in a bottle with one guy who has a great year. None of that has happened lately for the Tigers.
I like Jonesy and all, and if you were to just read this paragraph, he makes some valid points. He points out that Garner didn’t have a lot to work with, which is hard to argue. However, despite mentioning that “most every move the Tigers made just didn’t work out” he still defends Randy Smith elsewhere in the article, and that just doesn’t make sense.
How about Randall Simon and Robert Fick? Last night Simon hit his fourth home run in only 27 at-bats and now leads the team in the category as well as RBIs with 9. As for Fick, his 4 for 4 showing raised his average to .444 and his OPS is 1.154. I just thought it was worth pointing out some positives this year.
Now, to sound a cautionary note, Dombrowski is not Branch Rickey, and Avila probably isn’t Fred Ferreira or Andres Reiner. But clearly, if you’re swapping the way things have been done from Point A (that agonizing stretch of forever that’s been miserable from the moment Bo Schembechler darkened their door) to Point B (Dombrowski and some of the people from that now-impossibly convoluted Expos/Marlins connection pull into town), that’s about as good an upgrade as you could reasonably wish for as a Tigers fan.
Damion Easely on the DL If you were watching the game last night and saw Damion go down, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The aggravated muscle pull is expected to sideline Easley for two to three weeks. Taking his spot on the roster is outfielder Craig Monroe. On Monday against the Norfolk Tide Monroe hit his third and fourth homers of the season.
In other roster news, Matt Miller was moved from the 15 day disabled list to the 60 day DL and it is expected his season is over. Also, Terry Pearson was sent to Toledo to make room for left hand reliever Jamie Walker.
The 1920 Tigers began the season with two Hall of Fame players — Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann — and a pitcher who had won 21 games the previous season. Their manager, Hughie Jennings, once had taken them to three straight World Series appearances. So how did they lose their first 13 games?
Pettyjohn’s recovery is far from complete. He still wears a colostomy bag while the inflammation subsides in what remains of his bowels. In a few months he is scheduled to undergo a pair of surgeries designed to reattach his small intestine to his rectum. Months of arduous and tedious rehabilitation await him before he again steps on a mound, but I think he’s going to be just fine. In fact, I think he already is.
So far, new hitting coach Merv Rettenmund and a new manager have done little to improve two major weaknesses: at-bats with runners in scoring position, and disciplined hitting in general. The team was 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position in back-to-back losses in Minnesota, and scored only three runs on 14 hits Saturday. Hitters too often ignore scouting reports and tendencies from other pitchers.
The Tigers are a legitimate 0-11. Yesterday’s loss, while unfortunate, was not typical of their start: they’re falling behind early in most games, and don’t have the horses to make up any deficit. Prior to Sunday, the Tigers’ starting pitchers had taken their last eight losses, and been given a grand total of 19 runs in those games.
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