Monthly Archives: April 2002
Tigers’ batters and pitchers near bottom in late innings (Free Press)
When the bases are loaded, the Tigers have compiled this hard-to-do ratio: They have allowed more bases-loaded hits than they have had bases-loaded at-bats.
Detroit 8, Chicago 2
Did anybody happen to Salazar’s home run in the 3rd inning? It was actually between periods in the Wings game so maybe some of you flipped over. With a runner on second and two strikes, he fouled off several pitches as he tried to hit behind the runner. Then he got a pitch he could handle and ripped it. It was just a great piece of hitting that you don’t generally see from anyone on the Tigers other than Fick. What’s great is that Mike Rivera had a similar at-bat prior to Salazar that went almost the same way, and resulted in a double.
As spare parts go, I like Shane Halter a lot, especially if he can hit as well as he did last year. He can do a team a lot of good as a second baseman or spotting at third base, and even making a start once in a blue moon at shortstop on days when a relatively flyball-oriented pitcher like Jose Lima or Mark Redman is on the mound. Making him an everyday shortstop is a great way to make your pitchers wonder about whether they can get people out on routine grounders. They’d be better off with Craig Wilson, if only until Omar Infante might be ready later this summer.
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.
10. Tigers-But according to Arthur Andersen they began the season 4-7
Danny Knobler points out that the last two teams to start as bad as the Tigers did this year, were playoff contenders the following year.
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.