Alan Trammell said that when the weather warmed up, so would the bats. Unfortunately it was the opponents bats who got hot. The Tiger pitchers had a brutal month with a team ERA of 5.36, almost a run a game higher than they had coming into the month. Everybody thought that the Tiger pitching staff was a pleasant surprise so far. I hope this isn’t a sign that they are returning to their “true” talent level. Nate Cornejo had a particularly rough month going 0-3 in 6 starts with a 6.96 ERA. (I’m working on some additional Nate Cornejo analysis that I should have in a week or so). Jeremy Bonderman on the other hand had a pretty strong month. He led Tiger pitchers in innings for the month. Don’t worry, he’s not being abused as pitch counts in his six starts were 92-81-91-90-91-106. He has a string of 5 consecutive quality starts and he hasn’t allowed a walk in 27.2 innings. Not surprisingly, Tram shook up the rotation, inserting Matt Roney and demoting Gary Knotts.

The offense put up very similar numbers in June as they did in May. This seems to indicate that this team is in fact a .245 hitting team, and not just hitting poorly for 3 months. The most disturbing drop-off is in walks. In May, the Tigers did a good job of drawing walks. In June, their walks dropped by a third. I don’t know if this is because pitchers aren’t the least bit afraid of the Tigers, or if it’s because the Tiger hitters are pressing and swinging at more bad pitches. As far as individual performances go, Dmitri Young continues to swing well (.326/.414/.652) and will actually be a legitimate All-Star instead of just the token Tiger rep. Also, despite a recent slump, Eric Munson has hit .282/.313/.500 for the month (despite some shaky defense). Kevin Witt has filled in nicely for Carlos Pena hitting .289/.304/.434. Warren Morris has been a pleasant surprise and has added some offense to the number 2 slot. The rest of the team has still been bad. Especially bad has been Bobby Higginson. For the month he has hit Inge-like numbers of .156/.230/.195. That type of production isn’t acceptable from a back-up catcher-let alone your corner outfielder/number 3 hitter.

June also marked the start of the Toledo-Detroit shuttle bus. Brandon Inge, Omar Infante, Franklyn German, Gary Knotts, and Gene Kingsale were all sent down this month. Andres Torres recently began his second tour of duty, and Ernie Young has already come and gone. It’s hard to say what other moves we can expect in July. I would suspect that Steve Avery is close to making a Toledo return. Since his first couple outings, he’s been hit hard. Also Adam Bernero is probably close to losing his spot in the rotation. The likely candidates to replace him are Wil Ledezma or Shane Loux.

Highlight of the MonthAfter taking the first two games against San Diego, the Tigers weren’t the worst team in baseball. A distinction they held for all of 17 hours
Lowlight of the MonthPretty much everything since then.