A full baseball season can be broken into Nine 18-game segments. I have termed these 18-game segments as an “inning” of a season. In the past I have provided analysis of each “inning” at www.detroittigersweblog.com. For 2009, I am going to post the analysis on my own blog www.samhoff.com.

Let’s compare the first three innings of 2009:

                                                                      Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

1st:  10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2nd:  10-8   99-86     20- 6-265/342/436    8-5-104.0-3.63    2-3-3-5.68

3rd:   9-9   67-65     14-13-252/317/370    9-8-114.1-3.23    0-1-5-4.23

 

The third inning of 2009 featured a 9-9 record and a return to the dead ball era. In the 3 years I have been doing this analysis, 67 runs is a low by the Tigers for any one inning. On a positive note, 65 runs allowed is also a low! The Tigers are getting excellent starting pitching as 114.1 innings is also a high water mark for the last 3 years.

 

  

Starting Pitching: In the eleven games started by Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello the Tigers record was 8-3, in the seven games started by Galarraga and Willis the Tigers were 1-6. Jeremy Bonderman is scheduled to make his debut today in Chicago and you have to figure that there will be change coming to the rotation. Galarraga’s pitching was passable, so you have to figure the final rotation spot is a battle between Bonderman and Willis.

 

Name G IP W L S K ERA WHIP
Justin Verlander 4 27    3 0   28 1.33 1.04
Edwin Jackson 4 31 1/3 3 1   21 1.72 0.89
Rick Porcello 3 16 1/3 2 1   9 3.31 1.35
A Galarraga 3 19 1/3 0 3   8 4.66 1.34
Dontrelle Willis 4 20 1/3 1 3   13 6.64 1.52

 

 

Bullpen: The Bullpen got little work as the starters for the most part went pretty deep into games. I think Leyland has managed the work load pretty well as every reliever had between four and eight innings pitched. Rodney is still a perfect 10/10 in save opportunities. Zumaya and Perry have pitched well although both can be prone to control problems. Bobby Seay was the least used reliever (4 innings) as he was used mainly as a LOOGY (lefty specialist). Robertson and Lyon both pitched well while being used in low leverage situations. Zack Miner has continued to struggle and may soon find himself in Toledo.

Name G IP W L S K ERA WHIP
F Rodney 8 8    0 1 4 8 2.25 1.38
Joel Zumaya 6 6 2/3 0 0 1 11 4.05 1.65
Brandon Lyon 6 8    0 0 0 5 3.38 1.00
Bobby Seay 6 4    0 0 0 2 4.50 1.00
Nate Robertson 5 5 2/3 0 0 0 4 3.18 1.41
Ryan Keith Perry 6 5 2/3 0 0 0 4 4.76 1.41
Zach Miner 4 6 2/3 0 0 0 5 8.10 1.80

 

 

 

Offense: The offense which was on a pace to score over 900 runs at the end of the second inning are now pacing right around 800. That would put them right around where they were in 2006 and 2008 (they scored 887 runs in 2007). Miguel Cabrera is still raking but a pulled hammy has to have the Tigers concerned as they cannot afford to lose his bat for an extended period of time. Granderson and Inge are having solid season. Magglio is getting on base, but has still not found his extra base power. Raburn contributed nicely when given a chance to play as he was limited by the fact that by my count the Tigers faced only one left handed starter in the third inning. Wilkin Ramirez took advantage of his one game introduction to the Major Leagues to contribute a key homerun in the Tigers win on May 20th.

You do have to be concerned that the league seems to be catching up to some of the inexperienced lefties (Larish, Thomas, and Anderson). Gerald Laird is playing great defense in his first full season as a solid #1 catcher, but is not hitting as well as he did in Texas. The shortstop combo of Santiago and Everett came back to earth in the third inning as they had been hitting way over their heads. Polanco is hitting 50 points below his career batting average a third of the way through the season. Dane Sardinha is in the major leagues for one reason only and that reason is not his bat (he has a great defensive reputation)

 

Name G AB HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG
Miguel Cabrera 16 56 2 8 0 .304 .350 .482
C Granderson 18 69 3 10 5 .290 .342 .464
Brandon Inge 18 65 2 8 0 .277 .329 .431
Magglio Ordonez 14 52 0 4 1 .346 .414 .404
Ryan Raburn 9 19 1 3 1 .421 .450 .632
Gerald Laird 17 44 1 5 0 .250 .358 .364
Placido Polanco 17 62 1 6 1 .226 .273 .306
Clete Thomas 17 58 3 8 0 .190 .277 .379
Josh Anderson 15 44 0 1 4 .227 .261 .273
Ramon Santiago 10 34 0 1 0 .206 .243 .235
Jeff Larish 15 38 0 2 0 .158 .283 .237
Adam Everett 12 33 0 2 1 .152 .243 .152
Wilkin Ramirez 1 3 1 1 0 .333 .333 1.333
Dane Sardinha 4 10 0 1 0 .200 .200 .200

 

The Tigers are by no means a great team. As I see it they battle Texas, Toronto, LAA for the mantle of 4th best team in the American League (behind TB, Bos, and NYY). They do look like the best team in their division and presently hold a 2.5 game lead at the 1/3 point of the season. You have to be encouraged with the starting pitching and the defense but I hesitate to crown them a clear cut favorites based on their past August and September struggles. I will judge Leyland based on his team performs in those months.