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 four 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

4th:  12-6   85-84     29- 8-259/335/459    6-5- 97.2-4.98    6-1-6-4.08

 

The fourth inning featured a 12-6 record despite the Tigers outscoring their opponents by only one run. The Tigers were helped tremendously by an 8-2 records in one and two run games. The Tigers must be concerned about getting under 98 innings from their starters. Only two innings in 2008 and one inning in 2007 featured less innings pitched by the starters. Even though the bullpen factored in all the wins (6 saves, and 6 wins) overuse of the pen will hurt the Tigers come mid August.

  

 

Starting Pitching: Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello continue to be very good, though Jackson may want to sue to offense for lack of run support. Galarraga is very shaky as the 4th starter, but shines compared to the trio who attempted to fill the 5th slot. Bonderman is not healthy and will probably not be back until Spring Training 2010. Dontrelle Willis walked 13 batters in 8.2 innings and went back on the DL for anxiety disorder. Figaro pitched around a bunch of runners to get a home win, but it remains to be seen whether he is ready for the show.

 

 

Name G IP W L S K ERA WHIP
Justin Verlander 3 20 2/3 2 1   21 3.48 1.21
Edwin Jackson 3 18    0 1   17 3.50 1.44
Rick Porcello 4 22 2/3 2 0   10 3.18 1.59
A Galarraga 4 18 2/3 1 1   9 6.75 1.93
Alfredo Figaro 1 5    1 0   7 3.60 2.00
Dontrelle Willis 2 8 2/3 0 1   4 9.35 2.77
J Bonderman 1 4    0 1   1 13.50 2.75

 

Bullpen: The back end of the bullpen struggled as Zumaya and Rodney combined to walk more than a batter per inning. Zumaya got picked up by the offense as he picked up a couple of wins. Rodney is doing a great Todd Jones impression by letting up all kinds of runners but is now a perfect 16/16 in save opportunities. Lyon, Seay and Miner were all outstanding in middle relief. Perry was sent down to Toledo (again) for some seasoning, while Nate Robertson has been awful. You would have to think the Tigers would of given Robertson a shot at starting of he had shown them anything through the first 45% of the season.

Name G IP W L S K ERA WHIP
Brandon Lyon 10 13 1/3 2 0 0 10 0.68 0.60
Bobby Seay 11 7 1/3 0 0 0 6 0.00 0.68
Zach Miner 6 10 2/3 2 0 0 9 0.84 0.84
F Rodney 9 8    0 0 6 8 5.62 1.75
Joel Zumaya 9 7 1/3 2 1 0 9 6.14 2.45
Ryan Keith Perry 4 5 1/3 0 0 0 5 8.44 2.44
Nate Robertson 7 5 1/3 0 0 0 6 15.19 2.63

 

  

Offense: The offense performed better in the 4th inning than the previous anemic 3rd inning. 29 homeruns are the most in an inning in the 2.5 years I have been doing this analysis. Cabrera and Inge continue to be the most consistent hitters on the team. Thames has been thumping since coming off the DL. Granderson is hitting with nice power, but needs to get on base more if he is going to bat leadoff. Polanco had a nice performance in the 4th inning after being way under his career numbers the first third of the season. Kelly and Raburn have provided a nice platoon and Santiago and Everett are doing very well as a SS combination.

Magglio was benched as he has continued to perform way under his career numbers. Gerald Laird has struggled offensively all year and Dusty Ryan was called up to improve on the .068 batting average (NOT a misprint!) of the backup catchers. Clete Thomas was sent to Toledo to work with Hitting Coach Leon “Bull” Durham. Josh Anderson is fast, but appears to have few other major league talents. Porcello’s 2 hits helped the pitchers hit a collective .182.

Name G AB HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG
Miguel Cabrera 18 68 5 8 0 .279 .347 .544
Marcus Thames 18 57 5 10 0 .281 .323 .596
Brandon Inge 18 61 5 14 0 .246 .347 .541
Placido Polanco 16 55 2 6 2 .309 .387 .509
C Granderson 17 67 4 8 3 .239 .329 .463
Don Kelly 11 30 0 3 0 .333 .412 .467
Ryan Raburn 15 36 2 6 1 .250 .372 .472
Ramon Santiago 11 26 2 3 0 .269 .321 .500
Adam Everett 14 44 1 9 0 .273 .353 .364
Gerald Laird 14 46 1 3 0 .217 .280 .370
Magglio Ordonez 11 41 1 3 1 .244 .289 .341
Dusty Ryan 2 6 0 1 0 .333 .429 .500
Josh Anderson 17 26 0 2 1 .231 .231 .231
Clete Thomas 5 11 1 4 0 .182 .182 .545
Dane Sardinha 3 5 0 1 0 .000 .000 .000
Rick Porcello 4 5 0 2 0 .400 .400 .400
Edwin Jackson 3 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Dontrelle Willis 2 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Justin Verlander 3 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Zach Miner 6 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
A Galarraga 4 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000

 

 

The Tigers are a combined 36-18 in the 4th innings of the last three years, so they seem to usually play well this time of the year. How will they perform in August and September? That is the question. They are 23-11 at home and presently hold a 5-game lead in the division. They play 41 out of 75 post all-star games at home, so the schedule is favorable. If Magglio can get straightened out, they can find one more effective starter, and the backend of the bullpen throws strikes, October will be pretty fun at the COPA.