awesome jackson: i've seen people say pitchers are exposing him this year. i dont think so. he went into a slump late in spring training and they knew he'd start bad till he got out of it. im not worried at all because he was extraordinarily consistent last year. even if we send him to toledo for a tune up i wont worry.

rhymes: like his speed, but with sizemore doing well in AAA, i'd rather give him another shot. rhymes' production has been terrible. a handful of singles 10 games in is pretty bad. then theres the question of why not let santiago get some action?

mags: im glad we only gave him one year. yeesh. i think we need to see raburn given an everyday position. between mags' and boesch's bad play, + dh, you'd think there would be more opportunity for him. its not like either of those guys are winning gold gloves, either.

victor: like him. he even threw a guy out when we let him catch.

i think the tigers have been as bad as their record, and i blame leyland in part. don kelly batting 6th?

Ramon Santiago is sort of like this team's Will Bynum.

Santiago plays good D though.

Cha cha cha.

Any chance we could buy low on Dan Uggla?

would you trade victor martinez for adam dunn right now?

me: no. not because of dunn's slump, think he'll pull out fine. but victor as backup catcher is too valuable to give up. and i prefer the professional hitter approach to dunn's 1 strikeout for every 2 ab approach.

but its close.

heres the lineup i think the tigers should be using:

2nd: santiago
OF: boesch
1b) big mig
dh: martinez
ss: peralta
c: avila
OF: rayburn
3rd: kelly
OF: jackson

rayburn, kelly, and santiago could play position musical chairs. but i think mig needs to move up, and jackson needs off leadoff until he gets on base better than 3 in 10 times.

would you trade victor martinez for adam dunn right now?

me: no. not because of dunn's slump, think he'll pull out fine. but victor as backup catcher is too valuable to give up. and i prefer the professional hitter approach to dunn's 1 strikeout for every 2 ab approach.

but its close.

No. hell no.

He needs to spend a few weeks in the Dr Ray health thread to get in shape. I love him, he's one of my favorites, but I wouldn't even think about trading Victor for him right now. Bat-speed doesn't look like it's there.

Yeah time spent on the internets in a health thread is good for your health

i know i've said this a bunch before, but i do not like coke as a starter. his era isnt bad. its actually right around average. but i am confident we can replace what he's giving us as a starter alot easier than replacing what he gave us as a setup man.

look at the numbs. he's 1-7 as a starter. he has 5 quality starts of 13. his numbers are even a little skewed because he's had a few great starts. not really fair to take those away, but just a couple of his starts really make his numbers alot more respectable than they've been.

consider how much our bullpen has hurt us this year, how much he helped it last year, and that any farmhand could be 1-7 and 5/13 qs.

having a lefty starter isnt that important. its time to do the right thing and send him back to the pen.

other ramblings.

dont like mags getting a turn at the 3 hole again. dont care if its for one night or not. i'd rather don kelly bat 3rd than mags. bat him 6th if you want him in the lineup. 3rd should have boesch's name chiseled in stone.

speaking of don kelly, he needs to terminate brandon inge. terminate, with extreme prejudice.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-BH0RfUWDMg/RtIR8NMQl7I/AAAAAAAAAYU/quGq3WKGTKY/s320/apocalypse+now+2.bmp

how this guy is back in the lineup is beyond me. mono last for 2 months, inge-- not 2 years. he can make excuses for sucking to start the year, but... uh... he's sucked alot longer than that. go away, inge!

^ hurling ingesults

walking ordonez on four straight. lol

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!

not everyone likes peralta and avila batting 7th and 8th, respectively. but i do.

i even like old man mags batting 6th. when we rock this lineup, it seems like were dangerous at any time. stark contrast to last year when it seemed like 2 of 3 innings werent worth paying attention.

welp, after today i think the whole 'coke as starter' experiment can start winding down.

and porcello?

Porcello likes to experiment with dudes.

Inge is a BITCH

Miggy is not.

also, I like how this became the rest of the season game/series thread.

not exactly fair, but porcello is young and was brought into start, coke is older and brought in to set up. porcello has shown *some* signs of being a high end starter, coke hasnt, really. despite what the tigers were saying, he had very little experience as a starter as a professional.

the tigers arent going to keep the bats going forever. if the starters dont get back under control the white sox are going to blow. right by us. i get that demoting coke doesnt exactly fix the problem, but DD has had success in the past pulling a 5th starter out of the scrap pile. the way the league is playing, it doesnt make sense that our pitching is under performing so much.

It's just a matter of time before Coke is demoted, maybe even tonight.

Actually wouldn'y be surprised if he continued to start in Toledo while working on his issues. He doesn't do us any good in the pen if he can't get anybody out there, either.

We'll likely be looking for a starter soon anyways, and maybe it'll end up being Coke. Depending on how the furry bush does, that is.

i will start.

Rayburn is an AWESOME player.....for the Mets. He turned a routine ground ball into two runs. Why is he playing 2nd?????

Painful.

LOL @ Don Kelly pitching. I'm actually glad I was watching this shitfest for that.

kelly to start?

coke to the pen, furbush to start. painfully necessary.

jv got rocked today. 7 hits and a dinger? only 7 innings? wtf. i thought he was supposed to be good. im afraid to even think what this train wreck did to his WHIP.

also, dirks.

lol wat hapen,

and bdiddy I was just shitting you about Porcello

i figured as much, but its really not that unreasonable of a thought. outside of a nice little streak he just fell off, he hasnt really shown a ton.

i know im worried.

coke to the pen, furbush to start. painfully necessary.


Thanks for the TIGERS NEWS - 2011, dude.

my location says it all.

al avila is 7th in the AL in OPS (jhonny is 9th, and big mig is 2nd, as well).

nice to see. kind of a good news bad news deal. consider how much more production we're getting from C and SS than last year without much better results. and im not sure how long they can keep that up.

Hate watching Penny, so much... unless "we" are winning, of course! I don't mind then.

LOOK OUT, CASPER

The 1st inning of today's game shows that Magglio has no business playing in the outfield anymore. He couldn't even get to a fly ball near (inside) the foul line and turned an out into a double. A couple plays later, Well catches one in foul territory and guns out a runner at home. Leyland is such a jacka$$ for playing Maggs anywhere but an occasional DH and as a PH.

The beard is in.

MAGGS!

papa poco

hahah loool

Wilson seems more angry than dead. Probably going to strike out the side.

Wilson's raging, lol.

Man, this game's been going on forever.

wow

Fuck. Damn.

that looked so much like a hit off the bat. fuckit #pkshhh

Raburn is a fucking idiot.

what he do

He was Raburn

fuck.

he was one of the guys i was ripping on leyland for not playing him more -- my bad. i still say give santiago more time. defensively, he's light years ahead of ray at 2nd, and i dont htink you lose much offensively.

welp, this season is looking like a second have swoon is as imminent as ever.

the pitching has fallen apart.

we've barely stayed above 500 with 1/2 the bats swinging extremely hot.

we were winning when certain players werent here, now theyre back, given their old spots, and we're losing. at some point, don kelly is going to orchestrate a coup-de-ta unseen since the french revolution or at least crimson tide.

http://www.zuguide.com/image/Denzel-Washington-Crimson-Tide.12.jpg

Thank god IL play is over after today.

Love this Maggotry!

RABURN MADE THE CATCH!??! Holy moly!

coaching advice from lloyd to avila today: "three walks is nice, kid, but i want you swinging more".

guaranteed.

Love this Maggotry!

lol

Big win.

Suck it, SF. Dwight Clark's catch doesn't have shit on Raburn's.

nice to get a QS from someone not named JV. this team needs the break bad.

leyland deserves a kick in the nuts for giving inge so much opportunity.

that 533 ops (less after tonight's 0-3 so far) is good for second worst in the league (only chone figgins is worse). bautista's is much better than 2x inge's (1146). how is that even possible?

fuck inge and anyone who defends him. i hope he relapses on the mono.

leyland deserves a kick in the nuts for giving inge so much opportunity.

that 533 ops (less after tonight's 0-3 so far) is good for second worst in the league (only chone figgins is worse). bautista's is much better than 2x inge's (1146). how is that even possible?

fuck inge and anyone who defends him. i hope he relapses on the mono.

I agree entirely plus putting Inge next to Rayburn in the batting order is another retarded move.

That was a nice catch.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have on the mound than JV.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have on the mound than JV.

Testicular fortitude.

kitties better get going - if they dont get our boy the win i wont be happy.

Team needs the break so badly.

last night put me in quite the pissy mood. i've shifted interest from the tigers to verlander, and not being able to find him 1 run is bullshit.

fuck those bitches. fuck them all. if i were verlander i'd disassociate myself from them. "the tigers and justin verlander" or something.

Trade him?

i didnt know, nor do i care, that they already won today.

5 runs?!? where was that when i cared? asses.

Trade him?

for the greater good.

Ajax is hurt or full of piss and vinegar. Santiago just subbed in to pinch hit in the 3rd

Stop jerking off before the games, Austin.

lol. sore left wrist.

Stop jerking off before the games, Austin.

diddy can do it because he doesn't have to go out and play.

jerking off before gamees is standard protocol. when you play-- or watch-- baseball, you need focus. knocking one out is just one less distraction.

i applaud austin's professionalism.

Inge can no longer tell the difference between a ball and a strike. Since coming back from Mono he is 4 for 37 with 12 strikeouts and only 2 walks. He isn't good enough defensively to make up for his lack of offense. He doesn't hit for average (.189) or power (1 HR) and needs to be replaced in the line-up. I don't think that we could do any worse plugging in just about anyone else.

Would've lol'd hard had Wells run into Raburn.

When was the last time "we" won the first game of a series?

Radio guys said they lost the last 6 series openers and the first two games of the series 5 out of those 6 times.

That's not very good.

Tigers aren't very good.

lol

Inge with an error that leads to two runs. Then he has a chance to redeem himself with no outs and based loaded and he.......fouls out to the 3rd baseman. He really needs to be waived. Start Kelly at third, Worth at second and have Rayburn (yikes) and Santiago off of the bench.

The Big Valbowski is due a blown save, isn't he? Tonight's the night, I'm calling it.

Well, Valverde didn't blow the save but he sure tried (with the umpire's help). At least two called balls were clearly strikes and another one debatable.

Every time I see Valverde pitch I can't help but think if he is way overrated as a closer. He rarely goes 1-2-3. I wonder how much trade value he would have?

jesus christ.

Most of his problems come when he comes in in non-save situations. He gets blown up almost every time.

He's just not mentally wired for it I guess.

Piece of shit Inge.

So lucky.

Soooo lucky.

Pained me to agree with Terry Foster today, but dude tweeted pretty much exactly what I've been saying all year. Tigers have a handful of studs and the rest belong in the minors.

5 all stars and just a few games over 5 hundred.

we need another pitcher, but not necessarily a top end one. if we win, short porch and sherzer are going to have to play alot better. i dont see us getting another top end starter. and should we make the playoffs, you dont need a 5th starter and you really dont need a 4th either. but we need something better than we've gotten from our 5 guy.

i like our bullpen.

our offense is actually pretty good. i hate inge, but he's just the 9th hitter, and even if he didnt get another hit all year our offense is probably good enough. some guys are probably over producing (peralta, avila, boesch), but some guys are just getting going. awesome jackson hit .178 in april, .260 in may, and .290 in june. mags hit 260 in june with a 750 ops, hes hitting 300 with an 850 ops in july. and outside of may, 'burn hasnt really been that bad. hes even hitting 280 w/ 810 ops this month.

they're 8th in runs scored, and big mig really hasnt heated up yet.

this team is pretty frustrating at times, but its also pretty good. we're first in the division, and are on pace for 86 wins without really going on all cylinders.

and if verlander maintains, we're going to be very dangerous should we make the post season.

We are a mediocre team at best and although we have a bunch of minor leaguers, our unimpressive play has a lot to do with our incompetent manager.

Inge should not be playing. He is average defensively and horrible at the plate. Kelly or even a minor leaguer would be better.

Of course Leyland likes to put Rayburn and Inge right fucking next to each other in the batting order. How dumb is that. Rayburn is a liability in the field and sucks at the plate but at least he can play several positions (badly) and might turn it around.

Maggs sucks. He's finally hitting but is now a huge liability in the outfield. He just can't get to balls and it gives the team a free hit every other game.

Defensively when Rayburn and Maggs are in the field, the team is not very good. Peralta has limited range but his hitting more than makes up for that. Same with Boesch as he is only average defensively.

When Dumbrowski talks about only wanting pitching, it bothers me. One starting pitcher or solidify an everyday position. I pick the latter. We need either a solid hitting 2nd or 3rd baseman more than anything.

raburn was arguably our 2nd best hitter in the 2nd half last year. he has talent and a track record. he's a mess defensively, but that will hopefully improve and he potentially has a big bat for a 2nd baseman.

i hate inge, but your 9th hitter isnt going to make or break you. for what it would take to replace him, understanding that we have some blue chippers in the minors who are on their way, i think it makes sense to see if inge can struggle through it. or, let don kelly play if he cant. ive always hated inge and his undisciplined at bats, but realistically, he's got a track record of a pretty good offensive producer. i like guys who hit for average, but before this year he was reliable for decent rbi's. i hate him, but it makes sense to give him a little extra leeway.

raburn was arguably our 2nd best hitter in the 2nd half last year. he has talent and a track record. he's a mess defensively, but that will hopefully improve and he potentially has a big bat for a 2nd baseman.

i hate inge, but your 9th hitter isnt going to make or break you. for what it would take to replace him, understanding that we have some blue chippers in the minors who are on their way, i think it makes sense to see if inge can struggle through it. or, let don kelly play if he cant. ive always hated inge and his undisciplined at bats, but realistically, he's got a track record of a pretty good offensive producer. i like guys who hit for average, but before this year he was reliable for decent rbi's. i hate him, but it makes sense to give him a little extra leeway.

Your 9th hitter can break you when your 1st, 3rd and 8th hitters (Jackson, Maggs, Rayburn) also suck. When you have 4 crappy hitters, it's really hard to keep a rally going. Inge is the worst of the 3. I don't know how much more leeway you can give the guy. He's had more than half the season including a break for "mono" which gave him time to rest and reflect on his situation. he was always a shitty hitter for average but had power. Now that power is gone and his defense was never impressive. We just have too many poor hitters and Inge would be the main one to replace.

Avila is 2nd on the team in intentional walks because team want to pitch to Rayburn and Inge. Do you know how many innings that ended with no runs scored?? Earlier in the year we were top 5 for leaving runners in scoring position stranded. How many losses did that lead to?

diddy, do you hate Inge or something? Can't tell.

brandon inge is an ass hole.

I keep wondering if they would have ponied up to keep Grandy, how many extra W's that would be?

I'd rather have Polanco.

this year his WAR (wins over replacement player) is a 3.6. last year it was a 2.8. his 2 good years in detroit were a 5.9 and a 4.6.

last year austin jackson was also a 2.8, this year he's been a 1.7.

so if you put credence in WAR, granderson wouldnt greatly improve the tigers. when you consider how he was floundering in detroit, that he wouldnt have gotten that yankee coaching or the benefit of yankee stadium (this might be considered in WAR), and we might be better off right now with ajax than having kept curtis.

anyway, thats one trade i dont regret in the slightest.

I'd rather have Polanco.

and jurjens. matt joyce wouldnt be terrible, either.

then again, i'd take peralta over whoever it was we gave up for him. i think i was one of the more positive people over that trade, and i was only a little optimistic. most people thought we gave away a decent prospect for a washed up guy defenseive liability with a bad attitude.

im as pro DD as i've ever been. no one wins every trade.

I loved Peralta as a "buy low" move.

So much so that I made him MY TIGER at the start of the season.

I didn't think he'd be anywhere near this good but we didn't really give anything up for him. I was against his defense but if he's hitting like this it doesn't really matter.

I'd rather have Polanco.

This is how I feel. I really miss Polanco. I'm not the biggest fan of stats, though I know that baseball seems to be the best sport for the relation between stats and real performance but here's what I remember about Polanco: he was damn consistent hitting and fielding. Couldn't we have found a spot in our incredibly expensive roster for him?

And here's my non sequitur rant of the day: when I see fans ripping on Inge I realize how much fans deserve assholes like Lebron James and company. Does Inge deserve to be in Toledo this year? Hell, yes. Should there even be a roster spot for him on the Tigers? Good question. But the dude bleeds Tigers colors, loves Detroit, has a fucking tattoo on his arms to show it, will play any position he's asked, will play any role he's asked, plays with class and, no matter how shitty he plays, at least he's giving his all while he's stinking up the field. I don't think he should be playing, but I don't understand the hate and invective thrown at him. Just another example of fans' hypocrisy demanding some sort of loyalty form our teams' players.

I'm with you on Polanco. He was my Tiger.

Still remember him jumping around the bases after Maggs' walk off in game 4, lol.

This is how I feel. I really miss Polanco. I'm not the biggest fan of stats, though I know that baseball seems to be the best sport for the relation between stats and real performance but here's what I remember about Polanco: he was damn consistent hitting and fielding. Couldn't we have found a spot in our incredibly expensive roster for him?

And here's my non sequitur rant of the day: when I see fans ripping on Inge I realize how much fans deserve assholes like Lebron James and company. Does Inge deserve to be in Toledo this year? Hell, yes. Should there even be a roster spot for him on the Tigers? Good question. But the dude bleeds Tigers colors, loves Detroit, has a fucking tattoo on his arms to show it, will play any position he's asked, will play any role he's asked, plays with class and, no matter how shitty he plays, at least he's giving his all while he's stinking up the field. I don't think he should be playing, but I don't understand the hate and invective thrown at him. Just another example of fans' hypocrisy demanding some sort of loyalty form our teams' players.

Fuck loyalty. I deserve Lebron James. I'll take him for 1 season and have a chance to win a title than some chump who wears the hat with pride.

This is how I feel. I really miss Polanco. I'm not the biggest fan of stats, though I know that baseball seems to be the best sport for the relation between stats and real performance but here's what I remember about Polanco: he was damn consistent hitting and fielding. Couldn't we have found a spot in our incredibly expensive roster for him?

And here's my non sequitur rant of the day: when I see fans ripping on Inge I realize how much fans deserve assholes like Lebron James and company. Does Inge deserve to be in Toledo this year? Hell, yes. Should there even be a roster spot for him on the Tigers? Good question. But the dude bleeds Tigers colors, loves Detroit, has a fucking tattoo on his arms to show it, will play any position he's asked, will play any role he's asked, plays with class and, no matter how shitty he plays, at least he's giving his all while he's stinking up the field. I don't think he should be playing, but I don't understand the hate and invective thrown at him. Just another example of fans' hypocrisy demanding some sort of loyalty form our teams' players.

So if I rip on Inge, I'm a bad fan? He's hurting the fucking team. He's a nice guy, very loyal, and he absolutely sucks right now. If he were that loyal a player he would take himself out of the line-up until he fixes his swing. I do not doubt that he's trying but a team full of nice guys who suck at playing isn't much fun. We enjoy watching our teams because they are fun to watch and that usually means winning. Inge does not contribute to that and is hurting the team, therefore, he gets ripped on. that's just how it is!

Fuck loyalty. I deserve Lebron James. I'll take him for 1 season and have a chance to win a title than some chump who wears the hat with pride.

I agree mostly with this sentiment actually. For example, I'm all for one year rentals on super talented players. The Wings rolling the dice on Hossa for example. I'm even fine with taking the roster spot from the nice loyal player to give it to the one-year rental. That's just the nature of the game. Another example, using hockey again, is that I think we need to at most have Draper in about one-third of the games this season and give his regular spot to just about anyone young.

I also don't know if it's about being a "good" or "bad" fan. Maybe the distinction I'm making is a shade of gray thing and a way to talk about something during the summer. I guess I would sum up my feelings this way: loyalty and wearing the hat with pride does mean something to me. It doesn't trump talent, but it also means I'm not going to rip on the player if, giving full effort and being a positive force for the team, he's sucking it up like Inge (though I do think nugget raises a very good point about his reluctance to work with hitting coaches now).

At the same time, so that I don't try to escape from my original statement, I do find it in general hypocritical that people can rip on Lebron for the "Decision" but throw an equal amount of hate at loyal players who are playing shitty (and that's not directed at anyone on this board in particular).

no one wins every trade.

except Martin Mayhew

Buster_ESPN
Tigers are probably biggest wildcard in the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes. It'll come down who will absorb most $; DET has done that in past.

Tigers reportedly interested in Hiroki Kuroda.

They should get in on any Dodgers firesale... Kuroda is 36 but he doesn't rely on power.
He also has full no trade rights... recently said "I'd like to spend the rest of the season in L.A."
Word is he want to return to Japan next year (FA).

Tigers reportedly interested in Hiroki Kuroda.

they aint the only ones, if you know what i mean.

Okay, that was awesome.

Hey, dickhead, there's a thread to talk about this in.

(sorry, I just like to talk shit sometimes)

the tribe was up 3-0 in the 8th and lost 5-3.

also, the sux really did well vs the twins.