What's Wrong With The Tigers?

The Tigers have lost 10 of their last 14 games since July 20, their worst stretch of the season. If I asked 20 different Tigers fans what the problem has been, I'd get a lot of different answers and they could all be right because there is a lot of blame to go around. I looked at this question statistically using David Pinto's day by day database. They have been outscored 103-72 during the two week stretch. As I said yesterday, that comes out to 5.1 runs per game and 7.4 runs allowed per game. So their offense has beens producing almost a run fewer per game than they were previously and their pitching has been a disaster.

Looking at Table 1, we see a total batting line of .287/.331/.432. Not shown is their very poor 30/86 BB/K ratio during the period. Placido Polanco (1.061 OPS) and Curtis Granderson (.971) have been on fire. Mike Rabelo (1.261) and Ryan Raburn (1.111) have also done well in limited action. Nobody else is above .710. The biggest slumps belong to Sean Casey (.571), Ivan Rodriguez (.579) and Gary Sheffield (.616).

Table 1: Batting Statistics for July 20 - August 1

Player	G	AB	BA	OBA	SLG
Mike Rabelo	5	19	.526	.526	.737
Placido Polanco	12	51	.412	.434	.627
Curtis Granderson	14	53	.340	.386	.585
Ryan Raburn	8	27	.370	.370	.741
Carlos Guillen	12	43	.302	.348	.349
Magglio Ordonez	14	52	.269	.345	.365
Gary Sheffield	12	44	.205	.321	.295
Sean Casey	13	44	.250	.298	.273
Mike Hessman	6	18	.222	.286	.389
Brandon Inge	14	49	.245	.269	.367
Craig Monroe	12	45	.244	.255	.400
Omar Infante	7	19	.158	.238	.316
Ivan Rodriguez	11	38	.237	.237	.342
Timo Perez	2	3	.000	.000	.000
Totals	14	505	.287	.331	.432

Table 2 shows the pitchers. The staff has had an abysmal 7.36 ERA and has allowed 151 hits over 115 1/3 innings during the two week period. Their bullpen has been a problem most of the year but recently their starters have been very bad too. In the last 14 games, the starters have allowed 101 hits, 32 walks and 10 homers over 72 innings. This includes Jordan Tata's impressive start last time out when he allowed just 2 runs over 7 innings. No other starter has an ERA under 5.00 during the period.

The bullpen has probably received more blame than any other part of the team but I don't know if they have been any worse than the starters the last two weeks. While the starters have been hit hard, the bullpen has had control problems - 22 walks over 43 innings. It might come to a surprise that the often used and much maligned Jason Grilli has been one of the better pitchers statistically during the period with 7 hits, 6 walks and a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings. Among the worst relievers have been Jose Capellan (6.75), Chad Durbin (7.88) and Macay McBride (8.31).

So, just as we thought, a lot of players have played poorly over their 4-10 stretch and it wouldn't be fair to single out one or two players even though it's always tempting to do that during these types of stretches. Tomorrow, they go home rested after a day off. Hopefully, they can turn things around in Comerica.


Table 2: Pitching Statistics for July 20 - August 1

Player	G	IP	H	HR	BB	K	ERA
Bobby Seay	6	3 2/3	3	0	3	3	2.45
Jordan Tata	1	7	6	0	2	5	2.57
Jason Grilli	7	10 2/3	7	0	6	7	3.38
Virgil Vasquez	1	5	4	2	2	4	3.60
Todd Jones	4	4	4	0	0	1	4.50
Zach Miner	4	3 2/3	5	0	2	1	4.91
Tim Byrdak	3	3 2/3	4	1	2	4	4.91
Justin Verlander	3	18	17	1	9	17	5.00
Andrew Miller	2	9 2/3	15	1	9	11	6.52
Jose Capellan	3	4	8	1	0	2	6.75
Nate Robertson	3	17 2/3	30	2	4	13	7.64
Chad Durbin	6	8	8	1	3	6	7.88
Macay McBride	6	4 1/3	7	0	4	2	8.31
Kenny Rogers	2	10 1/3	16	4	4	6	10.45
Jeremy Bonderman	2	9 1/3	17	2	4	8	14.46
Totals	14	115 1/3	151	15	54	90	7.36

So, just as we thought, a lot of players have played poorly over their 4-10 stretch and it wouldn't be fair to single out one or two players even though it's always tempting to do that during these types of stretches. Tomorrow, they go home rested after a day off. Hopefully, they can turn things around in Comerica.