Line-up Balance

There was a lot of talk this past off-season about the need for more left-handed bats in the Tiger line-up. Last year, the Tigers played .500 ball (21-21) against left-handed pitchers but went only 50-70 versus right-handers. The reason for this was that they batted .280/.327/.453 against LHP and only .269/.320/.420 versus RHP. This is not surprising for a line-up that was so heavily right-handed. With switch hitters Dmitri Young and Carlos Guillen missing significant time with injuries, they went much of the season without any regular left-handed bats.

It was reported that they made an effort to acquire a left-handed bat during the off-season with no luck. So it was hoped that the addition of Curtis Granderson and better health for Guillen and Young would give them the needed line-up balance this year. Young went down almost immediately with a hamstring injury leaving Guillen and Granderson as the only lefty threats. Through the first 29 games, they were 5-0 against left-handed pitchers and 14-10 against right-handed pitchers. However, they were batting only .236/.297/.403 in 191 at bats against southpaws and their perfect record has been primarily a result of their own good pitching. They have actually been hitting right-handers quite well batting .293/.348/.505. So, the line-up imbalance has not been a big problem so far.

The table below shows how the Tigers have fared individually against lefties and righties. There have not been enough at bats to make this chart really meaningful yet but it does show that most of the team has not had much trouble against LHP to this point. The only regulars with an OPS under .800 were Placido Polanco (.678) and Ivan Rodriguez (.791). It also reveals that a few right-handed hitters that generally have trouble with RHP have been hitting them very well so far: Craig Monroe (.875), Brandon Inge (.870) and Marcus Thames (1.384).

I’ll check this again in a few weeks when there are more at bats but so far the lack of left-handed bats has not hurt them.

Table: Tiger Batters Versus LHP and RHP Pitchers through May 3, 2006

	Versus LHP		Versus RHP
Player	AB	OPS	AB	OPS
Granderson	22	.788	81	.803
Polanco	18	.367	86	.678
Rodriguez	21	.856	74	.791
Ordonez	22	.895	81	.851
Guillen	21	.701	78	.996
Shelton	19	1.093	78	1.143
Monroe	18	.433	84	.875
Inge	17	.958	64	.870
Thames	16	.485	25	1.384
Gomez	1	.000	31	.563

Tigers Finally Lose

The Los Angeles Angels snapped the Tigers' 6 game winning streak today by beating them 7-2.
It wasn't a good game for the Tigers. Kevin Gregg held the Tigers to 1 run on three hits in 7 innings of work. Tiger starter Justin Verlander didn't have his best stuff today allowing 9 hits and 4 runs in 6 innings and Jordan Tata got pounded for 3 runs on 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning. It was the first time in 16 games that the Tigers had allowed more than 4 runs. It was a great homestand though as the Tigers took 6 of 7 from the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals and the Angels. They now head to Minnesota for three games. The game tomorow night matches Kenny Rogers versus Kyle Lohse.

Gomez and Pitching Top Angels

The Tigers and Angels were tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 8th tonight. The Tigers had runners on first and second with two out and the batter was Alexis Gomez. Batting .194 before the at bat, Gomez become the improbable hero when he lined a single to center field scoring Brandon Inge (who earlier hit his 6th home run of the year) with the go ahead run. Everything is going right for the Tigers this year. When was the last time we could say that?

The Tigers got great pitching once again as Nate Robertson pitched 7 1/3 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. In his last 3 starts, Robertson has allowed just 1 run (an 0.42 ERA) and 11 hits and has a 17/5 K/BB ratio. Zumaya followed with a perfect 2/3 of an inning to get his first major league win and Rodney pitched a scoreless ninth to get the save.

The Tigers are now 19-9 and as I write this they are tied for first place pending the outcome of Chicago White Sox game against the Seattle Mariners.

New Blogs

There are a couple of new blogs I'd like to mention:

• Mario Impemba's blog has reappeared on the Fox site.
  

• Mack Avenue Tigers is written by Kurt Mensching who is also a writer for a newspaper in northern Michigan. So far, it looks like a nice addition to the Tiger blogosphere.

Another Sweep for Tigers

The Tigers continued to sweep through the American League as they defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 and 4-1 the past two nights. As has been the case all year, they did it with pitching and home runs. Last night, Jeremy Bonderman pitched 8 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 9. Todd Jones closed it out despite making a lot of people nervous by allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in the ninth. Magglio Ordonez and Craig Monroe accounted for all the Tiger runs with a couple of home runs.

Tonight, Mike Maroth pitched 6 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk. Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney each pitched a perfect inning of relief. Jones came in to pitch the 9th and this time was a lot more efficient allowing just one hit and no other base runners in the 9th. Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe accounted for 3 of the 4 Tiger runs with home runs.

The Tigers are now 18-9 and are just 1/2 game behind the first place White Sox. The Tigers have been beating up on some weak teams lately. This is good because it's something they haven't always been able to do in the past. The next series, a two game tilt versus the Los Angeles Angels will be a better test though. Tomorrow night, it will be Nate Robertson for the Tigers against Jeff Weaver of the Angels.

Notes

The Tigers lead the majors in fewest runs allowed per game (3.18) and have had 14 straight games where they have allowed 4 runs or fewer. They are 11-3 over that stretch. Mike Maroth is second in the league with a 1.78 ERA and Kenny Rogers is 4th at 2.59. All 5 starters have ERAs under 4.00.

The Tigers also lead the majors in home runs with 43. Chris Shelton is 5th in the league with 10. Four others have at least 5 already: Monroe 7, Ordonez 6, Inge 5 and Carlos Guillen 5.

According to Danny Knobler, Dmitri Young is headed to Erie for rehab. There is no mention on when we can expect to see him in Detroit but I imagine it could happen this weekend.