The Tigers have played 9 games. The Regular Season is 162 games. This can be broken down into 9 “innings” of 18 games each (162/9 = 18). So 9 games = ½ inning. If I can remember where I first saw this laid out for me I’ll link to it because I can’t come up with stuff like this on my own.
• They are 3-6. So far they have won one game of each series (Yankees, Orioles and Royals).
• The Starters are 3-4 with an ERA of 6.49 and a WHIP of 1.60
• The Bullpen has 2 losses against it with an ERA of 5.61 and a WHIP of 1.36
• The Tigers have committed 9 errors in 9 games.
• The Tigers have walked 25 times (2.8 times/ game)
• The Tigers have issued 35 walks (3.9 times/ game)
• Detroit pitching has allowed 13 home runs (1.4/ game)
• Detroit batters have hit 13 home runs.
Starting out 3-6 is not how I pictured it. Why would I? They can hit (and they do) but they aren’t drawing many walks and they are striking out a lot (7.2/ game). By not taking walks and striking out often they don’t have men on base when one of the big boys knocks it out. For example, in Sunday’s game the Tigers hit 3 home runs (!) but only scored 5 runs total (and lost). So far the On Base Percentage (OBP) is .324
It’s certainly not time to give up on this team (it’s only the first ½ inning after all) but it is time to straighten some things out. For the hitters they have to get on base more in order to take advantage of all of that power (32 extra base hits in 9 games should equal some runs!). They have to take the walks and put the ball into play.
The pitchers were giving up home runs like clowns throwing candy at a Memorial Day parade. That has stopped now that they are back in Comerica National Park but the runs just keep on coming. It’s the opposite of what the batters are doing. The pitchers are putting men on base and setting themselves up for big hits. Opposing teams are averaging 6.0 runs/ game. That is not going to cut it. I want to watch the Tigers in the Playoffs this year. Something needs to change to make that happen.
Not helping the pitchers is the defense. So far there have been 9 errors committed. That’s one per game! That means that those walks the pitchers gave up become Runners In Scoring Position more often. That means I’m yelling words at the radio that I shouldn’t be yelling and at a higher volume than is really necessary. That means longer innings for the pitchers. We learned in 2008 that porous defense will destroy your pitching. It just saps at your soul until you’re an angry, sullen husk of a pitcher with no juice or will to live who believes that they have to strike out everyone in order to survive.
To finish out this inning the Tigers face Texas, Oakland and Seattle. Texas (8-1) comes to Detroit and Oakland (4-5) and Seattle (5-4) are on the road. There is no time like now to turn this around.
Go Tigers!
