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At home against teams with sub-.500 records (before tonight’s game) the Tigers are 28-10 if you assume they’ll hold on to their 12-2 lead against the Royals tonight.  In all other situations (on the road and at home against teams with winning records) they’re 34-53.

I didn’t confirm these numbers, but I’m listening to the Tigers game and Dan Dickerson mentioned that the average player scores 30% of the time when he reaches base.  Austin Jackson scores 41% of the time he reaches base and he attributed this to his speed.  I think it’s more because he has a guy like Cabrera hitting a few spots in front of him.  Cabrera has driven in Jackson 21 times this season.  Oddly, that’s third to himself (31 times) and Johnny Damon (23 times).  Just wondering what others though.

The Tigers are in a freefall and for all intents and purposes, they should now be playing for next year.  I also have to hand it to the people who blasted me for saying the Twins weren’t what they ended up being.  I’m not saying I like them, but they’ve managed to once again put themselves into the mix and they also took advantage of their increase in revenue by making some prudent moves.

Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.  I usually don’t mix personal stuff with this blog, but my writing this season has been even more sporadic then the past couple.  Let’s just say it’s been an interesting summer.  The good news is, my tax practice is doing really well.  The bad news is, it’s draining time away from other things including baseball.  The other big thing is I’m now going through a divorce and that’s taken time out of my schedule.  Combine that will being a full time dad (Devin doesn’t go to bed until 8:30 so by the time I sit down and turn on the game, it’s mostly over) and my dad being in the hospital a couple of times, it’s made for both a physically and emotionally exhausting past couple of months.

So there.  Tigerblog is still on my priority list, it’s just not near the top like in years past.  Fortunately, at least for the past month and change, I haven’t been missing much.  I still plan on making it down the ballpark (I haven’t been to a Tigers game yet this season and that would break a streak of over 20 years where I’ve made it to at least one game) and I’m still trying to figure out how to get my son to a new ballpark (which we’ve done five of the last six season) before the minor league season ends.  I also have to figure out what to do with the whole Baseball Historians network, which has basically been on life support the past two to three years.

Anyway, I’m rambling now.  The gist of this is, I’d love to immerse myself into baseball more, but the way things are right now, I can’t.  Next year “should” be a lot smoother and I should have some time free up after September 15 (big tax deadline) so this isn’t a goodbye, it’s just an “I’ll see you later.”   If you want to keep tabs with me, friend me on Facebook or follow my business page.  I’ve been updating those more regularly.

The trade deadline has come and gone and the Tigers pretty much sat on the fence.  I kind of like this move (or lack of moves).  They did enough to say they weren’t giving up (there’s still two months worth of tickets to be sold) but they didn’t sell the farm.  And this was before a rough weekend where they blew a four run lead on Saturday and then came back in the top of the ninth on Sunday only to lose it in the bottom half of the inning.

As it stands, the Tigers are seven back of the White Sox and six back of the Twins.  The Wild Card is pretty much out of reach and they go into a four game series tonight with the White Sox.   In a lot of ways, this is the Tigers season.  Anything less then three of four is bad and the Tigers could really use a sweep and it all starts with Rick Porcello against Mark Buehrle this afternoon at 1 pm.  Thursday’s game is also in the afternoon.

Wilkin Ramirez is gone.  After being the Tigers top hitting prospect in 2009, he was dealt to the Braves for the infamous player to be named later.  Our deals with the Braves haven’t gone very well.  They’ve either been a wash or, like the Edgar Renteria deal, a disaster.  It was also nice to see Jhonny Peralta get off to a nice start in his debut on Friday.  He also drove home the tying run in the ninth on Sunday.  I just think it’s too little to make an impact the rest of the way.  I just hope I’m wrong.

It’s been a weird summer for me and I’m a little surprised we’re already four months into the season.  Seems like it wasn’t that long ago we were excited about opening day.

The Tigers made a move to fill the gap left by Brandon Inge’s injury.  I’ll write more on this when I get a chance.

Monday night, the Tigers were held without a hit.  Last night, they picked up twelve hits and three walks and only managed to push two batters home.  It didn’t help that they struck out eleven times but that shouldn’t explain this.   The Rays picked up two of their three runs on a two run home run by former Tiger Carlos Pena and the other run was pushed across by an RBI double by Matt Joyce so it was definitely a time for the two former Tigers to shine.

It’s also bad that the Tigers lost on Justin Verlander’s start.  It was nice that Verlander gave the pen a rest in his second complete game of the season.  The Carlos Pena home run was unfortunate but after that in the first inning, he didn’t give up a run until the sixth.

Brennan Boesch is crashing down to earth. He went zero for four and he left five men on base.  Miguel Cabrera doubled twice and he now has 35 on the season.  Austin Jackson picked up his 25th double.

My latest BOB Report is up at the Hardball Times.  I discuss the Rangers auction and both the Athletics and Rays’ stadium issues.

Game three between the Tigers and Rays is tonight.  It’ll be Eddie Bonine making his first start of the season against Jeff Niemann.  The Tigers are now four back of the White Sox and three back of the Twins so they have to make some noise here to stay in the mix.

It would have made for an interesting trivia question.  Name the last team to have a pitcher throw a perfect game (or even a no hitter) and then have one thrown against them in the same day.  Thanks again Jim Joyce.

If you’re looking for some good, Max Scherzer did throw five shutout innings before the Rays finally got to him in the sixth inning.  The pen is also faltering.  We won a lot of games in the first half because of a shutdown bullpen and now everyone is coming back down to earth.

Outside of that, there’s not much to say.  I did want to give a shout out to Billfer, who’s taking a hiatus (I’m guessing, but I think he’ll be back at some point in at least a limited capacity).  He was one of the few guys blogging when I got started and he’ll be missed.

Things have not gone well for the Tigers since the All Star Break.  They’ve lost seven out of ten and they’re now short half of their infield and Magglio Ordonez is on the shelf for a while.    More then half of the players in the Tigers lineup in yesterday’s finale were playing in the minors at this point last year and they needed a three run double by “veteran” Ryan Raburn in the eighth inning to pull that game out of their hat.  Even the fact that the rest of the division has stood still as well could come back to haunt the Tigers.

And it is kind of funny that the rest of the division has been almost as bad since the break and the Tigers sit just two games back of the White Sox in the Central.  With the trade deadline this upcoming weekend, the Tigers have some decisions to make.  It’s hard to keep a straight face and say the Tigers team as it sits will be able to keep up with the other two teams but the fact is, they very well just might so giving up is hard to swallow.  But if they get a good offer for someone like Jose Valverde and they don’t take it, then drop ten of twelve after the trade deadline, it’s not going to help the team moving forward.

I think this week is going to be very telling.  They have four games in Tampa (second best team in all of baseball) then three against the Red Sox (with two of those coming before the deadline).  It’ll be interesting to see where the team sits this time next week.

The All Star Game is in the books and if the Tigers make it to the World Series, they won’t get home field advantage this year because the National League won 3-1 last night.  Growing up, the National League won most years and it wasn’t until the nineties when things switched around.  Miguel Cabrera went one for two, Justin Verlander struck out two and gave out two hits in a shutout inning and Jose Valverde struck out the side in a shutout ninth inning to represent the Tigers.  Brian McCann drove in all three NL runs in the seventh with a bases loaded clearing double and the AL scored their lone run on a Robinson Cano sac. fly.

Now the second half begins.  The Tigers get, like a lot of teams, an extended break and they kick things off on Friday.  The bad news is, they’re on the road.  The good news is, they’re playing Cleveland.  Friday’s matchup has Max Scherzer against Jake Westbrook and I like the way Scherzer’s been pitching lately.

The Yankees got hit hard this past week or so.  First Bob Sheppard passes and then George Steinbrenner.  Not this team needs any more edge, but it’ll be interesting to see whether this fires up the team.  I’ve always been a Steinbrenner fan and his uniqueness will definitely be missed.  Not that his heirs haven’t been doing a fine job so far since they took over the team a few years back.

I’m hoping to get more into the second half.  I’m dealing with some personal issues at the moment as well as some logistical issues (Comcast went to this digital conversion so the little TV in my office doesn’t get FSD).  Still, my hope is to do a better job in the second half especially with the Tigers in the middle of a division race.

The Tigers lost their finale yesterday and failed to sweep the Twins, but there’s plenty to be happy about with regards to the Tigers first half of the season.  They’re tied for first place if you look at the loss column and they even put some distance between themselves and the Twins.  The White Sox can’t stay this hot forever but I’m interested in seeing how this three team race pans out.  Tigers fans have to be a little happy too because the team leads all of baseball with 32 home wins.  They need to work on their road record to contend the rest of the season but it’s still nice going to the ballpark knowing the team is going to win around 70% of the time.

While Miguel Cabrera’s first half was huge, two other reasons the Tigers are in contention is the comeback of Magglio Ordonez and the emergence of Brennan Boesch.  Ordonez’s numbers look eerily similar to 2008 when he had a nice follow up to his near-MVP 2007 season.  Boesch came out of nowhere and continues to rake and he heads into the break with a five game hitting streak.  His batting average hasn’t been below .340 since early June and his OPS has been hovering right around the 1.000 mark.

The pitching staff needs some work.  Justin Verlander is there, but after that it’s pretty inconsistent.  Max Scherzer is riding a four game winning streak and I think he’s the guy who’s going to step up in the second half.  The guy I’m most worried about is Jeremy Bonderman.  I just hope that arm holds up in the second half because it’s been a while since he’s thrown this many innings.

I am a little sad about what the All Star Game has become though.  Growing up, this was a big game and it was one of the few chances to see players from the National League.  I think the home run derby, as boring as that is, actually is more popular then the actual All Star Game now.  I’ll still watch some of it, but not with the interest I had in the 1980s when I was glued to the television.  My favorite All Star Game is still 1987 when they went into extra innings in a shutout game.  I also think the whole home field advantage thing is a joke but that’s for another day.

As a kid, my favorite television show was the A-Team.  When it first started, there were occasional references to Hannibal being on the jazz.  This happened when he got particularly nutty/cocky or when one of the team members was fired up.  Johnny Damon must have definitely been on the jazz last night.  He not only picked up his 2,500 hit, but he also belted a walk off home run in the bottom of the eleventh to win it for the Tigers.  We also can’t discount Miguel Cabrera (MVP of the first half in my opinion), who hit a two run home run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra frames.

With the three for five game yesterday (which included a home run and a triple), Cabrera now sits atop the American League in all three triple crown categories. Granted he’s tied with two others in home runs but when Yaz won it in 1967, he was tied with Harmon Killebrew in home runs.  I know we still have 80 more games to play though.  And it’s also interesting how quickly people forgot about those off field troubles Cabrera had at the end of last year.  A nice start can heal those wounds pretty quickly.

Armando Galarraga had a rough start and for his troubles, he was sent down to Toledo just over a month after pitching his perfect game that should have been.  He gave up just three runs in 6 2/3 innings, but he gave up ten hits and walked three.  Robbie Weinhardt was called up in place.  The move was simply to give the Tigers another arm in the pen for the final four games and I’d expect Galarraga will be back up shortly after the break.  We already burned an option on him so we might as well take full advantage of it.

Jose Valverde got his ERA back below one with a shutout inning.  Ryan Perry got it done again and he was the winner.  He’s now 2-4 on the season.  The Tigers go for the sweep tonight.  Max Scherzer gets the ball for the Tigers and he’ll face Brad Bergesen.  The Twins and White Sox both won so the Tigers have little margin for error these days.

The Twins picked a good time to go cold because the Tigers have one of the softer parts of their schedule here in early July.  They took two of three against the Mariners and now they face what many people is the worst team in baseball, the Baltimore Orioles.  Of course they have the Twins later in the week before they take some time off for the All Star Break.

Andy Oliver was roughed up yesterday but fortunately, the bats were there to pick him up.  He didn’t pitch out of the second inning and by the time the inning was over, a 5-1 lead had turned into a 6-5 deficit.  Fortunately the Tigers answered quickly and took the lead in the bottom half of the inning and never really looked back.

After that, five relievers gave up three runs over seven innings.  Eddie Bonine picked up the win and he improved to 4-0.   Ryan Perry continued his successful return with a shutout inning.  Jose Valverde saw his ERA nearly double when he gave up two runs in the ninth inning in a save situation.

Brennan Boesch drew four walks and scored three runs without picking up a hit.  Johnny Damon went three for six with two runs and Brandon Inge went three for four with two doubles and four RBIs.

This is also the half way point of the season so the Tigers are on pace to win 88 games.   About what you’d figure out of the AL Central leader.  Things are definitely tight with the resurgence of the White Sox though as one game separates first and third.

Armando Galarraga throws tonight.  Jake Arrieta throws for the Orioles.

The Tigers lost their third straight series and they fell another game back of the Twins after a 5-1 beating in Minnesota this afternoon. After a decent debut against the Braves, the Twins took Andy Oliver to task for five runs on eight hits and two walks in six innings.  The two of the three unearned runs came about because of Oliver’s throwing error so those shouldn’t really count.  Johnny Damon also made an error that resulted in an unearned run.

Seven different Tigers had a hit each.  Miguel Cabrera drove in the lone run when Magglio Ordonez scored on his double.  Not much at the plate in this one.

It wasn’t a pretty road trip and the Tigers finished it 3-6.  That puts the Tigers at 16-25 on the road and that’s the most losses on the road by a team with a winning record.    Fortunately the Tigers get a day off before they come for three against the Mariners.  Max Scherzer throws for the Tigers and Doug Fister gets the ball for the Mariners.

The big news was Dernard Span’s three triple game yesterday but for Tiger fans, it was the poor pitching.  Armando Galarraga needed 91 pitches to get through four innings and change last night and he was tagged for six runs.  Right after that, Fu-Te Ni was shelled for four runs on two hits and four walks in just 2/3 of an inning.  Jim Price was trashing Ni on the radio for how poorly he was pitching and both he and Dickerson felt that something was wrong with him.

Fortunately, Enrique Gonzalez came in and pitched 3 1/3 solid frames to close out the game and save the pen.  The Tigers have a quick turnaround for this afternoon’s rubber game so keeping as many pitchers off the mound as possible was huge so give a hat tip to Gonzalez for pitching some garbage innings.

Johnny Damon went two for four with a double, two RBIs and a run.  Damon has just a .687 OPS in June and that was after a rough May.  His solid April is still propping up his overall numbers so hopefully Damon can turn things around and revert back to his old form.  Miguel Cabrera had a pair of hits, an RBI and a run and he now has 67 RBIs on the season.

Andy Oliver gets his second start and it’s a big one.  Kevin Slowey throws for the Twins.  Game time is 1:10 in a get away day game.

The first piece of big news is the Tigers beat the Twins in Minnesota to move into first place in the AL Central.  Of course the second piece of big news is the bitter sweet half because in the process, Joel Zumaya was injured and his future is unclear.

The Tigers got off to a quick start against Francisco Liriano.  Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch each had two run doubles and the Tigers scored a fifth run in the second inning on a Ryan Raburn ground out.  The Twins eventually bridged some of this gap and made it 5-4 before Ryan Raburn drove in his second run in the seventh on a single that effectively put the game away.  Austin Jackson went two for four with three runs and five different Tigers had a pair of hits.  Magglio Ordonez sat the game out with his nagging injury.

After that, Jose Valverde pitched 1 2/3 innings to slam the door.  He struck out three and didn’t allow a base runner for his 18th save of the season.

Game two is tonight.  Armando Galarraga gets the nod and he’ll go up against Nick Blackburn.  Galarraga is coming off of back to back mediocre starts so hopefully he can turn it around.

I’m going to open this up to the readers.  The Tigers are in a virtual tie for first place, but I swear they’re making moves like a team in panic mode.  I’m not arguing with a lot of the moves, but does anyone ever remember a good team shuffling key members of the team back and forth like the Tigers have?

The Tigers avoided a sweep for the second straight road series by pulling out a win in their finale against the Braves today.  Brennan Boesch bounced back from a rough game yesterday and he belted a two run home run, his 12th of the season.  In the meantime, the Tigers racked up seventeen hits, all of which were singles outside of Boesch’s fifth inning blast.  Austin Jackson went three for five with two runs and two RBIs in the 10-4 win.  Carlos Guillen was three for three and Boesch finished with two hits, three RBIs and two runs.

Justin Verlander didn’t have his best stuff but it was good enough to improve to 9-5.  He gave up four runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts in seven innings.  Phil Coke and Jose Valverde then threw a shutout inning each to close out the game.  Verlander’s ERA isn’t much to write home about at 4.02 but he’s on pace for a possible 20 win season.

Valverde’s ERA is back down to 0.56.  Not quite the 0.34 he had a couple of weeks ago before he gave up a run but not to shabby.  Some of his splits are fun to look at.  At home, his batting average against is .093 (prior to today’s game).  His batting average against in June is .031 and when he gets an 0-1 count, he’s got a .059 batting average against after that.  When there’s two outs in an inning, Valverde has a .033 batting average against and a .155 OPS against.  With two outs and RISP position, he’s given up two walks and no hits in 12 plate appearances.  Funny stuff.

Anyway, the Tigers square off against the Twins at Target Field beginning tomorrow.  The Twins lost so whoever walks away with the three game series will be in first place.  Game one has Fransisco Liriano going up against Jeremy Bonderman.  Jeremy has had an up and down June and this would be a nice place to settle down.   Liriano has had a comeback season but his last couple of starts have only been okay.  It’d be nice if the Tigers could bring him further back down to earth.

The Tigers had a chance to stay in a virtual tie for first place with the Twins yesterday but a rough outing by the bullpen combined with some pretty weak hitting turned what was a nice outing by Max Scherzer into a loss.  The Tigers managed just three hits in this one and they didn’t score their second run until Carlos Guillen hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning.    They scored another of their runs on a Miguel Cabrera ground out and then their third run in the 4-3 loss came on a bases loaded walk.    Austin Jackson and Ramon Santiago had the other two hits.

Scherzer had his struggles but he didn’t allow a run in 5 2/3 innings.  He struck out eight and that helped to offset the four walks and one hit batter that he gave up.  He also got some help in the sixth from Joel Zumaya when he left two man on with two outs.  Scherzer had just struck out Eric Hinske for that second out so it was interesting to see Leyland go to the pen.  Wasn’t sure if it was going over 100 pitches or not.

Of course Zumaya then got into his own trouble in the seventh inning and he gave up the deal breaker.  He walked two batters then he gave up a three run shot to Chipper Jones.  Eric Hinske doubled home a run off of Enrique Gonzalez in the eighth and that set things up for the Tigers as they headed into their ninth inning down 4-1.

As far as the former Tigers watch, Omar Infante got in to pinch hit.  He’s found a nice little role for the Braves since he went over there.  He’s consistently hit over .290 without much punch in a reserve infielder/pinch hitter role.

Overall, it was a tough loss.  You’re not going to win many games when you walk eight batters and while Scherzer got away without giving up a run after half of those walks, they finally came back to haunt the team.  This afternoon the Tigers try to avoid the sweep in a solid pitching match up between Justin Verlander and Tommy Hanson.  Then it’s off to Minnesota for a big showdown against the Twins.

I had a chance to meet former Tigers’ announcer Paul Carey yesterday and that was a special treat.  He and Ernie Harwell worked in the booth for most of my childhood and I have fond memories of listening to them both on the radio.  Ernie is a pro no doubt but I’ve always thought that Paul Carey was vastly underrated and I know at one point, was making a push to get him on the Frick Award ballot.  He was a nice guy and he gave a great speech about working with Ernie at our SABR chapter meeting yesterday.

This has been an “interesting” year for me and unfortunately, Tigerblog hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.  Between some personal issues and a heavy workload things have been tough and while I can’t make any promises, the writing bug is coming back.  It also helps that the Tigers are in the mix for the division title.  At this point, if you rolled the magic eight ball, the answer that most applies to me is “the future is unclear.”  So while I’d love to write everyday, there’s going to be weeks where you don’t hear too much from me.   Thanks a lot for your patience along the way.

The Tigers’ struggles on the road continued as they kicked off a road trip that started in New York against the Mets.  It’s been a while, but not only did Justin Verlander get roughed up, but the bullpen had a bit of a meltdown as well.  Verlander gave up five in just two innings.  This is the first time he hasn’t pitched into the fifth inning all season and it’s his shortest outing since September 1, 2008 when the Yankees took him to task.  Jay Sborz was shelled in his major league debut and Fu-Te Ni gave up three runs in three innings.  An eight run third inning was what pretty much did the Tigers in early in this one.

Brennan Boesch continued to rake.  He went two for three with his eleventh home run, a walk and three RBIs in the 14-6 loss.  Then six Tigers had a hit a piece for an eight hit performance.

Andy Oliver got the nod to replace Rick Porcello in the rotation.  He’ll get his first career start on Friday in Atlanta against the Braves.  I still think this is just a blip for Porcello and he’s smart enough to work through some things.  People just have to remember he’s only 21.  in the meantime, Sborz will continue to pitch with the team until that start.  Oliver was the Tigers second round pick in last year’s draft and while sending Porcello down means the Tigers will get older, it won’t be by much because Oliver is only 22 himself.

The Twins lost so the Tigers deficit in the Central is still a game and a half.  Game two against the Mets is tonight with Jeremy Bonderman going up against R.A Dickey.

Dontrelle Willis came back to Comerica Park (I said this was a road game but I’m still getting used to Yahoo’s new format where the opposition is always second) and while Armando Galarraga hardly outdueled him, the Tigers still walked away with their seventh straight win.  Galarraga didn’t make it out of the fifth inning but four relievers combined to give up just one run in 4 2/3 innings.  Brad Thomas pitched two shutout innings, Phil Cook threw one (and improved to 5-0) and then Jose Valverde pitched a shutout ninth for his fifteenth save of the season.

Willis looked like his old self and he gave up five runs in five innings with four walks and four strikeouts.  It was Chad Qualls who gave up the game winner though.  Brandon Inge tripled home Brennan Boesch to put the Tigers ahead in the eighth and then Al Avila singled home Inge for a little insurance.  Inge finished three for four with a double, a triple, and two runs.  Magglio Ordonez drove in two and he hit his ninth home run of the season.

Ordonez has now matched his season total in home runs last year.  He’s only five RBI’s back of last year’s total and his .931 OPS would be the best since his near-MVP season back in 2007.  Equally as impressive is that Ordonez is just third in OPS behind Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch who are both over 1.000.

The Twins lost so the Tigers are now just a half game back of first place (tied in the loss column).  Rick Porcello gets the ball today and he’ll go up against former Tiger Edwin Jackson.  Both of these guys are down from their stellar 2009 seasons and Porcello hasn’t had a good start in June.  Hopefully he can turn that around here this afternoon (game time is 1:05).

UPDATE

I must need glasses.  It’s a night game tonight.

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