The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be; April 22nd

The Week That Was
This week started off looking very good and then spiraled out of control and ended in a disaster.  The Tigers took the first two on the road in Seattle and were primed to sweep the Mariners with Justin Verlander taking the mound on Thursday afternoon against the M’s.  That’s where everything fell off the rails.  The Tigers were shut out by Hisashi Iwakuma and the Mariners bullpen, managing only five hits and wasting a 12-strikeout performance by Verlander.  Even with the loss, the Tigers had won four of their first six on the road and were looking at the propsect of a winning record on the nine-game West Coast road trip.

Then the team went to Anaheim and everything fell apart.  In the three-game sweep at the hands of the Angels, the Tigers went 3-for-26 with runners in scoring position and left 31 men on base were outscored 24-4.  The offense which was on fire in the previous week, turned in five consecutive awful performances.  In the past five games which spans 54 innings thanks to extra inning games, the Tigers have scored six total runs and were shutout twice and one of those runs was in the 9th inning on Friday night against the Angels while trailing 8-0.

Weekly Record: 2-4 (2-1 vs. Mariners, 0-3 vs. Angels)
Season Record: 9-9 (3rd place AL Central, 1.5 GB of Kansas City Royals
Division Record: 1-2 (1-2 vs. Twins)

The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be; April 15th

The Week That Was
The Tigers 2013 season continues it’s pogo stick like trajectory, thus far.  The Tigers have not won more than two games in a row at any point thus far in 2013 but have yet to lose more than two games in a row and sat in a first place tie in the American League Central with the Kansas City Royals after action completed on Sunday.  The offense (especially Prince Fielder) is finally starting to click on all cylinders as Sunday’s win over the Oakland A’s got the Tigers to two games above .500 for the first time in 2013 but the work from the bullpen has been just awful, as they have blown leads and utlimately taken the loss in three of the five Tigers losses.

Weekly Record: 4-2 (2-1 vs. Blue Jays, 2-1 vs. A’s)
Season Record: 7-5 (T-1st AL Central with Kansas City Royals)
Division Record: 1-2 (1-2 vs. Twins)

Down on the Farm, looking at notable Tigers prospects in the minors

There were some broken hearts and puzzled fans when the Tigers made their roster cuts last week that involved sending Quintin Berry, who quickly gained a major fan following last season, and Danny Worth to Toledo while Don Kelly and Matt Tuiasosopo made the major league roster.

Toledo’s on-field performance has been suffered the last few seasons due to Tigers tendency to trade their top prospects away.  The Mud Hens have suffered three straight losing seasons, averaging 78 losses per season (they only play 144 games in the International League), bottoming out in 2012 with a 60-84 record.

Things aren’t getting that better for Phil Nevin’s squad, the team is 1-6, and is tied for the worst record in the International League.  Here are some updates on some notable former (and future) Tigers.

The Week That Was and the Week That Will Be; April 8th

The Week That Was
The Tigers had a very and up-and-down week, losing two of three to the Twins at Target Field (including Phil Coke blowing a save in the bottom of the 9th to the Twins on Wednesday) and taking two of three from the Yankees at Comerica Park.  Both series featured frustrating moments at times from the Tigers offense and bullpen

The Tigers have officially won the Fister-for-Furbush trade

Doug Fister

By Joe Martinez
@JoeM3120

Fister-for-Furbush, it still makes me giggle.  Sue me, I’m a 12-year-old trapped in an adult’s body.

Note to the Seattle Mariners, you may want to avoid trading with the Tigers until Dave Dombrowski is gone.