Hello fellow sports fans!

My name is Craig.  I was born and raised in Michigan (although I left the state for 7 years while I was in the Navy) and am a rabid Tigers fan.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be blogging about my beloved Tigers.

Now if they would just start winning...although they did win today!  That Galarraga kid has looked incredible in his two starts.  Maybe he will get the other, more established members of the rotation to start performing a little bit.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a blog and introduce myself.  Look for regular blogs in this space.

Continue reading "Intro Blog"

The Tigers will face off against the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park tonight. Both teams come in with a 7-13 record. Texas, however, was not expected to be good. The Tigers, by contrast, have been incredibly disappointing so far.

Our ace, Justin Verlander, takes the mound tonight. But are we going to see the real Verlander, or the guy that has shown up so far this season? He comes into this game with a record of 0-3 and a meteoric ERA of 7.03. He has shown a few brief flashes of his usual dominance, but overall he has not been good.

It's hard to figure out just what is wrong with Justin, but that has pretty much been the case with this entire team. He has 14 strikeouts in 24.1 innings, which is a much lower rate than you would expect to see from someone with his type of stuff. He's also had a hard time controlling his pitches, with 12 walks already. Command has been a staff-wide issue this season.

Continue reading "Tuesday Preview: Tigers vs. Rangers"

 
    GS IP HR BB SO AVG VORP
Verlander (DET) 4 24.1 4 12 14 0.234 -9.2

Padilla (TEX) 4 26 2 9 15 0.292 5

Obviously, Verlander has not been good in his 4 starts thus far.  Padilla, however, has not been much better, despite his overrated 3.12 ERA.  Hitters have batted almost .300 against him, and his strikeout rate has been underwhelming.  The Tigers should be able to get some good hits off of him tonight.

If Justin can get his groove back, the Tigers should get their 8th win of the season tonight at Comerica.

Continue reading "Tonight's Starting Pitcher Matchup: Verlander vs. Padilla"