Celebrating Detroit Tigers teams, players and games from 1977 to '89.
Month: December 2008
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One-thousand runs! Dream Team! 74-88. As if we have to remind you, that about sums up the 2008 Detroit Tigers. A team that was constructed to maul American League pitching instead became the prey and became what might be the most disappointing Tigers team in history. How did it happen? In the interest of time…
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If we had to narrow the Tigers’ dismal 2008 to one culprit it would be the pitching. While Detroit’s offense had many fits and starts throughout the season, the pitching was pretty much the same from March 31 to Sept. 28: awful. Whether it was Dontrelle Willis‘ sudden inability to throw strikes or Justin Verlander‘s…
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I know. There have been few uplifting things to focus on when looking back on the 2008 Detroit Tigers. But there was one — if only one — story that made Tigers fans hopeful and it came as a result of a under-the-radar trade with the Texas Rangers on Feb. 5. The Tigers acquired Armando…
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There were plenty of signs early on that 2008 was not going to be a championship season for the Tigers. Yet, an occasional (albeit short) winning streak would buoy the spirits of the faithful only to be smashed to smithereens by the news of, oh, another injury. Take Jeremy Bonderman for example. On June 1…
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When I began pulling together this list over the past month or so, it became clear that possibly the only positive story to come out of the Tigers season was the emergence of Matt Joyce. Joyce finished the 2008 season with a .252 average, 12 homers and 33 RBI in 92 games. At long last,…
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The Tigers were likely ecstatic when Joel Zumaya managed a quicker-than-expected return from shoulder reconstruction. A healthy Zumaya (and Fernando Rodney) was to revitalize a rickety bullpen and fill in the sizable reliability gap late in games. Except they didn’t. Zumaya was cleared to play in late June and appeared in 21 games (23.1 IP).…
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Just three weeks into the season — or perhaps sooner — Jim Leyland realized that Miguel Cabrera was no Brandon Inge at third base and, at the same time, knew that Carlos Guillen was not Sean Casey at first. So what do you do when you have to immovable objects on the corners of your…
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It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly five years since Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez signed with the Tigers as a free agent — only a few months after winning the World Series with the Marlins. I tuned in to ESPNEWS on Feb. 6, 2004, to see if they were going to broadcast Pudge’s introductory…
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Sure, it hurt when the Tigers sent Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez to the Braves for Edgar Renteria. There was some — i.e., a tad — concern about Jurrjens’ durability and, well, to get a player of Renteria’s caliber at such a vital position you have to part with some value. We know how that…
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Today is the 47th birthday of Jeff Robinson, a once-promising starting pitcher for the Tigers and one of my favorite short-timers. The 6 ft. 6 in. Robinson broke in with the Tigers on April 12, 1987 with a brilliant performance against the White Sox at old Comiskey Park. Robinson went seven innings scattering just six…
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