Detroit 4, Chicago 8 (box)
There were storms on the radar headed towards US Cellular Field, and both starting pitchers began the game last night as if they had somewhere to be.
Mark Buehrle and Jeremy Bonderman each retired the first seven batters they faced, but once the game progressed to the middle innings, it didn’t take long for the offenses to heat up and for Bonderman to fall apart.
With the game still scoreless entering the bottom of the fifth, Bonderman had allowed just two singled so far. Mark Teahen, just off the disabled list, began the frame with [...]

Everyone seems to love Eddie Bonine these days. The Tigers reliever is having a breakout year according to a few hand-picked statistics. He’s 4-0, he has a 2.82 ERA. Many fans will tell you how valuable Bonine has been, how he’s saved the rest of the bullpen and pitched lights-out ball for most of the year. My Gawd, just look at his ERA, they say.
Let’s get something straight right away: ERA is just not a good indicator of performance when dealing with relief pitchers. And won-loss record is not a good indicator of performance for any pitcher.
To see what [...]

Arizona 5, Detroit 7 (box)
Last night was all about the return of Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. The D-backs newest southpaw displayed the same wildness, and much the same results he found while pitching for the Tigers.
Detroit jumped out to an early 4-0 lead thanks to Willis’ wildness and some timely hitting. Willis walked the first batter of the game, a common occurrence for him, and two batters later, Magglio Ordonez crushed a two-run homer to the deepest part of the yard. In the second inning, Brandon Inge doubled to start the frame and rode home on a double by Danny [...]

Well, so much for that. If you missed last night’s game, congratulations. There wasn’t much to see. Final score: Chicago 15, Detroit 3. Ugh.
Things started out so well for the Detroit Nine, Rick Porcello retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, allowing a solo homer to Alexei Ramirez in the third, but nothing else.
Then Chicago opened the fourth with five consecutive hits, scoring three runs, before Porcello recorded the first out of the frame. No sooner had that out been recorded, Porcello served up a long three-run homer to Ramon Castro, then gave up a [...]

Detroit 0, Los Angeles 2 (box)
Tigers record 7-6
There are a growing group of players around the league that always seem to do very well when they see the Olde English D across the field. These Tiger Killers litter the rosters of many different teams, but there is one in Anaheim, and he reared his head last night.
Early in his career, back when he pitched for the Mariners, Joel Pineiro made a habit of shutting down the Detroit Tigers. Pineiro began his career with a 6-0 record in seven appearances versus Detroit. In recent years, Pineiro has pitched in the National [...]

Let’s assume for a moment that all three potential starters are actually members of the 25-man roster come next Monday. Two of the three (Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson) will be in the rotation and the third would be slotted into a long-relief role in the bullpen.
Obviously, this, in itself, is a big assumption.
Talk of a trade involving Robertson has been raised this past week, and the prevailing thought coming into camp was that at least one of the three would be released prior to Opening Day. But for the sake of this discussion, we will assume that nothing [...]

Last season, readers of Lynn Henning were inundated with seemingly weekly articles about the impending release of Magglio Ordonez. It got to the point that I’m sure Ordonez himself was waiting for the call from Dave Dombrowski every day. As we know, the call never came and Magglio is still a Tiger.
Regardless of whether or not I agreed with Henning then (for the record, I did until Maggs began hitting again), I simply can’t follow the logic he put forth in his article yesterday, where he states that Dontrelle Willis is on the verge of release.
Let me be clear, Henning [...]

With under three weeks to go in camp, the Tigers have some big decisions looming on the horizon. Most of the roster is set, barring injury of course, but a few slots remain unfilled. Notable among them is the battle for the final two rotation spots.
Lefties Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis continue to make strong cases for their inclusion on this team. While both players have hefty contracts, each is in the final year of his deal and speculation has been rampant that the Tigers would release one or both or them should they fail to impress in Lakeland. You [...]