Number 5 All-time Tigers Catcher

5. Birdie Tebbetts Years of Service: 1936-1942, 1946
.260 4 HR 64RBI--- Two time All-Star, 1940 AL Champ

Tebbetts was a player with average talent who out-worked everybody else and devoted his life to baseball. He cut three years out of the prime of his career and missed the Tigers WS championship in 1945 by serving in World War II. Solid defensively and a fan favorite at every stop in his career, he went on to play, manage, and scout for nearly 60 years.

Not So Fast Mr. Willis

Well,

Dontrelle went to the mound Friday Night. Tigers fans were looking forward to seeing him perform again.

Today was not that day.

TIGERS KILLER Luke Scott hit a Grand Slam, plus another Home Run. It is absolutely amazing how much better he plays versus Detroit.

There is always tomorrow, and lets hope it's better than today was (or yesterday for that matter)

Top 10 All-time Detroit Tiger Catchers (6-10)

When taking a look at players and ranking them it is important to have some ground rules. These rankings are based only on the players years as a Tiger. Other factors include statistical production (obviously) per 162 games (that is the listed stats), team success, and awards won. So here we go...

10. Mike Heath Years of Service: 1986-1990

.268 avg. 12 HR 51RBI--- AL East champ 1987

Acquired mid-season in 1986, Heath platooned with youngster Matt Nokes to backstop the Tigers to the AL East crown in 1987. Heath was a versatile player who played every non-pitching position in 1987.

9. Ray Hayworth Years of Service: 1926-1938
.248 avg. 1 HR 58RBI--- AL Champ 1934, WS Champ 1935

Hayworth was an eight year starter before the Tigers acquired Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane, who he backed-up in 1934 and 1935.

8. Johnny Bassler Years of Service: 1921-1927
.308 avg. 0 HR 66RBI

Bassler is one of only two players on this list to have a career batting average above .300. His lack of power (1 career HR) is offset by his solid RBI numbers and the above average defense that he played.

7. Matt Nokes Years of Service: 1986-1990

.268 avg. 25 HR 78 RBI--- AL East Champ 1987, 1 time All-Star, 1 Silver Slugger

Nokes platooned with Mike Heath to backstop the Tigers to the AL East crown in 1987. Nokes was a power hitting lefty who finished third in AL rookie of the Year voting in 1987.

6. Mickey Tettleton Years of Service: 1991-1994
.249 avg. 32 HR 95RBI--- 1 time All-Star, 3 Silver Sluggers

Tettleton helped form the core of some of the Tigers most prolific home run hitting teams. While his batting average was low, he walked alot to give him a Tiger career OBP of .389 which is very comprable to the others on this list.

Tigers Go Down in Series Opener

The Baltimore Orioles may be a last place team, but they have some talent. Their lineup is tough from top to bottom, and has a lot of speed and power. The one problem is their pitching staff, but in the last week they have had 3 youngsters come up from AAA and show they have some real good young talent coming up. They will also call up the #1 prospect in baseball (according to some) on Friday (catcher Matt Wieters).

The Tigers were bad today.

The offense stunk, they left guys stranded on 3rd in back to back innings with less than 1 out.

Galarraga was definitely better, but still made too many bad pitches. The Orioles made sure that they capitalized on those mistakes.

The Tigers send Dontrelle to the mound Friday night, and they will need a better overall team performance.

Orioles 5 Tigers 1

First Place Tigers Win Series

The Tigers behind their Rookie Starting Pitcher Rick Porcello beat the Royals today. Josh Anderson led off for Detroit, and started 4 for 4 from the plate and stole another base. Miguel Cabrera hit his 10th Home Run in the 2nd inning, and the Tigers rolled from there.

Porcello threw another quality start, 6 innings and only 2 earned runs. This was his 6th win in the young season, and he looks to a very promising future.

The Tigers move to 5 games up in the loss column and have a nice hold on top of the Central.

The Pitching was strong all series, and only the all mighty Zach Greinke could slow down the Tigers.

Rubber Game Wednesday

Long day for BL, so I will make this short.

Both team's Aces got the job done, Game 3 decides the series between the 1st place Tigers an the 2nd place Royals.