Number 5 All-Time Tigers First Baseman

5. Tony Clark Years of Service: 1995-2001
.277 avg 33HR 108RBI--- 1 time All-Star, 3rd place AL RoY

When I started this list I figured Clark would be on it but I did not expect him to end up this high. He had three seasons of over 30 homers and might have won the Rookie of the Year award if it wasn't for this Derek Jeter guy.

AL Power Rankings

1. New York Yankees (33-23) 4-2 last week
2. Boston Red Sox (33-24) 4-2 last week
3. Texas Rangers (33-23) 3-3 last week
4. Detroit Tigers (30-25) 2-4 last week
5. Toronto Blue Jays (32-27) 3-3 last week


6. Tampa Bay Rays (29-29)
7. La Angels (28-27)
8. Seattle Mariners (28-29)
9. Minnesota Twins (28-30)
10. Oakland A's (25-30)
11. Chicago White Sox (26-30)
12. Kansas City Royals (24-32)
13. Cleveland Indians (25-34)
14. Baltimore Orioles (24-33)

Top Ten All-time Detroit Tigers Firstbasemen

10. Carlos Pena Years of Service: 2002-2005
.244 avg. 28 HR 80 RBI

Pena was one of three players the Tigers received for trading Jeff Weaver and was hailed as the Tigers first baseman of the future. Pena showed good pop, but not enough to justify his low batting average and high strike out rate.

9. Dale Alexander Years of Service: 1929-1932
.331 avg 17 HR 126 RBI

Alexander posted the highest average of the players I looked at and his RBI numbers are up there as well.

8. Jason Thompson Years of Service: 1976-1980
.256 avg 26 HR 93 RBI--- 2 time All-Star

Thompson was a young slugger who was named an All-Star when he was only 22 and 23. The Tigers traded him for Al Cowens and first base became a revolving door until the acquisition of Darrell Evans. (1984)

7. Miguel Cabrera Years of Service: 2008- present
.307 avg 36 HR 126 RBI

Cabbby has only been in Motown for just over a season but his numbers make him impossible to leave off this list. All ready considered one of the best pure hitters in the league he is only 26 and about to enter his prime. He also led the AL in homers last year. (2008) The longer he stays in Detroit, the higher up this list he will move

6. Darrell Evans Years of Service: 1984-1988
.238 avg 31 HR 90 RBI--- AL East Champ 1987, WS Champ 1984

Evans came to Detroit late in his career but still put up solid numbers. The power hitting lefty led the AL in homers with 40 in 1985.

That Series Sucked!!

Game 1 Boston 5 Tigers 1
Matsusaka had stunk it up, right until we faced him of course. Porcello was OK, but the hitting was pathetic especially with RISP (2-11)

Game 2 Boston 10 Tigers 5
Lots of runs, explosion for the Red Sox. Tigers didn't get anything going until they were down 10 runs.

Game 3 Boston 6 Tigers 3
Tigers got up 3-0 right off the bat, then the Red Sox took advantage of Dontrelle's inability to hit the strike zone (damn, not good at all). Also, Miguel Cabrera injured his hamstring.


Just a brutal series, absolutely terrible in just about every faze of the game. The good news is that we have Verlander and Edwin Jackson the next 2. MOMENTUM IN BASEBALL IS AS GOOD AS THE NEXT DAYS STARTING PITCHER.

Number 1 All-Time Tigers Catcher

1. Bill Freehan Years of Service: 1963-1976

.262 18 HR 69RBI--- 1968 WS Champ, 11 Time All-Star, 5 Gold Gloves

Freehan is the Tigers career leader in most stats for catchers and was a rock behind the plate for 15 seasons. Freehan was also top ten in MVP voting 3 times.

Number 2 All-Time Tigers Catcher

2. Lance Parrish Years of Service: 1977-1986
.263 avg 30 HR 99 RBI--- 1984 WS Champ, 6 time All-Star, 5 Silver Sluggers, 3 Gold Gloves

"Big Wheel" was an integral part of the Tigers for 10 years, including the 1984 "Bless you Boys" World Series Champions. A big, power hitting righty who was proficient behind the plate as well, he set a standard that many hold a catcher to.

Number 3 All-Time Tigers Catcher

3. Mickey Cochrane Years of Service: 1934-1937
.313 avg. 6 HR 78 RBI--- 1934 AL Champ, 1935 WS Champ, 1934 AL MVP, 2 time All-Star

Cochrane came to Detroit late in his Hall of Fame career but still made a significant impact here. He served as player/manager all four years he was a Tiger.

AL Power Rankings

1. New York Yankees (29-21)
A-Roid's return to the line-up has sparked the Bronx Bombers. Not only has he been raking but so has Mark Teixeira. The pitching staff is starting to come around also but still needs help.






2. Texas Rangers (30-20)
Best record in the AL, but only 7-6 since our last power rankings. Middle of the pack in most pitching categories. Simply put, they have an amazing, mainly home-grown line-up.






3. Detroit Tigers (28-21)
The Tigers offense has been slightly disappointing so far this year but the pitching staff has made up for that. The Tigers staff ranks first in the AL in ERA, BAA, and OPS. Verlander leads the majors in strikeouts and Edwin Jackson is second to Greinke in ERA for AL pitchers.





4. Boston Red Sox (29-22)
Somehow the Sox keep winning with some of the worst starting pitching in the bigs. (5.24 ERA for their starters) Its never a good sign when Tim Wakefield leads your team in ERA with a stellar 4.55. Youkilis (1.150 OPS) and Bay(15 HR & 49 RBI) are raking, and if Big Papi ever gets going... LOOK OUT.



5. Toronto Blue Jays (29-24)
Once the top team in our rankings they have lost 10 of 12 and are now in third place in the AL East. Injuries have decimated their pitching staff and caused the Jays to use 10 different starters this season. Roy Halladay is still a beast.







6. LA Angels (25-24)-- Only other AL team over .500
7. Chicago White Sox (24-25)-- 7-3 in their last 10 including a 5-2 road trip
9. Minnesota Twins (25-27)-- Justin Morneau in putting up MVP numbers.
10. TB Rays (25-28)-- David Price is up to the bigs. Can he spark the defending champs?
11. Seattle Mariners (24-27)-- Ichiro hit .377 in May
12. Baltimore Orioles (23-28)-- Good, young line-up just added #1 prospect Matt Weiteirs
13. KC Royals (23-27)-- Zach Greinke... Enough said
14. Cleveland Indians (22-30)-- Imagine if they had not gone 7-3 in their last 10
15. Oakland A's (19-29)-- P. A. thetic

Jackson and Verlander even series with Orioles

Justin Verlander shut em down on Saturday

Edwin Jackson shut em down on Sunday

Fernando Rodney got saves in both games and is now 10/10

This is the pitching that has the Tigers in first place. Don't get me wrong, we have our doubts with certain guys....Galarraga/Willis/Bondo

But, for now I will argue that our 1/2/3 starters are as good as any

Porcello has been nothing short of amazing this season, and he is following up two of the top pitchers in the league.

*on Sunday Granderson hit another HR (13), and Magglio ended his 16 game hitting streak.

Number 4 All-Time Tigers Catcher

4. Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Years of Service: 2004-2008
.281 avg. 16 HR 80RBI--- AL Champ 2006, 4 time All-Star, 3 Gold Gloves, 1 Silver Slugger

While many fans complained about Pudge, his contribution to baseball in Detroit can't be denied. Signed as a free agent in 2004, he was the first big name to come to the Tigers and helped start the current resurgence.

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.

The Tigers Through the 40 Game Mark

Sparky Anderson seems to get credit for it around here, maybe because he had a team go 35-5 through 40 games, but the 40 game mark is where MLB Managers say they can tell you about their team. By the 40 game mark a fan, a coach, a team should all know what they got.

Going into the season I thought the Tigers would be in trouble. This was because of 2 major problems.

1. Starting Pitching
2. Bottom 4 Hitters

Both have been great. The Starting Pitching has been as good or better than any team in the MLB. The bottom 4 led by Brandon Inge and the SS combo of Santiago/Everett has also played well above expectations.

Through 40 game the Tigers sit at 24-16, 8 games above .500, the only team in the Central Division with a winning record. 4.5 games ahead of the second place Royals.

Even better their is a multitude of positives.

- Joel Zumaya looks to have his arm from a couple years ago, and has walked 1 batter all year
- Fernando Rodney is yet to blow a save
- Justin Verlander is the hottest pitcher in the AL not named Greinke
- Edwin Jackson has a stud arm, can go deep into games
- Brandon Inge's off-season adjustments have proven to be amazing
- There actually is a chance that Dontrelle and Bondo will contribute
- Perry and Porcello both actually look to belong in the Majors
- The Central Division has proven to be weak, and the White Sox lost out on SP Peavy
- Granderson and Cabrera are studs, Cabrera MVP Caliber
- Zach Miner has done a ton to help this team
- The players who have been called up have been awesome
- After a slow start the defense has picked up
- The Tigers actually have some speed

Even with all that, there still are some question marks

- Armando Galarraga, what is he? Lately terrible
- Will Dontrelle continue to Win games, or be back in Toledo?
- How many games will Leyland allow Brandon Lyon to lose?
- Maggs and Guillen look old and slow, not hitting either, will they return to form?
- Will the division leader stay near .500?
- Our Catchers are hitting under .200, will they get to a reasonable .240?
- Can Big Marcus Thames contribute, DH versus LHP?


The Tigers have put themselves into tremendous shape. They are miles ahead of the other teams in the Central. There still is a lot to prove even with what we have done so far. We need to show that we can beat the best teams in the AL, the Boston, NYY, LAA, Tampa Bays and Torontos of the world.

The Tigers were able to pretty much avoid the cold weather this year which I believe is an underrated part of our start. The past two seasons the Tigers have started very poorly, and have played terrible when the temperature was below 50 degrees. This season we played in a grand total of 2 cold weather baseball games, and those were two of our worst games of the season. I know we live in Michigan, but I believe the 40 degree days are behind us.

Some Tigers grades through 40

Verlander: B+, A+ as of late
Edwin Jackson: A-, an absolute steal for Matt Joyce
Rick Porcello: B, if he keeps this up it will be an A+ considering he is 20
Armando Galarraga: C, great start, terrible lately.
Dontrelle Willis: N/A, last game was best game of Tigers season in my books

Brandon Lyon: D, terrible. I feel uncomfortable every time he is on the mound.
Ryan Perry: B, too many walks. His 2-seamer is almost unhittable.
Bobby Seay: B, I know he has been bad as of late. But for a month he was A+.
Fernando Rodney: A+, I know he has given up runs at times, but he is 8/8.

Granderson: A-, average low, every other part of game amazing
Polanco: C, still good, needs to get average above .300
Magglio: D+, I feel his hitting coming. June will be good month for Ordonez
Cabrera: A++, MVP candidate. Big hits, tremendous average, good power numbers.
Guillen: F, Cannot find a spot for him in the field, and wasn't hitting before DL stint.
Inge: A-, been the biggest shocker for me on team, Great D and power hitting.
Laird: B+, I know he hasn't been hitting, but Catchers get credit for Pitching too.
Santiago/Everett: A++, after first week being bad for AE, rest has been near perfect for combo.
Anderson/Thomas/Raburn: A, can't expect anymore from young gun OF.

It's amazing how much this team has proved they are not what people thought before the season. Comerica Park is going to have a lot of people there come summer time. The Wings are almost done, and then the FIRST PLACE TIGERS will be the only show in town.

Setting up a great summer in the D, and a playoff run again.

GO TIGERS!!!

What a Series

Come in facing off against a Rangers team that had won 7 straight.

3 days in a row, 3 dominating Starting Pitching performances.

Clutch plays on defense i.e. the double play to end the game to save it for Rodney

Clutch hits i.e. Granderson's HR, or Cabrera's 2 out single to get the lead back for the Tigs.

This team is playing hell of good ball right now, and we are going into a series now versus a National League team that is really down on themselves right now.

best things from the Rangers series

5. 3 straight against #2 team on BL's Power Rankings

4. Granderson and Inge displaying their power some more

3. Wilkin Ramirez adding to the list of Mudhens that have contributed.

2. Justin Verlander showing he is an ace, maybe even a top end Ace.

1. DONTRELLE M_______ F_________ Willis!!!!!!!!!!

This Team Might Just Be.....

Pretty Damn Good

That's right. I am going back on my prediction already. Sorry guys, I am not one to FLIP FLOP. But I am one to admit when I was wrong, and at this point I think I was wrong.

Too much pitching right now for the Tigers not to be good.

Verlander goes out again and dominates. His 8 Ks from today seems like nothing, that's a heck of a total.

Cabrera is still hitting at a ridiculous pace, and the offense is producing with a bunch of Mudhens in the lineup.

5 in a row.

Damn great day to be a Tigers' fan.

Tigers 5 Rangers 3

*thats 10 losses in a row for the Rangers at Comerica Park.

That a Boy Dontrelle!!!!!

What a day for the Tigers.

What an even better day for Dontrelle Willis.

The hottest team in baseball comes to town, and 5 pitchers combine to 1 Hit them. Wow.

Dontrelle Willis gets his first W as a Detroit Tiger.

6 and 1/3 inning pitched for Dontrelle only giving up 1 hit, and 2 BB. ZERO Runs against.

Please take this into your next start. Lets GO TIGERS!!!.

TIGERS 4 RANGERS 0