One hundred and eleven.
It's hard discussing anything but the ever-increasing loss total when previewing a series involving the 2003 Tigers. It's not like they have one enormous Achilles' heel to describe, either; they don't hit well, they don't pitch well, they don't field well and they don't run well. They don't take losing that well, but they've also lacked the kind of competitive fire needed to go out and compete hard the next day. Beleaguered manager Alan Trammell described Saturday's effort as "bland" and Sunday's showing as "blah." Too bad Lou Piniella's gainfully employed.
Nate Cornejo has a chance to stop the bleeding tonight, as Pete Walker makes a spot start. But tomorrow's Halladay-Loux match-up is reminiscent of one of those Kansas-Prairie View A&M games in the first two days of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Josh Towers hopes to continue his strong pitching of late in the series finale.
On to the Advance Scout!
* It says something about the Tigers this season that they just dropped three of four to the Royals -- and the result of the series has been widely viewed as disastrous for Kansas City ... After the dustings by the Jays and Yankees last week, the Tigers have fallen prey to 19 sweeps ... For a comparison, the Jays have been swept six times ... The Tigers would have to go an implausible 5-8 to avoid matching the 120 losses of the infamous '62 Mets ... "We've got to win somewhere along the line," laments Alan Trammell ... With a lineup like this, not necessarily ... Bobby Higginson: "It's been a miserable year...It's going to take guys digging down deep to avoid 120 losses" ... The Tigers are the first AL team since the '39 St. Louis Browns to lose 111 ...
* The previous Tigers record for losses was 109, set in '96 ...
* Trammell had some pretty sour words after his club was blanked by journeyman Jamey Wright on Saturday: "When a guy pitches a shutout, he deserves some credit...But with our club, you just don't know. We just looked bland" ...
* Tonight's opponent, Nate Cornejo, has been nothing if not tremendously game of late ... Although he got roughed up much more on Thursday than he did during his amazing duel with Roy Halladay, he still went the distance against the Yankees ... Trammell on Cornejo: "That kid has really developed...He's been our best pitcher in the last month, hands down" ...
* Dmitri Young, the lone offensive bright spot for the Tigers all season, has caught whatever affliction it is that's been plaguing his teammates ... He's 6 for his last 44 (.136) ...
* Everyday left fielder Craig Monroe is enduring an awful September at the plate, going 152/167/217 ... Monroe did, however, nail Jorge Posada at the plate with an excellent throw on Thursday night ... Then he gunned Rondell White with another laser on Friday night, bringing his assist total to seven ...
* Wednesday's opponent, Shane Loux, will be making his first start back from a strained right shoulder ...
* Gene Guidi of the Detroit Free Press expressed outrage recently at the Tigers' trading Mark Redman as too expensive, when he was making $2.1 million ... Guidi: "The Tigers put major league uniforms on minor league players and call it rebuilding. I call it getting by cheap" ... Redman managed to express sympathy and well-wishing to his friends on the club in person this past week, when Florida played the Mets and Detroit was in the Bronx ...
* Thursday's opponent, Mike Maroth, got six full days of rest after the shelling he took in losing his twentieth at the Dome ... It wasn't for baseball-related reasons. Tragically, Maroth's grandmother passed away this week ... Impressively, he regrouped: Six tidy shutout innings earned him his seventh win on Friday against a desperate Kansas City club ... Maroth was finally able to keep the ball down effectively over an entire outing ... Trammell reiterated his belief that Maroth's "record is not indicative of how well he's pitched," although he conceded that Maroth was turning in some subpar performances before Friday's win ... Maroth admitted that the threat of 20 losses wore on him: "Obviously, I didn't have to think about it today. Maybe I was just able to concentrate more on the game as opposed to what the outcome was going to be" ...
* Carlos Pena was benched after making three errors on seemingly routine plays last Wednesday ... Trammell said Pena's deteriorating glovework is a sign of the young infielder's declining concentration ...
* Ex-LSU superstar, Warren Morris, has been hot of late, going 8 for his last 15 (.533) ...
* Higginson has one home run in his last 23 games, and hasn't recorded an extra-base hit in September ...
* Jamie Walker hasn't surrendered a run in any of his last six appearances ... Walker's been the bullpen bright spot for the club, with an excellent 0.98 WHIP against lefthanded hitters ...
* Once-touted Matt Anderson also completed six straight scoreless outings before getting torched for four runs, including two homers, last night ...
* With four shutout innings on Sunday, Jeremy Bonderman earned his return to the starting rotation ... Trammell said that Bonderman basically nagged his way back into the rotation ...
* After back-to-back outings resulting in taking the loss, Fernando Rodney got a chance to redeem himself on Friday ... He preserved the shutout victory, earning a four-out save ...
* Danny Patterson won't pitch again this season ... Trammell decided to shut him down after he complained of elbow soreness ...
* 25-year-old corner infielder Eric Munson might return before the season is through ... He just had the cast removed from his broken left thumb ...
* Alex Sanchez had been improving his stolen base percentage, going through a 20-for-24 string before being nailed at the plate last night ... Sanchez tried a delayed steal on the throw back from the catcher to the pitcher. It wasn't a called play; Sanchez ran on his own ... He was out by a mile -- and Young was at the plate at the time ... Brian Anderson, who threw the misguided speedster out: "[I]f you want to give me an out, I'll take it" ... Sanchez is on a six-game hitting streak and has hit in 11 straight starts ...
* Centrefielder Andres Torres hit his first career homer on Sunday ... It landed beyond the new mini-fence and in front of the original fence in left-centre ... Results of the hitter-friendly initiative: 18 would-be outs or hits have turned into home runs for the Tigers, and their opponents have also hit 18 newly-available homers ...
* Shane Halter is coming off a rare strong game; he went 2-for-3 with a home run last night ...
* A.J. Hinch still can't handle major-league pitching -- at least, as a batter ... He's at 188/227/304 on the year ...
* Matt Roney has pitched nine shutout innings against the Jays this season, going 1-0 and allowing just three hits ... He's 0-9 against the rest of baseball ... Roney does stand out throughout the league, however, in one statistic: head size. His 8 1/4 hat is the league's biggest ... He sent an autographed cap to the man with the second-biggest melon in baseball: Hideki Matsui, a size 8. Matsui cheerfully reciprocated ...
* As many in the Box have speculated, Detroit will in fact target Pat Hentgen for 2004 ... Trammell couldn't mention specific names, but said the following in response to a question about Hentgen: "I'd like to have a veteran guy just in case things don't go as we planned...someone who can act as a stabilizer" ...Mike Illitch nixed a 2001 contract, to which then-GM Randy Smith and Hentgen had
already agreed ...
Probable Batting Orders
*Note: With Mark Hendrickson's demotion to the bullpen, Toronto no longer has any lefthanded starters.
vs. RH
8 Sanchez
4 Morris
9 Higginson
DH Young
7 Monroe
3/5 Witt/3 Pena
5/3 Halter
2 Inge
6 Santiago
Pitching Probables
Tuesday: RH Cornejo vs. Walker
Wednesday: RH Loux vs. Halladay
Thursday: LH Maroth vs. Towers
Bullpen Usage
Long: Spurling R, Roney R, Schmack R, Ledezma L
Short: German R, Eckenstahler L
Setup: Anderson R, Walker L
Closer: Rodney R
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