It is of course somewhat arbitrary to just look at Opening Day rosters. You could just as easily look at the roster after game 107. Still, it is fun to watch the evolution of a team over time and while Opening Day Rosters are easy to get, game 107 rosters would take some effort. Here are the last 3 Tigers’ Opening Day rosters. The colors in 2013 show how many seasons in a row the player has been on Detroit’s Opening Day roster. Green shading indicates 3 or more years.Yellow shading indicates 2 years. Orange shading indicates that this is the first year. The colors in 2011 and 2012 just match 2013, they do not refer to prior years. I added Smyly at the end in 2012 since he was named the 5th starter, but was not on the Opening Day roster because off days allowed the Tigers to use 4 starters for a couple trips through the rotation. Here are the 2009 and 2010 rosters if you want to go further back. Here is a link to a larger version of the chart above.

As part of a filming gig I'm involved in, I was honored enough to be shooting in the Dombrowski suite this morning and my boss got this picture of me as I was testing the audio levels. I also got to be in the Tigers dugout and on the field later; the whole experience was so surreal and tested my ability to hold in my overexcited Tiger fan giggles. We were interviewing Mrs. Dombrowski as part of an event being hosted at CoPa on Oct. 3...yes, the last game of the year - but do not fret, the game will be on at all the locations we'll be at.

Results by Rotation Slot Click to see large enough to read. I don’t want to wait out the rain delay to see whether the Tigers lose by 3 or if they finish the game. So here is the results by starter chart through (most of) July. Fister/Wilk/Crosby Starts: 7-13 Verlander Starts: 13-8 Scherzer/Below Starts: 12-10 Porcello Starts: 12-8 Smyly/Turner/Crosby/Sanchez Starts: 10-10 Fister is catching up. Porcello is hanging in there and he is staying healthy. Despite the disastrous innings and outings a pitcher with low strike out numbers will have from time to time I appreciate that he is eating innings.

It's been a month, and the worried of our power production continue. 30 days later they've hit 11 HR, but also made 10 Errors to counter-act it.

After 57 games it still seems that the Tigers can't outhit their errors. Looking back at last year they haven't really committed more errors (23 vs. 20 in 2011), but the power is severely off (30 vs. 53 in 2011). If the rest of the team starts hitting, their defensive problems will fade into the background but if they keep up this pace it will continue to be the story for months to come.

I didn't feel like doing housework or schoolwork so I updated the pitcher results spreadsheet. You can see it big here. Fister probably wants to be traded back to Seattle.

Another two week update. 4 HR and 4 E's have brought the overall team HERS down to 1.167. This falls well below the league average of 1.6 and continues to show we can't just "mash our way out of bad defense."

Part of a healthy breakfast!

Comerica After Dark