The Spot Starters

What A Weekend

I think most people try to relax over Labor Day weekend.  I guess I did my fair share of relaxing, but Sunday and Monday were like a day of pretty intense labor.  Anyone who was at Comerica Park on Sunday or Monday knows what I’m talking about.  The weather was perfect for water sports but less than ideal for sitting at a shadeless ball park.  There were no clouds, none.  Just the hot beating sun, crushing me and scalding my poor skin.

It’s now Tuesday and I’m back to work with a blistered lip (sun burn) and some serious burns on the left side of my body.  Sunday I didn’t mind the sun so bad because at least the Tigers won the game.  Monday was a different story.  My dad left Montague, MI (north of Muskegon) at 7am so we could get to the ballpark to see the Tigers and Yankees go at it.  Our dedication to the 2008 Detroit Tigers was rewarded by Justin Verlander pitching what was easily one of the worst games of his career (more on that later).  Verlander made it so the Tigers were out of the game by the second inning and we just had to sit there and take it.  What do you, just turn around and head home?

As expected, there were Yankee fans everywhere.  What an obnoxious group of people.  I’ve been saying more and more that it’s getting tough to see the difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees but their fans are the main difference.  Red Sox fans are annoying, don’t get me wrong, but Yankees fans are the absolute worst.  They are probably the most arrogant fan base out there and my blood boils when I walk past a couple of jerks talking about how Derek Jeter is the best short stop in the history of baseball.  Give me a  break.

Anyway, it wasn’t a total loss.  I got to see loyal reader Kenny at the game and shared a beer with him.  However, as conversations often go with Kenny, the topic of discussion quickly switched to his man crush on Derek Jeter even though he loves the Tigers (I argue that this is impossible).  He then insulted me by suggesting that Placido Polanco and Jeter are the same player. 

We got to see Pudge make his return to Detroit.  Pudge came up in the second inning and got a nice standing ovation as he tipped his hat to the crowd.  It really was a nice moment.

Back to Verlander.  Verlander’s final line yesterday looks like this:

• 1.2 innings, 7 hits, 8 runs, 5 ER, 2 walks, 1 HR

Yikes, right?  Sure it was a bad start at the end of a bad season for Verlander, but was it his worst ever?  Let’s have a look:

Last week I looked at game scores to check out Detroit Tiger debut performances.  The better game you pitch, the better your game score.  If you need a refresher on it, click here.  Anyway, here are Verlander’s five worst performances ranked by game score:

T-1. Yesterday

T-1. 4/13/2006 against the White Sox: 2.2 innings, 7 ER

3. 8/26/2006 against the Indians: 4.2 innings, 8 ER

4. 8/22/2007 against the Indians: 4 innings, 7 ER

5. 7/26/2008 against the White Sox: 4 innings, 7 ER

So yeah, according to game score, yesterday was tied for his worst performance ever.  Now let’s plug in the 1.2 innings he threw yesterday and the 8 runs he gave up just to see that last time a Tigers starter pulled that off:

Believe it or not, it’s happened 10 times since 1984.  Here are the gentleman that pulled off the less-than-gentlemanly feat:

• Justin Verlander 2008
• Dontrelle Willis 2008
• Nate Cornejo 2003
• Mark Redman 2002
• Jose Lima 2002
• Dave Borkowski 2000
• Todd Van Poppel 1996
• Scott Aldred 1996
• Mike Moore 1995
• Jack Morris 1984