Pitching injuries can't keep good Tigers down

**BronxBomberz** · 09-14-2007 08:11 AM

Mark Shapiro, the Cleveland Indians general manager whose team is closing in on a playoff spot, was asked this week if he had any thoughts on the 2007 Tigers and the 397 days that Tigers pitchers have spent on the disabled list.
Shapiro had a definite response.
"My overwhelming reaction to their position today, in light of the magnitude of their pitching injuries," Shapiro said in an e-mail follow-up, "is that their season speaks to the overall talent on their major league team, its depth, and (the Tigers') strong mental approach.
"They have faced their challenges and never given in to them. The depth of major league, impact talent on their team is so strong that they have been able to sustain injuries and maintain a contending level of play.
"It is a tribute to their players and manager that they are in the position they are in."
The Tigers will thank Shapiro for his sensitive words, even as they hope to put some heat on the Indians in their three-game series beginning Monday at Jacobs Field.
The Tigers, in fact, have been just short of astounding during the past two seasons in losing important pitchers to injury without dropping from contention.
In May of last year, left-hander Mike Maroth was off to the best start of his big league career. He was 5-2 with a 2.45 ERA on May 25, the day he failed to make it out of the first inning of a start at Kansas City.
Maroth had surgery a week later for bone chips in his elbow and never started another game for the Tigers in '06. It failed, however, to stop Detroit from scrapping its way into the World Series.
This year, the toll has been far greater for the simple fact more pitchers have been lost for extensive periods.
From the day in spring training that Kenny Rogers was felled by arterial blockage in his left shoulder, to this week's decision to shut down Jeremy Bonderman -- likely for the remainder of the season -- the Tigers have been faithful patrons of the disabled list.
Rogers missed 123 of a possible 160 days this season because of surgery to repair his artery, and later, because of elbow inflammation.
Powerful reliever Joel Zumaya missed 110 days because of a torn finger tendon. Fernando Rodney spent two stretches on the DL spanning 56 days. Nate Robertson, Andrew Miller, Jair Jurrjens, Tim Byrdak and Zach Miner, as well as Bonderman, who had an earlier 15-day trip to the DL, all have had their periods of injury exile.
Injuries have helped shape the Central Division race, where a team such as the Indians (their pitchers have 160 days on the DL) has had its ailments, albeit not on the level the Tigers have confronted.
"We're still in contention, so people haven't said a lot," said Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers president and general manager, speaking about the injury bug and how it has bitten Detroit's staff.
"You kind of look at it from my perspective in a couple of ways: You have to be prepared for things to happen, because rarely do you get through a year where everything goes well. But I don't think any club has enough depth when it comes to pitching.
"This year, we've been hit a lot. It shows that we're in the position where we have a good ballclub, and an organization that's deep. But I don't want to make excuses, either. Some clubs have had more injuries than we've had. Oakland has been hit extremely hard.
"It comes with the territory."
Oakland, in fact, has lost 531 days to disabled pitchers in 2007. The Toronto Blue Jays have been slammed to the tune of 816 days, largely because of lengthy injuries to the likes of Gustavo Chacin and reliever B.J. Ryan.
The Tigers have paid a steep price, all because of the prominence of pitchers lost for long stretches.
Manager Jim Leyland has said several times that when the Tigers lost Rogers for most of this year, they lost 17 victories, which is how many Rogers brought the Tigers in 2006.
Zumaya's 3 ½ -month layoff robbed the Tigers of a reliever who was the most imposing pitcher in Detroit's bullpen, as well as the bridge between Leyland's starters and his eighth- and ninth-inning firemen.
The Tigers managed to patch up, whether it was using a committee approach to fortify their bullpen, or bringing up the latest replacement starter from Triple A or Double A -- Virgil Vasquez, Jordan Tata or Jurrjens, who made three starts before he, too, had a DL stint.
"It speaks well for the organization," Leyland said of Detroit's ability to scramble and scrounge for competent big-league pitching help. "I'm sure there have been other teams in the same situation.
"But that's what I like about this team," Leyland said, speaking of his team that has slightly more than two weeks to steal a playoff spot. "Not one guy has whined about losing this guy or that guy. They're professional. They come here to battle their tails off."