1974 Detroit Tigers

[David Watts]

I have decided to give a dynasty a try. I will be managing the 1974 Detroit Tigers. I will let the computer make all transactions and trades. I will be responsible for the lineups and in game decisions. I was 10 years old in 1974 and remember this year as the beginning of the Tigers decline. These guys were my first heros (so if you wonder why Aurelio Rodriguez and Willie Horton are treated like Gods, keep that in mind)and that will obvious. So lets look at the team.

The starting pitchers
1. Mickey Lolich--The hero of the 68 World Series and a true workhorse.
2. Joe Coleman--over the previous 3 seasons he has won 20,19 and 23 games
3. Lerrin Lagrow-at 25 Lagrow has is making the jump to starter-not sure what to expect.
4. Woodie Fryman-was a major factor in the 72 AL East win, but struggled in 73.
Look for Verne Ruhle and Luke Walker to get some spot starts as well. Ruhle is a local kid from the small town of Coleman. We have high hopes for him. In the mean time Walker and Ruhle will work out of the pen.

The Bullpen
Jim Ray
Luke Walker
Verne Ruhle
Dave Lemanczyk
Chuck Seelbach
Bill Slayback

Lets face it, the pen is weak. These guys are mostly untested and could make or break this season.

The Closer
John Hiller--Hiller had 38 saves last year so we should be alright here.


The Catchers
Bill Freehan--A great catcher and a fan favorite. May see some time at first this year as well
Gene Lamont--Solid Defense and a great clubhouse guy--I have a feeling this guy will be a manager someday

Jerry Moses is on the reserve roster and may replace Lamont if his offense suffers. Oh and we have a kid named Wockenfuss waiting in the wings.

First Base
Norm Cash--This will probably be Norms last year so lets hope it is a great one. Stormin Norman is only 30 homers away from 400.

Second Base
Gary Sutherland--bland beyond belief, don't expect much from this guy
John Knox--another unproven youngster-will see limited playing time.

Shortstop
Ed Brinkman--great glove no stick--the Tigers version of Mark Belanger
Tom Veryzer will start the season on the reserve roster, but may see some time in the bigs, especially if we can get him to cut his hair. Or at least wash it.

Third Base
Aurelio Rodriguez--again no stick, but the Rodriguez/Brinkman combo gives the Tigers one of the strongest left sides in the league. Aurelio also tends to get the big hit more often than not. (advance to the future--to this day I can close my eyes and see Aurelio backhand a ball and gun it to first, best arm ever)
Ike Brown--doubt we will see much of Old Ike

The Outfield
Ben Oglivie--great potential here, at 25 we hope Ben will be a Tiger for a long time
Willie Horton-Fan favorite and a homegrown legend.
Mickey Stanley--great guy to have on any team. Will play some center and first
Jim Northrup--solid all around. Will play Right for us this year
Ron Leflore--a youngster straight from Jackson Prison. Speed to burn.

The DH
Al Kaline--Mr Tiger closing in on 3000 hits. Like Cash, this just might be his final year

So, lets get started. I hope we can play .500 ball

[David Watts]

Game#1 April 5th Detroit (Lolich) vs Baltimore (Cuellar) gametime temp-49

Tigers win 6-0

Lolich W(1-0)
Cuellar L (0-1)

Homeruns--Freehan(1) Brinkman(1)

What a way to start the season, a complete game 2 hitter for Mickey Lolich. Mickey k'd 8 batters and walked none. He carried a no-hitter into the 5th. Don Baylor doubled to break it up. The Tigers jumped on Cuellar early, scoring 4 in the first with Bill freehan's 3 run blast leading the way.

[84Hammy]

You know I'll be following this one. I grew up in this era too; Leflore was my favorite growing up. Question: are you going to play out every game? Have you made any major settings changes--like trade frequency, etc.?

[David Watts]

Game#2 April 6th Detroit(Coleman) vs Baltimore(Grimsley) gametime temp 49

Tigers lose 3-2

Garland W(1-0)
Coleman L(0-1)
G. Jackson S(1)

Homeruns- None

This was a tough one to lose. 4 Orioles pitchers combined to hold the Tigers to 7 hits. Joe Coleman struggled but kept the game close. He was knocked out to the game with one out in the 6th. By then the Orioles had the lead to stay.

Managers corner: I really liked what I saw out our bullpen today. Ray and Lemanczyk did their jobs. Joe just didn't have it today, but I give him credit for going as long as he did.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by 84Hammy

You know I'll be following this one. I grew up in this era too; Leflore was my favorite growing up. Question: are you going to play out every game? Have you made any major settings changes--like trade frequency, etc.?

I have trades set to very low and I always let the AI make my trades. I am simply the manager. I am going to attempt to play out all the games. Oh, and I am using OOTP9. I might start using your method (I follow your 2009 thread) of doing it by the series instead of game by game.

Kinda strange playing this season--Northrup is the only guy rated in RF other than Dick Sharon and Jim Nettles. Kaline is strictly the DH. I think I will play Oglivie in Right at times and hope he gets a rating there. Kinda hard to keep Gates Brown on the active roster as it would mean having 2 guys that are simply ranked as DH's

[David Watts]

Game#3 April 7th Detroit(Lagrow) vs Baltimore(McNally) Gametime temp 50

Tigers lose 7-5

McNally W(1-0)
Lagrow L(0-1)
G. Jackson S(2)

Homeruns none

Tigers starter Lerrin Lagrow pitched great for 3 innings but came unglued in the 4th, failing to retire a batter. He gave up 6 earned runs before he was yanked. The Tigers battled back but could never quite catch up. Ben Oglivie played his first game as a Tiger and went 4-4 with a walk. Kaline also had 3 hits in the game, he is now 134 hits away from 3000. Mickey Stanley strained his groin in the game and is out for 1-2 weeks. I am tempted to bring up the Gator.


Managers corner: I take a lot of the blame for this one. I should have yanked Lerrin sooner. I wanted to give him a chance to get out of it, but things just snowballed. Hey but what about that Ruhle kid. He came in and gave us a real chance. Those were 4 strong innings he pitched(4 inn 1 run ) and Slayback was pretty good in his inning as well.



Game#4 April 7th Detroit(Fryman) vs Baltimore(Palmer) Second game of Doubleheader

Tigers Win 4-1

Fryman W(1-0)
Palmer L(0-1)
Hiller S(1)

Homeruns--Cash(1)

Wow, Woodie Fryman was great today. He went 7 giving up only 1 run and 4 hits. He K'd 3 and walked 3. Jim Ray pitched a scoreless 8th to pick up his 1st hold and John Hiller did the same in the 9th for the save. The Tigers 3rd thru 6th hitters all drove in runs. Ben Oglivie had 2 more hits. Bill Freehan threw out two runners attempting to steal.

Managers corner-well we got out of Baltimore with a record of 2-2. I can't complain about that. We faced Baltimores best pitchers and fared ok. The bullpen, was lights out in this series and lets hope that continues. We really need to get Ron going. He had a tough go of it this series(batting .118), but I think things will change soon. You know, our team is really slow. Benjy and Ron are the only guys that can run on this whole team.

[David Watts]

Game#5 April 9th New York (Stottlemyre) vs Detroit(Lolich 1-0)

Tigers Lose 4-3 13 innings

Stottlemyre W(1-0) pitched 12 innings
Slayback L(0-1)
Lyle S(1)

Homeruns New York-Michaels(1) Detroit-Rodriguez(1)

Mel Stottlemyre went 12 innings to beat the Tigers. Stottlemyre held the Tigers scoreless for the first 6 innings of the game. Mel allowed Horton and Freehan to get on base in the bottom half of the 7th and one batter later Aurelio Rodriguez took him deep to tie the game at 3. The 2 teams remained tied until the 13th. Bill Slayback who pitched a great 12th, came undone in the 13th, he walked 2 and gave up a hit to surrender what turned out to be the winning run. Ron Leflore continued his struggles at the plate going 0-6 and is now hitting .087.

Managers Corner: Whats the deal, we only drew 21,604 fans for our home opener. C'mon fans we can do better than that. I know it was 46 degrees at game time, but???

Around the League: Sergio Ferrer(I never heard of this guy) went 2-4 with 2homers and 7 rbi for the Twins in a game vs Chicago. The Cleveland Indians are off to a 4-0 start on the young season.

[David Watts]

Game#6 April 11th New York(Medich 0-1) vs Detroit(Coleman 0-1)

Tigers Lose 4-3

Medich W(1-1)
Hiller L(0-1) BS(1)
Lyle S(2)

Homeruns: Detroit - Freehan(2)

This was a heartbreaker. The Tigers took a 3-1 lead into the 9th only to see the Yankees score 3 to win the game. John Hiller allowed the 3 runs, 3 hits and 1 walk. 2 of those hits were doubles. On the positive side, Joe Coleman only allowed 1 hit over seven innings, however he did struggle with his control again walking 5. Al Kaline strained a hip muscle and is listed as day to day for the next week.

Managers Corner: We need to field the ball better. 3 errors today! John just didn't have it, I doubt we will see him hit around like that too often.

[David Watts]

Game#7 Friday April 12th Detroit(Lagrow 0-1) vs Boston(Tiant 0-1)

Tigers Win 7-4

Lagrow W(1-1)
Tiant L(0-2)
Hiller S(2)

Homeruns:Boston-Carbo(3) Detroit-Freehan(3) Cash(2) Northrup(1)

Wow! Trailing 4-1 the Tigers erupt for 4 in the 7th to win game. Jim Northrup was the hero today as it was his 3 run blast off Luis Tiant that put the Tigers in the lead. Jim went 3-5 with 4 rbi. John Hiller redeemed himself for his bad outting yesterday to earn his second save of the season. Jim Ray now has 3 holds on the season. Bill Freehan now has homers in back to back games.

Around the League: The Angels lost Mickey Rivers for 5 weeks today. He was injured while making a defensive play against the White Sox.

[84Hammy]

Some really close games here... I know how you feel about keeping guys who historically / IRL have greater value than what the game gives them. My struggles with Verlander and Lyon in the '09 Tigers Challenge attest to that! Don't forget to post the team's record!

[David Watts]

Game#8 Saturday April 13th Detroit(Fryman 1-0) vs Boston(Cleveland 1-0)

Tigers Win 6-3

Fryman W(2-0)
Cleveland L(1-1)
Hiller S(3)

Homeruns: Detroit-Freehan(4) Boston-Fisk(2)

The Tigers get another great game out of Woodie Fryman. Woodie went 7 strong innings only allowing 2 earned runs. He allowed 8 hits, K'd 5 and walked 1. Bill Freehan remained hot, raising his average to .355. He also hit another longball. He leads the team with 4 and has now homered in 3 straight games.

The Tigers are now 4-4 on the season

[David Watts]

Game#9 Sunday April 14 Detroit(Lolich 1-0) vs Boston(Moret 0-1)

Tigers Lose 6-0

Moret W(1-1)
Lolich L(1-1)

Homeruns: Boston-Fisk(3)

Roger Moret pitched a great game for the Red Sox today. He threw a complete game shutout to even. Roger did it the hard way as he allowed 13 Detroit baserunners. Meanwhile, Mickey Lolich had a rough outing allowing 4 runs over just 6 innings.

Managers Corner: Well we have 1 more game left in this series with the Red Sox and with a win we get the split. I talked Aurelio and Ron into some extra batting practice, they are both really struggling. It would be nice to see them get above the .200 level.

[David Watts]

Game#10 Monday April 15th Detroit(Coleman 0-1) vs Boston(Lee 1-1)

Tigers Win 17-0

Coleman W(1-1)
Lee L(1-2)
Walker S(1)

Homeruns: Detroit-Brinkman(2) Horton(1) Northrup(2)

The Tigers came out of the shoot on fire today scoring 17 runs in the 1st 5 innings of the game. The Tigers scored 7 in the second and 5 in the 4th. The big blows were a grand slam by Horton and a 3 run blast by Northrup. Willie was 4 for 6 in the game and drove in a 6. On the pitching side of things, Joe Coleman and Luke Walker combined for a 1 hit shutout. Coleman has now allowed just 1 run over his last 12 innings pitched.

Managers Corner: I hope Joe will forgive me. I just couldn't see keeping him in the game past the 5th inning with a 17 run lead. It's always hard to pull a guy when hasn't allowed a hit, but injuries happen way too often in this type of game. He was already up to 97 pitches due to the 4 walks he yielded.

The Tigers are now 5-5 on the season

Around the league:
AL Player of the Week:Sergio Ferrer(Minnesota)9-22 2HR's and 9RBI
NL Player of the Week:Pete Rose(Cincinnati)14-23 1HR and 7 Runs scored. Rose is hitting .559 on the season.

[David Watts]

April 16th is an off day for the Tigers before they start a 6 game homestand. The 1st 2 are against the Orioles.

The 16th turned out to be an eventful day around the league- Steve Carlton notched his 3rd victory on the season shutting out the Cardinals 2-0, allowing only 2 hits. Carlton's ERA is now 1.11. Meanwhile, in the AL Dave Goltz of the Twins, limited the Angels to just 4 hits, completing the 4-0 win for his team. Goltz is now 2-1 on the season and has a skimpy 0.67 ERA.

The Oakland Athletic's Claudell Washington suffered a fractured skull when he was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Terry Forster. Early reports list this injury as a probable career ender. Washington, who is only 19 was off to a great start hitting .350, 14-40.

The California Angels lost the services of Jim Barr for the rest of the season. Barr fractured his elbow in a game against the Twins. He is listed as out for 7 months.

[David Watts]

Game#11 Wed April 17th Baltimore(0-1 6.35) vs Detroit(Lagrow 1-1 10.00)

Tigers Win 5-1

Lagrow W(2-1)
Grimsley L(0-2)

Homeruns: Detroit-Brinkman(3)

Lerrin Lagrow pitched like a wily veteran today. He scattered 9 hits over 6.2 innings and only allowed 1 run. Lerrin K'd 4 and walked 1. Willie Horton drove in 2 more runs and now has 12 Rbi on the season. Ron Leflore had his second good game in a row, going 2-5 and is now hitting .212.

Managers Corner: Wow, Steady Eddie Brinkman hit another bomb today. I asked him if he had his eye on hitting cleanup. Oh, and Willie is on fire. He now has the best average on the team at .425 and his hits all seem to come with runners on base.

Around the League: The Kansas City Royas dealt Starting Pitcher Paul Splittorff to the Indians for John Lowenstein. This looks like a steal for the Indians. The Indians our leading the AL East right now with an 8-4 record.

[David Watts]

Game#12 April 18th Baltimore(McNally 1-1 3.94) vs Detroit Lolich(1-1 2.63)

Tigers Win 5-4

Lolich W(2-1)
McNally L(1-2)
Hiller S(4)

Homeruns: Baltimore-Baylor(2) Detroit-Leflore(1)

The Tigers had to battle the Orioles to the very end to win this one. Baltimore battled back to tie the game in the 4th and 6th, before the Tigers took the lead for good in the 7th. Once again it was Willie Horton leading the way for the Tigers, 2-4 with 3 RBI. Ron Leflore continued his improvement at the plate with a 3-4 game. He is now hitting .250 and is playing great in the field as well. Mickey Lolich allowed only 3 hits over 7 innings and John Hiller cruised thru the 9th for his 4th save. Ron Leflore is day to day for the next 5 days with a bruised ankle.

Around the League: Nolan Ryan shutout the Twin 4-0 today. He struckout 15 and walked 4. Ryan is now 1-2 on the season with 33 strikeouts.

[David Watts]

Game13 April 20 Milwaukee(Champion 0-2 12.00)vs Detroit(Coleman 1-1 1.56)

Tigers L 9-3

Champion W(1-2)
Coleman L(1-2)

Homeruns: Milwaukee-Money(2) D.May(2) Detroit-J.Nettles(1)

The Brewers stomped the Tigers today. Joe Coleman fell behind way too many hitters today(4 walks/1 strikeout) allowing 3 runs in 6. Verne Ruhle was misreble in relief, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits over just 3 innings. Meanwhile, the Tigers bats couldn't sustain a rally against the Brewers pitching combo of Billy Champion and Bill Castro.

The Tigers are now 7-6, 1.5 games behind the first place Cleveland Indians(9-5)

Around the League: Paul Splittorff(Cleveland) went 8 innings allowing 0 runs in a 1-0 victory over Boston. He struckout 7 batters and walked none. This was his first appearance for the Indians since the trade.

[David Watts]

Game#14 Sunday April 21 Milwaukee(Slaton 1-1 3.12) vs Detroit(Lagrow 2-1 6.32)

Tigers Win 6-5 12 innings

Hiller W(1-1)
Stone L(0-1)

Homeruns:Milwaukee-Briggs(2) Hanson(1) Detroit-Rodriguez(2)

What a battle. The Tigers fell behind 4-1 early in this one but battled back to tie it up in the bottom of the 4th. Aurelio Rodriguez's Home run would put the Tigers up by one an inning later. The score remained 5-4 until the 8th when Johnny Briggs hit a Luke Walker pitch of the facing of the upperdeck in rightfield. Neither team scored again until the 12th. After a 2 out walk to Jim Northrup, Aurelio Rodriguez nailed a George Stone pitch into the left center gap for a walkoff double. The Tigers bullpen shined today. Lerrin Lagrow struggled giving up 4 runs on 8 hits over just 4 innings. He also walked 2 batters. He was replaced by Luke Walker. Walker was stellar, making only one mistake(the Briggs homer) going 3 innings 1 run 2 hits. Jim Ray replaced Walker in the 8th. Ray didn't allow a baserunner over the next 3 innings. John Hiller pitched scoreless ball in the 11th and 12th innings for the win. Hiller allowed 2 hits and struckout 4.

Mickey Stanley was activated from the DL following todays game. Dick Sharon was sent to the reserve roster.

Around the League:
AL Player of the Week--Ron "Boomer" Blomberg (NYA) Ron went 17 for 27 .630, he had 2 homers and 6 Rbi

NL Player of the Week--Chris Speier (SF) Chris hit .462 12-26 1 homer, 5 RBI and 6 runs scored.

[David Watts]

Game#15 Tuesday April 23 Minnesota(Decker 1-2 7.85) vs Detroit(Fryman 2-0 1.93)

Tigers Lose 7-4

Decker W(2-2)
Fryman L(2-1)
Campbell S(3)

Home Runs: Minnesota-Brye(2) Hisle 2(3) Detroit-Rodriguez(3)

It was the home run that did the Tigers in today. Woodie Fryman gave up a solo shot to Larry Hisle in the 1st, a grand slam to Steve Brye in the 2nd and a 2 run shot to Hisle in the 7th. Brye and Hisle drove in all of the Twins runs. Aurelio Rodriguez went deep for the Tigers. He has now homered in 2 straight games. Could he be coming out of his slump? Fryman's ERA shot up to 4.35 due to this poor outing. Eddie Brinkman made 2 errors in the game, giving him 5 on the season. Steady Eddie hasn't been so steady so far.

The Tigers are 8-7 on the season. This is still good for 2nd in the AL East, a 1/2 game behind the Indians. The Orioles are 8-8.

AL West: The Royals are leading the West with a 12-3 record. They are 2 games up on Oakland(10-5) The rest of West is all below .500

NL East: The Philadelphia Phillies are leading the East with a 11-4 record. The Pirates and Cubs are 3 games back with 8-7 records.

NL West: The Reds are 5 games up in the West with a 13-3 record. Atlanta 9-9 is the only other team in this division with a .500 mark.

[David Watts]

Game#16 Wednesday April 24 Minnesota(Goltz 1-1 1.11) vs Detroit(Lolich 2-1 2.90)

Tigers Lose 8-7

Goltz W(2-1)
Lolich L(2-2)
Campbell S(4)

Home Runs: Minnesota-Hisle(4) Roof(1) Kusick(1) Detroit-Oglivie(1)

Deja vu all over again. The Twins once again played longball, going deep 3 more times today. Larry Hisle hit his 3rd in 2 days. Mickey Lolich was hit hard all day. He gave up 10 hits, 5 runs and 2 of those home runs. On a positive note he struckout 7 and only walked 1. He looked tired and for some reason our skipper kept him in there for 7 hard innings. Ron Leflore continued his improvement going 2-5, lifting his average to .262.

Managers CornerL: I think I blew this one. The bullpen was rested and I should have yanked Mickey. I give our guys credit thou, they battled back to get us within 1. Bill Campbell has always been tough on us and we just couldn't tie it up. I will say this thou--we had to more fielding blunders today that led to 2 unearned runs. The errors are killing us. Aurelio Rodriguez made his 3rd error of the season. We may need to start looking at our options--I mean the guy is hitting .156 and is in the lineup for his glove. I will say this, true to his nature, when Aurelio hits, the hits are big.

Eddie Brinkman is not happy with his contract negotiations so far. Tommy Veryser better be paying attention.

Around the League: The Kansas City Royals got some really bad news today--29 year old shortstop Freddie Patek suffered a fractured skull in a collision at 2nd base. The Injury took place in a gam against the Yankees. Right now Doctors are saying it looks like a career ending injury. Patek is the second player to go down this year with a fractured skull. Patek was hitting only .179. He is as sure as you get in the field and the Royals will surely miss him. The Royals are now without a true shortstop on the roster so look for them to swing a deal. I have to wonder if they will come after the Tigers Brinkman?

The Reds lost the services of Ken Griffey for up to 3 weeks. Griffey suffered a concussion while runnig the bases in a game against the Cubs. So far this season Griffey is hitting .355, he has a .459 on base percentage and has scored 9 runs.

The Atlanta Braves had to put Davey Johnson on the dl with a scratched Cornea. Johnson is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Johnson is hitting .222, but he already had 4 homer on the season.

Thursday April 25th is a travel day for the Tigers. Detroit is off to the windy city for a 3 game series against the White Sox. They then travel to KC for 3 against the Royals, followed by 3 in Minnesota. The Tigers start this roadtrip with an 8-8 record.