Yesterday I wrote about the significant increase in offense that has happened between 2005 and 2006. Today I’ll write about the changes in pitching performance, however the results have not been as outstanding. In fact, the Tiger offense and pitching have simply switched places this year with pitching sitting at league average and the offense leading the league.

This isn’t to say that Tiger pitching has been poor around the team as this is far from the truth. The team, at least before tonights game, is leading the AL Central and has a near .600 winning percent. There has been some serious problems with the pitching staff from bullpen troubles to injury issues that have culminated in a large change to team stats overall.

A difference from .240 opponent batting average this time last year to nearly .270 this year is major. There are currently only 7 teams in all of the major leagues that have a team batting average above .270. The bullpen accounts for most of this raise in hits given up and have seen a similar uptick in walks and slide in strikeouts.

What has been the key reasons for this? Well, mainly injuries and a poor pitching from a few key members. Below are my top reasons for the Detroit pitching issues, in order of their importance.

1) Kenny Rogers injury - The pre-season injury to veteran pitcher Kenny Rogers had a larger impact than it might seem. Chad Durbin’s ability to come in and fill this tough role has certainly helped the team overall but he was initially slated to fill a spot in the bullpen. Due to Roger injury, Durbin was pulled into the starting rotation and Bobby Seay was called up from Toledo to fill a slot in the bullpen.

While I’ve stated I believe Durbin deserved a shot to stay in the starting lineup after his good starts the team did loose out on his abilities out of the bullpen during this period without Kenny.

2) Joel Zumaya Injury - Tigers bullpen depended heavily on having Zumaya to hold in the late innings. Without him Leyland has been forced to make numerous pitching changes as there is no real viable pitcher who can come in and soak up a few innings when needed.

With Durbin’s move into the bullpen and the return of Zach Miner there are a few more options now though.

3) Fernando Rodney Injury/Poor Performance - Fernando has been pitiful this year and is now on the Disabled List for the third time. Behind Zumaya, Rodney was to be the second long relief pitcher and was dependable throughout most of last year.

This year he has already racked up more losses than all of 2006 and is nearly a whole 2 runs above his ERA last year.

4) Poor performance by Jason Grilli & Wil Ledezma - With Joel Zumaya gone and Fernando Rodney the team had no choice but to turn to Grilli and Ledezma to fill some innings. Wil started off the year well but took a serious downturn in May that lasted until he was traded for Macay McBride.

Jason Grill has just been awful most of the year. His strikeout rate has actually risen but so has his walk rate and he has had a number of multiple running outings.

Outside of those top 4 issues I’d give honorable mention to Todd Jones. He’s had a few horrible outings. Painful outings. But he also has 19 saves which places him 6th in all of MLB for closers. As for Bobby Seay and Byrdak, they’ve brought the team as much as anyone expected and many times much more.

With the Tiger starting pitchers holding the highest winning percentage in the league it has been the bullpen’s game to loose and they have done so. The ‘pen’s poor performance has been the single most weakness this year but has really been brought on by injuries as much as by individual performance.