Your Tigers look to get to .500 today, else it’s 1-3 with a dreaded off day tomorrow.
Porcello toes the slab for the Tigers. Porcello was roughed up a little in spring training, allowing 29 hits and walking 11 in 27.2 innings for a 1.45 WHIP. He struck out 17 during that time.
Jake Arrieta goes for the O’s today, after making the opening day roster for the first time. Arrieta has four real pitches, throwing his curve, slider or change roughly 40% of the time, distributed almost equally. Arrieta started 18 games for the O’s last year, posting a 6-6 record with a 4.66 ERA in 100.1 IPs. He had a 1.53 WHIP and struck out 52. Tigers should have their chances today.
The Orioles look about as good as you can after opening weekend, sweeping the Rays and outscoring them 12-3. But I think their 3 game win streak ends today.
Fortunately, Luke Scott is not in today’s Orioles lineup. Tigers look like this:
1 Jackson CF
2 Rhymes 2B
3 Ordonez RF
4 Cabrera 1B
5 Martinez C
6 Boesch LF
7 Peralta SS
8 Avila C
9 Inge 3b
This is my first game of the year that I get to watch… I’ve been stuck on a boat and they don’t like to show Tigers games on it. Lame.
First career stolen base for Wee Willie Rhymes.
I think it’s fair to say the Orioles are seeing the ball pretty well today. Porcello is not fooling them at all, and we’re lucky they didn’t put up any runs in the first… I’m hearing a lot of solid contact.
from all the big hitting going on the first week…and the way the ball is going out of every stadium…its time to bring up the “Check the ball specs issue early in the season”
is it too early to inquire what the record for allowing 3 run dingers for a team/season
Yikes! What is going on with our pitching staff? At least five runs given up in every game so far this year? The bull pen is already getting used a lot. Not a good combination for the start of the season.
Porcello actually looked pretty good most of the game (Penny, that’s a different story). And right now Villareal is looking very, very good in relief.
It’s going to be a long season that will take a great physical and mental toll on the players if they have to consistently play from behind!
They are giving up over 6 runs a game so far this season and if this continues………last years record of 81 – 81 will be a miracle.
The Tigers are on their way to 1 and 3 and in each loss A. Avila (aka Mr. .111 BA) was behind the plate and our starters were shaky at best. There seems to be a connection.
You might have something going there. Perhaps Martinez needs a little more time behind the plate?
Strange when the Tigers strike out less than the opposition (at least on non Verlan-zer days).
And Inge is still without his first 2011 strikeout (and only two checked swings so far).
Baltimore is 4-0 now. I don’t root for other teams often, but how can I not root for them? They are the underdogs of the underdogs. Boston being 0-3 makes this even sweeter.
Well said Mr. X. Their fans and stadium deserve such a team. I’ve had many a beer in the Pickles Pub next door to Camden Yards and the fans were great there. Hats off to Buck for a great job in turning this team around even if it isn’t for the entire season. However I saw a stat on MLB channel that the O’s ERA in their last 61 games was 2.98. Think of where the Tigers would be in the Central on 15JUN with such an ERA?
Also, the O’s remind me of when the Tigers won 4 in a row at the start of the 2004 season? They swept the Blue Jays in Toronto and then beat Minnesota on Opening Day. That was after they lost the first 10 or so (and a manager) at the start of the 2003 and 2002 seasons. Time flies when we don’t know what we are doing!
I can’t believe the orioles are this good! It’s nice to see them make this turn around even though I am a Boston fan. The Tigers drew a tough first series against the Yankees, but maybe they will be able to win the next couple against the O’s.
Alex Avila is killing this team…He is a minor league player, He brings almost nothing to the team. The pitching is pretty much to be expected. Justin Verlander is a good pitcher and the rest are SUPPOSED to be good, but, they have no track record…In their careers, they have been inconsistent. We hope they will get on a roll…Scherzer should be good, his problems are, that he is a flyball pitcher and he was playing in that tiny stadium w/ the wind blowing out. Why every year..people act as if this is some strength of the team…yet, every year we pretend that the Tigers will pitch well (now part of this is poor defense) but in 2006 they gave up 675 Runs..since then they have allowed 797 runs, 857 runs, 745 runs and 743 runs..That translates to 9th, 12th, in 2009 we were 4th in ERA, but, 10th in Runs allowed (great D), and last year we were 11th…Hardly the numbers that make you believe that DD has this pitching thing figured out. We have drafted JV…The other big pitchers that have been on this staff are Rogers and a bunch of flash in the pans, for short stints 1/2 a season here or 1/2 a season there. Miner in 06, Porcello, Gallaragga, and Bondo all fit into this category…now, Porcello has big upside, but, at this point…those are the facts.
One silver lining in this grey cloud was the good pitching performance by Brayan Villarreal who may be the real deal?