Game 2011.6: Tigers at Orioles

The boys look to take a series and get to .500 today.

Chris Tillman was pretty darn good in his first outing, throwing 6 innings of no-hit ball against the Rays, but was pulled after 101 pitches.  Tillman is young and promising, but his first two years in the bigs have been disappointing, at best.  In 124 2/3 IPs, all as a starter. Tillman has a career 5.34 ERA and 1.49 WHIP.  In three career starts against the Tigers, Tillman is 1-0 with a 3.20 ERA, averaging just over 6 innings per start.  This includes a 7 inning, 3 hit, 1 ER, 7 K performance in game 160 last year.

Brad Penny, well, he really can’t do any worse.  On the field, that is.  He seems to be doing okay off the field.  Though it would have been nice for that article to come out after his start.  The best part about the article is his wife is planning on having their wedding in “October or November.” Penny sure did his part last week to keep that timeline in play.

Ryan Perry went on the DL today, it’s retroactive to April 5th.  He has an “infected eye.”  Can you really get pink eye from a pillow as discussed in Knocked Up?  Robbie Weinhardt gets the call.

Tonight’s Lineup includes Don Kelly, Ramon Santiago and both Raburn and Boesch.

1. AJax – CF
2. Rhymes – 2B
3. Boesch – LF
4. Cabrera – 1B
5. Martinez – C
6. Kelly – 3B
7. Raburn – LF
8. Avila – C
9. Santiago – SS

30 thoughts on “Game 2011.6: Tigers at Orioles”

  1. Leyland going with 2 Left Fielders and 2 Catchers?

    I listened to the pre-game on the radio and Leyland said that Inge has a quad injury, but he should be ready for Tomorrow afternoon’s Home opener.

  2. The Tigers get $crewed by umps calls more than any other team…..as far as I’m concerned!

    1. Yeah, Penny has not impressed me yet this year. Sure, it is only his second start, but he has been awful shakey in both.

      I’m also getting tired of all of the Walks from the entire pitching staff. This is ridiculous.

  3. I’m surprised to see Rhymes struggle so much at the plate. How much time left until Sizemore is given a shot in the Majors?

    Nice to see Austin Jackson starting to swing the bat well.

    1. Rhymes is actually less patient at the plate than Boesch, so his slumps will be just as bad or worse. Also since he doesn’t have much power, the outfield will continually play shallow and cheat him out of hits. I’ve seen 3 hits stolen from him so far.
      I think his time in the majors will be short. He’ll be gone in a few weeks. I hope Sizemore does better when he gets the call, but I’m not confident he will be. I’m not counting on Guillen either. We still have Santiago, so I’m not too worried. It might take a half season to weed everybody out.

  4. Terrible throw by Kelly. He isn’t going to get Roberts at home, and the wild throw allowed Vlad to move up an extra base and took the double play out of the equation (until the intentional BB). Just atrocious.

    Plus Leyland in his infinite wisdom decided to hit Kelly 6th. He has no business on a big league roster. None.

    1. Don’t be so hard on Old Smokey. Outside of his two main weaknesses (bullpen management and setting a lineup), he is a genius.

    2. Totally agree. Why is Kelly playing ahead of Casper Wells?? Only Ol’ Smoky knows for sure but that decision blew up in his face………again. Hopefully this is the final year of the Jim Leyland era. I’ve seen enough weird/bad lineups to last me a lifetime. Perhaps tomorrow he can work Don Kelly in at third base to while Inge is dinged up……….and hit him second or something equally ridiculous.

  5. Epic bullpen fail…. This Gonzalez has no business being in the Majors. He didn’t last year, he doesn’t this year.

    1. It’s still early of course, but it is looking like the 6th and 7th innings might be tough ones to get through this year.

  6. Hard to win on the road with the back-end of our pitching staff and most of our bench starting. I understand the line-up and why Kelly and Santiago are playing. Inge has a sore quad and Peralta/Ordonez are getting some rest. I would normally expect Avila to get time off also, but he’s swinging a hot bat. The team won’t get in Detroit until the early morning hours and they play in the afternoon. It will be interesting to see if Avila catches after a night game.

    1. I say put Kelly behind the dish and let’s see what he can do (a day game after a night game is kinda an emergency, isn’t it?). And since Rhymes probably needs a day off, Kelly can hit 2nd while he’s at it.

  7. When you are making the $$$$ these guys are making……they should be playing every day…….what a bunch of wimps……..what has happened to ball players today?
    If the Tigers keep giving up the runs per game that they have so far this season……last place is theirs! What a piss-off!

  8. The Tigers pitching staff has surrendered the most runs in the American League….That trend has to change.

    1. It probably won’t though, based on how indicative 4% of a given sample size tends to be of the whole. 🙂

  9. I know this will never happen, but wouldn’t it be great if Smokey brought in Benoit in the 7th with 2 on and nobody out, rather than saving him for the 8th? I can give in on “closers only pitch in the 9th,” but this 7th inning guy/8th inning guy thing drives me nuts. Use your best pitchers when you need them.

  10. The Yankees and Orioles are the only two teams the Tigers have played in 2011 so it is not representative sample of the team’s ability. Wait until game 40 or so. Meanwhile it appears the middle relief has gone further south? Enjoy Opening Day!

    1. I should add this is problematic for several reasons, and also that somebody needs to get a gameday post up.

      1. Somebody has. As far as Zumaya, maybe they didn’t mean closer, maybe they meant closer, as in he’s getting closer to actually being able to pitch

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