The Tigers travel to Houston to take on the newly-American-League Astros, who have so far been welcomed into the AL to the tune of a league-worst 8-20 record.
The probable pitchers for the series are:
- May 2 8:10 Porcello vs. Lyles
- May 3 8:10 Fister vs. Norris
- May 4 7:10 Scherzer vs. Harrell
- May 5 4:10 Verlander vs. Humber
If there is any good news for the beleaguered Astros it’s that they get to start out the series with Porcello, the one Tiger pitcher who is not putting up huge strikeout numbers. Houston has struck out a MLB-leading 276 times; the K-stros hitters meeting the Tiger pitchers should make for a perfect storm of strikeouts this weekend.
*****
Not surprisingly, Bruce Rondon was returned to Toledo, just in time to be fitted for his Chewbacca uniform, as the Mud Hens honor Star Wars Weekend. Why did no one tell me about this? It is far too late to get a decent costume now. Anyway Mud Hen players will hope that the increased attention the uniforms will give them will help in their Wookie-of-the-Year bids.
OK, I can’t help it, had to look up a picture of the things. Words fail me.
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Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Jose Valverde. Finally another save situation arrives, and Valverde comes out especially animated against his former team.
Today’s Welcome to the AL Lineup:
- Jackson, CF
- Hunter, RF
- Cabrera, 3B
- Fielder, 1B
- Martinez, DH
- Dirks, LF
- Peralta, SS
- Avila, C
- Infante, 2B
Comments
68 responses to “Game 2013.27: Tigers at Astros”
Don’t sell the Astros hitters short. They are middle of the pack, but have more XBH than the Tigers, with only 12 runs scored fewer. Their pitching has been atrocious – 30th in ERA (by quite a bit) at 5.42. One should keep in mind how the Tigers have done in the past against this sort of talent however.
Yes, proceed with caution. On the other hand: bring back the Braves!
Nice call regarding the XBHs.
From mlb.com:
• Houston is 5-13 against right-handed starters this season, but just 3-6 against southpaws.
Interesting. Detroit is 5-7 on the road this season, but just 10-4 at home.
+1
The Astros put up 38 runs in 6 games against the Mariners, and they beat Iwakuma.
Pitcher making his Major League debut against the Tigers automatic name change to CY…….happens every time!
Lead off guy doubles and Mario says ….This is the Astros first scoring opportunity of the night!……..thanks Mario
Ok, all I can say is…it figures.
Avila got that 3rd RBI against the Twins….he is good for another month of starts now!
I think there’s something wrong with my MLB.tv audio, I just heard Dan say “pitching coach Doug Brocail…”
Clearly, that means that the Hitting Coach is Brad Ausmus.
Fortunately for Houston the Tigers brought their road hitting team with them to start this trip.
Look at that half billion dollar Tigers’ offense go!
This team just can’t figure it out on the road, even against the league’s worst team…
30th ranked pitching staff only because they haven’t met the Tiger road Offensive team…lets see how far they go up this weekend
Okay, the table is set. Let’s see what happens…
Mumbles turned to Lamont and says..”.I can’t believe they keep changing all these pitchers. They haven’t pitched a whole inning yet”
Victor!!!!!!!!
Check out this gem by the MLB.tv Scout:
Wesley Wright may prefer to go after Victor Martinez, whose OPS is .527 this season, with the four-seam fastball rather than facing Austin Jackson, whose OPS is .724.
This Ortega kid has the “right stuff”…..
Jackson has seen about three total strikes in his Golden Sombrero…..He is just swinging to swing!!!!!
nice throw…..this team has 20 losses huh???
Gene Jr. Seriously, you don’t run on Francoeur, and you don’t run on Ankiel. C’mon.
No doubt. How long has Brookens been around?? He ought to know better. That was Bush League.
Prince ans Victor have stranded 8 so far in the 4-5 spot…..thats pretty much the story of this game
Uh oh…it’s Putty Time.
Nice sculpting.
Donny Baseball!
Good decision T. Brookens.
Does BP have a sac fly in him?
not even close.
Apparently not. R3L2O-Fail.
I give up. I’ll read it about it tomorrow I mean today.
Leadoff double = nothing. Not Good Baseball. How long will those last 500 fans stick around for this?
lets see no bunts….no hit and run …no steals…no hitting behind the runner……well at least Mumbles is doing his usual job!!!
To be fair, it’s hard to hit behind the runners if the guys can’t put the bat on the ball.
6 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks for the relievers. I know it’s Hou, but still pretty salty.
I apologize in advance if I cost us the game. I was sitting in my “lucky” spot on the couch since the 8th inning (when we tied it), but waited in agony in that spot instead of urinating as I was convinced the Tigers would lose if I moved off the spot. I finally gave in to Mother Nature in the bottom of the 13th. So there is that if the Tigers go on to lose……..
Professional hitting by Torii Hunter. Thank you.
Hunter does that on his own….Mumbles mumbled the whole time that is was stupid to do!!!!
Wow, the old double-intentional to get to the Donkey. I say DK knocks in the go-ahead here.
If not, I blame Jerry the Tiger Fan.
good call….where u been!
Wouldn’t mind the squeeze play with Austin Jackson on third here………Lord knows the Tigers struggle mightily at hitting the routine SAC fly.
The Donkey got you off the hook for your bathroom break.
Yes he did. I don’t want to jinx it though, we still need three more outs before we can say Donkey bailed me out for sure.
Tui may just have taken care of it for you. Of course, now you’re just gonna think you can go to the bathroom any old time you want.
I know right?? This might just embolden me to use the restroom during actual games that are close. Heresy!
Donkey….HAVE A DAY!…….atta boy!
As a certain hated broadcaster would say “don’t stop now boys”. Way to go Donny Kelly. A clutch knock, but I’d feel a whole lot better if we tack another run or two on in this frame.
Tui…,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hell ya!
A RISP sucess and sucess back to back……..no way!!!
Putt-Putt is looking pretty good.
How about that Bullpen tonight……WOW!
Ortega….Benoit….Downs….Putkonen….7 innings ..0 runs….1 hit….. 1 BB…11 K
Well…..I think we’ve found a winning formula for extra inning games. Just muddle through those pesky 10,11th,12th, and 13th innings and we’re home free! It worked in Seattle and Houston. 🙂
You just do NOT want to mess with these guys in the 14th!
Wings WIN!
In 14 innings!
The day of the Great Donkey Gust.
For those that were upset about how Rondon was thrown right into a close game, why was it ok for Ortega to be thrown right into a close game?
It was ok for Ortega because he didn’t struggle ALL of spring training in addition to blowing it in his first appearance ala Rondon. Rondon had already shown MULTIPLE times that he can’t hack it YET at this level. That is why it wasn’t OK to insert Ronson on Wednesday vs the Twins.
Was Ortega even at spring training? I’ll give ya a dollar if you can tell me
what his spring training ERA was plus or minus half a run without looking it up.
I was referring to Rondon’s first appearance, against the Royals, but I see now that Ortega pitched his debut two days ago, so it’s not a perfect comparison. Regardless, I stand by my assertion that he was at least as unproven as Rondon and the only reason nobody is complaining about how Ortega was used is because things happened to work out.
I think there’s a lot more pressure on Rondon then on Ortega. Ortega hasn’t been anointed anything, yet.
“the only reason nobody is complaining about how Ortega was used is because things happened to work out.”
Jeff has it absolutely right.
i was at the game in HOU last night, but bowed out in the 7th (school/work night), which turned out to be a wise choice considering the 7th proved to be half-time.
HOU has some decent arms and some young offensive talent, but with that said, DET should not settle for anything less than winning ‘at least’ 3 if they can’t sweep. May’s schedule presents an opportunity to put up 17-20 wins (28 games in May) – 7 against the Stros, and 11 against CLE, MN & PIT.
Raburn stat of the day: in ’12 Raburn managed just 35 hits in his 205 AB’s, this year in 55 AB’s he has 20 hits…go figure
He still may not get to 35.
Kept thinking the Astros bullpen coach looked familiar, so looked him up… it is Dennis Martinez! Is that the best job for a man with his kind of talent? I mean if Doug Brocail is the pitching coach, who is the better example of excellent pitching?
There’s a name from the past! He always seemed like he was on his way to the Hall. He fell off the radar a bit when he ended up in Montreal. Come to think of it, if Jack Morris deserves consideration, so does D-Mart.