Rick Porcello and the Tigers against Brett Anderson and the A’s. Here’s hoping for a win. It’s me and Mrs. billfer’s anniversary tonight so you cats are on your own.
Brennan Boesch gets the night off after not getting the ball out of the infield. Probably a good place to spot Ryan Raburn regardless.
Well, at least Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen made significant returns to the lineup. Beyond that the theme of the night was frustration. Despite Cabrera’s 3 homer heroics the Tigers managed to repeatedly come up short in most facets of the game.
Cabrera was spectacular. Each of the 3 homers were crushed no-doubters. Unfortunately the rest of the team didn’t follow suit.
And then there is Dontrelle Willis. Once again he wasn’t good, but once again he wasn’t the reason the team lost. It’s safe to say that the game was close in spite of Willis rather than because of him.
As for the bullpen management, I have a hard time complaining about this one. I like that Ryan Perry was thrust into a difficult 2nd and 3rd situation. Because of the 9th inning it’s easy to forget that Perry escaped the 8th without incident.
The 9th inning was just a disaster, but only one of those pitches I can hang on Perry and that was the Mark Ellis HBP. The double was a fluke. Ordonez was playing deep, Guillen was playing up the middle. It truly was no man’s land.
The swinging bunt was a fluke, though the fact that Fu-Te Ni gave up on the play was frustrating. I don’t know that they can get an out on that play, but Ni didn’t give himself a chance.
In the end the pitching wasn’t quite good enough, the fielding wasn’t quite good enough, and the hitting certainly wasn’t good enough. For the 4th time in 5 games the Tigers came up on the wrong end of a close game.
The Tigers have dropped 4 of their last 5 games. They’ll try to right the ship tonight with Dontrelle Willis on the mound as they welcome in the Oakland A’s.
Willis was good and bad in his start against the Dodgers last weekend. He was getting ground balls, and then he got wild. With Max Scherzer throwing bullets down in Toledo Willis may be in a competition with Armando Galarraga for a spot in the rotation. Willis has the advantage of contract status and left handedness, but one wouldn’t think he can’t afford too many outings like his last one.
The A’s send out a former NL pitcher turned reclamation project of their own in the form of Ben Sheets. Sheets hasn’t pitched through the 7th inning, but he is starting to rack up some strikeouts with 8 K’s in 3 of his last 4 games.
Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers – May 28, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
Jeremy Bonderman and the Tigers take on Jason Vargas and the Mariners on get-away-day.
Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners – May 26, 2010 – MLB.com Gameday
A Miguel Cabrera-less lineup is set to take on Doug Fister and the Seattle Mariners. Justin Verlander takes the ball for the Tigers.
After a promising start to the road trip, the Tigers ran into some problems in Los Angeles. Now they are looking at the unpleasant end of a sweep unless Rick Porcello can muster a strong performance and the offense can find their way against Hiroki Kuroda.
Porcello has been making some progress in his last two starts, one a gem against the Yankees and the other an “OK” type outing against the White Sox where he gave up 4 runs but lasted 7 innings.
Kuroda is yet another Dodgers starter with strong numbers. He doesn’t have significant platoon splits, though the opposition has hit him a little better at Dodger Stadium.
Austin Jackson is out of the lineup again today due to his beaning. While tests were negative Jim Leyland decided he was going to be spelled regardless.
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 23, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
It is one of those unusual 7pm starts for a West Coast game that just never happen. But it is happening. And it is happening with Armando Galarraga and John Ely on the mound.
Ely has been pretty awesome this season. In 4 starts he has 25 strikeouts, 3 walks, and no homers over 25.2 innings. And he hasn’t walked a hitter in his last 3 starts.
Galarraga joined the rotation when the team needed an extra arm and he stayed in the rotation when Max Scherzer struggled and was sent to Toledo. He struckout 5 and allowed 6 baserunners and 1 run against the Red Sox.
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 22, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
It’s the first interleague game of the season for the Tigers. Normally this is where I make a sarcastic comment about the majesty of the double-switch. I’ll refrain though because I think it is cool that the Tigers are playing the Dodgers in LA.
The last time the Tigers went out there Ugueth Urbina got in a fight on the plane and was promptly traded. And then there was the time that Jason Johnson hit a homer and rounded the bases at a glacial pace. And Tony Giarratano hit his only home run. I have no idea why I remembered those things off the top of my head.
Tonight though will feature Dontrelle Willis and Chad Billingsley. Willis was pretty awful his last time out and it was attributed to rust. The rust should be sufficiently removed at this point so there are no excuses for bouts of wildness.
Billingsley’s numbers are impressive with nearly a strike out per inning and only 3 homers in 44.2 innings. The OPS splits for lefties versus righties are dramatic at 943 versus 618. Too bad Johnny Damon can’t play second base.
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers – May 21, 2010 – MLB.com Gameday
It will be Tyson Ross against Jeremy Bonderman as the Tigers go for the mini-sweep of the mini-series.
Ross only has 1 career start and he allowed 3 runs on 3 hits with 3 K’s in 3.2 innings. For the season he has 22.2 innings and only 6 walks and two homers allowed. The peripherals are strong for the right hander.
Bonderman hasn’t started against the A’s since April of 2006 so there is no relevancy whatsoever. Bonderman was great his last time out. In a week in which the starting pitching was great against the Yankees, Bondo’s start may have been the best with 7 innings, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 7 K’s.
Detroit Tigers at Oakland Athletics – May 20, 2010 – MLB.com Preview
It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Tigers were slogging through an excruciating West Coast trip. Well, this one isn’t quite as excruciating but it’s just as West Coast. Justin Verlander leads things off against Dallas Braden. A no hitter against a perfect game.
And no Magglio Ordonez tonight who has a heel problem, so of course his replacement Casper Wells is the logical replacement in the 3-hole.
Enjoy.
The last time the Tigers played a rousing home series they went and got themselves swept in Minnesota. This time they are at least staying at home and welcoming in the White Sox. Rick Porcello looks to build on his best start of the year and Freddy Garcia takes the ball for the White Sox.
Armando Galarraga joins the Tigers rotation, and for more than just a day. He’ll take on John Lackey in the rubber game of the series. With a bullpen that is once again thin after two poor starting performances and 3 extra innings, 6 innings from Galarraga would be immensely helpful.
The Tigers send out a different kind of lineup with Austin Jackson getting his second day off this season.
Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers – May 16, 2010 – MLB.com Preview