Natural Rivalry Weekend set
posted in Cincinnati Reds |The Cubs play the White Sox. The Angels play the Dodgers. The Mets play the Yankees. And the Tigers play the Cincinnati Reds? It makes sense. Welcome to the battle for the Sparky Anderson Cup.
Tonight, Jeremy Bonderman (4-2, 3.74 ERA) takes on left handed Brandon Claussen (2-4, 4.96 ERA). Claussen is 0-2 this month, but in his most recent start against Philly, he allowed four hits and one run in eight innings and had a season-high seven strikeouts. Opponents have had some success against him this season, slugging over .500 while getting on base at a .350 clip. Left-handed batters are struggling, hitting just .125, but righties are at .308.
What else do we need to learn about the 24-17 Reds? Before a comeback from 6 runs down Thursday, they’d lost five in a row. They’ve allowed almost the exact amount of runs as they’ve scored. (209 and 210, respectively). Opponents hit a large amount of home runs against them. Adam Dunn is dangerous with 13 home runs. Austin Kearns just hit his 8th Thursday night. And they’re more dangerous against lefties than righties, which is why Baseball Tonight brought up they’ll see southpaws Mike Maroth and Nate Robertson on consecutive days.
Maroth and the Tigers are set to face left hander Eric Milton (2-1, 6.50 ERA), who will be fresh off the disabled list Saturday. His last appearance was April 18. Robertson will match up against right hander Aaron Harang (5-2, 4.19). The Tigers have struggled (.284 OBP, .410 SLG) somewhat against lefties this year. Johan Santana may have had something to do with those numbers.
Updates coming when the Cincy papers update.
Peter Gammons talked about the Tigers on a podcast today. Like 7 minutes in he and Dan Patrick share home run memories from Tiger Stadium, and Gammons talks about Detroit-Cincinnati at 10:30 into it. “Right now Detroit is the best team in baseball,” he said of the Tigers. Does he truly believe they’re the best team, Patrick asked. “In the end, maybe not, but they’re a lot better than people realized,” Gammons said. He and Patrick thought they were a year away from competing, but credits Jim Leyland and the defensive efficiency for the early turnaround, then Gammons goes on to praise Justin Verlander.