21st July 2007

Tigers suffer letdown

KC 10, Detroit 2

Well, not much I can recap. I didn’t see much of the game at all. Bits and pieces, some radio. Kenny Rogers gave up six runs. Jose Capellan, with help from Jason Grilli, gave up four more. Gary Sheffield had a solo homer. “The starter stank. The bullpen stank. The offense stank. The opponent played well.” That basically summarizes it, I’d say.

Oh well. It happens. Rogers had a second bad start, but I don’t read anything into that, either. I do think maybe Capellan is playing his way to Triple-A lately.

Am I surprised that the Tigers could lose to the Royals? Not at all. They just handled Boston. They’ve been on a roll. They’ve got a good team, too. I recently picked them to finish fourth in the division, not fifth, so that means I do have some faith in them.

Am I surprised the Tigers could lose to the Royals like that? Sure. Why not? It’s baseball. These things happen. They just came off the luck of three one-run victories. Why not a little black raincloud falling upon their head?

Box

Bunt Singles:

  • Who’s your Tiger? It’s not Jason Grilli!
  • How would Dontrelle Willis look in a Tigers uniform? Not too shabby, probably. Jayson Stark thinks it’s possible. Or something, anyway. I don’t really know. But I do know from now until the trade deadline passes, Detroit will probably be linked to every big name possibility. I’m sure Dave Dombrowski at last made a courtesy call to check on the price, and so the Tigers are “linked” to everybody.
  • Big Al decided to answer Lynn Henning’s burning questions.
  • The News (among others) reported Fernando Rodney resumed throwing in the bullpen, graduating from sessions of catch. Rodney needed a good, long rest to make sure he was really healthy before returning to the game. Maybe he can’t be 2006 form, but he needed to make sure not to continue pitching in pain or tired, thus ineffective, like this year. So I hope it’s not too rushed and it’s actually a good sign.
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6th May 2007

Tigers keep out the brooms

Tigers 13, Kansas City 4

Sometimes you look at a score that’s close and you say, “but it really wasn’t that close.” Or you look at a lopsided victory and say “but it was a lot closer than that.”  This is a case where the difference was nine runs, but it may as well have been 20. Chad Durbin pitched seven shutout innings and stumbled a bit in the eighth, then Aqualino bailed him out but stubbed his toe in the ninth. Tigers win 13-4, but it may as well have been 20-0.

Detroit went up 6-0 in the second inning alone based on three home runs off KC starter Zach Greinke. Craig Monroe, Curtis Granderson and Gary Sheffield each put up two-run shots. Granderson finished the game a double away from the cycle; Monroe a triple.

We’ll fast forward a bit to the most amazing happening of the day: Neifi Perez hit a 3-run home run. Lemme repeat. Neifi. Perez. Homered. It happened in the seventh inning. It sounds like it was hardly a homer, but it goes in the stats books under the HR column. Good for Neifi. He takes a lot of crap (and he’s in way over his head), but it’s nice for him to have some success. Believe it or not, he actually had nine home runs in 2005.

This gives Detroit a seven-game winning streak heading into an off day before hosting the Mariners.

Box

Around the Central:

Cleveland 9, Baltimore 6 –  The Indians kept pace with the Tigers — or vice versa — with a victory over the Orioles. Trot Nixon went 5-for-5 with four RBIs for the Indians.

Boston 4, Minnesota 3 –  Twins lost but Torii Hunter extended his hitting streak to 21 games

Chicago vs. Angels – 3-3 tie in the ninth

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5th May 2007

Win streak hits six, Zoomer hurt

Tigers 7, KC 5

(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Detroit’s win streak hit six with another come-from-behind victory and another great showing by Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco. But the more important news of the day is that Joel Zumaya left the stadium with an unknown injury to his pitching hand. He was warming up in the bullpen and heard a pop.

Jason Beck said the injury was to the top knuckle on the middle finger.

Not sure how severe the injury is, but Leyland expected they’d have to call up another pitcher for Sunday.

Danny Knobler had more info at Mlive

“He looked at me and said, `I think I dislocated my finger,’ ” Jones said. “I’ve never seen that before. I’ve seen just about everything, but I’ve never seen that.”

Knobler added an MRI will be done back in Detroit Sunday, so we may not learn anything until Monday. It sounds bad. Click both links, I didn’t want to repost their entire offering.

UPDATE: Tom Gage reports Zumaya was placed on the DL with a “finger strain’ and Aqualino Lopez was called up to replace him a day after he was sent back to AAA. 

As for the game, the Tigers fell behind 3-0 early. Thus, they had the Royals right where they wanted them, I figured. Marcus Thames and doubled in the sixth, and Magglio homered solo-style, and suddenly it’s 4-4. Maggs struck again in the eighth with a two-run double to give the Tigers the lead. Here’s the part where I point out the obvious: any time Marcus Thames gets to play is a good time for the Tigers. That, and Maggs is awesome. But you knew that.

Pitching side, Maroth gave up a pair of homers. Wil Ledezma walked in a run and got into trouble, which Jose Mesa cleaned up for him. Bobby Seay bounced back and Todd Jones was uneventful.

So it was just another typical Tigers-KC game. Whether the Tigers lead or trail early, they win in the end. In other news, the Tigers are now tied for first place with the Indians.

Around the Central

Baltimore 8, Cleveland 2 – So the team that the Tigers handled bounced back well against the Indians. That’s great to see.

Minnesota 2, Boston 1 – Two early runs were all Johan Santana and four relievers needed to get by the BoSox.

Chicago 6, Angels 3 – Darin Erstad contributed at the plate, and Jon Garland did so on the mound.

DTown Baseball has a Central Division news roundup.

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5th May 2007

Maroth looks to keep streak going

Game 29: Tigers (17-11) at Royals (10-20), 7:10 p.m.
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Mike Maroth (2-0, 4.82) vs. Odalis Perez (2-3, 6.91 ERA)

Mike Maroth hasn’t been particularly successful against the Royals recently as they are the only team to score more than three runs on him this season, and they’ve done it twice. Although he hasn’t picked up a decision since April 12. , the Tigers are a perfect 5-0 in games Maroth has started (wow!). So hopefully the latter streak continues.

Odalis Perez has picked up quality starts in his last two games, against the Angels and Twins. He doesn’t seem to walk or strike many out.

Bunt … uhm…free throw

Of course, for many Detroit fans, how Maroth is doing will be a question that occurs to them only during commercials of the first game of the Pistons-Bulls series, which starts at the same time over on TNT.

So to get you ready for that, I send you to Detroit Bad Boys for the unofficial theme song of 2007’s Pistons playoff run.

The Wings’ playoff run continues in the afternoon — Detroit’s pretty good at this whole sports thing, isn’t it?

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4th May 2007

Preview: Tigs open series in KC

Game 28: Detroit (16-11) at Kansas City (10-19), 8 p.m.
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Justin Verlander (1-1, 2.79) vs. Brian Bannister (0-1, 4.91)

Don’t look now, but the Tigers traveled to Kansas City to take on a starting pitching powerhouse. Don’t believe me? I hardly believe me either. But the Royals have 16 quality starts, the same as the Tigers. Of course, they’ve played two more games, but that is still a pretty good ratio, just one behind the stat’s league leading Angels in as many games. (Credit for finding this stat goes to the Tigers’ gamenotes). Saturday starter Odalis Perez and Sunday starter Zach Greinkie have two and three QS, respectively.

But for the Royals, these starts and a team ERA of 4.22 haven’t translated to a whole lot of victories. They’ve allowed 142 runs, third-most in the AL, many unearned due to 23 errors. Their bullpen has coughed up eight of 19 team losses, and their ability to battle back at the plate is no where near the Tigers’ ability.

KC starter Brian Bannister will be making just his ninth career start and third of the season. He’s picked up a QS in his most recent start against the Mariners when he went six scoreless innings before giving up four in the seventh. But got hammered in his first one by the White Sox.

Justin Verlander opposes him on the mound. Verlander, you may remember, was left bewildered by the Minnesota Twins and made it through just nine outs. He pitched from the stretch with no one on base. I would look for Verlander to bounce back strongly after something as strange as that.

The anemic KC offense may be slightly better than the last time Detroit saw them, as they called up outfield prospect Billy Butler from AAA.

Get a better feel for the Royals at Royals Authority.

Bunt Singles:

  • MLive’s Danny Knobler thinks everyone should root for the Royals for a batter or two, maybe an inning or two, this weekend, just in memory of how far the Tigers have come since being the Royals’ position. I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m happy to root for them against the rest of the A.L. Central.
  • KC is on a two-game winning streak, beating the AL West leading Angels twice.
  • The Fungoes blog at SI.com sees the Indians set to slide.
  • Carlos Pena hit the ball very hard in Minnesota for a victory. He’s finally helping the Tigers
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18th April 2007

Bullpen blows sweep of Royals

Game 15: Kansas City at Detroit
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Gil Meche (1-1, 3.10) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (0-0, 2.57)

Pregame thoughts – Is this the day young Mr. Bonderman picks up his first win of the season? Through no fault of his own, Bonderman remains winless in three appearances this year. Meanwhile, Wil Ledezma has three victories in five appearances — hmm, do I smell 20 game winner? I jest. I think. While Bondo does not have the best pitching stats of the starters — that’s Justin Verlander — it’s hard to argue that any starter has has had better games than Bonderman. He dueled Roy Halladay to two draws already, and his nine-inning, one-run game of last Friday was one of the better pitching performances seen by a Detroiter in recent years.

Gil Meche gets the nod for the Royals. Meche is doing his best to make Kansas City save face for giving him $11M per season. It’s early in the season, so strange things happen. Meche owns Boston. He outdueled Curt Schilling in the season opener, allowing the Red Sox one run. Thursday, he gave up no runs to Boston over six innings. It’s the game in the middle that’s of interest. The Tigers hit three homers off Meche and scored six runs in seven innings. Can the Tigers repeat that performance this afternoon?

Detroit has its first opportunity to sweep a team this season. After getting blown out Monday and having the Tigers come-from-behind in the eighth innings Tuesday, it should be interesting to see the Royals’ demeanor on their final game of a 10-game road trip which has seen them go 1-7 with one game postponed.

Postgame thoughts (Tigers lose, 4-3, 10 inn.) – OUCH. Bonderman cruises through seven innings on 86 pitches, allows one run, has, well, a typical Bonderman outing more or less. Jim Leyland entrusts the bullpen, and the bullpen again proves to be a weak point. Not Joel Zumaya, who needed just seven pitches to get through the eighth inning. No, Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney. Jones walked two, gave up two hits and blew the save. (Side note: baseball is a game of inches and microseconds. Carlos Guillen almost turned a game-ending double play). Fernando Rodney gave up a homer. Game over.

Meche dealt relatively well against the Tigers lineup. Or the Tigers made him look like it. It’s hard to say anymore. They make anyone look good. But I’ll give Meche the benefit of the doubt. They scored all three runs unearned in the sixth inning after some defensive miscues.

A few guys got the day off today, which wasn’t the cause of the problem. Pudge and Magglio rested, while Mike Rabelo and Marcus Thames got starts. The replacements were a combined 0-for-5 with a walk.

The problems were two-fold. First, Sean Casey batted fifth. It’s becoming clear he can’t hit the ball worth crap right now. They pitched around Guillen, loading the bases, and Casey blew his chance. Casey may bat from the left side, but it doesn’t mean a lick if he’s not hitting anybody. Second, I’m not sure why Leyland used Jones again. While that is possibly a good sign — you don’t get saves without a lead — there just didn’t seem to be any purpose after Zumaya cruised so quickly. Jones pitched twice within 16 hours.

It’s a frustrating loss that never should have happened. Bonderman is winless in four good starts. If there’s anybody out there that looks at wins to decide who is pitching good, it’s time to stop.

GRR.

Detroit’s 9-6 record is still among the best in the A.L.

Around the Central:

Chicago 6, Texas 0 – Mark Buehrle threw the 16th no hitter in White Sox history. (South Side Sox recap). The Sox improved to 6-7.

New York 9, Cleveland 2 – Cleveland SP Jeremy Sowers got smoked. The young pitcher gave up six runs in 2-2/3 innings. Travis Hafner went 3-for-4 for the Indians (6-5)

Twins 5, Mariners 4– Seattle young pitching phenom Felix Hernandez hurt his elbow in the first inning. The Mariners rallied from a 5-0 deficit before falling. Joe Nathan got a fourth save for Minnesota (9-5) but allowed a run.

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17th April 2007

So Mr. De la Rosa, we meet again

Game 14: KC @ Detroit, 7 p.m.
TV: FSN+
Pitchers: Jorge de la Rosa (1-1, 3.55, stats vs. Tigers) vs. Mike Maroth (2-0, 4.91, stats vs. Royals)

Pregame thoughts: So, Mr. Jorge De la Rosa, we meet again. You, the unlikely pitcher who held Tigers to one run in seven innings. We, the unlikely slumpers who have started the year poorly enough to make even you look like an ace pitcher. Now, is time for a little revenge. Seriously, does not the name “Jorge De la Rosa” inspire thoughts of corny movies and their stilted speech?

In all seriousness, the Tigers are starting to hit the ball a bit more like they are expected too. They started to get on track in the Toronto series, but weren’t quite there. The top half of the lineup is looking better. Maybe they’re even looking to prove they are better than Mr. De la Rosa. Mike Maroth had a good outing against Toronto, so he may be able to carry it over against the weaker batters of the Royals in the pitcher’s park that is Comerica. Of course, baseball seldom works so clean as we expect.

Postgame thoughts (Tigers win, 7-6): That one was a little too close.

I got back to the office in time to see a 5-2 game. Seemingly just moments later, it was 5-5. Mike Maroth and Wil Ledezma just couldn’t get an out after Maroth was within one out of adding another quality start to the Tigers’ list. By the end of the inning, the Tigers trailed 6-5.

But the good guys fought back, and, go figure, it involved Placido Polanco. Gary Sheffield drove him in to tie the game, then in the bottom of the eighth, Polanco knocked in Omar Infante. By quirk of MLB rules, Ledezma gets credit for the win which he cost Maroth.

The good news is, the Tigers (9-5) got to Mr. De La Rosa, knocking two homers and five runs total off him. Marcus Thames got another start today, and homered. Then was pulled for a defensive replacement I guess. Polanco even got a rare homer today. Sorry I missed that. Omar Infante started for Guillen and had two hits. Magglio had three.

Basically, the guys are hitting the ball. Very nice to see that. I hope that means the slump is ending. But it may coincide with Kansas City pitching… Other than the fact I just want Tigers victories, I feel for my KC brethren as their team fell to 3-11. The difference between a good baseball team and a bad one is razor thin and the Royals keep falling just a bit short, even after doing good things like ralling back today.

Around the Central:

Minnesota 11, Seattle 2 – On the west coast, Ramon Ortiz wins again as Torii Hunter hit a grand slam to lead the Twins (8-5). Maybe we were all around about Ortiz. But too early to say. Joe Mauer had three hits.

Texas 8, White Sox 1 – Jon Garland gave up five runs and the White Sox (5-7) lost again. Jim Thome homered for the Sox.

New York Yanks 10, Cleveland 3 – Jake Westbrook got beat up for right runs by the Yankees. In his first MLB start, Chase Wright held the strong Indians offense to three runs over five innings. Travis Haffner homered for Cleveland (6-4).

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8th April 2007

Game 5: Pudge homer caps victory

Tigers at Kansas City, 2 p.m., FSN and radio
RHP Jeremy Bonderman (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Duckworth (-,-)
STATS preview
Lineups when available

Preview: Jeremy Bonderman makes his second start of the year this afternoon when he takes on Brandon Duckworth. Bonderman’s last appearance against the Royals ended poorly, as he blew a six-run lead and the Central Division title the final day of the season in 2006. While it all worked out in the end, it would certainly be nice to see Bondo totally shut the Royals down today. A victory today would put the Tigers above .500 for the first time this season.

Duckworth is making his season debut for the Royals. Like his Royals teammates, he’s not a guy who’d make most staffs. Duckworth has a higher WHIP (1.50) and ERA (5.43) in his career and numbers that really stand out otherwise, except a pretty low home run rate (3 HR in 45 IP last year). though he’s done fine in his career against the Detroit laundry. Gametime temp is 35 degrees.

Update: Hmm, apparently the Tigers presspass notes were wrong about FSN.

Postgame thoughts (3-2 Tigers): Dating back to last year, the Tigers seem to find themselves playing from behind against Kansas City frequently. Thanks to a Pudge Rodriguez 3-run home run in the top of the ninth, that trend continues with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen set it up with a double and walk, respectively, to lead off the ninth.

Rodriguez and the Tigers cruelly stole the ‘W’ from Duckworth, who handled them for most of the game. We Tigers fans know how the Royals fans and players feel right now. Sometimes everything seems to go right and yet, in the eighth or ninth inning, it all falls apart. That seemed to be the story of 2004 and 2005. The team was improved — as the Royals are this year — and yet it just takes one bad inning and you still get the ‘L.’ Sympathy aside, it was nice good to get this one.

Duckworth allowed just one baserunner — Guillen with a double in the second — through five innings before he started to tire. Through 6-1/3 innings, he gave up four hits, a walk and no runs. The Tigers threatened in his final inning, loading the bases with two singles off Duckworth and a walk off a reliever.

But then Inge stepped to the plate with two outs, and I’m pretty sure most Tigers fans were thinking “Now would be a great time to snap out of this slump… but he probably won’t.” And Inge fulfilled that promise with a fly out. He’s now 0-for-17 for the year, but at least he didn’t add to his strikeout count, if you’re looking for a positive.

Otherwise, it looked like Bonderman was going to get burned by run support after striking out eight in six innings and allowing just two runs. He allowed a two-out homer in the first and seven hits altogether, but overall, not too bad. We still want to expect more out of him, he’s not quite where he can be, but it wasn’t a bad start. Still, two starts, no decisions, as Fernando Rodney got the victory for pitching in the 8th. Bobby Seay got his first inning of the season. Jones got his third save of the opening week.

Guillen finished 2-for-3. Marcus Thames started his first game of the season, filling in for Craig Monroe in left field. Thames walked twice.

Around the Central:The Cleveland Indians may never play a baseball game again, I’m convinced. Their double-header with the Mariners got called again. Officially, they have played 0 games of a 4 game series so far. They’ll try again tomorrow for another traditional doubleheader beginning at 4. Good luck.

Johan Santana led the Twins to a 3-1 victory over the White Sox. He allowed one hit over seven innings. Justin Morneau had a 3-run homer for Minnesota, which finished the first week of action with a 4-1 record.

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7th April 2007

Game 4: Welcome back, Mike Maroth

Tigers @ Kansas City — Radio but no TV for only time this year
LHP Mike Maroth vs. RHP Gil Meche
MLB.com preview: Detroit; KC

Mike Maroth pitches Saturday in his first game starting on the mound since having surgery last season. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Mike Maroth pitches against the Royals on Saturday in his first game starting on the mound since having surgery last season. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)


Tigers lineup

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Guillen, SS
6. Rodriguez, C
7. Casey, 1B
8. Monroe, LF
9. Inge, 3B

notes: This is the third time in four games manager Jim Leyland used this lineup.

Kansas City

1. DeJesus, CF
2. Grudzielanke, 2B
3. Sweeney, DH
4. Sanders, RF
5. Brown, LF
6. German, 3B
7. Shealy, 1B
8. Buck, C
9. Pena Jr., SS

Pregame thoughts: Well, as much as it feels like the sky is falling, bad choice of words on this snowy day, the Tigers are actually only 1-2. That’s not bad. The play is, but no one takes away wins for looking like crap in early losses. So the Tigers just have to forget this, make corrections and move forward. Tigers fans just have to forget this.

The worry in today’s game is KC starter Gil Meche has sorta owned the Tigers. So it’s not going to be a pushover like last night. *insert laughter here* Actually, in the backwards voodoo world of baseball, maybe this means Detroit will hit him hard! We’ll find out in a few short minutes.

This is Mike Maroth’s season debut, but it’s also his post-injury starting pitcher debut. He pitched a few games last Autumn as a reliever. And just to bring up a coincidence, Maroth’s last start as a pitcher last season came May 25 in Kansas City, where he got shelled, came out after just one out and later had surgery to remove bone chips.

Postgame thoughts (6-5 Tigers) — I guess I called this one right. Meche owned the Tigers, but today the Tigers owned him.

It’s nice to see Maroth pick up a victory on the mound. He admitted he didn’t pitch all that great. Fortunately, his pickoff move was strong, so there was definitely something good to take away from the outing. That and a control pitcher like Maroth would be expected to struggle in cold weather. He struggled, giving up four runs in five innings. But he got the win.

Still, it might be nice if there was a game I couldn’t find something to complain about. In this one, the chief problem was the Tigers’ inability to keep the Royals from answering. Tigers score one. Royals score one. Tigers score three. Royals score 3. Back-and-forth. A good team really has to control that momentum after it scores. And Jason Grilli! Man, does he ever need a good outing right about now! I know Leyland is giving him a chance to pitch through it, but it’s just not really working out yet. There were a few mental lapses. It shouldn’t have been a 6-5 game, even though the Royals are clearly improved and had great defense from SS Tony Pena Jr.

Oh, and Inge still hasn’t hit the ball. 5 strikeouts, no hits, 12 at bats.

Positives? How about Gary Sheffield’s liner of a homer? How about Pudgy’s homer? And Curtis Granderson’s? Craig Monroe got an extra-base hit. More Tigers are getting good contact. After the first two games, that’s nice to see.

Box

Around the Central: After playing 4 innings, 2 outs and 2 strikes of baseball Friday, none of which counts, the Indians and Mariners had both games of a makeup split double-header postponed. They’ll try again tomorrow.

Javy Vazquez allowed one hit over 6-2/3 inning to help lead the White Sox to a 3-0 shutout of the Twins. Juan Uribe homered for the Sox.

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6th April 2007

Game 3: Tigers take to the frozen Midwest

IN THEORY: Detroit at Kansas City, 8 p.m., FSN
Justin Verlander vs. Jorge de la Rosa (STATS preview)

Detroit Tigers’ Mike Rabelo ties a towel around his face as he tries to keep warm during a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in the fifth inning Friday, April 6, 2007, in Kansas City, Mo. At game time the announced temperature was 35 degrees.

Detroit backup catcher Mike Rabelo ties a towel around his face as he tries to keep warm Friday at Kansas City. The announced temperature was 35 degrees. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Pregame thoughts: After facing one of the best offensive teams in the American League, Detroit heads to Kansas City for a three-game series against one of the worst. This fact should be even more apparent when Justin Verlander takes the mound fresh off a nice Spring Training performance and a good show against the Detroit minor leaguers before that. Kansas City, with the worst pitching staff on this side of Washington, will counter with Jorge de la Rosa, who STATS tells me is a converted reliever with a decent K rate, but lacking control and with an awful WHIP.

I’m not going to dwell on this game’s preview too much, because I honestly doubt they play it. Already the weather in KC resembles the weather the Tigers just escaped in Detroit: cold, crappy and windy. (and yet a whole lot better than here!) And it’s a night game. Likely the Tigers have a third day off of baseball this week. Let’s hope they can play Saturday. This is ridiculous. The MLB really has to make sure the first week is spent in Domes and southern locales.

Postgame thoughts — 3-1 Royals: Well, that’s why they play the games, I guess. Not that they probably should have in those cold, windy conditions. I worked, didn’t see it, didn’t hear it, but I saw some highlights on TV and the Tigers looked like crap in the field for what I saw. Reading the other Tigers blogs, that sounds like it was the case. That’s really not that big a deal. Verlander allowed one run on two hits in six innings. Jose Mesa allowed two more, helped by poor defense. Three runs allowed? Who’s going to complain about that?

Well, fans of a team that scores one run off a Kansas City starter with a career 5.66 ERA, that’s who. Six strikeouts (an improvement!) and three walks just won’t cut it. Admittedly — and despite those nine runs Wednesday — a lot of these Tigers are getting off to a slow start all around. There’s a lot of early Mendoza line averages. And because this is only three games, that means pretty much zilch except the team is starting rather awkwardly this year with some bad appearances at the plate coupled with the bullpen picking up two losses and trying to earn a third.

The 1-2 record doesn’t mean squat. Small sample sizes don’t mean squat. But I am getting perturbed at the crappy, lackluster performances we keep seeing on the field. Some highlight Tigers’ problems like early swings and a designated hitter in right field. Some just make you shrug your shoulders in disbelief. And then some you wonder, “What it will be like if the team ever plays in temperature over 40 degrees again?” But other teams play in the same conditions and being AL champions give you no excuse to play poorly. Detroit is a better team than this. I wish they’d show us that.

Box and wrap

Around the Central: I swear I will keep up with this better. Minnesota@White Sox was canceled.

Seattle@Cleveland was also officially canceled, despite the fact they played nearly enough innings to make it count. Seattle manager Mike Hargrove argued his batter couldn’t see the ball and it was unfair to his team if the final half-inning was played out. Cleveland manager Eric Wedge claimed it was unfair to his team (which would undoubtedly have won 4-0 … oh, and Paul Byrd had a no-hitter going). Oh, and did I mention it was one strike from being in the books? That was another game that shouldn’t have been played. But Cleveland chose to play it and lost catcher Victor Martinez to a hurt quad. It’s unclear if he’ll be out short term or if he’ll end up on the DL, but it’s a steep price to pay for stupidly playing in the snow. They will make the game up Saturday (today) in the afternoon.

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