Work will keep me really busy for the next week or so. As a result, my posts will be shorter, and lighter on the numbers and research than typical. With that, here are my impressions of the weekend games with the Twins as seen on, well not seen at all….

-Despite losing the day before, the Tigers managed to bounce back with a win. A nice improvement over last year.
-Even on Saturday, despite being down six runs early, the Tigers fought back with 5 runs of their own before the Twins bullpen slammed the door. I love seeing that fight in the team, and knowing that the team can still come back if they fall behind early.
-In what has becoming a running item…Greg Norton…Why? He’s 0-10 now with 5 strike outs and two GIDP’s. Although he did make a nice play at third yesterday.
-The bullpen looked really bad this weekend. (like I said, no time for stats, just opinions)
-Mike Maroth actually pitched a pretty good, efficient game yesterday. When he left he’d only allowed one run, but the bullpen allowed its two inherited runs to cross as well. He made it through the first six innings on 81 pitches striking out 5 and walking one. That’s a solid outing.
-Tiger hitters, even while not scoring, are forcing pitchers to work. Craig Monroe’s game winning hit came on an 8 pitch at-bat yesterday. And as Aaron Gleeman points out 11 times yesterday Tiger hitters had two strikes on them. Instead of going quietly, the Tigers forced Santana to throw an additional 32 pitches once they already had two strikes. While the Twins bullpen stepped up on Saturday and Sunday, it was nice to see the Tigers burning through the starters in the 6th inning each day.
-Being forced to listen to the Tigers this weekend, you ever notice that Jim Price always steps on Dickerson’s play-by-play with things like “Oh no” in the middle of the call. Mr. Price, let the play-by-play man make his call and the comment.