The Tigers pulled off the improbable and swept the Blue Jays on the road to start the season. After falling behind on a 3 run homer by Carlos Delgado, the Tigers came back with a 3-run shot of their own by Munson. Jeremy Bonderman settled down and pitched outstanding for the next 4 1/3 innings. Well, I think he pitched outstanding from what I could tell with K after K on gamecast. No local TV so I couldn’t see it myself. Bonderman struck out 8 in all before giving way to newcomer Steve Colyer.
Bonderman left early when he took a Vernon Wells line drive in the calf, but should be okay. I’m happy that Tram took him out. Even if he could pitch, you don’t want to see his mechanics get screwed up and risk an arm injury.
So the Tigers are coming home undefeated and people are actually excited about the team. While the Wings in the playoffs are still getting more sports talk attention, the Tigers aren’t a joke this year (at least so far). What’s more is the Tigers are catching their division rival Twins at a time they are beat up. Tori Hunter has a bad hamstring. Johan Santana has forearm spasms. Starting catcher Joe Mauer is on the shelf having his knee scoped, and back-up catcher Matt Lecroy left last night’s game with an oblique strain. Suddenly this looks like a winnable series for the Tigers. Last year the only winnable looking series were against the Devil Rays (and they didn’t even manage to do that).
Last week all I was hoping for from the home opener was that we could make it through the game without a “Let’s Go Red Wings” chant, that the game would be competitive, and there would be no sarcastic applause. What a difference 3 games makes. Now I’m expecting a win.
Other Notes:
-Andres Torres contract was purchased from Toledo to take Dmitri Young’s spot
How about the bullpen? 10+ innings in three days, no runs allowed, and only eight base runners allowed. Nate Robertson’s 4-inning save the other night was a thing of beauty.
A solid pen will go a long way with this team. We can’t expect the likes of Maroth and Cornejo to go deep into games, or to be effective with any consistency.
On the flip side, I would have liked to have seen Chris Shelton get at least one at bat in the series. I hope Tram does not bury him, especially with another no-stick waterbug like Torres joining the club.
3 ERs a game vs. 7.6 scored
Not too shabby!