PREGAME: The Tigers look to raise their record against the Twins to 5-0 on the year. Scott Baker will be taking the mound for the Twins. While the Tigers have had success in the first 4 games, this will be the first time facing Baker this season.
Jeremy Bonderman will try to regain the pitching magic as the Tigers starters have failed to record a quality start in their last 2 games. Let’s nip that in the bud.
Last night featured the return of Dmitri Young and he hit a couple balls well to center, singled in a run, and walked. No matter what you think of Dmitri, it will be nice to have his bat in the lineup. My son got a little confused and started calling the position Desperating Hitter. Given the inconsistency, until Marcus Thames surge last week, it was hard for me to correct him.
Game time is 7:05.
POSTGAME: Yeah, the blown save – not so much a fan. I guess the silver lining is that this is game 31 and this is the first time the Tigers bullpen has surrendered a lead. Todd Jones has had a shaky week, and it will be understandable when people start calling for Fernando Rodney or Joel Zumaya to close.
In other news, the Tigers banged out 8 extra base hits. They had 5 situations where they had a runner on second base and no body out. Only 2 of those runners scored.
Actually, Verlander only gave up 3 earned runs, so his was technically a quality start iirc.
I think Leyland probably isn’t bluffing with respect to Dmitri needing to produce to stay in the lineup. Thames–who has hit one HR per 15 ABs during this Tiger career–is a pretty decent fall-back option.
Although the message was delivered to Dmitri, the whole teams listens and understands that the stament also means them as well. Jim wants guys that play hard every pitch and if you dont you may be having a seat watching.
The Tigers are now winning the games they should (which they have not done the last few years) and able to beat the others. It will be interesting to see what happens when we play the harder teams. I love the attitude and the fact that we can score runs from anywhere in the line up.
Steve
re: Todd Jones blown save – I already think Zumaya should be the closer. His stats are better than Jones’ in almost every respect. Z has allowed 1 homer to Jones’ zero…other than that, every other stat leans towards Z; and in ERA, there’s no comparison at all. Was thinking Jones could set-up, but if he’s racked around he could blow the save opportunity before Z even can get out there. Anyway, this was bound to happen; I can live with it once as long as it doesn’t get out of hand….still think Z should close, though.
hey, if we are promoting anyone to closer it should be Mr Perfect, Fernando Rodney, who has yet to allow a run to score. Zumaya (Apr 23) has almost as many shakey appearences (multiple runs in an inning or less), as Jones (May 1 and May 5).
I’m more worried by the way the offence couldn’t bring in the run from second with no outs. That should be almost a gimme.
It’s no question. Jones has looked shaky in every game, and his luck finally ran out and exposed his flaws. I say Z goes 7 and 8 and Rodney 9.
At least Jamie Walker is in mid season form
Agree that Rodney should get the closer job at some point soon. Jones could be bumped back to set-up man. Prefer to keep Zumaya in his current role–if only because it means Leyland will be more likely to use him for two innings at a time. He should be able to handle that having been a starter during his minor league career.