PREGAME: Tonight it will be lefty Joe Saunders taking on Justin Verlander. Verlander is coming off a remarkable start in Seattle where he was pretty much untouchable except for an awful 5th inning. Still, his velocity, command, and breaking ball were encouraging.

Saunders has only fanned 7 batters in 20.2 innings with 6 walks and 2 HBPs but he’s posting a nice 2.18 ERA because he’s only allowed 13 hits so far.

The Tigers will send out:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Ordonez, DH
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, LF
6. Laird, C
7. Inge, 3B
8. Raburn, RF
9. Everett, SS

Game Time 10:05

Detroit vs. LA Angels – April 22, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: This probably deserves a more thorough analysis, but I have to be at my day job in 5 hours. So this is what you get:

• Verlander not so good. The Angels worked him like they did Galarraga the night before. Of course they had help in the form of Ryan Raburn who totally botched two plays (and minorly botched a third). Some of those runs should have been unearned but a disappointing Verlander outing regardless.
• Rincon allowed a run, and on that run he didn’t do too bad. It was a chop infield single and a double on a nice pitch. But then a wild pitch and 2 walks later I had lost all sympathy.
• The top of the order really got it going with the top 5 being on base 14 times
• Angels have the most generous scorer ever. It’s kind of a joke really
• Adam Everett had 3 “hits” and played some nice defense.
• The big rally in the 7th was bizarre. Hits went exactly where they needed to go, including another en-Inge-matic hit where he dribbles it somewhere and it results in runs.
• Rodney didn’t really struggle, but the 9th was way too interesting. An infield hit, a double play, a couple bloop singles, a well hit double a wild pitch and then it was over. Good night.

PREGAME:  There’s a lot going on tonight for Detroit sports fans. You’ve got the Red Wings against Columbus. The Detroit Pistons against the Cavs. Dontrelle Willis is starting for Lakeland. Joel Zumaya is pitching for Toledo. And oh yeah, the Tigers play after all of them in Orange County.

Prior to the season this series looked to be the toughest part of this 3 city trip. But bad fortune has been following the Angels around. John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar, and Vladimir Guerrero are on the DL. On top of all that there was the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart. The result is a struggling team that has lost most of its rotation (and is looking all over for help) and a lineup that lost its biggest threat. I’m not saying this will be an easy series, but the Angels have faced several seasons worth of adversity.

On the mound tonight will be Jered Weaver and Armando Galarraga. Both pitchers are off to solid starts. According to his pitch f/x data Weaver throws a 5 pitch repertoire that he mixes fairly well. In 2 games he has 10 Ks and 4 BB’s and allowed 2 homers. Galarraga has pitched so well I’m a little nervous to comment on it for fear of jinxing it.

Feel free to comment on any of the above games in this space (and please do, I’ll be in a meeting for a lot of it).

Game Time 10:05

Detroit vs. LA Angels – April 21, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Well that wasn’t the least bit satisfying. Armando Galarraga wasn’t good, but somehow managed to limit the damage to 3 runs while lasting 5 innings. Despite not having his good stuff he gave his team a chance to win. Curtis Granderson hit well, Carlos Guillen hit well, but not enough hits could get bunched together.

Especially frustrating was the 9th inning that saw a leadoff single wasted when pinch hitter Adam Everett couldn’t get a bunt down and Josh Anderson was picked off. I was pretty upset that Thames wasn’t hitting in that situation, but Ian pointed out that Marcus Thames just hit the DL (that’s a Jason Beck tweet).

Too tired to say more, but this was disappointing to say the least.

Oh, and I’m not blaming the loss on this so this isn’t a sour grapes thing, but that was some horrendous home plate umpiring by Timmons. Astoundingly awful. The whole game, both teams.

PREGAME: It’s a rubber match! Okay, maybe the exclamation point wasn’t necessary. The Mariners haven’t lost a series this year but the Tigers have a chance to take them down.

Today will be Rick Porcello’s second career start. I’d guess his pitch limit would be in the 95-100 pitch range and we’ll see if he attacks the strike zone like he did in his first outing.

Carlos Silva takes the mound for the Mariners. The Tigers beat him mercilessly last year. A 472/500/660 line was what they did to him in 3 games last year and a similar performance would certainly make things easier on Porcello.

Anybody remember the last get-away game the Tigers played in Seattle? It went 15 innings and the Tigers got the win against catcher Jamie Burke?

Game Time 4:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 19, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: A very nice all around effort today. Rick Porcello is the big story getting his first win. He allowed baserunners, and I think with his style he will. There will inevitably a couple of infield hits and jam shots. But with the heavy heavy sinker he chucks he’ll also throw a number of double play balls.

It seemed like he didn’t have pinpoint command early in the game, but in the end he finished with 56 of 86 pitches going for strikes and lasting 7 innings. A little suprised to see Porcello out of the game at that point. I thought this would have been a good opportunity to stretch him out a little more. But I also understand the decision to not needlessly have him throw extra innings.

The pen allowed a run and baserunners, but it was largely inconsequential. It was only noteworthy because Bobby Seay allowed a bloop single, the first baserunner he’s allowed this year.

Offensively the Tigers did what they needed to do against Carlos Silva. And the bottom of the order continued to amaze. On a team full of All Stars, Ramon Santiago was the only one to find a gap all series when he cleared the bases with a double, just 3 of the 5 RBI he had on the day. And Josh Anderson and Brandon Inge continued to mash as well. The Tigers only had 4 extra base hits all series, and Anderson/Inge/Santiago accounted for 3 of them.

On to Orange County.

PREGAME: I’m still shaking my head about last night’s game. So…it’s a simplistic preview today.

Erik Bedard is striking out lots of people. He has 15 K’s already. The Tigers hadn’t really been striking out a great deal…until last night. The Tigers had also been slugging quite well but had no extra base hits among their 9 knocks.

Edwin Jackson was stellar against the Blue Jays, and just OK against the Rangers. If Jackson has a modicum of command this game could set up nicely for him.

As for TV coverage, this game will be picked up on FS Detroit once the Red Wings game and postgame are completed. Prior to that you can catch the action of FS Detroit +.

Game Time 9:10

Detroit vs. Seattle – April 18, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Awesome stuff from Edwin Jackson again. The efficiency was reminiscent of the Toronto start and Jakcson went 7 2/3 on 98 pitches. This time though he added 5 K’s. As someone who criticized this trade, I’m happy to be wrong so far.

• Curtis Granderson looked much better tonight at the dish. He had 2 walks and a single and saw 26 pitches tonight. There was also that money throw to end Seattle’s only scoring chance.
• Magglio Ordonez looked better tonight also. Unfortunately Miguel Cabrera had one of his only down games for the year and stranded 6.
• Brandon Inge accounts for both runs, sort of. He gets credit for one and Ichiro gets credit for the other.
• Fernando Rodney allowed his first baserunner and wasn’t quite as crisp as his first 4 outings, but that runner never made it past first base.