A few quick thoughts on JV –

– He’s awesome.
– I love the way he is mixing up his pitches as of late.  Yesterday he opened the game with four four-seamers against Gets.  Threw one changeup to Cabrera, then closes with three changeups to K Gordon.  He then introduced the slider in the second inning, but stuck with the fastball for the walk to Butler and first 2 outs.  So a very hot Mike Aviles comes up likely looking fastball, and JV throws 4 curveballs.  For the game, JV threw only 43% fastballs, 25% curveballs, and then 16% changeups and sliders.  He is legitimately throwing 4 + to ++ pitches at all points during the game.  Just sick.

The Tigers hope that Jeff Francis is poised to become the latest Clown Show Bop Bag, as he lugs his 5.09 ERA to Comerica this afternon.  The Royals are hoping that Francis can find some of his early season success that saw him open the season with a 3.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP after four starts.  The Tigers, on the other hand, want late April/early May Jeff Francis who has given up 4 bombs and 33 hits in his last 19 innings.  Francis walks almost no one, as he is currently sixth in the AL with a 1.76/9 walk rate.

Even though he’s following a guy who’s averaging 1 hit per game, Bad Brad Penny has plenty to be proud of.  Over his last 4 stats BBP has lasted at least six innings in each game, winning 3 of them.  The only loss came when he opposed Seattle rookie phenom Michael Pineda.  BBP has posted a 1.32 ERA and fantastic 1.01 WHIP during that span.  Despite a low K/9, Penny has been able to have success as of late because he’s keeping walks down – 12 in his first 4 starts, 5 over his last 5, and pitching to contact (whatever that means).

A few notes:

– Billy Butler’s 22 game hit streak vs. the Tigers was snapped yesterday.
– The Tigers have at least 1 XBH in every game this season, the second longest such streak since 1919 (1986 – 51 games).  I’m guessing the XBH to start a season research guy got a better offer the day before he was set to open the book entitled “1918 – Every Box Score.”  The Tigers are the only team to have an XBH in every game in 2011.
– Peralta is 2 hits away from 1,000, which would make him the 47th Puerto Rican to do so, but the first with a typo on his birth certificate.

Today’s Ghostly Lineup:

1. Jackson – CF
2. Sizemore – 2B
3. Raburn – LF
4. Cabrera – 1B
5. Martinez – C
6. Peralta – SS
7. Boesch – DH
8. Wells – RF
9. Inge – 3B