Well, it was fun while it lasted, but the perfect season is ruined. Now back to our regularly scheduled baseball season.
Not that there weren’t any positives to be found yesterday. Justin Verlander pitched 8 innings of the best baseball seen in these parts for a while. He also, and I quote Elias, was the 1st pitcher to do THIS in 23 years:
- -Enter the 9th inning with his team leading
- -Start and pitch at least 8 full innings
- -Allow 0 runs and either no hits or one hit through those 8 innings
- -Get the loss in the game.
So there’s that.
In retrospect, Verlander was done when he threw the wild pitch to Pena that let in the 1st TB run. Radar gun says: 100. Remember that Verlander? The one who tried to blast his way out of every tough spot? Leaving him in for the 9th was the no-brainer move, but he clearly lost his focus.
So we got that first loss out of the way. And we also got the first “hey wait, Inge would have gotten to that one” out of the way.
Today it will be up to Drew Smyly to try to put the happy face back on Tiger Fan. In his tune-up start in Toledo, Smyly couldn’t make it out of the 2nd inning, giving up 3 runs on 50 pitches in 1 2/3 innings. Which means he could very well dominate Tampa today in his MLB debut, because that’s how baseball works.
Not that Drew Smyly is even his real name. But Todd Andrew Smiley is hoping to join Charles Brandon Inge and Jose Miguel Cabrera, and not become a Michael Clete Thomas.
At any rate, expect him to be on a short leash in his MLB debut, so we are likely to see some Balester-Below action as well.
Jeff Niemann takes the mound for the Rays, and he has been a solid bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher for Tampa Bay, going 38-23 in his 4-year career. And if nothing else, at 6-9, 285 he probably doesn’t have to worry about anyone charging the mound.
***
Brandon Inge will finish his rehab assignment on Thursday and will be back with the Tigers on Friday. Which means…? Well, it’s not Clete. He has already got the DFA to make room for Smyly. Clete has good speed, a good glove, a great arm, and is a lefty, so the odds of him getting claimed by another team are decent. If he is not, then he will be assigned to Toledo. Inge, meanwhile, didn’t get a hit yesterday in Toledo, but did get hit by a pitch, and no doubt swung the bat well, so he seems game-ready.
***
Today’s Player of the Pregame: Ryan Raburn.
The Tigers are still undefeated when Raburn starts.
Today’s Happy-faced Lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Brennan Boesch RF
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young LF
- Alex Avila C
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Andy Dirks DH
- Ryan Raburn 2B
Smyly is making me frown a little bit here in the first…
…but nice recovery to get out of bases loaded no outs!
That was really cool to watch. I’m happy for the kid.
And Miguel says “stop with the I suck at third articles” to Lynn Henning with that nice scoop n’ throw on that bunt.
I’m feeling a rally.
Maybe they option Smily to Toledo after today’s start so they can add Inge. Then when Wilk gets added on Saturday they can DFA Inge. No? Well one can hope.
I like Andy Dirks.
For those watching, how do you triple to shallow right?
Awful at bat by Kayburn there.
ugh that K by Raburn hurt.
Kayburn.
I think RR is cold blooded, so the juices just don’t flow unless the temps are above 70 degrees.
Good hustle Andy…hmmm maybe a statement he doesn’t wanna go South when Inge comes off the DL?
Birthday boy Boesch (and mine) time!
Jackson on pace to draw 125 BB this year.
Like a Boesch!
Good inning boys!
The Tigers must be building a bigger fanbase. Every time a Tigers player does something, his name becomes a trending topic on twitter for a few minutes.
No, it’s simply the Fox Sport Detroit Girls and Leyland tweeting!
egad, looked like a double off his bat, give credit to Joyce.
I don’t get why we’re not seeing Dotel here.
NM.
Leyland doing the ROOGY/LOOGY thingy. Now maybe Dotel in the 8th and Big Potato in the 9th.
Phil Coke does the job. Someone put a missing persons report out for Dotel!
Who is this Dontel guy you are talking about?
Journeyman reliever par excellance Octavio Dotel.
Bday boy Boesch coming up!
Could we just figure out a way to DL Raburn until August 1?
You mean Ra(ll)y(killer)burn.
Happy Boeschday
Birthday Boy Boesch Bash.
Good clutch hitting Boesch!
Rays are looking good for 2012. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them take the AL East.
they certainly have the best starting rotation in the East…and AL for that matter.
Boss’ Son whacks another one!
Tigers have scored 10 runs more than last year by game 6. They have also given up 15 less runs.
Nice homestand for the good guys. Very impressed that we could get this one after a gut wrenching loss yesterday and TB having the pitching edge (on paper) today. Great win and good to see Boesch have big day to join Miggy, Prince, Peralta and Jackson as an offensive force.
Wondering if any team has started 5-1 before with none of those wins going to a starting pitcher?