Less is more.

The Tigers attempt to go for their first win in my posting history.  A no hitter and a great game from the otherwise average James Shields are tough acts to surpass.  I’ve got a good feeling that it goes our way tonight.

Eddie Bonine takes on Jeff Niemann.  Bonine has been great out of the pen this year, posting a 4-0 record, 2.72 ERA and 1.26 whip, but his longest outing has been 4 innings.  He’s got plenty of starting experience (21 last year, 4 in the bigs and 17 with Toledo), so let’s hope he’s up to the task.

Niemann has been a stud for Tampa this year, posting an 8-3 record with a 2.95 ERA, 94 Ks in 128.1 IPs, and a 1.13 WHIP.

Cabrera has been a monster as of late, batting .421 with 10 RBIs in his last 10 games.  The rest of the team, not so good.

(edit, thanks to Mr. X)

Jackson has been HOT. He has 13 hits in the past 7 days. His only hitless game since the AS break was in that no hitter.

Damon has been hitting well also. .368 AVG, with a .455 OBP, in the past 7 days.

Well, the Tigers go for their first hit since I took over responsibility for the game threads.

Tonight’s contest features JV versus James Shields.  James Shields has not been good as of late.  In his last 10 starts he’s allowed at least 3 runs in every start, and has only reached the seventh three times with a cool 5.61 ERA and 1.52 WHIP.  Let’s hope that we earn a few more of the “Hs” from that equation.  The Rays game day notes mention that Shields’ 9 losses are T-5th in the AL, “two off the league lead.”  There’s some optimism for you.

On the other hand, a few of the Tigers hitters he’ll face are still figuring out how to get to the ballpark, so it should make for an interesting game.  It was all doom and gloom in Motown this morning, but what do you expect when you get no-no’d by Matt Garza.  JV is 7-1 in his last 9 starts.  Checking the opposing starters over the next five days (Niemann, Price, Lester, Matsuzaka, Buchholz), there is little margin for error in JVs performance tonight.

My sincerest thanks to billfer for entrusting me with the task of guarding the island.

Our Tigers take their 16-29 road record and one game win streak to the Trop.  Scherzer has been brilliant in July thus far posting a 3-1 record with a 2.00 ERA and 25 Ks in 27 IP.  Upon further inspection, did you know that Scherzer has 100 Ks in 105.2 IPs?

We all know that Valverde will be unavailable, so let’s get to Garza early and often.  Tigers have had some success against Tampa as of late, going 8-3 since September of ’08, and are 10-4 overall versus the East this year.