Week 6 had the Tigers in Minnesota and at Detroit. Minnesota did not agree with them (although they should have won 2 games there). Being at home seems to have a great effect on this team (10-5 in Comerica).
We saw what appears to be a slide by Galarraga from strike throwing machine to more of a ball throwing machine. Over his last 5 starts he has allowed 17 walks in 27 2/3 innings. He has also allowed 21 runs in those starts. This is partly because he has allowed 6 home runs, rewarding opposing teams for being patient at the plate. The Tigers have only won one of those starts (Apr 26th). It is worth noting that in 2008 Galarraga had a WHIP (walk + hits per inning pitched) of 1.19. So far in 2009 his WHIP is 1.44. In 2008 he walked 2.98 per 9 innings. So far it has been 4.39! Maybe it is a good thing Bonderman is on the mend (more on that later).
Tuesday Galarraga allowed 2 runs in the 2nd and 2 more in the 3rd.
We saw Verlander continue to look like a Cy Young leader with another absolutely dominating performance on Thursday. He went
6 2/3 striking out 13 men (he leads the MLB in strikeouts). He allowed only 2 runs (which actually scored after he left the game).
Jackson again went
7 innings and allowed only 1 run. Not only is that amazing, but he had a 1 hour and 15 minute rain delay between the 4th and 5th innings. I don't remember seeing a starter return after that long of a delay, much less to continue for 3 more innings! Dombrowski looks more and more like a genius every day that Jackson wears the D!
Porcello actually leads the team in wins after holding the
A's to 1 run tonight.
Willis returned to the big leagues on
Wednesday. He went 4 2/3 innings and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits and only 2 walks. It wasn't a Quality Start. I'm not sure it was even a good start. Some say is was
good enough. Some say
it wasn't. I'm more inclined to say it wasn't good enough, but I'll leave that decision to Leyland and Dombrowski.
This was really the week that the 'Pen imploded for the first time. The Tigers should have won both Willis' game on Wednesday. They ultimately scored 10 runs in a 5 hour marathon (yes, I stayed up to watch it all). But Lyon couldn't close the deal, allowing a walk off grand slam. In Lyon's defense he pitched 2 2/3 innings because there wasn't anyone left to use. He is a closer by trade and he faced 15 batters. That must have felt like working a 14 hour day to him, but Detroit had the lead at least twice in late innings. I tuned in when the Tigers led 9-7. Then I watched Zoom give up that lead. Then Granderson tripled and was balked home (you don't see that very often). But Lyon was done when the Twins came up to bat and Minnesota won 14-10.
Thursday was worse. Verlander was walking all over the Twins. He left with a 5 run lead and 2 men on and 1 out in the 7th inning. Bobby Seay did something he hasn't done all year- he sucked. Seay allowed 4 runs on 3 hits and a walk while getting only 1 man out. When Miner came on it was 5-4 with 2 outs. When the inning ended it was 6-5. The Tigers couldn't recover.
The lineup started weakly, but appears to have build some momentum this week. After scoring only 2 runs on Tuesday they averaged 9.5 for the rest of the week. Their SLG% was over .500 for the first week this year. Magglio is starting to hit again. If the batters can continue this trend this should be a great season.
Even after 2 blown games the Tigers end the week with a 3-3 record (19-16 overall) and they are alone in 1st place with a 1 game lead over KC.
