For as much as I complain about strange things happening on the west coast, it’s becoming apparent that the Yankees bring their own brand of weirdness to Comerica Park. I mean, back in ’07 they played a game that didn’t end until 3:30 in the morning, and now there’s this game. You had Nick Swisher hitting a home run on what would’ve been ball 4 (one of the few times that a walk would have been preferable), then Nick Swisher making diving plays all over right field, and then the fire alarms went off in the bottom of the eighth. Between the bat and the glove, I think Swisher kinda beat the Tigers singlehandedly. At any rate, Porcello just wasn’t throwing enough strikes, and they made him pay for it. Look, we knew he was going to get beat up at some point. It happens to every pitcher. Unfortunately, it happened at a rather inconvenient time, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. The important thing is for him to have the maturity and fortitude to bounce back in his next start. As far as the bullpen, well, outside of the home run that Clay Rapada gave up to Swisher and Ryan Perry’s two-out wildness in the eighth, the ‘pen wasn’t bad, given the number of innings they had to pitch. Zumaya looked really good in particular. Ryan Perry did have the three walks, which is not good, but given the opportunity to pitch himself out of it, he was able to do it, so maybe that’s a turning point of some sort.

Well, the offense was kinda sleepwalking through this game as well until the ninth inning (at least we weren’t being shut out). Joba Chamberlain was wild early, and then after Miguel Cabrera struck out with the bases loaded, it was like some sort of switch turned on, he became a strike-thrower, and the Tigers were too slow on the adjustment. As a result, his pitch count stayed low and there just wasn’t enough time to get to the Yankee bullpen. After the third inning, the only real threat the Tigers were able to mount against Chamberlain was in the seventh, when they put two men on with no out, but Swisher (“There’s that bear again”) ran down Brandon Inge’s attempt at a gap shot (by the way, Brandon totally smoked that ball). That would’ve scored at least one run, maybe two (given Laird’s ability to run well for a catcher). After that, the rally totally fizzled. Swisher also made a diving catch of a bullet that Granderson hit in the eighth. It wasn’t until the ninth that the Tigers finally figured out how to get the ball past Swisher, and by then it was too late cuz when you don’t rally until the ninth inning, you give the Yankees the luxury of bringing in Mariano Rivera, and then it just becomes unrealistic. Still, once he came trotting in from the bullpen I jokingly advised everyone on Bless You Boys to channel their inner Jason Bay, only to almost look like a total genius. Apparently Granderson channeled HIS inner Jason Bay. That’s the second straight appearance in which Rivera’s given up a home run. I would think that does not happen very often. However, it was extraordinary enough that Grandy hit the three-run shot off him. You knew he wouldn’t give up two more runs with two outs. It just wasn’t gonna happen. Still, kudos to the Tigers for at least injecting a little bit of dignity into the loss.

Well, there’s an off-day today, and then comes a big two-week stretch of 13 games in a row against the division. Yikes. First up are the Cleveland Indians, who don’t exactly have the record the prognosticators thought they’d have, but with things being so bunched up in the Central Division, a three-game sweep would put them right back into it. So it’s important for the Tigers to not get swept (also important to take the series). To do that, the offense needs to wake up (hopefully the ninth inning last night did that). This is important because in a lot of the games against the Indians over the past two years, the Tigers’ offense was rarely shut down completely. There were a few games where they were stymied, but most of the time they’d manage at least four or five runs. The problem was that they normally just plain got outslugged, so it’d be nice for all the Tigers to pitch well for a change. The Indians’ offense is pretty hot right now, and their pitching has essentially upgraded itself from “awful” to “inconsistent.” Their starters have been up and down, but everyone in their rotation has gotten at least one good start under their belts. They do have Kerry Wood (and I knew he was a hard thrower, but I didn’t realize just how hard), and I have no idea how his ERA is over 6, because I believe he’s been perfect in save opportunities. They have had some bullpen problems outside of Wood, though. At any rate, step one is to subdue THEIR offense and keep it that way. Armando Galarraga gets the call for his sixth career start against Cleveland, which is the most against any team. The lone AL team that hasn’t seen him is the Yankees, but I’m not sure they’d be the best team for him to face anyways, both because of the sheer number of left-handed hitters and because a lot of his success lies in getting guys to swing at stuff out of the strike zone (that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it’s the case for many a good pitcher), and the Yankees generally don’t do that (at the same time, though, given the fact that the first series after the All-Star Break is at Yankee Stadium, I’d be surprised if Galarraga didn’t get a start there). And since Galarraga had walked five in his previous outing, you can bet the Yankees would’ve taken every pitch they could. He has had success against the Indians: 3-0 in five starts with a respectable earned run average, but the Cleveland offense is pretty patient (or, at least, they can be when they want to), so he probably can’t afford to walk a bunch of guys again (that and the fact that the Indians generally hit a lot better than the Royals). He’ll catch a bit of a break since Travis Hafner is now on the DL (though I can’t recall if he even faced Hafner last year and if he did, it was an unhealthy Hafner at that), but Grady Sizemore had evidently figured him out by the end of last season, cuz he’s got, like, three or four home runs off him. The Tiger hitters need to get the bats going, though, and they’ll need to do it against Carl Pavano, who is the subject of probably the best “non-signing” in recent Tigers history. I’m a bit hazy on the details, and I’ve had to get help filling my dad’s friend on filling in the blanks, but apparently Pavano had a good career with Florida, the Tigers tried to sign him in 2004, but he had his heart set on the Yankees and promptly spent the next four years with injury after injury. That’s the story I’ve gotten, but given the vicious reaction that he got from Yankee fans at Yankee Stadium, I’m led to believe that there was more going on than just injuries. Anyone want to help me out here with some more details? Anyways, his ERA is not pretty right now, but I’m pretty sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that he only lasted one inning and gave up nine earned runs in his first start, so it’ll take a while to get it down. I know he struggled in his last start, though. Since he’s made so few AL starts, he’s never faced the Tigers before, and I don’t think there are many hitters who have even had an at-bat against him. Let’s see…only three current Tiger position players have played for a National League team prior to 2004 (Dane Sardinha saw a little bit of playing time with the Reds, but I don’t think that really counts), and those are Polanco, Everett, and Cabrera. Cabrera and Pavano were teammates, so that just leaves Everett and Polanco (as well and maybe one or two from a couple others through Interleague play). However, one thing that I’d like to see for a change is for the Tiger hitters to face a struggling pitcher (Pavano) and actually KEEP him struggling. This is now four games in a row where the other team’s starting pitcher has suddenly “found it” against our lineup (Amazingly, the Tigers are 2-2 in that stretch; and I know Phil Hughes was not struggling in Triple A, but he had in terms of his lack of Major League success). It’s a day early, but to get you ready, I’ve included the Mood Music. With the impending long stretch of interdivision games, I needed something dramatic. Something that suggested “big battle.” And I found it in the realm of classical music, specifically from a suite written by 20th century composer Gustav Holst called “The Planets.” I give you the first movement, “Mars: The Bringer of War.” Interesting side note: There is another movement in the suite that is subtitled “The Magician,” and given my last post about Galarraga, I flirted with the idea of using that instead, but the music itself is long and kinda goofy-sounding, and just really didn’t fit the motif.

That was excruciating, from about the second inning on. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but I do not like pitching duels. They are so incredibly stressful to watch because the game can hinge on one little mistake. And even though the final score is what it is, the same principle actually still applies to this one. Edwin Jackson was pretty good against a team that normally has his number, but Robinson Cano kinda singlehandedly cost him an inning (though given the fact that if the score had still been tied in the top of the eighth, which is quite likely, Perry still probably would’ve been first out of the ‘pen, and things probably would’ve proceeded in exactly the same way, so maybe in the long run that didn’t really have an impact). Now, let’s delve into the seventh inning. A lot is going to be made about Josh Anderson’s error (which is merited, cuz it IS a play he needs to make), but I really think it was the four-pitch walk to Melky Cabrera (who was trying to bunt the whole time) that kinda sealed Perry’s fate. If he’d’ve just let him bunt, there would be no runner at third base, and therefore, no sac fly opportunity in the first place. After that, there were just too many walks mixed in with everything else that was going on, and not enough strikes being thrown.

However, I beg of you a bit of perspective: This isn’t even the most runs that the Tigers have given up in a game this year. If you’d’ve just looked at the score itself without that “runs per inning” grid that usually accompanies it, you’d just think of it as your average, run-of-the-mill blowout. Hey, chances are on any given night, it’s going to happen to SOME team (you just hope it won’t be the Tigers again for a long, long time). Second, in a big inning such as that, once you’ve given up more than about six or seven runs, it usually means something weird has happened, unless you’ve walked more than six guys in the inning or given up more than two home runs. I’m talking about broken-bat singles or infield hits or what have you. At that point it kinda loses all sense of reality and should probably just get categorized into “really big inning” (say, more than 7 runs) as opposed to an actual number. Nate Robertson’s stint was odd because he gave up hits to all the lefties he faced and his only out came from the switch-hitter. Nate’s probably more suited to long relief and he’s not my first choice as a lefty specialist, but with Bobby Seay undoubtedly unavailable, I guess there was little choice. Still, I don’t think Robertson had good numbers against the Yankees coming in to last night. Anyways, I missed Damon’s single, but on the replays, it looked like kind of a funky swing, and I could be wrong, but I can’t imagine that the ball was hit hard with that kind of swing. Matsui hit a lined shot bullet that was precipitated both by the fact that Nate had fallen behind and by the fact that Matsui hits lefties well anyways. The final hit he gave up was a ground-ball single off the bat of Cano (I think), and I don’t have a good sense of how hard it was hit (though given how hot Cano is right now, there’s a good chance it was torched), but from the naked it, it looked like something that Cabrera could have snared without too much difficulty. Brandon Lyon is becoming a concern in the sense that he is currently pitching out of character. If you look at his numbers over the past couple years, you’ll see that he’s been a guy that throws strikes and keeps the ball in the ballpark. That hasn’t been the case this year, and I would like to know the underlying reason for that before making any further determinations. As for Juan Rincon, well, you knew Nick Swisher was going to hit a home run at some point in this series. Might as well get it over with.

As far as the offense is concerned, where’s Chien-Ming Wang when you need him? I know he’s tough when he healthy, but with the way he’d been pitching so far this year, the Yankees could still score 10 runs in the seventh and the Tigers might’ve still won. Now, I don’t like being on the losing end of blowouts and I don’t like pitching duels, but I really, REALLY hate being shut out. I had enough of that last year to last a lifetime. There are exceptions, but oftentimes I feel like I’d rather lose 13-2 than 1-0. This is the third starting pitcher in a row that the Tigers have faced who has totally defied his scouting report (Sidney Ponson went from command problems to not walking anybody, CC Sabathia went from throwing over 110 pitches in five innings to throwing 99 in eight, and Phil Hughes went from throwing a lot of breaking balls to throwing lots of fastballs). One somewhat disturbing trend over the past few games is that with the exception of the middle game in Kansas City, the Tigers haven’t exactly worked the starting pitchers. I know that Greinke and Sabathia (and to some extent, Hughes) are very good, but there are still ways to get the pitch count up faster (Case in point: Edwin Jackson was very good last night and the Yankees were still able to get him to 117 pitches in six innings). In any case, I spent the last three innings silently begging the offense to scratch out a run. Even just one run would be enough for a bit of a moral victory. It looked as though they just might get me that run in the bottom of the ninth. Alas, no dice, as Everett flied out to end the game. You know, I’ve often heard the talking point that attempts to justify an offense going dormant in a blowout by saying that the bad pitching “is discouraging to the hitters.” That might be true, but it’s still not a good excuse. I mean, you certainly wouldn’t condone the opposite situation (i.e. a pitcher not pitching well because he’s “discouraged” from a lack of run support). On a side note, we’re all breathing a sigh of relief that Miguel Cabrera seems to be okay after being hit in the wrist, and not just for the obvious reason. With Larish being sent down to Toledo and Thames on the DL, the Tigers don’t have another first baseman. A healthy Guillen could probably be serviceable in an emergency, but right now he’s pretty much confined to DH. I’m not sure what they would’ve done if Cabrera had to come out of the game.

Well, when it comes to a game like this, the last thing you want is for it to linger. If I were able to talk to the pitching staff, I would say this: Do NOT let it snowball any further (and throw strikes). At any rate, Rick Porcello probably gets his biggest test so far tonight. Logic dictates that he’ll have to get the changeup working to all those lefties and switch-hitters the Yankees’ll run out at you. I guess if there’s been one noticeable hiccup, it’s that Porcello’s developing the strange habit of giving up home runs to guys who don’t hit home runs (which means that Ramiro Peña is probably licking his chops right about now). As long as they’re solo shots and there aren’t many of them, I suppose that’s something that can be worked around. But either way, I guess it’s a good probability we’ll see what he’s made of. He’ll be up against Joba Chamberlain, who hasn’t given up many runs but he’s had quite a few baserunners in his starts. The Tigers have only seen him in relief before (and the first time they saw him, back in ’07 at Yankee Stadium, he blew 100 MPH fastballs by the middle of the Tigers order, and I’ll admit that was the single scariest inning I’ve ever witnessed in baseball, because it’s the only time where our big guys looked totally and convincingly overmatched and powerless, and I’d very much like to never see that again). No Mood Music for tonight, as I’ve got an exam in an hour and I still haven’t had lunch, so no time to go browsing around on YouTube.

Well, that had to be the most boring game of the young season. At a little over a mere two hours long, I felt kind of cheated, especially after being unable to watch the second half of the last three games. Rick Porcello wasn’t bad, but he needs to stop giving up home runs to guys who don’t hit home runs. He also needs to not give up runs right after his team has just scored. It was probably a longshot against Greinke, though, who is hot right now, but I was at least hoping they’d make him work a bit more and not get themselves complete-gamed. At least they managed to do what no team had done before, and that’s get a run against him, even if it WAS unearned. This game also featured the reappearance of Nate Robertson after a nearly two week absence. Armando Galarraga must’ve given his glasses back.

Well, in some respects, Rick Porcello was kind of the sacrificial lamb last night. It’s time for guys to step up and give their all for tonight’s game. Kyle Davies hasn’t been easy, but unlike Zack Greinke, he at least HAS an earned run average, miniscule as it may be. The Tigers have beaten him a few times, although one was when he was with the Braves and they beat him 2-1. Zach Miner’s got an elevated ERA right now, but last year he made some very good starts against KC, especially at Kaufman Stadium. So there’s no reason why he can’t do it again. And…Joel Zumaya is back, and the irony of the locale is not lost on him, either, cuz it was at Kaufman Stadium almost two years ago that he ruptured the tendon in his finger, starting the long process of a lot of surgeries and basically being rebuilt. Which leads me to tonight’s Mood Music. I briefly thought of going with the obvious “Voodoo Chile,” but I decided to have a bit more fun with Joel. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, I present the opening credits to The Six Million Dollar Man. I think it’s quite fitting.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure tired of all these west coast games. I went to bed right after the top of the fifth, and while I decided against having the game up on my computer this time (I found that I ended up paying too much attention to the game and therefore not sleeping), but I still had the player up, complete with the live updating scores, so I noticed that the Angels had pulled ahead in the bottom of the fifth before nodding off (although it happened so quickly I thought Bobby Abreu was the one who hit the home run). I wasn’t as surprised by the final score as I was the first two games. As far as the earthquake is concerned, well, I had always wondered how, with so many sports teams in southern California, there has never really been an earthquake during a televised game (there was the 1989 San Francisco quake, but I believe that happened BEFORE the game started, and the World Series broadcasters ended up kind of guiding the coverage themselves). We finally got one last night, but I totally wouldn’t have known it if Mario & Rod hadn’t said something. Still, it happened in the midst of one of the bases-loaded walks that Edwin Jackson gave up, so you could at least make a reasonable argument that it DID influence the game in some fashion, but I’m not going to. By the way, in case you’re wondering, around these parts, we get an earthquake about once every 15 years or so, and only at about, like, 3 or 4 on the Richter scale (I think the last one we got was when I was in high school, and I didn’t even feel it). I can’t really comment on the errors (though it’s a shame that Cabrera made one, cuz he made a really nice play early in the game), or on Eddie Bonine cuz that all happened once I fell asleep, other than to ask: What else do you expect on the west coast?

Apparently the offense fell asleep before I did last night. Could it be we got ourselves our first Reyes Effect of the season? I suppose the jury’s still out until Matt Palmer has another start, but given the fact that he hasn’t been successful at the big league level and his Triple A ERA was around 11, the evidence is kinda pointing that way (He DID apparently lead the PCL in strikeouts last year, however). The Tigers got a lot of hits and two runs off him early, and then a whole lot of nothing until he finally ran out of steam, but their bullpen stopped the bleeding. Seems kind of a shame to snap the “eight-hits-in-every-game” streak in this type of game, though.

I may turn out to be wrong about this, but I’m starting to sense a pattern, and it relates to playing surface. The Tigers did not play well (pitching or defense) in Toronto (artificial surface). They played very well at Comerica Park and at Safeco Field (both natural grass). They then played badly at Angel Stadium (natural grass that is so short and hard that it plays like Astroturf). So far, the small sample size is suggesting that there are some issues with artificial surface, which is a bit of a concern when you think of all those games the Tigers have yet to play at the Metrodome this year (not to mention one series at Tropicana Field). I suppose this observation will be truly tested this weekend, as they will go back to playing on (normal) natural grass.

Well, it is time to leave the west coast and (hopefully) its weirdness behind. It’s time for the first trip into Kansas City, who are part of a three-way tie with the Tigers and White Sox for first place in the division right now (the last three days were also odd in that either all three teams won or all three teams lost on a given night). Obviously, one way or another, that won’t be the case on Sunday. The Royals have gotten some very good pitching from their starters and their closer. Zack Greinke’s been on a roll recently (I guess that’s an understatement), but he has to give up a run sometime and it might as well be now. That’s probably what Rick Porcello is hoping. Kansas City’s offense has not been particularly strong, so if you can get an early lead, you’ve got at least a reasonable shot at having it stick. I know Mike Jacobs is by far their biggest home run threat. There are also a couple of guys in their bullpen that have had some struggles. Kyle Farnsworth in particular seems to have picked up right where he left off last season in terms of giving up home runs. This’ll also be our first chance to see the newly re-vamped Kaufman Stadium, which I’ve heard looks almost completely different now. And hey, I might actually get to watch the whole game for a change. It’s on at a reasonable time and I don’t have to get up until 8 AM tomorrow (By the way, I probably won’t get tomorrow’s game post up until sometime in the early evening). A lot was said about how the Tigers might have some sleep-deprivation sluggishness tonight (except for Porcello, who was sent on ahead of the rest of the team), given that they weren’t expected to arrive in KC until 5 AM Central Time. The thought crossed my mind this morning that they were arriving just as I was waking up (6 AM Eastern Time). There’s something ironic about that. By the way, Joel Zumaya is expected to return sometime during this series (and there’s something ironic about THAT, too), but probably not tonight, by all accounts. If/when they do activate him, I’m hoping I get plenty of advance notice, cuz I have a good (albeit cheesy) idea for the Mood Music for that game.

The fact that MLB.tv currently thinks I reside somewhere in western Illinois means that I can watch Mario & Rod over the computer without being blacked out (for the time being). Since I have a computer in my room, I set it up with the intention of falling asleep at some point during the game. I ended up switching to Gameday Audio just so that I could be sure the (somewhat unreliable) wireless Internet connection hadn’t “blinked.” I’ve fallen asleep with games on the computer before, but never Tigers games so it was a bit harder than I thought it would be. Still, I must’ve drifted off sometime during the fourth inning, cuz I remember the Tigers going down in order during the top half, but I don’t recall anything about the bottom half. At any rate, with the way things were going and the sheer number of baserunners that both teams had, I was a bit surprised to wake up this morning and see that the score only ended up being 4-3. But given some of the eggs the Tigers have laid at Angel Stadium in recent years, it’s not a bad score. Now, I didn’t exactly “live through it,” so to speak, which means the only things I have to draw on are the beginning of the game, Gameday, box scores, some news articles, and the radio postgame show (which I listened to this morning), so bear with me, and if I’m totally off on something, let me know. As far as how Galarraga did…well, I guess you can’t have your “A” game every time out, but I imagine it must be absolutely terrifying to take the mound and realize that none of your pitches are working. Still, give him credit for battling for five innings (though a lot of the outs were hit hard) when it looked like he’d get knocked out in the second or third. Given the fact that he struck out the side in the fifth, it looks as though he finally got something to work, but by then he had thrown too many pitches to continue. I’m not gonna gripe about or question the use of Brandon Lyon in this game, because as someone who was signed as a possible closer (and someone who is a strike-thrower and has a track record of being a good setup man), he should be able to handle those sorts of situations, and if he’s faltering, then either there’s a mechanical problem or an injury of some sort.

It was nice to see the home run power come back. Curtis Granderson now officially owns Jered Weaver (4 home runs in 13 at-bats…not too shabby). However, it looks as though once I fell asleep, Weaver made an adjustment, hung around for seven innings, and the Tigers weren’t able to get into the part of the Angels’ bullpen that had been struggling. However, they just about manufactured their way to at least a tie, but the ninth inning demonstrates that there’s sometimes a price to pay for being aggressive on the bases, as exemplified by Josh Anderson getting picked off (them’s the breaks when you’re dealing with a left-handed closer). I’ve heard from blogs and from the radio that the home plate umpire made several crappy calls (apparently, Mike Scoscia thought so too when he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes), and the called third strike on Santiago was one of them, but as I didn’t see it, I can’t comment on it.

By the way, with the injury to Marcus Thames, Ryan Raburn has been called up from Toledo. Also, last night Joel Zumaya made a rehab appearance with the Mud Hens and retired all three batters he faced, which is impressive when you consider that every other Toledo pitcher (including Fu Te Ni and Scott Williamson) was absolutely bombed by the Indianapolis hitters (what started as a blowout ended up with Indianapolis edging out Toledo in a 13-10 slugfest as the Mud Hens made things more interesting late in the game with a grand slam from Mike Hessman and a three-run homer from Dusty Ryan, among others).

We’re set for game 2 tonight, and given what we’ve seen from Justin Verlander stuff-wise, he’s bound to get a win one of these nights. I believe the Angels and Blue Jays are the only two AL teams that he’s never defeated (which is surprising when you consider his struggles against the Indians and White Sox). He’ll be up against lefty Joe Saunders, who had a nice year last year and seems to be off to a good start this year. It’s a shame Marcus Thames ended up on the DL, because I still remember a game last year in which he hit two home runs off of Joe Saunders. Your Mood Music for tonight: I kind of wanted to save this for ‘80s Night, and we’re definitely not in dire straights right now despite the loss, but Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For a Hero” came up on my iPod this morning, and considering it’s Verlander pitching tonight, well, we’re all hoping he can ride to the rescue (so to speak) and right the ship before there is any cause for alarm. By the way, I’d never seen the music video for this song before looking it up on YouTube, and I must say it is bizarre, not to mention cheesy. When I hear this song, for some reason I think of motorcycles and some sort of post-apocalyptic city setting, not cowboys, a fluorescent Indiana Jones, and the Grand Canyon.