The Spot Starters

Another Wild One

Last night was yet another example of how frustrating this game can be. I was more than happy to see a soft throwing south paw on the hill for KC, something we seem to feast on.  Call me crazy I just assumed we would go out there and knock Bruce Chen out of the game quickly. I mean really, who is Bruce Chen? After Miguel Cabrera clubbed his bottom of the first solo shot off of Chen I thought perhaps it was on. Thames struck out though and JV was in for his worst inning of the night.  With two on and two outs and a two two count interference was called so Callaspo was awarded first base. That b/s call loaded the bases for David DeJesus who obviously was in the mood to anger me and all of Detroit as he cleared the bases with a double. I’m not sure how or why one swing of the bat can deflate a person so much but it sure did. Our inability to score runs lately combined with our ability to make mediocre pitching look Cy Young worthy had me concerned. Justin Verlanders pitch count was now near 220 (alright a tiny bit of sarcasm but it was very high and things were looking bad) in just the second and I had a BAD feeling. Placido Polanco then responded by hitting a two run shot to tie it up in the third, JV found his groove and in the fifth inning they decided that holiday vacation was over. With two outs four runs were scored, that in itself made my night. As it seems its nearly impossible for us to drive in a run with less than two outs with a runner on third most of the time. JV came back out in the sixth and was knocking on the door of 100 pitches and gave up a lead off home run and followed it with a single of an Inge error. Then Verlander decided to let us all get a little more worried as he gave another single up to Guillen before he retired the next three in order. Polanco drove an insurance run and the bullpen also decided to return to work and close out the game. The 8-5 win was critical as we were 3-7 in our last 10. Minnesota lost and Chicago..well they didn’t quite get the memo to lose i guess.

THE GOOD:

PLACIDO POLANCO went 3-for-5 with a double and homer and four RBI, he raised his average from .256 to .262 with the night. While I will be the first to admit that we are struggling much in part to underachievers like him this season, you just know he will turn it up sooner or later. You just hope that this continues as Poly is a critical piece to the success of our lineup.

MARCUS THAMES hit his third home run in four games last night. In those four games Thames is 5-16 3HR 6RBI and 4R. We all know that his power comes in bunches but that he is very streaky. Lets hope that this streak is a long one!

JUSTIN VERLANDER recorded his 9th win last night. His 11ks last night have him leading the AL with 141 strikeouts. He is tied with Tim Lincecum for the overall lead in all of baseball. While he did scatter 7 hits last night, he was able to limit much of the damage much in part to his 0 walks. An area that is much improved this year.

THE BAD

Although i hate to be so negative about something so positive, CARLOS GUILLEN will be returning as soon as later this month.  I am a big Guillen fan, but fear that Mr. Glass will again be injured and that Guillens return will stop all chatter of acquiring a much needed left handed bat. I really hope for the best but history gives me a bad feeling here.

THE UGLY

In today’s rubber match we face of against Zack Greinke (10-4 2.00ERA 120ks 1.05WHIP). Everything about his stats are sick and this game will be a difficult one. He is not unbeatable obviously but Mr. French will have to bring his A-Game though as runs will be at a premium.