Tigers Win
By Blake VandeBunte • Apr 26th, 2008 • Category: 2008 season, Armando Galarraga, Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordonez, Placido PolancoThis Tigers-Angels series has been a dandy so far. The Tigers played pretty well on Friday night, the Angles were just better. This afternoon the Tigers were just better than the Angels.
Detroit got a great start, again, out of Armando Galarraga as he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before giving up a Vladimir Guerrero triple in the sixth. The Angels finally got to Galarraga in the seventh inning and he was pulled in favor of Aquilino Lopez. Galarraga ended up getting a no-decision but that really doesn’t take away from his performance today. He had the Angels hitters off balance all day and when they did put the bat on the ball it was usually one of his sinkers that was hit right to a Tiger infielder for an out. Galarraga is 2-0 on the season with an ERA of 1.50 in his three starts. No way the Tigers thought he’d be this good.
The offense got things going again today and put enough up on the board to get the win. The TIgers got a run in the first on a Magglio RBI double. Placido Polanco also played well. He appears to be getting his swing back at least a little bit. Placido took a walk and got two singles. He hit a two RBI single to the opposite field (sound familiar?) late in the game to help the Tigers pick up the win. If he can et it going again the Tigers will be very dangerous.
Today I also noticed again why Curtis Granderson is so valuable to the Tigers. After Inge got out to start the bottom of the seventh, Granderson hit one of his gap shots and hustled to third with a one out triple. For most batters in the league this would have been a double. Nothing wrong with a double, but a triple is obviously much better. Almost as importantly, fans love triples. Granderson’s triple in the 7th came after the Angels rallied to tie the score, the crowd needed a reason to get excited. Granderson’s triple did the obvious by getting a runner in scoring position, but it also got the crowd excited again. That’s why Granderson is so great. Good to have him back.
The Tigers and Angels will wrap up their series tomorrow night in Detroit on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Game time is 8:05pm. Justin Verlander will look to pick up his second win of the year against Jered Weaver of the Angels.
Blake VandeBunte is a posting fiend.
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Granderson is the most important person on this team. Also, they need to put Rogers in the bullpen and keep Galarraga in the rotation when the D-railed train comes back.
totally agree. galarraga needs to stay in the rotation when willis gets healthy and rogers just hasn’t proved himself yet. i would say robertson…but he did pitch well on friday.
It seems to me that the Tigers always have someone on base. I think robertson is going to break out of his funk. Other than one inning, he pitched about as well as I have ever seen him. He only threw 89 pitches in 7 innings.
Could we just leave Galarraga in the rotation and have The Gambler leave the table?
I don’t think they can send Galarraga back down to the minors now. He has had three very solid starts which is more than you can say about anyone else in the rotation.
I don’t know who that bumps out though. I could see them leaving Dontrelle in the minors for a bit as he comes back from his injury.