Leyland, Maroth and Jones

In what was described by Jim Leyland as a lackluster performance, the Tigers got routed by the Cleveland Indians 10-2 today. One of the few highlights of the day was Chris Shelton's 9th homerun of the year. Other than that, there was not much to cheer about as they had only 4 hits, and Nate Robertson gave up 7 runs in 2+ innings in the team's poorest performance of the year so far.

Leyland was not happy. In a very brief post game report to the press, he repeatedly said "we stunk" and that they were not prepared for the game. He went on to say that this type of thing has been happening in Detroit for a long time and he wasn't going to let it happen to the team this year. Prior to the meeting with the media, he did a lot of ranting inside the clubhouse.

It will be interesting to hear more views of reporters who were there but Danny Knobler, for one, did not think that Leyland's actions were a big deal. He felt it was consistent the manager's philosophy of making sure that the team was prepared to play 162 games a year. He didn't think that any particular event or any one player caused Leyland's anger.

Whether or not the player's respond to his words remains to be seen. From a fan's standpoint, it was good to hear but it's not easy to motivate a squad with a good number of high paid veteran players. Personally, I'm hoping Leyland's displeasure leads him to shuffle the batting order. Specifically, I'd like to see Shelton and Carlos Guillen moved up in the order.

Maroth Update

In more positive news, Mike Maroth said that his elbow felt a lot better after this start than it did after his previous outing:

"Surprisingly, pretty good," Maroth said. "I didn't think I'd feel as good as I did. I was hoping for improvement over the day after my [last] start. I could barely throw the ball at that point. I was just hoping to at least play catch, but it actually felt better than that. Huge improvement."

He also said that he is confident that he will be able to make his next start on Friday. There is still reason to be concerned about his elbow but today's report sounds more positive than last week's news.

Todd Jones Update

The Detroit News reported today that Todd Jones may be able to come off the disabled list this Friday:

Jones said he'll pitch in simulated game conditions Tuesday and Wednesday in Oakland -- "and try to be ready for something to happen Friday.

"I'll tell you this, though, I'm not going to pitch until I don't have to think about my leg. I'm not going out there until I'm ready. I'm trying to get back as quickly as I can without it being weak enough to where if I pop it again, I'll tear it.

I'm not anxious to see Jones comeback to take the closer role from Fernando Rodney but I do want him back to add depth to the bullpen.