Tigers Go 6-3 Out West

The Tigers had a sloppy finish to a long western trip losing 4-0 today to the Los Angeles Angels. They managed just two hits against John Lackey and Scot Shields. After one of the hits, Magglio Ordonez was thrown out by Vladimir Guerrero rounding first base. Defensively, both Carlos Guillen and brandon Inge made errors. Maroth was not terrible but he have up 4 runs and nine hits in 6 innings for his worst start of the year so far. It's likely they were tired after playing 14 games in 14 days

Although it was a bad day for the Tigers today, they can hold their heads high after going 6-3 on a western swing. They took 2 of 3 from the Oakland Athletics, swept the Seattle Mariners in 3 games, and took 1 of 3 from the Angels. Here is a brief re-cap of the trip:

• They outscored their opponents 33-25 and did not give up more than 4 runs in any game.
  

• Their whole starting staff was superb: A 2.69 ERA in 60 1/3 inning pitched allowing just 39 hits and 21 walks.
  

• The bullpen continued to shine and is now a perfect 7 for 7 in save opportunities for the season.
  

• Offensively they struggled batting just .240/.319/.341 with 20 extra base hits in the 9 games.
  

• Magglio Ordonez heated up a little bit hitting .342 with 4 doubles and a home run. Getting him back anywhere close to his old productivity would be a huge boost.
  

• Curtis Granderson batted .290 with 7 walks for a .421 OBP. Curtis just may be the best all around player on the team right now.
  

• On the negative side, Chris Shelton fell back to earth batting just .138 with no extra base hits.
  

• The designated hitter trio of Alexis Gomez, Marcus Thames and Omar Infante batted .121 which actually made me long for Dmitri Young's return which should be soon - possibly this weekend.
  

• The 13-9 Tigers are now two games off the pace of 1993 team after the same number of games. The 1993 team was 15-7 and in first place after 22 games.