Tigers Split Quick Series with Angels

In a quick two game series that started late last night and ended early this evening, the Tigers came away with a split with the Angels. It was 7-3 when I went to bed last night and I woke up to the news that they had won 9-5. Today, I listened to bits and pieces before and after work and heard a wild 9-8 loss in 10 innings. Here are the highlights:

Monday Night

Jered Weaver had nothing and the Tigers took advantage jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the 2nd inning.

Mike Maroth had problems with his control and couldn't last the 5 innings required for a victory. He allowed 7 hits and 5 walks in 4 2/3 innings. With his mediocre stuff, he is very ineffective when he can't get the ball over the plate.

Curtis Granderson continued to do a little bit of everything collecting a single, a double and a home run to go with a stolen base and an outfield assist.

Gary Sheffield looked a little better at the plate and was 2 for 4 with a walk and no strike outs. Magglio Ordonez had 3 hits and Carlos Guillen and Pudge Rodriguez added 2 apiece.

Tuesday Afternoon

They fell behind 7-0 early. Bonderman was hit hard (11 hits in 6 innings) and was also the victim of poor defense including errors on consecutive plays by Carlos Guillen in the 1st inning. He did have 8 strikeouts against 1 walk to give him a very impressive 29/4 ratio in 34 innings this year.

They had a very exciting comeback capped by a 2 run homer by Magglio Ordonez off of Francisco Rodriguez in the 9th. The home run gave them an 8-7 lead.

Todd Jones lost the lead in the 9th inning for his 2nd blown save of the year. It did not sound as if he got much support as Ordonez apparently misplayed a fly ball and Vladimir Guerrero ended up with a double. Then Pudge Rodriguez let a pitch get by him for the tying run. Jones lost the game in the 9th thanks, in part, to his own error on a ball which he should have let go foul.

Fernando Rodney was very sharp today pitching 2 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts. They really need him to get going so that was a good sign.

Ordonez had his 2nd 3 hit game in a row. Granderson had his 4th home run of the season and his 2nd in 2 nights.

Quick Analysis

In their first 20 games, they have already played 11 one run games and are 6-5 in those games. They are 2-5 in extra inning games.

Without looking at any fielding stats, they have been very sloppy over the past week or so. This team was very dependent on fielding last year and this year they might be even more so. With an injured Kenny Rogers and a struggling bullpen, they really can't afford to be making so many errors and other fielding miscues.