Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Tigers Win a Road Series

After losing 10 consecutive road series, the Tigers have finally won one by taking the first two games from the west division leading Angels. As Billfer points out, it was was worth staying up late last night to watch it happen. Here are some of my thoughts on the game and the Tigers in general:

Jarrod Washburn pitched over his head for the Mariners this year and pitched below his ability in his first few games for the Tigers. Last night, he pitched the way you would expect him to pitch most games. He was shaky but got through three innings allowing six runs.

That bases loaded wild pitch by Zach Miner which turned into an out was so well executed that it almost seemed like he and Alex Avila did it on purpose. Still, he didn't pitch well and I'm not sure why Jim Leyland has decided why he should be pitching in high leverage situations so much.

Clete Thomas made a great leaping catch in the eight inning which wasn't quite a game saver but saved them a lot of trouble. He is now being used as a daily defensive replacement for Magglio Ordonez and it paid off last night.

Miguel Cabrera now has 6 hits, 5 extra base hits and 7 RBI for the series. Since the all-star break, he is batting .397 with a 1.127 OPS. The hot streak has raised his season numbers close to MVP territory. He is 4th in batting (.343), 3rd in OBP (.408), 2nd in SLG (.579) and 3rd in OPS (.988). The MVP favorite at the moment is probably Joe Mauer but Cabrera is closing fast.

Magglio Ordonez is quieting all the vesting option discussions by batting .361/.429/.590 in his last 19 games.

Aubrey Huff, on the other hand, is batting .211 with a .577 OPS since the all-star break.

I actually feel very confident when Fernando Rodney enters a game now.

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