Interleague Play Begins

Although the Detroit/Colorado "rivalry" doesn't quite have the sizzle it did in the 90s when the Red Wings and Avalanche were consistently at each others' throats, the Tigers and Rockies managed to put a pretty entertaining game together and - best of all - the Tigers got the win. Porcello had another very strong outing (6.0 IP 1 ER 6 H 2 BB 3 K) to win his fourth consecutive game. Leyland referred to him as "Nolan frickin Ryan" - high praise indeed for a 20 year old. The Nolan Ryan comparisons might be a tad bit hasty, but the fact remains that Porcello has been outstanding in May, going 3-0 and allowing only 3 runs in 3 starts. The future looks very, very bright for the young hurler.

Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez also put forth a strong outing - 7.0 IP 3 ER 6 H 1 BB 7 K. Gerald Laird scored one of the runs with a very heads-up play by scoring from third on a wild pitch that did not get far away from the catcher at all. The other two runs were courtesy of a two run blast from Binge who continues to boggle my mind both by batting .279 and leading the team in home runs (12). I keep telling myself that Binge has to cool off eventually, but we're now 40 games into the season so it's not as though he's just pulling a 2006 Chris Shelton impression. Maaaybe this is legit?

The second game of the series pits Armando Galarraga against Jason Marquis, formely of the Cubbies. Galarraga has been brutal since his great start (last 4 games: 0-3 10.90 ERA 9:12 K:BB) and is very close to losing his spot in the rotation. Not many expected Armando to repeat his impressive performance from last year, but he certainly was not expected to be this bad. I hope he can find some way to right the ship because it would be very unfortunate for him to fall from grace in this manner. His struggles have been somewhat masked because almost everyone is talking about the D-Train's last start when he threw 6.1 innings of one hit, no run ball last Tuesday (5/19) to get his first win as a Tiger. This is way too early to say since it was only one good start (and he was very shaky in his first outing), but I'll do it anyway obviously... how amazing would it be for the Tigers if Willis returned to anywhere near his 2005 form? The Tigers already have one of the best performing rotations in baseball so far this season (fourth in the AL in team ERA @ 4.17) and to go from possibly being forced to cut a guy you owe $22 million to having a legit starting pitcher would be stunning. Keep the train rolling Dontrelle.

A Tale of Two Double Plays

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Actually for the Tigers this year it has, for the most part, been only the best of times. Everything just seems to be rolling the Tigers' way as they have now opened up a 3 game lead atop the AL Central. Minus the Royals, the rest of the Central seems to be collapsing as we approach a quarter of the way through the season. The Twins have lost 6 of the last 7, including a 4-game sweep at the hands of the rejuvenated Yankees. The ChiSox have only won 3 games so far in the month of May, endured a 20-1 shellacking last night and their infield minus Konerko has combined to hit a robust .222 - thanks Alexei Ramirez, Chris Getz and Josh Fields! And the Indians? Well, they're just terrible. It's like watching the guys from Major League prior to when they decided to become plucky and lovable by slowly undressing a cardboard cutout of Rachel Phelps. The real world 2009 Cleveland team could really, really use a montage right about now. It's still early in the year, but I like Detroit's chances to win the Central - and they'll need to to make the playoffs since the wild card will almost assuredly be coming from the East this year.

Although resurrected-from-the-dead starter Edwin Jackson needed a staggering 132 pitches to do it, the Tigers completed their sweep and season-long dominance of the Rangers on Thursday. Count me among the Tigers fanbase watching the game pulling their hair out and yelling at the TV for Leyland to give Jackson the hook in the 8th after he walked the first batter of the inning... and then after he gave up a towering, near-homer double to Hammerin' Hank Blalock... and then after Cruz blasted a two run double to tie the game... and then after he walked the pathetically floundering Chris Davis (currently in the midst of an 0/16 slump)... but Leyland made it work and his faith in Jackson paid off after Miggy hit a bloop single to center to score what ended up being the game winning run. To be fair, Jackson was still throwing very hard in the 8th (he reached 97 several times) but he was clearly laboring and I can't help but feel that Leyland's over zealousness to show faith in his pitching staff is going to bite the team in the ass eventually. But we won, so who's complaining?

The real story beyond Jackson's somewhat-shaky, but decent outing (8.0 IP 3 ER 7 H 5 BB 7 K) was two key double plays in the game and the overall much-improved defense the Tigers are displaying this year, however. In the second inning Clete Thomas caught a ball in medium-depth right field and then gunned the runner at home for the outfield assist and inning ending double play to save a run. Then in the top of the 9th with the Tigers leading 3-2, Rodney got himself into trouble with runners on first and third with one out, but got the incredibly underrated Michael Young to ground into a game-ending double play. Rodney is now a perfect 8 for 8 in save chances so far this year. Rodney tends to dick around when he is not pitching in a save opportunity, but he certainly brings the intensity when he needs to.

Much of the success of the pitching staff this year can be attributed to the improved defense across the board. Inge has been positively electric at third (and just hit his team-leading 12th dong of the year), Miggy has done a much better job at first this year and the Everett/Santiago timeshare at short has been gobbling up ground balls.

In fact, the only real negatives this season have been Armando's regression after a hot start (it's rumored that when Bonderman returns that Galarraga and not D-Train would be the odd man out in the rotation, barring a great start on Saturday) and Magglio showing his age (.256 2 HR 17 RBI). Miggy has fallen 7 HR off the AL-leading pace (15, Carlos Pena) but when a guy's hitting .381 that's "probably" just quibbling.

95.0

Since 1980, the Lions have drafted 12 quarterbacks (Stafford is 13). The highest QB rating any of them has had with the Lions is 95.0. Unfortunately, this QB is Drew Stanton, who has played a total of three games with the Lions. The other QBs and their stats with the Lions:

1980 - Eric Hipple (Utah State) 102 games - 68.7
1982 - Mike Machurek (Idaho State) 4 games - 8.3
1984 - John Witkowski (Columbia) 5 games - 58.0
1986 - Chuck Long (Iowa) 23 games - 64.8
1988 - Danny McCoin (Cincinnati) 0 games
1989 - Rodney Peete (USC) 47 games - 72.9
1990 - Andre Ware (Houston) 14 games - 63.5
1998 - Charlie Batch (Eastern Michigan) 48 games - 76.9
2001 - Mike McMahon (Rutgers) 20 games - 55.0
2002 - Joey Harrington (Oregon) 58 games - 68.1
2005 - Dan Orlovsky (Connecticut) 12 games - 71.3
2007 - Drew Stanton (Michigan State) 3 games - 95.0

What do all these quarterbacks have in common? A few have had decent NFL careers. None have been the answer for the Lions at quarterback. I have not researched other teams draft picks since 1980 (that would be a lot of work), but I doubt few, if any, teams have come anywhere near this level of futility over the past 30 years. So excuse me if I don't have high hopes for Stafford. Tamales.