Unfortunately, it was all for naught.

Doug Fister wasn’t at his sharpest, but he did a pretty good job through the first four innings. However, things unraveled for him in the fifth. Geovany Soto (who the Tigers had a tough time getting out through the series, for some reason) led off with a double, and a Craig Gentry single put runners at first and third. One out later, Gentry stole second, which is unusual because Fister never gives up stolen bases. Elvis Andrus grounded out to short, scoring the run from third, but after that, it was like the Rangers wore down Fister very quickly. He walked David Murphy and then gave up an RBI single to Lance Berkman, and it just seemed like he was laboring with every pitch. And then he got unlucky. Adrian Beltre hit a pop-up double in precisely the spot that no one could get to, though it did glance off Jhonny Peralta’s glove. Nelson Cruz followed that up with an infield single (and lack of infield range really had nothing to do with that, because Peralta did get to it, but it was too deep in the hole for him to be able to do anything with it). That ended Fister’s night.

Darin Downs only faced one batter, got him out, and the Tigers took the lead in the top half of the sixth inning. They decided to bring Jose Ortega in for the bottom of the sixth, and this is where things fell apart again. He gave up a leadoff single to Soto, but then got the next two outs (though there was a stolen base mixed in) and looked like he might pitch around it, but then walked Elvis Andrus and gave up a three-run homer to David Murphy, who is always good for at least one home run in a series against the Tigers and I don’t believe he’d hit one yet in this series. After that, it was a parade of baserunners for Ortega, who ultimately allowed one more run before finally getting bailed out by Andy Dirks, who made a nice catch in deep center field for the third out, crashing into the wall in the process. I hate to say it, but that inning is pretty much what I saw from Ortega a lot over the past two years, both in Toledo and in winter ball. He throws hard but he hasn’t really been able to do anything with that. The fact that he’d been putting up zeros in Toledo was kind of mystifying to me. However, it seemed to me like his velocity was down. He’s normally around 97-98 MPH, but I don’t think I saw a pitch above 95 in this outing (granted, the gun in Texas has a reputation for being a little slow, but then again, so does the gun in Toledo). Phil Coke came on for the seventh inning and was more let down by the defense than by anything he did. Leonys Martin hit a double on a ball that Matt Tuiasosopo tried to dive for, couldn’t catch, and had to chase down. Leury Garcia tried to bunt, but Miguel Cabrera wasn’t covering third base when Coke tried to get the lead runner, and so everyone was safe (Now, I realize that Cabrera should have been covering the bag, but my question is why neither Coke nor Peña ever noticed that he wasn’t). Andrus hit a ground ball to shortstop that probably should have been a double play, but Peralta elected to simply get the out at first (I did see him look towards second, but for whatever reason, he decided not to throw there). David Murphy then hit a sacrifice fly and Tuiasosopo airmailed the cutoff man, which allowed Garcia to get the third, but an ensuing single by Berkman pretty much made that mental lapse moot, because Garcia probably would have scored from second on that single anyways. Evan Reed did calm the storm a little bit by pitching a scoreless 1.1 innings, but it was too little, too late. Reed was optioned to Toledo after the game and Luke Putkonen was called back up. Putkonen still kind of puzzles me, but given Dave Dombrowski’s overwhelming enthusiasm for him, this move isn’t all that surprising.

The Tigers are off tomorrow and then begin a two-game set in Cleveland. Max Scherzer takes on Corey Kluber.

The Rangers will start lefty Derek Holland, the pride of Newark, Ohio (I only mention that because I went to college in Granville, which is right outside Newark, so I have some familiarity with the area). He’s pitched well for them so far this season, although his last start was not quite as stellar. He gave up four runs to the A’s in 5.2 innings. He’s only made two starts against the Tigers in his career and doesn’t have a decision, but his ERA is 1.54. Most of the Tigers don’t have a lot of history against him, with the exception of Torii Hunter, who saw him plenty while he was with the Angels. And he’s done pretty well, 10-for-34 with two home runs. Cabrera, Peralta, Martinez, and Peña have also all homered against him in the past (Cabrera’s only hitting .222 against him overall; the others are all at .333 or better, though).

Lineups after the jump.

Tigers (D. Fister – R)

1. Omar Infante (R) 2B
2. Torii Hunter (R) RF
3. Miguel Cabrera (R) 3B
4. Prince Fielder (L) 1B
5. Victor Martinez (S) DH
6. Matt Tuiasosopo (R) LF
7. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
8. Brayan Pena (S) C
9. Avisail Garcia (R) CF

Rangers (D. Holland – L)

1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS
2. David Murphy (L) LF
3. Lance Berkman (S) DH
4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B
5. Nelson Cruz (R) RF
6. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
7. Geovany Soto (R) C
8. Craig Gentry (R) CF
9. Leury Garcia (S) 2B

“You go to the dugout and think about what you’ve done!”

In a ballpark that often boosts offense and plays to the longball, the Tigers managed only two runs off Texas’ Justin Grimm. Grimm picked up the win with two runs, seven hits, one walk and two Ks over 6.2 IP. A trio of Texas relievers shut the Tigers down after Grimm departed; Michael Kirkman, Tanner Scheppers and familiar foe Joe Nathan combined for a flawless 2.1 IP of relief.

After Sanchez was pulled, Drew Smyly and Phil Coke combined for 5.1 IP, and allowed just 1 run, 4 hit, 2 walk, as they racked up 4 Ks. Smyly was a little wild at times, but lasted 3.1 IP and gave up only the single run, and Coke was strong in his 2 scoreless innings. Smyly and Coke saved the bullpen for the final game of the series and, if these previous three games were any indication, the Tigers might need all hands on deck.

Alex Avila had a rough game as well, as he contributed a throwing error and a passed ball that accounted for the unearned run in the first inning. He also struggled at the plate, as he went hitless and left two on base. Avila is anything but a fluke, but he’s certainly struggling right now.

The Tigers’ loss on Saturday, coupled with Cleveland’s win—following a Chris Perez meltdown, no less—leaves the team one game out of first place.

Andy Dirks, LF
Torii Hunter, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
Alex Avila, C
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Omar Infante, 2B
Avisail Garcia, CF

P: Anibal Sanchez

RANGERS

Elvis Andrus, SS
David Murphy, LF
Lance Berkman, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Nelson Cruz, RF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Robinson Chirinos, C
Leonys Martin, CF
Leury Garcia, 2B

P: Justin Grimm

Porcello hands the ball over.

Porcello, who was coming off four straight quality starts, fell an out short of a fifth straight QS, but he was good enough and the Tigers’ more than capable bullpen helped shut the mighty Rangers’ offense down.

The Rangers didn’t fare any better once Porcello left the game, as José Ortega, Drew Smyly, Joaquín Benoit, and José Valverde threw 3.1 IP of shutout relief, allowing only three hits and one walk, while managing two strikeouts.

Valverde came on in the ninth inning and gave up a walk, but handled the Texas offense relatively effortlessly.

Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila knocked in the Tigers’ two runs, Avila’s coming on a bases loaded sac fly. The Tigers failed to score more than just the two runs in the fifth and it seemed like it might come back to haunt the team, but it was not to be as the bullpen proved strong.

Porcello, who is averaging about 3mph more on his four-seamer this year than he did in 2012, averaged 92.98mph and topped out at 94.65mph with the four-seamer while he averaged 91.81mph with his two-seamer and topped out at 93.92mph. This is in line with what Porcello has been averaging, velocity-wise, so far in 2013. Porcello also brought back his slider tonight, and mixed in the changeup and the curve. Porcello was able to throw all his pitches for strikes.

The other notable pitching performance came from Valverde, who threw fifteen pitches, thirteen of which were mid-90s sinkers. The pitches don’t come up on Pitch/FX as sinkers, but Valverde told Matthew B. Mowery of the Oakland Press that’s what he was throwing here.

The Tigers send Anibal Sanchez to the mound tomorrow against Justin Grimm at 8:05pm.

If you’re an emotional fan (like me), you may have gone more than half-mental after last night’s game. If you’re a pitching machine like Justin Verlander however, you’re not the least bit worried. He threw 99 so he’s not likely hurt and he said he’ll fix it – I’m inclined to believe him. It’s a long year, JV will be just fine.

The weather at game time tonight in Arlington will be a sweaty 88 degrees and we hope the sun continues to shine on the Rick Porcello we’ve seen pitch relatively well over his last two  (3.46 ERA). Rangers starter, rookie Nick Tepesch recently gave up 5 runs in 4 innings to the Cubs, which is nice. But he’s tough against righties this year with opponents batting .186. Lefties hit .316 against Tepesch, thus the lineup mix you’ll see below.

Signs point to an entertaining game with hopes for Tigers fans that Andy Dirks pulls out the country lumber again in the leadoff spot and continues his hot hitting (.341, .400, .659 over the past 14).

It’s been a rough two game stretch. Here’s the lineup that will turn things around. (Donnie, got any more sluggo juice in that Sunny D bottle?)

Tigers (R. Porcello – R)

From the outset, Verlander struggled again, coming off a shaky outing against Cleveland last Saturday. Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus led off the game with consecutive singles against him, and Kinsler scored on a groundout. Verlander was throwing plenty hard, but there was no shortage of balls hit straight up the middle – a rather concerning sign.

Darvish started off well enough, but he came undone a bit in the third inning, starting with an inexplicable home run into the right field seats by none other than temporary center fielder Don Kelly. Omar Infante and Andy Dirks singled after that, and a Torii Hunter sac fly gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Cabrera blasted a double to left that got Dirks to third, and, after an intentional walk to Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez made it 3-1 on a sac fly after a lengthy battle against Darvish. The Tigers had a 3-1 lead and Darvish’s pitch count was up over 60. If Verlander was himself, nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately Verlander was not himself at all. He gave up two straight singles to start the third inning, then hit Ian Kinsler with a curveball to load the bases with nobody out. Verlander then completely lost the plot, walking Andrus with the bases loaded. He struck out Lance Berkman to give himself a temporary reprieve, but blew that by forcing in another run by walking Adrian Beltre. He then struck out Nelson Cruz to give himself a chance at getting out of the inning tied, but then things really fell apart for Verlander: he hung an 0-2 slider to Mitch Moreland, who ripped it into the right field corner, scoring two runs. He then left a fastball up to light-hitting catcher Geovany Soto, who blasted a three run homer to make it 8-3.

The game was pretty much over then. Jhonny Peralta homered in the 4th to make it 8-4 and spark a few dreams of a comeback against Darvish, but the Rangers ace ended up going eight innings and an inexplicable 130 pitches, retiring 15 of the last 16 Tigers he faced, striking out six. He was not great, but he was good enough. The Rangers added a run on a Mitch Moreland double in the fifth and a Nelson Cruz homer in the seventh.

Verlander’s issues are easy to identify but tougher to fix. The stuff wasn’t the problem: he hit 99 on his fastball for the first time all season and was throwing hard all night. There was, however, no command to speak of, and Verlander paid dearly for it. He looked, at times, more like the pre-2009 version of himself that was inconsistent and got too amped up at times. The issues may be mechanical or mental, but they do not appear to be physical or injury-related.

That’s about it, and from a Tigers perspective, the less said about this one the better. Rick Porcello battles Nick Tepesch tomorrow night as the Tigers aim to even the series.

Tigers (J. Verlander – R)

Old but occasionally still funny jokes involving compromising pictures aside, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why Smokey continues allowing his boy Donnie to swing a bat. Especially in the 9th inning, in place of a man who is hitting .375 and was 3-3 with an RBI at the time. I do not give two craps about lefty / righty match-ups in cases like this. Sometimes you can outthink yourself. This was one of those times. Even in a game so irrevocably numbers driven, sometimes you need to just go with the hot hand – the guy who is passing the “look test”. I’m by no means a Leyland hater. I’m not even a Leyland disliker. My feelings for skip drift between surrendered indifference and possibly naive trust. I appreciate his candor and understated humor. He seems to be the ultimate guy’s guy and I think I would enjoy fixing something with him in the garage while sipping a few cold Bud Heavies and listening to Bob Seger. But the art of motor city fan maintenance is lost upon this man, and in his lineup changes, even his supporters occasionally have a hard time finding their “Zen”.

Aw, hell. Don’s got that “I know you know what I know” look in his eye. Gonna be a long night.

Which (long winded-ly) brings me to my topic. In your opinion (please support with both rational and irrational explanations) does James Richard Leyland serve our Tigers LEMONS or LEMONADE? (You’ll see this “Lemons & Lemonade” thing from me quite a bit. I’m sure you’ll understand the premise quickly enough.) In answering, try taking into account his entire body of work. Or, at the least, limit your cursing to one out of every two words.

Here’s some fruit for thought –

Leyland LEMONS: 

• A .463 winning percentage outside of his time with the Tigers (If you’re wondering why we should care about what he did before the Tigers, the point I’m making is that, despite his WS Crown with the Marlins in ‘97, he doesn’t have some amazing win/loss record that automatically raises him above criticism. That’s all.)
• A propensity to tinker with lineups and occasionally bat/pitch a guy who has “better numbers” against his opponent, even if the sample size is really small.
• He consistently trusts these men in delicate situations:

Would you trust this man with your breakables? I mean look at that shit-eatin’ grin. He’s so great.                                                             I’ve not given up on you yet, but you make me nervous, Potato.

• The aforementioned mysterious circumstances that have kept Don Kelly from washing dishes somewhere in Lakeland. (Yes, I know he’s better than single A. This is just for shits & giggles, guys.)
• The calm, casual, “world keeps spinnin’” demeanor that, to some, comes off as indifference. (More on this later.)
• A career .504 winning percentage. Haters could arguably say, “he’s average.”

Leyland LEMONADE:

Jimmy’s special lemonade stix.

• A .537 winning percentage with the Tigers, 2 pennants and 2 first place finishes (with a 3rd highly likely).
• Tinkering sometimes works. What I love about Leyland is that he’s truly only concerned with what he thinks is best for the situation and the team. (You’re freedom to disagree with him remaining.) He doesn’t let egos, salaries, media or running out of smokes get in the way of his decision. And he’s not afraid to shake things up if the status quo isn’t working.
• From what I can tell, he is unquestionably trusted and respected by his players and his organization. If you’re also a Pistons fan (I know, there’s like 2 of us left.), you understand the importance of this.
• Further, he trusts his guys. He trusts their stuff and lets them get in and out of situations. Yes, sometimes to a fault. But, being an athlete and pitcher (once upon a time), I know how empowering it can be for your manager/coach to trust you and let you do you.
• The calm, casual, “world keeps spinnin’” demeanor that, to many, is just what the doctor ordered. Let’s get real here – the media and we Tigers fans (myself included) are often pretty GD irrational. Calling for heads on our iPhones one moment and Googling parade routes the next. This bi-polar fandom brings all sorts of fun to sports and all sorts of head shaking in my car when I listen to 97.1. But I’ll take a manager who’s Kool as the other side of the cellophane any day over, for example, a hot-headed clown like this guy:

Don’t even get me started on this jabroni.

I’m sure there are plenty more points on each side of this juice stand but I’m going to leave it to you at this point. Because no one is fully right or fully wrong. At the end of the day, Jimmy’s here, his pinch hitting is sometimes queer and we’re all going to deal with it.

After a Face-Paw inducing loss to the lowly Astros…

(side note: there’s a dirty joke here somewhere revolving around how a series against the Astros should make things, you know, smoother for a team trying to, you know, get into a groove…or maybe “glide” into a win streak. Okay, I severely digress.)

…which included a substitution of Don (REALLY??) Kelly for an on-fire Tuiasosopo, Dirks for Avi (who crushed a ball for 3 runs in the 2nd) and the placing of a delicate situation, yet again, into the hands of Mr Coke — there’s a strong chance of bitter faces in the Lemon vs. Lemonading of our polarizing skipper.

That looks like the skipper’s nose, doesn’t it?                        Close enough for me.

So please, leave some comments. Speak your piece. It’s all gravy. It sucked losing to the Astros but tomorrow is another day.

Go Tigs.

-Sal

As it turned out, Carlos Corporan – the guy who did the bat flip on the single in last week’s series – was the man responsible for a lot of the damage. Corporan opened the scoring in the second with a long home run to right off Max Scherzer. (Indeed, the Astros had a lead in each game of this series.) The Astro lead did not last long, however, as the Tigers hit back in the bottom of the inning – again with two outs, a theme of the series. After a walk to Jhonny Peralta and a single to Matt Tuiasosopo, Brayan Pena singled in Peralta, followed by a landmark moment for Avisail Garcia – his first career homer, a three run shot, that broke the tie – and it was no cheapie either. With Scherzer on the mound against the Astros and a 4-1 lead, things looked good.

And they were fine until the fourth inning, when Scherzer suddenly couldn’t locate any offspeed pitches. Jake Elmore hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a balk, and scored on a Carlos Pena single. Scherzer then walked Chris Carter, bringing up J.D. Martinez – the guy who tormented Doug Fister yesterday – and Martinez connected on a terrible hanging changeup, launching it to the brick wall in left center to give the Astros a 5-4 lead. Scherzer settled down after that, but the fourth inning was a huge blemish on his line.

The Tigers fought back in the sixth, yet again with two outs. Victor Martinez reached on a fielding error by Marwin Gonzalez and Jhonny Peralta singled, setting things up for Tuiasosopo, who delivered a single through the hole on the left side, scoring Martinez and tying the game at five. Threats from both teams went unfulfilled – the Astros’ half of the 8th was a bit hairy until Al Alburquerque got Carter to strike out – but nobody broke through until the 9th. Alburquerque’s control disappeared again and he issued a leadoff walk to Martinez, and Jim Leyland had seen enough – apparently the Tigers coaching staff has so little faith in Alburquerque’s command that they preferred to bring in Phil Coke to turn around a switch hitter who actually hit better from the right side in Corporan. By Leyland’s own admission, he preferred Coke because the team needed strikes. Coke threw strikes, alright – his first pitch was whalloped into the gap by Corporan, scoring Martinez from first and giving the Astros a 6-5 lead. A Matt Dominguez sac fly scored Corporan and made it a 7-5 game going to the ninth.

Despite the fact that Tuiasosopo had three hits and three RBI, Leyland elected to play matchups – controversially – and sent Don Kelly up to pinch hit to lead off the bottom of the 9th against Jose Veras (predictably, he grounded out). Veras promptly walked two, the second with two out, before hitting Torii Hunter on the wrist with an 0-2 pitch, loading the bases for Miguel Cabrera and setting up a grandstand finish. Cabrera hit one 400 feet – to triples alley in right center, where fly balls go to die. Brandon Barnes made the catch up against the out-of-town scoreboard. A few feet higher and Cabrera would have had a bases-clearing walkoff double. Higher still and he would have delivered a walkoff grand slam, but it was not meant to be and the Astros avoided the sweep.

The Tigers board a plane to Dallas-Fort Worth for a four game series at Texas, with Justin Verlander and Yu Darvish facing off in the series opener tomorrow night.

gif after the jump

Avisail Garcia took a 2-0 Dallas Keuchel pitch into the left-field bullpens for his first career homerun, which was a 3-run homer. It gave the Tigers the 4-1 lead, at the time.

From Game 36, 5/15/2013

Avisail Garcia is starting his first game of the season, batting ninth, playing center field.

Astros behind D.K.

1. Robbie Grossman (S) CF
2. Jake Elmore (R) 2B
3. Carlos Pena (L) DH
4. Chris Carter (R) 1B
5. J.D. Martinez (R) LF
6. Carlos Corporan (S) C
7. Jimmy Paredes (S) RF
8. Matt Dominguez (R) 3B
9. Marwin Gonzalez (S) SS

Tigers behind M.S.

1. Omar Infante (R) 2B
2. Torii Hunter (R) RF
3. Miguel Cabrera (R) 3B
4. Prince Fielder (L) 1B
5. Victor Martinez (S) DH
6. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
7. Matt Tuiasosopo (R) LF
8. Brayan Pena (S) C
9. Avisail Garcia (R) CF

Doug Fister was strong through seven.

Fister threw seven innings of two run, five hit, seven strikeout ball and helped the Tigers to their second win in a row, while the offense busted through in the middle innings and pounced on starter Lucas Harrell en route to a 7-2 victory.

To add further insult to injury, the Tigers got a flawless inning of relief from José Valverde, who mixed in an effective splitter with a mid-90s fastball to retire the Astros 1-2-3 in the ninth.

More after the jump

Miguel Cabrera busted out of his “slump” with two hits, including a monster shot to the left field bleachers in the seventh inning to pad the Tigers’ lead. Victor Martinez and Omar Infante also had big nights, each collecting two hits apiece. The bottom third of the Tigers’ order had four of the Tigers’ ten hits and drove in two runs.

Joaquin Benoit pitched a perfect eighth inning in support of Fister, with Valverde coming on in a non-save situation in the ninth to lock the game down. Fister, Benoit, and Valverde combined to shut down the Astros in the late innings. After J.D. Martinez doubled off Fister in the seventh inning, Tiger pitching retired the last eight batters to end the game, six by way of the K.

The Tigers look to wrap up the season series against the Astros with another sweep tomorrow afternoon. Max Scherzer, looking to go 6-0, will take the mound vs. Dallas Kuechel.

Starter Lucas Harrell and catcher Jason Castro are hunting Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Tigers will send Doug Fister to the mound in search of his fifth win. Ramon Santiago will be stepping in at SS for Jhonny Peralta, while Don Kelly gets another start in CF for the injured Austin Jackson.

Astros – Lucas Harrell (RHP)

1. Robbie Grossman (S) CF
2. Jake Elmore (R) 2B
3. Jason Castro (L) C
4. Chris Carter (R) 1B
5. Carlos Pena (L) DH
6. J.D. Martinez (R) LF
7. Jimmy Paredes (S) RF
8. Matt Dominguez (R) 3B
9. Marwin Gonzalez (S) SS

Tigers – Doug Fister (RHP)

1. Andy Dirks (L) LF
2. Torii Hunter (R) RF
3. Miguel Cabrera (R) 3B
4. Prince Fielder (L) 1B
5. Victor Martinez (S) DH
6. Alex Avila (L) C
7. Omar Infante (R) 2B
8. Don Kelly (L) CF
9. Ramon Santiago (S) SS

So, the Astros obviously HAVE to field a team, considering they’re in the league and they’re kinda a business. If they didn’t have to field a team, they probably wouldn’t, at least if they believed in the concept of the word “team”, and not in the concept of “slapped together wasteland consisting of AAA players who wouldn’t start on most AAA teams”. But, they do, so hey, let’s take a look at some stats.
The Astros have had some guys start games. Out of pitchers who have started at least two games, they have..(really?).. 4 with an ERA over 6. 3 over 8. Two in the 9 range. Thankfully, they released former perfect game great Philip Humber and his 9.59 ERA and 2.02 WHIP, giving someone probably even less qualified than Humber (5.34 career ERA) a shot at big league glory.

Brad Peacock has started 5 games and has a 9.41 ERA with a 1.91 WHIP.

Erik Bedard has started 6 games and has a 6.67 ERA with a 1.67 WHIP.

They let Humber start 7 games. He had a 6.44 ERA in 2012 in 16 starts. One of those starts was a perfect game.

How about baseball, you guys? The Astros are last in ERA, quality starts, WHIP, and BAA. Their hitting hasn’t been all that bad, considering they have basically no good hitters except for a 5’5” 2B who just busted up his jaw running dead into his right fielder without looking at him and dropped the ball in the process.

It’s a fun game. I apologize for taking too much of your time talking about how terrible the Astros are. You probably know that, having watched the 4 game sweep the Tigers handed them last week. I felt like talking about it though, so deal with it.

But yeah, they played a baseball game tonight. Keeping in the tradition of playing games against major league teams, the Tigers reluctantly pounded the Astros 7-2, fully knowing they could have scored 20 runs if they so wished. A 6 run 4th provided the majority of the offense, highlighted by a rare Victor Martinez home run, which is only slightly more rare than any kind of base hit for V-Mart this year. Norris continued to struggle in the inning, loading the bases. Andy Dirks stepped to the plate, and quickly fell behind 0-2. For some reason, Norris threw Dirks a pitch he could hit, right over the plate, and Andy smashed it into RF for a grand slam, only the second grand slam the Tigers have ever hit, probably. It gave Detroit a 7-2 lead and pretty much told me I was cool to go lounge in bed because being up 5 runs to the Astros with Anibal Sanchez on the mound is as much of a sure thing as Joan Collins in her heyday. So, off to the bed I went, and I got to witness Sanchez finally remember he was facing the Astros, only giving up one hit after the 2 run 3rd, striking out 6 Astros and completing yet another brilliant performance in a season full of them, not only for Sanchez, but for the entire staff.

That’s where it’s unfair for the Astros. It’s not like they were a quality club last year, but at least they were in the National League, where terrible teams can hide away in the shadows of half respectability, rarely playing the big boys in the AL. Now that they’re in the American League, not only do they have to face those teams on a nearly nightly basis, they’re also somehow way worse this year. I hope for their sake, and for the sake of their fans, that this embarrassing roster gets improved quickly, because as a Tigers fan, and witness to the 43-119 season, I know what they’re going through.

The main difference — is the Astros owner as passionate/rich as Mike Ilitch? Will the Astros find their Verlander? Since 2005, when they made the World Series, the Astros have had two winning seasons. They lost 100 games in 2011 and 2012, and they’re probably going to top the 107 they lost in 2012. I love it when the Tigers blow out these teams, but I also feel a twinge of sadness for their players and fanbase. It’s not good for the game.

Sorry to have talked about the Astros so much here you guys, but their ineptitude is simply more compelling than the Tigers’ predictable easy win in this game. Tomorrow, Doug Fister faces off against Lucas Harrell, in a game the Tigers will probably win. See you guys then.