Oh, the weather outside is weather and if the rains hold off, there will be a baseball game tonight between the Tigers and Twins.
Lineups after a hop:
Tigers (D. Below – L)
Twins (N. Blackburn – R)
Phil Coke will be unavailable tonight, says Jim Leyland. Octavio Dotel, however, is available following an efficient 15-pitch outing.
Of course, the big story is Duane Below making a spot start for Max Scherzer, who is out with a sore hammy. He’s been a rock for the Tigers out of the bullpen this season, but he also hasn’t seen action since June 27 when he gave up 2 runs in 2 innings against the Rangers.
Luckily, the Tigers face Nick Blackburn. Blackburn is bad (7.74 ERA and 1.74 WHIP) and he gave up six runs in two innings the last time he faced the Tigers, who he has struggled against his entire career (5.91 ERA and 1.49 WHIP). One could argue that it doesn’t matter who the Tigers pitch tonight so long as the hitters remember to take a bat with them up to the plate. I think Below will be just fine.
