12-10 Never Felt So Good

For one glorious weekend, everything went right for the Tigers.

On Friday night - the first night game of the year at Comerica - 23,000 fans braved the 35 degree drizzle. Verlander, in his usual style, dominated the White Sox but still fell prey to the long ball. His 3 earned runs easily held as Ryan Raburn alone had 4 RBIs. The Tigers' offense pummeled White Sox ace Mark Buehrle and the White Sox for 12 hits and 9 runs. Even Austin Jackson joined the fun, raising his average to .162. Benoit pitched a scoreless 8th, followed by Valverde's scoreless 9th.

Just like Dombrowski drew it up.

Saturday was even more interesting. Brad Penny faced off against former Tiger Edwin Jackson. Jackson was a very good pitcher for the Tigers during his one season. He even made the All-star team that year. Yet, his numbers dropped significantly in the later months, with the Tigers in the thick of a pennant race. In August, he posted a fair 4.45 ERA. It grew to 5.08 in September. And then in a crucial game against the White Sox in October, Edwin got shelled for 8 runs in 5 innings. It's likely that crunch time failure rubbed Dombrowski the wrong way. Despite solid end-of-year numbers (13-9, 3.62 ERA), Dombrowski sent Edwin packing in the massive Curtis Granderson trade.

Edwin fared well against the Tigers prior to Saturday's start, but this weekend was all Tigers. The Tiger batters put pressure on Jackson all day. Six Tigers had multi-hit games. SIX. Edwin left in the 6th, surrendering 12 hits and 8 runs. One run would've been enough as the Sox didn't score at all. Massive damage again inflicted by (White Sox killer?) Ryan Raburn with 3 RBIs. As a team, the Tigers hit a very un-Tiger like 6-15 (.400) with RISP. Meanwhile, Brad friggin' Penny took a no-hitter into the 7th. Nothing against Brad Penny, but there's no way this White Sox lineup should be no-hit. I've watched Penny multiple times this season, and the dude does not have no-hit stuff. Okay, maybe this IS a knock on Brad Penny. I suppose he is a 2-time All-star in '06 and '07. Regardless of Penny's heroics, the White Sox hitters just looked bad. They normally drag out these games with eight pitch at-bats. Yet, they were flailing at pitches outside the strikezone.

Their dreadful at-bats continued Sunday against Max Scherzer. While the Sox did manage a few hits (4), they rarely reached 2nd base. Nothing was hit hard, and Scherzer looked like Roy Halladay. It's days like Sunday that Tiger fans dream of a Verlander/Scherzer 1-2 punch like Maddux/Glavine or Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling.

The Tiger bats cooled off somewhat from Saturday, but they still put up 3 runs, thanks to clutch doubles by Brandon Inge and Austin Jackson (who raised his average to .193).

When the dust settled, the Tigers finished the weekend outscoring the White Sox 21-3. Going forward, it's difficult to know what to make of these Tigers. Alex Avila is hitting well, as is Boesch. Those two guys were big question marks entering the season. But the top of the lineup still has difficulty getting on base. Austin Jackson's few hits aside, I'm not sure he's turned the corner. The pitching has carried the team for the past few weeks, and that's the most positive sign. With Ryan Perry back, the 7th inning dead zone is less deadly. Benoit and Valverde continue to pitch well. So if the starters continue to pile up quality starts (11 in the last 13 games), the Tigers should compete well into September.

If I were Dombrowski, I would re-evaluate this teams' identity. Dombrowski built this team to be a slugging outfit in the mold of the White Sox, Red Sox, and Yankees. It's clear that, outside of Miguel Cabrera, the hitting is too inconsistent. While I would be hesitant to call the pitching consistent, it's at least shown more potential than the bats. With that in mind, Dombrowski may want to bring up defensive specialist Danny Worth. The Tigers miraculously surrendered just one error against the White Sox. With Raburn anywhere but DH, the Tigers are playing with fire defensively. Peralta has shown decent skill at SS, but he doesn't have Worth's range. Worth may be good insurance should the Tigers have a slight lead late in games. Leyland already subs Maggs in favor of defensive replacement Casper Wells. Why not Peralta too? (Oddly, Raburn usually finishes the game, despite his team-leading 3 errors.)

Up next, the Tigers welcome the Mariners, then head off to Cleveland. If the Tigers win both series, they enter a tough stretch against the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Twins with a decent cushion.