Tigers Lack Offense in 5-1 Loss

Well, that was disgusting. Baltimore pitchers handed out seven walks, their defense made two errors, but Detroit managed just five hits, including one in 11 at bats with runners in scoring position, leading to a 5-1 Orioles' victory. Twice the Tigers failed to bring runners home when they had a man on third and less than two outs, popups by Placido Polanco and Curtis Granderson didn't get the job done. You just cannot fail to capitalize when the other team is handing out walks and consistantly putting runners on base and expect to win. Tonight, there was no Zach Greinke to blame, the offense just didn't get it done.

A few things I have noticed: Adam Jones is good, but real cocky. I would love to have him on my team. Baltimore has a very good lineup, which only figures to get better when Matt Wieters makes his debut tomorrow. Luke Scott is the left handed Joe Crede and therefore the anti-christ. He now has seven bombs versus Detroit since last season began.

On the bright side, Magglio Ordonez extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and Armando Galarraga was much, much better tonight, going seven plus innings and allowing just three runs. He gave up ten hits including two home runs, but was able to limit the damage thanks to three double plays, including an absolute gem turned in by Brandon Inge in the sixth. Considering how poorly Galarraga has pitched this month, this outing was a major step in the right direction, even in the loss. His improvement also may allow the team to keep Jeremy Bonderman on his rehab stint just a bit longer to make sure he's ready to go when he gets back. But if Galarraga and the rest of the staff keep mowing down opposing offenses, Jim Leyland will have a difficult choice to make when Bondo does return. Galarraga certainly made strides toward keeping his rotation spot with his effort tonight.

The Hatred of Joe Crede

I have never heard anything about Joe Crede as a person. I don't know him, he may be a really nice guy. Somehow I doubt it, though. I don't want to know Joe Crede. I do not like him at all. I don't like his name, I don't like his face, I don't like the way that he is considered by some to be a better defender than Brandon Inge. I don't know if he is married or has kids, nor do I want to know. I hate Joe Crede. I may even hate him more than A.J. Pierzynski. I am a firm believer than Crede signed with the Twins instead of the Giants for the simple reason of being able to stick it to the Tigers at least 18 more times. That he did it just to spite us fans. Decent people would never make a decision based on spite. Obviously, Mr. Crede is not a decent person. Ian agrees, as I'm sure many, many other Tiger fans do.

Crede is a Tiger killer, and the numbers back it up. In his career entering yesterday's matinee, he had played 90 games vs. the Tigers and had a batting average of .276 (shockingly low, I would have guessed that to be closer to .895) against them, with 24 HR 68 RBI and a .897 OPS. Conversely, if you look at his career numbers against every other team in the major leagues, he carries only a .254 average with a .736 OPS. He has hit more homeruns vs Detroit than any other opponent as well. But don't think the Tigers' staff hasn't been trying to extract their revenge, they have beaned Crede 6 times (also shockingly low), more than any other opponent has. Perhaps they have only made him angry.

I hate Joe Crede, Joe Effing Crede.

D-Train Back on Track

Welcome back, Dontrelle! Willis didn't look great during his 4.2 inning start against the Twins Wednesday, in his first start of the season, but he did look like he belonged. After walking Denard Span to start the game on some very close pitches, he settled in fairly well. He pitched like he had a plan and a purpose. He wasn't trying to throw strikes, he was trying to pitch. And for the most part, looked pretty good. He had little trouble getting ahead of hitters and his velocity was very good, 89-91 with the two seamer and 93-95 with the four seamer. He didn't dominate, but he looked like he could have. The stuff was there. The command was off just a bit a few too many times. Willis left a fastball in the middle of the plate to Justin Morneau, who did what MVP's do and hit it out. Willis was unable to strikeout a batter in his outing, struggling to find the command of his slider. And the defense (Miguel Cabrera) didn't necessarily help as much as it could. I was wondering to myself during the game, if I was giving him too much credit for his efforts, but considering where he has come from, I will take that performance from Willis. Everyone was talking about him having to pitch in the dome against the Twins in his first start and how tough that was going to be. All things considered, I am very pleased with what I saw from him. He has some room for improvement, but hopefully a little fine tuning and he will help the Tigers. Again, people, he doesn't need to win the Cy Young, he just needs to pitch like a capable #4 or 5 starter. Last night showed me that he still has the ability to do that. Harold Reynolds agrees.

In other news, where oh where is Nate Robertson? Billfer passed along a rumor that he may be hurt, and Lucas French is being called up to replace him. Again, this is not confirmed, but I would wonder why a guy who hasn't pitched since May 5th, would just now be getting put on the DL? That is the only logical explanation as to why he never even got up last night, while Zumaya and Lyon were extended to three innings, but I have yet to find any confirmation of this.
UPDATE (9:14am): Robertson placed on DL, Lucas French is the player on his way from Toledo, and will be available for today's game.

Oh yeah, and I hate Joe Crede.