Finally, a quality start.

I would be loose with the term “quality,” however.  Kenny Rogers somehow got through six innings and gave up only two runs.  Thus, it fits the description.  Fact of the matter is, though, that he walked four in the process, and it didn’t even look like he was going to get out of the fourth inning.

But let’s start at the first.  After two easy outs, Bobby Abreu singled and I thought to myself “watch the two out hits Kenny.”  Who would have known that would be foreshadowing for Rogers’ entire outing.  Of Rogers’ six innings, only the sixth was one where he didn’t allow a baserunner with two outs.  In the first, it was Abreu.  In the second, Johnny Damon singled.  In the third, he walked the bases loaded.  In the fourth, Derek Jeter singled, and in the fifth, Shelly Duncan, hitting .091, hit a double.

I don’t know how many pitches Rogers threw with two outs, and I have yet to have time to go back and count, but I would be willing to bet that of the 101 pitches he threw, close to half were offers at the plate with two outs.  If he could have been more efficient, it would have been a complete game.

One thing, though.  Save for Duncan’s double in the fifth, it looked like Rogers started challenging hitters after the fourth inning.  He had thrown about 85 pitches in the first four, and he only threw a bit over a dozen in his last two.  It was obvious he was trying to get through six to get the quality start and thus, save the Tiger bullpen that went a bit overworked in the previous twenty games in twenty days.

The question is, then, shouldn’t Rogers challenge more hitters earlier in the game.  I understand it is a daunting task to face the Yankee lineup and throw the ball over the plate.  Many great pitchers have had extremely sub-par outings by doing just that, and there did seem to be a bit of pressure off Rogers once Gary Sheffield homered and the Tigers had a bit of a lead to go ahead and challenge hitters, but it seemed to be working pretty well.

Rogers less pitches in his final two innings combined than he threw in any of the other four innings by themselves.  It would be hard to do, but he has to believe in his defense’s ability to get outs when the ball was put in play.  Truth be told, though, the Yankee hitters just missed on a few.  Robinson Cano, after hitting a home run in the second inning came up with the bases loaded in the third and was about one eighth of an inch on his bat away from hitting a grand slam.  The ball was hit hard, but it stayed in the park and Jacque Jones took care of it.

So, the Tigers sit, still in last place, but only three games out of first.  What’s funny is, after the game ended, they were in third place, and then Cleveland lost, putting them tied for second, then the Twins beat the White Sox, knocking them to third place, and then the Royals beat the Rangers, putting the Tigers back into a tie for last.  They were in all four positions except for first place yesterday.

So tonight, it is Jeremy Bonderman against Andy Petitte.  This should be a good test for Bonderman, who has always shown the stuff to be a number two or three guy.  If he can knock down the Yankees tonight, and the Tigers can get some hits (hopefully Sheffield is showing that he is back a bit), then it could be a good season for him.  If he is overwhelmed, and doesn’t believe in himself, this last day of April could be a precursor of things to come…

Another tough loss.

The scoreboard didn’t show it, but the Tigers could have kept this one close.  A couple of ground balls by third base led to the last four Angel runs and the Tigers took the loss 6-2.

Oh, what Brandon Inge must be thinking.  He’s hitting better than Sheffield, who looks completely out of sorts, and he is the best fielding infielder on the team.  The “good news” one could take away from last night’s game is that the starting lineup (finally) all took the field at the same time, but if this is the version of the starting lineup that is going to remain on the field, they all have some work to do.

Inge could have possibly gotten to both balls last night.  The first was a ball down the line that even Carlos Guillen may have gotten to if he had both legs.  But Guillen is now being asked to play a very reactive position.  It seems strange that he would get something that would require more charging and diving when he is hobbled.  Go figure.

Sheffield on the other hand, is hurt.  He is not hitting the ball, and Jim Leyland says it’s his timing.  Well, he better get his timing right soon because he is exactly three for his last thirty.  That’s right, he has three hits since tax day, and he has three RBI’s all season.  If he is hurt and trying to play through it because this is his last hurrah, he might as well go on the DL or retire.  He is doing no good like he is right now.

Inge could play third and Guillen could DH in Sheffield’s absence.  If Sheffield can get it together, then he could come back and supplant Inge once again.  However, at this point, Brandon Inge is a better option in the lineup than Gary Sheffield.  Brandon Inge is a better option at third base than Carlos Guillen.  Isn’t it obvious what to do?

The only comeback is that the Tigers have a lot invested in Sheffield.  Well they have more invested in Inge.  Maybe Sheffield makes more this year, but Inge is in the second year of a four-year deal.  He is hitting the ball like he did in 2006, and his versatility in the field makes him very valuable.   If you look at him, you would guess that he hits about .280 with 25 homers every year.  Though that hasn’t been the case, the older he gets, the more patient he gets.  He could have a breakout year if given the chance.  But putting him back at square one by not letting him get on the field might make the above statistics never happen again.

Go ahead, put him at catcher once a week for Ivan Rodriguez and let Sheffield DH that day.  Let him play for Magglio once a week and let Sheffield DH that day.  Let him at least split a bit of time at third and move Guillen, Cabrera and Renteria around to give the team the best chance of winning.  It is not Gary Sheffield’s team.  It is Detroit’s team, and if Sheffield can’t cut the mustard, then he should not be making the sandwich.

I understand that Sheffield has history.  He is a bona fide hall-of-fame-caliber player.  He deserves the chance to right himself just like Dontrelle Willis deserves his chance at the starting rotation when he comes back.  But, fact of the matter is, that the Tigers are 11-15, and in last place, and they have to travel to Yankee Stadium for a three-game series starting tomorrow.  If they are not careful, they could drop to seven or eight games under .500 once again.

They’ve done some great work at staying in the race, and though Cleveland helped them out by losing a lot at the beginning of the season, they are getting hot, and are knocking on the door for tops in the division.  The Tigers need to put their best team on the field every single day that it is possible.  If Sheffield is not right soon, the best team they can field would not include him, unless he were to play left field against left-handed hitters on the road in small parks, but it would include Inge every day.

Yes, Sheffield deserves a chance to right himself at the Major League level as opposed to doing rehab stints in the minors.  He deserves a chance not to go on the disabled list if he says he is okay and can play through any issues.  However, he should be given no more than ten days to two weeks to right the ship before action should be taken.  By my count, his time is almost up, and after the next series, it will be.

At least the Tigers get to miss Chen Ming Wang on their trip, he pitched yesterday.  However, the next time they meet, in early May, Wang’s time in the rotation should be the Saturday, May 10 game.  Mark that date on your calendar.  If there is any semblance of a positive attitude in Tiger Town after that game, then they have a shot.  If there isn’t any, they’d better get hot, because, it could all be too late by then…

Where did this guy come from?

Armando Galarraga?  What gives?

Galarraga has now pitched eighteen innings in his Tigers’ career.  He has given up a total of seven hits and three earned runs for an ERA of 1.50.  Yes, you heard that correctly, 1.50.

This is about the time that most people would say not to punch his ticket to Cooperstown just yet, or not to let him go “just one more start” before writing him into the All-Star game, but I’m pretty sure that’s what was said after the last start.  True, he still doesn’t qualify for the ERA title, and true, he is just a rookie pitcher, but he now leads the Detroit Tigers in Quality Starts.

I know the quality start is not a recognized statistic, but I have done more extensive study on the topic than possibly anyone, and it is a viable statistic.  Fact is, that the Tigers do not have the best record in this department of yet, throwing, I believe, a total of four quality starts up to this point, but Galarraga has two of them in his three outings.  In his third outing, he didn’t give up a run, but he couldn’t quite get to the six inning mark.

I do know this:  Teams with a quality start win two out of three games historically, and the Tigers won yesterday.  Galarraga didn’t figure in the decision, and actually almost lost his quality start by coming out for the seventh inning, but as the case may be, he has given the Tigers a good chance to win all three of the games he has pitched.

He may have lost his chance of going 3-0 by having all three of the batters he faced in the seventh inning come around to score, but Aquilino Lopez gave up a hit, letting the inherited runner come across, but then got the next three outs.  It could have been a total loss, but the Tigers’ bullpen again did not give up a run of its own in three innings of work, and the offense pushed three more across in the eighth to seal the victory.

The question is now…What do you do with Galarraga if Willis is ready to pitch?   I would have said that maybe Nate Robertson would have to go to the bullpen for the first time in his Tigers’ career, but after his start a couple days ago, he seems to be coming around.  Fact is that the Tiger on the outs might be Dontrelle Willis until he can show management something.  I know they paid him a lot of money, but he can’t be a liability at this point.

The Tigers are three games under .500, three games out of first place, and only one and a half games behind the Cleveland Indians, who are also catching a bit of fire, winning five in a row.  Every game is important, and until Galarraga pitches badly, it will be hard to put him on a bus to Toledo.

One inning was the downfall in this one.

Nate Robertson looked great through three innings, actually facing the minimum in the process, but he had troubles getting out of the fourth inning.  By the time he had recorded three outs, the Tigers were down 4-0.  Robertson regrouped to throw three more shutout innings and ended up going seven strong, but the Tigers couldn’t push enough runs across the plate to come back in this one.

They did answer with two runs of their own in the fourth inning off Ervin Santana, who was even better than Robertson through three innings, but only managed one more run and the Tigers lost 4-3, halting their winning streak at four games.

This was another one of those “could have wons” that the Tigers just seem to keep losing.  They left seven runners on base between the sixth through the eighth innings, but could only push one run across in those frames.

The good news is that, save for the fourth inning,  Robertson pitched well.  The bullpen looked good as well with Denny Bautista and Todd Jones both throwing a scoreless inning of relief.  The bats didn’t really come alive, though Curtis Granderson homered again, but you can’t expect the hitting to bail out the team every day.

At least the Tigers got some starting pitching from Robertson, who hasn’t really looked good in his first three games.  Four runs in seven innings isn’t really a quality start, but it is good enough for a team to win most of the time.  If the offense could have hit like it has in the last four games, the Tigers would be 11-13 right now, and on a roll.

Armando Galarraga goes today in his third start as a Tiger.  If he looks like his last two starts, the Tigers should win, and they might have a bit of controversy when Dontrelle Willis is ready again.

Another day, another eight runs.

The Tigers continue to hit in lieu of getting quality starting pitching and it keeps giving them victories.  Today, it was Jeremy Bonderman’s turn to walk seven batters in under five innings, but the seven hitters he put down by strikeout kept the Texas Rangers from scoring more than two runs.

Bonderman almost got through five innings, but he walked in a run with the last hitter he faced to tie the game and Jim Leyland was forced to go to the bullpen.  In came Zach Miner, who coming into the game had allowed a small village to cross the plate, but he induced a ground out to end the threat.  He then proceeded to pitch three more scoreless innings to get his ERA under 9.99.

While Miner was mowing down Rangers, the Tigers bats once again took over the game.  Magglio Ordonez homered twice.  Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn added their own blasts, and the Tigers broke open a 2-2 game and ended up winning by six runs.  Curtis Granderson was responsible for the first run with a leadoff homer, his first of the season.  Granderson looks like he is right on track from where he finished last season, and is 3 for 8 in two games with three runs scored and as many RBI’s.

But the starting pitching woes continued.  Bonderman was, for lack of a better term, effectively wild.  He allowed only two hits, but the seven walks made his pitch count too high to get him in line for a decision.  The seven strikouts were likely just attributed to the surprised batters when Bonderman’s pitches found the plate.

The good news is that the bullpen came to play once again.  You would have to go back over a dozen innings to find the last run a Tiger reliever surrendered–the only run the bullpen gave up the entire series.

So where do the question marks lie now?  Is it with the offense that struggled for the first two weeks of the season but has now rebounded to have the second most runs scored in baseball?  Is it with the bullpen that had a hugely inflated ERA for those two weeks, and is missing key pieces, but has now given up but a run in three outings averaging four innings?  Or is it the starting pitching that has a quality start in about one in eight of their games?

For some reason, it’s the starting pitching.

To be honest, Bonderman still had good stuff today, and he did as well in his last start, he has just lost a bit of control.  When he finds it, he’ll be fine.  He is still striking guys out.  Verlander’s velocity is up in his last start.  Kenny Rogers has looked pretty good until yesterday, and Armando Galarraga is a nice surprise.  Nate Robertson has some work to do, however.  He is supposed to be a battling, inning-eater, and hasn’t come close yet this season, and Dontrelle Willis has had the same control problems as Bonderman without the effectiveness on the other side to back it up of yet.  Hopefully the latter two can come around.

Luckily for the Tigers, they have started scoring runs in bunches.  If they can continue this feat, they should be fine until the pitching, which does show signs of life, comes around.  If the starting pitchers can start to get hitters out and go six or seven innings each for a week or two, the Tigers should be in first place, quite possibly by the end of this month.  If they can’t, when the bats die down, they are in line for another 0-7 stretch that could knock them right out of the race.

Hopefully the starters can come around and the Tigers can keep up their winning ways as they spend this weekend entertaining an always tough Angels team.  The sweep may have been against one of the worst teams in the American League, but hey, it’s a start…