After barely squeaking out one win in their series with 2006 World Series foe, St. Louis, the Tigers welcomed the first place Brewers to Comerica for three a game set. In the series, the Cardinals used the, then slumping, kitties as a stepping stone to get their month back on track. And conversely, Detroit took the defeats by St Lou as a slap in the face and motivation to put their wiffle bats away and take out the real lumber.
Going into their face off, the Tigers were six and eight in the month of June and the Cardinals were five and nine. After taking two of three from the Tigers, – beating both Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson – the Cards went off to play with their I-70 rivals and 1982 World Series counterparts. In that series, the Cards did nothing but break another teams’ spirits.
The sweep of Kansas City included the red birds scoring an average of almost 10 runs per game and the utter inhalation of two very good Royal pitchers’ ERAs.
Gil Meche and Kyle Davies’ ERAs both jumped by at least a half a point after their face-offs with St. Louis – Meche, most notably, went from 3.31 to 4.11.
One the other side of Illinois, the Detroit series against the Brewers saw a little bit of everything. From a rain delay that lasted longer than the actual official game, to a class-AA pitcher making and winning his Major league debut, to a duel of dominant starting aces that actually lived up to the hype. It was a great fight for both teams, but one team roared through the puddles of barley-juice and came out victorious in sweeping fashion.
Game One – Detroit 10, Milwaukee 4 (7 innings)
Armando Galarraga’s troubles continued as he allowed four runs (three earned) in four innings before the 2:42 rain delay in Motown. Zach Miner took over after the delay and took the win. Miner surrendered just one hit in 2.1 of the remaining three innings of the game. The inclement weather returned calling for an early end of the game.
Welcome back Miguel Cabrera. After the accidental, game winning, macaroni noodle of a home run he hit against the White Sox on June 9, I had a feeling Cabrera was going to start hitting again. After a long blast in the first game of the Cardinals series, it seemed that prediction was becoming fact. Cabrera went long again in game one against the Cerveceros, but the two shots launched by Marcus Thames over-shadowed Cabrera’s show of power.
A first-inning, three run, bomb by Prince Fielder accounted for just about all the scoring for Milwaukee. Curtis Granderson’s 17th blast of the season and an RBI by new back-up catcher Dusty Ryan and Adam Everett completed the Tigers scoring.
Dusty Ryan, who caught a majority of the Tigers’ games in September of 2008 has been added to the active roster to replace Dane Sardinha behind the plate. While Sardinha was a quality game-caller and had a strong throwing arm, he struggled mightily with the bat in 2009 – he was just 3-31 with 16 strikeouts with the Tigers. Detroit has designated Sardinha’s contract for assignment.
Game Two – Detroit 9, Milwaukee 5.
With Dontrelle Willis heading back to the DL and the release of Sardinha, the first-place-felines had room on the roster for another pitcher. Officially, Ryan replaced Willis and Sardinha’s roster spot was filled by Alfredo Figaro.
Figaro is yet another young fireballer from the Tigers farm system. His fastball tops out at around 97 MPH and accompanies that gas with a devastating slider, curveball and diving split-change. The 24 year-old Dominican came to the Tigers from class-AA Erie where he was 5-2 with a 4.10 ERA in 11 starts. The selling point for Figaro is the 59 strikeouts in 68 innings that goes alongside only 56 hits and 17 walks this season.
Until the later innings, the game was absolutely dominated by the youngster. He went five innings, allowing two earned runs, while striking out seven big league hitters. The feat of fanning seven beer-makers appears much more impressive when you take into consideration the fact that the Brewers strikeout less often than 13 of the 16 NL teams. The young righty also allowed eight hits and one long home run to Ryan Braun in the third inning but collected the victory in this, his major league orientation.
For the second game in a row, Miguel Cabrera went deep to left field. World-class bat-wielder Placido Polanco put a charge into one as well for his fifth noodle of the season.
The story in this game was Figaro, however.
Figaro will scare Tiger fans from time to time with the incredible lack of movement on his fastball has when he rushes his mechanics. Otherwise he is big-league ready. As is that case with many young starters, (example: David Price of Tampa Bay) Figaro is not quite ready to be a permanent fixture in a major league rotation because he wants is to strikeout every hitter he faces. In his five inning debut, the flame-thrower threw 96 pitches – of those, 63 were strikes.
Game Three – Detroit 3, Milwaukee 2.
After getting roughed up for five earned runs and eight hits in only four innings against the Cardinals, Justin Verlander was out to show that he just really hates facing St Louis and is feeling fine. The tall righty was back to the form that kept him from collecting a loss in 10 starts prior to meeting the Cardinals.
Unfortunately, Verlander was going to have to face off against another one of the brightest young stars in the Major Leagues. Yovani Gallardo came into the father’s day start with a sub-three ERA and 85 strikeouts in 83 innings. The gigantic breaks on Gallardo’s off-speed pitches have been baffling NL hitters since the 23 year-old broke into the ‘bigs in 2007.
Both hurlers were dealing aces for seven-plus innings with neither pitcher allowing more than six hits in his outing. Solo homers from unexpected places were Verlander’s only blemish. Twenty-six year-old rookie DH Casey McGehee hit one long ball and crazy-bat-dancer Craig Counsil accounted for the other.
Brandon Inge’s three-run blast in the bottom of the sixth would be all Verlander needed for the win however. Gallardo finished the day with three earned runs and dominance that nearly mirrored that of Verlander. Both pitchers finished the day with eight punch-outs, three walks, a quality, seven-plus inning, start and a decision for his team.
Wrap:
This series just shows that if the Detroit offense can produce anywhere near their potential. They can beat just about anyone in any league. With Marcus Thames back in the line-up at either DH or left field, the Tigers find themselves with another weapon in the batting order.
With Miguel Cabrera now healthy, the Tigers could see an unprecedented season where four or more Detroit hitters could wind up with 25 or more home runs and 80 or more RBI. If there is a precedent, it because the Tigers came very close to achieving, said, goal in both 2006 and 2007.
Currently, Granderson has 17 HR and 41 RBI, Inge has 16 and 47, Cabrera 14 and 44 and Marcus Thames has 5 HR and 12 RBI in limited appearances through 21 games.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:06 am
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back Tiger Bright Spots: Beat up on the Brew….
Baseballbriefs.com tracking back Tiger Bright Spots: Beat up on the Brew….