Inauspicious

I don’t really have a lot to say about this game, mainly because by the time I got home, it was pretty much all over with but the shouting. I tend to form a lot of my perceptions of players (pitchers especially) based on the first time I see them. The first time I saw Jarrod Washburn, it was 2007 and the Tigers put a beating on him. Therefore, I have always thought of him in those terms. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, as I have virtually the same perception of Zack Greinke (the first two times I saw him, the Tigers had no problem against him). But essentially, I don’t know if Washburn getting roughed up last night is a bad sign or not. It would not make sense for him to fall apart after putting up good numbers for so long. Some Mariners fans think he’s destined to fall because he’s a flyball pitcher and Seattle’s outfield defense is “better” than the Tigers’, but when Nick Markakis is hitting balls off Ernie Harwell’s name on the right center field wall, it doesn’t really matter who’s in the outfield. And both Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson tend to be flyball pitchers and their ERAs are okay. Zach Miner did not help matters. Of course, the finger got pointed at the offense, which didn’t do a whole lot, but when your starting pitcher gives up six runs, offense is not the problem in this particular game.

Tonight, I go to work again and Edwin Jackson will try to bounce back from being fouled off to exhaustion against the Indians. He shut out the Orioles back in May (of course, Jarrod Washburn also pitched a shutout against the O’s earlier in the year and that meant nothing last night). Baltimore will counter with Jeremy Guthrie, who is tagged as the ace of their staff but is having a down year. You don’t want to take him lightly though. Detroit’s made a bunch of roster moves in the last day or two. I totally missed out on Wilkin Ramirez, as he wasn’t called up until after I went to work and he was out of the game by the time I got home. He’s been sent down along with Dusty Ryan, and the Tigers have called up Chris Lambert and Alex Avila to replace them. The general consensus online seems to be that Lambert has earned a spot in the ‘pen, where he would likely serve as the long man (especially with Zach Miner not pitching well recently). The Avila call-up seems to be more of a headscratcher, as he is considered to be the Tigers’ top catching prospect, but most don’t think he’s ready yet. Personally, I have serious trust issues with left-handed hitting catchers (not sure where that stems from), so my opinion probably is not valid at the present time. The Tigers have not indicated whether they intend on Avila to be the backup catcher (in which case, I can’t imagine he’d get much playing time at all, if Dusty Ryan is any indication) or whether they want him to supplant Gerald Laird as the starting catcher (in which case, it’s probably not a smart move to have a young catcher learning on the job in the middle of a pennant race).