Talk About Bad Timing

I meant to get this up WAY earlier, but between school and the fact that my computer restarted itself, I’m down to the wire again. At any rate, it was a rather uninspiring game yesterday. The offense DID score four runs, and while that’s nothing to write home about, with our pitching staff, it’s usually enough. Unfortunately, Porcello and Perry both faltered, big time. Porcello kept falling behind and leaving pitches up. Normally, he gives up home runs to guys who normally don’t hit home runs. That wasn’t the case this time. Jack Cust definitely hits lots of home runs. It was Perry who gave up the home runs to the guys without power. Now, there has been a little bit of criticism regarding Armando Galarraga and the number of home runs he’s given up, but with the two bombs that Cust hit, Porcello has now given up twenty. Galarraga has given up twenty-one (which is nothing new; he gave up a lot of home runs last year as well). At any rate, it was not a good day for the pitching staff.

Now after a rather unproductive series in Oakland, it’s bound to get harder and stranger from here on out on this road trip, cuz we’re in Anaheim tonight. The Big A is the bastion of west coast strangeness. No other ballpark can match the oddities and horrors that likely await. The Tigers tend to not pitch well or play good defense in Anaheim. It’s up to our big three to reverse that trend. Justin Verlander gets the first crack at a very strong Angels offense (seriously; they recently had all nine in their starting lineup hitting over .300). He did not fare very well earlier this year. They scored seven runs off him in a game the Tigers eventually won. Now, the Angels’ pitching has not been especially good, but both Weaver and Lackey have, for the most part, been effective, and Brian Fuentes does lead the league in saves. The Tigers will face Weaver tonight. He’s 2-1 career against the Tigers despite an ERA of over seven. Granderson in particular hits Weaver well. It seems like every time he’s faced him, he’s homered off him. Maggs also has good numbers against Weaver, and against the Angels in general. And with the way the Angels run wild on the bases, I would much prefer Laird get the bulk of the playing time behind the plate in this series. Your Mood Music for tonight: It’s another late-night affair, and I tried to post this once before, only to have YouTube screw up my upload. Well, since then, someone else has uploaded it, so I’ll use that one. Fittingly enough, it is Styx’s “Just Get Through This Night.”