Rookie Power

Photo: AP

Yeah, I know there are photos available of the good things that happened in this game, but this one was so funny I had to go with it. At any rate, it looked like a decent night at the ballpark. Rick Porcello looked better. The final line doesn’t indicate that, but he was getting a ton of ground balls for outs. He just didn’t get away with any mistakes. Take the third inning. Erick Aybar had a ground-ball single, which was followed up by Abreu hitting the weakest double you will ever see. Porcello made good pitches to both of them but wasn’t rewarded. Then he threw a bad pitch (a hanging breaking ball) to Torii Hunter and got punished for it. Still, I feel as though progress was made.

This game got a heavy dose of rookie production. Austin Jackson had a five-hit game, and Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch both hit their first big league home runs. Of course, Boesch’s kinda stole the spotlight. Grand slams will do that. Still, Scott Sizemore’s gave the Tigers the lead. And also I should mention Gerald Laird’s home run. That won’t happen often, but it’s good to see him finally get rewarded for hitting the ball hard. The only ominous thing last night as far as offense is concerned is that Magglio had to leave the game with muscle cramps, and it’s enough that he was undergoing tests as of last night (no indication that there was an MRI, which I suppose is a good thing). They’ll know more today, but obviously, you don’t want to lose Maggs and Guillen at the same time.

I thought today’s game was a night game, but it’s not. It’s a day game, which means I’m going to miss it. Jeremy Bonderman gets the start for the Tigers. He was very good in his last start, which came against the Texas Rangers, until two outs in the sixth, when he just couldn’t get that final out. He did a decent job against the Angels a couple weeks ago. Scott Kazmir will start for the Angels. He pitched well against the Tigers when last they met, although the Tigers drew to within one against the Angels bullpen. He apparently was not so in command in his last start, but we’ll see.