Win One For Ernie

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After a nice tribute to Ernie Harwell, the Tigers got themselves a nice win. After all the complaining about the Tigers not calling up one of the Mud Hens, the bullpen came through. Everyone had too many walks except for Valverde, but limiting the Yankees to four runs on a night where you have no starter is pretty good. The Joel Zumaya walk-less stat was an unfortunate casualty, and hopefully this does not open the door for more walks. Valverde was extremely impressive, though, and I knew it was only a matter of time before his dancing around the field after a save would piss someone off (I should have known it would be against the Yankees).

The offense didn’t do as much against Mitre as I’d hoped, but again it was the new guys coming through. Brennan Boesch had three RBIs, Austin Jackson had one, and Johnny Damon had one. The bottom of the order was actually quite productive. Scott Sizemore and Gerald Laird each had a single and a walk, and Adam Everett had a sacrifice and a single. Magglio had a single, but his big contribution was the sliding, game-saving catch he made in the eighth inning.

The series continues tonight with two starters who are trying to find it. Javier Vazquez, who did a good job for the Braves last year, has not been real productive for the Yankees this year. Apparently, he pitched for the Yankees before and didn’t do real well then, either. I don’t really understand that. It’s not an AL vs. NL thing, because he was quite good when he was with the White Sox. At any rate, the Tigers tend to be streaky against him. They’ll rattle off a few wins against him, and then he’ll beat them a few times, and then they’ll win again. They haven’t seen him since 2008, and I think he beat them in that instance. Magglio probably won’t be happy to see him (.194), but Miguel Cabrera will (.391, including three home runs). Adam Everett and Johnny Damon have also had success. Meanwhile, I feel like Rick Porcello is close. I really do. If he can cut down on the walks and falling behind hitters, he has been getting lots of ground balls. However, his only start last year against the Yankees was the worst start he had all season, lasting only three innings and giving up six earned runs. The front office Twitter is still saying the game will start at 7:05, but there is a lot of rain in the area, so it’s questionable.