Pinching and Numbness: The Hurting Detroit Tigers

To follow up on a question russkiejedi asked in the game thread (and I'm sorry I wasn't able to join you guys this afternoon), Carlos Guillen left Tuesday's game in the eighth inning because of "a pinching sensation" in his left knee, and sat out most of today's game except for a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning.  Between that rest and tomorrow's day off, Guillen expects to be back for Friday's game.

This might add to the urgency to get a back-up middle infielder (and would resume the fears that Detroit might try to get Jack Wilson from Pittsburgh again), but Dave Dombrowski says the team could also call up Michael Hollimon from Double-A Erie, if necessary.

The more serious concern, however, might be Gary Sheffield's aching shoulder.  Both Jason Beck and Danny Knobler reported that Sheffield has been feeling numbness in his right hand since receiving a cortisone shot to his shoulder last week, and will see a doctor upon returning to Detroit.  If all goes well, he could be ready to play on Friday, but a more serious problem could obviously keep him out for a while.

Since sitting out two games last week because of the shoulder (and cortisone shot), Sheffield has batted .173 (4-for-23) with no extra base hits or RBIs.  Maybe not so coincidentally, the Tigers have only won one of those six games, as the offense just couldn't compensate for the team's poor pitching.