Can't Win 'em All

by FLATigersFan on Apr 9, 2007 10:16 PM EDT in News Comment 0 comments

Orioles 6
Tigers 2

WP: Cabrera (1-1)
LP: Durbin (0-1)

Thumbs Up
Granderson: 1-4, 3B, RBI
Ordonez: 2-4, R

Thumbs Down
Inge: 0-3, 2 Ks (.000 avg)
Sheffield: 0-4, K (.143 avg)

Today the Tigers sent out Chad Durbin, a guy who hadn't started a game since the 2004 season with Cleveland, to go up against a pitcher in Daniel Cabrera who can either be fairly nasty or fairly wild; Today seemed to be one of those productive outings for Cabrera, who struck out five while scattering seven hits over 7.1 innings of work.

Durbin, on the other hand, could not keep pace with the O's hurler after a pretty good start to the game. After pitching two scoreless innings to start the game, the Orioles scored four runs in the third inning -- triggered by a Kevin Millar homer -- and ended up tagging Durbin for nine hits and six earned on the day.

It didn't really matter though; The Tigers just couldn't get the bats going against Cabrera in this one.

The Tigers aren't worried about the recent struggles at the plate, though.

"We'll get things going," said Casey. "You're 18-20 at-bats into the year. I think you don't start looking at your offensive production until you're 100-some at-bats into it, and that's just the way baseball goes. We're six games into the year, and we've still got 156 to go. Guys that have track records are going to hit, period. This lineup's going to hit."

Granderson agreed with Casey, smiling when asked if the cold weather was why the Tigers have started so slowly at the plate.

"We're six games in right now," Granderson said. "Those [who] are hot are going to cool down, and those that started off slow are going to get hot. It has nothing to do with the weather, I don't think, too much. The weather ... could be definitely playing a factor, but mentally we've got to still realize that there's an opposing team with an opposing pitcher in the same weather condition as us."

Better get the bats going fast, guys. The AL Central is looking to be a race this season that you can't afford to fall behind in too early and by too much.

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