Both Armando Galarraga and Aquilino Lopez had been incredible for the Tigers since being called up from Triple-A Toledo, but the antiseptic atmosphere of the Metrodome apparently killed whatever spells they'd been casting in the first month of the season.
Galarraga gave up more runs and hits than he had in either of his previous three starts, while also striking out the fewest batters. But his lineup also scored fewer runs for him tonight than in his last three appearances. Meanwhile, Lopez gave up four runs in just 1/3 of an inning, which is three more than he'd given up in his previous 18 2/3 innings combined.
"I want to give him the heat and announce my presence with authority!"
What exactly was that thing Livan Hernandez froze Gary Sheffield with to strike him out in the fifth inning? On the radio, Jim Price said it looked like an "eephus pitch," but that's just an attempt to explain a really slow curveball, right? Whatever it was, the pitch was clocked at 61 m.p.h. and Sheff was mesmerized by its lack of speed. Maybe he could make out the spin of the ball and was hypnotized.
No wonder Livan could strike out Tigers batters with 87 m.p.h. "heat." That fastball must have looked like it was coming in at 120, combined with that slop.
He Left the Game with Pulled Feelings?
I caught the last half of the game at a bar with my arch-enemy Samela (the visual evidence of which can be seen here), and when we noticed that Denny Bautista left the game with an apparent injury, we figured he just wanted out becuase he didn't want to get pummeled by the Twins anymore. Sam's comment was "His feelings are hurt." In all seriousness, it turns out Bautista felt soreness in his shoulder. No other word, as of yet.
But Bautista had a chance to straighten some things out and get back in Leyland's good graces in a non-pressure situation, and failed to do so. Is he ready to take Jason Grilli's old mop-up role?