When Billfer mentioned to me last night that Rick Porcello might be under some pressure to keep the team's shutout streak alive, I joked that he should just groove the first pitch of the game to Grady Sizemore to reduce the tension. That's not quite how the rookie played it, but the Indians finally broke through for a run in the second inning. Since the Tigers' lineup put up four runs in their half of the inning, however, it really didn't matter. And that was the only score Porcello allowed in his five innings of work.
Roar:
With the Tigers facing two right-handed starters in this series, Jim Leyland made sure to get Jeff Larish some meaningful at-bats. And Larish didn't squander the opportunity, giving the Tigers a lead they kept the whole afternoon with a moon-shot home run to right field. Pair that with last night's RBI triple, and Larish had himself a pretty good weekend in Cleveland.
Can we also officially welcome Magglio Ordonez back to the 2009 season? Getting a day off yesterday appears to have helped Maggs, as he hit 2-for-3 this afternoon, with two runs scored.
And don't look now, but after his own 2-for-3 day (and two RBIs), Adam Everett is hitting .281/.319/.406.
Whimper:
I'm pretty sure we've said this before, but let's go ahead and make sure Leyland gets another copy of that memo, m'kay? No non-save situations for Fernando Rodney. For whatever reason, whether he loses focus or just doesn't see the big dollar signs unless he's earning a save, Rodney doesn't pitch well with a four-run lead.
Last night, he didn't give up a run, but allowed two baserunners. Today, however, Rodney came close to blowing the game, giving up two runs (one of which scored on a wild pitch). But if every closer is due for a bad day, perhaps we should be thankful that Rodney's occurred with a lead big enough to withstand the damage.
Comment of the Day:
nice to see the team meeting went well for the Indians
by MackAveKurt
I ended up watching today's game early this evening on DVR (Happy Mother's Day, Mom - I cut the grass!), but it was much more fun to catch up on the game by scrolling through the GameThread comments. The BYB bunch is definitely entertaining, if you weren't already aware of this. Toot that horn!
And with the Royals' 4-3 loss to the Angels this afternoon, the Tigers go into tomorrow's off-day as a first-place team. Not a bad weekend.