Okay, we may have blogged a little bit angry last night. It's tough when Luke Scott demolishes months of what appeared to be productive offseason therapy. But after a night of calming down, drinking tea, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth, sitting criss-cross-applesauce, followed by a proper rest, we are now ready to talk about what happened to the Tigers in the opener of their four-game series in Baltimore.
Luke F. Scott is what happened. Seriously, how can one guy beat on a team with such regularity? Is Scott somehow related to someone in the Tigers organization? Did anyone associated with the Tigers lose a bet to Scott? Did Scott travel to Bangladesh in the winter of 2007, drink the blood of a mighty Bengal Tiger, and graft the beast's pelt onto his back? No, really - I want to know. I need to know. How the hell can -- ?
I'm sorry. There I go again. Deep breath. Forget that Scott has hit seven home runs against the Tigers since last season. Waterfall pose. Let that .536/.594/1.429 average against Detroit just wash away, like gallons of tears. Lavender tea. Ease the pain of those 14 RBIs. Multiple cigarettes. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Purr:
If there's a bright side to last night's result, it's that Armando Galarraga pitched the best that he probably has in his last six games. And if he'd gotten some run support (or more specifically, some timely hitting), maybe he would've even won. But as ReichardZ said in the GameThread, if this means Galarraga has figured something out and closer to being the pitcher we saw last year, then maybe this is something to build on.
But let's also not go crazy here, folks. Yes, Galarraga gave up less than five runs (three, to be exact). And he only walked one batter, while striking out four. He also pitched seven innings for only the second time this season, while throwing 100 pitches. But he still gave up 10 hits. (And two of them went over the fence.) Galarraga didn't allow that many hits in any game last season. He gave up nine once. He gave up eight hit six times. But he never gave up 10.
So while Galarraga might be regaining control of his pitches - and more importantly, the feel for his slider - batters are still finding him very hittable. And maybe that supports those who thought last season was a fluke, when so many of those batted balls found their way into fielders' gloves. This year, those balls are finding grass. Or seats. But Galarraga didn't look like the Tigers' worst starting pitcher last night, and I suppose that's encouraging.
The Tao of Leyland:
"you can't execute like that and expect to win a major league ballgame, that was terrible"
-- From the Detroit News
Comment of the Night:
Luke Scott + Melvin Mora + Armando Galarraga = nightmares tonight
I’m sleeping with the light on tonight.
by wepri31