Max Scherzer has ... shall we say .... interesting splits this year. They were on display again Monday night.
Two games against the Twins: 8 IP, 18 hits, 16 ER, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts
Four games against the real of the AL: 24 IP, 21 hits, 7 ER, 7 walks, 17 strikeouts
We can't even blame Joe Mauer for this, as he sat again with a sore heel, while Jim Thome, Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span and Wilson Ramos accounted for the majority of the punishment inflected upon Scherzer.
I continue to have some concern about Scherzer, whose average fastball was a tick slower than it has been this season and nearly 3 mph off what it was last year. His peak fastball was just 93.2. Not coincidentally, his strikeout rate has dropped quite a bit, too. A couple of his hits allowed were high in the zone. A couple were completely outside of it.
This is definitely a storyline worth watching as the season goes forward.
The game was pretty much unwatchable after the first two innings when Minnesota went up 7-0, though I stuck around anyway because -- let's face it -- what else is on TV on Mondays? Nothing I'd watch.
The most bright spot of this game was probably Austin Jackson, who continues to rack up the extra-base hits and multi-hit games. He had a single, a double and a triple. Interestingly, they came in exactly that order, too. The double off the glove of a leaping Michael Cuddyer and the triple just past the glove of the diving Cuddyer.
Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch also had multi-hit games. Brad Thomas had 3-2/3 shutout innings in relief.
In other news:
- I was on The Knee Jerks with Big Al and Greg Eno yesterday. I assume the audio will be up soon.
- AL Central Focus had a post about Jackson's hot start
- At Take 75 North, Matt Wallace thinks about what being a fan of Detroit sports teams means.
- Mike McClary looked back at April at The Daily Fungo.
- Based on what we've seen on TV, I agree with Tom Gage's take on Target Field.
- MLB.com's Jason Beck reports Carlos Guillen accompanied the team on the road trip and is making progress rehabbing his hamstring. When he'll be back exactly is still unknown.
Comment of the Night
Flying J assisted me in writing the recap:
Tigers were bad.
Twins were annoying.
Meh it’s one game.
A good challenge came from 1140193.
Challenge
Can you write a haiku about the game? Maybe we can at least have some fun with it.