KEY STAT
I'll give you two for the price of one, as both were huge for the Tigers.
1. Scott Sizemore's batting line: 3-4, 1 R, 1 RBI.
2. Brad Penny's 6 innings pitched.
Penny had to throw well, as the Tigers' depleted bullpen was little more than Daniel Schlereth and Jose Valverde. Penny also put up a quality start, allowing 1 R in 6 IP.
Sizemore was swinging the bat well with the Mud Hens...and never stopped after arriving in Detroit. Sizemore now has as many extra base hits in one game as the demoted Will Rhymes had in 19.
KEY PLAY
With the Tigers holding on to a slight 2-1 lead in the 4th, RF Casper Wells threw out Andruw Jones at the plate to end the inning and a budding Yankees rally. I seriously doubt regular RF Magglio Ordonez makes that play. Alex Avila was a brick wall, stuffing Jones well short of the plate. The play went a long way (along with some bad Yankees base running in the 6th) toward Penny tossing six full innings, instead of the Tigers being forced to use their understaffed pen.
KEY CALL UP
Immediately after the game, Dave Dombrowski announced Omir Santos was optioned to Toledo, and the Tigers will activate Victor Martinez on Wednesday.
KEY THOUGHTS
The Tigers' record with Scott Sizemore: One game over .500.
The Tigers' record without Scott Sizemore: Five games under .500.
Coincidence? Well, probably. But Sizemore's performance (tonight and all season long with the Mud Hens) gives more ammo to those who believe he should have been the Tigers' 2nd baseman coming out of Lakeland.
With a pair of K's tonight, Ryan Raburn is on track for 600 strike outs...though my math may be a little off. Seriously, there are two players with more than 40 strikeouts in the bigs, and they are both Tigers. Raburn and Austin Jackson.
Speaking of Jackson, after an 0-4 hiccup last night, his gradual recovery from a season long slump continued. Jackson was 2-5, with a double, triple, 2 runs scored and an RBI. When combined with Sizemore, the Tigers' top of the order was as productive as its been all season (5-9, 3 R, 2 RBI).
Earlier today Ordonez said he's "Hitting with one leg." So it begs the question, why is he even in the lineup? Injured though he may be, slumping though he is, Ordonez was back in the 3 spot tonight. But he did have a pair of singles and his 2nd RBI of the season. I do have to wonder if Ordonez's performance will change Jim Leyland's plan to move him to 6th in the batting order. It's only one game...but it's also Leyland we're talking about.
At the very least, I hope Singglio is back. I badly miss Magglio, but it's better than Ground-outliggio, who has hung around for far too long.
Tonight the Tigers played as I expected them to this season. There was timely hitting, good starting pitching, a shutdown bullpen, and mistakes kept to a bare minimum. I haven't seen that team in over a week, and only in spurts earlier in the season. It's great to see them back, hopefully for good.
So it's finally over. The losing streak ends at seven. A Tigers win is nice. Several more, preferably strung in a row, would be nicer.