Given the early season success the Tigers have enjoyed, it’s hard to complain about losses because they are going to happen from time to time, but this one was bad. Not only did they allow a pitcher (Kevin Gregg) making his first start of the season to look great, but the staff allowed at least one hit to each batter in an atrocious lineup.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Chone Figgins, 3B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.288 |
| Orlando Cabrera, SS | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.286 |
| Vladimir Guerrero, RF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.327 |
| Garret Anderson, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.294 |
| Adam Kennedy, 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.322 |
| Casey Kotchman, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.164 |
| Howie Kendrick, DH | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.143 |
| Mike Napoli, C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.250 |
| Tommy Murphy, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.500 |
| Totals | 38 | 7 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 18 |
Essentially four rookies (Kotchman played 85 games prior to ’06) at the bottom of the order going 5-for-15 with two home runs (Kotchman and Napoli) and four runs batted in. Two of the rookies were called up that day! Meanwhile Gregg, Brendan Donnelly, and Francisco Rodriguez hold the Tigers to four hits and two runs. The Win Probability Chart from Fangraphs.com shows that things looked doomed from the start on Thursday:
I’m not going to throw out everything the Tigers have accomplished to this point and suggest they’ve been frauds in their hot start. I just don’t like “losing the ones you shouldn’t.” It is like losing to the Kansas City Royals. You know it can happen, it just shouldn’t! Maybe I’m just bummed that this was Justin Verlander‘s first start for my fantasy team since I acquired him and he got touched up. The team is off to Minnesota to start a nine-game roadie.
Tonight:
Detroit – Kenny Rogers (4-2, 2.59)
Minnesota – Kyle Lohse (1-2, 8.77)
Baseball By Paul 