Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch much baseball this weekend. Between paintball, running around getting stuff to finish the basement with (owning a house can be a pain), taxes (yes, unfortunately those don’t end April 15) and NCAA 2004, I was only around to watch a little bit of today’s game.
And unfortunately, it was more of the same. The Twins were up 2-0 after an inning, and then 4-0 after three. It’s been around a week since a starter has even gone 6 innings, so the pen has to be tired. Fortunately a knuckleballer like Sparks (who pitched today) can eat up some innings.
Matt Roney only lasted 2 innings. In his last 6 starts, he’s given up less then 4 runs only once, and since becoming a starter (this is his ninth start), he’s seen his ERA jump from 3.00 to 5.08 and his batting average against jump from .205 to over .250. That’s not an encouraging trend.
The Tigers have to get consistent innings from their starters. Everytime you have to go to your pen early, you lose flexibility as far as what you can do the next game, if not the game after that. Go several starts like the Tigers have without having someone go into the seventh, and its a recipe for disaster. Like we need more of those.
The Tigers only offense came off a 2 run homer by Bobby Higginson in the 6th, and I might have to eat a little crow regarding a past post since Shannon Stewart has gone 30 for 70 (yes, that’s .429) since joining the Twins a few weeks ago. He scored two of the Twins 7 runs.
The Tigers have Oakland next, then the Twins again. Both series are at home. Sunday is the Tiger’s Legends (guess they don’t call them old-timers anymore) game. Unfortunately I’ll be down in Southgate that day watching my former softball team make a run in their end of season softball tournament. I still hope to get down to the park one last time, if not two.