Tiger Geist

A lot to like about Friday night.  It was the warmest day of the year in SF… about time… and Detroit hung tough for a 5-2 victory over the Black Sox.  The bullpen came through in very tough circumstances — big kudos to Aquilino Lopez for getting out of the first, only allowing one (Willis) run.  Coming in cold (in the cold) against a lineup that just lit up Tiger pitching a few days earlier and shutting them down… finally.. awesome.  Even Jason Grilli helped out, in a very Todd Jones-esque fashion, with three shut out innings.

I got home from dinner and was able to turn on mlb.tv for the ninth;  Todd Jones was unhittable.  Denny Bautista holds them in the 8th — looks like he can throw strikes when it matters.  There is a lot to like about Clete Thomas as a left-handed fourth outfielder (though he looks kind of gumpy — they might need to make him wear sunglasses all the time to toughen him up, ala Guy Patterson).  Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge are stealing bases.  Speaking of Inge, 9 RBIs to lead the team.  Learn to catch buddy if you want to stay in the lineup.  Magglio is starting to warm up, and Cabrera tacks on an insurance run with a single in the 8th.  And finally.. a goose egg in the error column.  

Not sure what to do about Willis.  I think they put him on the DL, figure out what is wrong with him, and make him turn in some rehab starts in Toledo to work on his mechanics.  It has to be maddening for both the pitching coach and the trainer with that wild delivery — neither can tell when he does something out of the ordinary to indicate an issue.  Surprisingly, Leyland only yanked him because the trainer didn’t like what he saw:

“He said he’s all right. He’s tough. He wants to compete,” Leyland said of Willis. “But Kevin didn’t like the way he was moving his knee around and the way it was landing. He didn’t like it at all. So I said that’s enough. I’m not going to take a chance.”

Next time I’d give Dontrelle two walks per game and then yank him.  Yank him immediately if he walks the lead-off batter in any inning.  Normally I’d be worried he’d start grooving pitches down the middle, but I don’t think he could find the strike zone if he tried.  Something’s wrong, and he and Nate Robertson are going to kill the bullpen if they can’t get into the sixth inning.

Jacque Jones at the DH… slightly scary.  I guess in most big games Sheffield plays, but they might need to find (Jeff Larish?) a left handed bat with power.