Tiger Geist

A much needed win for the Tigers, both the game and the series — have to win at home.  Porcello looked great (though as Kurt mentions, ran out of gas).  Alex Avila also looked pretty good in his first action.  Magglio Ordonez’s new batting stance seems to give him more ‘pull’ on the ball.

The story here (to me) is still Avila.  Here’s what I thought:

• Certainly passes the ‘eye’ test for a catcher.
• has a great approach at the plate; sees a lot of pitches
• Had two hits in his first game;  Matt Treanor / Dane Sardinha / Dusty Ryan have a combined 7 hits this year.
• First two-hit game from Detroit’s catcher since July 8; first 2 hit game from a backup catcher this year
• Looks like he gets his hair cut by the same barber as Dusty Ryan
• Uses the old-school catchers mask, which I like.

Don’t want to get too excited; Dusty Ryan had a hit in each of his first two games (and was a few inches from homering in his first game).  But we also learned why he was demoted:  Leyland didn’t seem to trust Ryan.  Jason Beck reports that Avila will catch Galarraga and Porcello for a while… which i will assume is a lack of confidence in Dusty.

Last, I learned one more thing:  the vowels are all ’soft’ in Avila.  Though, the way Mario kept pronouncing it on the telecast, it sounded more like a female reproductive organ.  So Alex has that going for him.