The Detroit Tigers completed their second straight series sweep yesterday by beating the Kansas City Royals 13-4...
This was a beatdown.
Game three was 6-0 before the tarp got rolled up after the 30-minute rain delay. Even Neifi Perez homered in game three. That's how bad it was.
Game one was a pitching masterpiece by Justin Verlander. Game two showed a couple of great comebacks and a 7-5 victory, and game three, all cylinders fired. Chad Durbin faced 22 out of a minimum 21 possible batters in the first seven innings and got into a little trouble in the eighth. If the Tigers were not minus Joel Zumaya, or not up 13-0 at the time, he likely would have been removed before getting into any trouble, but winning 13-4 is still pretty good.
The only bad part was losing Joel Zumaya for what looks like an extended period of time. He warmed up a little with the Tigers tied and/or behind because he hadn't pitched in five days, but then, the Tigers got the lead, and he started "cranking it up." His finger popped, he felt (and still feels) intense pain, and he has now landed on the disabled list.
Preliminary guesses put his time off at anywhere from a month to the end of the season. It doesn't look good, and you can pretty much bet that Kenny Rogers and Vance Wilson will be a battery in a game before Joel Zumaya throws a baseball faster than 80 miles an hour, but it may not be too bad, either. The question, however, is to wonder what Zumaya will be like when he comes back. Will he worry, will he try to steer the ball too much, or will he be the same old fireballer with possibly a finger that is a little bit longer than it was last week, adding to the spin and the speed on the ball?
Only time will tell, and now is for the Tigers to hang tough. They still have Fernando Rodney, who has been unhittable for the past couple of weeks after a rough start to the season. Bobby Seay has looked good. Jason Grilli needs to step it up a bit, but the Tigers can take this hit.
The most important thing, however, is for the Tigers to get the lead and not put it in jeopardy in the late innings. The starting staff will have to battle in the seventh and into the eighth in close games to attempt to bridge the gap. Fernando Rodney will have to get used to pitching two out of every three days, which shouldn't be a problem, but the Tiger starters will have to get the game to the eighth inning a little more.
Justin Verlander had that ability. Jeremy Bonderman has that ability. Nate Robertson has that ability. Mike Maroth has shown that ability in the past, and Chad Durbin looks like he should pitch every ten days instead of every fifth day, as every other start seems to go his way. This is doable. The Tigers have over 10 hits in something like ten of their last thirteen games, and if they keep hitting, the pitchers will just have to keep them in the game as opposed to go out and win it like they had to early in the season.
Regardless, first place with Zumaya hurt is much better than third place with Zumaya hurt. With 13 games in the next 13 days starting tomorrow, it will be a good test to see what this team can do without him. He only throws an inning a night every other day when the team has the lead, so it shouldn't cost them too much if you think about it. But the road trip to Minnesota and Boston could prove troublesome if the bats don't stay awake for the next two weeks. The Tigers have won seven in a row. If they can rattle off ten of the next thirteen, they will be in good shape going into the next two week period when they play Cleveland six times in their next thirteen game in thirteen game stretch.
Twenty-six games.
If they can win 18 of them, they will be just fine. But at this stage of the season, any winning record over the next twenty-seven days will be good.
Those sweeps are looking better and better...
