Games 8-12

Day games spent at work and West Coast games a little bit past my bedtime, kept me away from the Tigers this past week. I did catch most of the Ramon Santiago show yesterday, and I never get tired seeing Carlos Silva on the mound against the Tigers.

So what did I learn this past week? Well that the pitching that we saw for the first 7 games, appears to be the real deal. Just as he did against a hot hitting Texas team, Armando Galarraga shut down a White Sox team that scored 10 against the Tigers. Edwin Jackson finally picked up his first win of the season, after 3 great performances. The bullpen, did what it needed to do and helped close out two shutouts.

We also learned Miguel Cabrera is really good at hitting. 10 Hits in the 5 games, and he even added a stolen base. He was not alone as the Tigers had at least 9 hits in each game. I think that stats a little more impressive when you factor in three of those games were against legit #1 starters in Gavin Floyd, Felix Hernandez and Eric Bedard. And even more surprising is that most of the offense is coming from Brandon Inge, Ramon Santiago, and Josh Anderson; the normal 7-8-9 hitters. Once Granderson and Guillen get going...well let's just stop there as 2008 collapsed under the weight of the 1000 run line-up.

Next up, the Tigers have a series with the ailing Angels. How bad are they hurting? Their depth chart only shows 3 pitcher and Bobby Abreu is playing LF and RF. Of course the Tigers will be facing the top 2 of the 3 in All-Star Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver. And even without Vlad Guerrero, the Angels can still hit. Another good early season test for this Tiger team