What I Neglected To Tell You

Sorry for the weekend break everyone- a friend was in from another school and I was pretty much over at my buddies' place with them the whole weekend. But this doesn't mean I didn't watch the last three games of the Blue Jays series. Thoughts from three games:

Friday

• Jeremy Bonderman vs. Roy Halladay was an absolutely fantastic pitching match up, with both starters going the full nine innings and leaving the game 1-1 going into the 10th. Bondo looked absolutely shut down the entire game and Halladay was his normal spectacular self.
• Fernando Rodney is thisclose to being dead to me. After his misadventures in the World Series, one would think that Rodney would have worked on his defensive abilities in the off-season. Apparently not. Two bunt singles, a walk, and boom- great game by Bonderman wasted in quite literally four batters. Check yourself Fernando, check yourself.
• Not the best performance by Tigers hitting, again, but at least they have an excuse with Halladay being on the mound.

Saturday

• Chad Durbin- still not impressive. He looked overwhelmed the entire time he was in and let his pitch count escalate early. I am still not going to be surprised when Andrew Miller gets the call up in a few weeks to take his spot in the rotation. Durbin might've fit in with the old Tigers pitching staffs of Nate Cornejo and Mark Redman, but he's a mediocre at best pitcher in a elite pitching staff. He is the winkest link, good-bye.
• The Tigs worked AJ Burnett pretty well, even on a day when he brought his A game. They got his pitch count to rise and then eventually started chipping away into the Toronto 4-0 lead and drove him out of the game.
• Clutch hitting is the hallmark of this team, yet again. A few days after Monroe goes deep to win the game against Baltimore, Marcus Thames drives in two runs to take the lead in the ninth 8-7. Monroe drives in another big run and then Brandon Inge reaches on an error to give us the final score of 10-7. I just laughed through the whole ninth. A fantastic win.
• The win guarenteed a winning road trip, which is a good sign for the best road team in the majors last year. Being a good road team is a huge factor in a winning season, hopefully this is a first step in that direction again.

Sunday

• Nate Robertson pitched yet another great game today with absolutely no run support again. It just isn't fair to this guy that he doesn't win more games because the bats just don't show up behind him some nights. He's really emerged as the most consitent pitcher on the staff now after three completely insane shut-down starts.
• The real blame from today's game comes down on the Tigers' bats- again. They simply couldn't hit an okay pitcher having a decent day. Towers wasn't doing anything special, the Tigs just couldn't make good contact consistently. This kind of production is not what Mr. Illitch is paying for guys.

The Tigs head home for the start of another homestand tomorrow against KC with a 6-4 record of their first trip of the year. Not a bad start, all things considered. It'll be good to see the Chicago White sox roll in for the weekend, if only because it'll announce the start of the race for the division, which is going to be a good one this year. See you all tomorrow.