Hello again. The Tigers welcomed the Pirates to Comerica this past weekend, and Detroit finally wins a series. The Pirates are the worst hitting team in the NL, but even with that fact, two of the Tiger's pitchers brought their A game to the park. Let's get to the awards.
Verlander of the Series: I never thought I would need to say this when one pitcher goes a complete game of 1 hit ball (8 1/3 of no hit), but this weekend's award is a little competitve. Scherzer had one of his best starts as a Tiger, striking out 15 Pirates over 7 innings. It increased his lead of K/9 in the AL, and set the Comerica Park record. The dude was dealing. But I just have to go with Verlander on this one. I was lucky enough to watch his start from the first pitch, and it seemed special after only the 3rd inning. Verlander was just dominant. He was one bad luck ball away from having his third no hitter of his career. This guy now leads the AL in almost every pitching category and has continued his 2011 dominance. JV might have the largest expectations of any starting pitcher in baseball, and somehow he still finds ways to exceed them. I am excited to see what he can do against the Indians on Thursday.
Schlereth of the Series: Since I can't pick just one offense player here, I will just choose the offense in general. Yes the Tigers are still batting .277 with RISP (4th in the AL), but they have struggled to get those clutch hits to push runners across all season. That was the reason the Tigers lost the game on Saturday, they were 1-8 in this category. I will put a little asterisk by that number though, because most of those chances were with 2 outs. The Tigers just couldn't get runners on base early in innings, and it cost them a sweep. Yes, I am probably nit-picking a little, but I had to pick something here. Over the past week I have been impressed with the direction the offense was heading, and then Jackson got hurt. He has been the catalyst all season, so it is very impressive the Tigers were able to win a series with DK in the leadoff spot. AJ come back soon!
Looking ahead, the Tigers get their first shot at the division leading Indians and then head to Minnesota. Again looking at the schedule (and the pitching matchups) Detroit could win 5 of these 6 games. But, the games have to be played on the field, and if AJ doesn't come back soon the offense could have another tough series. I just hope they can get back over .500 before they (and me) head to Fenway for the Memorial Day series.
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