The Tigers headed to Cincinnati to take on the Reds at Great American Ballpark. I was planning on heading down there for the weekend, but Chelsea and I were still traveled out from Boston (and the Sunday night game was switched to the ESPN game of the week at 8pm). Detroit played a very good series on the road, and they continued there stretch of winning twice as much as losing inter-league games. Let's get to the awards!
Verlander of the Series: I have to go with Austin Jackson with this series. The man came back for the last two games of the series and the Tigers, of course, went 2-0. He was hitless in the first game back, but then was the ultimate catalyst in the series finale on the big stage. He hit a 2 run double against the best reliever in baseball to give the Tigers the game and series victory. And as always, he plays a 2nd to none centerfield. Man, how we missed our young star. If AJ keeps this up there is no way that Ron Washington can keep him off of the All-Star roster.
The Schlereth of the Series: will belong to Rick Porcello. This is a tough one because the bullpen technically got the loss for the Friday night game, but Rick could have pitched better. This guy has a lot of talent in that right arm, but he just cannot stay consistent. I know getting 14 wins a year from your 4th starter is pretty good, but when we drafted Rick we had number 2 expectations. Yes, he is still young, but right now he is struggling. He cannot keep the ball down with his sinker which is resulting in a lot of hard hit balls. I hope he can turn things around, at least for the end of June and July since these have been his best two months of his career. In a close second place it has to be Delmon Young. Part of it is that I just really dislike the inept left fielder, and trading him for a bag of seeds actually sounds like a good investment at this point. The other part is he continually gives me reasons to be titled my Tiger... to yell at. He made one of the worst plays in left field on Saturday, of course during JV's start, that ended up making JV get a 4 out inning which led to a 2 run 2 out single (the only two runs the Reds scored). The dude is a half tool player... he cannot field a position, throw, steal bases, or hit for average. The half tool comes from him being able to hit for power.. sometimes.
Looking forward, the Tigers have a real shot of sweeping the Cubs. The way this season is going, they likely will not, but the Cubs are miserable. Detroit has the pitching advantage in 2 of the games (with Matt Garza being the exception), and they have a better lineup. Hopefully the friendly confines of Wrigley are friendly to the road team.
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