KC Accidental

Despite their best efforts, the Tigers staggered out of Kansas City with a series win this weekend, a happy result that seemed unthinkable until late Sunday afternoon.

After looking cold and confused Friday and barely ekeing out a victory Saturday, the Tigers were not inspiring much confidence heading into the rubber game. When the pitching was strong, the offense disappeared, and when the bats perked up, the bullpen was nearly blowing the lead. 

Sunday had all the makings of another good-pitch, no-hit affair through eight innings. The Easter afternoon game seemed lost until Pudge Rodriguez smacked a three-run homer in the ninth off David Riske (insert semi-blasphemous “Tigers rise from the dead” joke here).  

So the win-loss column looked good as the Tigers headed to Baltimore, but the story on the field was a blend of good and bad. Bonderman looked strong, save two mistakes to Mark Teahen, with no unintentional walks and eight strikeouts. He also demonstrated some guile and intelligence by escaping a couple tough jams — the kind of situations that in previous years may have ballooned into big innings. Bondo doesn’t have a decision after two starts, but his early season performance is encouraging.

Perhaps more heartening was a relatively trouble-free inning from Fernando Rodney. He was a key player in last year’s bullpen and is arguably more important this year with Jamie Walker in Baltimore. Hopefully his Sunday performance is more indicative of the season to come than were his prior two outings.

The offense was nearly stagnant again, although it’s hard to determine how much Brandon Duckworth had to do with that. The Tigers weren’t and will never be a very disciplined team, but they didn’t seem to swing at too many awful pitches Sunday. Duckworth was not flashy but threw a lot of strikes, and he deserves some credit for that.

In all, the series was unimpressive, but the Tigers escaped with a pair of wins. One trait of the 2006 Tigers that had been absent in previous years was the ability to win on the days when the team just doesn’t “have it.” Jim Leyland’s guys showed this quality again on Sunday; let’s hope it’s a recurring theme. 

If Patience Started A Band, I’d Be Her Biggest Fan

Despite the dogged efforts of Jason Grilli, the Tigers managed to eke out a win in game two of the young season, thanks to an offensive explosion that included a grand slam from Curtis Granderson and two hits from Carlos Guillen. But one again, the offensive highlight was not a long hit but a slow walk — nine slow walks to first base by unusually discriminating Tiger hitters.

Five of those nine free passes came around to score, and the Tigers’ patience no doubt allowed them to get better pitches to hit when they weren’t jogging to first. My analytical side keeps reminding my home side that it’s only been two games, it’s not a trend, but I can’t but be encouraged by the team’s approach at the plate thus far.

I had been frightened by the organizational maxim issued this winter that called for players throughout the system to strike out less. While it’s true several Tigers could benefit from making more contact, players who are trained to focus on not striking out often sacrifice walks and solid contact in an attempt to simply “put it in play.”

That may still be a concern, but at least in the opening series, the Tigers were able to balance patience and power and were rewarded for it. Granderson, a favorite whipping boy of the anti-K crowd, sizzled a line drive out to right-center for the game-changing grand slam, and he later a drive into the right-field corner for a triple. Add those ropes to several solid ABs on Monday, and it seems Granderson may just be able to make more contact without foregoing his considerable sock. Striking the combination there would instantly make him one of the best young centerfielders in the league.