The 7th Inning Stretch

It was, in no uncertain terms, a seventh inning stretch tonight for the Tigers.  An inning that went on and on and on.  The Tigers gave up 5 runs in the seventh inning tonight.  What was touted as a stout bullpen back end has become a something of a catastrophe.  Tonight Brad Thomas and Enrigue Gonzalez combined for .2 innings and 5 runs in the seventh inning.  That inning had been slated for Ryan Perry who went on the DL today with an eye infection.  In a perfect world, Perry would have come into the game in 7th with a lead, handed the ball to Benoit in the 8th, who would have passed the ball to Valverde in the 9th.  That was the story that was told to fans going into this season.  That situation has not happened yet this season.  The closest we got was during the win in the Yankees series when Phil Coke pitched the 7th and then Benoit setup Valverde.  So what is going on?  Bad luck for one.  The Tigers schedule didn't help.  The Yankees lineup is formidable and the Orioles have been one of the hottest teams in baseball since Buck Showalter took over last season..  Perry going to the DL, the Tigers not staking any of their starters to decent leads, you name it.

Robbie Weinhardt was called up to take Perry's spot and hopefully he can fill the gap between the Starters and closers.  Brian Villarreal has pitched well so far this season, in his role, but there haven't been many other bright spots from this pitching staff so far.  Hopefully they can get their act together and actually shut down some teams.  This vaunted pitching staff is not doing much in the way of putting the team in a position to win.

Other Notes:  The Tigers are getting production from a few guys that they likely weren't expecting production from.  Brandon Inge is hitting over .300 to start the season, Alex Avila is providing some nice pop from the left side at the bottom of the lineup.  And Brennan Boesch is showing flashes of his first half last season.  I wouldn't mind if he could put together a complete season, providing left handed power and hitting for a decent average.