When it rains, it pours. Magglio Ordonez hit the DL because of a hernia. Reports on the radio said he’d be out 4-6 weeks minimum, and that’s from the time he has his surgery. I’m not sure how that sickness he had turned into this, but it causes some major problems in the outfield. I guess we’ll have to wait until June to see Mags get his first hit.

This makes the decision to keep Bobby Higginson look even more sound. With Thames up, the Tigers still have four decent outfielders, and we don’t have to rush up a guy like Curtis Granderson. To replace Ordonez, the Tigers called up reliever Andrew Good. With the Tigers current pitching woes, Tram has had to resort to twelve arms a lot quicker then he probably would have hoped.

The series with the Twins was pretty pathetic. The Twins showed why they’re the three time defending AL Central champs, and why the Tigers aren’t quite in their class yet. And this makes the series this weekend at Kansas City that much more important. They need to take two of three or fall even further below .500.

AM1270’s Sports Inferno, with Terry Foster and Mike Valenti, had a lively discussion about the lack of a true lead off hitter. It was agreed that neither Brandon Inge or Omar Infante fit the bill, but I got back to work before I could hear their opinions on who should be the leadoff man.

In my opinion, Bobby Higginson, at least when he’s playing, would be a fine choice. He’s willing to take pitches and work the count. People will point to his .182 average, but you have to hope he’d break out of that slump eventually.

Another unlikely candidate would be Carlos Pena. While he strikes out quite a bit, his eye seems to have improved as he’s boasting a 6/9 strikeout to walk ratio. With the small sample size, he’s got an impressive .459 OBP. Unfortunately I couldn’t find his pitches per plate appearance number, but you figure it has to be decent with that kind of walk rate.

And if you’ve never listend to Sports Inferno (10 am through 1 pm), I highly recommend it. Mike Valenti really knows his stuff, and he’s a Spartan to boot. Terry Foster is one of those rare excellent writers who also makes the transition to being a fine on air host. The banter between the two is very funny at times, but when they get down to business, you know you’ll get a great discussion.

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