It seemed so long ago since we started the season 4-0, yet it was only last week.

Last year, Jody Gerut had a pretty good rookie season. In 480 at bats, he hit .279/22/75. Not too shabby for a guy who essentially came out of nowhere. What’s telling are these numbers:

Against any team then the Tigers: 411 at bats, .277/15/48
Against the Tigers: 69 at bats, .290/7/27

That’s called dominating a team. And he got started in 2003 even better then he left off, as Jody Gerut went 5 for 5, with a homerun and three rbis in an Indians 10-3 rout of the Tigers last night.

Not too much to say about this one that’s good. I-Rod continue to hit well, and has his batting average up to .359. Craig Monroe continued to struggle throwing the ball, as he almost sent on into the stands behind the catcher on a throw to home plate. Nat Cornejo got shelled, giving up 14 hits in only five innings. Even Jamie Walker, the only Tiger pitcher to enter the game and not give up a run, struggled, giving up two hits and a walk in an inning.

And already, the Tigers pen, which wasn’t great to begin with, is being used quite a bit. Hopefully Maroth can go seven innings today to give them a break.

Ugueth Urbina made his Tiger debut last night, pitching the sixth inning. Hopefully we can say it was just rust, because he gave a run, two hits, and two walks in an inning. He did strike out two, so that’s encouraging.

A buddy of mine stopped by last night and we rolled a couple of games of Strat. I was getting pretty lucky with my rolls, and he was pretty unlucky. I haven’t bought the 2003 cards yet, so we were playing the 2002 Phillies against the Royals (I was the Royals). Paul Byrd gave up five runs in the first inning, and in the two games we played, Philly wasn’t able to score in either of the two games, so the Royals staff (Jeff Suppan started the second game) pitched 17 consecutive scoreless innings. I came back to win the first game 8-5, then trounced him in the second 8-0. Fun stuff though. He also brought by MVP Baseball 2004, which is a pretty incredible game.

1984 Diary is back tomorrow. And hopefully we’ll have some good news to report on the Tigers.

Permalink | Posted in Uncategorized