Seattle Sweep

[racosun]

Today's 6-4 victory in Seattle put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of the Mariners, and extends the Tigers winning streak to five games. It was a much-hyped matchup of young phenom flamethrowers between Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander. "King" Felix started the game off very wild, and gave up two early runs in the first inning. Other than his inconsistent command, he racked up 9 K's over 7 innings of work. However, that doesn't mean he was dominant today. The Tigers did their best (as usual) to allow opposing pitchers to get out of jams by swinging at terrible pitches and taking the good ones. Craig Monroe was awful at the plate, until his three-run blast put the Tigers up 6-1. Verlander, on the other hand, was fantastic. He seemed to try to "pitch" today instead of simply "throw", as young pitchers tend to do. He didn't have many K's, but induced alot of ground balls and kept the infielders active. I'd have to say Verlander looked like the top young SP in the game today, instead of the widely-acclaimed Hernandez. Zumaya came in to get some work and gave up three runs. Leyland tried to let him work his way out of it, but it was just one of those rookie days for Joel. Now he'll let that sink in and hit another hot streak. Todd Jones looked real sharp, working a perfect ninth for his second save. Much better than a couple days ago.

Overall, a very well-pitched series in Seattle. The offense was able to work out some kinks against a lackluster Mariners staff, and the defense got out of the funk it was in. Now we're heading into Anaheim to face an Angels team that's also heating up. Should be a good series. I predict we'll take two-of-three, extending our road dominance.

[tigers527]

The reason Zumaya looked bad in Seattle was because Zumaya and Verlander throw the exact same stuff. Even their curves look the same, the one difference is Zumaya throws a few MPH slower (at least on that night). Hence, why the Seattle team caught up to his stuff.