Looks like the Tigers have arrived. Last night's pounded of C.C. Sabathia in Cleveland provided a glimpse of what this offense is capable of. Consider they did all of that damage with a lead-off hitter that went 0-6.
I've talked about Gary Sheffield's impact on the offense in the past, and again last night he showed his worth. There is a tremendous value to taking a walk that often is overlooked. In the fifth inning last night, Sheff put together a 10-pitch at-bat that led to a seven run inning and eventually the ouster of Sabathia. Making C.C. work that hard had a strong effect on how he approached the rest of the inning. The 10-pitch at-bat resulted in a walk and the Tigers began to roll.
Makes you wonder what this offense will be like when Grandy returns. This line-up is already a nightmare for opposing pitchers to deal with, but Granderson adds another dimension. His speed and running ability gives the line-up more balance and quickness. More offense leads to more relaxed starting pitching, and that's a good thing.
I agree with you completely on what a great at bat that Sheffield had. Anytime you can make the pitcher work like that in an at bat is of value, even if you ultimately end up making an out. The Tigers have seem to had a number of innings at bat this year where the opposing pitcher didn't have to throw 10 pitches to get out of the inning.
Magglio also had a great at bat working a walk off of an 0-2 count last night.
Tigers are startin to show some patience at the plate as of late...its was sorely missing through the 2-10 games.
I didnt think of Sheff as valuable like that, but its true, no-one throws him much to swing at anyways, so take the Walks, be patient. (Still think we could trade him for Jurrjens or...)
I am a Sheff fan, but he hasn't played well consistently enough to be the 3 hitter whenever he plays. You want more than walks out of your 3 hitter and he hasn't had a good, consistent year since his 2nd to last year with the Yanks. If he hits lower in the lineup those walks would mean better pitches for the 7-9 hitters. On a more positive note, thanks for talking more about the bullpen lately. Bautista and Lopez have been a very nice surprise.
Last edited by crashrock on April 23rd at 8:16 PM.
Mario Impemba is in his seventh season as play-by-play announcer on FSN Detroit’s Emmy-winning Tigers coverage.
In addition to Tigers duties, he has done play-by-play on FSN's coverage of MHSAA football and basketball championship games, as well as CCHA hockey and college basketball. In the off-season, he is the radio and television voice of Oakland University Golden Grizzlies basketball.
Before joining the FSN broadcast team, he spent the previous seven seasons as the radio voice of the then-Anaheim Angels and served as a fill-in TV play-by-play announcer during his final three years in Anaheim.
Check out more about the craft of baseball broadcasting at his website, thesoundofbas eball.com.
