Spring board

April is in the book and it was the best (16-9) for the Tigers since 1993 – which happens to be the last time they had a winning season. If they pick up a victory tonight over KC, they’ll be off to their best start since 1984 when they were 22-4 after 26 games.

The Tigers pitching staff lowered its ERA to 3.22 with its dominance of the Twins over the weekend. Detroit pitchers gave up 1 run. The Tigers have 5 shutouts this year. No other AL team has more than 2. The staff’s WHIP is 1.10 – which would be outstanding for a single pitcher, much less a staff – and opponents’ on-base average is .283. Teams are batting .217 against them.

Obviously, this cannot last, can it? Imagine what the ERA would be if Jeremy Bonderman’s wasn’t 5.04. Bonderman is 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA at home and is 2-0 with a 2.75 ERA on the road. Of course, his home starts have been against CWS and Cleveland, but it’s still odd given Comerica’s reputation as a pitcher’s park.

Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames have been the catalysts for the offense in recent days. Guillen is hitting .315 with five homers and 17 RBI. Thames was 5-for-7 with two homers and four RBI in the last two games, which came on the heels of an 0-for-18 slump.

Pudge is batting .330 and Maggs is quietly batting .304 with five homers and 14 RBI.

Jim Leyland continues to push all the right buttons.