Sunday, June 21, 2009

Verlander back in the groove

Justin Verlander rebounded from his ineffective start at St. Louis to beat the Brewers 3-2 and give the Tigers a sweep of the series. Brandon Inge provided the punch with a 2-out, 3-run tater in the sixth. Verlander struck out eight, but also got eight groundball outs, which he attributed to the best changeup he's had all year.

Prior to his start against the Cardinals, Verlander had tossed eight of nine "gems" as defined by the game scores system. His only "non gem" came against the Orioles, in the game Sparky and Stan attended. But he still won.

Jim Leyland is going to separate Verlander and Edwin Jackson in the rotation. The idea is to give the bullpen a break. Having Rick Porcello, Armando Galarraga and now rookie Alfredo Figaro (in place of Dontrelle Willis) pitch on consecutive days was putting too much of a strain on the pen in consecutive games. Seems like sound logic. We'll see if it works out.

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