Behind 5 and 1/3 ball smokin innings from Tigers newcomer, Robby Ray, the Tigers beat the Astros into a conniption, 11-4, and extended their winning streak to seven. Ray allowed one earned run on five hits. He walked only one and struck out five.
What impressed me the most about Ray was that he got in trouble early in the first and was able to pitch out the jam without surrendering a run. It’s a small sample size but perhaps Dave “Double D” Dombrowski knows a thing or two about a thing or two.
The Good:
- Just when I was beginning to worry about Miggy, he shoved those concerns down my throat. He was 4-5 today with a homer and four RBIs. If he returns to form this could be a very formidable Tigers offense.
- Ian Kinsler had three hits.
- Alex “A Squared Money” Avila, Nick Castellanos, and “Downtown” Danny Worth had two hits each and Worth had three RBIs.
- The Amazing Al pitched a shut out inning in relief and struck out two.
- The Tigers got 18 hits and scored in multiple innings, the first, third, fourth, seventh and eighth.
The Bad:
- Justin Miller struggled through the ninth. He allowed three runs, but to be fair, only one of them was earned.
The Ugly:
- I like the new look offense but really Torii? You get thrown out trying to steal third with one out and Miggy batting?
I guess we can’t get too excited, the Astros are not good, to say the least but seven straight is seven straight and we’ll take all the Ws we can get. Also, I like the 18 hit attack and scoring in multiple innings. This is in stark contrast to last year when the Tigers seemed to score all their runs in only one or two innings.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
I didn’t think it possible, but the Astros are worse than last year. But hey, we gotta beat these teams. Ray looked decent today, threw a lot of strikes, and generally made a good showing of himself. Unlike many of our so-called prospects that have made spot-starts and shit their pants…. and lowered their value. I suspect Ray has earned another start this Sunday against the Twins, a tougher test for him.
Has anyone noticed how well this team has played since they got rid of Gonzalez and solidified the shortstop defense? And getting decent offense from both guys.
YES!!! I like Romine and Worth. Also, don’t forget the benefit of not having Fielder on the team. Looking back on last year, Fatso seemed to bring the team down. Maybe that’s just my biased opinion. IMHO, getting rid of Fielder for whomever was addition by subtraction.