Tigers Series Preview

The Royals head home to face the Detroit Tigers in a 3 game series starting this afternoon.

The Detroit Tigers are 24-18 on the year and are in 1st place in the AL Central. They are 7-3 in their last 10, but lost their last 2 games to the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. They are 15-7 at home, but 9-11 on the road. The Tigers have scored 222 runs and allowed 186 on the year.

The Kansas City Royals are 22-22 and 3 games back of the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. They are 4-6 in their last 10, 14-10 at home, and 8-12 on the road. They have scored 190 runs and allowed 186 on the season.

Team Rankings:

Tigers		Pitching	Royals
3.94	4^th	ERA	3.83	3^rd
151	T-10^th	BB	148	9^th
305	13^th	SO	312	11^th
1.34	T-6^th	WHIP	1.35	T-8^th
Tigers		Hitting	Royals
.266	12^th	BA	.255	20^th
.338	14^th	OBP	.331	16^th
.427	10^th	SLG	.410	18^th
48	T-11^th	HR	37	T-22^nd
146	21^st	BB	151	19^th
262	8^th	SO	285	15^th

The Pitching Matchups:
5/25 Justin Verlander (4-2, 3.99) vs. Gil Meche (2-4, 4.42)
5/26 Edwin Jackson (4-2, 2.55) vs. Zack Greinke (7-1, 0.82)
5/27 Rick Porcello (5-3, 3.55) vs. Kyle Davies (2-3, 4.78)

After a disappointing series in St. Louis, the Royals bats need to come to life in a big way. Against the Cardinals the Royals offense tallied 18 hits and a .188 BA. They managed only 7 extra base hits and all of those were doubles. In the 3 games series they scored only 3 runs and dropped 2 of 3. The only silver lining to the weekend is that the Tigers didn’t gain any ground on them. The Minnesota Twins, however, swept the Milwaukee Brewers and are now only half a game behind the Royals for second place.

Both teams have above average pitching staffs and offenses in the middle third of MLB. Edwin Jackson, Porcello, and many other members of the Tigers staff have pitched beyond their abilities giving the Tigers the illusion of being better than they really are. Offensively Adam Everett, Brandon Inge and Ramon Santiago are over performing expectations. Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco are under performing, but in each of their cases, advancing age may be a contributing factor.

Assuming the bats can give the pitching some run support, the Royals have a good chance to take the series from the Tigers. They have a decided pitching advantage in game 2 and, in my opinion, an advantage in game 3 as well. There is no question, however, that the Tigers definitely have the upper hand in game 1. The Royals need to be patient at the plate and work pitch counts wherever possible. The Tigers bullpen is beatable if they can get the starters out of the game.

A series sweep would put them in a tie for first place, but taking 2 out of 3 would be good enough.