The heated Tigers-Royals four game series, gripping so many fans across the Midwest and Rust Belt, continues tonight in Detroit. The Tigers send Jason Johnson (5-7, 3.87 ERA) to the hill against (likely) J.P. Howell (1-3, 8.65 ERA). Howell's ERA in July stands at 13.50, including a BAA of .414 ... fun stuff. Good thing we've rushed him to the majors for no reason.
As for last night... sigh. LIMATIME had one of his better games of the season, posting a 6.0IP, 4R line off of 9H, 0BB and, wait for it, 2 HR. Lima's July ERA is a respectable 4.34, now, buoying hope that he might be flipped for a C-level prospect before the deadline. Still, the homers allowed continued, so its unclear just how bad a team's staff would have to be to truly benefit from an infusion of Lima.
The offense more or less fell off the map last night, excluding Roster Waste Super Joe McEwing's awe-inspiring home run and two-hit night's from Gotay and Buck.
Which reminds me, regarding Ruben Gotay; Gotay's season line is now at .244/.305/.374, which isn't much better than Angel Berroa, when you come to think of it. In fact, its generally worse. Clearly, the dropping of Berroa from the top of the lineup had nothing to do with a solid understanding of how a roster should function. Instead, the insistence that "you put speed at the top of the lineup" carries on unabated. Not that it matters of course, just throw the refuse and junk into some configuration and let the singles and ground-outs occur, regardless of the order.
Still, it is frustrating. Can't we just let Sweeney hit 2nd??? Ohh well, a pointless annoyance.