Leyland: I've got 24 players
In other words, he has nailed down one of the open bullpen spots and whittled down to one roster spot to decide. He wouldn't name who it was, but if you look at Saturday's box score for how the relief candidates did, Denny Bautista pitched another 1 1/3 solid innings, and Preston Larrison was roughed up.
With two bullpen spots to fill, you can make an argument it would be hard for Bautista not to make the staff the way he's pitching. You wait for the wild Bautista to show up, the one who can't control the fastball and either gets roughed up for walks a bunch of guys. So far, that Bautista hasn't been seen.
Anyway, he's the Tigers lineup for this split squad:
- Granderson, CF
- Polanco, 2B
- Sheffield, DH
- Thames, 1B
- Jones, LF
- Renteria, SS
- Inge, 3B
- Raburn, RF
- St. Pierre, C
And for the Rays:
- Akinori Iwamura, 2B
- Jason Bartlett, SS
- Carlos Pena, 1B
- B.J. Upton, CF
- Jonny Gomes, RF
- Evan Longoria, 3B
- Eric Hinske, DH
- Joel Guzman, LF
- Mike DiFelice, C (yes, the ex-Tiger)
That's what we have here at Al Lang Field, where I'm trying to envision a giant sail over the ballpark and what that would look like. They have some renderings of their proposed ballpark available in the press box, and it looks in some ways like old Olympic Stadium in Montreal, with the big tower.
Not a lot of bright spots in these two games. Not a lot of timely hitting in either. Pudge did well, and Lopez that is about it.
GO TIGERS
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I hope Barzardo ends up in the mix, he's the fith starter for next year.
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Bazz needs to earn that SP honor first. We will see!! Lots of options on the next FA market - plus there's a chance Kenny may return for another season. He has the type of arm that can go a couple more seasons.
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