Newly acquired Doug Fister, pitching for the Detroit Tigers today, is used to not having a whole lot of run support in his starts. Today, 9 runs would have been a lot to ask for.
Fister's first shaky outing as a Tiger was today in Baltimore, giving up 8 runs (6 ER) on 12 hits, had no real command of his pitches this afternoon and wasn't fooling anybody. Usually in good control, he didn't have it today as the Tigers finished up this 9 game road trip by losing 8-5 to the Orioles. As previously posted, the Tigers road woes have been well documented in the past, but at least this season they can boast a better record on the road than last year, which for me is progress. As for Fister, no reason to worry about him, as he had a bad day. No need for Tigers fans to blow up about the trade being good or bad for either the Seattle Mariners or the Tigers, as there hasn't been nearly enough time passed to make that kind of judgement (get back to me in 3 years, then we can discuss that). He'll get his next start at home, and we'll all hope it's a better outing than today. Call off the dogs.
As for the road trip, they did go 5-4, which from here looks like a winning record... albeit I'm reaching a bit by boasting that a single victory over the losses is a successful road trip. To a degree, I am reaching: the 2 series wins were against 2 last place teams in the American League (KC and Baltimore) but the series loss was vs AL Central competitor, the Cleveland Indians. Sure, winning this series would have been nice, but for me it's still about road trip success. The Tigers can take care of their business at home, and bringing home more wins than losses on a long road trip is never a bad thing.
The Tigers road show comes home to face the Minnesota Twins, a team snakebitten by injuries and relative "UnTwinslike" play in the field this season. A real chance for the Tigers to continue their recent dominance over this ballclub, having won 8 of 9 meetings so far this season. They play the Twins 9 more times, with 6 of those games at home. Take care of these guys, because those Indians are back in town for another big series next weekend. And they'll need to play better against the Tribe next weekend, with Justin Verlander pitching in the middle of the Twins series, he won't be a savior this time around. It'll be time for someone else to step up and have a good pitching performance, against a team that seemingly won't go away.
It still sets up well for the Tigers, they just need to remember that and take full advantage of their opportunities.
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