Detroit's Young Prospect Andrew Oliver Makes Major League Debut

Tonight Andrew Oliver will make his Major League Debut Start tonight in Atlanta. It will be no easy task as the Braves have been playing great baseball and are really pitching the ball well.

Oliver was a 2nd round pick for Detroit in 2009 and is yet just another one of the Tiger's young prospects that rode the fast track to the Majors.

From the reports it seems that Oliver has some real quality stuff when it comes to pitching. Let's see what this young guy can do. You never really know but maybe he can give the Tigers rotation a must needed boost.

Tigers & Mets 6/22 Game 1

Tonight the Tigers will face the New York Mets. Hurling for the Tigers is Ace Justin Verlander. Jon Niese will be throwing for the Mets. On paper it looks like a match up the Tigers can win. However there is one main thing I would love to point out before tonight's game. Here is tonight's starting lineup.

1. A. Jackson
2. G. Larid
3. Ordonez
4. Cabrera
5. Boesch
6. Guillen
7. Inge
8. Worth
9. Verlander

Does anything jump out to you about this lineup? We'll yes Gerald Larid is batting 2nd.  Dear Mr. Leyland please tell me why Larid is batting 2nd today. Playing at Citi field means no DH, and I know this but your telling me you can't find a better hitter to fill in at the 2 spot.

Larid while at bat 133 times this season is batting a buck eighty (.180) with 24 hits, 1 Home Run, 9 RBI, and has an On Base % of .257. Now how in the world do you look at his stats and his overall career body of work and fill out the lineup card with him batting 2nd.

Mr. Leyland your really making me scratch my head this time.

Let me know how your feel about Larid hitting in the 2 spot? Its seems every week I start to miss Polanco.

The Bottom of The Order

Last night was a perfect example of how I have always thought the Tigers lineup should look. Gerald Laird can't hit and neither can Adam Everett (Neverhit). Jim Leyland has finally decided to play Alex Avila. It's about time. Last night he was on base 3 times and has looked great behind the plate handling pitchers. Ramon Santiago was also in the lineup yesterday to stack the lineup with left handed bats. He knocked two hits and looked great at the back of the Tigers lineup.

I really hope Jim Leyland wakes up and notices just how potent the bottom half of the lineup can be when you put players with the potential to get hits. Please Jim lets keep Avila & Santiago in the lineup as the regulars and the sub in Larid and Everett when they need the rest not the other way around.

Check out USA Today's box score from Saturday nights game and tell me just how much better those batting stats look when you have the bottom two accounting for 4 hits. Let's be  honest I don't think Larid and Everett combined could get 4 hits in even 2 games.

Armando is Perfect, Forget What the Linescore Says

Well by now I'm sure you have seen, heard and talked all about Armando Galarraga's unofficial perfect game. I had the chance to catch the game from beginning to end and couldn't believe it when I actually had the chance to witness a complete perfect game, well until umpire Jim Joyce decided to blow the call on the last batter of the game. I don't think I need to talk about this much more. I even was waiting to make a blog post on the subject until all the information on the controversial game came and went. There is a just few comments I would like to make on this topic and we'll move on.

1. Armando was perfect, lets not ever forget that. He pitched a hell of a game and he actually recorded 28 outs. He may not have gotten credit for it in the record books but for everyone that remembers the night it will be a perfect game.

2. Everyone from Aramndo, to Jim Joyce and even the Tigers fans really handled this situation like true gentlemen. The Tigers have never had a perfect game. Could you imagine if this happened to the Yankees or Red Sox, I guarantee they would not have handled this in the same manner nor would their fans. Many people around the country rip on Detroit left and right. We all know Detroit has had its problems but you can't find better sports fans anywhere. Detroit really showed class!

3. It takes a real man (Jim Joyce) to say he messed up but it took even a bigger of man for Armando to act the way he did even directly after the call on the field. It seems many people want to commend Jim Joyce for how he handled this whole situation but lets face it he created it. He messed up a huge call. Let's say if any average person made a huge mistake on the job, would they still have that job the next day? The answer is probably not. Just keep that in mind. MLB umpires get paid what they do because they can be put in tight situations and its all part of the GIG. So I really don't feel to bad for Mr. Joyce yet there is no reason for anyone to threaten him that is totally uncalled for. He made a mistake and everyone is human. But we will never really know what actually went through his head when he made the call. Maybe he didn't want to be the Umpire to call a runner out if the base runner was safe, other than that I really don't know how he happened to miss this call it was a bang bang play but I've seen Umpires get closer calls than this right 99 percent of the time.

Dontrelle Willis Traded To The Arizona Diamondbacks

Dontrelle Willis was moved  by the Tigers and is headed to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Willis was given a 3 year deal with the Tigers and it never paid off. Willis was a great guy to have in the clubhouse yet only accounted 2 wins in his time in Detroit. The Tigers receive pitcher Billy Buckner. After Buckner was acquired he was sent to Triple A Toledo (Detroit Tigers AAA Minor League Affiliate). After this is all said and done the Tigers will pay the rest of Willis contract for the season expect for the 400,000 minimum that will be paid for by the D'Backs. It's a smart move for Arizona whose rotation is hurting. Dontrelle will be able to be back in the NL and will also be able to hit. I could see him helping out Arizona and it will be a low cost risk too.