Tigers/Cubs Series Preview

I’m taking a break from the camping and all to post tonight.  I’m currently writing this post from a small hotel in Guilford, CT. 

It’s nice to see that JAYRC is holding down the fort here and that the Tigers were able to sweep the Brewers.  Maybe I need to leave the state of Michigan more often. 

Here’s a preview of the Tigers series against the Cubs, which will start on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

Tuesday, 7:05pm 

Pretty good pitching matchup here as Edwin Jackson will go up against Carlos Zambrano. 

Count me amongst the group of people that thinks Zambrano is one of the most overrated pitchers in all of baseball.  The guy tends to run out of gas every August/September and his temper usually causes him to miss a start or two each season.  Sure, he has as many home runs as Magglio Ordonez this season, but I just don’t think the guy is worth much on the mound. 

In 20 career interleague games, Zambrano has an ERA of 4.89.  This tells my cynical side that Zambrano’s success in the big leagues is largely due to the fact that he pitches against National League teams.  When he faces American League teams he shows what he really is:  A league average pitcher. 

There I said it. 

Big Z has never faced the Tigers, but Miguel Cabrera has homered twice in 18 career at-bats against the righty.

Wednesday, 7:05pm

Rick Porcello against Rich Harden in this one.  Not bad, right? 

Porcello has been on a real roll lately and Harden is one of the game's top pitchers when he’s healthy. 

Harden has been hurt a bit this season and it has showed in his numbers.  He’s made 10 starts and has an ERA of 5.27.  Also, since he spent a chunk of time in Oakland he’s made five career starts against the Tigers.  He has an ERA 3.48 in those starts but he has a WHIP of over 1.50, so he can be had. 

In Harden’s last start, he gave up seven earned runs against he Indians who, as we all know, are not that good.  Hopefully Harden’s struggles follow him into Detroit and the Tigers can get a win against him and the Cubs. 

Obviously, the Cubs hitters have yet to face Porcello.

Thursday, 1:05pm

An afternoon game on Thursday as the Tigers will head to Houston after this one. 

Apparently, Armando Galarraga will get another shot, even though he’s struggled for the last two months. 

He’ll go up against Chicago lefty, Ted Lilly.  Lilly is having a great season and is 7-4 with an ERA of 3.04.  Savvy Tigers fans will recall that Lilly was involved in the trade that sent Jeff Weaver to the Yankees and brought the Tigers Jeremy Bonderman. 

That seems like it was 15 years ago, yeesh. 

Anyway, Lilly spent some time in the AL and has faced the Tigers nine times.  He has an ERA of 3.96 to show for it.  No current Tiger has had a great deal of success against Lilly.  However, they have beat up on lefties the past few seasons so they have a shot in this one. 

I don’t like the pitching matchup here at all so it would be nice to see the Tigers win a game or two prior to this one.

Before this homestand started, I thought that it would be nice if the Tigers could win four out of six games.  They have already won three games, but it would be kind of a bummer if they lost this series after a sweep.  Just putting that out there.

If you are planning on going to any of these games, you should really get on that now.  The Tigers finally sold out a game on Sunday and you have to imagine that Comerica will be crawling with Cubs fans all week.  Get your tickets and drown those people out.