Detroit Tigers Recovering after Rough Trip in Boston

So the Detroit Tigers' trip to Boston didn’t go all that well. Detroit lost three-of-four games and lost Rick Porcello to a suspension. 

However, the silver lining is that the suspension will help Porcello get some rest. 

The one win of the series was also pretty good, as Justin Verlander was dominating in the final game of the series. It’s always a pleasure watching him when he’s on the top of his game.

The Tigers will now head home for a six-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners. The Royals are a terrible team and Seattle traded one of their best pitchers to the Tigers at the trade deadline in Jarrod Washburn.

The homestand will start with the Tigers hosting the Royals.

Washburn has been pretty bad in his first two starts as a Tiger and will look to get back on the winning track tonight. 

Unfortunately, he’s up against Zack Greinke. While Greinke has slowed down a bit, he’s always pitched pretty good against Detroit. If memory serves, the only Tiger to beat him this year was Luke French.

Edwin Jackson will go on Saturday against Luke Hochevar, and on Sunday we’ll see Armando Galarraga start in place of Porcello against Kyle Davies. 

Galarraga is a bum, but Davies is no All-Star and while Jackson has struggled recently, Hochevar has been a bit inconsistent. I don’t think we can say the Tigers have a definite edge in any of these matchups, but they shouldn’t be over-matched by any stretch of the imagination.

Ideally, the Tigers could pick up a sweep this weekend. However, I would be comfortable with winning two-of-three.

If the Tigers can stay competitive on the road for the rest of the season and continue to take care of business at Comerica Park, they will have a great shot at winning the AL Central.

We’re closing in on the final seven weeks of the season and this is where teams often start their surge or their descent. 

The Tigers' offense has been just shaky enough this season to make me think it could really go either way. While the Tigers were able to win yesterday, behind a great pitching performance, the offense sputtered. In fact, all of the offense came from the bat of Ryan Raburn, which is never a good thing.

Hopefully we’ll see the Tigers' veterans (Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco) turn it on over the next two months. 

If they do, the Tigers will win the division and could make some real noise in the playoffs.