Detroit Tigers: Rodney Halts Win Streak; Can Bullpen Handle Pressure?

Baseball's a funny thing.  At the beginning of the year, with a star-studded lineup that was being called the reincarnation of Murderer's Row, there wasn't much concerning the Tigers.  Except for the bullpen.

The pride of the bullpen, Joel Zumaya, had of course injured his shoulder during the off-season and required rotator cuff surgery, a very serious procedure for any pitcher.  Fernando Rodney would also miss a good portion of the season.

Knowing this coming into the season, Tigers fans worried that the bullpen would blow more games than the average team.

Again, baseball is funny.  The Tigers offense was stagnant from the gate and continued underperforming even two months into the season.  Falling behind early put no pressure on the bullpen to perform, and guys like Aquilino Lopez, Bobby Seay, and Denny Bautista became pretty popular.

As of late, the Tigers bats have come alive, and in combination with that, they've been getting very quality pitching from Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson, and rookie Armando Galaragga, who is strangely the pride of the rotation (yet again, baseball being funny).

One thing perhaps overlooked during this win streak was how the bullpen would perform under the pressure of preserving a win.

Up until last night, the bullpen hasn't had to work much at all.  Verlander pitched a complete game and Rogers pitched eight innings, leaving only Todd Jones to close it out.

However, I'm getting weary of this bullpen now under pressure.

Nate Robertson made it six innings against the Dodgers and left with a 5-0 lead and the win in hand.  In the ninth inning Seay almost erased that lead without even getting a single out.

Last night was another such error, both on the bullpen and on Leyland's judgement.

Marcus Thames, having hit two home runs off the usually impenetrable Lincecum, gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth inning.

Freddy Dolsi, who had been lights out until last night, put runners on at first and third and was then pulled.  Leyland then decided that this would be the best time for Rodney to make his season debut.

Rodney came in and promptly allowed a three-run homer on his first pitch of the game.

I mean really—this guy has missed over one-third of the season, and the manager says his season debut is going to be in a situation like that?  I tell ya, Rodney just gets no respect.

I've never really been that high on Rodney.  He's kind of up and down, and had three to four amazing months in 2006, but he's no saviour.

This was the bullpen failing to handle the pressure of preserving a win—something that should be a concern, just as it was at the beginning of the season.

Zumaya is slated to come back this weekend at the earliest.  He's got his 100 mph fastball back and could be the guy that brings stability and fear back to the bullpen.

Those guys have to come together and get that steel eye going.  A bullpen that performed admirably when the game was out of reach can't be falling apart when it's looked on to preserve a win.