Joe Crede: Tiger Killer

Last night, he hit a game-winning grand slam in the thirteenth inning.  In the series finale earlier this afternoon (which I actually didn't see because I was still sleeping from last night's extra-inning marathon), he drove in a pair of runs on a single to give the Twins a lead they would never relinquish.  Crede has always hit Tigers' pitching well, posting a career .276/.339/.558 with an OPS of .897 and 24 home runs going into today's game.  And his numbers aren't skewed just from hitting in U.S. Cellular field for so many years, either.  At Comerica Park, he's a career .287/.341/.599 with 15 homers and an OPS of .939.  The Crede deal looks as though it's starting to pay dividends.  Even though he's provided Gold-Glove caliber defense all season, his bat has been relatively slow to wake up.  And that makes sense, as he's never hit well at the Dome and he's had to adjust to playing with a new team with an entirely different approach to hitting.  But he's been batting .290/.313/.548 in the month of May, with two homers and eight RBI in his last four games, so perhaps he's starting to see the ball better inside the Teflon confines.  And yes, it does beat having Tony Batista at third.

Scott Baker suffered from yet another big inning that got away from him when the Tigers scored five runs on six hits in the sixth.  It wouldn't be such a big deal, except this is at least the third time he's had such an inning this year.  Dr. Baker was very effective through the first five innings, and though he may not have matched Justin Verlander's impressive performance, he pitched well enough to keep the Kitties off the scoreboard.  Unfortunately, Mr. Scott came out to pitch in the sixth, and things promptly fell apart.  Of course, it didn't help that he had Jason Kubel in the outfield, who rarely plays in the field and missed a fly ball that probably should've been caught (and would've ended the inning).  Kubel is usually the DH because his defense is less than stellar, but he was in the outfield today because Delmon Young is out with a family emergency and is expected to miss at least the next three days.  Jose Morales has been called up from Rochester in the meantime.  Still, if this doesn't make the case that Denard Span and Carlos Gomez should both be starting in the outfield, then I don't know what will.  Yes, Kubel is swinging a hotter bat than Go-Go, but his lack of range in the field nearly cost the Twins the game.

Most importantly, though, the bullpen was handed a one run lead and actually held onto it for a change.  Craig Breslow pitched a scoreless seventh and retired the first two batters in the eighth before being lifted in favor of Matt Guerrier.  Breslow struck out a batter and didn't walk anyone, which is good news for a guy who has an ugly 0.90 K/BB ratio.  He didn't surrender any home runs, either, something he had become prone to doing lately.  Matt Guerrier bounced back from a terrible appearance the night before, when he gave up a three run homer to Miguel Cabrera and a solo shot to Jeff Larish to put the Tigers ahead by a couple of runs.  Still, one has to wonder why Guerrier was asked to get the final out in the eighth.  While it is perfectly understandable that acting-manager Scotty Ullger (Ron Gardenhire was ejected after arguing with the home plate umpire) didn't want to leave Breslow in to face Ryan Raburn with a runner on base, since all of the homers he's surrendered have been to right-handed hitters, Matty G. has pitched 18.1 innings so far this season and has made five straight relief appearances.  Why not bring in Joe Nathan?  He's going to pitch the next inning anyway, and unlike Matty G, has only pitched thirteen innings so far this year.  Save Matt Guerrier's arm!

Oh, yeah, and that Joe Mauer guy sucks.