Detroit Tigers (8-6) @ Los Angeles Angels (5-9)
Starters: DET – Edwin Jackson (1-0, 2.14) LAA – Matt Palmer (no stats yet)
Game Info: 7:05 PM PT TV-FS West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
This would normally be the part of the game preview where I talk about tonight’s starting pitcher followed by a picture of said pitcher. But since Matt Palmer is a virtual unknown, this is the best I can do:
The Angels injury epidemic has reached such dire proportions that they have promoted Matt Palmer from Triple-A Salt Lake despite an ERA north of 11.00 and only three career major league appearances to his credit (oh, and a 8.53 ERA in those games… awesome). He’ll be asked to try and pitch well enough to keep the Angel offense in the game and hopefully spare the Halos from having to dip into their mysteriously awful bullpen too early.
Speaking of the bullpen, it should be interesting to see who gets the call tonight. Jose Arredondo has worked two nights in a row and probably won’t be available and Shields should be avoided at all costs until he remembers how to throw strikes. That leaves Speier, Bulger, Thompson, Rodriguez and Davidson as the de facto middle relief corps for the night (and Speier, Bulger and Thompson both pitched last night, which makes them less attractive than normal and possibly unavailable). In other words, this could get ugly. If I were Brian Fuentes, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up about pitching tonight; in fact, I might not even bother to bring my glove.
What to Watch For:
- Is Mike Scioscia EVER going to play Brandon Wood?
- Can Matt Palmer give the squad at least five or six innings to spare the bullpen? Getting away with one or two inning from the scrub relievers is possible, but three or four innings is probably too much to ask.
- Did Aybar work on pop-ups during practice today? I sure hope so.
As always, leave a comment and hang out with us to chat throughout the game.
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