Next Up: Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are in a tailspin. At some point they will get their act together, pull the throttle up and right themselves, before they smack into a barn (Forgive me. For some reason whenever I think flying metaphor I go back to my first flying experience: Barnstorming on Atari.)--it's not likely that they would finish 0-162--hopefully, though, Tuesday isn't their lucky day.

Kenny Rogers is a lefty with a lifetime win-loss record of 210-144. He's a ground ball pitcher who isn't afraid to run up the pitch count. He's very good at fielding (he's got five gold gloves) and has an excellent pickoff move. He also has a temper and was accused of cheating during the 2006 World Series. He missed a large portion of the last season due to having surgery for a blood clot but historically, has been a very good pitcher. He did pitch very well in his last outing. He went six innings and gave up hits and two runs. He struck out four and walked only one.

Jeremy Bonderman is a power pitcher who finished last year with a record of 11-9. His fast ball sits in the mid-nineties and he has a very nice slider; both of which he commands well. He doesn't walk a lot of batters (only 6% of the batters he faced last year) and he doesn't give up too many home runs (23 last year.) He got 145 batters to strike out last year (19.25%). His last outing was not a good one for Jeremy Bonderman. He went sixth and one third innings and gave up eight hits and four runs. He walked two, gave up two home runs, and only struck out one batter.

Nate Robertson is a lefty who went 9-13 last year. He's got low nineties fast ball and a good slider that he uses to get right-handed hitters out. He also tends to tire as he gets deeper into a game-his fastball comes up and gets hit hard. Defensively, he struggles a little. His concentration seems to wane as he gets deeper into a game. He's also easy to steal on. His last outing wasn't pretty. He went five innings, gave up seven hits, five runs-one of which was a home run, and he walked two. He did strike out five, though.

I don't know what is up with the Detroit line up. They should be fierce. From their catcher all the way around to their designated hitter, the only player without very good career averages is their third baseman, Brandon Inge-but he's been doing well so far this year. Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, and Miguel Cabrera are probably the best hitters on the team.

If they're down-trodden because of their lousy start, then it'd be a good thing. It should be a very difficult team to beat. The Royals did it-so it can be done-but it should be a couple of hard fought games.