Justin Verlander and the Tigers stumble in Game 1
After a very successful rookie season, Justin Verlander ran into a buzz saw in the form of the St. Louis Cardinal’s last night. I don’t want to lay all the blame for the loss on Verlander only because our defense let us down. They committed 3 crucial errors that lead to at least two runs. At the same time, the Tigers offense didn’t have much success against the Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes and only managed 2 runs and only 4 hits.
Albert Pujols proved again that he is the most dangerous hitter in baseball, he crushed a home run in the 3rd inning with 2 outs and one man on. In hindsight, the Tiger’s should have intentionally walked Pujols and pitched to the next batter with 1st base open. I would hope in Game 2 the Tiger’s would consider pitching around Pujol’s in a similar situation.
With the Cardinals winning Game 1, 7-2 it will put more pressure on the Tigers in Game 2 with left handed pitcher Kenny Rogers today. The Tigers left handed pitchers will present the Cardinals their biggest challange, since they didn’t fair as well against left handed pitchers in the regular season.
The Tiger’s hitters were paced by Curtis Monroe and Carlos Guillen, both went 2 for 4 and knocked in 1 run. Monroe’s RBI came on a 9th inning homerun and Guillen knocked in a run with a first inning 2 out single. The Tiger’s are going to need much more offense if they are going to have success in the series and win it all.
Despite this loss I am not going to change my prediction of the Detroit Tiger’s being the World Champions.
