GDT: 5/30/08 - DET (22-31) AT Seattle (20-34), 10:10 p.m. ET

ANAHEIM -- Jeff Larish's first taste of the Major Leagues is going to feel a little like one of his old Pac-10 Conference road trips, albeit in a little more stylish travel. It just took him a while to get there.

Larish's journey to California on Wednesday started with a drive from Toledo to Detroit Metro Airport to hop a flight. It included a homecoming, albeit a brief one, with a stopover in Phoenix. He traveled on from there to Anaheim, arrived in the visiting clubhouse at Angel Stadium in time for batting practice, then watched Wednesday's game from the dugout.

With a left-hander on the mound for the Angels, the lefty-hitting Larish wasn't going to be in the lineup. For that first big league at-bat, he had another trip coming -- this one all the way up the Pacific coast to Seattle.

Total travel: Nearly 3,000 miles. It might well be the longest path from Triple-A Toledo to the Tigers. It'll be worth all of it when he steps to the plate Friday night at Safeco Field.

"It's quite a lot," Larish said of the travel, "but I can't complain at all."

Manager Jim Leyland said Wednesday that he plans on using Larish, a first baseman at Toledo, in all three games at Seattle this weekend -- most likely all at designated hitter. Not only does the 25-year-old slugger add another power bat to a Tigers lineup that has been surprisingly punchless for stretches this season, he adds a left-handed bat to a heavily right-handed lineup.

As for what effect Larish and another lefty bat could have on Detroit's struggling offense, Leyland was frank.

"If he can hit, it helps a lot," Leyland said. "If he can't, it doesn't mean much. He's getting an opportunity."

He had a big effect on the Mud Hens' fortunes so far this season. His 16 home runs ranked third in the International League, while his 43 RBIs ranked second. The left-handed hitter owns a .274 batting average on the year to go with a .589 slugging percentage and .989 OPS.

He can have an impact on the Tigers, but he won't be a cure-all. Though the Tigers busted out for six runs in Wednesday's series finale against the Angels, it only widened the difference between their performances against left-handed and right-handed starters. It's a big enough gap that the Mariners pushed back lefty Jarrod Washburn from Saturday's scheduled start to send out right-handers in all three games of this upcoming series.

Marcus Thames, who homered twice Wednesday off Angels lefty Joe Saunders and barely missed a third, will likely start throughout the series regardless in order to add some punch. But Leyland knows Thames and Larish can't make all the difference. Their regulars have to carry a good share of the load.

"When push comes to shove, they've got to do it," Leyland said.

For the time being, Larish will be glad to help out, even if he has to cross the country to do it.

2008 Interleague Schedule
• May 16-18: at Diamondbacks
• June 13-15: vs. Dodgers
• June 16-18: at Giants
• June 20-22: at Padres
• June 24-26: vs. Cardinals
• June 27-29: vs. Rockies


Pitching matchup

DET: LHP Nate Robertson (2-5, 5.88 ERA)
After going his first seven outings without a quality start, Robertson has two of them in his past three games, the latest a victory over the Twins during which he pitched 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball. Considering the Tigers scored 19 runs for him, he had plenty of reason to be aggressive against Minnesota hitters, but the low hit and walk totals were encouraging. Robertson was miserable against the Mariners last year, allowing a combined 10 earned runs on 17 hits over 9 1/3 innings with seven walks and 13 strikeouts. Both outings were at home; Robertson hasn't pitched at Safeco Field since tossing seven scoreless innings on April 22, 2006.


SEA: RHP Carlos Silva (3-4, 5.14 ERA)
The veteran right-hander makes his sixth start of the month still looking for his first win in May. He has lost four of five starts this month, taking much of the glitter off his 3-0 start with the Mariners, who signed him to a four-year, $48 million contract during the offseason. One of those losses was a Detroit drubbing May 20, when the Tigers put up seven runs on nine hits over his four innings of work. That raised his career ERA against the Tigers to an even 5.00, having allowed 100 hits over 75 2/3 innings.


Tidbits

Don't look for Denny Bautista to rejoin the Tigers until they return home, at the earliest. Leyland said that the right-handed reliever will make at least two more rehab appearances for Toledo after he threw barely half of his 31 pitches for strikes over 1 1/3 innings Tuesday night. ... Carlos Guillen is 16-for-31 with four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs for his career against Silva. Guillen is day-to-day with hemorrhoids. ... Tigers starting pitchers have worked at least seven innings in each of the last four games. Robertson is the last Tigers starter to not go seven, falling two outs shy of the mark in last Saturday's rout of the Twins.


On the Internet

MLB.TV
Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes

On television
• FSND

On radio
• 97.1FM/1270AM

Up next

• Sat., May 31: Tigers (RHP Justin Verlander (2-7, 5.16)) at Mariners (RHP Felix Hernandez (2-5, 3.60)), 3:55 p.m. ET

• Sun., June 1: Tigers (LHP Kenny Rogers, (4-4, 5.88 ERA)) at Mariners (RHP Miguel Batista (3-6, 5.98 ERA)), 4:10 p.m. ET

• Mon., June 2: Tigers (Jeremy Bonderman, 3-4, 4.34) at Athletics (TBD), 10:05 p.m. ET

STARTING LINEUPS

Detroit AVG
:curtis: Granderson, CF .248
:placido: Polanco, 2B .292
Guillen, 3B .294
Ordonez, RF .327
:thames: Thames, LF .261
Cabrera, 1B .271
Larish, DH .000
:edgar: Renteria, SS .277
Inge, C .216

Seattle AVG
Suzuki, CF .290
Lopez, 2B .297
Vidro, DH .233
Ibanez, LF .263
Beltre, 3B .240
Johjima, C .227
Balentien, RF .221
Cairo, 1B .186
Betancourt, SS .285

This baseball free day is over finally!

GO NATE! Show us you can do it too! Give us a CG!!

GO TIGERS!

Im so freaking tired. can someone join the chatbox before 10:30?

Stat of the day: Tigers' pitcher's ERA the past 2 weeks...3.83.

swiss_tiger wrote:

This baseball free day is over finally!

GO NATE! Show us you can do it too! Give us a CG!!

GO TIGERS!

Amen to that, mein freund--I really do not like off days!

64 degrees at Game Time.


We won't see that until next year in Detroit.

At least they won't hafta waorry about that storm blowin' in now. It's already in Michigan. The winds are picking up here a little.

They have a roof in Seattle too.


Gee! Why didn't we think of that?

yeah! I would take a roof over a silly merry-go-round!

or the ferris wheel

yeah, I guess the ferris wheel. I kinda like all the tigers on the merry-go-round....

Come on Tigs Give us a Win!!!WOOOHOOO!!!!

YES!

I don't mean to be picky, but shouldn't this thread say the current date of 5/30/08?

bobrob2004 wrote:

I don't mean to be picky, but shouldn't this thread say the current date of 5/30/08?

Fixed. You could have fixed it, too

catbox_9 wrote:

bobrob2004 wrote:

I don't mean to be picky, but shouldn't this thread say the current date of 5/30/08?

Fixed. You could have fixed it, too

I didn't want to confuse people.

I was for awhile there! I thought the 5/29 thread had not closed yet!

GO TIGERS

Sorry, I thought it did. The following


tells the date when Beck wrote the news clipping. I must have accidentally picked it up from that.

Watching missed episodes of "Lost" waiting for the game!!!

laprimamirala wrote:

Watching missed episodes of "Lost" waiting for the game!!!

I'm watching Forest Gump, I this movie... but it always makes me sad.

TigersGirl wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

Watching missed episodes of "Lost" waiting for the game!!!

I'm watching Forest Gump, I this movie... but it always makes me sad.

and rightly so! that was a rough one! Loved the music though!

laprimamirala wrote:

TigersGirl wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

Watching missed episodes of "Lost" waiting for the game!!!

I'm watching Forest Gump, I this movie... but it always makes me sad.

and rightly so! that was a rough one! Loved the music though!

right now he is walking through the woods in the army. And a bomb just went off... now people are shooting

the saddest part for me was when Jenny goes back to her childhood home where she was abused and starts throwing rocks through the windows...............

That was sooo sad. I hate this movie, but I love it at the same time.

it's life, though.

Yah. It is, but it's still sad, cause he sees like all this pain through his life, watching people die and everything else, but he is still happy.

now I, on the other hand, am enjoying several male actors on Lost...(and I DON'T mean Hurley! )

haha. Sounds fun...!


I wish the game would start!