GDT: 6/3/08 - DET (24-33) AT Oakland (31-27), 10:05 p.m. ET

GDT: 6/3/08 - DET (24-33) AT Oakland (31-27), 10:05 p.m. ET

GDT: 6/3/08 - DET (24-33) AT Oakland (31-27), 10:05 p.m. ET 2399123364_332a182ed0_o

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06/03/2008 3:42 AM ET
Willis back home, back in rotation
Detroit (24-33) at Oakland (31-27), Tuesday, 10:05 p.m. ET
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- Dontrelle Willis grew up watching games from the stadium here. He'll have a better view in his return.

Willis has pitched in the Bay Area once every season he has been in the Major Leagues, so playing in front of friends and family is not a big deal to him. After nearly two months out of the Tigers rotation, simply starting again is bigger. Still, the fact that he gets to do so in the park that turned him on to baseball is a nice bonus.

Willis grew up just minutes away from McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. While his mother worked to support the family, it was his grandmother, Naomi Guy, who took him to many A's games. It was there that he saw some of the franchise's glory days.

"I grew up going [to games] a lot," Willis said. "The A's are a big reason I picked up a baseball. They have a big influence in the community, and they do a lot of positive things. There's something about those white uniforms. I grew up going to A's games and watching Rickey Henderson. And like I've said before, if it wasn't for Dave Stewart, I would've never picked up a baseball. It's a blessing.

"They've always had a good team. The guys always played hard. It's just everybody has a good time, regardless of drawing 5,000 or 35,000. Everybody has a good time, and everybody's in the game."

Stewart, of course, was the pitching heart of the A's dynasty in the late 1980s and early '90s. He, too, was an Oakland native, and he was a prominent African-American pitcher for his era. He racked up four straight seasons with at least 20 victories from 1987-1990, and he won all four of his postseason starts during the A's championship run in 1989.

But it wasn't just his hometown upbringing, his race or his success. It was his demeanor, too.

"His demeanor was the same," Willis said. "He was always the same guy, whether he was down, 8-0, or up, 8-0. And I kind of emulate my game after that. Regardless of what's going on, I try to be the same guy, be a good teammate. You have to respect a man who comes to work every day and is the same guy regardless of what's going on."

He has tried to keep up a good demeanor and stay a good teammate over the last month while he tried to work his way back to health, then back into the rotation. He took a Minor League rehab assignment, then returned to the Tigers to work out of the bullpen, then saw just one inning of work over a 10-day span.

Finally, with essentially six starters and five spots in the rotation, Leyland worked him back in. It took the piggyback start, a tactic usually used in the lower levels of the Minor Leagues to get guys innings, to work it out.

Leyland will start the game and likely go 4-5 innings if he's effective. Whenever he leaves, Armando Galarraga will replace him and work long relief. It'll be Galarraga's first outing since he took a shutout bid into the ninth inning against the Angels on Wednesday.
Shocked

It's not the ideal situation, but it was the one way Leyland could get Willis working on a schedule. It was Leyland's decision, he stressed -- not that of the front office -- and the goal is simple.

"I have to try to get Dontrelle going," he said.

The fact that it comes close to home will be a bonus. Willis isn't sentimental about it, but he's going to try to enjoy it.

"It'll be good to see my grandma," Willis said.

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 Dontrelle Willis (0-0, 7.50 ERA)
Willis will be making his first start he hyperextended his right knee on April 11 in Chicago. Galarraga, whose 8 1/3 innings his last time out marked the longest start by a Tiger this season, will then follow Willis in relief.

OAK: LHP Dana Eveland (4-4, 3.66 ERA)
After pitching the best game of his career with a one-run complete game in his previous start, Eveland tossed his worst against the Blue Jays in allowing seven runs on 11 hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season. With the loss, his ERA went from 2.90 to 3.66. Eveland will look to get back to form against a Detroit team he's never faced in his brief career.

Tidbits

Marcus Thames is expected to return to the lineup after being out of it for the last two games. He'll likely start Tuesday and Wednesday. ... Brandon Inge is day-to-day after pulling his left oblique muscle on a checked swing Sunday. He could be available as a defensive replacement, but he was not able to hit on Monday. ... Galarraga was voted by the Tigers media as the team's Pitcher of the Month for May after going 2-2 with a 4.55 ERA for the month. Magglio Ordonez was voted Player of the Month for his .350 average with 17 runs scored, eight doubles, four home runs and 16 RBIs over 27 May games. ... The Tigers are batting .380 (41-for-108) with runners in scoring position over their last 13 games. They went 1-for-3 in those situations on Monday.

On the Internet

GDT: 6/3/08 - DET (24-33) AT Oakland (31-27), 10:05 p.m. ET Mlbtv

MLB.TV

Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes

On television
• FSND

On radio
• 97.1FM/1270AM

Up next

• Tue., June 3: Tigers (LHP Dontrelle Willis (0-0, 7.50ERA)) at Athletics (LHP Dana Eveland (4-4, 3.66ERA)), 10:05 p.m. ET

• Wed., June 4: Tigers (LHP Nate Robertson (3-5, 5.92 ERA)) at Athletics (RHP Justin Duchscherer (4-4, 2.27 ERA)) , 3:35 p.m. ET

• Thursday: Off-day

• Fri., June 6: Tigers (Justin Verlander, 2-8, 5.16) vs. Indians (Paul Byrd, 2-5, 4.66), 7:05 p.m. ET
_________________
The year of the "paper tiger?" -- great
on paper, but just a collection of players and not a team yet. It takes
excellent coaching and management to pump up players which makes a
great team!

STARTING LINEUPS:

Detroit AVG
:curtis: Granderson, CF .254
:placido: Polanco, 2B .284
:thames: Thames, DH .247
M. Ordonez

Ordonez, RF .322
M. Cabrera

Cabrera, 1B .277
C. Guillen

Guillen, 3B .294
:edgar: Renteria, SS .273
:pudge: Rodriguez, C .253
:ryan: Raburn, LF .196

Oakland AVG
Ellis, 2B .247
Crosby, SS .265
Cust, DH .245
Chavez, 3B .235
Brown, E, LF .251
Buck, RF .163
Barton, 1B .219
Gonzalez, C, CF .267
Suzuki, C .263

I posted another thread with that article. Sorry GoGetEm! Rolling Eyes

Leyland will start! I love that! I think he will find home plate without google maps. Nod

Throw some strikes Jim!! We believe in you!

WooT Go Tigers!!!

I wonder how long it takes for a message to get to Switzerland...

GO TIGERS!!! We better win today!

swiss_tiger wrote:: I posted another thread with that article. Sorry GoGetEm!

Leyland will start! I love that! I think he will find home plate without google maps.
Throw some strikes Jim!! We believe in you!

No problem Swiss! Anytime you see the write-ups on tigers.com that has the info on the days game, and the starting pitchers, that is what I use as the header for the game day thread.

Oh no!!! Where is bobrob with the beloved stat of the day?!?!?!

I have to get up early to see the D-Train! I do not want to miss that! Suspect

Therefore i better get some rest soon! Sleep

Alarm clock set to 4AM!

Damnit! Why are there so many games at frickin night???

I cant wait till Im out of school

I can't wait until my brother is out of school. Then I will have motivation to run, and i won't sleep in.

I wish I was out already, now I have the 2 hardest finals tomorrow, already did one super easy one, in the middle of a 4 day, 100 ? final. And I have on that should be fairly easy on Thurs.