--LHP Nate Robertson, scheduled to start Sunday's rained out game against New York, instead will open Detroit's series that begins Tuesday in Kansas City. The Tigers are not scheduled to play Monday. RHP Justin Verlander will follow on Wednesday with LHP Kenny Rogers slated for Thursday. RHP Jeremy Bonderman is scheduled for Friday at Arizona. Where does that leave RHP Armando Galarraga? Possibly out of the rotation. LHP Dontrelle Willis makes a rehab start Monday for Toledo, and his next day to pitch would be Saturday. If he pitched in Arizona on Saturday, the Tigers could use his bat.
--LF Gary Sheffield is benefiting from moving out of the DH role and to left field for Detroit. Sheffield, switched from third to sixth in the batting order when the move to the playing field was made, has reached base safely in three of five games played since while batting .333 with two doubles and three RBIs. "I feel more like a baseball player, being in the game, getting a sweat going," Sheffield said. "I feel better when I'm in tune with the game." "He's done fine," manager Jim Leyland said. "He's swinging the bat a lot better, gotten some nice RBIs. I don't think he's out of the woods yet, but he looks a lot better. Is that because he's in left field? I don't know. But he looks better." Sheffield recently passed Al Kaline on the all-time RBI list with 1,584 and is currently tied for 33rd place with Rogers Hornsby and Harmon Killebrew.
--1B Miguel Cabrera is due to break out soon, says his manager, Jim Leyland. Cabrera has not driven in a run in his last nine games and went 4-for-21 on Detroit's just-concluded homestand. Leyland feels Cabrera, who signed a $153.3 million contract just before spring training ended, will explode soon. "I think he's going to start to relax here shortly and go on a tear," Leyland said. "He probably feels like the weight of the club is on his shoulders. We just want him to do what he can do, he doesn't need to do any more than that."
--RHP Jeremy Bonderman lost for the second time in the week on Saturday and much of it has to do with his inability to control his fastball. Bonderman has walked 29 batters in 45 innings of work. "I'm irritated with the way I'm pitching," Bonderman said. "It's something I have to get over. There's no excuse for it. I'm just not pitching well. I have to figure out where I am going wrong and find a way to improve." "He battled his tail off but he was missing his targets by quite a bit," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland. "He left his sliders out to left-handed hitters and was dragging his arm a bit."
--RHP Armando Galarraga will be removed from the Detroit rotation when LHP Dontrelle Willis is ready to return, according to manager Jim Leyland. Willis has a rehab assignment due Monday for Toledo and originally was scheduled for another on Saturday as well. Now, he might wind up pitching for Detroit in Arizona on Saturday if all goes well in his return to the mound Monday. That means Detroit will have to decide whether to put Galarraga in the bullpen or send him to the minors to start. "Galarraga has been very good," Leyland said. "I really like him because he's a strike thrower. But now you're asking a guy who hasn't pitched in the bullpen to go to the bullpen."
--LHP Kenny Rogers picked off his 92nd baserunner Friday night, catching New York's Wilson Betemit off first base in the second inning. It's the most since the stat began to be kept in 1974. New York Yankees starter Andy Pettitte has 84.
BY THE NUMBERS
5.55 -- ERA by Detroit starters entering play Tuesday, worst of any rotation in the league.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"They've got to get the job done. And they're all very capable of getting the job done. It's a matter of doing it. But you've got to get it done at some point." -- Manager Jim Leyland, discussing his starting rotation, which has the worst collective ERA in the league.
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