Game 82: Tigers look to get back on track against lowly Royals

Armando Galaragga looks to continue to add stability to the back end of the rotation as he goes after his third straight win. His last start against the A's left much to be desired with 6 walks, but he again has a favorable matchup against the Royals offense. Here is what I wrote about Armando before his last start...

More than anything, his slider has lost its bite and opposing hitters are hitting it more. After being a plus, plus pitch last year for him, it has been a negative pitch for him. His changeup has actually improved greatly from last year, and yet, he is throwing that pitch 4 % less than last year and throwing his slider and fastball more than last year. I would like to see him rely more on his changeup and cut back a little with the slider to see if that makes a difference. He did do that last start and his last start was good, outside of the Jake Fox 3-run home run in the first inning. Coincedently, the A's hit the changeup worse than any other team in MLB. I think Galaragga can exploit that tonight and provide a good outing for a #5 starter. 7 IP, 3 ER tonight out of Armando would be outstanding, and I think he can do it.

In that game, he continued to use his changeup upwards to 20% of the time and he seems to feel more comfortable relying on that pitch. Developing that 3rd pitch could be pivotal as he tries to shake off a bad start to the season and solidify himself as a #4 or #5 starter for us. In his last start against the Royals he went 6 strong innings and only allowed 1 ER, and only Billy Butler, Alberto Callapso and Jose Guillen are the players on the Royals with any real success against him. At last word, Guillen was questionable for tonight. This has the makings of another chance for a good start for Galaragga.

Opposing him tonight will be Gil Meche, who's 4-8 record and 4.20 ERA do not display how good of a pitcher he is or could be against us. The last two years he has had an ERA under 4 for the Royals and his FIP and WHIP in both of those years were better than league average. At his best, he is a good #2 starter. The problem for Meche is usually his consistency. In 6 starts this year he has allowed 4 or more runs, and even allowed 9 ER in a game against the Cardinals on June 21st. On the other hand, he has 10 starts with 2 ER allowed or less. So, he could be great against us or bad.

This year he has a 3.73 FIP and a 1.45 WHIP. His K/BB rate of 1.85 is right around league average and his HR/9 rate of 0.64 is very good. More than anything, he has had some bad luck this year. He has a BABIP of .320 and a LOB % of just 68.8%. He can, and probably will, pitch better as the season goes on.

He actually pitches much better on the road with a 2.70 ERA. His splits suggest that right handed batters hit better against him with a .780 OPS compared to lefties hitting for an OPS of .674 against him. But, the difference is not that severe. He has a GB/FB ratio of 1.51 so he has been a groundball pitcher this year more so than ever before. And, he is truly a 4 pitch pitcher as he uses his fastball, slider, curveball and changeup all more than 10% of the time. Accoring to Fan Graphs, his best pitch is his curveball. His fastball, which comes in on average around 02 MPH is also a plus pitch.

In his last start against us, he only last 2.1 IP as he allowed 4 runs, but only 2 ER. He also had 3 walks and 6 hits allowed in that game so the potential is there, as I mentioned earlier, to hit this guy hard tonight. Of course, he also has the stuff to completely shut us down. Miguel Cabrera is 5 for 6 with 2 doubles and 2 HR against him, so it might be a night where we see Cabrera break out of his mini-slump.

-As always, I will be back later for my thoughts on the game.