Rapid Reactions: Max Scherzer Dominates Yankees

Tigers 4, Yankees 0 (box)

• I posted about Max Scherzer and his troubling secondary numbers earlier in the day, but he certainly stepped up his game tonight. He finished with nine strikeouts and only two walks in eight innings, and didn’t allow the Yankees to score against him. This was the Max Scherzer that we want to see. Dominating stuff.
• Hopefully Magglio Ordonez is in the process of turning his early batting woes around. He singled and homered (!) today, which makes four hits in his last seven plate appearances (and three RBI if you’re in to that sort of thing).  Magglio Ordonez getting off the schneide would do wonders for the Tigers’ offense going forward.

• For the second straight day it was “only” four runs, but it seemed like so much more. Maybe it’s because they’re winning, or maybe it’s because the guys that are supposed to hit are doing so. It’s just a different lineup if with Victor Martinez back and a Magglio Ordonez that’s hitting. With Boesch adding two hits in the three hole, the heart of the order suddenly looks pretty potent again.
• I don’t think enough words have been used so far this season on Tigers blogs across the internet describing just how wonderful Alex Avila‘s bat has been. He had a single and a double tonight (plus a stolen base). A .927 OPS will play just fine out of the catcher spot (not that we should expect it to remain that high).
• Avatar (that’s Al Alburquerque, or simply Al Al) came in to pitch the ninth, and, after plunking Mark Teixeira, struck out A-Rod and Robinson Cano with his filthy slider (and then forced a Nick Swisher groundout). How long until he officially supplants Joaquin Benoit as the official setup man in the Tigers bullpen?
• Some nice pitching efforts against the Yankees the last two days. Holding that lineup to only two runs in two days is no easy feat. Now it’s on to Rick Porcello to maintain the trend.

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