April 25, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Phil Coke (40) pitches in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park. Kansas City won 8-3 in ten innings. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier today the Detroit Tigers announced that left-handed pitcher Phil Coke has been placed on the disabled list with a strained groin. For whatever reason, the Tigers have felt compelled to specify that it’s the left groin. In case that sort of information is valuable to you.

Much like with Octavio Dotel, the Tigers tried to wait on Coke, who has had a left groin strain for nearly a week. When his latest throwing session Tuesday didn’t go as hoped, the Tigers placed the left-hander on the 15-day disabled list.

The move is retroactive to last Friday, the day after Coke took an extra-inning loss to the Royals.

Detroit recalled right-hander Jose Ortega from Triple-A Toledo to take his (i.e. Phil Coke’s) spot on the roster. Ortega hadn’t allowed an earned run in 14 with the Mud Hens, and he was striking out batters at a clip of over 12 per nine innings. I would imagine that we’ll see Ortega fill Brayan Villarreal‘s old role of as kind of the sixth or seventh inning righty.

• The Tigers meltdown in Minnesota.
• The upcoming Yankees series.
• And they interview Yanks Go Yard’s Ricky Keeler about the Yankees

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Phil Coke sucked today.

Bullets

• OK, but seriously. This game was pretty ho-hum until Phil Coke came in to close (after Joaquin Benoit walked the first batter of the ninth) and remembered he was Phil Coke. It’s a long season. There’s no reason to get worked up over the second game of the year. But the Tigers may want to at least not pitch Coke against righties. Ever.
• Another note about the bullpen: don’t start looking for excellence because it’s not coming any time soon. It’s the weakest “position” the Tigers have, but it could be worse (which is hard to think of after this loss). The thing is, since Leyland is going to have to tinker with this bullpen there will be a lot (too many perhaps) growing pains until the team figures something out. Setting up a good bullpen is a fickle process. Anyone who thinks it can be figured out with the snap of their finger is kidding themselves.
• What may have been just as bad as the relief pitching is the hitting. Eight guys left on base today. The Tigers have never been a patient team at the plate and it makes no sense to expect anything different in 2013. It’s feast or famine.
• Darin. Freaking. Downs. (Would not be shocked if this is the last time we ever write this)
• What the hell happened on the final play of the game in the outfield?
• There are 160 games left in the season, so don’t have a heart attack after game two.