Hawpe Disappoints in Detroit

Brad Hawpe has not been hitting that well, and manager Tom Fischer says he is contemplating shaking things up in the lineup. Since Hawpe is batting a lousy .240 with no homeruns in 75 at bats, he will likely slide a couple spots in the Tigers lineup over the next few games to see how he does batting lower in the lineup. The Tigers are not considering abandoning ship just yet, but with only 8 wins in their first 21 games, they are fading pretty quickly.

On the flip side, Miguel Cabrera has not been a disappointment. Cabrera is batting .333 with 8 homeruns and has driven in 22 runs over 21 games. That is a pretty good pace and puts him on track for 62 homeruns and 170 RBI. He'll likely cool off over the length of the season, but it's been fun to watch him battle at the plate.

Hawpe troubles have not been really getting on base so much as moving runners around the bases. He has only recorded a single RBI so far but is getting on base by walking a total of 21 times, one of those was an intentional walk. In fact, Hawpe has walked more than he has gotten a hit and that could account for some of his lack of run production.

Time will tell if the Tigers can get back on track. Some bright spots have included Adam Everett with 10 RBI, Matt Stairs with four homeruns, Kenny Rogers with three wins, and Justin Verlander with a 3.89 ERA and a decent 2-2 record in five starts. Ryan Spilborghs is also batting well at .396 with a homerun and 9 RBI. Marcus Thames has been a bit of a surprise too batting .303 with 2 homeruns and 8 RBI.

Hitting hasn't really been too much of a problem for the Tigers. The pitching staff has given up over six runs a game on average for the first 21 games of the season. Nate Robertson has been relegated to a bullpen role in block 2 and Jake Westbrook was brought into the rotation for a short stint, to see if he can help out the starters. So far, Robertson has been good out of the pen but in Westbrooks one start against the Twins, he pitched well in his first four innings giving up nothing until the fifth inning when he allowed five earned runs. He pitched out of the inning and then pitch into the seventh and didn't give up anything more than the five runs in the fifth inning.

Pedro Martinez hasn't pitched too badly, but has not been supported well by his offense when he takes the mound every fifth day. Johnny Cueto is 2-1 in his first four starts but has been touched for 14 runs in 24 innings pitched. Verlander had a great start his last time out shutting out the Rays 1-0 in Tampa. If the staff can come around a little and the offense keeps putting up some runs, the Detroiters might bring up they record to .500. If the pitching staff can't come around, it's going to be a long season in Motown.