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"Leaky" Lugo: His defense at short is still lacking »
May 5, 2008
Tigers manager Jim Leyland, frustrated by the Tigers' lack of consistent offense from a lineup that would seemingly be one of the best in the game from top to bottom, vowed "drastic changes" for Monday's game against the Red Sox.
But the veteran skipper didn't alter his lineup too much, his hands partially tied because it's not as if he has a lot of different bodies to plug into his veteran lineup. So he dropped Gary Sheffield to sixth in the order and Edgar Renteria to eighth, with Ivan Rodriguez all the way down to the number nine slot.
The Tigers also designated outfielder Jacques Jones for assignment and called up Matt Joyce from the minors. He will either play right field or serve as the designated hitter, with Magglio Ordonez filling the position that Joyce doesn't.
The potentially potent Detroit offense is fourth in the league in runs scored with 158 -- only four behind the league-leading Sox. But they have tallied at least four runs in an inning 10 times, accounting for roughly one-third of their total number of runs, making them pretty much a feast-or-famine offense.
The Tigers were limited to two runs in the first two games of a three-game sweep in Minnesota over the weekend, and then, after scoring six runs in the first inning Sunday, Detroit failed to score again and lost, 7-6.
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 4:43 PM | Permalink
