Todd Jones is not your prototypical closer.  He does not throw in the high nineties.  He does not get a lot of strike outs.  He does not come running out of the bullpen to Enter Sandman or some such intimidating song.  But much more often than not, he gets the job done. 

I think most of us can agree that Joel Zumaya is the heir apparant to the Tig’s closer position (although I have heard here and there that becoming a starter is not totally out of the question either), but I’m not in a big hurry to send Jones packing just yet.

I like the guy, so sue me.

I think the stats bear that he’s having a fine year, and better than Zoom-zoom.  Jones has got him beat on WHIP and OBA, and has a enormously better walks/innning ratio.  Yes, Jones sports a high ERA, but that can be a very overrated stat, especially for a relief pitcher.  I know it’s a lot more exciting to watch Zumaya come charging from the bullpen, Voodoo Child reverberating around the CoPa, in anticipation of triple digit fastballs and mighty whiffs from the poor mutts who have to face him than it is to see Jones run from the bullpen, christian rock blaring, in anticipation of another rollercoaster outing.  But, so what?  He gets the job done.  This is baseball, not WWE.

On the heels of Jim Leyland’s comments a few weeks ago about lowering Jones’ workload and Zumaya’s blown save over the weekend, it’ll be an interesting ride to the end of the season.  Dare I say a rollercoaster ride?  (sting!)

Notes from Section 339

--The Tig’s split with the O’s over the weekend with a great outing from Verlander and a poor outing from Robertson.
--Jeff Larish is going back down to T-Town to make room for Zach Miner, who had a real nice start last night.  Speaking of which…
--The Tig’s put an absolute beatdown on the Royals 19-4.  Props to Miguel “Sexy Mike” Cabrera and Matt Joyce for putting up 6 and 5 RBI respectively.  (Seriously, how good has Joyce been?  Trade him for Kobe immediatley!!)
--I’ll be at the game Saturday, I bet you can guess where, come say hi and buy me a super rope.