Once again, Detroit.

Remember a few years ago, when the Brewers were no-hit by Verlander and then went on to take two games in a thrilling series? That series has always stayed in my mind as one of the better road series the Brewers played in the last few years, given the fact that they had to rebound from a no-hitter, win with a spot-starter on approximately 30 minutes notice, and win with an ace who lacked his best stuff (one of Ben Sheets’ better “guts” starts occurred in that Tigers series).

Let’s hope for another fun series on the road, and another thrilling series at Comerica.

Braden Looper (1-1, 5 GS, 5.45 runs average, 5.94 IP/GS; 2 quality starts) @ Armando Galarraga (0-4, 5 GS, 5.79 runs average, 5.60 IP/GS; 2 quality starts)

What’s in a splitter? Or more specifically, Braden Looper’s splitter. This season, Milwaukee Brewers’ catchers (mostly Jason Kendall) have called upon Looper for the splitter over 30% of his pitches, thus limiting his fastball/sinker to near-50% usage. Perhaps the selection is a continuation of a strategy over the last few years that has Looper throwing more and more splitters each and every year; perhaps the pitch, at 80 MPH, more readily achieves Looper’s goals for keeping the ball down than his trustworthy sinker. That splitter is the Brewers rotation’s most prolific breaking pitch.

Galarraga is struggling over the course of his last 7 starts, along with most of the Tigers’ staff; it must be a trend of sorts. The young righty simply is not matching his results that took the American League by storm in 2008.

By the way, if a junkballer is a pitcher that uses a change of speeds for his most frequent selection, and does not rely on an above average fastball (supposedly), what do we call a pitcher who throws a 91 MPH fastball only around 50% of the time, and throws his 85 MPH slider over 40% of the time?

Dave Bush (0-3, 5 GS, 8.64 runs average, 5.00 IP/GS; 0 quality starts) @ Alfredo Figaro (0-0, 0 GS)

Perhaps it was simply good luck that kept the frequent home runs solo shots; the aggressive, inside pitching style of Bush is catching up with the righty. Bush simply has not been the same pitcher after his Florida start, during which he was hit on the arm with a batted ball. More baserunners are on, there are more walks allowed, and a couple multi-run homers to boot. Bush is perhaps the Brewers’ most aggressive – and certainly their most efficient pitcher, meaning that a return to form is vital for their overall success.

Entering the Tigers’ rotation in the place of Dontrelle Willis, Figaro is a young, hard-throwing righty making the trek to Detroit from AA Erie. The jump will test Figaro’s composure, and ability to mix pitches to big leaguers, as he features a hard fastball and good curveball with slider and change up selections that could use work. Perhaps he will learn the lesson that Manny Parra – for instance – could not, which is that you don’t need more than two pitches to succeed at the Major League level; you simply need to command them and throw them aggressively in sequence.

Yovani Gallardo (3-1, 5 GS, 1.73 runs average, 6.26 IP/GS; 2 quality starts) @ Justin Verlander (3-1, 5 GS, 2.38 runs average, 6.80 IP/GS; 4 quality starts)

Efficiency is simply not in the stars for Gallardo this year. The budding ace is hurting himself with walks, and perhaps wasting too many pitches, hindering his ability to pitch deep into games. Get this: of his six 5 (to 6) IP starts, only two have clocked in under 100 pitches, and his lowest pitch total in a 5 IP start is 94, which equals nearly 19 pitches per inning. I know I have written about this in the last few previews, but Gallardo’s efficiency is alarming, and will continue to affect his ability to work deep into ballgames.

Verlander is once again the king of fastball velocity, sort of. At the very least, his velocity has returned to the level at which it stood several years ago; his fastball averages 95 MPH. This means, of course, that he can throw his curveball for a strong 15-20 MPH differential, depending upon whether his top fastball shows up (opposed to his merely “average” fastball). From the looks of it, Verlander has also added a cutter/slider at 89 MPH, which he throws sparingly, along with his curveball – his favorite off-speed selection – and change up.