Vlad getting some pitches now

A day after an unprecidented three-walk game against the Detroit Tigers, Vladimir Guerrero is getting a chance to swing the bat and he's doing some damage. The Tigers were able to pitch around Guerrero Monday night, but with Gary Matthews Jr. and Orlando Cabrera each with two hits in their first two at-bats, Tigers pitcher Jeremy Bonderman had no place to put Guerrero today. So in his first two times to the plate, Guerrero has cracked singles with the second driving in two runs. Production from other places in the lineup was just what manager Mike Scioscia was looking for before the game began.

"We're more than Vlad," Scioscia said this morning. "Our offense has to be more than Vlad and I think we're seeing Garret doing the things we need him to do. He's starting to swing better. You've seen Gary, but the bats behind Vlad in particular – Kotch, Hillenbrand. If they're going to take one bat out of your lineup pitching around a guy we have to look at it as setting the table and we have to get after it and score runs. And we will. We have to make it so that if they don't pitch to Vlad, we're going to take advantage of it."