Detroit Tigers Notes And Quotes

--OF Brennan Boesch made his major league debut at Oakland a year ago this Saturday. He quickly hit his way into regular status and has become a regular once again, even though he made the roster this spring as an extra outfielder. Boesch is hitting the way he did when he came up, not the sub-.200 hitter he was last year after the All-Star break. "He's doing a fine job, and that's why I'm keeping him in there," manager Jim Leyland said. He's only been out of the starting lineup twice and one of the reasons is he batted .300 against left-handed pitching last year and is doing the same again this year.

--RHP Rick Porcello will not start again until April 30 despite putting in back-to-back good outings. Detroit did not play Thursday and is off again Monday, and manager Jim Leyland felt it would be better to have his other four starters pitch in turn and skip Porcello one time.

--LF/2B Ryan Raburn will see more action at second base as manager Jim Leyland tries to get more of his outfielders at-bats. "I think it makes sense," Leyland said after Raburn hit a first-inning home run as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup Wednesday. "He's an extra-base hit guy. This also enables me to keep (Brennan) Boesch in the lineup. I trust him at second base. To me, when you make a decision like that (moving Raburn to second), you have to be willing to live with the results. If not, you shouldn't do it. As a manager, you say, 'I'm willing to live with that.'"

--RHP Joel Zumaya is opting for six more weeks of rehab before he begins throwing again in an effort to avoid season-ending surgery on his sore right elbow. He won't throw during rehab period. Zumaya, who hasn't pitched since the first exhibition game, discussed his options with orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, team orthopedist Stephen Lemos and Tigers athletic trainer Kevin Rand. "Joel has opted to give himself the best possible chance of pitching in 2011 by giving it another six weeks and seeing where that puts him," Rand said. "If it's still not favorable after six weeks, he'll undergo surgery. The timetable if they had done a surgical procedure was not favorable for him to pitch in 2011, so he'll undergo six more weeks of rehabilitation to give him a chance of pitching later on this summer."

--RHP Ryan Perry's return to the bullpen gives manager Jim Leyland something closer to what he envisioned coming out spring training. Perry was activated Wednesday and got one out in Detroit's 3-2 win at Seattle. Perry will primarily be used in the seventh inning, allowing Leyland to make some adjustments with his other relievers. "Maybe we can break in some of the kids (rookie RHPs Brayan Villarreal and Al Alburquerque) a little bit different," he said. "Hopefully that's the way it will work out. Perry, (RHP Joaquin) Benoit, (RHP Jose) Valverde, seventh, eighth and ninth, that's picture perfect if everything falls into place. Sometimes you'll have to sprinkle in a lefty, too."

--RHP Jeremy Bonderman, out of baseball after opting not to sign a minor league contract, visited his old teammates while Detroit was visiting Seattle this week. Bonderman lives in Pasco, Wash., about a three-hour drive from Seattle. "He looks fantastic," general manager Dave Dombrowski said, noting Bonderman that has dropped 25 pounds from his pitching weight. "I'll see you in Detroit," was all Bonderman said to the media as he left the Tigers' clubhouse.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 -- Winning road trips by Detroit in the two it has had this season after beating Seattle, 3-2, to go 4-3 on a swing through Oakland and Seattle. That equaled the number of winning road trips the Tigers had last season, when they only won 29 road games.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I'm trying to get some thunder in the lineup. It also enables me to get (Brennan) Boesch in there and get Magglio (Ordonez) playing. I'm searching for some thunder. We've got to try to do something. If Rhymes was hitting right now, we'd look a lot different." -- Manager Jim Leyland, on why he had .228 hitting Ryan Raburn playing second rather than Will Rhymes, hitting .208. It was the second time Leyland has had Raburn, a right-handed hitter, at second in place of the left-handed hitting Rhymes.

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