Now you see one of the main reasons Detroit ditched Gary Sheffield this spring, aside from the fact the potential Hall of Famer wasn't hitting.
Manager Jim Leyland has already shuffled his designated hitters around, using four different starters in the Tigers' eight games. Carlos Guillen was Monday's DH after straining his right Achilles tendon on a double Sunday.
It's a move that would have been tough to make the last couple of seasons with Sheffield locked in as the DH, unable to play in the field because the club feared he would get hurt.
But Guillen, increasingly brittle with leg and hamstring problems, has been the DH three times so far this year, twice to get him off the artificial turf in Toronto.
Left-handed-hitting Jeff Larish has made both of his starts as Detroit's DH, while Marcus Thames, expected to get most of the DH at-bats as the season wears along, has started twice at the position.
Magglio Ordonez was Leyland's choice to DH once in Toronto.
Using different players at DH not only enables Leyland to use their bats while saving a little wear on their legs, but it also allows him to get his bench guys in the field and keep their bats from getting overly rusty.
It's a gambit Sparky Anderson liked to employ, as opposed to being locked in to just one bat.
WHITE SOX 10, TIGERS 6: RHP Zach Miner got too many pitches up and couldn't get good bite on his breaking ball Monday, and Chicago took advantage for eight of its 10 runs. The White Sox hit three home runs off Miner, including the 300th for both RF Jermaine Dye and 1B Paul Konerko in consecutive at-bats in the second. LF Carlos Quentin hit a pair of home runs as the White Sox won their third straight and ended a three-game Tigers winning streak. SS Ramon Santiago belted a three-run home run for Detroit, and LF Josh Anderson drove in three runs with a double and a single.
