--1B/3B Jeff Larish has sought out disabled OF Marcus Thames for advice on how to handle sparse playing time. "The guy I go to is Marcus because I feel we're similar players," Larish said. "We're more of power hitters. I can relate to him. I can go and bounce some things off him. He gives me a lot of encouragement. He's the main guy that I go to as far as that. He's had to deal with it for so long, too. He does a very good job of making you feel comfortable and making you feel a part of the team and making you feel like he's there for you and encouraging you."
Larish singled his first time up Tuesday night and added a solo home run, his third, in the sixth. "I look back at my brief career, and I don't remember too many guys' statistics. I just remember how they played the game and what type of teammates they were. I think that's the most important thing. Marcus is one of those guys who really stands out," Larish said. --RHP Armando Galarraga is going to have make some adjustments -- and quick. His May has been much more difficult than his April after Minnesota put a pair of two-run home runs onto his ERA Tuesday along with a solo run in the fifth. He has now given up 16 runs in his three May starts after allowing just five in four April starts. Part of the problem is batters are crowding the plate because Galarraga seldom throws inside. Galarraga has pitched more from behind than he did earlier in the month and he's making more mistakes for hitters to take advantage of. He has not beaten the Twins in five tries.
--RHP Rick Porcello was struck by a thought during the weekend as he got his first look at Cleveland's Progressive Field: "It was cool to be in the same town where my grandfather played," Porcello said. His mother's father was Sam Dente, a shortstop who played on the Indians' 1954 squad that won 111 games and lost in the World Series to the New York Giants. Dente died in 2002, when Porcello was barely a teen-ager. "I only met him twice," Porcello said. "I was real young, so I never got to talk to him about baseball. I'm kind of disappointed in that regard, but it's still pretty cool to have a grandfather that played in the big leagues."
BY THE NUMBERS: 25 -- RBIs by Detroit's two shortstops through May 10, most of any team in the majors. Backup SS Ramon Santiago had 13 and regular SS Adam Everett 12.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This is not experimental and it's not developmental. This is the big leagues. He's going to the rotation and we expect everybody there to help us win games. The expectations are no higher on him than anyone else." -- Manager Jim Leyland, on the scheduled return Wednesday to the Detroit rotation of LHP Dontrelle Willis, who has been out all year with an anxiety disorder.
