Perez Continues Strong Showing

LAKELAND | Nobody has had a better spring for the Tigers than Timo Perez, who had four hits in Monday's 7-6 exhibition victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Given some regular at bats in the absence of Detroit's regular outfielders, the 33-year-old Perez has shown he can still hit, run, play the outfield and hit with power. He had a home run and a triple on Monday.

The problem is the Tiger outfielders will soon return from the World Baseball Classic, and then Perez will be out of a job, at least at the Major League level.

"I know my situation here. I'm a veteran. A lot of younger players are here," said Perez, who spent the entire 2007 season at Toledo. "I just get ready for every day. You never know. It's a long season, and I have to be mentally ready."

Manager Jim Leyland expressed Perez's predicament.

"Timo Perez is probably the best pinch hitter we've got. He's a prototype pinch hitter -- go up there and let it fly . . . sometimes it goes at somebody and sometimes it drops in. But the fact of the matter is, how much are we going to pinch hit?''

American League teams pinch hit only about once every two games, less than half as frequently as National League teams, which means Perez is probably in the wrong league.

"Yeah," he agreed, "but nobody gave me a job in the National League."

Consecutive hits by Ramon Santiago, Perez and Will Rhymes produced the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday before a crowd of 8,376.

The Cardinals jumped of Tiger starter Zach Miner for four runs in the first inning and Albert Pujols hit his first spring homer off Bobby Seay in the seventh.

But the Tigers came back with the help of Perez's hitting and Brent Clevlen's first home run.

(theledger.com)