Orange County Register

JOE SAUNDERS (14-7, 3.67)

  The Angels’ All-Star left-hander hit the skids and really scuffled along in August and now will be facing a tough veteran lineup that took him apart in May. In five starts last month, Saunders was 0-2 with an ERA of 6.93 and opponents batted a big .356 against him. The Angels have lost his past three starts and in the last two, he has given up 17 hits and 12 earned runs in just 6 1/3 innings in losses to Oakland and Minnesota. The Twins, OK. The offensively-challenged A’s … that’s not good. When Saunders faced the Tigers in May at Angel Stadium, he gave up seven hits and five runs in just five innings of a 6-2 loss, his worst start to that point. Marcus Thames had two home runs and four RBI against Saunders. He has yet to beat Detroit in three career starts, going 0-1 with an ERA of 4.59. The Tigers also are 23-16 when facing a left-handed starter this season.  

Saunders vs. the Tigers:

Ordonez: 3 for 9, .333; 1 HR, 2 RBI

Polanco: 2 for 6, .333; 0 HR, 0 RBI

Guillen: 3 for 6, .500; 0 HR, 1 RBI

Inge: 1 for 6, .167; 0 HR, 0 RBI

Thames: 2 for 6, .333; 2 HR, 4 RBI

Granderson: 2 for 6, .333; 0 HR, 0 RBI

Raburn: 0 for 5, .000; 0 HR, 0 RBI

Sheffield: 2 for 3, .667; 0 HR, 0 RBI

Renteria: 1 for 2, .500; 0 HR, 1 RBI

Cabrera: 0 for 2, .000; 0 HR, 0 RBI

CHRIS LAMBERT (0-1, 6.75)

  The 25-year-old right-hander made his major league debut on Aug. 26 against the Cleveland Indians, and was doing fine until he got into the third inning. He retired the first six batters that he faced, striking out two. But Lambert then gave up back-to-back home runs to Jamey Carroll and Kelly Shoppach to start the third, hit a batter, gave up a single and a double. There was an error in there so only two of the six runs he allowed were earned. Still, he is not taking the greatest resume to the mound on Tuesday, especially when that start stands alone as it does for now. Lambert was 12-8 with an ERA of 3.50 in 26 starts at Triple-A Toledo and had 124 sttikeouts in 149 1/3 innings, but was tailing off at the time of his promotion. He was 1-2 with an ERA of 4.13 in August, the only month he had a sub-.500 record and also the highest ERA he had in any month.

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