ARLINGTON -- Don't expect a big I-told-you-so from Armando Galarraga when he takes the mound here Tuesday night. He's had 4 1/2 months to make his point: The Rangers gave up on a pretty good pitcher.

Case closed, even before this game opens.

"I already proved to those guys that they made a mistake," Galarraga said Monday afternoon.

When he's at his best, he's the calm amid the excitement of a Major League game. Nothing fazes him or gets him off-balance, because he thrives on getting hitters off their balance.

That's how manager Jim Leyland wants his rookie to be. That's what worried him about Galarraga heading into the middle game of this three-game series, especially after reading comments from him last week looking ahead to this matchup.

That fell under Leyland's category of silly stuff.

"You want to be a little pumped up because it's your [old] team? That's good," Leyland said. "I understand all that. But to me, he'll make the biggest mistake of his life if he takes the mound [Tuesday] night trying to show the Rangers they made a mistake."

At least on Monday, it sounded like Galarraga was steering clear from that approach, even if he's not shy about pointing out the Rangers' mistake.

When he takes the mound here Tuesday, he'll match the total number of starts he made in a Rangers uniform. After going 11-8 between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Oklahoma, he took the mound here last Sept. 24 against the Angels and gave up five runs over 4 2/3 innings with four walks and four strikeouts.

While the Tigers were preparing for Spring Training with their big-name additions, they pulled off a Minor League deal in early February to acquire Galarraga from the Rangers for Class A outfielder Michael Hernandez. The rest is history. While Galarraga rebounded from one of the first cuts of camp to stick with the Tigers after a mid-April callup, Hernandez is out of the Rangers organization.

As he points out, he isn't the only pitcher that the Rangers have traded to have had success elsewhere. That's why he finds it ironic when he hears talk about the Rangers' need for pitching.

"They had pitchers," he said. "They had Edinson Volquez in Cincinnati. They had [John] Danks from Chicago. They've had pitchers, but they traded them. They traded Nick Masset [now in Cincinnati]. Good pitchers. They've had good pitchers, but I don't know, at some point they get traded."

The other irony is that as well as Galarraga has pitched this year, he would've been a nice fit for this park. When he's on, he limits his fly balls, inducing opponents to pound the ball into the ground. He works quickly and efficiently, getting his defense in and out on a hot summer day.

"It's a good park to pitch in," Galarraga said. "I like it. It's like everywhere, you have to keep the ball down around the corners."

Yet when people ask him the what-if questions looking back at the trade, he doesn't believe he would've ever gotten the chance to pitch here again.

"I've always said if I were in Texas right now, I'd be having a good year," Galarraga said, "but in Triple-A or Double-A."

Point proven. Leyland would rather leave it at that rather than take it to the field.

"Believe me, these hitters Texas has got, they'll be here tomorrow night," Leyland said. "That's silly stuff, in my opinion. ... They're going to be worried about Galarraga? I don't think so. And he's good, don't get me wrong, but we're not talking about Bob Gibson here all of a sudden."

Pitching matchup
DET: RHP Armando Galarraga (11-4, 3.11 ERA)
Galarraga had one of his best outings of the season last time out against the Blue Jays. He went eight innings, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out six and walking two. He threw a season-high 121 pitches. He said after the game he couldn't remember the last time he threw that many pitches, but he added that he won't need any extra rest.

TEX: RHP Vicente Padilla (12-6, 4.85 ERA)
Originally slated to pitch on Thursday, Padilla was pushed back to Tuesday to start against the Tigers. In his last start, Padilla allowed six runs to the Orioles in four innings as his ERA rose from 4.59. After winning five of seven starts from June 11 to July 25, he's winless in his last three.

Tidbits
Curtis Granderson's two-triple game was his second of the season, the other one coming June 27 against Colorado. ... Gary Sheffield's next home run will push him past Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff to take over 25th place alone on baseball's all-time list at 494. Sheffield is 15-for-39 (.385) lifetime against Padilla with three home runs and six RBIs. ... Edgar Renteria is 7-for-13 for his career against Padilla with a double, homer and five RBIs.

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On the Internet
 MLB.TV
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•  Official game notes

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Up next
• Wednesday: Tigers (Nate Robertson, 7-9, 5.87) at Rangers (Kevin Millwood, 6-7, 5.58), 8:05 p.m. ET
• Thursday: Off-day
• Friday: Tigers (Justin Verlander, 9-13, 4.60) at Royals (Brian Bannister, 7-12, 5.96), 8:10 p.m. ET