PREGAME Kenny Rogers against Casey Fossum. Game Time 7:15

POSTGAME: Well if this is what happens when I skimp on the pregame portion, I’ll write War and Peace each game.

This one was simply ugly. Rogers was hurt by two, two run homers. Ledezma pitched okay in relief, but 2 more runs crossed the plate.

My real issues are with Dmitri Young and the offense.

Young was an embarrassment tonight. He flat out dropped 3 throws and looked horrible at the plate for the bulk of the night.

And the offense with 10 strikeouts against Casey Fossum!

I have nothing nice to say tonight. This game looked way too much like the 8th inning last night. I take it back, Brent Clevlen picked up his 2nd assist on an awesome throw to second. Here’s hoping that Justin Verlander can play the role of stopper and the bats come out angry tomorrow.

PREGAME: With a win today the Tigers would match last year’s win total, and a quick check of the calendar tells me it’s still July. Of course I’m not going to count the chickens in the pre-hatch phase of the post, especially with Johan Santana pitching for the Twins.

With the series in hand, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Jim Leyland employ the Sunday lineup and give Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez the day off. With the Tigers playing 7 straight days on turf it might not be a bad idea. Pudge may still be out, and there was talk of Brent Clevlen starting in centerfield today. (Like that isn’t a tall order – welcome to the bigs).

So runs may be at a premium, but that is pretty much what Jeremy Bonderman has been accustomed to this year. Bonderman looks to make things just as difficult on the Twins, and with a 2.67 ERA and 74 strikeouts in his last 10 starts he certainly seems up to the task.

POSTGAME: I think this one definitely falls under the category of: ERGH. That is about as beatable as Johan Santana gets, and about as dominant as Jeremy Bonderman gets. The only thing I question is leaving Bonderman out there to face Cuddyer, actually the entire walk Joe Mauer to get to Cuddyer. Jamie Walker was warm and available. I know Bonderman wasn’t getting hit hard, and he was still throwing 95, and even the pitch that Cuddyer hit wasn’t a bad pitch. But there is probably a limit to the frustration one pitcher should face in an inning, and he threw a ton of pitches.

In the end the inning was reminiscent of the 8th inning melt down in Pittsburgh. Just plain ugly.

Offensively I couldn’t be happier. The Tigers made Santana work and repeatedly hit balls hard. Yes they left 13 men on base, but I look at situations like the 4th inning where the Tigers had runners on 2nd and 3rd and after a Clevlen K, Polanco and Thames both hit line drives that were caught. It happens – just like the 8th inning happened.

And yes, Brent Clevlen. That was quite a debut for a move I was questioning. He doubled and walked off of Santana, it will only get easier from here on out. And as for the outfield assist, it was a perfectly executed play. Clevlen made a strong accurate throw and Wilson blocked the plate. But I think the Tigers caught a break because Castillo appeared to have scored.

Two last thoughts on the series. First, I love the old school helmets that both Mauer and Redmond wear when catching. And secondly, could someone please ask Tim McClelland to make a strike call before the ball has been returned to the pitcher?
Game Time 2:10

PREGAME: Brad Radke has owned the Tigers for as long as he’s been in the league. But a lot of those Tiger teams just weren’t very good. That isn’t the case this year. The Tigers have beat Radke the two times they’ve faced him this year. In fact Pudge Rodriguez has the highest batting average against Radke of any player with 50 or more at-bats and he’s knocked him for 8 homers. Unfortunately Pudge won’t be playing tonight as he recovers from a bruised thumb.

Fortunately the player with the second highest batting average against Radke will be manning the clean-up position. Magglio has managed a .406 career mark against Radke. Other Tigers with success off of Radke, though in a smaller number of at-bats, are Craig Monroe, Carlos Guillen, and Dmitri Young. Young will be playing first base in place of Chris Shelton.

Taking the ball for the Tigers will be Nate Robertson. Robertson has faced the Twins twice this year and has allowed 3 runs in 12 innings. An interesting match-up will be Robertson and Joe Mauer. Mauer has been hitting the entire league this year, what with him having the best batting average and all, but the left hander has struggled with Robertson in his limited opportunities going 1 for 12.

If you’re looking for the Twins perspective, head over to Stick and Ball Guy. Here is the link for their Game Post. I read through last night’s and was impressed with the knowledge and reasonable-ness (word?) of the commentors.

Game Time 7:10

POSTGAME: Once again a big early lead ends up getting interesting. True, much of the big early lead was built on ground balls that missed everyone, but they weren’t all fluky hits. (Okay, Inge probably had the luckiest 3 hit night of his career) Granderson’s and Young’s homers were both legit of course, and the the Tigers had 3 other balls driven to the wall.

I know there was probably some nervousness about Jones, but he actually did nothing wrong last night. the offense against him came from bunts, bloops, and dribblers.

This was the first time I’ve seen Pat Neshek, and I’m still confused.

Fortunately the Tigers are going into a Santana match-up with the series already in hand.

PREGAME: For the first time in a long time, a series has me nervous. As everybody knows, the Twins are ridiculously hot. They are winners of 34 of their last 42. They just swept the White Sox in Chicago. The Tigers will be facing 2 of the top pitchers in the American League. The Twins are 37-11 at the dome. Since June 8th their offense has been plugging along at a 305/370/468 clip. This ain’t gonna be easy.

But the Tigers aren’t too shabby themselves and still have an 8.5 game lead. The Tigers will be sending out Zach Miner, who has been hammered in his last 2 starts. The Tigers offense, which has been pretty darn solid since the All Star break (304/350/442), will try to scratch out some runs against Francisco Liriano. Liriano of course is striking out everybody and has allowed like no runs per game. But the Tigers did have some success against Liriano when he was relieving. Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordonez, and Brandon Inge are all 3 for 7 with home runs.

Bloggers are previewing this series like crazy. For even more info check out Mack Avenue Tigers, Sweaty Men Endeavors, and Baseball by Paul. Finally, my buddy Seth chronicles the roster moves and players that have brought the Twins to where they are.

POSTGAME: I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to win this game. I mean no disrespect to Zach Miner, but he isn’t Francisco Liriano. Liriano was all that was advertised, but the Tigers did manage to raise his ERA. In the end the Tigers won a game the Metrodome way with a couple turf singles setting up Monroe’s game winner.

I thought that the Tigers were doing a poor job working the count against Liriano, at least until he left the game. Detroit hitters made Joe Nathan and Juan Rincon work for everything. In fact, there patience against Nathan in the 9th inning forced 25 pitches and probably prevented Nathan from coming out for the 10th. My perception of impatience against Liriano was probably more of a testament to how well he pitched.

Zach Miner was a tad shaky in the early innings, but he became quite effective. His last 2 outings were brutal, but if you look at his contribution in whole (even including those outings) I think you have to be thrilled with what he has done as a rotation fill-in. With the off day, Verlander’s long outing, Miner’s return to form, and Craig Monroe tweaking his leg, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Colby Lewis returned to Toledo for a position player.

Miner was helped by his defense that kept the Twins out of scoring position. Craig Monroe cut down Luis Castillo stretching a single to a double and Brandon Inge made a nifty heads up play gunning down the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt.

And of course I’d be remiss without mentioning the bullpen. Jamie Walker, Fernando Rodney, and Todd Jones were nearly perfect.