Take heart. If even half of the Tigers’ losses in April and May had been like this one - exciting, hard fought, could have gone either way - there would have been no talk of fire sales, no WTF Tigers?, no overall feeling of despair.

They essentially beat the best pitcher in the game, or at least battled him to a dead heat.

Rodney is healthy and ready - why not use him right away for what he’s made for? Not a bad call. If there was a bad call, it was Dolsi. He’s no set up guy, as far as I can tell, and also not much of a Seay-type specialist. I think he’s either long relief or the perfect replacement for Todd Jones as closer.

Still, I try to remind myself that no matter which pitcher Leyland chooses to put out there in whatever situation, it’s on that guy to get it done, and if he doesn’t, the blame lies first and foremost with that guy.

T Smith: Dolsi was on the mound for that play, correct? Then I’ll go this route: If Dolsi makes a better pitch that induces a swing and a miss, the defense behind him doesn’t matter.

Come on, Mike. That’s really reaching.

Renteria is under intense scrutiny. I think the attacking has cooled down. I don’t know if it’s possible, but maybe we should judge his play at SS on the merits and leave aside background issues like him vs. 2007 Guillen or the trade that brought him here or how he’s doing at the plate. I don’t think we have to wait for 2008 numbers to come out after the season to judge Renteria’s fielding, especially if you’re watching the Tigers game after game. Suggesting that he’s hurting the team with this play is not (necessarily) the same as saying he’s a bum, he’s gotta go, the trade was a disaster.

What a wild game, eh? Did I say “take heart”? Forget that. It SUCKS that the Tigers lost! (hehe)

Sean, I watch nearly every single game and I see a short stop that is at the very least average at balls up the middle and below average getting to balls in the hole. This has not been a secret on his defense for some time now. There’s the same knock on Derek Jeter — can go to his left, but not to his right.

E-Rent gets the balls he can get to and doesn’t throw them away.

If we’re not going to judge Renteria on what Carlos Guillen has done in the past (like 2007) how else are we to judge him? you have to judge against a baseline and for me, the baseline is Guillen’s terrible play at short the last 2 years.

And yes, that was a reach on what I said for Dolsi. Kind of. The pitch Rowand hit into LF was a change up away (gameday listed it as a sinker, but I don’t think he throws one). It was a solid pitch, but not exactly one he yanked off his shoe tops or something. It was above the knees on the outer half of the plate. A better pitch, with 2 strikes, needs to be made. Bury that change up or climb the ladder with the fastball.

But, my point is, NO MATTER where that ball is on the left side of the infield it’s always a complaint. What’s the options this club had last November and what are the options now? We had no options. If we had Jack Wilson being a vacuum EVERYONE would be complaining about his bat (he’s been hurt all year anyways). If we had Miguel Tejada EVERYONE would be complaining about his bad defense, too (which is on par with Renteria’s). If we had Omar Vizquel EVERYONE would be complaining about him being half the hitter that Brandon Inge is.

And our options today: Mike Hollimon, Carlos Guillen, Edgar Renteria. That’s it. That’s the list. I just find it fruitless to complain about the best option we had in November and the best option we still currently have.

And as for why he didn’t dive, I don’t know who wondered it aloud in here, but he probably didn’t dive due to him playing with a bad pectoral muscle. Let us not forget that he’s playing hurt and I’m sure a throwing motion and diving/bending/leaning puts a ton of strain on it. Make a throwing motion yourself and place your left hand over your right peck and see what it’s like. Then imagine what that would be like if your right pect was strained. I’ll just leave the “billfer will probably bring a defensive stat about diving preventing runs” condescension alone as that’s not even worth acknowledging in what should be an intelligent discussion.

And I’m in the same boat as billfer, where I’m defending Renteria TOO much. I just think he’s got unreasonable expectations from the Tigers fans. Much like how any time Miggy made an out for the first 6 weeks of the season people were on him, anytime there’s a ground ball to Renteria’s area code on the left side of the diamond, he gets hammered by the fans. It’s ridiculous. It’s not like he’s booting balls hit directly at him or air-mailing every throw to 1st. He is what he is and fans expecting him to be even better than what he’s been the last 2-3 years is just irrational, unreasonable expectations to have.

The Tigers must win tonight, or I am declaring an escalation of the WTF Tigers Alert Status, possibly as high as Code Burnt Sienna.

I understand, T.

I jumped in on all the joking about Renteria being a statue, etc., for the fun of it. I didn’t see it as being as serious as making him the whipping boy. Fair or unfair, he is on the hot seat with a lot of fans.

Right before Santiago separated his shoulder, I was thinking that I’d like to see Ramon get more playing time and Edgar get more “rest.” Not a punishment move. I thought it would help the team, and I still do. Even if Santiago isn’t a world-beater at SS, either. I saw one underutilized guy on the bench who had performed well, and a sensible opportunity to use him, with no downside but the always-possible “well… that didn’t work, either.” Still do.

I think it’s time he tried growing some peach-fuzz back. The minute he shaved it he lost his confidence.

On Renteria:

Sean: thanks for the eloquent synopsis. I’ve made some tongue-and-check remarks concerning Jurrjens/E-Rent — and aside from being not-so-funny, these remarks likely led some to misconstrue my grumblings. My main critique of Renteria has nothing to do with the trade. Or with Guillen. It has to do with his defensive skills, or lack thereof, that have tipped more than a handful of games. Couple this (admittedly, many other Tigers are guilty of the same) with underachieving offensive prowess (see one-out 9th-inning strike out amid comeback rally) and you have a player, as you say, “hurting the team” with his play. But save for a Shoeless-Joe kind of debacle to deliberately dump a game, I’m gonna lay off kicking him for a while. Just to show my goodwill to Renteria supporters.

Chris, I mentioned it because it surprised me. Ordonez has seemingly been such a model of good consistency this year. I don’t anticipate many chances to complain about him, so I jumped on it.

Let’s hope he doesn’t screw this up with a double.

Thames has 7 hits in a row that are HRs. The record can’t be much more than that.

I searched around, and can find consecutive games with a HR, or even consecutive ABs, but not this.

Edgar struck out with the bases loaded in the 9th. Placido is the last out with 2 on. I’m not saying string them up, but these are things I look at and try to remember, just as I try to remember high points and forgotten or “invisible” (in light of the game’s outcome) contributions.

Why not bunt at 3-3 in the 7th with Pudge on 3rd and Hollimon up? What argues against it? Or against pinch-hitting for Hollimon in the first place. A little mystified here.