PREGAME: The Tigers and Royals have played 3 series this season. All have been sweeps. So for the sake of consistency, the Tigers should just go ahead and keep things tidy with a sweep today.

They send out Kenny Rogers. Rogers has been decent over his last 3 starts. He’s posted a 4.66 ERA with 14 K’s and 10 walks (egh) in 19.1 innings. The last time he saw the Royals he 4 hit them for 6 innings before rain cut his night short.

The Royals will let Brandon Duckworth make his 2008 debut. Duckworth faced the Tgiers in 2007 and pitched 6.1 innings of shut out baseball.

DET @ KCR, Sunday, August 24, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 2:10

POSTGAME: Sloptastic. Marcus Thames made a nice diving catch, and while it saved some runs, it couldn’t overcome the runs that he allowed with a couple gaffes.

Magglio Ordonez meanwhile, who is just not comfortable, hit a check swing half pop up to second with no outs and runners at the corners. Instead of, you know running, he stood at home plate and watched it like a golf shot. This allowed the second baseman to let the ball drop, turn the double play, and leave the runner at third standing there.

And Kenny Rogers wasn’t good. He wasn’t helped by Thames, but he also created his own problems with 4 walks and he allowed the number 9 hitter to go 3 for 3 with a walk.

Ugly.

PREGAME: Zach Miner looks to bounce back from a rough outing against the Orioles. He didn’t make it out of the secon inning before allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. That came after 3 straight starts in which he pitched into the 6th inning and allowed 3 earned runs or fewer.

For the Royals it will be Kyle Davies. Davies has efficiency issues. He hasn’t recorded a 6th inning out since July 13th. In his last start against Detroit, he limited the Tigers to 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk, but he was lifted after 4 innings and 96 pitches.

DET @ KCR, Saturday, August 23, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:10

PREGAME: The Tigers return to Kansas City for a 3 game set. Tonight it will be Justin Verlander trying to reclaim his ace stuff. In his last start he held the Orioles to 2 unearned runs on 4 hits in 6 innings. He hasn’t had back to back quality starts in a month though.

Brian Bannister owns the Tigers, limiting them to 3 runs over his last 3 starts. But he hasn’t had that same success against the rest of the league. His last time out he allowed 10 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks with 3 homers – in one inning.

DET @ KCR, Friday, August 22, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10

POSTGAME: It’s a win. Justin Verlander was pretty good. He had a rocky first inning, not being able to command any of his pitches. Be he later settled down. The curve ball was really working.

The Tigers didn’t have a ton of hits, but what they did have were hit a long ways. Cabrera picked up another 2 homer game, the second being a monster off a car on top of the waterfalls.

Fernando Rodney wasn’t good, but he got out of it. Usually the fastball command dictates the outing for Rodney, but he had more trouble with the change up. A couple doubles, a walk, and a single with 2 impressive strike outs in between put the tying run on 3rd with 2 outs. A wild pitch with a fortunate bounce, and Rodney remembering to cover homer, led to Dave DeJesus being tagged out easy to end the game.

PREGAME: Is broom-osity in order? Could the Tigers manage a sweep? I still think that if the Tigers go 27-5 over their next 32 games, things might get interesting.

Tonight it will be Nate Robertson going for the Tigers. The last time the Nate started in Texas he didn’t record an out, allowing 6 runs in the first. Here’s hoping for a little improvement. Robertson walked 5 in his last start, which is just too many.

Kevin Millwood takes the mound for the Rangers. He’s made 1 start since coming off the DL and the Rays got to him for 10 hits, 4 of which were homers, in 4.2 innings.

DET @ TEX, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:05

POSTGAME: Nate was unbelievably craptastic. He wasn’t helped by his outfield defense early on with Granderson playing a ball into a triple (a pretty poor series for Granderson defensively – a rarity), and Matt Joyce playing a double into a triple. But holy crap, there’s nothing outifelders can do about 5 freakin’ homers.

Dontrelle Willis was also starting last night, but he kind of sucked too with 8 hits and 5 walks allowed in 5 innings – so he’s not ready. I can’t believe that Robertson would be allowed to stay in the rotation. Early on this season he was getting a little unlucky. Since the All Star Break he’s getting obliterated.

And the offense didn’t do much.

PREGAME: In the wake of the team’s disappointing season, Dave Dombrowski has been hammered for the moves he made or didn’t make this offseason. One move that did work out that never gets mentioned is picking up Armando Galarraga from the Rangers for nothing.

Galarraga returns to Texas tonight, but Jim Leyland doesn’t want him to make too big a deal out of it. Galarraga is content to let his performance, improved by Chuck Hernandez, do the talking. One thing to keep an eye on his Galarraga’s endurance. He went 121 pitches his last time out, farther than he’s gone this year.

The Tigers will face Vicente Padilla. The Tigers knocked him out after 7 runs in 3 innings his last time out. But he shut them down for 6 innings in 2007. He was pushed back due to some neck pain. He was rocked by the Orioles and Yankees in his last 2 starts.

The Tigers send out these 9 tonight:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Santiago, 2B
3. Ordonez, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, 3B
6. Sheffield, DH
7. Joyce, LF
8. Renteria, SS
9. Inge, C

Santiago doubled and homered off of Padilla back in April and is 5 for 9 lifetime off him. So I guess Leyland is playing the match-up.

DET @ TEX, Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:05

POSTGAME: Nice win and a 2 game winning streak. Woot. Armando Galarraga was dominant through 5.1 innings, but then got knocked around for 3 runs before getting out of the 6th. It was another quality start, and another win which should help his ROY chances.

Gary Glover is still perfect as a Tigers reliever making me look stupid again. At least I’m used to it. And Casey Fossum had a 1-2-3 9th. The only guy that struggled was Bobby Seay who I had been arguing to be the 7th inning guy.

The offense overcame some early futility to bludgeon the Padilla and the bullpen in the 7th. They had runners in scoring position in the first 2 innings with nobody out and didn’t score them. They were undermined by 3 double plays. But Matt Joyce’s 2 homers, made those early struggles irrelevant. Everybody had hits tonight except Miguel Cabrera who hit a couple of balls hard again with nothing to show for it.

There was some very slick defense for the Tigers. Ramon Santiago made a nifty play up the middle and Carlos Guillen started a quick double play earlier on.

And credit to the Texas scorer for ruling Matt Joyce’s flyball an error. Normally if the ball doesn’t get touched it’s ruled as a hit. This time they ruled it an error, but they gave it to the wrong guy. It should have been Hamilton’s error.

Good news everyone. The Tigers moved ahead of the Rangers in the wild card chase. Only 4 more teams to go! (that’s sarcasm).

PREGAME: Whenever the Tigers play the Rangers I think of George Kell saying something like “And the Tigers’ll be in Arrrlington on Toooosday night.” It sounds better in my head than it does on the computer though.

The match-up is Kenny Rogers, making a return to Texas and Scott Feldman. Feldman doesn’t strike out many, walks a few too many, and allows too many homers. Kenny Rogers strikes out fewer, doesn’t walk as many, and allows too many homers, but not as many as Feldman.

There’s lots of weather down there, so they might not play. A day off would probably help the bullpen, but a doubleheader would absolutely destroy it.

If they play it will be:

1. Granderson
2. Polanco
3. Ordonez
4. Cabrera
5. Guillen
6. Sheffield
7. Joyce
8. Renteria
9. Inge

DET @ TEX, Monday, August 18, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Well, that was pretty good. The offense slumbered for awhile, but the Gary Sheffield homer seemed to get things started. It’s somewhat remarkable that the Tigers plated 8 runs when there 2-3-4 hitters combine to go 0 for 13 with 5 K’s and 2 walks.

Magglio Ordonez looked especially bad. He seemed very uncomfortable, check swings at 2-0 pitches, swinging through 3-1 fastballs. He fanned 3 times. Did you know it was only the 9th time in his career with at least 3 K’s? He’s only worn the sombrero once, a fate which he avoided his last time up with a full count walk.

Cabrera on the other hand kept hitting the ball hard with nothing to show for it.

Granderson with the 2 triples is always fun.

Gary Sheffield had a couple singles in addition to the homer. And Brandon Inge reached base all 4 times he was up, 2 hits, a walk, and HBP. If only Renteria could have done something we could have broken out the Whipping Boys.

Kenny Rogers was good enough, getting some key strikeouts (7 of them) and keeping the 12 baserunners he allowed mostly stranded.

Gary Glover was quite good. That surprised me, but he had a very uneventful inning.

Kyle Farnsworth was hammered. There were 3 different plays where he could have been helped a little by his defense (liner to Renteria, smash at Cabrera, and blast to centerfield) where there were tough plays, none of which were made. But everything was hit hard.

Fernando Rodney however was quite good. He fanned MVP candidate Josh Hamilton with the tying run on second in the 8th, and allowed only a HBP in the 9th inning.

Throw in some nice defense (Renteria, Ordonez), and some nice baserunning (Joyce), and there was quite a bit to like about this game.

PREGAME: The Tigers look to squeak out a series win. They’ll send out Zach Miner who is trying to lock up a spot in next year’s rotation. If Jim Leyland is as intent on performance dictating play time as he claims to be, if Miner can continue to pitch like he has since returning to the rotation, it should be a slam dunk. In 5 starts he’s gone 29.1 innings with a 17:5 K:BB ratio.

Garrett Olson takes the mound for the Orioles and he isn’t a good pitcher. A WHIP of 1.67, a pedestrian strike out rate, and a propensity to allow homers is a bad combination. The Tigers faced him in July and plated 5 runs in 6 innings.

Detroit sends out a neutered line-up with no Carlos Guillen, no Magglio Ordonez and Dane Sardhina catching (save the disparaging Inge jokes, Sardhina is substantially worse offensively).

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Thames, LF
6. Renteria, SS
7. Raburn, RF
8. Inge, 3B
9. Sardhina, C

BAL @ DET, Sunday, August 17, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Well, the offense was good. They battled back from a 5-1 deficit, but that’s about all I can say. Zach Miner got hammered, but he matched Garrett Olson. The difference was Casey Fossum and Aquilino Lopez and Francis Beltran allowing 11 runs in their innings.

Meanwhile the bullpen should be nice and tired heading into Texas – great. Maybe Gary Glover can give the pen a lift (that’s sarcasm).

On another note, Curtis Granderson probably expended more energy than Phelps this weekend chasing down the rockets off the bats of the Orioles.

Not a lot to see here. Keep moving along.

PREGAME: I’m heading down for my first back to back games this season. I saw Nate pitch bad last night, and I already saw Justin Verlander pitch poorly this week, so I’mdue for some decent baseball right?

It will be Dennis Sarfate who will try to stymie the Tigers for 7 or 8 innings until the Tigers make some late noise. Sarfate strikes out a batter an inning, but walks nearly as many.

Game Time 7:05

BAL @ DET, Saturday, August 16, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Nice win. Nice offense. Nice pitching. Mostly good bullpen-ing (an 8 pitch save for Rodney -woo). Other than a Carlos Guillen throwing error leading to 2 runs, it was a pretty clean game for the Tigers.

But I pretty much missed it. I had tickets to the game. Went to the game. Left before the game started. My son, who hadn’t been feeling well all day, got sick before the game started. He and I got to go on the field with a ton of other kids and coaches for Troy Baseball Booster day. While waiting in the bowels of the stadium, the number of people, the lack of air movement, and a stomach bug resulted in him puking in a groundscrew dumpster. So I apologize to Heather Nabozny and company, it was the best we could do under the circumstances. I think he may have topped his sister using the visitor clubhouse bathroom when she just couldn’t hold it anymore. This is the kind of stuff you just don’t get in the game stories from the beat writers.

Oh, and Edgar Renteria fanned 3 times and popped up a bunt for an out. I think that’s as close to the golden sombrero you can get with you actually getting it.

PREGAME: The Tigers look to extend their 1 game winning streak to more than 1 game. They’ll face Chris Waters who has a total of 12 big league innings under his belt. In his first start he went on the road in LA and pitched 8 innings of 1 hit, shut out ball. In his second start the Rangers got to him for 6 runs in 4 innings.

Nate Robertson is coming off of one of his better starts of the year. Granted, it was against the A’s, but he fanned 5 and allowed just 5 hits and a walk in 7.1 innings. The last time he faced the Orioles he was spotted a 6 run first inning lead which he obliterated in the third inning.

BAL @ DET, Friday, August 15, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Awful. I don’t leave early often, but we left in the 9th. Coincidentally just as the scoreboard announced Michael Phelps 7th gold medal – inspiring a cheer from a pissed off crowd.

Only this year could that ridiculous play with Polanco happen. I don’t think it was intentional, but regardless Polanco still had a brain lapse when he didn’t immediately pick up the ball allowing another run to score. It ended up being a moot point when what should have been an inning ending play turned into batting practice.

Nate Robertson wasn’t good again. This isn’t excuse making at all, but I’m just going to point something out. Coming into tonight, Robertson had a 942 OPS against when Inge was catching (8 games). This includes the infamous bed crappings against Baltimore and Cleveland. Robertson’s best start of late came when Dane Sardinha was catching. It’s likely a coincidence, but I’m just saying.

Speaking of Inge, he was awful tonight. He missed the throw from Magglio Ordonez in the second inning. It would have been close to cutting down the first run, but his nonchalance allowed the second run to score. Oddly he never took his mask off in that sequence. He also short circuited two different whipping boy rallies. It’s never a good sign when the guy after you leads off 3 different innings.

Miguel Cabrera had his struggles as well with an 0’fer night.

It was just a really bad game that turned really ugly.

PREGAME: A 4 game sweep would really suck. Let’s not do that okay? Armando Galarraga and Jesse Litsch.

TOR @ DET, Thursday, August 14, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAMEArmando Galarraga is the man. I was the stupid blogger who didn’t believe his early season success could be sustained, but he’s gotten even better. And as it stands he’s got a legit shot at rookie of the year with his main competition (Joba Chamberlain and Evan Longoria) injured. He went far deeper in pitch count territory (121) than he ever has. I don’t know if it was a good decision to leave him out there, because he typically loses it really fast and it was a tight game, but it worked out. And it’s certainly worth looking at his next start to see if there is any residual effect.

As for the offense, it was dead. Again. But they broke through in a big way in the 8th. Miguel Cabrera got the big tying hit with 2 outs, but it was the Whipping Boy Power that drove in 4 of the runs. Renteria doubled for the 4th straight game and made a diving knock down with the infield pulled in to help Galarraga strand a runner at third in the top of the 8th.

Good Fernando Rodney showed up for a 1-2-3 non-scary inning.

PREGAME: It’s Kenny Rogers turn tonight. Turn to what I’m not sure. Is it give up too many runs to a struggling offensive team? Is it pitch brilliantly only to be undermined by an inept bullpen? Or maybe it’s something I haven’t even heard of.

He takes on lefty David Purcey and his 7.40 ERA. Purcey tends to walk a lot of people, with 16 so far in 24.1 innings. He’s also allowed 6 homers in that span.

Carlos Guillen is out with a pinched nerve so the bench is pretty lean with Ryan Raburn manning third base.

TOR @ DET, Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Sigh. A walk. A bad call on a sac bunt. A bad hop on a double play ball. A bad pitch resulting in a grand slam homer. And the Tigers inability to square a pitch against a guy with a 7+ ERA. Tigers hitters routinely got ahead of the count, finding themselves in 3-1 and 2-0 counts, but didn’t hit the ball hard at all off of Purcey.

Some late noise made it close. That is all.

PREGAME: It’s A.J. Burnett against Zach Miner.

Miner has had a quality start in 3 of his first 4 efforts since returning to the rotation. Burnett has great peripherals. He fans a batter per inning and 2.3 for every batter he walks. His home run rate of .8 per 9 innings is solid also. Somehow he has a 4.62 ERA though.

The lineup is the same as last night’s.

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Guillen, 3B
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Cabrera, 1B
6. Joyce, LF
7. Sheffield, DH
8. Renteria, SS
9. Inge, C

TOR @ DET, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Sigh. Well, the Whipping Boys (Sheffield, Renteria, Inge) power was activated in the 6th inning. Sheffield hit his 2nd homer and the other 2 hit back to back 2 out doubles. That should have been enough to beat the Blue Jays until Bobby Seay and Joel Zumaya combined to give it back.

Whether it is injury, or needing more recovery time, or simply needing more time to work on things, Joel Zumaya has to be sent down. There needs to be a spot made for Todd Jones on Friday, and it has to be Zumaya that is sent down. He now has 23 walks in 23.1 innings. Francisco Cruceta and Zach Miner were demoted for far less. If the fastball isn’t what it was, finding his change up and commanding his curve ball need to be next on the to do list and he shouldn’t be doing it with the big league club.

Zach Miner was very good again. That kind of got lost in everything else.