PREGAME: Perennial Cy Young contender against guy making his first start. This is one of those games you hope to steal.

The Tigers have faced Johan Santana 4 times this year. And while it hasn’t been easy in any start, they haven’t been completely stymied either. His last start against the Tigers he allowed 3 runs on 5 hits while fanning 7 in 8 innings. The Tigers are loading up the lineup with righties as Ryan Raburn leads off and Marcus Thames makes the start at first base with Brent Clevlen getting an outfield start.

For the Tigers it will be Yorman Bazardo, acquired from the Seattle Mariners for Jeff Frazier. If Bazardo goes on to have success with the Tigers, it will be another instance of Jeff Weaver giving back to the organization. Bazardo was DFA’d to make room for Weaver when the Mariners signed him this offseason. Bazardo’s K rates aren’t particularly impressive with only 4.54/9 for Toledo this year, and 5.36/9 in his minor league career. But he does keep the ball in the park and doesn’t walk a whole lot.

Game Time 7:10 p.m.
DET @ MIN, Saturday, September 15, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: The Tigers won! The Yankees lost! The deficit is 2.5 games, which for some reason seems much more palatable than 3.5 did earlier this morning. Of course it could very well be back North of 3 games again tomorrow, but for the time being we’ve got ourselves a race.

The Tigers jumped out early on Johan Santana taking advantage of Carlos Guillen bloop hit and a Pudge Rodriguez baggie blast. It looked like it might be a relatively short night for Santana as the Tigers forced him to throw 45 pitches in the first 2 innings. That was the good news because Santana only needed 25 pitches to get through the next 3 innings as he clearly settled in.

The Twins kept things uncomfortable plating a run on a wild pitch, and turning a double, a fly ball, and a ground out into their second run. Bazardo was solid, but came up one out short of qualifying for the win. Actually, it was one strike away as he went up 0-2 on Jason Kubel and after a foul ball Bazardo widely missed the zone with 4 straight pitches.

The bullpen was mostly solid as Bobby Seay pitched a scoreless inning fanning 2. Joel Zumaya went 1 2/3 getting a double play on his first pitch and having an easy 1-2-3 8th. Todd Jones issued a 2 out walk, but the 9th was otherwise unavailable. The only blemish was Zach Miner’s outing, which would have been fine if not for that PFP stuff. A one out ground ball single by Nick Punto, a steal, and a walk had 2 men on. Miner got the comebacker to the mound, threw high to second pulling Santiago, who threw late to first, meanwhile Punto scored. A double play ball resulted in no outs and a run.

A win is a win and the Tigers are at the very least keeping the pressure on the Yankees and keeping Detroiters interested. A second straight sweep in the Metrodome is a lot to ask for, but when the rookie beats Cy Young, anything seems possible.

PREGAME: Anyone remember the last time that Nate Robertson faced the Twins? Nate went 7 innings and allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks as he handed a shut out over to the bullpen which Macay McBride and Todd Jones protected. It was in the Metrodome and he was opposed by Matt Garza. Of course Robertson had to be that good because Garza was his equal allowing 3 hits in 7 innings with the difference being an unearned run.

The win was the start of a sweep that had the Tigers with the best record in baseball when they left the Twin Cities. And the rest was crappy history.

Now Robertson heads back to the dome to take on Matt Garza at the start of a series that they need to cling to slim playoff hopes. Nate’s been a yo-yo in his last 4 starts, but he was down last game so maybe he’ll be up again. Garza has been roughed up a little in his last 2 starts allowing 9 hits in each game and not making it out of the 6th inning.

Of course the bigger issue than tonight’s game for the Twins is the resignation of GM Terry Ryan. While he’s had a tendency to miss on veteran/cheap free agents the last couple years, and he’s always seemed a little gun shy in trading that wealth of young talent, he’s done a tremendous job given his resources.

Game Time 8:10pm

POSTGAME: Nate was definitely up and pitched a very solid game. He had a small bout with control in the 4th inning, but rebounded well. I’m not sure how much of Robertson’s performance was the Twins and how much was Nate.

But the at-bat of the night had to belong to Pudge Rodriguez who worked a 9 pitch walk with the bases loaded. The number of pitches matched his season total for walks. Regardless, he fouled off strikes and took the balls, and was quite pumped afterwards. I’ve never seen that kind of reaction to a walk.

Pudge’s walk tied the game and kept the bases loaded for his Timo-ness who of course climbed the latter and lined a single to right field to give the Tigers their final margin of victory. As big as those at-bats were, the key plate appearance was probably Gary Sheffield’s, where he should have been called out looking. But I won’t complain.

The trouble is, even with the win the Tigers effectively lost ground as the Indians and Yankees both came from behind. The Indians win wasn’t really surprising, but the Yankees win was. The Red Sox blew a 5 run lead in the 8th inning – if only they had gone out and gotten some bullpen help at the trade deadline this would have never happened 🙂

PREGAME: The Tigers will throw out the first pitch of their 4th game in 48 hours tonight. It will be Justin Verlander throwing said pitch, and he’s been quite ace like in his last 3 starts. He’s allowed 2 runs in his last 21 2/3 innings and for tonight anyways he holds the Tigers slim playoff hopes in his hands.

He’ll be opposed by Edinson Volquez. The right hander is coming off a 2 hit, no run 6 inning effort against the A’s. He’ll be making only his 3rd start of the year. The Tigers faced him once in 2006 an knocked him around for 3 walks and 8 hits chasing him in the 4th inning.

Game Time 7:05
TEX @ DET, Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

PREGAME: Hey! It’s bloggers night so the Tigers are sure to do something…maybe. The Tigers have proven time and time again they aren’t big on momentum, so let’s hope they prove it again and bounce back from this afternoon’s shellacking.

The pitching match-up is 2 guys who are fresh off the DL in Brandon McCarthy and Jair Jurrjens. Don’t know what to expect from either, but the Tigers used a whole lot of bullpen today. McCarthy will have a short night, and that’s already been decided.

The Tigers will be sending out their A lineup tonight, which should have gotten some rest today. Meanwhile the Rangers will be tired from swinging the bat and running the bases.

Game Time 7:05

TEX @ DET, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

PREGAME:It will be Chad Durbin and Vicente Padilla in the first half of today’s doubleheader. Padilla has been awful away from home this year with a 9.06 ERA in 51.7 innings. Last year it wasn’t an issue, so it’s most likely coincidence that his worst starts have come away from Arlington. He spent some time on the disabled list in July and August and in his 5 starts since coming back he has a 4.08 ERA with 16 K’s and 7 BB’s in 28 2/3 innings.

Durbin has been the ultimate swing man this year. He’s made 34 appearances, 18 as a starter and 16 from the pen. He’s back in the starting role again, and it will be his 2nd start since rejoining the rotation. He pitched 5 shutout innings in 78 pitches against the White Sox. I’d imagine he can throw a few more pitches today, hopefully with similar results.

The Tigers are using the B lineup, although it’s getting harder to tell them apart. Timo and Casey are hitting 2-3 in the lineup. Maybe Timo and The Mayor can team up for some magic. I mention this only because I wanted to say Timo and The Mayor. Doesn’t it sound like a cop show? Timo and The Mayor. Timo and The Mayor.

Game Time 1:05

PREGAME: That’s just the kind of season it’s been for the Tigers. They face the Blue Jays 6 times all season, and Roy Halladay starts half of those games.

Halladay was masterful in his last start against the Tigers when he went 10 innings in an extra inning duel against Jeremy Bonderman. In typical Halladay fashion he’s continued his excellence going 8 or more innings in his last 6 starts.

The Tigers will hope that Kenny Rogers can repeat his performance from last week against an offense that looks to be a little more of a challenge. And hopefully the Tigers can get at least 6 innings out of Rogers, because with Bonderman going out early yesterday and a double header slated to be started by a swing man and a guy returning from the DL on Tuesday, the pen might get taxed.

Game Time 7:05
TOR @ DET, Monday, September 10, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Something funny happened in the 9th inning tonight. I was wrapping up this post game section, and I’d actually prepared some analysis. You see, I was frustrated with the Tigers for being so impatient with runners on base. Like did you know that Detroit had 19 plate appearances with runners on base, and 17 with the bases empty. Yet with runners on base they saw all of 50 pitches, and they swung at 29 of them which resulted in a lot of quick innings and enabled Halladay to start the 9th.

But then the Tigers get a gift of a hit on a blown call, but then the baserunner was eliminated by a tremendous double play so karma evened out. And a 2 out ground ball single seemed harmless enough, but then Brandon Inge laced a single to center to bring up the tying run in the form of Curtis Granderson. As good as Granderson has been this year, he hasn’t been especially clutch, and it seemed that a left handed reliever would take care of him one way or another. But Toronto went to a right handed reliever and Granderson fisted one up the middle, just out of the reach of those pesky infielders scoring 2 runs.

A line drive single by Polanco put a very speedy tying run in scoring position who was then advanced to third base by a patient Gary Sheffield. Polanco got himself a 2-0 count before singling on 2-1 and Sheffield walked after getting ahead 3-1. I was all set to sing the virtues of patience when Magglio Ordonez comes up and punches the first pitch he sees through the right side to plate Granderson and Polanco. And Ordodnez did his best to stay in the MVP race, even as A-Rod homers every other at-bat.

It was a tremendous comeback and any win against a pitcher the caliber of Halladay feels that much sweeter.

Kenny Rogers was very good, and he went deeper than I would have expected. He threw quite a few pitches early, but got through the 5thand 6th on 15 pitches combined.

And the Tigers won despite losing 2 players to injury as Joel Zumaya went out when he peeled back the fingernail on his index finger and Pudge Rodriguez left with dizziness early on. In the post game presser Jim Leyland said that if Pudge can’t go in the night game tomorrow, Dane Sardhina would be activated, and a 40 man roster move would have to be made.

PREGAME: With a win today the Tigers will a)knock the Mariners out of contention and b)will have sustained a winning streak an entire turn through the rotation. The second is the bigger accomplishment in this blogger’s opinion.

But it won’t be easy with King Felix Hernandez on the rubber for the Mariners. The Tigers got to him for 10 hits in 6 1/3 inning the last time they met, but he limited the damage to 2 runs and picked up a win. Hernandez has allowed double digit hits in every other start dating back to the beginning of August. Following the pattern would be beneficial for the Tigers.

And then there is Bonderman who slogged through 5 1/3 innings his last time out and allowed only 3 runs, but none of it was easy – except for a 1-2-3 first inning. When he departed it appeared his elbow was hurting him. So control will be the thing to watch today. Can he command the fastball and does the slider have it’s normal bite?

Game Time 1:05
SEA @ DET, Sunday, September 9, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

PREGAME: Is it too much to hope for a 4 game win streak and a UM win for mine and Sam’s birthdays today?

As for today’s matchup, it will be Nate Robertson taking on Jeff Weaver.

Weaver was really bad at the beginning of the year and had amassed a 14.32 ERA before hitting the DL. Whe he came back he was much more effective going 4 straight starts allowing 1 or fewer runs. But then he’s been kind of not good again since then. In his last 2 starts he hasn’t made it out of the 5 th inning and surrendered 5 runs on 8 hits in each. He’s also allowed 2 homers in 6 of his last 8 starts.

For Robertson, he appears to be turning a corner with very strong outings against Cleveland and Oakland, with a clunker against the Royals in between. He hasn’t won since August 12th though because the universe hates him – or at least the bullpen and offense take turns hating him.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Well, half of that birthday wish came true. While I witnessed the most embarrassing effort by the University of Michigan football team that I can remember (Mike Hart really does deserve better), the Tigers also put a hurting on the Mariners. So that is good. Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. Being that we took a family trip to Disney World last week there would be no presents this year, but I did get a box of chocolate donuts this morning for breakfast and a baseball shaped cake tonight for dessert so it was all good.

As for the game, Nate Robertson didn’t pick up a win, once again. But this time it was all Nate’s fault. He was handed a 3-1 lead, a 4-3 lead, and a 5-4 lead, but he held none of them and was lifted in the fifth. I won’t get on him for the Beltre homer, because that was all Beltre hitting out a pitch at the letters. That’s a pitch you want him to swing at. But the rest was pretty bad.

Fortunately the offense kept getting those add-on runs that Jim Leyland talks about. The resurgence of the offense can largely be traced to Pudge Rodriguez and Brandon Inge coming to life. And of course his Timo-ness getting 3 more hits. And his Timo-ness added 2 diving catches which helped Robertson escape the 4th also.

Curtis Granderson added another triple, that really looked like it could have been an inside the park homer as the throw in went to no-man’s land but Gene Lamont had already held him up.

Gary Sheffield was hitless again, but it wasn’t because he doesn’t have his swing back. He smoked 2 balls, but one was caught at the wall by Suzuki and the other was a sinking liner to left.

The Rod and Mario exchange of the night took place after Pudge’s 3rd hit:
Mario: That’s 3 hits for the Pudge-meister
Rod: Did you just call him the Pudge-meister?
Mario: Don’t you call him the little Pudgy one?
Rod: [giggling] yeah, I do [more giggling]

PREGAME: Is this where the team finally builds momentum? They have walk off wins under their belt and their ace on the mound tonight. They also have a chance this weekend to to essentially take one team out of contention with a sweep. Of course the Mariners have that exact same opportunity.

Justin Verlander is coming off a 10 K, 1 run performance in which he threw 129 pitches. Velocity will be something to keep an eye on early tonight.

Miguel Batista takes the bump for the Mariners tonight and he’s also coming off a strong start where he went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 5 hits while fanning 7 Blue Jays. He picked up a win in his only other outing against the Tigers this year when he went 6 innings with the only run coming on a Curtis Granderson lead off homer.

Lefties have a 299/376/473 line off of Batista, so plan on seeing his Timo-ness in the lineup tonight.

Game Time 7:05
SEA @ DET, Friday, September 7, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Woo hoo, 3 in a row. And this one wasn’t even really in doubt, except for the rain delay. And really, you call that a rain delay? (as i wistfully think back to the last Friday home game…)

Justin Verlander breezed through the lineup. The Mariners swung early and often and were kind enough to hit the ball gently to Detroit defenders. Even the one inning where the Mariners loaded the bases, they weren’t really ripping the ball. At only 92 pitches after 8 I’m surprised that Leyland didn’t let Verlander finish the game.

I thought going to Zumaya was a bit of overkill, but then when he threw 7 straight balls visions of Oakland started dancing through my head.

The offense got hits in bunches, and once again the struggling players Pudge and Inge were in the middle of the action. And of course there was Timo again with 2 hits.

But among the various hits and rallies was Curtis Granderson lining a 3-1 pitch into the right field tunnel for his 20th homer. That makes him one stolen base short of the quad-20 with 20 steals, 20 dingers, 20 triples, and 20 doubles. With his next stolen base he’d join Willie Mays and Frank Schulte as the only players to accomplish the feat. As it is he’s one of only 5 players with 30 doubles, 20 homers, and 20 triples. But that’s kind of arbitrary since he’s one of only 5 players with 30 doubles, 20 triples, and 19 dingers – so other than achieving a round number his peer group doesn’t change.

Then again, I just checked and the same is true of the quad-20, or tri-20+19. He’s still with only Mays and Schulte, so the same round number argument will apply when he gets his next steal.

PREGAME: Afternoon tilt today as Chad Durbin takes on Mark Buehrle. The pitching match-up certainly favors the White Sox, but I just have no idea what to expect from this team anymore. For every “the Tigers make a struggling pitcher look like Cy Young” game there seems to be a “this is the shortest outing” or “this is the most runs allowed” against a good pitcher.

Plus Gary Sheffield is back, so 3-hole roulette should be done for the time being.

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME: As it’s been said time and time again on this site, if you need offense turn to Timo, Casey, and Inge. Yeah, yeah, we know Polanco is great with runners in scoring position, and he got the walk off, but it was really Sean Casey with the bacon saver yet again. And it was Timo Perez’s ghost runner that plated the tying run.

Now granted, the Tigers didn’t exactly rip the ball in that 9th inning, and once again the offense struggled to plate runners, but it’s still a win and I’m not going to complain. For all the times in the last week or so that the team need a duck or a bleeder only to strand 2 runners, I’ll gladly take a couple of weak ground balls hit exactly in the right spot. After all, aside from the Konerko hit the Sox didn’t really kill the ball in the 8th inning anyways.

And even if the Tigers did barely squeak out 2 wins against a last place team, they still count the same in the standings. So let’s go take care of the Mariners so we can just focus our scoreboard watching on one team.

• Very nice effort by Chad Durbin as there was little solid contact all day off of him. He didn’t go longer because of the multiple roles this season, and he’s not fully stretched out.
• But realted to that we see the dangers of having Kenny and Chad back to back in the rotation. It will tax the bullpen because it’s going to be rare that either goes more than 5 or 6 innings.
• Maybe Brandon Inge has regained some confidence after picking up that walk against Bobby Jenks on Tuesday. He had 3 solid hits today, one of which was that nice homer. Brandon doesn’t have to get really hot to help the team, but at least hitting something close to the line he’s posted over the past 3 years for the next 3 weeks will be a boost to the offense.
• Jason Grilli has now made 7 straight appearances without allowing a run, and in the last 4 those were outings of 2 innings or more. In that time he’s shaved a full point off of his ERA. This isn’t about Grilli love, just recognizing him for a real nice stretch.
• Jim Leyland was managing pretty aggressive in this one. You didn’t see Zumaya because he pitched 2 innings last night. But look at all the pinch hitters and pinch runners used today. In all he used 14 position players.

PREGAME Kenny Rogers returns to the rotation tonight. Let’s hope he’s got something left.

For the White Sox it will be Gavin Floyd who made the start of his career in his last match up against the Tigers throwing 6 shut out innings and fanning 6 while walking none.

It’s another intimidating lineup tonight as Magglio Ordonez gets the night off. There’s a reality to the fact his heel is killing him and I don’t begrudge him the night off, it’s just the rest that is depressing.

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Raburn, RF
4. Guillen, SS
5. Perez, LF
6. Rodriguez, C
7. Casey, 1B
8. Thames, DH
9. Hessman, 3B

I’m fighting a cold and am heading to bed early so the postgame won’t be up until tomorrow.

Game Time 7:05

CHW @ DET, Wednesday, September 5, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: As a member of the “Timo Perez, what the hell?” club I need to pause and reflect on his awesomeness. While I still don’t think he should be playing, and I don’t think he should be on the team next year, the guy has produced for the last week or so with the club. And he did it some more last night, with a catch at the wall,and that whole walk-off hit thing. And on a night when nobody could deliver the big hit, Timo did it. So go Timo.

As for the rest of the game, it had a lot going for it. It had some real nice defensive plays like the aforementioned Perez play at the wall, Casey laying out a first, and Polanco saving a single up the middle. It had the return of Kenny Rogers who was stellar, and it had very strong bullpen performances as they maintained the tie for 6 innings. Zumaya was awesome and Fernando Rodney didn’t let his last outing carry over. The Tigers even showed some patience and drew 8 walks, and forced the issue with 5 stolen bases.

Still, all that was kind of overshadowed by their inability to score off of Gavin Floyd, a guy that is awful and yet has allowed 1 run in his last 12 innings against the Tigers.

Nonetheless the Tigers did prevail, and it was largely on contributions from the more maligned Tigers. Pudge looked like the Pudge of old flipping doubles (including his 500th career) into the right field corner. Brandon Inge scored the winning run after doubling as a pinch hitter, and of course Timo!

PREGAME: The Tigers return home and take on the White Sox. The White Sox haven’t been playing good ball lately, but then again neither have the Tigers. The pitching matchup will be Jeremy Bonderman taking on Jon Garland.

The Tigers have only faced Garland once this season and picked up 3 runs on 5 hits in 8 innings.

Bonderman corrected his first inning problems, or at least he avoided them in his last start. He only allowed 1 run on 6 hits in a strong outing against the Royals. He walked none for the first time since July 13th and it was particularly refreshing after he had walked 4 and 5 in his previous 2 starts.

In the good news department Gary Sheffield is set to return on Thursday and is feeling better. So hopefully we won’t see any more situations where Omar Infante is batting 3rd and DH’ing. It kind of shows you how far out of favor that Sean Casey has fallen, plus Infante is 15-35 lifetime off of Garland.

Game Time 7:05
CHW @ DET, Tuesday, September 4, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: Another day, another loss, another one of those “this game was a microcosm of the season” efforts. Bonderman alternated between looking great (1st and 3rd innings) pounding the strike zone and hitting his spots with his fastball and slider, and pitching scared where he couldn’t command the fastball and couldn’t find the strike zone. He repeatedly fell behind 2-0 and 3-0 and it eventually caught up to him in the form of Alex Freakin Cintron.

Still he was good enough to keep the game close, even as the Tigers added a couple defensive goofs with Carlos Guillen at first and Marcus Thames in leftfield. Zach Miner provided 3 2/3 scoreless innings, enough to make fans think the Tigers still had a shot.

And then the offense showed some late life, finally breaking the shutout on a tremendous at-bat by Guillen before fizzling out with weak ABs from Pudge and Thames. If only they could have plated that runner on 3rd, then they would be in solo-homer striking distance. But even then, those days where anyone in the lineup could hit one out are gone. Inge hasn’t had that ability for over 2 months now, and Pudge is pretty far removed, and as nice as Ramon Santiago has played he’s not exactly a threat either. Inffact, of the Tigers last 14 homers, 11 have come from the bats of Ordonez/Guillen/Granderson. Not so much the balanced attack of earlier in the year.

Still, some pinch hit success from unexpected sources (Timo Perez and Sean Casey), plus a very surprising walk from Inge (who was choking up with 2 strikes on him) breathed enough life into the team so that you actually thought they had a shot, only to drop another one – this time with Curtis Granderson making the final out.

Another day, another loss.