Game 157: Polanco awesome again, Tigs win!
posted in The Stretch Run, Toronto Blue Jays |While I will wait until the season is over to hand out my postseason hardware, let me give you a hint of who has to be leading the team MVP chase right about now. He had three hits Saturday. He had three RBIs against the Blue Jays Tuesday. The Tigers are under .500 with him out of the lineup. They’re awesome with him in it. You guessed it! Placido Polanco. Detroit won, 4-3, to lower its magic number to four.
Polanco drove in two runs with two outs. That’s what we were missing for quite a bit. This season, he’s been the most consistent batter with runners in scoring position and he hasn’t lost anything after the shoulder injury. What I especially liked was the double play to end the game. It was nice to see Polly range to his right and connect with Carlos Guillen. Man, it feels just like that Tigers did for most of the season. It’s fun to watch. You could tell today the team was feeling good.
Jeremy Bonderman didn’t have a terrific game. He never seems to. But he got another quality start. Oh, and he became the first Tigers pitcher since Jack Morris in… 1987… to have 200 strikeouts in a season. The rest of the pitching was fine. It allowed some runs, but nothing of concern. I’d really like to have seen Andrew Miller buckle down and find the strike zone better, but he failed to again. He’s being looked at for the playoff roster but isn’t really doing anything to earn it. Jim Leyland said in the postgame comments on FSN that he’ll get some more chances.
Magglio Ordonez left the game with back spasms. He’ll probably need some rest, but it’s not an injury to fear that much. Leyland didn’t seem concerned, not that he ever shows much of what he’s thinking. I don’t think we have to worry. Jason Beck agrees (and writes about why Marcus Thames wasn’t in the game — flu)
In all, just another fun win. I don’t take them for granted, I just enjoy every minute.
Featured on BuzzTracker…
…