Tigers 8
Indians 6

Recap:

• Well, that’s why you watch baseball if you’re a Tigers fan. If you’re an Indians fan you probably don’t want to see it for awhile.
• Detroit rallied from a 6-0 deficit to win 8-6 on a walk-off home run by Miguel Cabrera.
• A five-run seventh inning, highlighted by a home run by Matt Joyce, helped Detroit claw back into it and tie the game at 6-6.
• Joyce had three hits.
• Eddie Bonine gave up five runs on nine hits and didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.
• Casey Fossum struck out six and did pretty good in relief.
• Todd Jones did his “oh crap we’re all gonna dieeeee!” impersonation in the ninth but a couple key defensive plays by Carlos Guillen bailed him out nicely.

Anaylsis:

• The Tigers desperately needed that win. They can’t rely on the White Sox ever losing apparently. They’ve just come back again. So Detroit avoided falling 8 games out. The Twins got their butts kicked in Boston, fortunately. So that’s another game closer heading into a big four game series in Comerica Park.
• Bonine stunk but the Tigers just fight-fight-fight and that’s why they’ve been so fun to watch for the past month-plus.
• Miguel Cabrera!!! I said it in the past and I stuck with it all the way through. We are going to be so spoiled as fans who get to watch several years of him in our team’s uniform. That hip flexor injury must have woke him up. He’s been phenomenal lately.

Other stuff:

• FSN reports Dane Sardinha has been optioned back to Toledo. Bonine is headed all the way down to Erie.
• Brandon Inge is on his way back up. And Jeff Larish did they say?
• I presume they’ll need to find a starting pitcher by four days from now. *I just realized, with a little help from Dave Dombrowski, four days from now is the all-star break.
• And what’s up with a 1 p.m. game on a Thursday that’s not a getaway game?

Tigers 9
Indians 2

Recap:

• Justin Verlander got the first batters out, let the next two batters score, then shut down the Indians for pretty much innings 2 through 7.
• The Tigers brought their power shoes, especially Miguel Cabrera. He had two homers Marcus Thames one and Pudge one. Thames also chipped in an RBI double, and Curtis Granderson singled in a run.
• Did I mention Cabera went 4-for-4?  Well, he did!
• This scoring outburst from the team came with Maggs on the DL and Carlos Guillen gone for the birth of his daughter.
• Not to be lost, Aquilino Lopez pitched two fantastic innings of relief for Detroit.

Analysis:

• The Twins thankfully lost. There might be 2 and a half months left in the season, but it is starting to get closer to make-or-break territory. Of course we’ve been on the other side of things, where the Tigers have been great at the all-star break only to have things go wrong in August. So, you know, if the baseball gods would like to bring the White Sox and Twins back to earth soon, that would be good, ya know?
• But if the Tigers keep getting good starts from pitchers and Cabrera is able to hit a little more consistently — a little more Thames-ian if you will– I have hopes September will still feature meaningful games. The next week is really a big one for Detroit, as they face the Twins four times. While normally you might like to face the pushover teams to collect some W’s, I think the only way the Tigers get back into a true division race is playing and beating the Twins and White Sox themselves. If they can’t do that, they don’t deserve the division title anyway.

Other stuff:

• It appears it’s tendinitis in Dontrelle Willis’ knee. I guess that’s better than a torn ACL or something, though it’s not exaclty confidence-giving for me. It’s just something he’ll have to rehab and work his way through.
• Michael Hollimon has gone back to Toledo. Ramon Santiago is headed back to Detroit.
  
• And Brandon Inge is rehabbing in Toledo.

Tigers 2
Mariners 1
(15 innings)

Recap:

• As they say, no one saw that one coming!
• The Tigers won in the 15th inning after the Mariners trotted out their backup catcher to the mound. He only allowed one run. But that’s all it took.
• Miguel Cabrera doubled off him, then pinch-runner Michael Hollimon went to third on an awful throw before scoring on a sac. And then, somehow, the backup catcher (or is that backup backup?) got out of the inning without allowing any more hits.
• But that’s not all that was weird.
• Nate Robertson pitched what would have been a complete game had it ended in nine innings. He did so in 100 pitches and allowed just the one run.
• In 15 inning the teams combined for 14 hits and left 23 on base.
• The Tigers bullpen only gave up two hits in six innings of work.
• Of the Tigers’ 8 hits, Pudge had four.

Analysis

• I’m sure I wasn’t the only one awaiting a devastating loss at some point! Thankfully the Tigers survived the runner getting to second a few times in extras.
• A wins’ a win, but it wasn’t what I’d call the kind of successful road trip the Tigers needed. They ended up losing ground on both teams above them.
• I think we’re seeing how much Detroit misses Magglio Ordonez and a healthy Miguel Cabrera. Three games in Seattle the Tigers scored 2 or less runs. That’s definitely not a good sign.
• Thankfully Detroit gets a day off and then faces a struggling Indians team that apparently just traded CC Sabathia.

Mariners 3
Tigers 2

recap:

• MEH
• Rodney gave up a late 2-run home run to blow the game. But the Tigers offense was stymed by R.A. Dickey’s knuckle ball anyway, so it’s not entirely his fault.

Analysis:

• What a kick in the bricks that was. The Tigers really had to have a better showing on the road than they have, or else they risk giving up all the hard-earned gains of the 18-4 streak.

Some Tigers thoughts as you enjoy the middle day of a three-day weekend:

• So the Tigers are 2-3 since returning to American League action. In my comments section, FJ wanted a time machine to go back, stop the Edgar Renteria trade and keep Jair Jurrjens a Tiger. I’m wondering if, long as he’s got that fancy Delorean, if FJ can’t get Bud Selig to move the Tigers to the NL rather than the Brewers…
• However, they have faced some pretty good pitching since returning to the A.L. And as the saying goes, good pitching beats good hitting.  It’s not a real good excuse, of course, because, you know, good teams should get some wins even against good pitching.
• Here are the ERAs (and ERA+ comparisons to average) of the starters Detroit has lost to:   Scott Baker, 3.65 ERA, 1.07 ERA+; Nick Blackburn, 3.78 ERA, 104 ERA+; Erik Bedard, 3.67 ERA, 107 ERA+. The average ERA of a starter in the A.L. is 4.24.
• Kenny Rogers must be wondering why his team hates him. In 18 starts by Rogers, the Tigers have scored 0 or 1 run five times. And twice they’ve only scored two runs.
• Of course, he’s not alone in his suffering. Justin Verlander’s run support is just a hair more than 4 runs per nine innings, ranking him near the bottom among starting pitchers in the A.L. (53rd of 65 starters with 60+ innings according to espn.com. I chose 60 innings to make sure it was among “regular” starters). Rogers gets 4.76 runs per nine while he’s on the mound.
• For the record, in 9 of 18 starts by Verlander, the Tigers scored two or fewer runs. Ouch! Makes it hard to win.
• What’s a more hair-raising experience? Driving the “pace car” near the crowds on those narrow winding roads in the Tour de France trying to stay ahead of the lead riders? Or being one of the riders?
• Thus far in his 25-plate-appearances major league career, Michael Hollimon’s slugging (.565) is more than twice his on-base percentage (.280). Interesting.
• The closest “regular” Tiger, depending on your definition of regular,  to that total is Marcus Thames, with a .610 slugging and .333 OBP.  Of eligible Tigers, the leaders for that are Miguel Cabrera at .115 difference and Magglio Ordonez at .114.
• The Tigers’ OBP is .340 this year. The 2-3-4 slots are .362, .333 and  .373, respectively.
• Just for comparison, for the 2007 season,  it was .345 with the 2-3-4 batters going .367, .365. and .421. That might explain a few things about why Mr. Rogers and Mr. Verlander don’t have as much run support!
• Returning to FJ’s point, knowing what we know NOW, I don’t think you make the Renteria trade. Still, I’m not sure. It’s not nearly as cut-and-dried as people seem to think it is, given the decision was not made in a vaccuum.
• At the time, the trade was a good idea. Remember, the Tigers knew Carlos Guillen was playing worse and worse at shortstop and wanted to protect him from injury for the length of his contract. They needed a quality SS. There was no dreams of getting Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis at the time, so it made sense to get a SS with some batting prowess and Jurrjens, while a nice young prospect, wasn’t a front-line starter either.
• Further food for thought: the National League is clearly the much weaker league. So Jurrjens likely wouldn’t be as successful in Detroit.
• And further: Who realistically is playing shortstop right now if that trade never occurs? And, while we can’t call this season a success, are the Tigers as successful as they were right now with that person as shortstop?
• So, I don’t know. I wish the Tigers have Jurrjens, certainly, but the issue is deeper than the first glance of Jurrjens > Renteria.
• Finally today, I think Detroit takes the next two games from the Mariners.
• Go A’s!! And please, Cleveland, would you win a game or two this weekend before breaking up the band?

Twins 6
Tigers 4

Recap:

• Abbreviated tonight:
• If the Tigers want to win, they have to score more than four runs when Nate “4 run” Robertson pitches
• Well, as Big Al pointed out, make that ‘6 run’ Robertson today. And that was in four innings.
• Zach Miner’s statline won’t show it, but he really struggled.
• The offense did a decent job. Didn’t get much against the starter at first, but tagged him for three runs later and scored off the bullpen in the eighth inning.
• Miguel Cabrera had a pinch hit. It went right to the right fielder but at least he was on the field for actual baseball. That’s a good sign. Though Rod or Mario didn’t think he’d be able to run, it was either homer or nothing.
• Marcus Thames homered again!

Analysis:

• Nate Robertson has not been very sharp this year. His June was OK but still not great. Not a great start to July
• Nice to see the Tigers fighting back though. After trailing 6-1, they fought back to 6-4.
• Gonna be a fight Wednesday afternoon, but they really need to take the series. And would it be so hard for the Indians to help out a bit? Chicago won’t lose!

Some news and notes:

• The Tigers’ short-season-A team, the Oneonta Tigers, seem to be up for sale. The team has a contract with Detroit through 2010. Interestingly, with a population of 13,000, Oneonta is one of the smallest towns affiliated with a major league club. I think someone in Marquette needs to buy it. Although that might be a bit of a commute for the New York-Penn league.
• Miguel Cabrera may end up on the disabled list, Lynn Henning reports. We’ll learn more today.
• La Velle E. Neal III, who appears to have the most complicated name in the A.L. Central beat writers’ circle, wrote in the Star Tribune that Jason Kubel will sit tonight while Craig Monroe gets the start. Kubel can’t hit Nate Robertson.
• Neal also reports Glen Perkins apologized for throwing the bal near Guillen’s head.
• There was lot to second-guess, a StarTrib blog reports.
• The Indians are alone in LAST?!! That’s kinda weird.
• Marcus Thames has the highest OPS for a Tiger with 100 at-bats or more. (He was 148) and a .961 OPS. He is just ahead of Magglio Ordonez (.866) and Curtis Granderson (.849).
• Robertson has allowed hte most hits and most ER in the Tigers’ rotation. That fact remained so even when you only look at the month of June though his ERA of 3.77 was much improved.
• The Tigers reportedly are one of the teams most interested in Freddy Garcia. I’m not sure I’m as interested as some. I know he won a decent number of games for several years. But even before injuring his shoulder, his ERA+ for his previous three seasons, from 2006 to 2004, was 105, 116 and 122.  That’s kind of going in the wrong direction.
• Jeremy Bonderman had a successful surgery to remove a rib. He’s now officially done for the season. But the surgery went well, fortunately.

Tigers 5
Twins 4

Recap:

• After falling behind 4-1, the Tigers scored the game’s final four runs in the seventh and eighth innings for the win.
• Matt Joyce’s triple tied the game in the eighth, and Curtis Granderson’s single knocked him in for the winning run.
• Joel Zumaya got a save, pitching the game’s final 5 outs. It was a rollercoaster ninth that saw two runners get on base with back-to-back one-out hits, but he got the job done.
• Casey Fossum got the win.
• Armando Galarraga didn’t pitch fantastic, but he did pretty well. Two of the runs he gave up were aided by the fact the Tigers made all three errors in the first three innings of the game.
• Miguel Cabrera left with a sore oblique I mean hip flexor. Just seems like it’s oblique city. Not good. He’s day-to-day but probably won’t play again in the series I’m guessing.
• The game was a wee bit chippy. Twins pitcher Glen Perkins threw the ball near Guillen’s head. Galarraga threw behind Minnesota’s Joe Mauer. Then near him again. And the ump warned both teams at that point, prompting the Twins manager to get himself thrown out. Later Guillen slid hard into second. It was important to break up the double play, but Tigers analyst Rod Allen thought it was sending a message. So that’s something to watch maybe.
• add: I almost forgot, Pudge looked pretty sore. So that’s something to watch, too.

Analysis:

• HO geez, that was a scary one eh?
• The Tigers are getting back to the ol’ Cardiac Cats we got used to in years past. They come from behind late. They threaten to give it all back. You reach for the milk and Mylanta. And they win. Not a formula you want to rely on but it’s worked recently.
• I don’t think this series is as big as some might suggest. It’s still June/early July. But is it at least a little big? Heck yes. The Tigers did their part, they picked up the first game to take a bit of pressure off, they didn’t get swept, so the standings can’t change too negatively as they play in the HHHorrordome. Winning 2 of 3 would be awesome. So they’ve got two chances at that.
• Zumaya’s save attempt was frightening, to say the least, but I think a nice confidence builder. He took another step forward. He looked pretty good. Definitely that was one of the day’s best signs.

The Tigers are 41-40 at the midway mark, and that’s a good thing. Anywho who predicted the Tigers would have that record midway through the season would probably have been laughed at. Anyone who predicted that record and added “And Tigers fans will be happy after the 81st game” would have been caused a laughing fit. And yet, here we are. The Tigers are 41-40, and that’s a good thing.

OK, so why is 41-40 a good thing?

We all know the team stumbled hard and fell flat on its face to start the year. That made their hopes of making the playoffs non-existant in probably pretty much anyone’s minds but their own. Fortunately for them, no one ran away with thd division. They rallied together — and whether you believe in coincidence or not might determine whether you agree with the statement to follow — after Jeremy Bonderman was lost for the season. They were 24-36 when he complained of a tired arm. He had surgery for a blood clot, and was thought to be lost for the year.  It was like a switch was turned. Fight or flight. The Tigers decided to fight and they’re 17-4 since that day we thought the season ended.

Obviously, you want have to nod to the Tigers’ (and American League’s) domination over the National League somewhat. But you also have to look at how the makeup of the team has changed and how they’ve played on field to fully explain it.

What has changed since that June 7?

The makeup of the team has improved, as some younger athletic players were cycled into an older roster, and some valuable players have returned from injury. On June 7, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya were working on rehabbing against live batters. Gary Sheffield was resting two sore shoulders and a sore oblique. Those three have come back, not without their hiccups. But they’ve each contributed in wins already as they get back to major league baseball speed. Having his setup men in place gives Jim Leyland more of an opportunity to run the bullpen the way he’d like, which should prove quite valuable. Gary Sheffield’s return has spoken for itself. Marcus Thames saw his playing time increase, and responded by ripping off a string of eight hits for home runs. Younger players, who you might not want to start ever day but you need to mix into your lineup card, Michael Hollimon, Ryan Raburn and Clete Thomas have found their way into the mix.

The second thing, somewhat related, is the Tigers have looked a lot more comfortable in the field. Miguel Cabrera is turning doubleplays. He’s not perfect at first, but he’s getting to quite a few balls and he’s looking quite comfortable at first base. Carlos Guillen is enjoying his time at third. It may not be shortstop, his favorite position, but he has adapted to the differences and looks much better. He seems to be making a lot more of his throws to first than he did at short. His arm frequently seemed to et him in trouble at short, whether he was rushing or what, I don’t know.

The third, the pitchers have settled in. I don’t know why the entire starting rotation stunk for two months. It really makes no sense. It had to be related, somewhat, to the defense. But they just weren’t particularly good. For most of June, it seems like nearly every day is another quality start. Pitching wins. Period. Before, Armando Galarraga was the only Tigers pitcher you felt like you could trust on the mound, and he was an unproven rookie with nothing in his background that particularly called for success. And now? I expect 3 or 4 quality starts per trip through the rotation.

And a minor additions: Curtis Granderson getting back to the Grandy who can hit the ball helped immensely.

So can they keep it up?

17-4? Well no. But the Twins and White Sox aren’t going to keep up their insane winning percentages either. But this team, all around, is much better. It’s not a fluke that they’re winning. They are actually a good team, like everyone figured they would be. They’re just finally playing like it.

Best surprises?

Freddy Dolsi looking like a guy who wants to be the Tigers’ closer in 2009 after starting off as the closer in High-A Lakeland. He’s become a valuable piece of the puzzle and gives the Tigers some flexibility in future seasons. Obviously Galarraga came out of no where.

Worst surprise?

You gotta go with Miguel Cabrera’s being slower to adjust to the A.L. and looking a lot closer to “slightly above average first baseman” than “guy worth $20M a season.” Fortunately he seems to be coming around some recently.

What concerns are there in the second half?

To me, I see two or three: Armando Galarraga, Eddie Bonine, and whether Rodney and Zumaya stay healthy. Galarraga somehow remains one of the most effective pitchers on the team — heck probably in the A.L. His ERA of 3.32 is fantastic. His WHIP of 1.11 and K:BB ratio of 52:29 are both signs that he might be able to continue pitching effectively all year and finish around 15 wins. But I don’t think anyone expects that. Same case with Eddie Bonine, the current “last” starter. He’s only pitched a few games in the majors. His WHIP is 1.08 but he’s not missing a lot of bats, so that’s a definte concern. And then Rodney and Zumaya is just a general precaution. Their careers are both riddled with injuries.

Predictions?

The A.L. Central, as the teams are comprised today, is going to be close. The Tigers have so many injuries and some depth worries. The White Sox are good but I don’t know how Carlos Quentin is going to finish the season at his home run pace given his track record. The Twins are great. I think by August the three teams are within three games of each other.

The trade deadline will be interesting given the Tigers don’t have much to work with if they want to add someone. I don’t think they should be active myself, but we can review that late in July.

Detroit has the talent and is still in position to win the division. Whether they will after their awful start, we’ll just have to watch and see.

Bonus prediction: All-Stars?

Ordonez but he won’t play. Placido Polanco. (Maybe… maybe … Miguel Cabrera based on his name). That’s it. I don’t think Galarraga makes it, despite his great numbers.

Much has gone on in the Detroit Baseball world these past few days. Most recently, Hawaiin Dane Sardinha had his first major league hit, RBI and triple all at once to help the Tigers sweep the Rockies and improve to their winning percentage to .507 for the year.

Sardinha? Tigers above .500? Man. Best to go in order of occurrence.

Sardinha actually got the call up earlier in the week and played his first game against St. Louis, Thursday, after Brandon Inge went on the disabled list with a hurt oblique. Some players come up with great excuses for how they hurt themselves, but Inge’s offering take the cake: a pillow did it. Ian has more if you haven’t already caught up on the story.

The Tigers won easy Friday behind the eight inning, one-run, five-hit performance of Eddie Bonine in just his third major league game. Joel Zumaya pitched a scoreless ninth.

Saturday, Magglio Ordonez left the game with … a hurt oblique. This affliction is getting out of hand. Gary Sheffield already went on the DL with the problem this year. FSN showed pregame footage that showed Maggs looked to be feeling a bit sore even before the game. Anyway, he left in the third inning. Detroit led by a comfortable margin until Todd Jones took the mound. Jones has been perfect far too long to let that continue! So he allowed four runs and blew the save. Freddy Dolsi helped out for the final out. Jones looked like he gave away a chance at .500. But his teammates weren’t going to accept that. Placido Polanco got on base with a hit and Ryan Raburn with a walk, then Miguel Cabrera knocked a liner to right field that sent them both home for the win .500 at last. Oh, and earlier, Raburn hit a grand slam.

And Saturday, Maggs goes on the disabled list. Matt Joyce got the call to come back to Detroit. Maybe we can call him Matts to keep the nickname thing steady. Kenny Rogers throws a quality game, Dolsi proves invaluable yet again to bridge the gap with scoreless innings. And oh, the Hawaiin hit a two-out triple with two runners on in the bottom of the sixth to provide the go-ahead run.

So that’s your recap. A “scrub,” a minor league battery recently called up from Toledo, a reliever who started his season in High-A ball and some All-Stars teamed up to sweep the Rockies. Pretty fun weekend for the Detroiters.