Tigers 15, Mets 7

OK. Let’s come to an agreement, you and I. A little contract between us.

I, the undersigned, will not:

• freak out when the Tigers lose three or four games in a row.
• give up the season for lost if a team from Cleveland is involved in any of those losses.
• pass out in fright when the bullpen has the ball in a close game.
• especially in a game against Cleveland.
• wax poetically about the good old days of 2006.
• worry about injuries to the 4 and 5 batters, even if they are on the same day.
• read too much into any one game.

Above all, I certify I will not doubt this team during a bad stretch of baseball.

On the 10th of June, 2007, I agree to abide by those statements:
–Kurt
Mack Avenue Tigers

With that out of the way, on to the baseball.

Andrew Miller gave up a 3-spot in the first inning. I was not worried. Sure, Tom Glavine was on the mound for the Mets, but these are not some national league cats he’s facing. As long as Miller settled in, three runs wasn’t going to be enough to hold up.

I was right, and boy was I ever. The Tigers piled on Glavine for 9 runs in 4 1/3 innings. They added six more against the Mets bullpen, which I’ve heard might be pretty decent. In all, Detroit rapped out 21 hits, including eight for extra base hits. Gary Sheffield fell a double short of the cylce and had four hits. Placido Polanco had a three hit day. A lot of people contributed and the Tigers scored a) their most runs of the season, b) the most runs allowed by the Mets this year.

As I alluded to earlier, Magglio Ordonez was a late scratch, precautionary, with some awkwardness in his knee. Carlos Guillen left mid-game with a spasm in a hamstring.

But oh, maybe you were more interested in the pitching side of things — and who could blame you? Miller nearly had a strikeout per inning. His command is still not great. I sense he pitched better than the three walks he allowed, but he and Glavine were both squeezed on their strike zones. Most important to me was that he struggled. That’s a good thing. Miller was dominating AA baseball. What I thought he needed was to be challenged.

The National League’s best offense provided just that challenge. Beyond giving up a 3-run homer and some hard hits, it was when he got in trouble that helped Miller grow. He loaded the bases in the third inning with a pair of walks an a defensive miscue … and got out of it unscathed. After a quick fourth, a single, balk and wild pitch put Damon Easley on third base with one out. Miller stranded him with a strikeout and popout. Those are the innings that are going to speed along the progress of his career much faster than what he does against the Eastern League. So I was happy to see some struggles. No one goes an entire career without some.

I was not happy to see Jason Grilli’s struggles. And I’d love to bash him. At the time, I thought I’d ask why he was still with the Tigers. He doesn’t seem like a contributer to a World Series club this year. But actually, Grilli had pitched well in most of his past half-dozen outings before today’s blowup. Grilli should not be safe by any means. But if he can maintain this ratio of success to suck, maybe he can hang around for awhile. It’s not like he’s holding back better options.

Fernando Rodney, I don’t get. He still worries me. Yorman Bazardo, I like this kid. He can certainly be a long time contributer in the pen at this rate. Leyland is using him carefully, though. He can’t throw him right into high stress innings. I like how he’s coming along.

The Tigers have Monday off.

Tigers 8, Mets 7

Admit it. You didn’t want to watch those final three outs. (Or maybe 6…or 9) I know I looked through cautious eyes. But Todd Jones got two strikeouts, a bit unlucky, and then the third out. Earlier, Jeremy Bonderman had allowed his five-run lead to dwindle, and Yorman Bazardo wasn’t able to get him out of it.

Fortunately, Wil Ledezma ended the Mets comeback, and the lead held up. But it was dicey.

Honestly I fell asleep in my chair while writing this post last night, so if you happened to make it this far, congratulations!

To borrow from Will Carroll: Powered by a night’s sleep and two cups of coffee:

Bonderman improved to 6-0 on the year with a rather shaky start.  The run in the first inning — on a Pudge throwing error — can’t be tagged to Bonderman’s “always gives up a run in the first inning” image quite so much.

Like any Tigers recap, I’m just going to skip from there to the batting so I don’t get a stomach ache. Polanco went 4-for-5. Carlos Guillen, after having about a week’s worth of bad at-bats after coming off the quasi-DL (he skipped a series due to injury) hit a 3-run home run.  Oh, and somebody doubled again. I wonder who that could have been, Maggs.

Really, that’s about where the highlights ended. It was actually a good game between the best team in the National League and one of the best in the American. But I wouldn’t have minded if the 8-3 score held up.

Bunt Singles:

• Kenny Rogers is throwing, er, today, in Toledo. He has a four inning ceiling, around 50 pitches. He is expected to pitch June 20 for the Tigers. That’s an amazingly fast comeback. That’s just great news if he still has the physical tools to allow him to use his baseball intelligence properly. His first start would be against the Nationals.
• I wrote a column about the Tigers draft for my newspaper. I also included the Brewers and Cubs, because I wanted to make a point and because there are still a lot of Brewers and Cubs fans in my region of the U.P. Actually, the Brewers fans were multiplying fast for awhile. They’ve kinda gone back into their caves, but I still think the Crew wins the NL Central.
• Jon Paul Morosi wrote about signing Rick Porcello. Must read if you haven’t with your morning bagel.
• Jason Beck was as shocked as I was to learn the Twins lost to the Nationals twice in two games at the Dome. I was going to make a Nationals joke earlier in this post but thought better of it after that.

Mets 3, Tigers 0

Well, it had to happen some time. The Tigers were shut out. And I think you have to give full credit to the Mets defense for doing that, because there’s no way the Tigers should have been shut out.

21-year-old Carlos Gomez looked even younger than his age, but he robbed a pair of triples with fine plays. One, he went on a full sprint and lept in the air to snare a Curtis Granderson hit. That would likely have been a triple, but at least a double.  In the fourth, I believe, with a runner on first, Gomez made the risky decision to dive on a hit curving away from him. He made the catch. Had he missed, it was a sure run and possibly three bases. But he didn’t miss. Good job, kid.

I think Chad Durbin did a fine job. He shouldered the loss, but he allowed just three runs and pitched into the ninth inning while doing so. Had the Tigers scored some runs for him, he’d probably have gone eight innings and allowed just two, so I’d say it was pretty successful start. Either way, it helped the bullpen catch its breath after a Mike Maroth start. I’m really becoming fond of Durbin. Never expected that.

The Tigers and Mets continue the possible World Series preview on national tv (for 70% of the nation’s viewing regions) at about 4 p.m. (Check to see if you get the game)

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