Chicago 3, Tigers 1

Remember what I said about the Tigers not being dead yet, but being close? Each loss is a giant step towards a playoffless October. Some would say they’ve already bridged that, but by tomorrow, they could be right by to 2 1/2 games. So I’d say all isn’t lost. However, the greater problem is whether we can ever expect the Tigers to play like, say, a .500 team?  And right now, I’m sorta doubting that myself.

Jeremy Bonderman survived the first inning, but came out of the game in the sixth after offering up a two-run homer.  The trainer and Jim Leyland came out to talk to him just two pitches earlier. Hard to say whether he should have been making the pitch or not.  Luckily Zach Miner pitched the rest of the game and kept the White Sox from expanding their lead.

Not that it mattered. Another poor showing from the Tigers bats meant Jon Garland and the bullpen held Detroit to just a run. Sure, they threatened from time to time. But it wasn’t long until Pudge, Thames and/or other in the lower half of the lineup would screw it up.

Chicago owns Detroit. But so does everyone right now except the Yankees.

So, another loss. Been used to them for far too long.

Bunt Singles:

• Magglio Ordonez was named the American League’s top batter for August.
• Bilfer has a few tickets left for Blogger Night at the Ballpark. If you don’t know, I blog from about 9 or 10 hours from the CoPa, so I won’t be there. But you should be.
• Mike has added to the Daily Fungo empire recently.
• Gary Sheffield is coming back Thursday he says. Too little, too late?

Share/Email This

Sox 3, Tigers 1

Not much to say since I covered most of the big topics in the previous post. The Tigers once again couldn’t put a complete game together. The pitching showed up. The offense, which featured Sean Casey batting third along with the typical Sunday cast, could hardly score. Magglio Ordonez did homer. So that, again, is good news. Hopefully Gary Sheffield and Marcus Thames feel better soon to give this offense some of its teeth back.  Whoever has seen a Tiger gum its prey to death?

Share/Email This

White Sox, Tigers 5

Detroit came a run closer today. Placido Polanco went 2-for-4 to move within .003 of Magglio Ordonez in batting average.

Otherwise, what can I really say? One loss is melting into another. This one, again, was the starting pitching struggling. Jeremy Bonderman did his best impression of Jeremy Bonderman and gave up four runs in the first inning, each of them coming with two outs. After the Tigers made up two of those runs in the second inning, he gave up a pair of solo homers in the top of the third. And that was about it. The best you can say about him, is that Bonderman lasted long enough to give the bullpen a break.

This really is a tough time for the team. It slipped out of first place, the wildcard race went from something in the back of your mind to something the Tigers are fighting to hold on to, as Seattle surged into a tie with Detroit, though the Mariners have played two fewer games.

The Tigers have three righted-handed starters, one seemingly tired left-handed starter, and no real answer as to who will fill in for Andrew Miller during his time on the DL. It probably won’t be a lefty, those are few and far between in the organization. Things are actually pretty bleak. That’s my view from tonight anyway. There really isn’t a lot to be optimistic about at this point in time.

Box

Share/Email This

Chicago 7, Detroit 4

Good news and bad news. Good news: the Twins moved no closer to the Tigers. Bad news: Because Cleveland beat them to move into first place.

Oh yeah, and Detroit had a game, too. Well, the Tigers lost again. They’re 2-8 in the last 10. This time, it was the starting pitcher who failed to get the job done, while the bullpen allowed just one run in five innings of work.

That’s because starter Andrew Miller left after four innings of work, in which he gave up a grand slam and other assorted runs to give Chicago a touchdown lead. He came out in the fifth inning, but never made a pitch. He has a sore hamstring, a minor injury the Tigers are saying. But after two straight really bad games, I wonder if they shouldn’t give the kid some extended rest anyway.

The other good news, I suppose we could say, is with two singles and a double, Magglio Ordonez had a nice game. He had just one extra-base hit since July 23 before that.

This awful slump has to end soon. It’s really getting frustrating to watch.

Box

Share/Email This

Sox 4, Tigers 3

Let’s start with the recap: Detroit led late, but the bullpen allowed Chicago to tie the game a 3-3. In the ninth, Zach Miner fielded a ball, threw it into right field, and again gave the national media reason to talk about pitchers fielding practice.

That and the blogger media to talk about “WHY THE HECK WAS ZACH MINER PITCHING AT THE END OF A CLOSE GAME?” Well, no. I don’t think anyone actually asked that. Because we already knew the reason.

Miner was pitching because who else could? There are no short relievers on this team, whether due to injury or poor selection of relievers or poor quality of the selection pool. So the mopup guy pitched in the late innings and lost. I don’t blame him. Cept for, you know, that awful throw, which I didn’t personally see at least.

Justin Verlander allowed three runs in seven innings.

The offense only scored three runs. But with Gary Sheffield resting off a cortisone shot — those hurt, we learned from Placido Polanco — and Carlos Guillen resting — he needed it — the meat of the order was rather declawed.

Omar Infante did homer.

And the Tigers finished 2-3 in Chicago. You expect maybe 3-2 considering these White Sox were getting guys back from injury. And if the bullpen only messes up once, that’s what you get.

BOX

Share/Email This

Tigers 13, White Sox 9

Optimist or pessimist. Pick your story line.

• Kenny Rogers gave up four home runs, seven runs and three walks. And he only lasted four innings.
• But Ryan Raburn continues to prove his value to the club, hitting two home runs, four hits and driving in 7 RBIs.
• But Jason Grilli gave up a pair of runs.
• In three innings.
• But… OK. I’m running out of reasons to be pessimistic, despite Detroit allowing nine runs.

The Tigers bullpen allowed two runs over five innings. Jason Grilli stopped the bleeding, even if he shed some blood himself. Tim Byrdak picked up his third career save, having pitched two perfect innings his first appearance off the disabled list.

The Tigers offense scored 13. That alone would be impressive. It is moreso, given Mike Rabelo, Raburn and Omar Infante started. Due to Gary Sheffield having a sore shoulder, Raburn replaced Maggs in right field and Maggs played DH. So, with all that mixing, they still did well.

And they won. That’s really what counts in the end. They became the second team in the majors to hit 60 wins. Cleveland won, also, but the Twins and Mariners lost.

So, I’m going to mark myself down as an optimist today. You should too.

Box 

Share/Email This

Sox 5, Tigers 3; Sox 8, Tigers 7

Remember how I said we should still fear Chicago? Well. Yeah. Today was all the proof you really needed of that.

Remember how I said even though the bullpen is doing better, the Tigers still need to trade for help? Well. Yeah.Today was all the proof you really needed of that. The Tigers blew both ends of a double header, the back-end especially depressing.

I didn’t see/listen to/etc, the first game, so there’s not much more I can say than “Curtis Granderson still owned Chicago.” He homered and doubled. Jeremy Bonderman gave up all the runs. Homers still haunt him. Jim Thome will haunt my dreams tonight. And all he did was go 3-for-3 in that game.

So on to the second game. Detroit cruised. Mike Rabelo had three hits. Mike Hessman had a home run. Ryan Raburn had two hits. The offense staked Virgil Vasquez to a 7-1 lead after five innings in his second career MLB game. He came up from Toledo for the spot start. Many people thought he looked so bad in May he should never pitch in the majors again, but I chalked it up to first-game jitters. I hope Vasquez’ performance today showed he can find some success at the MLB level, though he’s not stellar by any means. But there’s no reason to really get down on the kid.

But wait. The game didn’t end after five innings, did it? Hmm. Well that’s going to be a problem for the Tigers, because this is the White Sox they were playing, and that team simply has Detroit’s number.

So, the bullpen happened. The pitiful bullpen put together a pitiful night. It was the guys you trust too, which is why you pretty much don’t trust guys who pitch relief in a Tigers uniform. After Vasquez left in the sixth inning with a 7-2 lead, Macay McBride gave up a run. Chad Durbin gave up a three-run homer — to Thome. Zach Miner gave up two more runs and the game in the eighth inning, though some less-than-stellar defense didn’t exactly help his cause.

It was a meltdown for sure, but fortunately the wildcard competition Mariners were swept in a double header, while the Indians and Twins lost in single games. So it didn’t really HURT the Tigers. But it sure didn’t help to throw away a six-run lead.

I’m sorta disgusted again. But that’s baseball. There’s new ups and downs every week with this team, best just to maintain middle ground.

Game 1 Box Game 2 Box

Bunt Singles:

• Some minor things. Earlier Tuesday, Jose Capellan went to Toledo to make room for Virgil Vasquez. Tim Byrdak was supposed to take Vasquez’ place when he returned to Toledo after the game. (If it was confirmed it happened, I haven’t seen it yet).
• That’s three lefty pitchers, as McBride stayed up and Capellan, a righty, went down. A bit strange, really, but who knows.
• The Toledo fellows — Rabelo included even if he’s been up all season — in the lineup all did well for themselves today and I’ve been pleasantly pleased with their performances this year. Sure beats Neifi and the Perezes.
• Carlos Guillen hit Chicago catcher Toby Hall in the head with a swing. Hall left the game but has a concussion.
• Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney are progressing quickly in their comebacks, Danny Knobler of Mlive reports.

Share/Email This

Tigers 9, White Sox 6

I had a bad feeling about this series, actually. There’s something about Chicago that makes me nervous. Probably I’m thinking of 2006 and before still and not accepting the real possibility the White Sox aren’t that good. And yet, well, they’re the White Sox. So I’m not writing them off that easy.

The Tigers won the back-and-forth contest by a score that doesn’t exactly make it look close. Then again, the Tigers got more hits and played better than Chicago in most ways. So maybe the score shouldn’t be that close.

Curtis Granderson had a heck of a return home to Chicago, leading off with a first-pitch home run, driving in another run in the third with a single and two more runs in the fourth with a double. He drew a walk and was hit by a pitch to add 5-for-5 to his on-base percentage for the day.

Mike Hessman, fresh up from Toledo, in his first major league game since 2004, was the other hero of the night. He drove in the game-tying and winning run with a double in the seven after Chicago had rallied back to take the lead. He went 2-for-4 and added a run. Placido Polanco, Maggs and Pudge each added three hits for the day.

The Tigers offense racked up 14 hits and scored seven runs off Mark Buehrle after he’d had several good games in a row. They had 18 hits for the game and despite scoring nine runs, still had nine left on base. It was kinda ugly and made you want to swear a bit.

The Tigers pitching was, well, mixed. The bullpen again did fine. I’m almost getting used to using that phrase. It wasn’t perfect. Macay McBride was tagged with a run when he hit  walked a guy, who later scored on a Jason Grilli hit batter. But that was about it. Too many baserunners, maybe, but the bullpen stood up fine. It was the starter, Andrew Miller, who didn’t do too good. Chicago loaded the bases repeatedly on him. He gave up five walks and 10 hits on 111 pitches and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. In his final tosses, he missed the plate wide and high, and not even close. Pudge was jumping all over to try to prevent the ball from going to the back stop. It just got ugly.

Miller still struggles with his control and still struggles keeping his pitch count low because of it. This was quite possibly the worst game he’s thrown, in my estimation. If it wasn’t, it was among the worst. It got ugly fast and frequently. Fortunately, Chicago stranded 14 baserunners.

Hopefully the Tigers starters — Jeremy Bonderman and Virgil Vasquez — can go deep in the double header today, or it’s going to be a worn out bullpen by series end. Likewise, Detroit has to get to the Sox’ starters and really take advantage of Chicago’s bad pen.

Box

Share/Email This

Game 21: Tigers at White Sox, 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN, FSN
Pitchers: Chad Durbin (0-1, 10.54) vs. John Danks (0-2, 5.06)

Pregame thoughts — It seems like just Friday the Tigers sent Durbin to the mound to face John Danks. Oh. Wait. It was. So the reruns have already started this baseball season. Bet ESPN didn’t count on those two starting when they added the game!

The Tigers offense is heating up. The White Sox offense looks like it did Sunday, which is to say, still dangerous.

Durbin had nine strikes out and allowed three hits in eight innings. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Postgame thoughts (Tigers win, 6-2) – Wow. Chad Durbin. 9 strikeouts, 3 hits, his best performance of the year, obviously, and his major career probably. He had good control, with no walks, his pitches had movement. He looked like the guy that must have baffled AAA hitters all year long in Toledo. He looked like a guy who can definitely stick around the majors as long he can consistently show that command.

Can he do that? That question remains to be answered. But for a night, Durbin was golden. He got into trouble just once, allowing a single and double with two outs before getting a strike out.

Joel Zumaya pitching the ninth, that’s a whole ‘nother story. Why was he in a 6-0 game when he may be needed tomorrow, or the next two days? I don’t know. Zumaya pitched fine for two outs and then he couldn’t throw a strike — even the few pitches that were strikes. A hit batter and four straight walks gave the White Sox a pair of runs before Todd Jones shut the door.

The Tigers bats in the upper half of the lineup are alive and well, thank you. Pudge (3), Polanco (2), Sheffield (2) and Magglio (3-for-4) combined for 10 hits, six RBIs and just one strikeout. That’s what you like to see. The rest of the lineup? maybe not so much, other than Brandon Inge, who also snared two hits.

Carlos Guillen had the day off. Jon Paul Morosi reported there’s some soreness in Guillen’s throwing shoulder.

Box

Around the Central:

Kansas City 4, Minnesota 3 – David DeJesus’ fourth homer helped Kansas City pick up a third victory in the HHH Dome already this year. Go Royals!

Cleveland 8, Texas 7 (11 innings) – Cleveland closer Joe Borowski blew the save, but the Indians rallied for an extra innings victory. In picking up the victory, Fernando Cabrera was light’s out in extra innings, striking out five of seven batters he faced.

Share/Email This

Game 18: White Sox at Tigers, 1 p.m.
TV: TV2
Pitchers: Jon Garland vs. Justin Verlander

Pregame thoughts – After the Tigers coughed up three late-innings leads in three days, the starting pitcher seems to be irrelevant — especially this starter, Justin Verlander, who has no wins to show for three games in which his ERA was 1.42. A starter can lose the game for you, but apparently he can’t win it with stellar pitching.

Fortunatley, if anyone is going to ignite the Tigers offense, it’s Jon Garland. A sample of Tigers vs. Garland:

Granderson: .391 OBP, .381 SLG, 20 at-bats
Guillen: .400, .400, 35 at-bats
Infante: .455, .625, 32 at bats
Polanco: .417, .583, 24 at-bats
Sheffield: .600, .667, 9 at-bats
Thames: .400, .714, 14 at-bats

So you can see, some guys can hit him. And if Leyland wants to go to the bench to give some guys some rest, now is the day to do it. I’m thinking Craig Monroe (.611 OPS) needs a break myself. Inge and Maggs each have two homers off Garland, Thames has three.

If I remember correctly, Pudge will rest today, giving Mike Rabelo the start.

Postgame thoughts (Tigers win, 6-5, 12 inn.) – I guess if you play enough of these extra-innings game — the Tigers have played six in 18 games — you’ll win eventually. Placido Polanco drove in Pudge Rodriguez in the 12th inning for the walk-off Tigers victory, narrowly avoiding a sweep that looked all but imminent.

Yet again, Detroit blew an early lead. The first four batters took advantage of Jon Garland, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead before an out was recorded in the first inning. But Garland clamped down after that and didn’t allow a base runner until the seventh inning. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander picked up the quality start, but left after seven innings with a 3-3 tie.

Joe Crede took Aquilino Lopez yard for a 5-3 Chicago lead, but Marcus Thames teed off on David Aardsma with two outs to knot the game at 5-5.  Wil Ledezma pitched three innings, and Jason Grilli picked up the victory.

While it’s great to win, the flip side is the decision-making of Jim Leyland continued to leave me confused. He kept Verlander out there for 113 pitches, even though he’s been yanking Bonderman in the 80s or 90s. Then, in the 10th inning when Brandon Inge led off with a double, he didn’t have Curtis Granderson lay down the bunt to get Inge to third base with one out. Granderson can definitely bunt the ball, so I thought that call should have been automatic. I’m sure Sox manager Ozzie Guillen would have walked the bases loaded, unless he wanted to test Omar Infante, but that still leaves Maggs and Guillen chances to end the game. So I was confused by that.

Otherwise, it was great to see Marcus Thames respond to getting a start in the most dramatic of ways. Other than the homer by Lopez, the bullpen pitched well I thought. So it’s off to Anaheim for the Tigers after a .500 homestand.

Share/Email This