Tigers 3, Twins 2

Hard not to think of a Detroit Tiger who came up big today.

• Magglio Ordonez drove in all three runs — all three of Johan Santana, at that — with a double and a home run to center field.
• Rookie Andrew Miller may not have been the best lefty pitcher on the field, but he was the one who came out of the game with the victory.
• Ryan Raburn got the start against Santana, doubled and scored.
• Two words: Marcus. Thames.
• Five more: Did you see that catch?
• Most parts of the bullpen. Jason Grilli… eh, I don’t know. Bobby Seay. Chad Durbin really came up huge. But Macay McBride got a big out. Todd Jones picked up another save.

I’m sure there’s more. But here’s a few notes that popped up along the way. Andrew Miller forced 9 ground ball outs and 1 fly ball out. He threw strikes about 2/3 of the time. Minnesota did a good job of forming a gravity that drew baseballs into their arms. Half their runs came on an HBP.

I wonder sometimes if this is a big series. Last year, just about every series was described as a big series. I didn’t really buy it. This year kinda proves why. It was big because the Tigers being a powerhouse team was so new, they had to prove it anew every game. Now it’s like, yeah, this is good series. Both are strong teams. Tigers have to keep them from closing the gap. But it just doesn’t feel like a big series yet.

In any case, Minnesota is pesky and annoying to play and Detroit has won two one-run games in a row. So, it’s a pretty decent series!

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Bunt Singles:

• Sheffield was fined for criticizing umpires.
• President Bush picks the Tigers. (Hat tip Ian)
  
• Zumaya + “Samela” = Zumala?
• Getting Joel Zumaya back is important (duh) EPSN.com writes. How important? #2 addition.
• The Tigers make the playoffs 89% of the time according to Baseball Prospectus’ computer simulation.
• Finally, Detroit leads the MLB by 1 game for the best record.

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Tigers 1, Twins 0

It doesn’t get much closer than a 1-0 game when the run is unearned, does it? Nate Robertson and Matt Garza went toe-to-toe for seven inning, each dominating for periods and each getting into a bit of trouble.

Jason Bartlett’s fielding error on a ball of Brandon Inge’s bat led to the difference maker when Curtis Granderson walked and Magglio Ordonez drove Inge in with two outs. The run was unearned.

I don’t know if Robertson truly had a ‘tired’ arm or what, but this is his best performance since coming off the disabled list. In seven innings, he gave up two walks, three hits and had five strikeouts. Macay McBride — still proving me wrong — walked the first batter he saw in the 8th inning, but got out of it when he induced a shallow fly out, then a double play. Todd Jones worked an easy ninth, which was fortunate, because in a 1-0 game like that, my heart could neither have taken the intensity of baserunners nor the heartbreak of blowing said 1-0 game.

Brandon Inge played some nice defense.

Grandy did great at at the plate, adding another extra-base hit (a double) and going 3-for-3 with a walk. He leads the American League in extra-base hits, but he trails Chase Utley by two for the MLB lead.

Still, a discussion at Motown Sports points out Granderson has a shot at getting 20 steals, 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 home runs, a feat done just twice in history, once by Willy Mays. He’s also on pace for 100 extra-base hits. That may not be an MLB all-time record, but Hank Greenberg leads the Tigers with 103 in 1937.

With a .604 winning percentage, the Tigers now lead the MLB (.02 over Boston).

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Tigers 1, Twins 0

As we know, bad things happen when the Tigers score less than six. Like, they lose. A lot. So while Jeremy Bonderman was busy pitching a gem on ESPN, I was thinking “oh god, the bats better get going! Bondo better pitch a shutout! ahhh!” Well, you know the drill.

When Curtis Granderson led off with a triple in the fourth, only to see Placido Polanco strike out, Sean Casey foul out on the first pitch and Magglio Ordonez get robbed by a good defensive play, well, that felt like the best chance the Tigers would have.

Well, you know what happened. Twins starter Scott Baker only gave up three hits all day, and one was a two-out home run by Thames in the eighth inning. Baker only threw 79 pitches in eight innings, if that tells you how dominate he was. 57 were for strikes, if that didn’t.

Meanwhile, Bonderman pitched terrific and made it through 8 innings. For awhile, he looked like an inning or two go too long, but the best way to keep the bullpen from blowing it was to avoid the bullpen as much as possible. You know Bonderman has these types of games in him. He can simply take a game over. He can be a shutdown pitcher. He gives the Tigers as a good a shot at a Cy Young award in the future as Justin Verlander does. But we don’t see enough of these games from Bondo. So, it was nice to watch what he can do.

Along the way, there was a great diving catch by Granderson that showed off his wheels and his glove.

Todd Jones made it through the ninth fine. The Twins went 1-2-3 and, quite literally, kept hitting it right at people in the infield. But Jones, for all the crap he takes, is seldom the guy I worry about in the pen even as I worry about him. … Well, you know what I mean by that.

The Tigers survived the weekend while Sheffield served his suspension by splitting and salvaging at crappy series with the Twins. Cleveland comes to town now. Hopefully the Tigers can take advantage.

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Bunt Singles:

Eulogio De La Cruz was sent to Toledo to make the roster spot for the new bullpen help.

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Twins 11, Tigers 1

I honestly don’t even want to write about that one. The Tigers maybe need to play the rest of their season on the road. Seriously. You think at some point in time, they will have a home record that is befitting a team of their caliber. Right now, it’s just the third junk game of four at Comerica Park since the National League swing. I’m starting to think Detroit spent so much time in NL parks to end interleague play they became an NL team.

It was going to be difficult against Johan Santana anyway. But when Justin Verlander struggled — and he did so right out of the gate — it was over. Then he gave up the grand slam to Joe Mauer. And, well, a bright point, Macay McBrie did a fine job in relief of Verlander anyway before Eulogio De La Cruz had a second “welcome to the big leagues” poor showing. I’m not worried about the kid. But I hope that everyone who mistakenly thought he was a good choice for closer after three major league innings had a reality check.

In other news, Tim Byrdak went on the disabled list. He wasn’t even on the World Series team!

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Minnesota: 16, Tigers 4

A recap of Sunday:

Pistons: Lose.

Wings: Lose.

Tigers: Lose.

But since this is a Tigers blog, that’s the concern. There’s really not much to say though that I haven’t already. I knew it was going to be a rough game with a rookie pitcher making his major league debut on national television. That proved true. I didn’t think it would be that bad.

I knew it would be bad when Jason Grilli took the mound looking not that much better than Vasquez and Joe Morgan kept talking about Tigers’ inability to keep the ball down. I didn’t think it would be that bad.

Then Wil Ledezma takes the stage. And following him comes in Jose Mesa. And pitcher after pitcher came hit after hit. Balls driven up the middle. Balls driven in the gap. Home runs. You name it. 22 hits in all.

At some point, I think the Tigers just wanted to get out of town, but the pitchers couldn’t do the job to help them get on the plane to Boston. It’s too bad three relievers got burned up before a tough series. I would say “at least we have the quality relievers still” which I’m guessing means Bobby Seay, Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones. But even then Rodney is debatable. This bullpen is just not looking very good right now, and Tim Byrdak isn’t going to improve matters much, I fear.

On the bright side, the Tigers thrilled me by winning two out of three in Minnesota and improved the slight lead in the division. Things could most certainly be worse.

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Tigers 8, Twins 2

I hope you didn’t come here looking for an explanation of how Chad Durbin won for the third time in four games. I mean, yeah, I watched it. And yah, it’s hard not to win when your team scores eight runs. But it wasn’t only that: Durbin threw five shutout innings. That’s just strange.

Or is it?

Actually, I have an idea or two. I think he was keeping the ball low, though sometimes it’s hard to figure out on TV. Durbin had control issues early, but his defense took care of him with DPs in each of the first three innings. The Twins loaded the bases in the second inning before the DP got Durbin out unscathed. That was probably Durbin’s doing, he forced 11 ground balls to 6 fly balls for outs. Obviously a good infield defense is required for a guy like that, and the Tigers are good enough. And after the first three walks — all in the first two innings — he settled down.

Could be his batters kept scoring on Sidney Ponson. First it was two. Then it was three. Then it was six. Then it was ugly. I was actually a bit in shock as the runs kept rolling up until it was an embarrassment of riches at 8-0.

Craig Monroe came up big, 3-for-4, another long HR. Maggs and Gary Sheffield had multi-hit games. Even backup catcher Mike Rabelo got into it, driving home another RBI.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Jim Leyland said afterward, “but if somebody watched us today, they’d say, ‘Jeez, the Tigers have a pretty good team.’” (Freep)

So the Tigers just keep winning. It’s 11 of 12 now.

The series  concludes at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Virgil Vasquez makes his MLB debut.

Side note: This “Mugshot Purgatory” post at Stick and Ball Guy showing Tigers aging over the years is hilarious and a great idea. Definitely check it out

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Detroit 7 Twins 3

Note: did I just not publish this? 

Not much recap tonight, but Mike Maroth was awesome. Watching on Yahoo! at work, I was a bit annoyed with his allowing leadoff batters on base. His innings weren’t exactly eventless, as he gave up nine hits. But while he allowed a couple extra-base hits after the second, he was seldom in too much trouble.

The bats must have benefited from going to Johan Santana to a more hittable bullpen. While the relievers the Twins can trot out to the mound are among the best in baseball as a whole, they just aren’t Santana. So when he left after six innings having allowed just two runs, Detroit pressed down the accelerator to score five in the final three frames.

Carlos Guillen went 3-for-5 with a homer and triple and 4 RBIs. Gary Sheffield hit a sixth homer and scored three runs. He’s now fourth in the AL in runs scored with 26 — Magglio is second with 27 if I’m to believe ESPN.com. Curtis Granderson had his fifth triple of the season as well.

Bottom line, I didn’t expect to win this. It’s not exactly a game stolen from the Twins. But it’s one they probably penciled in with a “W.” Now either Chad Durbin or Virgil Vasquez has to keep the ship together and the Tigers can escape the Dome with a series victory. But bottom line, I’m happy.

Around the Central:

Chicago edged the Royals. The A’s walloped the Indians. Tigers lead the Central by 1.5.

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To my esteemed colleague at Stick and Ball Guy, I offer this image as a rebuttal. (You really should click that or you’ll be like, “Huh?”) This isn’t the first time someone from Minnesota has mentioned winning the Central. I heard it not too long ago and I asked how the playoffs went for them. Oh yeah.

Usually I try to do previews for each game but I end up missing one here or there so I thought I’d just do the series on this one.

Two of the three games are nationally televised*. It sounded like a good idea before the season started. Then the pitching rotations came out. This is not really going to be any bit of a measuring stick for either team, as the pitching match-ups are absolutely horrible, about as bad as the Tigers vs. Seattle matchups. The Twins will be facing the Nos. 4 and 5 guys in the Tigers rotation Friday and Saturday. Even if those guys are a combined 10-2, I’m still not sure how and pretty sure that can’t continue. Sunday, Virgil Vasquez makes his major league debut for Detroit.

Friday, 8 p.m. FSN: Mike Maroth (2-0, 5.35) vs. Johan Santana (4-2, 3.40 ERA) — Santana is beatable thus far this year, even at home for a change. But he’s still Santana. So Maroth is going to have to deal against a Joe Mauer-less Twins lineup.

Saturday, 3:45, FOX: Chad Durbin (2-1, 5.45) vs. Sidney Ponson (2-4, 6.42): This is actually the best matchup, as Sidney Ponson is obviously a weak point in the Twins’ rotation. Not that Durbin is any better, but at least once and awhile he puts together a good game.

Sunday, 8 p.m, ESPN: Virgil Vasquez (–, -.–) vs. Boof Bonser (0-1, 3.96): This is interesting for Tigers fans in the know. For others, it’s going to be a complete mystery who this Vasquez is making his MLB debut on national TV. He’s a soft tossing, pin-point locating curveball tossing righty with 50 strikeous in 40-2/3 innings. He may be replacing Chad Durbin soon if Durbin stumbles and Vasquez proves he’s ready for the MLB. The Boof? He’s kind of a slightly-better Daniel Cabrera sort. Lotta strikeouts, lot of walks, pretty good but you can get to him.

Should be an interesting series anyway. If Detroit can surprise and take two, it would be great. I just hope for one.

* FOX national TV seldom means more than local markets.

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Tigers win, 4-3

Gum Time worked.

I don’t know what was more important:

• Brandon Inge went 3-for-3 with a walk. Oh, and a walk-off home run.
• Mike Maroth dueled Johan Santana inning for inning for the quality start. Maroth’s innings were boring, but in baseball that tends to be a very good thing. Most of the time Minnesota just seemed to fly out to Magglio Ordonez.
• Marcus Thames got to start today and played nearly the entire game. He again made the best of it, hitting a homer off Santana to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
• Joel Zumaya got a chance to regroup and gain his confidence, saving Maroth when a runner was left on third with two outs after Maggs and Curtis Granderson didn’t quite communicate who should catch a fly and neither of them did. Zoomer then pitched a clean eighth.
• Todd Jones pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the victory.
• More than 36,000 Tigers fans (again) went home happy

Pretty much, that’s all important. The pitched synced up. The pitching and the hitting both came together in a game the Tigers very much wanted to win. I seriously hope we see a lot more Thames at first base. He got the start because Sean Casey was sick.

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Around the Central:

Cleveland 6, Baltimore 1. — Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona pitched into the ninth. Casey Blake homered.

Angels are leading White Sox.

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Game 24: Twins at Tigers, 1 p.m
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Johan Santana (3-2, 3.44) vs. Mike Maroth (2-0, 5.06)

Pregame thoughts: For some reason I keep thinking UnderArmour. We must protect this house. The Tigers have done a woeful job of that lately. They split with Toronto in the opening series, almost giving a game away. They blew the first two games against the White Sox last weekend and had to rally in the ninth in the third to avoid a sweep. And now with the Central Division rival Twins in town, they lost the first two, having blown a game and then gotten blown out the next.

Despite a pederstrian record, Johan Santana is not the guy you particularly want to stop a slide against. Mike Maroth is not really the pitcher you expect to do it. And judging by last Sunday, a win today would mean little more than it’s-not-a-loss. So, we’ll see what happens.

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