Twice in this four-game series, we have watched the Tigers come from behind to tie the game. They continue to battle for nine innings. Tuesday, the comeback fell short. Thursday, the rally from a 5-0 deficit resulted in a thrilling 7-6 victory.

Storylines abound. Justin Verlander pitched valiently despite a cut on his finger that left blood on his pants. Curtis Granderson, hardly more than a rookie himself, went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Pudge Rodriguez went 3-for-5 and scored the winning run. Magglio Ordonez drove in four runs. Carlos Guillen hit the walkoff RBI. Marcus Thames looked at home in the second spot in the lineup with two hits and three runs. And Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney continued to look fabulous in short relief and showed off a bit for the national ESPN audience. [add: And lest I forget, Jamie Walker pitched a nice inning]

Win or lose, this game felt like the Tigers were proving something just by the way they played. The win only made it better. The White Sox are following the Tigers’ four-game losing streak with a three-gamer of their only. Cleveland took 3-of-4 from them and have been pretty hot lately.

As always, more later.

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Four games.

1.

One shutout. One wild extra-innings game. One run scored by Detroit in the ninth inning. One come-from-behind victory avoided the sweep.

And, importantly, one home run.

That hit by Pudge Rodriguez in the fourth inning of the second game against Aaron Small.

The Tigers came into the series leading the MLB in home runs, but mustered just one off the Yankees’ staff in 38 innings.

That’s oversimplifying things a bit, of course. But it’s worth remembering as we move forward.

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Like any fan of all-things Detroit, I didn’t really see much of the 6-1 loss to the Yankees last night. I had to watch the Pistons. Sorry Tigers, but don’t worry, when and if you are in the playoffs, you take priority as well. It’s just an elimination-game thing…

I am not impressed with a 6-1 loss. Although to be fair, manager Jim Leyland was resting the bullpen and called on Nate Robertson to pitch into the ninth inning. On any other night, the short relief would have taken over and Robertson would have come out of the game having allowed just the two runs. But a day after the 11-inning festival, which called on 10 relief pitchers between the two teams, neither Leyland nor Yankees manager Joe Torre wanted to go to the bullpen. The starters pitched all but one out.

Leyland praised Roberton’s effort and for going so deep into the game. I’m quoting this from the Detroit News’ story by Lynn Henning. “He did a hell of a job,” Leyland said. “He did everything and more that we needed.” But Robertson didn’t seem as impressed.

In a corner of the dressing room, stood Robertson, arms folded, clearly irked, frustrated, cryptic, as he conducted a 15-minute soliloquy that could be summed up accordingly:

Robertson thought he had been shafted.

“The game can be very bitter, very unforgiving, and it always will be,” said Robertson, who threw 120 pitches and gave Leyland’s bullpen the off-night (Jamie Walker’s ninth-inning cameo aside) it desperately needed.

More news on this encounter comes from Jason Beck.

“It’s easy in the situation that we’re in, we’re hitting a little skid, playing the Yankees, it’s easy if something doesn’t go your way, let frustration go, effect what you’re trying to do out there. Tonight a lot of frustrating things happened. You’re talking about jam shots. You’re talking about guys out in front of pitches. You get a little ground ball, a guy still scores. It’s like, what more can you do? What can I do? I think I did everything I could, and I’m good enough to beat those guys. I know that. I feel that way every time I’m out there. Doesn’t matter who it is.”

For what it’s worth, the Yankees, too, have been impressed by the Tigers. So far, they’ve met just one of the two phenoms: Joel Zumaya.

“It was incredible,” [Randy] Johnson said Wednesday. “He already has a good understanding of how to pitch. And the more he pitches, the more he’ll be able to utilize his fastball and curveball. It’s fun watching a guy who can throw like that.” (quoted by Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press in article on Zumaya)

By the way, there’s some nice baseball writing that comes out of the NY Times.

• The gamer from today.
• A feature about Magglio Ordonez playing like his past self.

Still, this is just one series. It does feed the pundits some ammunition, but for the most part, they haven’t bitten and still believe the Tigers will be around all season. While the injury to Mike Maroth is disconcerting, I think it’s a pretty safe bet and encourage all national media to remain sane and not start picking against Detroit.

A four-game losing streak will happen. Baseball is 162 games, and you’re going to find all sorts of stastical happenings. I think this is signicant, but not. Detroit was swept by the world champion Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park early in the year. Now the Tigers are on the verge of being swept by the Yankees, again, at home. While Detroit beats the teams it ought to beat, and clobbers them, I would have liked to see at least a split against New York. If they don’t step it up against Boston and win that series, there’s definitely cause for some concern. How much concern? Too early to say. You can still make the playoffs by pounding the bad teams into the dirt. But you’d rather beat some great teams along the way, too.

It’s always the pinstripes. That’ll get you every time.

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Detroit lost 4-0 to Randy Johnson and the Yankees. I can hear the national punditry already. I bet they have heaps of research to consult so they can be accurate. Wait. It’s Memorial Day. Not April Fool’s Day. So you’re not going to be fooled into thinking the national media looks at anything more than the team name and maybe a player or two.

Randy Johnson. Jason Johnson. No runs. I’m sensing a pattern. And that guy getting his name changed tomorrow? Aaron Small-Johnson, starting pitcher for the New York Yankees.
The Tigers have put up Tony Delk’s number (that’s 00) in two days. Yes, it sucks. Should you be concerned? Yes and no. No, the Tigers aren’t entering the prolonged slump you were afraid of. There’s a lot of professional hitters on this team. You don’t need me to recite their names. Detroit does do better against right-handed pitchers than against lefties, scoring about 12 runs per 100 plate appearances versus lefties and 14 per 100 against righties. But Mainly both games, it was a case of not getting timely hitting, and there seemed to be way too many flies balls that went no where.

If Detroit goes 0-fer-the-week, yes, you may throw your hands in the air and run around screaming. I’ll be there with you.

Again, there were signs of things I didn’t like. Jeremy Bonderman just refuses to take the step forward to claim ownership of team ace. Kenny Rogers is the No. 1 pitcher. Both guys allowed walks that came back to haunt them. Both threw a lot of strikes but still seemed to pitch from behind at all the wrong times. To me Justin Verlander looks everything of the ace on the mound. When he allows a runner on, I feel confident he’s going to put an end to the inning. When Bonderman does, I feel like it’s a sign something is going to come unravelled. And then Bonderman does things like get 6 or 9 batters out in a row, seemingly unhittable. He’s an enigma.

By the way, there were waaa-aaaa-aaay too many Yankees hats in the CoPa today, from what I could see on tv.

Have a good Memorial Day!

– adds –

The New York Times again wrote a feature about the Tigers, which, well, shouldn’t be a surprise, hey?

So on Monday, after the Tigers were shut out for the second time in two days, Inge stood at his locker at Comerica Park without flinching or avoiding eye contact.

“Everybody’s going to look at this as a losing streak,” Inge said after the Tigers’ 4-0 loss to the Yankees on Monday. “We’ve been winning a lot of ballgames. It’s just two games. There is absolutely no panic in here whatsoever. Last year, it would be along the lines of, ‘Here we go again.’ We’d lose two in a row and go into a big skid.”

For the Tigers to start this season at 35-16 behind dependable starting pitching, a deep bullpen and a powerful lineup makes Inge feel as if someone let him out of prison.

The article mentions the same thing Tigers Tales did. Maybe I dismissed Bonderman a bit too soon. Two failed double-play attempts in the third inning allowed two runs, then Bonderman came one strike from getting the third out in the fifth inning before allowing two more runs.  Still, I insist if Bonderman is going to make the step up, he has to find a way to get those outs.  A 5-4 record and 4.61+ ERA show it’s still happening too much.

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