Giants 8
Tigers 6

Recap:

• Marcus Thames hit 2(!!!) homers. He’s awesome,
• Fernando Rodney gave up 1 (!) homer in the eighth inning to blow the lead in his first game back.
• That wasn’t awesome.
• Then two more runs scored.
• The Tigers battling back in the 9th was awesome. Nice job by all the guys, including Curtis Granderson, and Placido Polanco, who had a nice at-bat.
• Good job by the Giants’ shortstop, Omar Vizquel, who also haunted the Tigers when he was an Indian, in getting the final out.
• But losing stinks.

Analysis:

• Detroit had to keep the Giants off the board to beat Tim Lincecum. They didn’t really do that. Well, they did until the 8th inning anyway. Great performance by Justin Verlander.
• Rodney should not have been thrown right into the thick of things, although I’m sure anyone in the bullpen, Freddy Dolsi (who took the loss) included, could have done the same. Whatever happened to easing Rodney in?
• Whatever. The Tigers weren’t going to sweep this series. But it was rather disappointing and a MEH eighth inning after it looked like the Tigers were going to win their 7th straight.  At least the game ended on a sorta up-note when they scored two runs and had the tying run on base.

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Tigers 5
Dodgers 4

recap:

• Detroit swept the Dodgers out of town in exciting fashion Sunday. Of course Tigers fans were not looking for excitement, as Detroit was the team with a 5-0 lead in the ninth inning and the game ended a lot closer than that. But we’ll take it.
• I’ve noticed a lot of people putting their hands in the air in pictures this weekend. Tiger, Tiger, Kobe, Dale Earnhardt Jr
• Brandon Inge
• Nate Robertson: 6 innings, 4 runs, 47 minute rain delay to think about it in the middle
• Marcus Thames homered again. It seems like a daily thing lately. Thames plays, Thames homers. On the home stand, almost every hit has been a homer for him. That was the case today. His only hit was the long ball.
• Thames and Ingey homered back-to-back.
• Miguel Cabrera helped turn a double play. He also had two hits. That makes 14 in the 10-game homestand, including four multi-hit games.
• Edgar Renteria and Placido Polanco and Brent Clevlen also had two hits apiece.
• Carlos Guillen had three, to show them all how it’s done.
• But in the ninth, Bobby Seay gave up a couple hits, including a home run that ended the Tigers’ chances of a second shutout for the season. Todd Jones got the save. But it was a bit ugly.
• The Tigers won 6 straight and 8 of 10 on a successful homestand.
• Daily Fungo Mike enjoyed the only Starbucks in the Upper Peninsula and his visit to Marquette. It was good to meet a fellow Tigers bloggers. Now the rest of you need a U.P. vacation.

Analysis:

• Detroit has battled back after I (and many others) wrote it off.  They are only six games out of first,  1.5 out of second and .5 out of third after the home stand. Always glad to be wrong when that’s the case. If the Tigers can keep this up, and frankly, the schedule gives them a really nice chance at doing so, I’d say they will have completed their comeback to significance in the division.
• They are playing better baseball. That’s why they’re winning. Before, they weren’t playing good baseball. They lost. It’s that simple. I see no reason to believe they’ll return to bad baseball, from the defensive side of things anyway. I think everyone has settled into their new roles. Guillen is playing better at third. Cabrera is playing better at first.
• I trust 4 out of the 5 starting pitchers right now. The bullpen is decent (sans seay’s performance) and getting better with the return of Rodney and Zumaya.
• I feel positive about the Tigers again. It’s a good feeling.

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Tigers 5
Dodgers 0

Recap:

• The winning streak is now four.
• But the three Central Division teams above Detroit in the standings also won, so the Tigers made up no ground.
• Armando Galarraga and Freddy Dolsi combined for a 3-hit shutout.
• Galarraga struck out five in seven inning and walked one.
• Dolsi didn’t allow a baserunner in the final two innings to earn his second major league save.
• Marcus Thames homered, his ninth.
• Michael Hollimon got an RBI, his career first, on a sac fly to left. (Also his first career start, subbing for Edgar Renteria at 2nd base).
• Carlos Guillen didn’t enjoy getting hit by a pitch. His teammates had his back. (See Spotstarters, Jason Beck for more)
• And Magglio Ordonez made the Dodgers pay by hitting a two-run homer to drive Guillen in.
• The Tigers improved to 30-37.

Analysis:

• We know Detroit likes to play (and beat up on) National League teams. Unfortunately so does the rest of the division. But I guess you can’t worry about them when your own team is 7 games under .500.
• I enjoy a good baseball tussle as much as the next guy, but I don’t really see the need from the Tigers’ point of view. Everything is going well. The team is winning, FINALLY. No need to get anyone suspended or hurt.
• Galarraga is really pushing to keep his bid for most valuable Tiger alive. Challenged by Verlander’s complete game, Galarraga put together maybe his best game in Detroit — and he’s been pretty good.
• And Freddy Dolsi obviously doesn’t want to be the one sent back to Toledo when Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney come off the disabled list. I don’t think he should be either. Keep this kid in Detroit. He’s still learning. He’s a rookie. But he’ OK by me most nights, which is more than I can say for a few other relievers.
• Baseball’s fun when you’re winning, isn’t it?

Injury update:

• Rodney may come off the disabled list as soon as Sunday night after a solid two-inning performance in Toledo, Friday. My guess is Casey Fossum, the third left-hander in a three lefty bullpen tandem, gets sent down.

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Tigers 2
White Sox 1

Recap:

• The Tigers swept the White Sox.
• The Tigers.
• Swept.
• The White Sox!
• Yeah yeah, they’re still 8 games back and all that stuff. But given the incredible domination by Chicago in the series the past several years, I think we’re allowed to enjoy this one for a little while, right?
• Kenny Rogers deserved the win, but left the game after 8 innings with it tied 1-1. He gave up four hits.
• Todd Jones got the win for the ninth inning show. He deserved something. Like maybe a hold.
• And — and I might be burying the lede here — Miguel Cabrera hit a walkoff solo homer for the victory. It was his only hit of the game.
• Despite the fact the Tigers got 5 hits from the top third of the lineup, they only scored one run prior to that, No. 3 (Guillen) driving in No. 1 (Renteria).
• The Tigers left three runners in scoring position with two outs.
• Detroit has now taken 5 of 6 games (which is good, but also 5 of 7, and 5 of 10)

Analysis:

• If anything is the start of something good, taking 5 of 7 from Central Division rivals is.
• What’s led to the wins?
• Timely hitting. Not enough. But you don’t need a lot, just, well, timely hitting, like say a ninth inning homer. You can’t always rely on that, but hey, as Tigers fans know this year, Detroit has lost so many games that way, it had to balance eventually. And it has.
• And  why are the games so close?  PITCHING!
• Nice bullpen performances. Todd Jones remains stellar. Freddy Dolsi had some good showings this week.
• But, mainly, it’s starting pitching. The starters have set the game up so well. Three quality starts against the White Sox. Two pitchers who went 8 innings or more. Against the Indians, the Tigers had sorta a combined quality start. Armando Galarraga fell an out short of one, but the bullpen helped him out.
• And finally, the defense has been pretty good. Carlos Guillen has looked better at third, and Brent Clevlen has been a boost. (Ryan Raburn is kind of a boost too, but had an error Thursday that helped lead to Chicago’s run). Detroit will never be mistaken for having great defense, but the infield is starting to come together.
• Can they keep it up? Sure. I like the pitching, well enough anyway. And the bullpen will soon see Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya come back for a boost. And I think Miguel Cabrera is starting to hit a bit more and guys are more consistent at the plate.
• But will they keep it up? That’s been the question all year.
• Bilfer likes the upcoming schedule, as do I. Before the season, we all said if Detroit can survive the first two+ months, it’ll be in good position to win the division. They didn’t exactly survive the first two months of the year. And the Tigers aren’t in a good position to win the division.
• But they’re three games closer tonight than they were Monday night, and that counts for something with three and a half months to go.
• I’m not about to call myself an optimist at this point, but I am feeling better about the team overall.

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• Ken Rosenthal thinks Dontrelle Willis is too fat to pitch.
• ESPN.com’s Buster Olney thinks Miguel Cabrera is too fat to hit. (hat-tip Spotstarters)
• Considering everyone commented how fit Cabrera was when he arrived at camp, one of two things is going on.
• 1) He’s got really! bad metabolism and eats like a horse to gain all that weight back that fast after signing his gigantic contract.
• 2) The excesses of his contract and the absences of his bat have left analysts who predicted a monster year grasping for forks and falling back on their favorite analysis: HE FAT!
• Jim Leyland doesn’t think it’s an issue.
• Honestly, I agree. He does look like he put a few pounds back, possibly related to his quad injury flaring up early in the year and maybe because he enjoys food too much. I wouldn’t doubt it has affected his game some, but he plays fine defense at first and is hitting better now.
• Think you can reboot the Tigers by trading away everyone? Think again, MLB Trade Rumors says.
• They look at some players and conclude: After this exercise I can see what Heyman meant. The Tigers’ veterans don’t have much trade value.
• Sadly that’s probably true. I think they could find a taker for a couple players but it wouldn’t get them too much in return, as far as prospects goes. Maybe if Edgar Renteria heats back up or Magglio Ordonez is really on the table. But in any case, the Tigers may have to make some moves, to free up the roster and future cash a bit.
• Who’s Eddie Bonine, besides “Detroit’s pitcher Saturday“? While I am usually one to answer that sort of question myself, my analysis would pale in comparison to Take 75 North’s Matt Wallace, who has actually seen Bonine pitch in person.
• Fernando Rodney may be one more game in Toledo away from returning to Detroit.
• Joel Zumaya struggled a bit however, despite hitting 100 mph on the radar gun a few times. But the Tigers shouldn’t be in a rush so that’s no big deal. Hopefully. He had two walks, a single, a double, a throwing error and allowed two runs in 1+ innings. Mlive’s article states he could be in San Diego with the Tigers a week from Friday, so there’s another appearance or two to be made, first.
• Gary Sheffield is resuming baseball operations, or something. I want to see him really prove he can hit before he clogs up the lineup. But a healthy Sheff would be a positive, in light of the other returning injured players. Detroit could give us an entertaining summer and maybe (stress maybe) start to claw their way back into a meaningful September.

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Tigers 5
White Sox 1

Recap:

• For the first time since Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter, a Tiger threw a complete game. And lo’ and behold, it was no other than Justin Verlander who did it! weird huh?
• He got plenty of offense, which for Verlander this year is kinda odd. He struck out 3 and allowed four hits and walked none.
• Marcus Thames’ 3-run homer was all the offense Detroit needed. Miguel Cabrera opened the inning with a 14-pitch at-bat that resulted in a walk. He narrowly avoided getting out at second on an Edgar Renteria grounder to the second baseman, but the ball was dropped. Thames sent a laser no-doubter over the left field wall after that. It wasn’t a particularly long hit, but you could just tell.
• Curtis Grander and Placido Polanco both had two hits.
• Detroit has now won 4 of 5 since learning Jeremy Bonderman was lost for the year, and the loss came in the game Dontrelle Willis melted down.
• As promised, Brandon Inge was back at catcher, and Pudge will be back there Thursday.
• Maggs threw A.J. Pierzynski out when he tried to stretch a single into a double… but he did get an RBI so I guess he was OK with it.
• THE TIGERS WIN!

Analysis:

• Of course in this see-saw season anytime you try to get excited that things are turning around for the better at last, bad things happen. So I’m still concerned. And the Tigers are still 9 games out of first and 1.5 out of third.
• But hey, Detroit took the series from the red-hot White Sox. That alone is enough to be happy about.
• Verlander didn’t get many strikeouts but he really didn’t need them. He was in control the whole game. He’s just one of those guys who doesn’t need strikeouts I guess. After he got the first nine batters out without too many pitches, your mind had to at least entertain the thought that something special could happen. And hey, a complete game and a Tigers win, that kind of special is fine by me.
• Plus he proved that he’s the Tigers’ ace again and helped the bullpen get some extra rest after Monday’s game.
• The Tigers realy need to sweep the Sox and make us really feel good about this week. It’s Kenny Rogers vs. left-hander Mark Buehrle so the Tigers have a shot.

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Tigers 6
White Sox 4

Recap:

• Nate Robertson had a quality start and kept it. He gave up 3 runs. The third came in the seventh inning after he left bases loaded for Freddy Dolsi, but the kid wasn’t sexy enough to handle it this time.
• Dolsi gave up a few hits and a walk balk for the fourth run in the eighth inning.
• Miguel Cabrera went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs, helping give the Tigers the lead.
• Not only did Pudge have a steal, but he threw out to runners trying to steal! And he had two hits.
• Polanco also had three hits, and Brent Clevlen added two.

Analysis:

• Tigers always respond to my writing them off by winning. I will write them off more often.
• Wait a minute. Wait just a cotton-pickin minute here. What if Leyland’s plan to play Pudge less actually works? It obviously did the first day, but we’ll have to see how he does Thursday, and Saturday, and Monday, and … this could take awhile.
• Like to see a few more games like this out of Cabrera.
• I think Dolsi did a decent job today. Coulda done without the balk, but not a bad day.
• It was fun to see them beat the White Sox anyway. Time to take the series!

Other stuff

• Hey Tigers, need a pitcher? Some guy named Wil Ledezma is suddenly available. Of course, unfortunately it sounds like he’s having as many problems as some other 2006 Tigers.

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The Tigers optioned Dontrelle Willis to Single-A Lakeland today, the Free Press is reporting (hat-tip Bilfer for IM-ing me the news)

Something was seriously wrong that the organization was going to have to deal with in order to get anything resembling its investment out of him. The name of Rick Ankiel was tossed around, and Steve Blass. I didn’t see how much Wllis struggled to throw a strike with my own eyes, so I can’t really opine on that matter. Hopefully it isn’t that bad. But it really doesn’t sound good.

As Jim Leyland points out, you feel for him.

Leyland said of Willis: “My heart is broken for the kid.” (Freep quote)

Willis should find time to work it out and I’m sure will have a more supportive environment to do it.

A short note on booing: I don’t really care if fans boo when it’s deserved. If someone’s dogging it, if a team is dogging it, whatever, boo away. It’s your money, you’re paying to watch them, if they’re not giving you your money’s worth, Boo. I’m cool with it. But Willis is not one of the guys you boo. It’s not like he went out there to fail or gave a poor effort. He really didn’t deserve that kind of reception from the boorish-acting fans.

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ESPN.com has it.

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Indians 8
Tigers 2

Recap:

• I did not have visual confirmation of Dontrelle Willis’ awful day on the mound. All I have is the 8 runs he allowed in less than two innings and the five walks and two home runs that helped contribute to it.
• But the words coming from Dan Dickerson and Jim Price made it sound more or less like a disaster. That Willis was not just missing the plate on close calls, but also nearly missing Brandon Inge’s catchers glove half the time. Price more or less was begging Leyland to come out and save Willis from the embarrassment and anxiety of the baseball going wherever it darn well pleased.
• He wasn’t helped by Denny Bautista, who hit the first batter he faced in relief and allowed the next two to score.
• Bautista did do fine after that, as did Clay Rapada (3 scoreless innings, saw just 10 batters) and Bobby Seay.
• It rained a bit somewhere in the middle there.
• Brandon Inge played catcher, as he will every other game, so Leyland says.
• Let’s see, what else? The Tigers scored some runs in the fourth inning, and Michael Hollimon made his debut in the majors, and Jeff Larish made his debut at first base
• And that’s about it.
• Tigers split with the Indians and lost two games on the Central Division-leading White Sox in the process.
• If you’re looking for something positive, they are now as far out of the wild card as they are out of the division. Wait… that may not be a positive.

Analysis:

• I don’t really know that we can fault the team for losing this game, although it would be hard to win with only two runs scored. But Cliff Lee is pretty good.
• This was Willis’ loss, in more ways than one.
• Others have already posted about this. Willis is toast. Something needs to be done to get him back on the right track.
• He can’t do it in Detroit — Lord knows it has nothing to do with saving the season. I think we’re past that. It has more to do with the fact the fans apparently hate him in Detroit. Price pointed out, if he gets another start, it better be on the road. But the fact is, he probably needs to go work on things. Like you don’t want your young prospect to try to learn on the fly while playing in the majors, Willis shouldn’t be expected to fix it on the fly either.
• Of course, he’ll have to agree to go to the minors to fix it, but for the sake of his young career, I hope he realizes he has to get this fixed.
• Pudge and Inge alternating? I don’t know what to make of it.
• I think it might signal the Tigers are preparing to punt the rest of the season, as they should at this point. The reason I say that is, they need a long look at Inge catching and decide what happens next year.
• I do buy the fact Pudge can’t catch six days a week. But, oh, so many questions. Is he going to agree to only catch 50% of the time? How long can this continue? Will Leyland try to get him in the field some to keep him happy? Then the Tigers really can’t score. Will it hurt any possible trade value Pudge has? Will the experiment last as long as Guillen in left field?
• Wouldn’t it be better to look at Inge after the trading deadline anyway, since we know either way Pudge won’t be re-signed.
• Ultimately, they’re going to have to trade Pudge. I don’t know if they’ll get too much, some contender might blindly want him, you never know. But they’ll just have to take what they can get.
• The Tigers soon have to look like they have a blue print for 2009 and beyond. Right now, nothing seems to make sense. Nothing seems to continue for more than a few days, when Leyland/the organization move on to other ideas. It looks like no one has a clue what they’re doing.
• Every rock bottom just seems to be one-upped and things get crazier and crazier out of management.
• Story of the season I guess.

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