PREGAME: I’ll get this up nice and early today in case anybody cares to comments on the Twins/White Sox game this afternoon.

As for the Comerica Park match-up it will be bullpen mishmash day. Zach Miner will take the ball for Detroit. He hasn’t thrown more than 40 pitches in a game since August 18th, and he threw 2 1/3 innings on Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see how long Leyland will let him go.

For the Royals, they will use Ambirorix Burgos who will be making his first career start after 126 relief appearances over the last 2 years.

It’s cold, rainy, and generally miserable today. But I don’t think there’s anyway Detroit wants a double header tomorrow so they’ll play it one way or another.

Game Time 7:05

UPDATE: Twins go down to the White Sox. The Magic Number is at 1. I’m sure the Royals would just assume not be part of 3 clinching celebrations in a one week span, but for everyone’s sanity please take care of this tonight.

POSTGAME: This is becoming unnecessarily stressful. I actually missed the first 4 innings of this game due to another commitment, but when you’re starting pitcher lasts 1/3 of an inning, it certainly doesn’t bode well. After Andrew Miller through 56 pitches (that seems like a lot for a guy that prized but circumstances certainly weren’t favorable), Jason Grilli and Chad Durbin pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing only 1 run. The offense tried clawing back, but like Thursday the deficit proved to be too much.

The one question is have is, where is Jordan Tata? I thought Leyland may be saving him to pitch in Bonderman’s spot today, but given how last night transpired it became pretty clear Jeremy would make his start.

PREGAME: Who would have thought that a Tigers-Royals series to end the season would mean so much back in March? Who would have thought it would have meant this much back in August?

In any case, the Tigers have used up any margin for error they had accumulated in the early part of the season. The Twins have tied them and the magic number is at 3 with 3 to go.

For the Royals it will be Runelvys Hernandez who was shelled last Sunday. He’ll be opposed by Wil Ledezma who was quite good, save for a fielding error, in his last start against the Royals. The Tigers hopefully won’t need perfection from Ledezma tonight, but a solid 6 innings would be wonderful.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Yeah, this one hurts. The Tigers blew the 5 run lead early, could have put the division away, and…yeah.

Pudge was decidedly un-clutch between the pop-up in the 9th and the double play grounder in the 11th.

The Clevlen tagging up decision was, ummm, surprising?

Taking Ledezma out after 5 effective and efficient innings when you need your whole bullpen for the next day was, ummm, curious?

I’m just pretty much speechless.

As a heads up, tomorrow’s Twins/White Sox game starts at 11:10am.

PREGAME: A Tigers loss, a Twins loss, and a Yankees win, mean that the Tigers are still in good shape for the Central Division, but don’t really have a shot at homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The magic number for the division is 3 and the magic number for homefield is still 6.

Today it will be Kenny rogers against AJ Burnett in an afternoon tilt. Rogers was the last starter to make it into the 7th inning. Here’s hoping he can stick around long enough to keep the long guys out of the game so they can be available this weekend.

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I think the lineup issues from today have been pretty well hashed out in the comments. My 2 cents are that I’ll assume that Polanco and Ordonez were sore. With a short turnaround it seems possible and plausible that Leyland would take the safe route with those 2. As for Neifi Perez over Infante, I think that can be attributed to Leyland’s love of platooning.

A ton can be made about the substitution decisons (which I was surprised came so early) but the fact of the matter is the offense produced 6 runs. You can certainly question the decision making, but the results were favorable. The problem was run prevention which can partially be attributed to defense and largely attributed to Rogers.

Right now the bigger concern is that the long relievers have been used heavily this week due to Robertson’s and Rogers’ early exits. At this point Jordan Tata will probably be starting on Saturday, and it may force Bonderman to start on Sunday.

PREGAME: The Tigers will look to extend their 4 game winning streak and continue to move closer to the AL Central title. The magic number is currently at 4 for the Central, and 6 for the homefield advantage.

Tonight it will be a southpaw battle with Nate Robertson toeing the rubber for Detroit. Nate was far from sharp in his last start in Baltimore as he walked 5 and hit a batter.

He’ll be opposed by Ted Lilly. In his last outing against Detroit Lilly allowed only 5 baserunners (3 hits and 2 walks). Unfortunately for Lilly, all 5 scored.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME Bulletized thoughts on tonights game:

• In Nate Robertson’s last 2 starts he’s had exactly one 1-2-3 inning.
• Anyone else notice that on the 3 run homer allowed to Molina, Robertson shook off Pudge? I’m sure that not everytime Robertson shakes off a pitch it results in a homer, but it seems that often times when it is a homer, it came off a shake-off.
• By having to use Zach Miner a couple innings tonight, will he be able to pitch Saturday? I have to imagine that factored into Robertson staying in as long as he did.
• I’ve been wanting Thames, Shelton, and Infante to get more playing time. They haven’t made me look good.

PREGAME: The playoff bound Tigers return home to try and secure the AL Central and possibly the best record in baseball. The magic number for the Central is 5. They are currently tied with the Yankees for best record, but the Yankees hold the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage so the Tigers actually need to beat out the Yankees.

The Tigers will send Jeremy Bonderman against Dustin McGowan. McGowan is making just his 2nd start this year, and his first since July 29th. He’s filling in for Roy Halladay who was shut down for the year.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME: Magglio Ordonez left the game with back spasms, which is certainly a concern. In the postgame interview, Leyland didn’t think it was serious. Also, Marcus Thames wasn’t with the team tonight as it sounds like he is ill.

As for Bonderman, the final results look okay, but it was a bumpy ride. He was missing with considerable regularity with his fastball and his slider didn’t seem to be as sharp, and he didn’t seem to throw it as often. Frankly it is the most concerned I’ve been with him in the 2nd half. He admitted that he had been pitching through a sprained ankle, and I only hope that he didn’t adversely change his mechanics to compensate.

The relief pitching was solid, and Joel Zumaya deserved better. He was squeezed on what would have been a called third strike that would have retired the side. Instead 2 runs came around to score on a tweener and a passed ball.

The bats managed to do just enough with Placido Polanco finding a hole with the bases loaded, and later laying down a squeeze bunt. Monroe was on 3rd base at the time because of a double steal that preceeded an RBI single by Brandon Inge. For those small ball afficionados, this was a game you had to love.