PREGAME: Could there really be consecutive Saturday’s of cork-popping in Detroit? The Tigers have certainly set the stage for it to happen. They even turn to Jeremy Bonderman (I really thought about calling him Jeremy Wonderman, but I didn’t want to jinx him or anything and it kind of seemed like Wonder Woman. Then again Fox will probably call him Jason Bonderman or something anyways.) who was the clinching pitcher last week.

Bonderman always seems to bring a little something extra against the A’s, the team that drafted him, threw a chair through a wall, and then traded him. He only faced Oakland once this year and allowed 3 runs over 7 innings earning a no-decision in a game the Tigers won.

Now the big difference this week is that instead of Jaret Wright, the weak link on a mediocre staff, they’ll be facing Danny Haren who is arguably the stud on a very strong staff. In other words, Jeremy Bonderman may be able to exert only so much authority on this game.

On July 4th, Haren limited the Tigers to 1 run on 4 hits, no walks, and 7 K’s over 7 innings. Three weeks later though, the Tigers tagged him for 7 runs in 6 innings.

And here are your Neifi free lineups…

Detroit

CF – Granderson
LF – Monroe
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
1B – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
DH – Gomez
3B – Inge
SS – Santiago

Oakland

C- Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
3B – Chavez
LF – Payton
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 4:30

POSTGAME: While watching this game I took a ton of detailed notes about situations, and moves, and all the little things. It all kind of seems moot when the Tigers win with a walk off homer in the 9th. I mean I could question why Jason Grilli was left into pitch to Nick Swisher when he’d thrown 8 straight balls, but to what end? I could point out the at-bat that Ramon Santiago had in the 6th inning when he made Joe Kennedy throw 7 pitches, but it just resulted in an out.

But we can’t dismiss all the little things that happened along the way because they set up a moment that will rival Kirk Gibson in 1984.

• The Tigers went with a patient approach early in the game, and it hurt them. They let a ton of fastballs down the middle go by early in the count. They ended up in a ton of 2 strike counts where they were flailing at the splitter. It ended up being 2 first pitch swings in the 6th inning that chased Harden.
• Everybody will remember Magglio’s 2 homers, which they should. But how big do you think the at-bat was that came in betwen the 2 bombs? He drew a walk against Calero who had just come into the game. The walk loaded the bases which brought in Huston Street, much earlier than the A’s would have probably liked. Because of that, Ordonez was the 9th batter that Street was facing in the 9th inning.
• How about Curtis Granderson turning a routine single into a hustle double in the 5th innings. If Granderson doesn’t make it to 2nd, he probably doesn’t score on Monroe’s double.
• More evidence that things were just going the Tigers way. Twice in the late innings the A’s very nearly hit homers. Mark Kotsay very nearly hit a homer that just hooked foul off of Jamie Walker before he fanned. And Milton Bradley hit a ball to just the wrong part of the park where the wall juts deeper.

PREGAME: I just found out I’m going to this game, so I apologize for the complete lack of anything here. Tickets are still availabe from Ticketmaster and below face value from other outlets.

Game Time 4:30

POSTGAME: I’ll just take all the credit. I’ve been in attendance for 5 Kenny Rogers starts this year. In those 5 starts Rogers has a 5-0 record with a 0.51 ERA,a 0.83 WHIP and has yet to allow a homer. Everybody is looking for reasons why Kenny Rogers has been so spectacular in the postseason. They need to look no further than me.

Of course it helped that the Tigers took advantage of some early Rich Harden wildness to push across a couple runs. Even with those couple runs, I was worried that the Tigers hadn’t done enough. Harden had broke the 60 pitch mark at the end of the 3rd inning, with more balls than strikes and the Tigers only had 2 runs on the board.

Yet Rogers, Rodney, and Jones made it stand up with room to spare.

Other thoughts:

• The A’s must fear Ramon Santiago. He reached a 3 ball count 3 different times including a walk. Santiago also played very nice defense. He made a play on a ground ball up the middle look very routine. If you saw where he started from, you’d see there was nothing routine about it. He doesn’t carry a big bat but the guy can play defense.
• As good as Carlos Guillen looked in the ALDS, he’s struggled in the ALCS. He’s swinging early in the count, and without much success. It almost makes you wonder if he’s thinking too much about playing first base.
• Placido Polanco has been a machine. The way he’s hitting right now, you get the feeling he can place the ball wherever he wants. That’s why it was pretty suprising to see him bunting with runners on 1st and 2nd.
• Those back to back plays that Mark Kotsay made on both Ramon Santiago and Curtis Granderson were remarkable. I still can’t believe he caught up with Granderson’s shot.
• It actually wasn’t that cold, at least where I was sitting in the upper deck behind home plate. The wind was only a breeze instead of a gale. I was expecing much worse.

PREGAME: First of all, thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Cory Lidle and the other individuals who were killed today in a plane crash. It’s simply awful news and truly a tragedy.

On to the matter at hand, the Tigers will be playing game 2 tonight against the A’s. The Tigers will send out Justin Verlander and the A’s will counter with Esteban Loaiza.

Last night we saw the Tigers exercise a great deal of patience at the plate. I’m sure that was by design. Like Joe Sheehan, I’m wondering if the Tigers will mix things up by being particularly aggressive on fastballs early in the count. In terms of scouting a preparation the Tigers seem to have had an edge so far in their 5 playoff games. We’ll see if they can continue that trend against Loaiza.

In terms of individual match-ups, Carlos Guillen is 11 for 16 off of Loaiza while Ivan Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson have also had success. Like with Barry Zito, Inge and Monroe have had little to no success against Loaiza. Of course that kind of changed last night for Inge.

There is a huge platoon advantage for lefties against Loaiza who have an 886 OPS versus a 684 OPS for righthanders. Sean Casey would have been helpful in this regard and is probably the reason Alexis Gomez is starting at DH in place of Marcus Thames. Of course Alexis Gomez has no track record of success against Loaiza or any other pitcher for that matter.

The Tigers faced Loaiza twice scoring 3 runs in 6 innings the first time and torching him for 8 runs in 3 innings the second time.

Justin Verlander made a couple solid starts against the A’s this year. In the first he was undone by 2 Nick Swisher homers and 2 Carlos Guillen errors. In the second he allowed a single run over 6 innings.

**A note on Neifi Perez**
Neifi Perez is in the lineup. Neifi Perez is hitting second. This is a bad decision regardless of what Neifi does tonight. I can understand having Perez in the lineup, but maximizing his potential at-bats is a poor move. Leyland doesn’t have confidence in Infante’s ability to play short (I disagree with this, but it is what it is). When it comes down to Santiago or Perez, Perez has a better track record against Loaiza (3 for 10 versus 2 for 18). You can place as much value on those numbers as you choose. Perez brings playoff experience (according to Leyland’s presser). That playoff experience is all of 4 plate apperances. And he brings energy and he likes to play the game. That is the Perez reasoning.

On another note, the complete lack of playoff experience for Alexis Gomez doesn’t appear to be a concern.

The Tigers are going to have to make due without Casey so things are going to get shuffled. Perez and/or Santiago will be playing and thus weakening the lineup. That’s the way it goes. But make no mistake, this is bad lineup construction.

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
SS – Perez
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
1B – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
LF – Monroe
DH – Gomez
3B – Inge

Oakland Lineup

C – Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
3B – Chavez
LF – Payton
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 8:19

POSTGAME: With an 8-5 win the Tigers are coming home up 2-0. Things look pretty good, but this is far from a done deal. As for tonight’s game, here’s what jumped out at me:

• That whole patience thing was back to normal tonight. Part of that may have been due to Loaiza. He was continually getting first pitch strikes. As a result he had a couple single digit pitch count innings. Only 6 Tiger PAs resulted in 3 balls, and one of those was an intentional walk to Polanco.
• Polanco took a first pitch strike each of his first 3 times up and singled all 3 times.
• Alexis Gomez was quite good today. Even his first out was hit hard. The platoon paid off tonight.
• Neifi Perez looked awful but got better as the game went on. First was the K, then the ground out to the pitcher, then the ground out to second, and after a sac bunt he got a flyball to the outfield.
• Todd Jones made things interesting, but to fully appreciate the situation you need to realize what transpired prior. After the Bradley homer Jason Grilli, Fernando Rodney, and Todd Jones fanned the next 6 batters. The benefit was that even after a couple singles, Bradley was coming up with 2 outs. Now Bradley got lucky with his at-bat, and Todd Jones got lucky leaving a ball up to Frank Thomas.
• I’m concerned about Joel Zumaya. He clearly wasn’t available tonight, and I didn’t even see him in the bullpen. It would be one thing if it were a rest issue, but he’s only pitched once since last Friday and there is an off day tomorrow. Something’s fishy.

I’ll have the “Day After” post up early tomorrow morning. Until then, sleep well. Your Tigers are up 2-0 in the ALCS.

PREGAME: It’s 1972 all over again as the A’s and Tigers hook up in the American League Championship Series. Tonight will feature Nate Robertson taking on Barry Zito and his curveball of doom.

Nate lasted 7 innings in each of his 2 starts against the A’s this year. In one game he surrendered 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks while taking the loss. In the other he surrendered 4 runs on 5 hits and no walks.

Barry Zito only faced the Tigers once this year and held them to a single run before his bullpen let him down by surrendering 3 runs in the 9th inning. Brandon Inge, Craig Monroe, and Magglio Ordonez are a combined 8 for 66 off of Zito. Fortunately Placido Polanco and Pudge Rodriguez don’t seem to be at all bothered by him.

The umpiring match-up – yes the umpiring match-up – would seem to favor the A’s. Homeplate umpire Jerry Crawford’s games have seen an ERA substantially higher than the league average and there tend to be more walks in his games. This would seem to favor the more patient team. (Hat tip Knuckle Curve)

And because this doesn’t fit anywhere else, Placido Polanco turns 31 today. (funnily enough, Ramon Martinez who was part of the trade to acquire Polanco from the Phillies has the same birthday)

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
2B – Polanco
1B – Casey
RF – Ordonez
SS – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
LF – Monroe
DH – Thames
3B – Inge

Oakland Lineup

C – Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
LF – Payton
3B – Chavez
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 8:19

POSTGAME: One of baseball’s least patient teams took on one of baseball’s most patient teams. Yet it was the Tigers who found themselves regularly in hitters counts and full counts forcing Barry Zito out in the 4th inning. The Tigers made it all the way through the lineup the first time with every hitter seeing at least 4 pitches. Granted, it was a tight strike zone and Zito got a raw deal on a full count pitch to Polanco. But Nate Robertson was working with the same strike zone and didn’t reach his first 3 ball count until the third inning.

Robertson picked up where Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman left off and he attacked the strike zone. That wasn’t to say it was an easy go. Once again, started and failed to make it through a single inning without pitching from the stretch. And for what seems like the 6th or 7th time this season Nate Robertson put a man on third with nobody out and pitched out of it.

Now the Tigers did quite a bit right. They had a great approach at the plate, they played solid defense, and took advantage of their opportunities. Some of those opportunities were gift wrapped by the A’s. They didn’t field the ball particularly well and hit into 4 double plays.

The end result is the Tigers take an early 1-0 lead in the series and pick-up homefield advantage in the series. It also shows that Leyland must have known something by starting Robertson.