PREGAME: C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander will have a rematch from last Saturday’s Tigers loss. It’s the first of a 4 game series that is kinda important.

The Tigers had some chances against Sabathia, but couldn’t cash enough in.

The Tigers roster is one or two injuries away from being held together by duct tape so a split would be pretty cool.

Mostly I’d just like the Tigers to pick up a win here so we don’t hear about the Indians owning the Tigers.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: There have been some frustrating losses this year, but this one might just trump them all. Maybe it is the freshness. Maybe it is the culmination of recent struggles. I don’t know, but I actually had to turn the game off for an hour or so. Which was really ashame because for the first 4 innings it was actually a very good game.

Sabathia was actually hittable tonight, and the Tigers even with a depleted lineup were actually able to take advantage of it. But Justin Verlander struggled with control and Jose Mesa made damn sure that the team had absolutely no shot.

While I still think it was a cheap ejection for Sheffield, he wasn’t smart. Not when the bench consists of exactly 2 players. And spazzing when your geriatric manager is trying to hold you back – just not cool.

I’ve got nothing else to say tonight. Yeah there were bright spots like Marcus Thames making the most of “regular” playing time and picking up a couple hits – one of which to the opposite field with a runner on 3rd. And Curtis Granderson hit the ball well repeatedly against lefties and layed down a sweet drag bunt. And Neifi Perez saved a run with a slick play at short. But in the mess that was the 2nd half of that game, it’s easy to either a) forget the good stuff or b) not even care.

PREGAME: The Tigers will try and take the series against the Rays. But to do so they’ll have to find success off a good pitcher. And it’s not Scott Kazimir. I know, it’s weird.

I must confess, I didn’t know anything about James Shields until I went to type this up. All his number look pretty good. He fans 7.8 per nine innings and walks only one fourth that many. He’s allowed only 59 hits in 74 1/3 innings. The only slight blemish is 9 homers which still isn’t bad. Plus he’s efficient, last through at least 7 innings in each of his last 7 starts. Who knew?

The Tigers will send out Nate Robertson who is getting torched lately. He’s allowed 37 hits over his last 4 starts spanning 20 1/3 innings and he’s walked 7 while fanning only 8. He thinks he’s figured out the problem which would be timely.

POSTGAME: Things looked so good when the Tigers picked up 2 hits on 2 swings and ultimately plated 3 runs in the first inning. But James Shields started doing what he’s been doing all season and shut down a pretty good offense.

• This is the first game in a while that offense was really shut down. Sure they’ve had some low run totals, but in the other games they were still hitting balls hard and getting baserunners. Tonight it was one inning of offense and 8 innings of nothing. And aside from Granderson’s triple and Thames single those were the only hard hit balls. Even in the rally they were turf hits.
• And Shields was efficient enough that he could stick around the whole game. You’d like to see the hitters run up the pitch count, but he was throwing strikes. They just couldn’t manage solid contact.
• Nate Robertson started off great. He was getting swings and misses and not a lot of solid contact. But then the pitch counts started running up and the baserunners started to accumulate. And again he couldn’t get out of the 6th inning.
• Plus he allowed 2 more homers bringing his total to 5 in the last 2 games.
• A couple of the runs came across as the result of miscues. The first was when Marcus Thames misplayed a grounder in the hole. Thames looked simply devastated on the bench after a wild pitch and a double scored the first run. Without the misplay Nate gives up 2 less hits, throws fewer pitches, and saves a run.
• The other run Nate got himself into with a wild pickoff throw that there was nothing Thames could do about that allowed the runner to advance to 3rd.
• Magglio’s hit streak came to an end. It’s also the first game in a while where he didn’t have a hard hit ball. Ordonez still drew a walk, but never made solid contact. This includes fouling off a couple of hittable fastballs in his first at-bat. I’m not knocking him at all and it’s only one game. I just hope he’s not slowing down because he’s been amazing to watch. Plus if Guillen is out, Ordonez probably won’t see as many good pitches.

Game Time 7:10pm

PREGAME: Minimalist post this time. Family obligations have kept me from writing the past few days. Today is me and Mrs. Billfer’s anniversary, so I won’t be witnessing the game, commenting on it, or writing about it after the fact. Probably not minor league wrap tonight either. Sorry bout that, but on occasion things trump the Tigers.

In any case, it’s Jeremy Bonderman and Casey Fossum as the Tigers try to stem a 4 game losing skid.

Game Time 7:10

Toledo 0 Scranton 2
Some guy named Roger Clemens started this one and held the offense to 2 hits. The Hens only amassed 3 total. Cory Hamman started and allowed only 1 run on 6 hits over 6 innings

Erie 5 Akron 4
Kody Kirkland homered and added a single. Erick Almonte also had 2 hits. Dallas Trahern started and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits over 6 1/3 innings. He induced 12 ground outs against only 3 flyballs.

Lakeland – DNP

Fort Wayne 5 West Michigan 11
Brennan Boesch and Scott Sizemore each picked up 4 hits and Gorkys Hernandez added 3. Duane Below needed all the help he could get giving up 5 runs on 6 hits, including 2 homers, in 5 1/3 innings.

Minors News

Matt is now a member of the working media. Way to go Matt!

PREGAME: The Tigers head to Tampa to try and heal from a home sweep at the hands of the Indians. The Devil Rays have a history of helping teams heal, however they aren’t the pushover they once were, at least offensively where they rank in the middle of the AL in runs scored. However, they walk in the bottom third of the league and lead all teams in strikeouts so you can pitch to them.

Chad Durbin will be doing that pitching tonight for the Tigers. Durbin has done about what you can expect and hope for from a 5th starter. He’s giving the team 5 plus inning each time up and holding the opponents to 3 or fewer runs.

The Tigers will be opposed by Edwin Jackson. Jackson posts a very solid 7.5 K/9 rate. And that’s the only positive. He’s walked 23 in 37 innings and allowed 48 hits. Of course the Tigers have had their share of struggles with struggling pitchers at times this year. Here’s hoping this isn’t one of those times.

Game Time 7:10pm