PREGAME: The Tigers will try and take the series today on the strength of Andrew Miller’s left arm. Last year’s first round draft choice will be making his second Major League start. Since his debut he’s been working on incorporating a change-up into the mix. He had it in his arsenal against St. Louis, but only threw it one time.

The Tigers will be opposed by a guy with a little more experience in Tom Glavine. Glavine is the kind of guy that can give an aggressive team like the Tigers fits. He only strikes out 4.5 per 9 innings, but doesn’t walk many and induces lots of weak contact.

Game Time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I was at a birthday party this afternoon, and just got done watching the game. Fifteen runs will cure a lot of ills, and for the second weekend in a row the Tigers closed out a series strong against a division leader.

• Andrew Miller was solid. Not spectacular, not dominating, but definitely solid. I didn’t chart every pitch, but I only noticed one change-up, and that was to Wright in the first inning. Still, with his slider and some command of the fastball it will take him a long ways. He also showed quite a bit when pitching with adversity, and didn’t seem to rattle. That’s what I found most encouraging.
• Tim McCllelland just called a pitch a strike. Seriously, why is he allowed to do this? Is it so he gets extra attention?
• I had serious short term concerns when today’s 4-5 punch in the order became Marcus Thames and Omar Infante. Not to take anything away from either player, but they pale in comparison to Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen. Turned out to be not so much of an issue.
• I still have longer term concerns with the health of those 2. Fortunately Maggs doesn’t sound too serious and was more precautionary. Guillen on the other hand? Hamstring spasm? I just don’t know. With the groin and now the hamstring these lingering type injuries are sure to take their toll.
• Even though Thames final line wasn’t impressive, anyone notice him drive that ball to right center? And against Texas he shot the hole between first and second. Thames is going the other way, which should only help him.
• Speaking of going the other way, Gary Sheffield made his first journey to Triplesville. He’s still swinging just as hard, but it seems much less pull intensive than earlier in the season. Just check out his 2 opposite field shots in Texas as further proof.
• And with Sheff on 3rd after the triple, Rod Allen finally got his wish with the squeeze. And Rod even called it to. I know Rod calling the squeeze isn’t rare, but I’m glad he got it right this time.
• And while it was an excellent bunt by Infante, how did he not get to 2nd? The Tigers have been racking up baserunning miscues at an alarming rate lately. Pudge didn’t know the number of outs and failed to score from second today. And in Texas there were a couple instances where guys didn’t score from 2nd on balls hit deep to right. I feel bad complaining about this offense, but I just want to see them get all the runs they deserve.
• Oh Jason Grilli. You had been looking so good. And then some hits, and then over throwing, and then the wildness, and then the grooving of pitches. Shake it off Jason.
• And Fernando. This is 4 straight appearances in which you’ve given up a run. Consistent yes. Good, no. Rodney is the key to the bullpen right now, and really until Joel Zumaya can come back. And a run a game isn’t going to cut it.
• And those birds, I don’t know. I heard some theory on the radio about moths recently hatching and the seagulls eating moths. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve had a number of moths in my yard this weekend.

PREGAME: The Tigers look to rebound after an uncharacteristic offensive funk. In fact, it was their first shut out of the season.

They’ll have their work cut out for them as they take on Oliver Perez. The 25 year old left hander is striking out nearly a batter an inning, and only walking a third that many. Plus, he’s gone 7 or more innings in 5 straight starts. The Tigers have stacked the lineup with righties with the exception of Sean Casey who is 11 for 24 lifetime off of Perez. Surprisingly, right handed batters have a lower batting average and the same on base percentage as lefties against Perez. However, they slug for about 50 points more than the left handed counterparts.

Jeremy Bonderman has been pitching like a man on a mission since coming off the DL. He’s allowed only 3 earned runs over 21 innings spanning 3 starts. He’s also received a ton of run support, though he didn’t need it. In those 3 games the Tigers have plated 35 runs.

Game Time 3:55

POSTGAME: The bats came through for Jeremy Bonderman again, and he and the bullpen needed every last run. Regardless, it was nice to see the offense back again. It was a tiny strike zone, and the Tigers did a good job taking advantage of that working 5 walks off of Perez and one off of Guillermo Mota.

• One day after I mention that Carlos Guillen doesn’t look quite right, he responds with a 3 run first inning tater and a ground rule double.
• I don’t know if it was Perez’s control problems, Magglio Ordonez’s eye, or if the Mets noticed that Guillen had been struggling and were thus more tentative with Maggs. In any case he came up with 3 walks – and tacked on one more double.
• Jeremy Bonderman looked great for much of the game. The first inning run was a fluke, and he responded well. He was efficient and had the Mets off balance. That’s what made the 7th inning so surprising.
• The middle guys in the bullpen were good enough. That’s about all I’ll say. Wil Ledezma did get some big outs when he absolutely had to.
• Todd Jones was making his first save appearance since the debacle in Cleveland – and he looked terrific. He threw strikes, and even picked up 2 K’s. Jones actually induced 4 outs that inning.

This was a fun one, and even last night despite the results was a great game. It’s been a treat to watch these 2 teams these first 2 games.

Tigers 8 Mets 7

PREGAME: While not a big proponent of interleague, I’ll admit that I’m looking forward to this series. The New York Mets are a half game behind the San Diego Padres for the best record in the National League. This is one year after they ran away with the league crown before losing to the Cardinals in the NLCS. They’re also in a bit of a funk right now dropping 4 in a row.

The series will feature the top two triples machines in Jose Reyes and Curtis Granderson who have combined for 20 on the season.

The Tigers will face Jorge Sosa tonight who has been impressive in his first 6 starts. He’s picked up a quality start in 4 of his turns, and was one out shy in a 5th.

On the mound for the Tigers will be Chad Durbin. Durbin has been quite effective, and pitched well enough against Cleveland to pick up a win – with some offensive help. One recent trend I’d like to see reversed is that in each of his last 2 games he has walked 3 while only fanning 1.

On a related note, I did a couple interviews with Mets bloggers. One at MetsBlog.com and one at MetsToday.com.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: I was thinking about writing a post about how the Tigers have been playing a lot of really long games this year. How their own offense, and more walks and thus pitches by the staff have routinely had games running over 3 hours. And then tonight, I got the kids in bed at the regular time and it was the 7th inning stretch.

It doesn’t happen often, but the Tigers offense was completely stymied tonight. Jorge Sosa was excellent, and he had some nice leather behind him as well. Even nights when they don’t plate a lot of runs, the Tigers have still typically been getting a lot of baserunners, but that wasn’t the case tonight at all. There just wasn’t much going on. One guy who is really struggling is Carlos Guillen. I don’t know if it is the lingering effects of the groin injury or not, but he looks extremely uncomfortable at the plate and fanned 3 times tonight. His average is under .300, which is unfamiliar territory for Guillen.

Sadly the offensive struggles cost Chad Durbin a win on a night he certainly pitched well enough to deserve it. He attacked the strike zone, and only a couple balls were hit hard off of him. Unfortunately those couple both ended up in the rightfield grandstand. The guy pitched 8+ innings on only 84 pitches. No wonder the game flew by.

Mets 3 Tigers 0

PREGAME: Rubber match tonight. Mike Maroth takes on Kameron Loe. Loe has been pretty unimpressive with mediocre strike out and walk rates. He’s also not afraid to give up a homer with 8 allowed in 59 innings.

Game Time 8:35

In Game: In case you were wondering, Grandy’s 12 triples are the most by a Tiger in a season since Larry Herndon hit 13 in 1982.