PREGAME: A Metrodome sweep would be sweet for the good guys, but the series has been a success already.

Today will be Jeremy Bonderman matching up with Scott Baker. It’s actually a rematch of the Sunday night 1-0 game. The difference maker in that game was of course the Marcus Thames homer. Unfortunately Thames won’t be available today, or any time over the next 15 days as he hit the DL after blowing his hammy. Timo Perez is your newest Perez on the roster.

Perez’s last productive season was 2002. He has been raking for Toledo, but we’ll see how that translates. Hopefully this is a short term stop gap.

Game Time 1:10

DET @ MIN, Thursday, July 19, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: I’m writing this blind. I was at work and didn’t see the game, but I did hear parts on the radio, and saw part of the replay, and of course read all the commentary here. So take all this with a grain of salt.

• The Timo Perez era begins, and it was a rocky start. Twice he came up with runners on 1st and 2nd, and twice he failed. But his second turn was a decent at-bat with a line drive to second. He later singled and walked so it wasn’t a bad debut. Given his Major League numbers I’m still very skeptical, but if he can carry the stick he was swinging in Toledo for a couple weeks it might work out.
• Pretty impressive to scratch a run across against Joe Nathan, even if it was in his 2nd inning of work.
• The bullpen came up big again today. They’ve had narrow margins to work with as of late, and they’ve made it stand up. Including and especially Todd Jones who had to face the middle of the order with a 1 run lead each of the last 2 nights.
• Bonderman seemed pretty good today, until he started to falter that 3rd time through the lineup. Given that the bottom half of the Twins lineup was hardly intimidating today, I’d say it was a pretty average outing for Bondo.
• These 3 games were exhausting as a fan so I’m sure the players are feeling it as well. But it should be a happy flight home. Here’s hoping that there’s no let up once they are home and taking on the Royals. Gil Meche is a good pitcher, even if he is overpaid.

PREGAME: Do the Tigers have a third straight 1-0 win in them? Probably not, but getting more than 1 run would be a feat against Johan Santana. It’s the second half of the season, and that’s when Santana is at his best. Over his career Santana allows a .583 OPS in the 2nd half of the season.

Detroit has faced Santana 3 times this year, and they’ve handed him a loss, a win, and a no decision. They have taken him deep 4 times in those 3 games, but that’s about the only chink.

The Tigers will send out a lefty of their own in rookie Andrew Miller. Miller was doing pretty well in his last outing until a single and a couple walks loaded the bases and set up the remarkable weirdness that involved Guillen and Beltre and Froemming oh my. This will be his 2nd start against Minnesota. In the first, he didn’t pitch that bad, but 6 of the 8 baserunners he allowed ended up scoring.

Granderson is 0 for his career against Santana so Ryan Raburn will lead off and play centerfield tonight as part of an all righty lineup.

DET @ MIN, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 8:10pm

POSTGAME: Another battle with the Twins, and another compelling game. I won’t say a great game because if you’re a Twins fan this had to be a real tough loss. The Twins put pressure on the Tigers with a baserunner (or more) in every inning, yet could only muster 2 runs. And one of those runs was when Miller plunked in a run. Plus they had their ace, pitching very ace like, and couldn’t turn it into a win.

But, for Tigers fans it’s a great win where the bullpen held up and Magglio Ordonez appears to have returned to form. We’ve fretted a little over the last couple weeks about Maggs not driving the ball. Twice tonight he hammered balls to left center and that’s where he’s at his best. Although I think Maggs would be happy to share RBI duties with the rest of the lineup.

• Twelve tenuous outs and only 1 run. In the end the pen got the job done again.
• The Tigers lost both left fielders tonight. I’m not sure of Craig Monroe’s ailment, but Thames did something to his left hamstring when he made a spectacular catch in the 8th inning. I’m guessing Ryan Raburn starts and if the DL is involved we’ll see Timo Perez. I’m sure Leyland was going to look to give either Maggs or Guillen or Polanco or some combination the day off tomorrow, but they may be short handed.
• Speaking of the catch, it was incredible, but thank goodness he made it. If he doesn’t get it we’re looking at a tie game.
• Carlos Guillen’s 15 pitch at-bat was pretty incredible. Plate appearances that long are rare to begin with, but I wonder how often Santana has ever had to work that hard for an out. That was an innings worth of pitches.
• A decent outing for Andrew Miller. He looked good at times, but struggled with control other times (4 walks and a HBP).

UPDATE: In Leyland’s post game presser he said that Marcus Thames “is not good.” If Thames hits the DL, it very well may be Chris Shelton who comes up. If Monroe isn’t hurt, then the outfield is covered, but there is no back up first baseman (although Rayburn could probably do that as well).

PREGAME: The Tigers return to almost normal start times as they escape the West Coast, at least for a little while. They’ll take on a Twins team that has won all 4 games since the break and Matt Garza who hasn’t allowed a run in his first 8 innings of the year. This will be his second start of the season, and second career start against the Tigers.

In his start last year against the Tigers, he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks, and 6 K’s in 4 1/3 innings. The Tigers lost though and Wil Ledezma literally ate his hat.

The Tigers will send out lefty Nate Robertson. Not sure what we’ll get as Nate has been very good at times, very bad at times, and everywhere in between.

Game Time 8:10pm

POSTGAME:Tonight was as good as Nate Robertson has been all season. He had great command, and made a number of very good strike two pitches that were called balls. I’m not saying he was squeezed, but the zone seemed to be pretty tight for both teams.

This game reminded me quite a bit of the games against the Twins in the second half of last season. Games that came down to the very end, games that were a matter of attrition. Games where afterwards I’d receive emails, or send emails to Twins bloggers that were simply a tip of the cap to the other team after a great game. This time the Tigers took advantage of a Twins misplay on a night where the margin of error was zero.

• Curtis Granderson started to build another case for AL Player of the Week by reaching base all 4 times up on a night when offense was stymied.
• Magglio Ordonez pulled a pitch for a hit. For awhile it seemed like he was trying so hard to not do too much with the bat, that he ended up doing too little. With the homer on Sunday, and the ground ball through the hole today, here’s hoping the stroke is back.
• I was only half paying attention to Leyland’s post game presser on FSN, but I could have sworn I heard him say that Granderson “eats right.” I don’t know what this has to do with anything but I found it hilarious.
• Also on the FSN postgame they interviewed Sparky Anderson. I know he frustrated many as a manager, but the guy is captivating. I had the opportunity to meet him at a press event last year and he was one of the most engaging people I’ve ever met. I can’t really explain it, he’s just a neat dude. By the way, he picked the Tigers to win the World Series and gave Mike Illitch credit for spending to get the guys they needed. Here’s hoping that the Tigers right a wrong and get his name on the wall.
• Todd Jones made it look easy tonight. He gets hammered when stuff goes bad, he deserves credit when they go well.

Tigers 1 Twins 0