PREGAME: The Tigers make their first journey to a National League park this season. So here we are, real baseball. Pitchers hitting. Double switches. There’s nothing like seeing a sacrifice bunt with 1 out. Or the excitement of seeing a pitcher who’s having a great game lifted for a pinch hitter. Maybe it’s because I’m from an American League city, and I’m at an age where the DH has always existed, but I just don’t get the appeal of the NL. I’m pro DH all the way.

But on to tonight’s contest. The Phillies are currently residing in second place in the NL East. They lead the NL in scoring, walks, and on base percentage. They’re 2nd in slugging percentage and 3rd in home runs. So it’s probably a good thing that Bonderman-Miller-Verlander (aka The Future) are set to throw in this series.

Tonight it’s Jeremy Bonderman’s turn. In his last start, he seemed to pitch pretty well but his final line was an unimpressive 6 runs allowed in 6+ innings with 4 K’s.

The Tigers will be facing Jon Lieber. Lieber’s last start was a complete game 11 K shut out of the Kansas City Royals. He’s been much better on the road with a 651 OPS allowed on the road and 824 at home. Sean Casey is 17 for 38 lifetime off Lieber and Neifi Perez has 2 homers in 21 at-bats against him.

And as a final note, Jose Mesa made his first appearance for the Phillies and allowed 2 runs in 1 1/3 innings with 2 wild pitches.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME Ergh the bullpen. Again. Is there any other team that can really use every bit of an 8 run cushion like the Tigers?

• Bonderman had allowed 5 homers all season, and then 4 solo shots tonight. He wasn’t nearly as sharp as his last outing against the Mets, yet the result was the same.
• Great game once again by the offense, and everybody contributed in one way or another. Casey had 4 hits, but Pudge gets the nod for blowing the game apart with 5 two-out RBI.
• I really think Casey will get his first homer this series, and really thought he had it tonight.
• Brandon Inge drew 2 intentional walks. That was the good. After having a great couple of weeks, he went back to looking tentative with a couple half/check swing strikeouts.
• The one good thing about pitchers batting is watching all the other pitchers laugh at the sacrificial lamb from the dugout. And with Bondo going station to station tonight, there was quite a bit to take in.
• Technically, Fernando Rodney’s string of 5 straight appearances allowing a run was snapped. Yes he only recorded one out, and yes an inherited runner scored, but the streak is broken.

Detroit 12 Philadelphia 8

PREGAME: Afternoon tilt today. Ben Sheets against Chad Durbin.

Tigers are fielding the Sunday lineup with Mike Rabelo catching, Perez at shortstop, and Omar Infante playing 2nd.

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME: I missed the bulk of this game, catching bits and pieces on the radio between meetings. I’ve since lived it through the comments here and the FSN Squeeze Play.

I don’t think there are words to overstate how bad Craig Monroe was. He whiffed in his final at-bat on Wednesday night, meaning that in 6 straight trips to the plate now he has failed to put in the ball in play. And the 3 AB’s prior were another K, a double play, and a single. From what I gather from the condensed game as well as last night’s performance, it doesn’t appear that he’s reverted to his old form of chasing a bunch of bad pitches. He’s just swinging right through belt high fastballs.

I can’t profess to be able to break down someone’s swing. But Rod Allen mentioned that he was working on the bat wiggle and taking the ball the other way last night. If that’s what is causing the problems, go back to swinging away because his timing is all mucked up.

As for pinch-hitting for him, of course it is the move that makes the most sense for all of us watching. Tactically in that game it would have been the right move. But right or wrong I think we all knew it wasn’t going to happen. Leyland is going to stick with his starters (the bigger debate is should he be a starter). There are probably issues about what it would do to his confidence to pinch hit for him, but at the same time what did 5 K’s do for his confidence either? I thought Leyland was crazy when he left Jones out there that night in Cleveland (he was) and questioned how he’d motivate a team who he let that happen to. Then they won 7 of the next 9. Clearly I have no ability to evaluate these “soft” issues.

I’m not saying it’s right, just that I didn’t expect anything else. And no amount of complaining is going to get Leyland to change his ways and the guy isn’t getting fired – nor should he. Jim Leyland brought winning baseball back to Detroit. Part of the deal is that we’re going to have to suffer through odd strategic decisions.

Maybe because I didn’t watch it unfold, I don’t view it as crushing. Disappointing to be sure, but not crushing. When you’re going up against the other team’s ace and your starter doesn’t make it through 4 things aren’t looking good anyways.

• The bullpen combined to throw 5 2/3 allowing only 3 runs, one out short of a kind of quality start. (ed: my bad, 4 runs in 5 1/3, nothing like a quality start) And yet it was largely unsatisfying. Probably because a run scored on a freak balk and another on a wild pitch.
• Curtis Granderson had his 13 game hitting streak snapped.
• Placido Polanco was ill which is why he didn’t pinch hit.
• Bill Hall. Shakes Head. Freakin Bill Hall.

PREGAME: I know I should probably write something about tonight’s match-up between Chris Capuano and Mike Maroth. Instead I’m still basking in the glow of yesterday’s events. The obsession has been fed by all the attention, both national and local. Claims that it was the greatest pitching performance many have ever seen kind of lends to the intrigue. Plus, unlike the Magglio Ordonez homer last year which was a specific moment that will never be forgotten, this was a novel. A page turner that you couldn’t put down for a little over 2 hours. You knew how you wanted it to end for the protagonist, and even if you were sure of the outcome, you wanted to see how the author brought the story to conclusion.

Plus this was our guy. This wasn’t watching the last 3 outs from some other pitcher on some other team when ESPN breaks into coverage. Sure you root for them because you want to see history. But this was our history, with our team.

Oh yeah, tonight’s game. Sorry, got carried away there. But one more thing…Craig Monroe didn’t field a single ball last night. Dude stood out there all night and he could have packed his glove full of stale bread to give the seagulls.

Mike Maroth’s biggest bugaboo this year has been the home run. He’s allowed 15 in 66 innings and only made 3 starts – including his last one – in which someone didn’t trot around the bases. Too complicate matters, the Brewers are one home run off the lead in the National League.

Neifi Perez starts at shortstop again, and he’s probably earned a little reprieve from being called Neifi $&#*@! Perez.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Ugh. Rodney. The things is, this wasn’t bad Rodney tonight. Stick with me for a minute, while I’m still sick, I think I’m lucid enough for the moment. Bad Rodney is when he comes in and the count is already 2-0. Or when he gets ahead of a hitter, then throws 3 straight pitches no where near the strike zone. Rodney actually had control last night. Of his 21 pitches, 18 were strikes and all 3 balls went to Bill Hall who has implemented some kind of force field around the strike zone – just ask Justin Verlander. And even 2 of those balls to Hall were pretty good pitches, just off the plate on the outside. They were pitches that could have been tantalizing enough to Hall to swing at, or for the ump to call a strike. It didn’t happen though so with the payoff pitch he grooved a fastball down the middle and Hall grooved it over the bullpens.

Is this the pitching equivalent of a slump. That you struggle and struggle, and then when you finally do something pretty well, your rocket off the bat finds someone’s glove? I know many of you think that’s probably crazy and that Rodney just sucks and I don’t have the energy, confidence, or evidence to refute you given his recent performances.

• Mike Maroth allowed 13 runners in 7 innings, but only 1 scored. He was helped by some double plays and some bad baserunning. Yet he stuck around and ate up 7 innings. He also kept the ball in the park.
• The Tigers offense wasn’t that bad. They had 12 baserunners of their own. The trouble was they were spread out, and only 2 of the hits were for extra bases. So while there were baserunners, they weren’t blowing a ton of scoring opportunities.

I’m feeling a little better, so the minor league wraps should resume tonight.

PREGAME: Sixty-two down, one hundred to go. As quick as this season is zipping along, there is still a lot of baseball left to play. The last 100 starts with a home tilt against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers just never feel quite like an interleague game, probably due to all the times the Tigers played Cecil Cooper, Robin Yount, and Ben Oglivie in the 80’s.

But tonight the Tigers and Justin Verlander will take on Jeff Suppan.

Suppan has been pretty bad his last half dozen starts with a 5.59 ERA and he’s allowed 8 homers, 18 walks, and only 13 strikeouts.

Verlander is coming off of 7 innings of shut out ball in Texas. Prior to that was his shellacking against the Indians. So there isn’t really a trend here, but on the whole Verlander has a 3.12 ERA for the season so there’s been more good than bad.

In Baseball Prospectus today there was an article about wasted at-bats, or ABs by sub-replacement-level players. The Tigers have the smallest percentage of such at-bats on the season with only 4.2%. All those belong to Neifi Perez. I bring this up because he’s starting tonight for Carlos Guillen who is still hampered by his hamstring issue. Perez is 6 for 18 lifetime off of Suppan.

Game Time 7:05