PREGAME: The Tigers look to snap their first losing streak of the season. To do it they’ll send out Nate Robertson.

Robertson has been very effective this year because he’s kept the ball in the park. In twenty innings he’s only given up 1 long ball. (I know, beware of the DTW reverse jinx). Last year Nate surrendered 7 homers in 26 2/3 innings to the White Sox. (trying to counteract the DTW reverse jinx).

The White Sox will send out Jose Contreras. Contreras has had severe control problems this year to the tune of 10 walks in 12 innings. Of course the Tigers have made lesser pitchers look great this season, so this doesn’t mean a whole lot.

Game time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: For the 3rd time in 3 games the Tigers had another come from ahead loss. Once again it was the same story in that only a couple of guys provided offense and the pen couldn’t secure the lead.

I lamented Jim Leyland going with Jason Grilli in a high leverage situation yesterday. Today he went with Joel Zumaya who did the job in the 7th, but couldn’t protect the lead in the 8th. After a scoreless 9th from Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney was hammered for a couple doubles and a single in the 10th. I can’t be upset with the bullpen use today. Leyland went to his top guys, but 2 of the 3 let him down.

And as for Rodney, he was awful today. He’s been pretty bad in all but one of the losses. Yet if you want the Tigers to ditch him, it ain’t gonna happen. Rodney signed a 2 year deal and the Tigers aren’t going to eat that 3 weeks into the season. That would be a tremendous overreaction. I can understand short of that wanting him to not see as many high leverage situations. From a baseball strategy standpoint it would be hard to argue with that. But I’ve never been one to understand the psyche of a Major League reliever. I’ll leave it to Leyland to manage Rodney’s mental state, and hope that Chuck Hernandez can straighten out the mechanics.

The bottom 3 in the lineup combined to go 0 for 12 today, and Pudge batting 6th was right there with them until a single in his last at-bat. The Tigers continue to rely on 4 guys to provide all of the offense. Even bunching it today wasn’t enough.

And one note for Gary Sheffield. I’m still pretty confident he’ll get things turned around. But in the meantime stop complaining. That pitch to end the game on Friday was a strike. Instead of arguing the foul ball on strike 3 today, run. And instead of arguing the swinging bunt, run. If you don’t like the car, hit the ball farther than 6 inches.

PREGAME: Now it gets interesting. The Tigers will be taking on one of the contenders from the AL Central. Not to diminish the Royals, but this is the first divisional series that can really be used as a measuring stick.

The Tigers send out Chad Durbin. Durbin struggled in his first 2 starts and the Tigers had to rely on Wil Ledezma and Jason Grilli to share the load in those games. Leyland has said that Durbin’s job isn’t in danger, but another outing where he doesn’t really give the team a chance to win and I think it will be hard for Leyland to send him out there again. I’m not looking for a quality start, but 6 innings and 4 runs allowed would be fine out of the 5th starter.

The Tigers will face John Danks, who the White Sox acquired from the Rangers. Danks has a pretty solid WHIP of 1.235 and has fanned 10 in 11 1/3 innings. The only knock against him in his first 2 starts is that he’s allowed 3 homers already.

Game time 7:05

POSTGAME: Chad Durbin did his job tonight. He gave the team 5 innings and allowed only 2 runs, and did it relatively easily. Of course, he was charged with 2 more runs in the 6th after he loaded the bases on a tweener and a couple of walks. Leyland then went to Jason Grilli who gave up the 2 run single.

I don’t blame Grilli so much. He is what he is, and chances are runs are going to score in a bases loaded no out situation. I would have felt better with Joel Zumaya pitching, but at the same time I can’t expect to see him in every high leverage situation. Yet the way the pitching has been handled the last 2 games just hasn’t sat well with me.

Bobby Seay and Aquilino Lopes did a nice job in their turns in relief.

I still don’t understand starting Thames and lifting him with a lead in the 5th inning. Both times the Tigers went on to relinquish the lead. I hear Leyland talking about defense and such, but I guess I still just don’t get it.

And Gary Sheffield, I just don’t know.

PREGAME: Jeremy Bonderman and Gil Meche in a matineee.

Game Time 1:05

POSTGAME:There wasn’t a lot to like about this game with the exception of Jeremy Bonderman and Curtis Granderson. Bonderman went 7 innings on 86 pitches but wasn’t allowed to come out for the 8th. This is the 2nd time in a week that Jim Leyland didn’t send out Bonderman even when his pitch count and performance probably warranted another inning.

Granderson mentioned this offseason that Gil Meche was one of the toughest pitchers he faced last year. He seems to have gotten past that with 3 hits today, granted one was a dribbler, but he was one of the few to get a solidly hit ball all day. Granderson and Placido Polanco combined to get on base 5 times, and Sheffield failed to do anything to drive them in once again.

As for the bullpen, at least Joel Zumaya was good. I’m not too upset about the Todd Jones blown save. It was the walks which were uncharacteristic for Jones that did him in. He’ll allow hits because he doesn’t strike out many, but normally it takes several of those hits. With the free passes Jones loses his slim margin for error. Blown saves are frustrating, but no closer is perfect.

Fernando Rodney continues to struggle. I understand frustrations with him, because he quite frankly hasn’t been effective. And when Rodney is struggling it is excruciating to watch as he takes a long time between each pitch. Still, I’m not terribly worried. He could be a set-up man for many teams, and he’s only splitting the role in Detroit.

As for some of the moves today, I know this will sound like second guessing due to the timing, but I was questioning them as they happened. I didn’t agree with taking out Bonderman. There was no need to. Jones was going to pitch the 9th no matter what, so using Zumaya in the 8th was unnecessary and rendered him unavailable in the 10th.

I also disagreed with the designated bunter approach. For the chance to move a runner into scoring position which would still require another hit, Leyland was conceding an out. The probability of not scoring with a no out-runner on first situation is 57.8% and in a 1 out-runner on second situation it is 60.4% (in a 4.5 RPG environment). So even if it is successful, it reduces the chances of winning. If it were a matter of moving a runner from 2nd to 3rd I’d agree with the move, but not in this case.

A well pitched game in which the the Royals defense handed a struggling offense some runs slipped away. It stinks, but it is also going to happen. Detroit has come out on the winning end of some of these as well.

Kansas City 4 Detroit 3

PREGAME: Abbreviated pregame tonight. Jorge De La Rosa takes on Mike Maroth. Jim Leyland is using the “Sunday” lineup with Omar Infante in centerfield, Neifi Perez at third base, and Marcus Thames playing first base. All righties all the time.

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: It was a nice offensive night. Placido Polanco got the biggest hits, but he wasn’t the only one hitting the ball hard. Magglio Ordonez hit the ball hard repeatedly tonight, as did Pudge Rodriguez.

Marcus Thames was inexplicably taken out in the 5th inning, after hitting a home run. I don’t really get it. The lefy de la Rosa was still even in the game at that point and it seems too early for a defensive replacement.

Maroth narrowly missed a quality start, and Wil Ledezma wasn’t quite as sharp as he’s been.