PREGAME: If you’re a believer in momentum you have to like this series for the Tigers. The Tigers make a 6 run come back for a walk-off win and the Twins were swept by the Red Sox with an 18-5 loss to finish the series. As for my views on momentum, I’m in agreement with Jim Leyland that mo is the next day’s starter.

In Detroit’s case that would be Kenny Rogers. In Rogers last start against the Twins he struck out 6 in 6 innings, but that game is remembered as the one where the Tigers scored 6 in the first and still lost.

On the Twins side it will be Kevin Slowey. Slowey has 60 K’s against only 11 walks. Like most Twins pitchers he’s a strike throwing machine. In fact, he’s gone to a 3 ball count in only 39 of 311 plate appearances this year. Lefties hit him considerably better so I’d anticipate the all left handed outfield this afternoon.

Given Slowey’s 1.04 WHIP the hope here is that Rogers keeps them in the game long enough to get into a bruised and battered Twins bullpen.

MIN @ DET, Thursday, July 10, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 1:05 (I have no idea why this is a day game)

POSTGAME: Some prognosticator I am. Keep it close against the starter and then beat up on the bullpen. Yeah. Not so much. This game blows for so many reasons. It’s the polar opposite of last night. One game starts out awful and ends up glorious. This one starts great and ends as a huge punch to the gut.

The story of this game comes down to a wicked combination of Not Good and Not Good Enough.

The offense managed 6 runs off a Twins starter which is a feat for them this year. But it proved not to be good enough. They managed to load the bases against Joe Nathan, but it wasn’t good enough.

Matt Joyce homered and doubled which was good. But he made a costly error and failed to lay down a bunt making his day not good enough.

Jeff Larish had 3 hits which is good. But he failed to drive in the winning run, or even put a bat on the ball meaning it wasn’t good enough.

Todd Jones was not good. Not even in the vicinity of good.

Freddy Dolsi went 2.1 innings, but he gave up the winning run to an unstoppable Justin Morneau. Not good enough.

Fernando Rodney got 3 weak ground outs. But it was after a moonshot double to that freakin Justin Morneau. Not good enough.

Marcus Thames went 3 for 4 before being yanked. He was actually good.

Granderson and Polanco each drove in a run, but combined to go 2 for 12. Not good enough.

Miguel Cabrera launched a shot to right field with runners on first and third, but it was caught at the wall. Not good enough.

Losses happen. It’s one of 162, but it certainly feels like more. The Tigers struggle to score runs against the Twins starters, and yet they managed 6. And they combined it with a volatile, yet in the end effective starting performance. This game was theirs. It was one for the win column. But they let it get away.

Scranton 1 Toledo 2
Timo Perez homered again and Mike Hessman tripled and singled. Brandon Inge was 0 for 4 with 2 K’s. Virgil Vasquez went 7.1 innings fanning 5 and walking none in allowing 1 run. Francisco Cruceta went 1.2 innings with 2 K’s and no baserunners.

Erie 6 Reading 1
Wil Rhymes and Wilkin Ramirez each had two hits. Dusty Ryan who will participate in the EL All Star Home Run Derby went deep for the 14th time and walked twice. Juan Cedeno pitched 4.2 shut out innings.

Lakeland 5 Brevard County 1
Cale Iorg went 3 for 5. Brennan Boesch had 2 hits and 3 RBI. Guillermo Moscoso allowed 1 unearned run in 5 innings while fanning 9 and walking 2.

Clinton 3 West Michigan 5
Ronnie Bourquin doubled and walked. Jon Kibler was strong with 7 K’s, 2 walks, 4 hits, and only 1 run in 8 innings.

Oneonta 5 Staten Island 4
Ben Guez and Brandon Douglas each went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Matt Hoffman went 4 shut out innings on 3 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 3 hits.

GCL Indians 5 GCL Tigers 1
Brett Anderson was 2 for 3. Darlin Duran allowed 4 hits in just 3.1 innings. Cory Satterwhite allowed 2 hits, but also fanned 2 in 1 inning of work.

GCL Tigers 11 GCL Indians 9
Josh Workman was 4 for 5 with a triple and a walk. Alexis Espinoza singled, doubled, and walked. Brayan Villareal allowed 4 runs in 4 innings. Richard Zumaya struggled allowing 4 hits and a walk and 2 runs crossed the plate in .2 innings.

PREGAME: Eddie Bonine tries to rebound tonight as he takes on Paul Byrd.

Byrd has given up at least 4 runs in 6 of his last 7 starts. The one start he didn’t you ask? When he held the Tigers to 2 runs in 7 innings sending them to a season low 12 games below .500. Jim Leyland, looking to avoid a similar fate sends out this gauntlet of a lineup:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Thomas, LF
3. Guillen, 3B
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Joyce, RF
6. Sheffield, DH
7. Renteria, SS
8. Santiago, 2B
9. Sardinha, C

Byrd has allowed 23 homers, so it probably makes sense to keep the team leader in homers on the bench.
CLE @ DET, Wednesday, July 9, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

POSTGAME: There was a time in my life that I despised Rafael Betancourt. Partly I hated him because he dominated the Tigers. But I thought I hated him because he worked sooo slow. After seeing the Tigers beat him up a couple times, I think it was the former that fueled my hate. I didn’t even notice him working slow tonight.

This game was downright ugly for the first 5 and a half innings. Bonine wasn’t good. The defense wasn’t good. Clete Thomas fought the sun and lost on a first inning fly ball and Carlos Guillen made a run costing error in the sixth. Meanwhile the offense couldn’t do more than tring 2 singles together at a time. So coming back from a 6-0 deficit didn’t really seem likely – especially with a less than primetime line-up.

But comeback they did.

• What was the biggest hit? Guillen’s bases loaded double? Matt Joyce’s 2 strike homer? Miguel Cabrera’s walk-off? Does it matter?
• Casey Fossum went 3.1 eventful innings. He loaded the bases with nobody out before fanning the side. In the end he finished with 5 K’s and kept the team in the game before handing it over to Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones.
• Todd Jones needs to be buying dinner for Carlos Guillen tonight who turned 2 slick plays, one kept the Indians off the board.
• Walk-offs and big comebacks are fun when your team does the coming back and walking off
• FSN does a nice job with their postgame show. But one item was severely lacking tonight. When Matt Joyce was interviewed on the field there was no mention of the kitten. How does this happen?

PREGAME: I’m not big on advocating games as must-win. The term is way overused and it’s something I’ve heard thrown around at least a dozen times already this season for the Tigers. So I won’t call this a must-win. Instead I’ll call it “they better freakin’ win.” It’s not that the game holds that many ramifications. But the Tigers send out their ace against a replacement starter. A replacement starter with a 7.53 ERA and half as many homers as strikeouts. It’s time for the Tigers lineup to wake up.

Jeremy Sowers takes the mound for the Indians. The last 2 times he faced Detroit he went 4 innings and allowed 5 runs on 7 hits. I’d take that again. If you look at his splits, they are all bad except for when the hitter is down 0-2. So Tigers hitters, don’t do that.

Justin Verlander, who was moved up a spot with the off day allowing him to make 2 starts on the homestand, will look to be more efficient. He’s been racking up strikeouts, but racking up walks as well with 12 in his last 17 innings.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Prior to tonight’s game Placido Polanco will become a US citizen. So we’ll have to remember this day to check his splits by citizenship.

CLE @ DET, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Game Preview – Baseball-Reference.com

Game Time 7:05

POSTGAME: Well 9-2 will certainly do. I have to admit I was worried at the outset. Verlander needed 25 pitches to get through a 2 run first inning, while it took the Tigers 9 batters before they hit a ball hard. But then it all got better.

The Tigers remembered they were facing Jeremy Sowers. Justin Verlander remembered he was a stud and the rest was gravy.

• Very happy to see Verlander have a light workload with only 99 pitches. He’d been piling up the pitch counts as of late.
• Miguel Cabrera seems to be hitting better with the bad hip flexor with a 4 hit night including a couple of sore leg friendly homers.
• Marcus Thames stopped the sucking with a double and a opposite field homer yet he still isn’t allowed to finish a game.
• And Edgar Renteria reached on an error. He seemed to like his time on base because he ripped a solid single to center his next time up snapping an “awful for his last lot of at-bats” funk.
• Aquilino Lopez looked good. Real good.