PREGAME: In terms of subplots, you need to look no further than the Tigers taking on “the little pudgy one.” Pudge Rodriguez, the catching-est catcher of all time and his former skipper Jim Leyland have already exchanged phone calls in the days leading up to the series. So it sounds like there are no hard feelings.

The Astros come into the series at 33-37. They post a league average OPS, and a league average batting average with RISP. But somehow they only score 4.10 runs per game (NL average is 4.49). Like the Astros offense, the defense is largely average as well.

Random Factoid of the night: The Astros hitters have the highest ground ball percentage in the NL.

Tonight the ‘stros send out Wandy Rodriguez. Looking at his game logs he seems to be either awesome or awful. His numbers on the whole though are pretty impressive with nearly a K an inning and nearly 3 K’s for every walk allowed. He’s given up 10 homers this year, and 9 have come in his last 4 starts.

Bonus Random Factoid of the night: Wandy Rodriguez has made one start against the Tigers, which coincidentally came on June 26th, 2006.

Justin Verlander will be on the mound for the Tigers tonight. He’s been good.

Tonight’s DH-less lineup is:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Thames, LF
5. Inge, 3B
6. Ordonez RF
7. Laird, C
8. Everett, SS
9. Verlander, P

Detroit vs. Houston – June 26, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: What started off so promising turned so frustrating. Verlander wasn’t sharp today. He didn’t have great command (especially to Lance Berkman unless he meant to throw every pitch a foot outside) and he couldn’t put hitters away. That spelled doom as the bullpen was tasked with holding a 1 run lead for 3.2 innings and the pen wasn’t up to the job.

Joel Zumaya finished off the 7th with a couple pitches, but the 8th inning was a disaster. When he couldn’t put Darrin Erstad away everything unraveled and two more walks meant the game was tied and Zumaya was done. Freddy Dolsi limited the damage in a bases loaded 1 out situation to 1 run which isn’t bad for his first appearance.

• On one hand you want to bash the offense. They scored 4 early runs and that was it. But it wasn’t like the offense went to sleep, they just couldn’t push a run across. I don’t know if the fact they had eleventy chances with RISP and got nothing after the 2nd inning is more or less frustrating than if they’d been no hit the rest of the way
• Magglio Ordonez had an awful game. His first time up he drove the ball to right field and that was fine, a hard out. But then it was ground ball fiesta again including a double play. He also failed to make a play on what looked to be a pretty catchable ball.
• Zach Miner did a nice job once again throwing a double play ball to end the 6th inning.
• Leyland said as much in his postgame, but this one had a bad feeling for awhile. With Verlander struggling and the offense not cashing in on chances, and the Astros chipping away, it felt like the Tigers were on the wrong side. The side they hadn’t been on as of late where they were coming back and doing what they needed to do. They just didn’t get it done tonight.

PREGAME: It’s freakin hot and muggy. So Armando Galarraga keeping the ball on the ground would be a good thing today, otherwise his 15 homers allowed total may grow.

Ted Lily will try to extend his quality start streak to 6. He’s been particularly impressive in his last 4 outings with a 1.98 ERA, and a 23/3 K/BB ratio in his last 27.1 innings.

Seven game win streaks are kind of tough to come by, and the match-up on paper certainly doesn’t tilt the Tigers way. But the real wild card is Chris Chelios. He’ll be throwing out the first pitch. And he’s also sung Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Cubs games. This one could really go either way.

Chi Cubs vs. Detroit – June 25, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

PREGAME: Last Thursday things were looking bleak for the Tigers. They had lost 4 in a row, and their 2 aces couldn’t even stop the bleeding. So it was Rick Porcello’s turn and he managed to flip the switch. The Tigers have won 5 in a row and made it through an entire turn through the rotation. Now it’s Porcello’s turn again.

On the other side Rich Harden will get the ball for the Cubbies. Harden has struggled with consistency this season. He was rocked by the Indians last weekend and it ran his ERA over 5. His walk rate is rather high (26 in 54.1 innings) and he’s given up 11 homers. But he also has 64 K’s on the year. So he’s entirely capable of shutting down a team, or getting rocked. Hmm.

If you are a Twitter-er, the Tigers are hosting a Twitter event tonight where you can ask questions and there is a ticket giveaway. Follow @official_tigers starting at 7p tonight. (You can also follow me @billfer but I’m not giving anything away).

More of the same with the lineup tonight, except Everett is in for Santiago. Maggs is still 7th after a remarkably uneventful (either good or bad) night last night. (Dusty Ryan will likely play tomorrow, but I’m surprised that he didn’t get the start tonight instead. That’s 4 games in a row for Laird and I’d like to see Ryan worked in a little more.)

1. Granderson
2. Polanco
3. Cabrera
4. Thames
5. Kelly
6. Inge
7. Ordonez
8. Laird
9. Everett

Chi Cubs vs. Detroit – June 24, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: The Tigers are finding a way to do just enough, but they’re doing it consistently. Rick Porcello wasn’t great, he allowed 11 baserunners in 5+ innings. But like Jackson on Tuesday, he managed to not be hurt by it (other than the pitch count). And really, it’s turning into a theme because despite numerous jams the last 2 games, the Tigers have limited the damage. I don’t know if that is the Cubs struggling, or the Tigers pitchers doing things right under pressure, but it’s working.

• How about the bottom of the lineup with 7-8-9 coming up with 2 hits apiece, including a short haired Magglio Ordonez?
• There were 14 walks in this game, 7 per team. But 2 of the Tigers came with the bases loaded, and the margin of victory was 2 runs. Do the math.
• Nate Robertson faced one batter. Didn’t get him out. Frankly he looks miserable, not the performance, but he just looks miserable on the field.
• Miner did a nice job getting out of a bases loaded no out jam with just 1 run, but then he created a jam the next inning.
• Joel Zumaya was quite good, lot’s of gas, lot’s of strikes.
• Fernando Rodney not so good.

PREGAME: The Cubs come to town, and so does Alan Trammell who says he is Always a Tiger (hey, that sounds like a good marketing campaign). So if you’re heading out to the game tonight (like I am), make sure you have yourself situated by 7:05. The Tigers do announce the base coaches and a standing ovation at a moment that is typically trivial at best, or ignored altogether, would be pretty special. Now on to the game.

Edwin Jackson takes the mound for Detroit. Jackson was recently the subject of a Pitch Count Warrior column at Baseball Digest Daily (h/t Neyer). Jackson hasn’t won in his last 2 decisions, though he hasn’t pitched poorly either with 5 runs allowed in his last 11 innings.

The Tigers will face Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano has 4 straight quality starts under his belt, but he’s also been prone to walks as of late with 17 in his last 32.2 innings.

I’m really hoping the Tigers win tonight, and so is Magglio Ordonez. He was benched and the Tigers won 4 games in a row. I heard callers on sports radio say that the reason for the 4 game winning streak was Ordonez’s absence. So with him back in the lineup, a loss could be difficult for many fans to swallow.

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Thames, DH
5. Kelly, LF
6. Inge, 3B
7. Ordonez, RF
8. Laird, C
9. Santiago, SS

Chi Cubs vs. Detroit – June 23, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: It’s rare that I go to 2 Tigers games in a row. It’s why I’m so satisfied with the 2 games that I got to witness. A pitcher’s duel culminating in a walk-off for the good guys?! Are you kidding me?

Edwin Jackson and Carlos Zambrano pitched very similar games. Both were solid. Both got themselves into and out of jams repeatedly with minimual damage. The Tigers had 3 at-bats with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs early on and failed to convert. The Cubs only plated 1 run in a bases loaded no out situation in the first and only scored 1 run in a 2nd-3rd no out situation later on. It was high drama (and high frustration).

Brandon Inge once again comes through with a go ahead homer in the 7th inning and things are looking great. Joel Zumaya comes in and his first pitch is 100. Two quick outs and a pitch that displayed as 104 mph on the stadium gun (and 103mph in pitch f/x) and people were giddy. Then he threw an 85 mph fastball that was launched for a homer. Now there is much complaining about Zumaya throwing the change-up when he was throwing heat past guys. It ended up being a bad pitch, not because of the decision but because of the location. How often do we see Zumaya get hit and then we complain that “he can’t jus throw fastballs by everybody.” He got beat because he didn’t execute his 3rd best pitch. It wasn’t a horrible decision, and fortunately we don’t need to dwell on it.

We don’t need to dwell on it thanks to Don Kelly, Ryan Raburn, and a nice decision by Leyland. Don Kelly who was a full count machine tonight and who saw 26 pitches and drew walks in front of both 2 run homers. And Raburn for making Leyland look smart for forgoing the platoon match-up and going with the superior hitter. And Leyland for what I just said. I’m thankful that Leyland has come around to the idea that Josh Anderson isn’t really a big league hitter and that the situation called for someone who had a shot at thumping the ball.