PREGAME: The Tigers come into this series having just won 2 of 8 games they’ve played against the Twins this year. That’s not good, but with 6 of the 8 games so far coming in the Metrodome it is at least understandable. With this weekend’s games in Detroit though there are no excuses and the Tigers need to take care of business.

The Twins are sitting 4.5 games out of the lead while the Tigers cling to a 2 game buffer in the Central. This is a big series for both teams with the Tigers needing to take care of things while at home and the Twins trying to stay in the race.

Minnesota sends out Anthony Swarzak. The numbers aren’t overly impressive (3.1 BB/9, 5.0 K/9) but he is a 23 year old roookie and with a 4.69 ERA over his first 9 starts he is holding his own. In his brief career his numbers are much better on the road where he has held the opposition to a .534 OPS in 4 starts.

Armando Galarraga gets the start for Detroit. Galarraga was pummeled by the Indians last Sunday kind of erasing some of the progress he had made over his last handful of starts. He’ll be throwing to the Alex Avila again. On the radio pregame show Leyland wanted Avila to catch for Porcello and Galarraga because he felt they were the easiest to catch. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I like the fact he gets to play back to back days.

Minnesota vs. Detroit – August 7, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: This game had a little bit of everything. Early offense. Dramatic plays at the plate. An ejection. A near come back. It even had some good pitching (Brian Duensing fanned 5 and last 4.2 innings saving the Twins bullpen from disarray).

• Alex Avila is making everyone in the Tigers organization look like a genius, and making me look like an idiot for questioning the move. I’d grown leary of calling up a prospect to provide a spark. It’s only been 2 games but so far the sparking is working.
• Give credit for Leyland sticking with Galarraga after 2 awful innings. He managed to chew through 3 more innings after that. Not that Galarraga was good, but he did make it through 5.
• On the Granderson play, I was in the car and didn’t see it. The replay available online is inconclusive so I won’t comment on the call.
• I loved Carlos Guillen going for home on that play. Yeah, he was out, but I don’t mind a smart attempt at a hustle play, and coming after 4 runs it wasn’t a bad gamble. My favorite part of the play though was Rod Allen’s uncontrollable giggling when Guillen was clearly gassed on those last 90 feet.
• That good bullpenning the Tigers had been getting bailed on them last night with Perry and Rodney both surrendering multiple runs. And Brandon Lyon had already done the heavy lifting for Rodney by getting Mauer/Morneau in the 8th.
• Yes, the Tigers weren’t good in runner on third less than 2 out situations again, but they did playte 10 runs so it makes it a little harder to complain.

PREGAME: It’s Rick Porcello taking on David Hernandez today. And Alex Avila makes his debut. And Matt Wieters is young. The combined age of the Tigers battery is 42. The combined age of the O’s battery is 47. Play ball.

Baltimore vs. Detroit – August 6, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: There’s so much to like  about this game. Avila has a very impressive debut with a single, a double, an RBI, a run scored, and some lengthy at-bats even when he made outs. And he caught 4 innings of no hit ball from Rick Porcello. Not a bad way to start your career.

Everybody got in on the fun, with the exception of Miguel Cabrera. Brandon Inge hit his first homer since before the All Star Break. magglio Ordonez hit another ball hard. Curtis Granderson flashed some extra base power. Hopefully these are signs the team is breaking out of it’s collective offensive funk. Or maybe it was just a fluke, but at least they won.

The pitching was quite good with the exception of Bobby Seay who didn’t feel secure in his strike zone. Ni was very good, Lyon bailed out Seay and got the save. And the kid certainly built on his previous outing even though he kind of wore down towards the end. Good win. Good series.

PREGAME: Don’t look know, but the last turn through the Tigers rotation was not good at all. Edwin Jackson threw 115 pitches in 4 innings his last time out. Armando Galarraga was rocked. Justin Verlander gave up 5 runs in his first inning of work. Jarrod Washburn had a less than stellar debut. Rick Porcello was the only bright spot.

I bring this up because it is Jackson’s turn once again. The Tigers need to start taking care of business against the bottom dwellers in the league and they need their stud pitching to be stud pitching. To channel Jim Leyland, “I’m not calling anyone out and Jackson has been a horse for us, but he needs to give us more than his last time out. That’s not calling anyone out, that’s just a fact.” Of course Jackson nearly had himself a complete game last time out against the O’s, so that is a positive indicator.

Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Orioles. He’s allowed 26 homers this year. Hopefully we all get some Arby’s tomorrow.

Baltimore vs. Detroit – August 5, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: First of all I want to clear up some confusion, Leyland didn’t make the above quote. That was an imitation. Sorry. That said, Jackson certainly delivered tonight. My goodness did he deliver. He was getting all those swings and misses that he couldn’t muster in Cleveland to the tune of 8 K’s. Do you realize the only time an outfielder made a play on a ball for the first 5 innings was when Curtis Granderson chased down Gerald Laird’s errant throw?  It was a remarkable effort.

And once again it looked like the Tigers team would need every bit of that effort. Clete Thomas and Carlos Guillen made bids for homers to left center, but both were tracked down. It was a Magglio Ordonez line drive homer off a 92mph fastball that looked to be the difference maker, until a 3 run 8th inning provided enough breathing room.

• Ordonez and Everett put good swings on the ball every time up. Ordonez added a single to the aforementioned homer. He also hit into a GIDP but once again the ball was well hit. Everett sent balls to the warning track in left and right  before getting a big single in the 8th.
• Speaking of Everett, a day after I ask for more from him on defense he delivers. He made a sensational play to take a hit away from Adam Jones.
• Two outs on the bases are never a good thing. The Thomas pickoff with 2 outs and Cabrera up wasn’t exactly the way you draw it up. Laird was out on a hustle play, I don’t have too much of a problem with that.

PREGAME: The Tigers certainly keep things interesting for us bloggers. The simple game story would be to talk about Jarrod Washburn’s Tigers debut. But Leyland and Dombrowski shook up the roster and the lineup tonight by recalling Wilkin Ramirez.

From the Orioles perspective they have a debut of their own with Brian Matusz, their first round pick from last year, making his debut.

As of “press time” I don’t know the lineup, but visions of a Ramirez/Raburn/Ordonez outfield with Washburn on the mound certainly isn’t reassuring. EDIT: Yep. That’s the outfield tonight.

Here is your Wilkin-ized lineup:

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

POSTGAME: I’m sure that’s not the way that Jarrod Washburn wanted his debut to go (I encourage you take check out Samara’s Lion King-esque artistic interpretation). The first couple innings were rough for Washburn before he settled in and got on a nice role…until Nick Markakis launched one almost onto the concourse.

The offense put together good at-bats early on, but not at-bats resulting in enough hits, and once again the big hit never came and the team seemed to press more. Some Zach Miner add on runs and it was a blow-out, the second on in 3 days and both to inferior teams.

• Adam Everett didn’t make 2 tough plays and both led to runs. Neither play was easy, but those are the plays Everett needs to make. He’s not here for his bat, and as his offensive numbers plummet it’s important he makes the tough and routine plays.
• Zach Miner has to stop walking people. It cost him and Washburn a run when he walked the number 8 hitter to load the bases.

PREGAME: It’s looking like there might be some weather tonight, and a mid game rain delay would really work against the Tigers with their ace on the bump.

Justin Verlander has stepped up huge like his last 2 times out with a complete game against the White Sox when the team was reeling, and a 13 K’ performance against the Rangers when the team was reeling. The Tigers are more floundering now than reeling, but another ace-esque performance should come in handy. The O’s ran his pitch count to 112 in 6 innings the last time the teams met.

Chris Tillman will make his 2nd career start tonight. He was knocked out with 2 outs in the 5th inning after 93 pitches and 3 runs against the Royals in his debut.

Baltimore vs. Detroit – August 3, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Ideally you don’t need a walk-off homer when a rookie pitcher is going up against the staff ace, but a walk-off is a walk-off. No complaints here. Thank you very much Clete Thomas.

Justin Verlander got knocked around pretty good in the first inning. I was out with the family and was recording the game. I was on fast forward through the opening and before I could hit stop 1 run was in and 2 were on base. I couldn’t believe how the hits rolled of the bat and the night had disaster all over it, but the Tigers answered right away.

After 2 games with no extra base hits, the Tigers started off triple, double, walk, double. And then Verlander locked in. He came up with 9 K’s and amazingly lasted 8 innings. Verlander is a stud.

• Miguel Cabrera has been maligned for his lack of clutch production, but he got the big 2 run double in the first and the game tying homer later on. In between he hit a ball sharply up the middle that Brian Roberts made a nice play on
• The defense was also impressive with Cabrera making a nice play at first and Marcus Thames making some dramatic catches in left field.
• The offense overall was impressive. They plated 6, but made a number of hard outs as well. They were consistently centering the ball for a change.
• Fernando Rodney was quite good, fanning Luke Scott and getting a couple of quick outs for the win.
• But I have to mention one negative and that was Granderson. He’s looked lost at the plate too often since the Texas series. He did smoke his triple tonight, and hit another ball well. But his last 2 at-bats were awful. He got ahead 2-0 in his next to last PA and tried pulling a fastball off the plate. In the 9th he was ahead 3-1 and swung at ball 4, again off the plate, before taking strike 3 right down the middle. I’m not hating on Grandy, he’s still my Tiger, but there have been too many of those types of “backwards” at-bats lately. He’s taking too many good ones and swinging at too many bad ones and the check swings are on the rise. He may need a day off and I wouldn’t mind seeing him take a breather the next time there is a lefty starter.