PREGAME: The Tigers blow into the Windy City to take on the Wild Card leading White Sox. The Sox are coming off of 3 straight 1 run games against the Yankees where they came out on top twice. Over the last 10 days or so their has been quite a bit of shifting in the Central with the Tigers seeing their lead expand to double digits and the Twins briefly overtaking the White Sox. However all 3 teams are 6-4 in their last 10 so everyone’s right back where they started from.

Jose Contreras will be taking the ball for the Sox tonight. His best start of the last 4 was against the Tigers when he went 7 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Since then he’s still been effective lasting into the 7th inning in each of his last 3 starts, but a little more hittable allowing 4, 4, and 6 runs.

Justin Verlander who was given a free pass his last turn in the rotation, should be well rested for the Tigers. As Mack Avenue pointed out, the Tigers altered their rotation and bumped Verlander ahead of Rogers. While I don’t get into labeling starters #1, #2, etc., I did like the way Rogers was sandwiched between the 2 hard throwing righties. I’m not sure for the reasoning behind the move, except maybe to set a record for pick-offs in a game when Kenny Rogers takes on Mark Buehrle tomorrow.

Game Time 8:35pm

POSTGAME: Talk about a butt kicking. Jose Contreras owned the Tigers easily slicing through the lineup on his way to a 101 pitch complete game. Curtis Granderson and Carlos Guillen saw 30 of those 101 pitches. They also accounted for 3 of the 4 Tiger baserunners. Coincidence? Probably.

Meanwhile Justin Verlander was pitching from the stretch all night. The White Sox batting average on balls in play was .550. It seemed anything put in play was turning into a hit. Oh yeah, and there were those 2 bombs.

Craig Monroe made a nice play gunning down Alex Cintron.

PREGAME: The Tigers come into the rubber game of the series looking to avoid something that hasn’t happened since the first week of July. The Tigers haven’t dropped a series since a 3 game set in Oakland on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Standing between the Tigers and another series win is Johan Santana. The Tigers have had some success (relatively speaking) against Santana. The last time they met in Comerica Park Vance Wilson’s homer proved the difference in a 2-0 victory. Wilson finds himself in the lineup again tonight spelling Pudge Rodriguez who’s back is acting up.

Johan Sanatana isn’t the only pitcher who figures to have a say in the outcome as Jeremy Bonderman will take the ball for Detroit. Bonderman outpitched Santana in their last meeting but took the hard luck loss as everything imploded around Jeremy in the 8th inning.

Sean Casey will be the only lefty in the lineup as Curtis Granderson gets the night off in favor of Brent Clevlen who made his Major League debut against Santana with a double and a walk.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME It was all set up so nicely. The pitching match up was everything we had hoped for. Brandon Inge was the late inning hero putting Jeremy Bonderman in line for the win. The Tigers had 2 of their most reliable bullpen arms up to pitch the 8th. But Jamie Walker issued just his 2nd non-intentional walk of the year and Jusitn Morneau hit a no doubter to hand the Tigers their first home series loss since the beginning of June.

Losing sucks, but I’ll just try and take solace in the fact that over the last 6 meetings the Twins and Tigers have played some very entertaining baseball.

Toledo 4, Columbus 2
I know it’s only 2 games, but Chris Shelton has back to back 3 hit games. Tonight he was a triple short of the cycle and added 2 walks. Alexis Gomez added 2 hits. Jordan Tata allowed 1 run on 5 hits, but he only lasted 4 innings as his pitch count crept up to 95 due in large part to 4 walks.

New Britain 6, Erie 5
Jackson Melian had 2 hits and Kody Kirkland was 1 for 4. Eulogio De La Cruz allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 5 walks, and 8 strike outs in 7 innings.

Lakeland 3, Jupiter 1
Clete Thomas and Juan Francia each had 2 hit games. Andrew Kown allowed 3 hits and 1 unearned run in 4 innings. He fanned 6 and walked none. Kevin Whelan pitched 2 scoreless innings, walking 2 and striking out 3.

Fort Wayne 2, West Michigan 0
Mike Hollimon tripled and singled and stole a base. Cameron Maybin was 0 for 4. Erik Averill worked 8 innings and allowed 9 hits and 3 walks for 2 runs. He struck out 7.

Tri-City 4, Oneonta 3
Ronnie Bourquin hit his first homer as part of a 1 for 3, 1 walk night. In a rare hitless game for Scott Sizemore he still managed 2 walks. Zach Piccola allowed 4 runs, 1 earned in 5 innings.

GCL Tigers – DNP

PREGAME Dating back to last September, the Tigers have beaten the Twins 8 straight at home. The last time that happened was 1981/1982.

Nate Robertson will try to keep the streak going. In his last start he limited the Devil Rays to 2 runs in 6 1/3 innings before taking the 2-1 loss. In his last start against Minnesota he picked up the win despite allowing 5 runs in 6 innings. He got that win because the Tigers got to Brad Radke early an knocked him out after 4 runs in 3 innings.

Radke takes the hill again tonight for the Twins. This should make Craig Monroe happy. Not only is Monroe hitting as well as umm, anyone, he is 15 for 31 lifetime against Radke.

Game Time 7:05pm

POSTGAME Remember back before last night’s game when the Tigers held a double digit lead in the Central? Ahem.

The Tigers didn’t play a bad game, they just got beat. Nate Robertson was solid. The offense had no trouble getting men on base with 11 hits and 2 walks. The problem was that all but one of those hits were singles.

The biggest lost opportunity came when the Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out. They did so much right that inning. Carlos Guillen followed a leadoff single by Ordonez with an 11 pitch walk. Dmitri Young hit a rocket single to right that was hit hard enough that Ordonez really didn’t have a chance to score. Craig Monroe does his job by hitting a line drive to left field on an 0-2 count. Unfortunately it happened to be at Jason Tyner for the first out. Even more unfortunate for the Tigers was that Tyner flung a bee-bee home and easily cut down Magglio Ordonez who was trying to score.

You could question Ordonez coming home on the play when he was about by a couple steps. Yet if the throw bounces or is a couple feet up the line he probably scores. It wasn’t a bad gamble and you just have to give the Twins credit for executing.

The next inning the Twins took the lead on a jam job double by Joe Mauer.

And such is baseball. The Tigers have had the ball bounce their way a ton this year. It didn’t happen for them tonight, and the Twins played a very good game. Yet the Tigers still brought the go ahead run to the plate in the 9th against one of the best closers in the league. Good game, good effort, the Twins just happened to be a little better tonight.

Toledo 15, Columbus 8
The Mud Hens had 7 homers including 4 from Alexis Gomez. Chris Shelton added one as part of a 3 hit night. Colby Lewis wasn’t sharp with 6 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks but still picked up the win. Chris Spurling faced 8 batters and allowed 1 hit against 3 K’s.

Erie – DNP

Jupiter 8, Lakeland 5
Clete Thomas had 2 doubles and a single. Jeff Larish added 2 hits also. Kevin Ardoin allowed 8 runs on 10 hits in 6 innings. Kevin Whelan pitched 1 scoreless inning with 2 K’s and walk.

Fort Wayne 5, West Michigan 1
The Whitecaps were limited to 4 singles. Wil Rhymes, Matt Joyce, Cameron Maybin, and Mike Hernandez had one apiece. Josh Rainwater pitched 5 1/3 shut out innings on 6 hits. Ricky Steik allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, on 4 hits and a walk.

Tri-City 5, Oneonta 1
Scott Sizemore went 2 for 4 and James Skelton added a double and a single. Christian Martinez gave up 5 runs, 3 earned, on 8 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

GCL Tigers 13, GCL Indians 6
Gorkys Hernandez was a triple short of the cycle. Michael Sullivan and Luis Arlet each added 3 hits. Alfredo Figaro allowed 3 unearned runs in 5 innings on 9 hits. He walked none and fanned 5. Paul Hammond pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

Toledo – DNP

Erie 9, New Hampshire 6
Chris Maples had 2 doubles and a homer. Andrew Graham had 3 hits and ahomer. Virgil Vasquez allowed 5 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 8 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Daytona 3, Lakeland 1
Jeff Larish went 2 for 4 with a double. Eddie Bonine allowed only 1 run on 5 hits over 8 innings. He walked none and fanned 9.

West Michigan 7, Fort Wayne 6
Cameron Maybin was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles. Mike Hernandez added 3 singles. Sendy Vasquez went 6 1/3 innings and allowed 2 runs on 8 hits. Orlando Perdomo allowed 3 runs on 2 walks and a hit without retiring anyone.

Oneonta 3, Aberdeen 2
Scott Sizemore was 2 for 4. Brendan Wise pitched 8 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk. Brett Jensen pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 12th save and drop his ERA under 1.00. He has fanned 23 and walked 3 in 18 1/3 innings.

GCL Tigers 13, GCL Yankees 1
Eleazar Aponte was excellent. He allowed 4 hits over seven innings while fanning 8 and walking no one. Luis Arlet and Michael Sullivan each had 3 hits and Gorkys Hernandez added a 2 for 5 effort.