PREGAME: Dmitri Young’s activation will garner most of the attention tonight. Once we get past that hoopla there is a pretty good pitching matchup between Justin Verlander and Dan Haren.

Haren was knocked around a little in his last 2 starts against the Angels and Red Sox. However, his season numbers are still impressive and he fans almost 4 batters for everyone he walks. That doesn’t bode well for the Tigers style of offense.

Justin Verlander is coming off a carving-up of Kansas City. He’ll look to repeat that performance tonight against all the Athletics, and specifically Jay Payton who was instrumental in Oakland taking the last series against the Tigers.

If you’re there early, Hebrew National will be selecting the best hot dog vendor from 4 finalists in an on field ceremony.

I’m heading to the game tonight, and I’ll have a report later tonight.

POSTGAME: Though the game got a little more interesting than it probably should have, it was nice for the Tigers to win one going away. That’s only happened twice since the break, and Justin Verlander was the starter for both of them. Only this year could a rookie be tied for the league in wins and have a sub 3.00 ERA and not even be considered a favorite to win the rookie of the year.

As for Dmitri Young, I was stunned by the reception he received. Both during pregame introductions and his first at-bat the crowd roared, with about 1/3 even standing up. Young delivered in his 2nd at-bat with a bases loaded single.

And in something that has been missing, the top of the order was clicking. Curtis Granderson had 2 hits, Polanco had 3, and Pudge and Magglio both added key doubles. The effect was enhanced with Brandon Inge picking up a couple hits at the bottom of the lineup.

PREGAME: For the first time in 3 series against the White Sox, the Tigers aren’t looking to avoid a sweep heading into the finale.

Weather permitting it will be Kenny Rogers versus Jose Contreras. As everybody knows, Rogers has been in a slump that dates back to his start against the Cardinals. Since June 24th opponents are slugging .722 against Rogers.

Contreras has also been hittable over that same time period (of course not to the extent that Rogers has) with hitters posting a 301/369/455 line.

Game time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I’m thrilled the Tigers won today. I’m thrilled the Tigers picked up a victory and a game on the second place team in the division. I’m thrilled that Detroit has taken 3 of 4 from the White Sox and the talk of a mysterious mojo that the Sox hold over the Tigers can go away for the time being.

I know people want to talk about Marcus Thames taking out Tadahito Iguchi and busting up the double play. It was a huge play that of course set up the Chris Shelton double. But don’t lose site of Chris Shelton’s double either.

Both events overshadowed what was a terriffic pitching performance by Kenny Rogers. And I think we all needed to see Rogers put together an outing like that.

Joel Zumaya also seems to have his groove back. The ESPN guys were effusive in their praise and when the crowd came to their feet in the 8th inning Orel Hersheiser commented “I want to stand up with the crowd because this is fun!”

And speaking of the crowd, if anybody was down there please comment. I heard the game on the radio, and watched the last 3 innings I had recorded, and I can’t remember hearing Comerica Park that loud. I can’t wait to go experience it tomorrow night.

PREGAME: That’s it. I’m convinced that the Sox are in the Tigers collective heads. There is no way the Tigers can compete. This whole winning thing was nice while it lasted because even if the Tigers make the playoffs it is impossible for them to get by the Sox.

The preceding paragraph was all sarcasm. I felt the need to clarify because I’ve heard those sentiments all day today and there is a large contingent that is convinced of this. Of course I would feel better if the Tigers reciprocated last night’s pounding, but I’m not concerned – at least not 5:00 today.

Jeremy Bonderman will take the mound tonight. For the last 6 weeks Bonderman has been awesome with out run support – except for last week’s start against the Royals where he wasn’t awesome and got lots of run support. He’ll face a much more formidable task tonight and the key will be Bonderman’s ability to keep the ball in the park. He’s been quite proficient at the task with only 8 long balls allowed – but 2 of those came in his last start.

POSTGAME: Jeremy Bonderman was everything that Tiger fans could have hoped for last night. There were only 2 hard hit balls all night. Unfortunately both found the seats, but because Bondo was so dominant they were both solo shots. Most importantly after the Craig Monroe slam, Bonderman came in and retired the White Sox in order the following inning. Fernando Rodney, Jamie Walker, and Todd Jones kept things from being interesting in the late innings.

As for the offense, in the early going it seemed they were poised to jump all over Vazquez. In the first inning Pudge Rodriguez hit the double which was followed by an Ordonez line drive to right field that again found Jermaine Dye. The Tigers managed to get baserunners in subsequent innings, and unlike the night before against Garland, they worked themselves into hitters counts. Yet they had nothing to show for it until the 6th inning when a couple singles were followed by a seeing eye grounder (redemption for Maggs from the first inning liner) and a bloop shot to no-man’s land. The Tigers were finally on the board and after the force out at home on the Marcus Thames grounder Craig Monroe battled from a 2 strike count to hit the granny.

And a good time was had by all.
Meanwhile Javier Vazquez who was rumored to be dealt to the Tigers for Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya this offseason (PHEW) will be starting for the White Sox.

PREGAME: This game has certainly received considerable hype. I vowed earlier in the year not to overdo a game or series, so I’ll stick to that. Each game is important. I’ve heard repeatedly today the debate about which team is under more pressure. The reasoning for the Tigers is that they need to show they can beat the White Sox. While this may be a little true, who do they need to show? If they need to show themselves, I can see it. If they need to do it to make you, me, or Dupree believers then it’s bunk.

As for the matchup, the Tigers send out Nate Robertson. Three of the four starters to go since the All Star break have come out rusty. We’ll see what Nate does.

As for the White Sox, they’re sending out Jon Garland. In his last start against the Tigers, he labored through 7 innings on 124 pitches while being touched for 6 runs. Last hope the Tigers can have the same type of at-bats tonight.

POSTGAME: There wasn’t a lot to like about tonight’s game. Nate looked wonderful at times, but there were a number of hard hit balls off of him. On the other side, Detroit couldn’t muster much offense, and the few hard hit balls they had ended up in Jermaine Dye’s glove.

The key moment was probably Paul Konerko’s first homer. The Tigers had managed to scratch out a run the inning before, only to give it right back on the next batter. And then the Joe Crede homer and so on and so forth.