PREGAME: For the second time in a little over a week the Tigers take a 5 game win streak into a series with the Angels. Last time this happened, the Tigers were shut out in two of their next 3 games. Here’s hoping for better results.

Nate Robertson will take his 14 inning scoreless streak into tonight’s game. He’ll have a tough time keeping that streak alive in the first inning as he will probably face Orlando Cabrera who is 5 for 5 lifetime against Nate, and possibly Vladimir Guerrero who is 7 for 10.

The Tigers will face former Tiger Jeff Weaver who is sporting a 7.48 ERA.

Interesting split of the day: The Tigers are 17-3 when scoring first. What is most impressive is that they have scored first in 20 of the 27 games.

Make sure to watch tonight, because the Tigers won’t be on TV again until Saturday.

POSTGAME: Well I managed a couple jinxes. Nate broke his scoreless string in the first inning, and the Tigers failed to score first. Fortunately, neither proved to be detrimental. This wasn’t the Tigers crispest game, but they still managed to eke it out. Magglio was doubled off when he misread the ball on a hit and run. Curtis Granderson was picked off first. Brandon Inge made an error on a routine play. The Tigers failed to score off of Santiago’s triple with no outs.

This was a very lose-able game for the Tigers, and yet they found a way to win. It’s one thing to win when everything is going your way, it’s another thing to win despite some mistakes.

And somehow everything Leyland does seems to work. Santiago triples, and Alexis Gomez picks up the game winning hit. Who knew?

Another thing to note, is this is the second time that Brandon Inge had a pivotal at-bat in which he probably should have been struck out, only to survive and change the game (the other being in Oakland).

One little factoid: that wild pitch by Nate Robertson was the team’s first since April 23rd.

PREGAME:Another two game series with the Royals is about to come to a close – weather permitting. Based on the map, I’m not holding my breath.

If they do play, it will be a matchup of soft tossing lefties. Mike Maroth is set to take on Mark Redman. Redman, as you may remember, was a Tiger for a short spell. He was acquired in exchange for Todd Jones who is a Tiger once again. And then the Tigers traded Redman for 3 pitchers, one of which is Nate Robertson who is in the rotation. This all would have been more interesting if Redman were facing Robertson tonight.

Maroth will try to keep the hitters off balance, as Bonderman did last night. Bonderman did such a good job that the Royals got themselves a new hitting coach.

Game time is 7:05 – theoretically.

POSTGAME: Another strong pitching performance, a couple homers – including one from Craig Insurance Runs Monroe, and the Tigers have their 3rd 5 game win streak of the season. Only 22,000 fans for the series, which is somewhat understandable given the context (Royals, rain, playoff games). Here’s hoping tomorrow night tops that mark.

PREGAME: The Kansas City Royals come to town for a short two game series. Jeremy Bonderman will try to keep the string of strong outings alive for the Tigers. Bonderman, whose 5.04 ERA probably isn’t indicative of how well he’s pitched, has only really struggled against Matt Stairs (5 for 11, 2 homers).

The Tigers will face Runyelvs Hernandez. He of course started the brawl by beaning Carlos Guillen last year. He was also put on the disabled list for being out of shape.

In meaningless split info, the Tigers will be trying for their first Monday win since they beat these same Royals on Opening Day.

POSTGAME: Another masterful pitching performance for a Tiger starter was the story in the Tigers 3-2 win. Jeremy Bonderman picked up another 9 strikeouts to move him to third place in the AL.

As for whether or not he should have pitched the 9th, a case could definitely be made. Everything was working for him, and he was at 94 pitches. What was interesting to me isn’t that Bonderman didn’t pitch the 9th, it’s that Todd Jones did. Jones got an inning of work on Sunday, so it wasn’t about keeping him fresh. If it was about keeping the bullpen sharp, wouldn’t Joel Zumaya who hasn’t pitched since April 25th, been a better option? Was Jim Leyland managing to the save statistic? And if so, what makes the save more significant than the complete game shut out for his starter?

And once again, Craig Monroe provided insurance runs that became quite important late in the game via a home run.

PREGAME: After outscoring the Twins 27-1 in the first two games of the series, the Tigers look to complete the sweep. Kenny Rogers will face Kyle Lohse in the final game of the series.

Loshe, like the other Twins starters, has struggled in the early going. Because the Twins bullpen has thrown 249 pitches over the last two games, Lohse will probably be expected to carry the load, regardless of how he pitches.

Some interesting splits on Lohse so far this year:

1. He’s allowing a .429 OBP to hitters who lead off an inning.
2. He’s been brutal in the first inning (small sample issues abound). He’s allowing a .500/.545/.667 line in the first inning. Get him early.
3. Unlike Radke and Silva, he hasn’t been undone by the long ball. He’s only allowed 2 homers in 85 plate appearances.

POSTGAME Can it really get any better than this? A 6-0 shutout finished up the sweep of the Twins. I was at the game with my kids, so many of you probably had a better view than I did, even if you were listening on the radio. While the top of the order struggled, the bottom 3 of Craig Monroe, Marcus Thames, and Vance Wilson combined for 7 of the team’s 9 hits and 5 of the 6 RBI.

My favorite moment of the game was probably Wilson’s bases loaded double. The fact that it came right after Marcus Thames was plunked definitely gave it that “revenge” feel.

I’ll have the series wrap tomorrow.