PREGAME: There’s a late change in this one as the swine flu ridden Vincente Padilla won’t make his scheduled start. In his place will be Doug Mathis. This will be Mathis’ second start of the season and 12th appearance. In his only other start he allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, and no strike outs in 5 innings. Those were the only 4 earned runs he’s allowed this season.

Luke French gets the nod for the Tigers. Presumably he’s not being afflicted by anything other than a lack of run support. Here’s hoping that condition clears up tonight.

The lineup is:

1. Granderson
2. Polanco
3. Thomas
4. Cabrera
5. Guillen
6. Ordonez
7. Inge
8. Santiago
9. Ryan

Detroit vs. Texas – July 28, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: So which team has had flu running through their clubhouse because the Tigers sure did look sick tonight. This may have been their worst effort of the season. There have been tougher losses, but few that have left such an awful taste and have been so dismal. Let’s look at the lowlights:

• Ramon Santiago boots a ball on the first pitch that French threw
• Magglio Ordonez catches a ball flat footed and Ian Kinsler tags up and goes to second…on a fly ball to right field
• French picks off a runner and Cabrera throws the ball away
• Everett makes a nice play in the hole but one hops the throw and Cabrera can’t pick it
• On a Kinsler triple Granderson makes an inaccurate throw creating a long route for Polanco’s relay

Throw in the fact that Luke French got pounded, and the offense mustered one lousy single after the 4th inning and it is a recipe for disaster. Do you realize that none of the top 3 hitters in the lineup reached base tonight? Cabrera had 2 weak singles and a bad defensive game, but you can’t blame him for not driving any runners in.

If there was any good news it was that Santiago and Ryan got key hits early on. And Everett made 2 nice plays defensively. Otherwise this was just miserable, and you could see Leyland seething.

PREGAME: Oh boy, the Tigers are on the road again. That hasn’t exactly been their forte this summer. It should be hot and steamy at the Ballpark in Arlington (I always liked this place for the shout-out to Tiger Stadium with the upper level in right field).

This is the 3rd time this season the Tigers have gone up against a Rangers team that was hot. This time the Rangers have won 7 of 8 including a sweep of the Red Sox. In addition to playing well they are hot in the sense of febrile as H1N1 is traversing the clubhouse.

Former Ranger Armando Galarraga gets the nod for the Tigers. Galarraga was a hard luck victim of no offensive support and a Bobby Seay-allowed homer in his last start.

Tommy Hunter goes for the Rangers. He’s been solid in his last 4 starts not allowing more than 2 runs in any of them.

I don’t know if this has more to do with Ordonez or Raburn, but Maggs is starting against the right hander tonight.

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

Detroit vs. Texas – July 27, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Well, at least the Tigers scored 2 runs instead of 1 and once again it could have been more. Granderson led off the game with a homer, and the Tigers didn’t score again until the 8th inning. Sigh.

The biggest wasted chance came when the team had runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out. A walk to Polanco loaded the bases but Clete Thomas hit a dribbler back to the mound (his second of the game) and nobody scored. Miguel Cabrera had a 3-0 count but ended up in a full count and he swung and missed at a pitch around the letters.

• Galarraga was mostly good, except for the 6th inning when he got rattled and balls got peppered around the park. The slider was encouraging again. I’d count this as a positive outing.
• Curtis Granderson got charged an error when he threw a ball that nearly hit second base that neither Polanco or Everett picked up which then trickled away from everyone allowing a run to score. I’m not sure why Galarraga wasn’t behind the plate backing up for a throw home.
• Ordonez turned on another fastball and ripped it for a double. It’s been a decent little stretch for the struggling Ordonez.
• Ryan Perry had a couple balls hit hard. His first struggles since his recall.
• Tim McClleland not making many friends tonight. I can’t remember so many disputed called strike 3’s in a game. The strike zone was small early in the game, but got pretty wide at the end.

PREGAME: Can the Tigers pick up another win against the White Sox? To do so they’ll have to get past Gavin Floyd who has kind of owned the Tigers since even before he was good.

Floyd has fanned 14 and walked just 2 in his last 2 starts. However he has allowed 5 of his 12 homers in those last 2 starts as well.

But things aren’t that easy for the White Sox either who will have to deal with Edwin Jackson. Jackson has been walking too many lately but has still pitched into the 7th inning in his last 5 starts.

This is a Fox game of of the week. Chris Rose and Mark Grace are your announcers, and unfortunately if you’re not in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, or Indianapolis you’ll be watching this one through the magic of MLB Gameday.

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 25, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Yay. Baseball is fun again. The Tigers have found some clutch mojo and the timing couldn’t be more clutch. This team was a disaster 48 hours ago and now they have a 3 game lead in the division. I love baseball.

Edwin Jackson’s control wasn’t as sharp as it was early in the season, but once again you look and he’s gotten the team into the 7th inning stretch and has only allowed 3 runs. Yay.

The offense never really figured out Gavin Floyd, but they took advantage of Paul Konerko error and did that whole “score the runner from 3rd with less than 2 out thing.” Miguel Cabrera got a hit with a runner in scoring position. Yay.

And when the Tigers needed some late inning runs, they got bloopers and worked counts and scratched out a run in the 9th off of Jenks and one more in the 10th, and you can put it on the board.

• The number 3 hitter sacrifice bunting in the 1st inning is, well, unconventional. But it worked.
• I can’t figure out why the Tigers weren’t more aggressive on the bases today. Granderson and Thomas both found themselves on 1st base but weren’t green lighted and both ended up the front end of double plays. AJ Pierzynski is throwing out nobody. Run wild on him. Raburn got caught stealing, but that’s only because he slid off the base.
• Carlos Guillen seems pretty comfortable. The winning hit wasn’t crushed by any means, but he hung in there with 2 strikes and got his second hit of the day.
• What do you think of the decision to not bunt Guillen in the 10th. I really wanted to see what Guillen would do in that situation, but I have to say I would have bunted to get the winning run to 3rd. It worked out, but that took some stones from Leyland because if that grounder turns into a double play ball he’d never hear the end of it.
• Fernando Rodney, 11 pitches and 3 outs. That’s 2 very clean outings in a row. Knock on proverbial wood.
• Ryan Perry looked very much in control and turned in 2 clean innings.

PREGAME: Wouldn’t a doubleheader sweep make for a nice mood lifter heading into the weekend? Tonight’s game will be Eddie Bonine against Bartolo Colon.

Bonine had kind of a rough streak when he was with the team earlier in the year when he allowed homers in 3 straight appearances out of the bullpen. For Toledo he’s only fanning 4.3 per 9 innings, but he’s only walked 11 in 69 innings.

Colon is making his first start since June 7th.  Since then he disappeared for a little while, literally.

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 24, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Wow, who knew doubleheaders could be so fun? Everything was awful yesterday, but the Tigers have bought themselves at least 2 more days in first place by taking the first 2 games of the series.

• How about Eddie Bonine? A quality start from the 6th starter is nothing to complain about. He did allow 2 homers, but he fanned 5 in 6 innings and really limited the damage.
• Bonine works VERY SLOW when he gets someone on base. Unfortunately he had someone on base every inning.
• Both centerfielders started off the game with nice catches. Granderson tracked down a Podsednik drive but he was one upped when DeWayne Wise made a spectacular catch on a Granderson drive. Watching Wise and the ball, I thought there was absolutely no way he gets close, let alone makes the play. Simply incredible.
• Carlos Guillen looks to be ready. He looks comfortable at the plate, and drove the ball well in both games. He also worked the count and saw quite a few pitches. Maybe he really can be the lefty bat.
• Magglio Ordonez turning on a fastball and pulling it down the line for a double set up the go ahead walk. Ordonez is taking to the platoon (thought tonight was against a righty).
• The White Sox put on a full shift against Marcus Thames. I’ve never seen one that extreme for a right handed batter, and Thames beat it by singling right where Alexei Ramirez should have been playing.
• Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon were both awesome. Let’s not forget night’s like tonight when we complain about the bullpen. Seay was shaky but man did he bounce back.
• Some interesting managerial moves from Leyland tonight. Everything worked in retrospect, but I thought taking Thames out after the 6th inning and the game tied was premature. Of course when the White Sox had a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, it could have been a big move if there would have been a flyball to left. Also, it meant that the Tigers would effectively have 2 lefties back to back making things easier for Guillen.
• That part proved to be true as Guillen turned to the lefty with the bases loaded. Here I was surprised to see Raburn pinch hitting for Guillen rather than pinch running for Ordonez (as he could then be a defensive replacement the next inning). I understand the platoon situation, but I wanted to see Guillen up. Raburn battled, but ultimately fanned.
• And that brings us to Clete, who had a heck of an at-bat (and a swing that looked pretty long early in the count) culminating in a take-the-lead walk.
• Disappointed in the crowd tonight. Some big moments in the top of the 7th and bottom of the 8th, and they were dead. Too quiet. I don’t know if people were too nervouse to cheer or what, but they didn’t seem as “into the game” as I would have expected.

PREGAME: It was about a month ago I downplayed the significance of a series in the Metrodome. I’m not going to downplay this one. A sweep by the White Sox would be pretty devastating. So let’s not get swept okay?

Justin Verlander is going for the Tigers which is usually a good thing. But the Tigers starter hasn’t been a factor lately, except in the sense that the performances get wasted.

Lately it has come down to a lack of offense, and today that offense gets a boost, but will it be enough to knock down Jose Contreras? Contreras has been up and down of late. One of the ups was an 8 inning 1 hitter against the Tigers. In his last 7 starts Contreras has a 2.62 ERA with 39 K’s and only 10 walks in 48 innings with only 4 homers allowed.

Your new Guillen-ized lineup:

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

Chi White Sox vs. Detroit – July 24, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: This definitely qualifies as a big win. If the Tigers lose this afternoon they are relying on Eddie Bonine to try and muster a win. And it’s not that he isn’t capable, it’s that you’re putting a whole bunch on him and the rest of the series. Ideally the Tigers win the nightcap, but now the don’t have to.

And what makes it even bigger is that Justin Verlander went the distance, preserving the entire bullpen. Verlander was awesome. He battled control a little bit early on and his pitch count was in precarious shape after 4 innings when he was sitting at 73 pitches. But the White Sox got swing happy and started lofting lazy fly balls early in the count allowing Verlander to throw the final 5 innings on just 54 pitches. The last fastball coming on pitch 125 was clocked at 99.9mph.

The offense? Well they didn’t really kill the ball, and they struck out too much, but they scored. The hits were bloops and tweeners and things that fell just out of reach, but they fell. It’s like a week’s worth of cheap hits all fell in a span of 9 innings, but they fell. The Tigers were aggressive on the bases and kept putting themselves in scoring position which helped to pull the defense out of position and open up spots. Everybody take a breath and get ready for the night game.