Peek at the Week: Bronx battle
Tigers visit Yankees for three in potential playoff preview

The next-to-last month of the regular season reaches a climactic finish early this week when a couple of American League Goliaths meet in Gotham.

Say so long to August by enjoying a splendid potential postseason appetizer at Yankee Stadium between division leaders: the New York Yankees -- who only recently assumed control of first place in the AL East -- and the Detroit Tigers, the AL Central pace-setters practically the entire season.

Each team is reaching the point where "magic number" becomes a daily topic, and having the Tigers involved in such an important series this late in the season is something we're not accustomed to seeing.

Since joining the AL in 1901, Detroit has won four World Series, nine AL titles and three AL East Division crowns. The Tigers' last AL title came in 1984, when Derek Jeter was a 10-year-old living in New Jersey and the Yankees finished third in the AL East, 17 games behind Detroit.

Ah, those were the good ol' days in the Motor City.

Well, the best of times have been rolling for Tigers fans most of this magical season, and they'll be watching the Tuesday-through-Thursday Yankees series closely. Though this end-of-August battle would pale in comparison to, say, a best-of-seven AL Championship Series showdown in October, it is special nonetheless.

Therefore, as we move one step closer to September's mad dash to the regular-season finish line, that series headlines our regular Peek at the Week. While the Yankees continue their pursuit of another AL East title -- this would be their ninth straight and 15th overall -- at home, the crosstown-rival Mets attempt to reduce their magic number on the road, playing the Rockies to end August and the Astros to begin September.

As of Monday morning, the Mets' magic number stood at 20 -- any combination of Mets wins and/or Philadelphia Phillies losses totaling 20 would clinch the National League East title and end Atlanta's impressive streak of 14 consecutive division championships. Meanwhile, 10 teams are separated by just 6 1/2 games in the NL Wild Card race, and it's anyone's guess who will win the NL West.

But now, it's back to Tigers-Yankees.

When August started, the Tigers were playing at a .667 clip (70-35), they had a 7 1/2-game lead over the Chicago White Sox and they were 8 1/2 games ahead of the Twins.

Fast-forward to now.

Going into the final three games in August, the Tigers are 82-49 (.626), and their AL Central lead has dwindled to five games over Minnesota and 5 1/2 over the White Sox.

As for the Yankees, their five-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox last week fueled a productive August that has seen the 26-time World Series champions go from owning a one-game deficit to what is now a 6 1/2-game lead.

A non-waiver deadline trade with the Phillies that brought the Yankees outfielder Bobby Abreu -- and starting pitcher Cory Lidle -- has provided a huge spark to a team that has been without key offensive producers Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield for most of the season.

This is the second of two regular-season meetings between the division leaders, and like three-fourths of the first series, the Yankees are minus Matsui and Sheffield. The Yanks rolled into Comerica Park on May 29 for a four-game series and won the first three by scores of 4-0, 11-6 (11 innings) and 6-1, then dropped the finale, 7-6, on shortstop Carlos Guillen's game-winning single in the ninth inning, capping Detroit's comeback from a five-run deficit.

The Tigers return home following this series against the Bronx Bombers to face the playoff-hopeful Angels in the first weekend of September, while the Yankees stay home to play the Twins in another three-game series with playoff implications.

Factoid of the Week: Since joining the American League simultaneously in 1901, the Tigers and Yankees have combined to win 30 World Series, 48 AL titles and 17 division championships. The Yankees lead the all-time series, 1004-889, with nine ties, but they have never played each other during the postseason.
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060828&content_id=1633043&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Today's game has been rained out.

Instead they will play a day-night doubleheader tomorrow at 1:05 and 7:05 p.m.

Today's game has been rained out.

Instead they will play a day-night doubleheader tomorrow at 1:05 and 7:05 p.m.


Any coverage announced? Is ESPN or FSN going to do both games on Wed?

AM 1270 said both games would be televised, they didn't say what stations though.

The first of these is on now btw.

Thanks, I lost track of time.

I believe it is gum time.

Another error by Guillen?

Man, this Yankees lineup is really good (stating the obvious, I know).

How many other teams have a #9 hitter like Craig Wilson? In fact, how many times have you seen a 1B-man batting 9th?

Another error by Guillen?

And another...

This team is too good to give them extra outs.

Also, I don't think it's good for your team to have just as many errors as you do hits. The lineup we have right now only includes one .300 hitter, and that's also not good.

Andrew Miller has enetered the game.

Surprise, surprise. Mags swings at the first pitch he sees from a new pitcher and flies out. I'm so FREAKING sick of this team not watching a couple pitches go by. Hurry back, Placido.

Well the lead is down to 4.5 games and if we don't beat Randy Johnson with Wil Ledezma, it could be 3.5 if the ChiSox take care of the D-Rays.

Ouch.

Well, at least Miller looked good out there.

Apparently the Yanks have decided to go with Jaret Wright for game 2 instead of Randy Johnson.

Regardless, I'm not liking the looks of this series at all.

Do we even have an offense?

We are suck right now.

Why can't I get the freaking Tiger game on ESPNHD? Everytime the Tigers play on ESPN, the screen freezes. When I go to regular ESPN, I get ESPNEWS! The game is in fricking New York City! It's not like I can hop in my car and go to the game, it can't be a blackout! I know it's on FSN, but I want some HD Tiger action.

Carlos Guillen rocks. That helps. I feel like this is our first lead in two months.

Jesus people. Calm down. Wang is one of the best pitchers in baseball, especially at home, so of course the Tigers are going to struggle on O. The Yankees offense which you're all salivating over didn't fare too much better against Big Nate.

Ledezma extends his scoreless streak to over 20 innings.

Maggs finally gets a hit!

im not panicking until the pitching falls off. our offense definitly is gassed, but i think we can hold on as long as our pitching does.

we could really use a win tonight though.

Jesus people. Calm down. Wang is one of the best pitchers in baseball, especially at home, so of course the Tigers are going to struggle on O. The Yankees offense which you're all salivating over didn't fare too much better against Big Nate.

I would agree with that if that was only one game.

But our offense has been struggling for the last few weeks. Outside of Guillen, there isn't a player on our team that has an idea of what to do when they step into the batter's box.

Quick hook from Leyland. Come on Bullpen!!!

Ledezma got taken out very early (only after 68 pitches).

But then again, he has been pitching mostly out of the bullpen. So its possible that they didn't want to overwork him.

WTF Rodney?

Throw fucking strikes!

a nice little leaker through the infied for the tieing(sp?) run aboard.

And the 'tractor' can't pic'em up and put'em down for a throw out at 2nd. Damnit!

Want to know the true measure of how bad our offense is?

Jaret Wright hasn't pitched into the 7th inning ALL season....but here he is in the 7th inning against the Tigers.

Remember when Granderson used to be money in that position?

FUCK YOU RODNEY!!!

LOL. They are intentionally walking Ordonez. [smilie=rofl.gif] [smilie=rofl.gif] [smilie=rofl.gif] [smilie=rofl.gif] [smilie=rofl.gif]

Horrible call.

Why the fuck is Perez batting? What happened to Infante and Thames?

Pull your head out of your ass, Jim Leyland.

CRAIG MONROE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craig mother fucking Monroe.

biggest hit in franchise history? why not?

exageration aside, much needed win tonight. getting swept would have been devastating.

Todd Jones is fucking unhittable.

And Craig Monroe is fucking pimp (atleast after the 7th inning).

That was awesome.

Thank you Joe Torre for overmanaging the 9th inning. Actually, he did the right thing not using Rivera again since they have such a large lead in their division all of a sudden. I guess we're just lucky that's the case.

what a hit by Monroe. i missed the game because i was out, but caught the highlights. hopefully Bonderman can seal the deal today (afternoon game 1pm).

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/9498/monroevsyankeesdl5.jpg

that could be used to make a nice sig ^

I'd also like to thank Dmitri Young for going 0-for-9 for my fantasy team yesterday.

I can't believe I turned it off after the 8th ... I hate Rivera.

Lineups posted:


Detroit
AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg
I. Rodriguez c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .297
C. Monroe dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
M. Thames lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270
M. Ordonez rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .288
C. Guillen 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .311
N. Perez ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .172
B. Inge 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .248
C. Granderson cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .262
O. Infante 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .285

IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
J. Bonderman 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.92


NY Yankees
AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg
J. Damon dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .297
D. Jeter ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .339
B. Abreu rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .355
J. Posada c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .271
A. Rodriguez 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .275
R. Cano 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .332
B. Williams cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .283
A. Guiel 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .233
M. Cabrera lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .285

IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
R. Johnson 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.96


Detroit (83-50) at NY Yankees (78-53)

Game Info: 1:05 pm EDT Thu Aug 31, 2006
TV: ESPN, YES

Temp: 66° F

By MIKE VOTTA, STATS Senior Writer

MORTON GROVE, Ill. (AP) -- Thanks to Craig Monroe, the Detroit Tigers still have a chance for a series win over the New York Yankees.

The Tigers hope to increase their AL Central lead when they wrap up a three-game set with the AL East-leading Yankees on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

Monroe hit a three-run homer off Scott Proctor with two outs in the ninth in the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader, helping the Tigers (83-50) to a 5-3 victory. Detroit dropped the opener 2-0.

Monroe allowed the Tigers, owners of the best record in the league, to finish the day with a 4 1/2 -game lead over Chicago in the Central Division. The White Sox beat Tampa Bay 5-4.

Detroit is 7-14 since Aug. 8, when it held a 10-game lead in the division.

"Let's be honest, that was a big win," Monroe said.

Carlos Guillen also homered for Detroit, which has won seven games this season when trailing after eight innings.

"We've been doing it all year," manager Jim Leyland said. "We have a good team. We're not a fluke."

Left-hander Andrew Miller, Detroit's first pick in June's amateur draft, made his major league debut with a hitless eighth in the first game after pitching just five innings in the minors.

Despite the loss, the Yankees (78-53) still managed to increase their AL East lead to eight games over second-place Boston, which lost 7-2 to Oakland. New York has its largest division lead since August 2004.

Craig Wilson homered in the first game, and Chien-Ming Wang tied Toronto's Roy Halladay for the major league lead with his 16th win.

Alex Rodriguez continued to struggle, going 0-for-7 in the two games. He has one hit in his last 24 at-bats.

Randy Johnson (14-10, 4.96 ERA) will start the finale for New York. He allowed four runs in eight innings of last Thursday's 4-2 loss at Seattle, ending a three-start winning streak but pitching his second complete game this season and 98th of his career.

The 42-year-old left-hander is 3-1 with a 4.50 ERA in his last five starts. He was scheduled to pitch Wednesday, but was moved back a day when Tuesday's game was rained out and a doubleheader scheduled for the following day.

Johnson is 9-7 with a 4.00 ERA in 18 starts against the Tigers, including 6-1 with a 3.04 ERA in seven starts since the beginning of the 1995 season. He threw the last no-hitter against the Tigers on June 2, 1990.

Detroit will counter with Jeremy Bonderman (11-6, 3.92), who allowed four runs in 6 1-3 innings of Friday's 4-2 loss at Cleveland to fall to 0-2 with a 4.85 ERA over his last six starts.

The loss was just the right-hander's second in 14 starts on the road, where he has won seven times and posted a 3.14 ERA.

"It's just one of those days I couldn't give us a good enough shot to win the ballgame," said Bonderman, who last won July 24 at Cleveland. "It's tough, because I need to step up and help us out a little bit. We're in a pennant race. I've got to go out and pitch a little better than that and give us a shot to win that game."

Bonderman is 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA in seven appearances, including six starts, against the Yankees. He gave up four runs and nine hits in 7 1-3 innings of a 4-0 loss to Johnson and the Yankees on May 29.

Johnson threw six innings to earn the victory, ending a stretch of six straight games with at least four runs allowed.

Bonderman in trouble in the 1st... of course.

ARod pops out to first base with the bases loaded. I bet the crowd is really letting him have it.

I'm disappointed that we won't see Sal Fasano's 1970's mustache in the highlights tonight, same goes for that caterpillar that Giambi has going.

Bondo dodges a first inning bullet.

Attaway Bondo!!!!!

Nice.

And then Maggs homers. Impressive turn around from runners on the corners with no outs.

Ooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

they were just talking about Mags' slump on Jamie and Brady this morning. nice.

And then Maggs homers. Impressive turn around from runners on the corners with no outs.


Yeah, I got up to check something out on one of my remote computers, and when I came back 2 minutes later I thought the gamecast had the score backwards.

Looks like there might be enough of us online to carry a decent chat if you guys want to: http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/chat/flashchat.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39912000/jpg/_39912100_lost_in_space_pa.jpg

Bonderman has thrown 53 pitches already (thru 3).

Also, apparently we might be done getting hits for the day.

And that's why Omar should be playing everyday.

Just coming in to say essentially the same thing.

The Yankees are running all day on Pudge.

WTF is going on?

Fuck a Neifi.

We've become a softball team.

HR or nothing, zero manufacturing of runs.

These guys appear to be just swinging for the fences.

Frustrating as hell.

I bet it's a three pack day for Leyland.

So when did Jeremy Bonderman decide his role model was Jeff Weaver? Yeah I get the team isn't hitting or producing runs but he has been a lot less than Ace material the last 10 starts or so. Hell even the Gambler got his shit together, not Bondo he is sliding fast. Bonderman has done little to help this team get back or stay on track, I am very disappointed because it reminds me of Weaver, every time you need the guy or think he turned a corner he proves that he isn't number 1 material.

Has Neifi done a god-damn single thing since joining the Tigers? What else does Infante need to do to prove himself?

Neifi Perez is the Michael Curry of the Tigers.

I bet it's a three pack day for Leyland.


DETROIT MANAGER JIM LEYLAND HAS BEEN EJECTED BY HOME PLATE UMPIRE JAMES HOYE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTH INNING FOR ARGUING BALLS AND STRIKES.

Make that four.

The Twins are currently putting away the Royals, so at the end of the day, we'll have a 5 game lead on the next highest wildcard race leader.

MARCUS THAMES! HOLY SHIT!

OPPOSITE FIELD! ONLY HIS 2ND!

I assume that Rivera is warming up, no?

Mo time.

Game over. :(

SAVE US INGE!

Panic at the Disco time fellas

Neifi Perez is my anti-Tiger[smilie=wtf.gif]

Panic at the Disco time fellas

Neifi Perez is my anti-Tiger[smilie=wtf.gif]

Not quite. The Sox lost to the Devil Rays today. Whew!

I'd rather lose two of three to the Yankees on the road than to the Ray or Royals at home.

That's for sure.

not panic time.

we're through the rough stretch (atleast the worst of it).

my guess, when its all said and done, twins/sox will be kicking themselves for not picking up more ground on us over the last month. even though we didnt exactly prove anything over august, we still have a nice cussion. plus, our schedule is pretty forgiving from here on out.

plus, maglio has had some big hits in two games in a row now. any chance hes getting it back together? if he rounds back into shape, that should be a big enough boost to keep us #1.

like i've said, we're fine as long as the pitching holds together. if the pitching falls out, it wont matter if all our batters come alive, we wouldnt have a chance to out slug a yankees, or even a chisox team.

ps: glenn, as far as i remember, we've always been a "softball team". i remember we'd always score all our runs in 1 or 2 innings. maybe im off on that one though.