LA Angels Of Anaheim (70-64) At Detroit Tigers (83-51)

Manager Jim Leyland has avoided comparing his team to former Detroit playoff teams this season. He felt it was too early to talk about the postseason.

When September rolls around, he said, that's when games would start to mean more. If the Tigers are five games ahead or behind for the American League Central, at that point, then they're in the hunt.

Well, the Tigers are 4 1/2 games ahead of the White Sox for first place in their division. So, for the Tigers, the playoff chase starts on Friday against the Angels.

So if it's crunch time, things need to change in Detroit. The Tigers came one strike away from being swept in New York, instead managing one win on a ninth-inning comeback. They have lost six of their past eight games and were 13-16 in August.

"We haven't been playing that great, but we're still in first place," Jeremy Bonderman said. "We have to figure out a way to come out of our little [funk]. We haven't played well in a while. We have to go home, and we have to figure out a way to win series and take series. Do the little things; just play small baseball like we have all year."

The Tigers had a 10-game lead as of Aug. 7, but the White Sox are now within striking distance and the Twins are just a half-game behind Chicago.

"We need to make it more than mean something," Bonderman said. "We need to go out and perform and find a way to play in October. It's going to be a dogfight. We let these teams back in the race."

Leyland pointed to the offense as the problem. The Tigers scored nine runs in three games against the Yankees. They managed just five hits on Thursday in a 6-4 loss.

"We're going to have to start swinging the bats better if we're going to win," Leyland said. "You can't rely on pitching all the time to get you by. Pitching is obviously the key, but at the same time, your offense has got to break loose some and give your pitchers some leads every once in a while. We haven't done very well that way."

The Tigers can expect good pitching again as Kenny Rogers takes the hill opposite the Angels' Ervin Santana.

"This team is very strong and very positive, so we have to just play this last month of the season hard and see what happens," Ivan Rodriguez said. "I think we're OK. We have to continue to play hard. It's not over yet."

Actually, in the Tigers' mind, the stretch run is just beginning.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060831&content_id=1638493&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det


Pitching matchup

LAA: RHP Ervin Santana (13-6, 4.34 ERA)

Santana was hittable in his last start but gave the Angels just enough to earn his career-best 13th victory. The right-hander allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits and three walks against the Yankees. The victory was only Santana's second in his last seven starts.

DET: LHP Kenny Rogers (14-6, 4.02 ERA)

From a personal standpoint, Rogers has won each of his last three starts. Teamwise, the 41-year-old left-hander has been the rock of the Tigers' otherwise struggling rotation this month. His seven innings of one-run ball Sunday at Cleveland marked Detroit's first quality start since his seven scoreless innings last week against the White Sox five days earlier. He has allowed three earned runs total over his last four starts.

I, for one, am glad that August was over. That was fucking brutal.

It'd be nice if we can somehow put that behind us and go on a winning streak here.

My cable has been cut off, so I'm stuck with the old geezers on radio. :(

Craig Monroe = money and a half

Carlos Guillen is fucking pimp.

If today's game wasn't good enough for Jim Leyland to make Infante the everyday Second Baseman, then I don't think anything ever will.

Omar Infante is a fucking machine. Who here wanted to trade Infante, who is a 24-25 year old 2nd basemen with some pop?

isnt he a FA after this season? if he is, im sure he'll find a starting job. he was/is a pretty hot prospect. has been for a while now. he must have entered our system back in the deivi cruz era, if i'm not mistaken.

I don't think Infante is a FA after this season.

He's only been in the big leagues for 4 years prior to this season, so he still has another 2 years before he is FA eligible.

Fuck.

i was at the game last night. i'd have to blame leyland for this one? hasnt he figured out by now that todd jones shouldnt pitch 2 innings?

i also thought it was stupid to pinch hit demitri for inge. is there that much of a difference between the 2? we really could have used young to pinch hit later, and we really could have used inge in the lineup later, too.

JV's pitching wasnt throwing as hard as i've seen. when i went to a game he pitched earlier, he was often hitting 97, maybe even higher. tonight, i think he hit 97 twice, and 96 afew more times. is this his arm tiring out, or did hernandez tell him to take something off to gain control? im hoping its the latter. he was awesome tonight, though.

i was at the game last night. i'd have to blame leyland for this one? hasnt he figured out by now that todd jones shouldnt pitch 2 innings?



I can't blame Leyland for the mulitude of errors the tigers committed at the end there. Jimmy can't make Neifi, Carlos, or Santiago throw the ball into Casey's glove, and how was he to know Jones wouldn't go to 2nd on that pop-up bunt, or that Grandy and Maggs would come up short on catchable balls.

yea, those were all out of leylands hands. but that still doesnt excuse him for bringing jones back in. its not like our bullpen was thin, either.

oh well. these are the games that suck to lose, going down the stretch.

if i were in charge, i'd skoot granderson to the 9th spot, and put carlos guillen at first in the order. guillen is maybe our best at working a count. i'd like to see him set the tone, rather than have granderson start the game with a quick strikeout.

I'd assume Guillen is out for a few games to a week or two, diddy. But I don't know the official story.

Damn you, Todd Jones. Bump a certain article?

Jones pitched great.

the way guillen walked off the field, i wouldnt be too concerned. i bet he'd play today if we really needed him.

Damn you, Todd Jones. Bump a certain article?

He blows his 1st save in over three months and you're pulling the panic button again?

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously. Chill out. The Tigers committed two fucking errors that extended the 9th and 10th innings. You can't point your finger at one person for this loss.

if i were in charge, i'd skoot granderson to the 9th spot, and put carlos guillen at first in the order. guillen is maybe our best at working a count. i'd like to see him set the tone, rather than have granderson start the game with a quick strikeout.


No.

We need Guillen in the heart because he gets on base and drives in runs.

And Curtis Granderson does work the count. There is a reason why he leads the team in walks. Even though he's slumping with the bat, he can still draw walks.

Yeah, that loss wasn't Jones's fault. Guillen had a shot at the out, and Santiago should've gone to first without hesitation.

I wouldn't mind going after an offensive shortstop(with D) in the offseason and putting Guillen at 1st base.

The errors, man. The errors.

I wouldn't mind going after an offensive shortstop(with D) in the offseason and putting Guillen at 1st base.

The errors, man. The errors.

That's not a horrible idea by any means.

I'm knocking on wood as I say it because it's only the 3rd but Ledezma's starting to look pretty filthy again this year. Some may forget but he was projected as a solid, solid number 3, borderline number 2 guy just a couple years ago. If he's finally putting it all together, the abundance of riches we had just gets richer: Verlander, Bonderman, Zumaya, Rogers, Robertson, Maroth, Minor, Sanchez, Miller, Ledezma: Wow. That'll be DD's next big challenge, working a trade to bring in a big bat.

(Edit, next pitch he serves up a homer to Vlad....Oh well.)

Damn. Monroe threw out at home. :(

1-0 Tigers! :)

Fucking Vlad. Man is incredible.

http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/albums/images/bush/normal_panic_button.gif

chisox and twins lost today, too. so we're still ok. but you cant back into the playoffs two months early. fuck.

like i've been saying, its still pitching. our era in august was 2nd best in mlb at under 3.7 per. but our runs scored was under 3.5.

i'll take a batting slump over a pitching slump anyday, but fuck. our batters need to grow some nads. the twins repositioned santana to face us again. at this point, i'd rather face another team's ace rather than their 5th guy. i'd rather make an allstar look like an allstar than a rookie look like an allstar.

while im rambling, im officially off the "this might be our one and only year" line of thought. our farmsystem is rediculously promising. were golden. even if we blowout verlander's arm, i'd still be optimistic about our team long term. so even if we miss the playoffs, im cool with the tigers. we'll have more than one chance at a world series.