“What did you think…I would do at this moment…?”

Okay, so it’s maybe not like THAT, but last night marked the culmination of what I have predicted and dreaded for months now. Last September, one dream died in Cleveland. Last night, a different kind of dream died, again in Cleveland. It’s 2:30 in the morning as I type this, but I feel that I’ve gotta say my piece now, and hopefully I won’t say something I’ll regret later (on account of it sounding mean, melodramatic, or cheesy). As a result, this’ll be a rather disorganized tribute/vent cuz I’ll probably type stuff as it enters my mind. Also, bear in mind that I had some of this content dreamed up back when I thought Pudge would be gone at the end of the ’07 season, so I did NOT come up with it all right now. Hence the length.

That lightsaber battle I mentioned after the Verlander complete game? It’s happened. Obi-Wan Kenobi has sacrificed himself so that the Rebel Alliance can have a chance at destroying the Death Star (And the whole “Evil Empire” irony is not lost on me, but it’s not one that fits this particular scenario, so I’m going to ignore it). The part that really, really sucks is that this all came about cuz no one wanted Brandon Inge.  It would be like me losing my job because one of my lesser-paid co-workers couldn’t find another place of employment. I’m not blaming Brandon. Really, I’m not. I like Brandon, but if he’s gonna catch, he’s never gonna live up to the standards I have set for the position, cuz those standards get set by whomever I first observe, and, well, when the first one I observe is a future Hall-of-Famer, those standards are gonna be set pretty high. So it’s extremely likely that because of that, I’m probably gonna be rather critical towards Inge, even though I don’t really want to be. I’m just warning you. He certainly had a baptism through fire last night, though, didn’t he? Methinks the baseball gods were a little bit angry.

You should know that I’m not at all shocked that Pudge got traded. I’ve been predicting it for months. Hell, I didn’t even think they would pick the option up on his contract in the first place. However, ever since that happened, we’ve kinda been on the road to this point: The Cabrera/Willis deal, the revelation that Willis and Pudge were at one point supposed to go to the Mets, the non-trade of Brandon Inge, Dave Dombrowski’s subsequent “plan” to have Inge catch more, the awful start the Tigers got off to, Inge’s acceptance of catching, and finally the platoon. I had basically reached the point where I was just grasping at straws and hoping I was wrong. I wasn’t, but it doesn’t make it any easier. It’s like when you know someone has a terminal illness, but somehow you’re still kinda caught off-guard when they finally do die. Granted, this is several notches down on the emotional scale from that, but it’s the same kind of reaction. I do, however, feel worse than I do when my favorite team gets eliminated on any given season of The Amazing Race.

And then there are the completely selfish gripes. As bad as the trade itself was, I was unlucky enough to find out about it in the midst of, and at the same time as, a completely unsympathetic Tigers fan of a pharmacist. Ross, who apparently doesn’t care much for Pudge but never really gave me much of a reason for it, was mostly disappointed that the Tigers *only* got Kyle Farnsworth in return (And in terms of value, I totally agree with Ross. Pudge is worth at least Joba Chamberlain, if not more). I’ve always been very guarded about my opinions about any of the players, so Ross likely does not know how fond I am of Pudge. When I raised my objections over the trade itself, Ross said, “He wasn’t playing very well.” Dude, he was hitting .295. What more do you want? I just tried to remind him of where the Tigers were as a team back when Pudge first signed in 2004 and how nobody wanted to come to Detroit. He agreed with me on that point, but he definitely wasn’t sold on the idea, although in the past, I’ve said stuff that he’s initially disagreed with only to admit I was right later on. One can only hope this is one of those times (This marks one of the few occasions where I wish Dave were still around. He’s not a Tigers fan, but I think he’d be on my side in this matter). As for my other selfish gripe, well, I think you know what it is, but I’ll build up to it anyways. Not many of you may know this, but I was born ten days late. For once, I kinda wish I had been born on time. Or earlier. Because if that had been the case, I would have had tickets to an earlier home game and NOT August 9^th. Now I know there is a disadvantage to having one’s birthday AFTER the Trade Deadline. Oh, I’ll still go. And I’ll still enjoy myself. Just…not quite as much (By the way, my dad’s friend the Yankees fan will be there with us, and he’ll probably be much more sympathetic than Ross).

By the way, that sense of urgency? It’s gone. If you thought I was even-keel before, I’m probably gonna be even moreso now. Because Pudge was the ticking clock. I dearly wanted the Tigers to win a World Series with him as the starting catcher. Now that that won’t happen, there’s no ticking clock anymore. The Tigers last won the World Series when I was a year old. Obviously, I don’t remember that. I barely remember the last time they had a winning season prior to 2006, and I’ve just begun to be acclimated to them being a “good” team. I went through so many years of losing seasons that it’s not that much of a stretch for me to be able to wait “one more year.” Do I still want the Tigers to make the playoffs? Yes. But it’s no longer the end of the world if they don’t. There’s always next year. And the year after that. And five years from now. By the way, I find it interesting to point out that when I was a kid, my favorite Tiger was Cecil Fielder. He hit 51 home runs for the Tigers one year, but then in 1996, he was traded to, of all places, New York. Geez, no wonder I think of the Yankees as my second favorite team. My favorite players keep getting traded there.

And now for a bit of mushy stuff. I’ve already explained my reasoning behind what first got my attention towards Pudge and what kept it there, so I’m not going to rehash it. For the most part. One thing that I appreciated is that unlike the other trades I have been witness to (Mike Maroth, Craig Monroe, Jason Grilli), Pudge was given one final interview. And it was a very nice one. He was very complimentary, very professional, and very classy, something even I never thought I’d say about him. By the way, if you want to read a much more organized and thorough tribute, Jason Beck’s got a decent one up on the Tigers website. In scientific terms, a “catalyst” is something which speeds up a reaction but is not part of the final product. With that in mind, one could argue that Pudge is truly a catalyst. He helped start the transformation of a team that lost 119 games into a perennial contender. But he will not be there to see the journey’s end, whenever that may be. However, I think he’s made an impact on this team that will last far beyond his tenure. He opened the door for guys like Magglio and Kenny Rogers by giving Detroit back a little credibility. He helped mold young guns like Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, and Joel Zumaya into some of the best pitchers in all of baseball (and in that sense, his influence will still be here for a long time to come). And he was a big part of one magical season two years ago that restored respect and dignity to the Detroit Tigers. And for all that, I thank him and he will be missed (and…I hope he still kicks ass and that the Tigers make the postseason in spite of the trade and not because of it).

So what happens now? Well, I think it’s time for me to take a break from this for a little while. It’s something that I’ve been kinda thinking about for quite some time now, ever since I realized that sometimes, I just don’t have a lot to say about a certain game (you’ve probably already picked up on certain days where I really was searching for at least three sentences about the pitching or the offense or whatnot) but up until now I’ve been reluctant to skip a post. Am I still a diehard, true-blue Tigers fan? You bet. Am I still going to watch the games? Absolutely, although with all due respect, I’ll probably skip the Labor Day game. I’m sure you’ll understand. The Total Amateur Analysis will be back soon enough, just on a part-time basis. This time, I’ll probably only comment on games where I have something substantial to say. And besides, who knows? Something may happen in today’s game that I want to talk about, so this break may not last all that long. It just depends. Also, starting sometime around August 9^th (It may be the 10^th, due to the game), the Total Amateur Analysis will shift into Olympic mode for a couple weeks, so the reports will be on either Olympics, baseball, both, or neither, depending on the day. In the meantime (and by “break,” I might mean just a week or so), I might drop in with just everyday personal stuff, or I might gripe some more. By the way, I’m sticking with the profile picture of Pudge for the next few days, at least. I’m not quite ready to hand the reins over to Verlander just yet.

This is the Total Amateur Analysis signing off…for now. I’ll be back soon. I promise.

So…why do I feel like we lost? I don’t really have any particular reason to feel that way. Galarraga obviously wasn’t as sharp as he had been in KC (and it was evident from the get-go, cuz even though he retired nine in a row to start the game, they made him throw a lot of pitches to do it), but he pitched well enough to win. The bullpen gutted their way through it, but they need to not walk people, especially Rodney. If he’s gonna be a successful closer, he needs to throw more strikes and not fall behind hitters. Maybe it’s just that I keep thinking of that game last year when the Tigers went into the bottom of the ninth up by four in an absolute slugfest and proceeded to give up five runs.

At least the Tigers offense was able to get to Matt Ginter and the Cleveland bullpen. It had been a while since Miguel Cabrera had homered, especially considering the fact that he’s hit quite a few against Cleveland this year. It’s also nice to see Edgar Renteria get some extra-base hits for once, but he’s hit Cleveland pretty well this year too. Gary Sheffield broke out of it a bit. Brandon Inge also had a big night, and while it would be all too easy for me to unleash my petty and immature side, I’ll take the high road and point out that that is what Inge is capable of when he’s not taking the huge swings. By the way, there is a new sponsorship segment (joining the likes of the “Coors Light Freeze Cam” and the “Firestone Leaderboard”) called the “Fruit of the Loom Feel for the Game.” I want it to go away. Now only does Fruit of the Loom make really stupid commercials that I’m sick of, but the name of this segment makes me think of underwear, which I don’t really want to think of during a baseball game. One of the broadcasters joked that they should rename the segment “Tidy Whitey Time.” On a completely unrelated note, John Lackey of the Angels almost pitched a no-hitter at Fenway Park last night. They interviewed him on the FSN Final Score show and, dear God, Lackey really, really sounds like Dudley Do-Right.

Tonight is probably the biggest test of the series, cuz we got stuck going up against Cliff Lee, who continues to have a really good year. The Tigers have some guys in their lineup who have hit him well in the past (Maggs and Pudge in particular), but that may not matter with the way he’s been pitching. He’s already beaten the Tigers once this year (Yeah, that game sucked in more ways than one). Nate Robertson is coming off a reasonably good start in which he got a no-decision. And he’s probably elated, as we all are, that Casey Blake is now with the Dodgers, cuz he pummeled Tigers pitching and Robertson in particular. According to Leyland’s plans, this’ll be Pudge’s last time catching before the Trade Deadline, so keep that in mind. Brandon Inge will play third base, which is where he belongs, and Curtis Granderson *might* get the night off. As for me, I work tonight. And tomorrow night. And Friday night. Sigh.

Short entry today, as I don’t have a whole lot of creative things to say. This was one of those losses that kinda felt inevitable, like it was bound to happen no matter what. Even Leyland wasn’t in a bad mood after the game. Kenny Rogers wasn’t bad up until the sixth inning, when he left a couple balls up and paid for it. I can’t really comment on Aquilino Lopez, other than to say he must’ve had some really short innings because I would step out of the room during the commercial and when I came back, it would be the top half of the following inning.

As for the offense, well, it seems that Paul Byrd’s history against the Tigers won out over what he had been doing recently against other teams. And it seemed that the few times the Tigers hit the ball hard, it was right at someone, usually Guitierrez. Magglio hit a ball to the warning track, Miguel Cabrera hit one to the wall, and Pudge hit two balls well and wasn’t rewarded either time (the second time he was flat-out robbed). Matt Joyce also had a lineout.

Well, it’ll be up to Armando Galarraga to continue pitching well against the Indians, as he has in his two previous starts against them. You can’t get much better than his last start in KC, but he’s gonna have to turn in another great performance. He’ll be up against Matt Ginter, who apparently played for the Tigers at one time but has never started against them (he’s only appeared against them in relief). His first two starts for the Indians have been very good. Also, than damn catching platoon is back, if one were to believe the game preview on the website today. Now, as much as I hate the platoon, it’s something I could live with for the next two weeks if it were to guarantee Pudge catching on August 9^th. However, since Leyland is implementing the platoon tonight and not last night, that would make Brandon Inge the starting catcher on the 9^th, so right now, the platoon is not my friend. I can only pray that this is a very temporary move.

I did say a loss would not be disastrous, and I’m sticking to that, but 6 ½ games IS a lot better than 8 ½ games. Zach Miner was very good, and he didn’t walk anybody, which was the best part. Zumaya was good in the seventh before having to leave in the eighth with “triceps tightness.” I have no clue how long that’s gonna keep him out. And I suppose you’re wondering about my take on Fernando Rodney taking over the closing duties. I really don’t have one, seeing as how the unspoken plan was always for Zumaya at least to start taking on some closing opportunities as the season progressed, and as much as I was looking forward to that, I was kinda hoping it would happen through the natural order of things, rather than because Todd Jones was pitching badly. My only other observation is that Rodney throw a LOT of pitches yesterday. He faced three batters in the ninth, ended up with a full count on all of them, and caught a break when they all swung at ball four.

Well, Granderson, Thames, and Cabrera were the big offensive heroes of the day. It had been a while since I’d seen Granderson homer. Marcus Thames was in a little mini-skid, but the strange thing about him is that he never seems to gradually work out of it by starting off with infield singles and bloop base hits. He just hits home runs. Miguel Cabrera is once again the AL Player of the Week. Pudge, meanwhile, had a 4-for-4 game but that pretty much went unnoticed, although he did score a run.

Well, I brought this up before the homestand, but the Tigers are STILL mirroring their second-half performance from last year. There was the road trip featuring the four-game split and the three-game sweep, following by the homestand where they lost two of three. Now it’s time for another road trip, and they’ve gotta do better than they did on last year’s corresponding road trip. On that road trip, they lost three of five in Chicago, got swept in Anaheim, and lost two of three in Oakland. This year, the road trip begins with a four-game series in Cleveland. Cuz what we wanted was FOUR DAYS of That F**king Drum. Obviously this is gonna diverge a little bit from last year, as this is a four-game set and not five, but that fifth game was a makeup game from earlier in the year. If you take away the makeup game, the Tigers would’ve earned a split in that series, which is actually what you want on the road, but the Tigers are in a position where it would behoove them to do better than that. It’s gonna be extremely difficult in a couple of ways: 1) I don’t like Cleveland, but even I’ll admit that they’re a much better team than how they’ve played this year, and that could show up at any time; 2) They’ve been playing a lot better recently, especially at home; 3) I caught part of one game that they played in Detroit earlier this month from the viewpoint of the Cleveland broadcasters, and their tone implied that the Indians’ mission is to take the Tigers down with them. Tonight’s being billed as “the matchup of crafty veterans.” That would be Kenny Rogers and Paul Byrd. Kenny looked real good in Kansas City and probably would’ve gone seven if not eight innings were it not for the rain. He can be mixed when it comes to Cleveland, though. It depends on how patient the Indians are. Paul Byrd has some ugly numbers this year, but in his two starts against the Tigers this season, he’s pitched real well. The only reason he didn’t win the last one was because the bullpen imploded. Still, it would behoove the Tigers to win tonight, both because it would set a good tone and because of the pitching that awaits them later in the series.

When it comes down to it, the White Sox remain a thorn in Justin Verlander’s side and with one victory against them already this year, that’s probably all you could hope to ask for without sounding unreasonable. Chicago had a Boston-esque approach to him. They fouled off a lot of two-strike pitches and they wore him down until he made a mistake (at least Jermaine Dye’s home run went in the right direction this time). The bullpen did a pretty nice job, though.

I guess you could say it was a frustrating night offensively, cuz late in the game, they had the tying run in scoring position several times (usually with two out), and whoever was at the plate had a nice long at-bat only to strike out on a full count pitch. Even Polanco struck out. How does THAT happen? It also happened to Guillen earlier against Octavio Dotel. Speaking of which, Ozzie Guillen looked horrible in that Chicago American Giants uniform. The first time he came out to make a pitching change, he had the pantlegs pulled up in the traditional style and looked really bad. The second time he came out, he had the pants long, but that didn’t look much better (Besides, as I’ve said before, the pants on the Stars/American Giants uniforms are so baggy you kinda have to wear them up, otherwise it looks real weird. Even Cabrera looked okay, although the logos on the middle of the socks kinda detracted from the “vintage” vibe the teams were trying to go for. However, the Tigers pitchers were suffering from a serious case of uneven pantlegs).

Well, today it is Zach Miner’s turn to try to slow down the White Sox. A loss today is not season-killing by any means, but it would certainly suck. He needs to do the same thing he did in Kansas City: throw strikes, keep the ball down, and not walk people. The Tigers beat Javier Vazquez the last time they saw him, but he had beaten them the five times previous to that, so you can’t count on that. This is gonna be a grind. After having the night off with no explanation offered (and subsequently making the Negro League game a little less fun, even before the loss), I would hope Pudge would be back in. Something tells me that Leyland wants to go back to the platoon, which I don’t want, especially since his days as a Tiger could be down to single digits, despite what Dave Dombrowski says. Geez, August 1 can’t come fast enough.

In Other News: We have bats in our chimney. Well, technically, they could just as easily be chimney swifts (as we haven’t seen them), but it’s more fun to think that they’re bats. They can’t get in the house cuz the fireplace damper is closed, but we can definitely hear them. Last night when Jermaine Dye stepped to the plate for the first time, not only was he greeted with boos at Comerica Park, but there was an absolute racket coming from the fireplace as well. So…apparently the bats don’t like Jermaine Dye. Or Nick Swisher, for that matter.

Yes, it’s unfathomably early. I’ve been roped into opening today, so this’ll be a short post. I had a feeling once the White Sox got to Zumaya and rallied to tie things up in the seventh that this wasn’t gonna be easy, and I said several times to my dad, “Todd Jones is gonna have to earn this save.” Well, he didn’t. This is frustrating in a couple of ways: 1) I did not know Jermaine Dye had that kind of opposite-field power, and 2) Todd Jones really wasn’t pitching that badly up till that point. Carlos Quentin’s single wasn’t hit all that hard. Polanco just couldn’t get to it. I know that last year, someone from Chicago hit a home run off Todd Jones at one of the games I went to, and I can’t help but think that it was Jermaine Dye (He hit a home run in that game, but I can’t remember for sure if it was off Todd Jones or Andrew Miller cuz there were three home runs hit in that game: Dye, Uribe hit a grand slam, and then there was another right-handed hitter but I can’t remember who it was…Josh Fields, maybe?). That one went out to left field, though. Speaking of last year, there were several games last year where the Tigers would lead for most of the game only to have the White Sox come back very late and win, so this is nothing new.

As far as offense goes, the Tigers took advantage of a couple mistakes by the White Sox. But they’ve been pretty good at doing that all year. Magglio had the best night of anyone with three hits. Cabrera had two. Everyone else had one except for Matt Joyce, who didn’t have any. Pudge had a single in his first at-bat, but it kinda went downhill for him after that, what with the double play, the passed ball, and the throwing error (so, when you include Orlando Cabrera, there were a couple of Gold Glove defenders who made errors). However, the shoes were awesome.

Well, tonight you got Justin Verlander facing lefty Jon Danks. Verlander has been real good recently, but can he handle his personal nemesis again? Jon Danks had an ERA of under three right up until his last start, when the Royals got to him, but the Tigers haven’t seen him since last year, so they may be a little rusty. This is also that Negro Leagues game where they wear the throwback uniforms, and that’s always entertaining. It’s also the third year in a row that Verlander pitches that game, and as much as I love Justin and as much as it’s good that he pitches after a loss, I am kinda curious as to how the other guys look in that uniform (I would imagine not so great, but it’s all in fun).

When I had to leave for work, it was the top of the seventh inning. I probably don’t need to tell you that those five hours were really crawling by. As it turns out, the perfect game ended almost as soon as I was out of earshot. And I’m not surprised that David DeJesus was the one who ended it. He hit the ball hard to start off the game (right to Renteria), and I believe he worked the count full at least twice, including the at-bat in which he got a hit. Still, it was a marvelous performance from Galarraga.

Truth be told, Zack Greinke did not pitch that badly. He just ran into some bad luck early, partially due to the fact that pop-ups and ground balls kept finding holes and partially due to the fact that Galarraga was pitching so well. Luckily, it was enough that the Tigers were able to take advantage. It seems they’ve once again figured out how to hit in Kansas City. Miguel Cabrera sure had a big series, cuz all of a sudden, he’s in the top five in RBIs. However, has anyone else noticed that Matt Joyce has been swinging at a lot of elevated fastballs lately, and consequently popping the ball up? Then again, the FSN Kansas City broadcasters seem to think that Joyce is absolutely mashing Royals pitching.

Well, tonight it’s time for a really short but really big homestand. With the White Sox in town, the Tigers could really gain some ground in the race, or they could make things much, much harder. They did sweep them back in June, but still, the White Sox have been very tough for the Tigers to beat in recent years. Nate Robertson needs a good outing after what happened in Baltimore. He’s been mixed against Chicago this year. Meanwhile, the Tigers will see Gavin Floyd for the first time since early April, when he almost no-hit them. Granted, things are different now, but in his brief career, the Tigers have seldom had an answer for Floyd. Also, it’s worth noting that so far, this year’s second half is progressing exactly the way last year’s did: A road trip featuring a four game split followed by a three-game sweep. The similarity must end now, because last year, that road trip was followed by a three-game homestand where the Tigers lost two of three and things kinda went downhill from there. By the way, the Tigers’ broadcast sponsors on FSN seem to think that I am a beer-drinking Republican man with erectile dysfunction, and frankly, I’m getting tired of it.

I was almost ready to give up on this one, actually. Not because of the score, but because of the extensive rain delay programming. I mean, they eventually had to resort to some show about martial arts experts being able to hit each other with swords and leave no damage. I kept checking the radar, and at no point did the rain shower even look that big. It was like it just…expanded as it reached Kansas City. It’s a shame the rain lasted so long cuz Kenny Rogers was pitching very well. He just couldn’t figure out Mark Grudzielanek, but that’s been a constant throughout their history (By the way, I hate using pictures of Kenny Rogers cuz he tends to make really dumb faces as he pitches, but the yields were a little low today). And it turned out okay cuz Rodney and Zumaya both pitched well, for the most part.

The offense was obviously not as charged up as it had been the night before, but it didn’t need to be, and they still did well. Polanco provided an unusual source of power, and while they didn’t get a whole lot off of Kyle Davies, they battled and got his pitch count up real quickly. And they did that with the other pitchers KC brought out. Even the guys who didn’t do a whole lot in terms of hits had some good at-bats. Guillen only had one hit, but he had two walks and one of them was the end result of a twelve-pitch at-bat. Likewise, Pudge only had one hit, but he also had an eight pitch at-bat and a six pitch at-bat.

Well, we’ve done what we’ve set out to do: Win this series. But…a sweep would be nice. Armando Galarraga lost his last time out. Now was that the result of a hot Orioles offense or are the scouting reports and exposure to the league starting to get to him? I don’t know. However, he did throw a lot more strikes last time, which was encouraging. He’ll be up against Zack Greinke, who also lost his last time out, but that was against the White Sox, which is the thorn in his side. Apparently he can’t beat the White Sox. Still, he’s been pitching well this year, and he’s pitched especially well against Detroit this year. I’ll only be able to see the early innings cuz I go to work at 4:00, which means a long, five-hour wait until I find out the result.

See what happens when you throw strikes? I did not see a whole lot of Zach Miner as a starter, other than the one game he started in Boston last year that kinda ended in a tough-luck loss, but he looked really good last night. His first several outs were mostly of the fly ball variety, which is a little odd, but they were lazy fly balls, and he got the double-play grounder when he needed it, after which most of the outs were on the ground. He’s definitely earned himself another start. Freddy Dolsi had a good seventh inning, but a real bad eighth. Now, that might have something to do with the lengthy top of the eighth, and hopefully that’s the case. Aquilino Lopez fared better, but still gave up some hard-hit balls for outs, and hopefully that trend stops as well.

Offense was definitely not a problem. In this one game, the Tigers ended up scoring more runs than they had in the first six games combined. Early on, I think the missed double play opportunity and the Jose Guillen error really helped the Tigers get to Luke Hochevar, cuz he was pitching well up to that point. Then later on, Robinson Tejeda couldn’t throw a strike and Jimmy Gobble was even worse. Strangely, the best relief pitcher of the night for the Royals was the shortstop Tony Peña, Jr. Hey, he had a 1-2-3 inning, he was throwing around 90 mph, and he had some sort of breaking ball that he was able to get a called third strike on Pudge with (I think Pudge got caught off-guard more than anything). Speaking of Pudge, he’s now walked enough times that I’m starting to lose count, and that’s probably a good thing. The hitting heroes for last night were Miguel Cabrera with 5 hits and 6 RBIs, and Matt Joyce with 4 hits and 5 RBIs. And Magglio wasn’t even playing. By the way, I noticed that in his middle at-bats, Carlos Guillen still wasn’t wearing batting gloves (and that still looks wrong), but once he turned around to bat right-handed against Gobble, he was wearing them. I’m confused.

Tonight pits Kenny Rogers against Kyle Davies. Kenny was dancing with danger all through his last outing but somehow managed to skirt major damage and go six innings. Granted, it seems as though the Orioles offense is just red-hot right now, cuz they scored eight runs in their game last night (against Toronto, which has some very good pitching). However, Kenny can do better, and he needs to, especially since he hasn’t had much luck against the Royals in the last two years. The Tigers saw Kyle Davies twice last year. The first time was in Interleague play when he was with the Atlanta Braves. He pitched a good game, but the Tigers still won cuz Justin Verlander outpitched him. I know they also saw him at some point after he was traded to Kansas City, but for the life of me, I can’t remember where or which game or what happened or anything like that. Hopefully the offense is still rolling. They are currently 1-1 in games following 19-run performances.

I tell ya, Justin Verlander is just so damn awesome. I asked for him to go seven innings, and he went 8 2/3 in that heat, and he was brilliant. It’s a shame he couldn’t quite get the complete game, but two four-pitch walks in the ninth kinda indicated he was out of gas. Hopefully Todd Jones can get to being a little more efficient than he’s been and not giving up so many bullets, but damn, once again Brandon Inge demonstrates exactly why he should play third base.

The offense wasn’t exactly jumping off the walls like it had been, but the boys did enough to get the job done. Not a whole lot going on with the top of the lineup (the top three hitters combined to go 0-for-12 with three walks, and all three of the walks were from Gary Sheffield), but the middle and bottom of the order made up for the slack. The umpires also made up for their crappy call the night before by getting the Marcus Thames home run call right. By the way, I’ve forgotten to mention this over the past few days, but it seems that the Sympathy Pains were at it again. I’ve felt like my knee was bruised for days now (and although I do have a tendency to ram it into the desk, I haven’t). My back’s been sore as well, but I don’t know what that corresponds to. I also woke up with some sort of stomach virus today. Or something.

Tonight, the Tigers are in KC, and it’s high time they started winning there. This 0-6 record against the Royals is starting to look a little silly, even though they ARE playing a lot better than they have in recent years. The rest of the division doesn’t seem to have that much of a problem with them, although Kansas City did just take two of three from the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. Zach Miner has been tabbed to be the fifth starter. He mostly needs to not walk people, let his sinker work, and get lots of ground balls. The Tigers will take on Luke Hochevar, who has an ERA of over five, and yet he shut them out last time he faced them (I think…if not, then he gave up two runs).