Tough loss last night.  Welcome to the big leagues, Andrew Miller.  In his defense, Justin Verlander was hardly awesome in his couple of starts last year for the Tigers so we shouldn’t expect too much from the college star.  You would have thought that the Yankees game he pitched in was higher pressure, but maybe this big series had him rattled.

Mike Maroth pitched two solid innings to close out the game.  Granted it was mop up time at that point but it was still nice to see him get some work in. 

Hosting problems took down Tigerblog for most of the day and night yesterday.  I apologize and I’ve been told that while there may be more outages, most of the problems should be fixed by Monday.

It’s Nate Robertson going up against Boof Bonser this evening.  Robertson has bounced back with two solid starts after a horrible one against the White Sox.  Hopefully he’ll be able to keep things going.  The last time he didn’t throw at least six innings was June 11 and he’s only had one start this season where he went less then five innings.

Here’s one thing I noticed when looking at the Tigers stats.  Jeremy Bonderman has only given up 14 homeruns in 186 innings.  That’s very solid.  He should also have his first 200 strikeout season by year end.

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Man, this game seemed big.  At the end of the day, we might look back at it and say it wasn’t as important as we thought but the perception of this series is that every game is critical.  The good news is, the Tigers took game one so regardless of what happens the rest of the weekend, the Tigers will still have the lead come Sunday.

Since August 27, Curtis Granderson has gone 12 for 43.  While that in and of itself isn’t all that special (.279), Granderson has scored nine runs in those eleven games.  It’s nice to see Granderson is now at least doing okay rather then horrible like he did through most of August.  And he got the Tigers started yesterday with a lead off homerun.

Justin Verlander was awesome.  He didn’t give up a run until his final inning in the seventh.  I still think Johan Santana is going to win the Cy Young, but Verlander could find himself getting some votes.  And at this point, he should be a lock for Rookie of the Year.

Four Tigers homered yesterday.  I already talked about Curtis Granderson but Marcus Thames, Ivan Rodriguez and Omar Infante all went yard as well.  Omar Infante has now lifted his batting average up to .290 after three hits last night.

The Tigers turned three double plays yesterday and Verlander picked off Luis Castillo so even though the Twins were getting on base, they weren’t there for long.

Tonight’s matchup is Wil Ledezma against Matt Garza.  Garza has had some good starts and some bad starts since being called up to replace Francisco Liriano.  His last start was a pasting by the Yankees but prior to that he put together back to back quality starts, but this is a guy we can beat.

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Alright, I’m back.  My wife, son and my niece Tyler all took a trip down to Florida and we spent some time at Walt Disney World.  Had a good time, but now it’s back to reality.

The last time the Tigers won a series was when they won two of three against the Red Sox.  That was August 14-16 so this has been a pretty extended slide.  Since August 18, the Tigers are 6-13.  This week, the Tigers dropped two close games to the Mariners.  Today’s game was particularly odd because not only was there a three hour rain delay, but the game went into extra innings. 

Right now, the Twins are beating the Devil Rays 1-0 with plenty of game left.  If they win, the Tigers lead will be down to a mere three games with a huge four game series this weekend against the Twins at the Metrodome.  The White Sox look like they’re going to win so that will leave us with a 4 1/2 game lead for the Wild Card.  Yes, it’s gotten to the point where we’re keeping an eye on the Wild Card again.

Dmitri Young was released today.  After a great July, Young was just as mediocre through out August.  In 20 games and 71 at bats, Young had a .268/.307/.437 line.  That’s pretty bad for a guy who really can’t field a position well.  It’ll be interesting to now see whether Chris Shelton will make the playoff roster after this move.

Mike Maroth was taken off the disabled list today.  With Wil Ledezma throwing well, it’ll be interesting to see how Maroth fits in.

The Toledo Mudhens won a one game playoff game on Monday so they’ll squeak into the International League playoffs.   Toledo won the International League championship last year and West Michigan also made the playoffs (for the third straight time).  Erie has hit hard times though.  The Tigers recently fired the entire coaching staff after back to back last place finishes.

Tomorrow we’ll have a battle of rookies.  Justin Verlander will go up against Scott Baker.  Looks like the game will be on ESPN2.

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Alright, I’m pretty annoyed.  I had a nice post all wrapped up despite the fact that I’m on vacation down in Florida.  When I hit the save button, it crapped out and I lost it all.  I tried.  So instead of taking more chances, I’ll probably just get caught when I return from the trip.  Tigers are down 2-1 tonight.  Solid outing by Wil Ledezma. 

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