It’s not quite in the books yet, but the Tigers would not only have to have a monumental collapse in their last ten games against some pretty bad teams, but the White Sox would also have to win almost all of their remaining games. Their magic number for the Wild Card is now five.
Jeremy Bonderman had his second straight quality start and Joel Zumaya appeared to be back to his old self. And the Tigers bats go it done against the best White Sox starter in the second half. Ivan Rodriguez led the way with two RBIs and a homerun.
The big inning was the White Sox second. Bonderman walked Paul Konerko and then Bonderman miffed a slow grounder that put runners at first and second. After a visit to the mound from Jim Leyland, Bonderman got Joe Crede to ground into a double play and then Ryan Sweeney flew out to end the inning with no damage.
The Twins came back to beat the Red Sox so they still sit just a half game behind the Tigers. They have one more game against Boston before they play the Orioles after we leave town.
Now the Tigers shoot over to Baltimore for a makeup game before they head over to Kansas City for a three game series. If the Tigers get the job done this weekend, they could wrap up that playoff spot by Sunday.
I missed the second inning, but I thought the strikeout of Thome in the sixth (when he was the tying run at the plate) was pretty big, too. Then, keeping his focus and getting Konerko to boot seems like a sign of some maturing as well.
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[…] In what was arguably the biggest series of the season the Detroit Tigers took the rubber game in the series against the Chicago White Sox. Jeremy Bonderman pitched a solid game and Pudge Rodriguez had a great game at the plate. […]
--Posted by » Tigers Win Second Straight Series on September 21st, 2006 at 4:55 am