Hey, what do you know.  The Tigers took their weekend series in Minneapolis after some tough times in the stadium earlier this year.  Once again, it was behind another nice game by Curtis Granderson.  In his last eleven gaves, he’s gotten at least one hit in nine and at least three hits in four.  Magglio Ordonez had two more hits as he’s now back in the top five for the batting race but if you’re looking for a momentum play, Granderson could pass him soon at .309.

It wasn’t pretty, but Chris Lambert won his first game.  He gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings.  Fernando Rodney had a less eventful ninth inning that last night and he picked up save number ten. 

Next up is three against the A’s.  Zach Miner will get the nod and he’ll face rookie phenom Gio Gonzalez.  Gio was traded three times before even reaching the major leagues (including a trade from the White Sox one year, back to the White Sox the next and then the following year, he was once again sent out of town).  He’s struggled so far though and he’s 1-3 with a 7.18 ERA.  Still, he has a 27 strikeouts (to go with 22 walks) in 26 1/3 big league innings.

The White Caps lost a tight one last night and they were eliminated from the Midwest League playoffs.  It’s been a busy summer so I haven’t listened to nearly enough minor league games as I’d like but I go to know one guy in particular.  South Bend’s closer, Clay Zavada, had some dominating numbers.  Yeah, he’s older at 24 for Low A ball, but in 35 1/3 innings of relief, he gave up just two runs (0.51 ERA) and only six hits.  That’s a .056 batting average against and when he faced lefties (he’s left handed), he had a .026 batting average against (one hit in twelve innings).  Throw in 54 strikeouts and only five walks and you have a pretty lethal relief pitcher.  I missed the reason why, but he didn’t pitch at all in 2007.  Scratch that, I just found it and now I remember the story.  His father died and he went home to finish school and to take over the family farm.  Looks like he came back strong enough.

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