First off, it’s been another busy weekend and I never got a chance to plug a roundtable discussion I took part in with Billfer, Lee Panas and Geoff Young over at Ducksnorts prior to the series. It was a pretty good discussion so be sure to check it out. The most important part was where I was the deciding vote between Johnny Grubb and Ruppert Jones.
Todd Jones took a ball off his leg today and he stayed in to pick up his fourteenth save of the season. He didn’t even use one of the two runs the Tigers gave him so he was really locked in. Joel Zumaya made his second appearance of the season and he gave up two hits, a walk and a run in one inning. And what about Justin Verlander. He walked five but struck out a season high ten batters in just 5 1/3 innings. The win pushes his record to 4-9.
Magglio Ordonez and Ivan Rodriguez both went yard in this one. Ordonez drove in three while Edgar Renteria singled, drew a walk and scored twice. Pudge was a perfect two for two with two walks. It was the first time Pudge drew two walks in the same game this year and the last time he did was last August.
The Tigers have now won four straight series and they’ve won 10 of their last 12 games. The White Sox play tonight but at worst, the Tigers will be six games back. Unfortunately, the Twins have caught fire too and they’ve won six straight and they lead the Tigers by three games in the loss column.Â
Next up are the Cardinals after an off day tomorrow. There’s going to be a lot of stuff going on with regard to the 1968 World Series and this is a good time to push Sock It To ‘Em TIgers, which was a collaborative effort between the Mayo Smith Society and SABR. It’s a pretty definitive guide to the 1968 Tigers and it includes bios on everybody who got an at bat with the Tigers that season. My contributions were bios for Les Cain and Wayne Comer, and while both are lesser known players, both had a very interesting story. I’m working on something similar for a book on the 1984 Tigers set for release next year and my player is catcher Dwight Lowry.