The Tigers game was one of three in the midwest (as well as several minor league games) to get rained out today.  No replacement date has been set.  Too bad the Yankees didn’t have the day off tomorrow like the Tigers or they could have made it up then.  If you want your Tigers fix, head on over to the 1968 Tigers site to see how they’re doing early on.

It’ll be a nice two day break for the Tigers though as they get set for a week long road trip beginning in Kansas City.  Nate Robertson is listed as the expected starter after he missed his start this afternoon so Jim Leyland isn’t going to mess with the rotation.  The red hot Zach Greinke will get the nod for the Royals.

The Tigers finished with a split of their two games with the Yankees.  Friday was a typical Todd Jones nailbiter while yesterdays game was a beatdown that saw Jeremy Bonderman struggle again.  This is his fourth start where he’s walked more then he’s struck out where as last year, he did it just twice all season.  Bobby Seay pitched three scoreless frames but he allowed an inherited runner to score while Francisco Cruceta threw two scoreless innings to close things out.  He struck out two and he’s holding lefthanders to a .100 batting average against (1 fo 10).

It’s nice to see Magglio Ordonez heating up.  After starting the season 11 for 47 with a .234 batting average in his first twelve games, he’s gone 34 for 96 (.354) since.  He’s hitting left handed pitching at a .444 clip so that’s been a help too.  It also seems like as Magglio goes, so does the Tigers.  In their 16 wins, he’s hitting .422/.493/.719 but in their 22 losses, he’s hitting .228/.291/.329.  Also encouraging is he’s hit much better at home (.372/.405/.615) so if he can keep that up, the Tigers might be able to even up that home record when they get back into town.

The Tigers haven’t made an error since Monday when Edgar Renteria made a pair of errors in the Tigers loss to the Red Sox.  Carlos Guillen hasn’t made an error since that disaster of a game against the Twins last Sunday.  I got a few questions about the flip between Guillen and Miguel Cabrera and while I haven’t finished my homework, I did find some interesting things on Bill James Online.  The past two years, Edgar Renteria has been one of the best players at shortstop going to his left (up the middle) but one of the worst going to his right.  Carlos Guillen, while somewhat more mediocre as a fielder, showed more strength going to his right then to his left.  That doesn’t bode well for balls hit between the two because that gap is playing to both fielders’ weakness.  Granted, third is a different play then shortstop so time will tell. 

I’m interested in checking out the Red Sox/Twins game tonight.  It’s still hard to believe that even after a tough week, the Tigers are still just 3 1/2 games back.  A series win this week over the Royals means they’ll head into the Diamondbacks series in fourth place instead of last.  I know that shouldn’t mean much but it hurts that much more seeing the Tigers down there in the cellar.  We got way to used to that prior to 2006.

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