Dawn is breaking over the altogether lovely in all of its fall splendor Michigan State University as we join you this morning Live, sort of, from the MSU Union, hard by the West Circle dorms, one of which was my home for several years many, many years ago.  It is overcast and it is chilly.  It is also windy.  Very, very windy.  The forecast says we can expect gusts of 50mph as the Spartans host the Wolverines in about three and a half hours.

We had a reader complaint the other day as I was forced to suspend my Twitter/FB coverage of that amazing Tigers win over the Rangers in Game 5 of the American Leauge Championship Series.  The gripe was that I had bailed out in the 8th inning, before the game was over, with the outcome still in some measure of doubt.  I’ll get to the reasons for that in a moment, but I wanted to talk for a moment about that phrase, “some measure of doubt.”  The Tigers, as you recall, scored four in the 6th in that game to snap a 2-2 tie and added another in the 7th for a seemingly safe 7-2 lead.  I had an usher standing next to me (we get kicked out of the Press Box in the post season and watch from an auxiliary press area which normally is the right-field bleachers so fans and ushers and God only knows who else are elbow to elbow with us) and this guy saw Tigers Manager Jim Leyland grimacing on the TV monitor next to me.  ”What’s he worried about?” asked the usher.  ”He’s worried,” I replied, “because he knows that in five pitches he could be tied.”  Which is how baseball works.  Every pitch could be hit out of the park, which means that every pitch represents a potential run.  People, and I fall into this category myself at times, forget this.

This particular game provided an Outstanding Example. I haven’t got my scorecard on me (you travel light when you come to MSU because you have to walk a relatively long way from your car to Spartan Stadium and back) but I think my memory will suffice.  In the top of the 6th, game tied at 2, Texas had the bases loaded with only one out.  You could feel the entire Tigers season slipping away.  Then, as quick as can be, Justin Verlander induced a grounder to third.  Brandon Inge stepped on the bag and fired across the diamond.  Double play and the inning and threat were over, just like that. And the game was still tied, 2-2.

About ten minutes later, the Tigers had not only escaped a potentially series-ending rally, they had scored 4 runs.  Ryan Raburn led off with a single.  Miguel Cabrera then hit a grounder of his own to third.  Given his speed, it was a dead-solid lock that Texas was going to turn an around-the horn rally-killing double play of their own.  At least that was my thought as soon as the ball was hit.  Watching through my binoculars, I saw the ball shoot straight into the air, over the head of the waiting Rangers third baseman and begin to roll towards the left field corner.  ”Total bad hop,” I either said aloud or thought.  Rayburn came all the way around to score and instead of two outs and nobody in a game still tied 2-2, Detroit had the tie breaking run in with a man in scoring position and nobody out.  On the replay I saw the reason for the bad hop.  Cabrera’s routine-as-could-be grounder hit the third base bag.  Total luck, but that’s the game and that’s sometimes what you need.  It sometimes what kills you.  At any rate, six pitches later, Victor Martinez tripled down the line in right, notable because it turned out to be the first triple he had hit all season (in came his 636th Plate Appearance) and now it was 4-2 Detroit.  Two pitches later, Delmon Young homered and Detroit had hit the first natural cycle in all of baseball postseason history–a single, double, triple, and homer by consecutive batters–and the lead was 6-2.  It took 16 pitches.  So in that span, again, only ten minutes or so, the game had turned completely from what looked like a season-ending loss by the Tigers to a game Detroit was now in a great position to win.  Which, although there were still some exciting moments to come, they did.

I would have loved to have been there for all of you right to the thrilling end, but when the games ends, my work begins.  In the regular season, I can stay to the end as all I have to do is walk a hundred feet or so to an elevator which takes me down to the dugouts.  In the playoffs though, I have get from the right field seats all the way to a room under the stands behind home plate.  And to get there, I have to go against the flow.  At the same time 45,000 people are leaving the stadium, I am circling it going in the opposite direction.  If  I don’t leave a little early, I’ll never get there in time.  I’ll miss the interviews, and the interviews are the reason I’m there.  If I miss them, I miss my moment on the national stage.  I miss my chance to ask my question.  Here’s what I mean.  I had the chance, because I left in time to get there, to ask Verlander for his thoughts on Phil Coke, the Tigers pitcher who came out of the bullpen and got a gutty five-out save which he had to get all by himself because the Tigers top relievers had been overworked in each of the two previous games and were, because of that, unavailable to appear in Game 5…

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19897907&topic_id=25501166&c_id=mlb

So, that is why I sometimes have to leave you hanging at the tail end of games.  I have to go to work.

Which is what I have to do right about now.  The Press Box at Spartan Stadium is open, so I think I’ll take my stroll across campus and get set up for the game.  I like to drop off my gear (set up the computer, scan the Game Notes, etc.) and then spend an hour or so walking around near the stadium.  This is my school.  I have friends here.  You never know who you’ll bump into, but without fail, I come across somebody I know.  It’s always fun.

I hope this explains why I may have to leave you hanging again today.  The Media leaves the Press Box with about 5 minutes left in every MSU game and we watch the finish from the sidelines so we are close to the postgame interview area, and again, that’s why I’m here.  To collect to record for posterity the deep thoughts which are sure to follow in the wake of today’s Epic Battle.

Ok. in Press Box.  Have posted TweetPic here.

I’m going off in search of food.  No Press Box freebies in Spartan Stadium, which is okay, but I will note the spreads at Ohio Stadium and Notre Dame Stadium were terrific.  Just sayin.  But, with the governor of this state cutting funding for colleges (he wants to eliminate all state funding for both of the schools playing here this afternoon–effectively rendering each a private school)–you have to cut back. So I can live with it.

For a noon game, I must say that many attending today’s contest are impressively faced.

MSU has taken the field in their new-look uniform.  The referee just referred to MSU has the “gold” side.  I think they look awful, but the kids like ‘em so let’s see if it helps them play better.  The Spartans have the #1 defense in all of college football, including the #1 defense against the run.  Which is important.  The team with the most rush yards has won 38 of the last 41 UM/MSU games.

TD UM. Robinson-should hve been tack in backfld got away for 15y TD run. M ran for 65 y on 10p/80y drive, lead 7-0. 8:50 1st

UM went right down the field and ran for 65 yards on 8 rush attempts against that #1 in the nation rush defense of MSU.  On the TD, Denard Robinson should have been tackled for a loss, but he got away and when that happens, look out.  I think he’s the finest open-field man in the game today.  The Wolverines drove directly into the wind which is coming right out of the north and which has all the flags stiff this afternoon.

TD MSU! Drive: 9p/63y in 3:37. 5:08 1st. Edwin Baker 2y TD run.  MSU ran for 55 on drive, passed for 8. 5 firsts.  7-7.  Baker ran for 49 of the 55 rush yards amassed by MSU on their scoring drive.

END 1st QTR. 7-7. Tot y 102-85 UM. Rush 7 69-63 MSU. 1st dwns 6-5 UM. MSU had two huge drops, def gave up 29 and 26y plays.

MSU winds up punting into wind and UM has it at own 32.  Last MSU poss began at own 10, so you get an idea of field pos battle.

And, halftime.  7-7 is the score.  MSU made mistake after mistake after mistake, world without end.  What jumps out at you is the 8 penalties for -67 on Sparty, as many penalties as they had first downs. They had t 2 big pass drops–Keyshawn Martin on a for sure TD and BJ Cunningham to cost MSU and first down and an extended drive. (MSU did go on to score after the Martin drop.)  Both teams scored on their first possession and both made it look rather easy, although MSU sure helped the Wolverines out by committing their first 2 penalties of the day on the drive.  In fact, the Spartans were called for offside on the game’s first snap, perhaps setting the tone for the day. Since those first drives, neither side has gotten even close enough to attempt a field goal.   MSU got to the UM 46 later in the first quarter..their deepest penetration since the score, and failed to advance beyond their own 44 in the second quarter.  Michigan’s deepest penetration since they scored was to the MSU 36.

It’s been a game of field position and, as you would expect, it has been harder on the team trying to advance the ball into today’s big wind.  It is blowing at around 30 mph right out of the north (the team moving from right to left as you watch on TV is the team going into the wind).  Everybody up here is talking about what a crummy game this is.  I don’t see it that way.  I see the #1 defense in the country holding down a UM team which scored 35 on Notre Dame and an MSU team trying to overcome the weather conditions–and their own mistakes.  The team that wins the rushing battle wins the UM/MSU game (38 of the last 41, at any rate) and in that key stat at the half, well, it’s a push, basically: 100 for MSU, 95 for UM.  On to the second half…

Spartans up 14-7 on 10y Cousins to Martin TD pass.  MSU drive 9play/56 yards in 3:49. 11:07 left in 3rd.  Score comes on MSU first possession of second half.  I wasn’t too worried until I looked up that stat that showed UM outscoring opponents 62-7 in the 4th quarter this year and then they scored and then MSU turned it over on the next play and there they were, trailing 21-14 with the ball in the Red Zone and plenty of time left.  Why’d they ever try a pass on 4th and about a foot from the State 9?  When Robinson was sacked, that basically was the ballgame.  The intercept return for a TD while we were en-route to the field for past game interviews just put a fine point on a fine day: MSU 28, UM 14.  We’ll be leaving the press box now and with the traffic having cleared in the main, we expect to be home well before 8, in time for Game 6.  And we will talk to you then…

It has the same feel, I can tell you that much.

Tonight’s Tigers game, in which Detroit starter Doug Fister has yet to permit a baserunner through six, feels exactly like the Imperfect game of last season, and by that I mean it is moving right along.  We’ve been at it for one hour and 15 minutes, and we are in the top of the 7th.  These things get on you in a hurry.  The top of the Roayls order is up to start the 7th.  It is exciting.  If he gets through this inning, it will be nerve-racking.  And there is something else at play this evening:  the Tigers have yet to score a run.

And it ends.  Alex Gordon doubles to lead off the 7th on Fister’s 74th pitch of the night.  The Perfect Game, gone.  The no-hitter, gone.  And the game itself, following a sac bunt, in jeopardy as KC has the go-ahead run at third with only one out.

Billy Butler plates Gordon with a long sac fly to center, and the Tigers, somehow, trail.  There’s another single for KC, but the inning ends with incident.  So now the Tigers trail 1-0, and they have been outhit in this game, somehow, 2-1.  Talk about a pitchers duel.  Jeff Francis and Doug Fister are having at it tonight.

Frances is coming out of the ballgame.  Delmon Young reached on a error and Miguel Cabrera hammered a single to left.  So, even though he has a 2-hitter going and has thrown only 90 pitches, Francis leaves leading 1-0.  Both teams now have 2 hits.  Victor Martinez is up with men on first and second and one out.  Greg Holland is the new KC pitcher.

The Tigers can’t get it done in the 7th, but in the bottom of the 8th, Ordonez singles in a run and we go to the 9th, tied 1-1.  Fister, for the record, has an ERA of 0.83 (2 ER/21.2 IP).  He will be no-decisioned here tonight.

What a ballgame!  We are heading to the 10th after the Royals walked the bases loaded with two out in the 9th when 12 of the last 13 pitches thrown by Louis Coleman were balls.  But former Royal Wilson Betemit–what a story it could have been, no?–struck out to end the inning.  Benoit, perfect in the 9th: 1-2-3 on 11 pitches, stays on to start the tenth.  Still 1-1.  Still a very exciting night.

The Tigers go for the sweep of the Indians here this afternoon and wouldn’t that be huge if they could pull it off?  Remember, when this series began, a sweep by Cleveland would have put them in first place all alone.  Now, the Tigers have the chance to go 4.5 up on the Indians.  And even if the Tigers lose this afternoon, they will still be a game better off in the standing, leading second-place Cleveland by 2.5, than they were when the series began and Cleveland came to town only 1.5 games back of Detroit, and even with the Tigers in the Loss Column.

It won’t be easy, not that it ever is.  After outscoring the Indians 14-2 in the first two games, the Tigers are up against Ubaldo Jimenez this afternoon.  He’s the stud the Indians traded their future to Colorado for.  His numbers are remarkable.  Lefties hit .231 off him.  Righties are clipping along at a .230 pace.  Those are pretty solid numbers.  In fact, the only stat of Jimenez I can find that works in favor of Detroit is that he is a.500 pitcher on the road in his career (26-26) and a sub-.500 pitcher on the road this season (3-4).

Rick Porcello is looking to regain his form after a couple of rough outings during which he has posted an ERA of 11.17.  In his six starts prior, he’d put up a five-game win streak with an ERA of 3.26.  If he wins today, it will be his 112th of the season and will make Detroit the only team besides Philadelphia with 3 12-game winners.  And it will mean Jim Leyland will come off smelling like a rose.  Justin Verlander has had his four days of rest since racking up his 18th win of the season here on Tuesday night over the Twins, so it should be his turn to go today.  But, Leyland, even though it’s an important division game (in hockey they call ‘em 4-point games because of the possible point swing which results from winning or losing), Leyland is giving Verlander an extra days rest.  As he said in his press gaggle this morning–and there were only four of us there for that at 9:30 on this Sunday morning, maybe everybody else went to church–”I’ve got to protect Justin Verlander, and that means not just this season.”  And you can see his point.  82 millions dollars, the amount of Verlander’s multi-year contract, is indeed a sizable investment.  Porcell gave up a single in the first, Jimenez did the same, and both the runners died on base. We go to the second and there is no score and we will, as usual, be here to keep you up to date.

Oh, by the way, THE TIGERS HAVE SEVEN IN AND ARE STILL BATTING IN THE THIRD.  They have lit Jimenezs up.  He’s thrown over 40 pitches in the inning and has given up a 3-run homer to Delmon Young, a 2-run blast to Victor Martinez, plus RBI singles to Ramon Santiago and Austin Jackson.  It ties for the biggest inning of the year for Detroit (accomplished twice previously) and the inning finally ends when Santiago fans.  Detroit sent 12 to the plate and Jimenez threw 47 pitches.  And never once did the Indians have a man up in the bullpen.  We are going to the 4th and we are breathing easier as it is now, Detroit 7, Cleveland 0.  The Tigers, as an aside, are 50-19 (.725) when scoring first this season.  I do not know their record in games in which they score the first seven, but I am betting it is awfully, awfully good.

Hey, now.  We have a ballgame again, if you can believe it.  Porcello, after allowing two singles and only two singles in the first three innings, couldn’t handle the good fortune of that 7-run Detroit outburst in the third.  First he gave up a solo homer to Carlos Santanta to make it a 7-1 game, then, with two out, he allowed three straight singles and a double which put three more on the board and which made it a 7-4 ballgame and Jim Leyland had seen enough.  He came to get Porcello, brought in Duane Below, and the Indians are still hitting in the 4th with yet another run in on a Below wild pitch and, unbelievably, we have a game again.  It is Detroit 7, Cleveland 5 and the Indians have batted around and are still batting here in the 4th.  Wow, etc.

I’d like to say things are calming down here, and they are a bit, but this one; a game the Tigers had in the bag, is going to go down to the wire.  It’s 8-7 and are only in the 6th.  The Tigers just got a break when Travis Hafner pulled up lame going from first to second on an easy double and was thrown out due to the fact that he was between the bases and could not move.  A blown hammy, for sure.  But the hit did score a run and that 7-0 Detroit lead is a memory.  This is a one-run game and we have a ling way to go.  Cleveland is gone in the 6th and the Tigers and hanging on by one.

The Tigers still lead 8-7 and have a leadoff double by Alex Avila here in the 8th.  By my count, in this game which the Tigers led 7-0 after three, Cleveland has sent either the tying or the go-ahead run to the plate 17 times.  The scorecard they give us here in the press box has room for 7 pitchers.  On my card right now, there is one space left.  He’s warming in the bullpen.  He, of course, is Jose Valverde.  What an afternoon this has turned out to be.  Oh, and I didn’t even mention Jim Leyland getting tossed out of the game for arguing a call at third back in the 6th.  I’ll tell you something: I know there are 162 games in a season, and I know Detroit still has 36 to play after today.  But, this is the kind of a game that, when it’s all over and whether you have finished first or second, you look back on as a turning point.  This has become, for the last couple of hours now, a grim battle for survival.  Detroit does not score.  Here comes Valverde.  He is 36 for 36 in Save Situations this season.  As you know….

El Papa Grande walks the first man and hits the second.  Two on, none out.  A sac bunt puts ‘em at second and third.  Cleveland’s #9 hitter, Lou Marson, comes to the plate.  OH MY GOD!  Marson lines to center and Austin Jackson throws Fukudome out at the plate for a game-ending double play.  What a throw.  What a game.  The Tigers win 8-7…lead the Central by 4.5.

Well, we’re here at the big showdown as the Tigers open their three game weekend series against the Indians.  Detroit leads Cleveland by a game-and-a-half but the teams are, as they say in baseball, tied in the loss column.  It means, in this case, that Cleveland has played three fewer games than Detroit.  It means that if Cleveland wins all three of those games, they will be tied for first with the Tigers. If you think about it, the fact that Cleveland has three more games to play than Detroit may work in the Tigers favor, because there will be three days between now and the end of the season–now just five weeks away–where the Indians will be hard at work while the Tigers have the day off.  We’ll see how it all plays out.  By the time Sunday evening rolls around, the Tigers will either be leading the division by four-and-a-half, or they will be trailing by two-and-a-half, or something somewhere in between.  That’s what makes the weekend important, etc. There’s an interesting note about the Indians starter tonight, Josh Tomlin.  At least I think it’s interesting.  Tomlin has never had a start in which he has failed to qualify for a decision.  In other words, he has never had a start (tonight is the 37th of his career) in which he failed to go at least five innings.  It’s the longest such streak to begin a career in Indians history, and may the longest streak of its kind on big league history.  So, we’ll quietly root for the Tigers to knock this guy out after, oh, four-and-two-thirds or something else that is less than five, just so we can see history made here this evening.  We are in the bottom of the first, Max Scherzer gave up a walk and nothing else in the top in the inning, and that is that.  We will, as always, keep you posted.

Still scoreless here in the 4th and Tomlin has been very impressive.  He’s allowed one hit but has faced the minimum because the Tiger who got the hit, Jhonny Peralta, was doubled off first when Cleveland left fielder Michael Brantley made a great running catch and Peralta had rounded second thinking the ball was going to fall.   Scherzer also allowed only 1 hit.  We’re off to the 5th and there is no score.  We’ve been watching the Lions game out of the corner of our eye and while they trail 7-0 late in the first in Cleveland, they are driving and have a first and goal thing going on inside the five.  And now they have an apparent TD, but it is under review.  I only tonight learned that all TD’s will be reviewed automatically in the NFL, which seems to me to be a foolish time-waster.  More later, etc…

Tomlin got his five in.  We’ve gone to the 6th, no score, each team with only two hits.  A classic pitchers duel.  Tomlin has now gone at least 5 innings in each of his first 37 career appearances to extend his club record.  And remember, Cleveland’s been in the American League since 1901–the first yhear there was an American League.

Hey, now.  Austin Jackson’s towering fly cleared the wall in left with plenty to spare and since the batter who preceeded him, Ryan Raburn, had singled, Jackson’s 6th homer of the season was of the two-run variety and those are the only runs in this game as Cleveland bats in to the 7th.  Both teams have only four hits.  Scherzer’s been great, but he is over 100 pitches now and there is stirring in the Detroit pen.  Benoit lurks to come on in the 8th, I suspect.

We’ve have a couple of very, very very close calls go against Detroit here in the 7th and the Indians have scored a run as a result.  Lonnie Chisenhall was called safe at first with two out when it was ruled that Scherzer’s foot was off the bag when he took a relay from first baseman Miguel Cabrera who had made a remarkable diving stop of a Chisenhall grounder.  Moments later, Scherzer was covering the plate after a wild pitch and just barely missed getting the tag on runner Carlos Santana in time.  He was safe by, like, four inches and that’s all.  Scherzer got Luis Valbuena to ground to first–Cabrera touched first himself this time, no need for a toss to the pitcher covering–and the inning ended.  Bottom of the 7th and it’s 2-1, Detroit.  It is, in every aspect, a nail-biter.

And just like that, with two out in the 7th, Alex Avila just got the run back with a bomb to right, his 14th, and Peralta has gone-back-to-back with a big fly to left, his 18th.  As both Avila and Peralta were first-ball hitting, the back-to-back homers came on back-to-back pitches and are the last pitches Tomlin will throw on this night.  He is gone.  He worked six-and-two-thirds and gave up the four runs on six hits.  All four Detroit runs tonight came as a result of the three home runs he allowed.  Detroit leads now 4-2.  Detroit, still up in the 7th, is six defensive outs away from victory.

The bullpen gate swings open and Papa Grande stands, alone for a moment, then jump-skips onto the field and trots to the mound as the crowd, even though it is between innings, lustily roars.  Jose Valverde is in the game.  He looks tonight for his 36th consecutive save to start a season–already a Detroit record.  He, on this night, has the maximum allowable lead in which a save can be recorded: three runs.  Valverde was the losing pitcher here the night before last as Minnesota scored two unearned runs in the 9th to beat him.  Since the game was tied when he entered, it was not a Save Situation for Valverde.  We are in the 9th.  The Tigers lead 4-1, and are three defensive outs away from victory.

36 for 36.  Valverde got ‘em on 14 pitches in the 9th. 1-2-3.  The lead is 2.5.  Even if they lose the last two games of the series, Detroit will still be in first place when it is over.  Game two comes off here tomorrow night–and we will be back with you at that time, from this place.

122 games down and 40 games to go for the Tigers (65-57) as they close out the series tonight here against the (53-68) Minnesota Twins.  The Indians lost in 14 last night (the second Tuesday in a row in which they have played a 14-inning game) so the Tigers are three up on the Indians and three-and-a-half up on the White Sox.  Those two teams get underway in Chicago in about half an hour.  That was quite a game there last night.  Gavin Floyd of the White Sox struck out 7 of the first 9 hitters he faced, including 5 in a row, but he failed to survive the 6th as the Indians came back from a 5-2 deficit to tie.  The Indians were down again, 7-5, going to the 8th but single runs in the 8th and the 9th forced extras.  Chicago had 5 triples in the game, including one to lead off the 12th, but they failed to get the man home.  They finally won in the 14th, at 1:29am today, Detroit time.  The Indians used their entire bullpen last night, and unlike Detroit, they do not have Thursday off.  So, theirs could be a tired staff when they come to town Friday night.

I’m busy up here in the press box tonight doing the same thing I was doing last night, cutting up tape from Jim Leyland’s afternoon press gaggle and from Lions practice.  I’m trying to get all of this done tonight so I can feed my radio stations with material they can hold for release until Friday which will mean that I, like the Tigers, will have the day off tomorrow.

Detroit is down 1-0 after two tonight.  Jim Thome hit career homer 601 off Brad Penny with two out in the second, and that’s been it.  We’ll keep you posted, as usual.

1-1 in the 4th, now.  Brad Penny just escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the inning, racing to cover first and just barely beating Minnesota’s Tsuyoshi Nishioka to the bag to take the throw from Ramon Santiago for the somewhat rare 4-1 putout.  The Tigers tied the game in the 3rd on a Sac Fly by Delmon Young who would have had more than that but for a diving grab by Ben Revere in right-center.  Young should be 2-for-2 tonight but has twice been robbed by Revere who ran down a fly ball on the track in dead center to deny Young with a Willie Mays-like over-the-shoulder basket catch in the first.  It was about as nice a catch as we’ve seen in this yard this year, and the grab in the third was no slouch, either.  We’re headed to the 5th…still 1-1.

About ten minutes after Jhonny Peralta put the Tigers ahead 2-1 with a solo homer in the 6th, Rene (really?  Rene?  What is this, the NHL?) Tosoni hit Penny’s 100th (and last) pitch of the night into the seats in right with a mate aboard to put the Twins ahead 3-2.  Penny pitched a fine ballgame tonight, allowing only 5 hits in six innings (plus two hitters) of work.  Two of those hits went the distance though, and so the Tigers are down a run as they hit in the Detroit 7th.

Miguel Cabrera’s two-out single in the 7th tied the game 3-3, but Boesch was cut down at the plate to end the inning as he tried to score the go-ahead run.  In the Minny 8th,. Jim Thome hurt the Tigs, again, with an two-out RBI single of his own.  The Tigers, down 4-3, have two on with none out in the bottom of the 8th.  A good game.  A good pennant race game.  Now the bases are loaded with none out.  Cleveland has gone ahead of Chicago 2-1 and are batting in the 7th at US Cellular Field.

Wilson Betemit, pinch hitting, hits a Sac Fly to center to score pinch runner Austin Jackson and we’re tied 4-4 with the Tigers still hitting in the 8th.

The Twins loaded ‘em in the 9th off Jose Valverde on a single and two errors on bunts but Valverde fanned the next two hitters.  Justin Morneau singled in two with two out on a grounder right up the middle.  I happened to have looked it up prior to the game yesterday, and at that point, in the last 365 days, Morneau was hitting a hard-to-believe .222.  So much for that stat.  On to the bottom of the 9th: Twins 6, Tigers 4.  Cleveland is ahead of Chicago 4-1 and are threatening in the top of the 8th, again.  We may have to bolt for the locker room so, if so, we’ll see you here at Comerica Park Friday night when those Indians hit town…

We’re late getting to you tonight, but we’ve been pretty busy cutting up tape from Lions practice–#1 pick Nick Fairly (broken bone in foot) is out of his cast and is in a walking boot–and from Jim Leyland’s pre-game presser.  The big news that came out of that is that Al Alburquerque is expected back once his stay on the 7-day concussion Disabled List ends Saturday.  The key word is “expected”.  Leyland said he’s pretty sure, but not 100% sure.  Alburquerque did throw on the side today, which was good news.  After spending Friday night in a Baltimore hospital for a head injury sustained when he was clocked in the temple by a line drive as he stood in left field during batting practice, Alburquerque was driven back to Detroit Sunday.  He was unable to fly because doctors were concerned about the effects of pressurization.  But, as we say, he’s much better now. All in all though, it was pretty scary stuff.

I’ve also been sending texts to Dan Dickerson in the radio booth to keep him up to date on the Cleveland at Chicago game tonight at US Cellular Field where the White Sox lead 2-0 in the 4th, and where Chicago’s Gavin Floyd has 7 strikeouts through three innings.  Oh, and he’s perfect so far: 9 up and 9 down.

Here at Comerica Park, things are going as one would expect them to with Justin Verlander on the mound.  It’s men against boys, again.  The Tigers lead 7-0. We are in the top of the 7th.  Minnesota has played dreadful defense tonight, and look every bit the part of a ballclub which is 14 games under .500.  We’ll keep you up to date…

Verlander gets the standing “O” as he departs here in the top of the 8th.  The Twins put three singles together in the 8th to score their first run of the game–it’s 7-1 Tigers.  Verlander had retired 14 of the last 15 hitters he faced starting the 8th.  After three of the first six Twins he faced in the game reached, Verlander retired 18 of the next 20.  A pretty routing performance for a guy who, after starting the season 2-3, had gone 15-2 with an ERA of 2.00 since that game heading into his start tonight.  Phil Coke is in to mop up.  Over in Chicago, it’s 3-2 White Sox in the middle of the 5th.

Chicago’s up 5-2 now in the 5th and Ubaldo Jimenez is out after allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 9 hits in 4.2 innings.  He responsible for a man on second.  We’ve got two out in the 9th here and things appear well in hand with Detroit up 7-1. So…off to the locker room!

It’s ninety-five at first pitch, and that is not a record high temperature for the start of a Tigers night game this season as a couple of weeks ago we had 97 at first pitch for a game here against the Giants.

The buzz in the press box tonight is all about the demise of Brandon Inge.  He’s still a Tiger–in fact, he could still be YOUR favorite Tiger–but he’s on the way out.  Most definitely, he is on the way out.  The Tigers this afternoon–with Inge hitting .177 for the year and  mired in a 2×42 (.048) slump in his last 15 games–traded a couple of minor leaguers to Kansas City for their third baseman Wilson Betemit.  All we can tell you about Betemit at the moment is that he doesn’t hit for power, 3 homers, but he’s hitting .281 which is over a hundred points higher than Inge, so there you go.  Betemit will join the Tigers in times for tomorrow’s game in Minnesota and the Tigers have not announced who on the current 25-man roster will have to go to make room for him.  Many automatically assume it will be Inge, which would be the end of the road for him here in Detroit, but one should keep in mind that the Tigers have 12 pitchers on the roster.  Most teams keep 11.  So we will see.  Duane Below (pr: BEE-lo)–called up from Triple A Toledo to start tonight, is off to a good start in his Major League career, retiring the first 6 hitters he’s faced.  There’s been a 5-6-3 putout (there was a 5-6-3 putout in Don Larsen’s 1956 World Series perfect game, just saying) and a running catch by Austin Jackson in center which rivaled the grab he made in the 9th inning of the Imperfect Game here a little more than a year ago.  Again, just sayin’.  b-2: DETROIT 0, A’s 0.

9:33  This has turned out to be, like, the worst home game of the season and it happens to coincide with the worst promotion of the season: Christmas in July.  It’s surreal.  We are listening to “Holly Jolly Christmas ” between innings and Santa Claus is sweating to death OUT there on a night where it’s still 89 degrees.  Meanwhile, the Tigers, having rallied to score 3 in the 6th to take a 5-3 lead, coughed it all up in the 6th when David Purcey walked the first three hitters he faced on 16 pitchers and Joaquin Benoit allowed all three to score, plus a fourth just for good measure.  The Tigers have two on with one out in their half of the 7th.  b-7: DETROIT 5, A’S 7.

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks, hasn’t it.  You’ll be pleased to know I sucked all the marrow out of my All Star break, including the fact that I didn’t watch the All Star game itself.  Pretty bad, eh?  I don’t know.  I just couldn’t get into it.  I mean, I’ll stay up to watch a Milwaukee Brewers at Arizona D’Backs showdown, but the games’ biggest names on a single stage: meh.  I can’t explain it, either.

We spent a couple of days over the weekend up in East Lansing and we were thrilled when the Director of Admissions told my daughter and the 500 or so other students who were at this event we’d been invited to that if they were in the room, they were accepted to Michigan State.  It was very exciting news, and especially gratifying for a Spartan like me to hear.

Ordonez just picked up a single in the first and if you haven’t noticed, he’s picked things up pretty nicely of late.  He know has hits in 19 of his last 21 games (20×61, .328).  He was left at first though when Cabrera took a called third.  You may not have heard of tonight’s starter for Oakland, Guillermo Moscoso, but the notes tell us that in spite of a 3-4 record, he has an ERA of 2.16.  He hasn’t pitched enough innings to qualify, but 2.16 would indeed be among not just the AL leaders, but among the MLB leaders.  It’s hard to figure a sub-.500 record with an ERA that low, and it’s hard to figure that the A’s are only 4-4 and in his starts, but they are.  Moscoso is making not just his 9th start of the season tonight, but the 9th of his career.

Rick Porcello, 22, is the Detroit starter tonight, and the Tigers could really use it if he were to step up.  He’s 8-6, 4.78 and it’s the 4.78 part that bothers you.  But he got ‘em out on ten pitches in the first so, so far, so good.

The Tigers are 50-45, one game out of first in the AL Central, and with Cleveland playing (asnd winning) a doubleheader yesterday, for the first time since April the Tigers and the Indians have played the same number of games.  Porcello retired the side in the second permitting only a two-out walk, so it’s off to the Detroit second on this hot night in Detroit–game time temp 88-degrees.  And it feels warmer than that.

7:37  Poor Ingy.  He just came up with two on and two out and struck out, again.  He missed that last pitch by a couple of feet, too.  His average falls below .180 and he was booed and booed heavily.  It’s got to be killing him.  He was a hero around here not all that long ago, and now he’s getting booed.  But in all honesty, the way he’s been going lately–longer than lately to be honest–when he’s in the lineup it’s like the Tigers are playing without a Designated Hitter, because Inge has been hitting like a pitcher.  Two left on for Detroit, and we go to the third, scoreless still.

7:41  A (sad) note on Brandon Inge.  In his last 15 games including tonight’s, he is 2×43, (.047).  Mercy…

8:12  How about young Porcello!  The A’s just loaded the bases with nobody out in the 4th and the kid worked out of it unscathed.  An around-the-horn double play (started by Inge who all of sudden was NOT being booed) ended the inning after Cabrera got the first out by throwing home for a force with the bases loaded and none out.  Miguel almost threw it away, but catcher Avila stretched and made the catch and kept his foot on the plate.  If the Tigers win, it’s the biggest inning of the ballgame.  If they don’t, none of it means a thing.  Former Tiger Scott Sizemore was hit in the throat or the jaw with a pitch after he squared to bunt and missed. He’s left the game.  A lot of the reporters wanted to interview him, but I’m not sure why.  Yes, he was to have been the Tigers second baseman of the future, but that never worked out so now he plays elsewhere.  That’s just baseball.  We are in the Detroit 4th with a man on and a man out.  Still 0-0.

8:24 The Tigers just scored perhaps the most unbelievable run they have scored this season and lead 1-0 after four.  Victor Martinez was trying to score from first on an error by Oakland first baseman Conor Jackson who booted Carlos Guillen’s grounder which then rolled along the stands down the right field line.  As the A’s pursued the ball, they waved Victor home and when I saw third base coach Gene Lamont infull windmill mode, I said, “He’s going to be out by ten feet.  And he was.  But Martinez spun away from the tag at home and then dove backward and got his hand on the dish before A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki got the tag on him (maybe).  Martinez was called safe, he might have been out, and on a wild and controversial play, the Tigers open the scoring tonight.  The run was unearned.  TOP 5: DETROIT 1, OAKLAND 0.

8:33 A two-out Ryan Sweeney scores Suzuki who opened the inning with a double–the first extra-base hit of the night for either team.  So, the Detroit lead is short-lived.  TOP 5: DETROIT 1, OAKLAND 1.

8:38 A’s still up in the 5th.  Matsui, hitting .217, singles in two and Porcello and the Tigers are having a tough time getting out of the inning. All 3 runs have come with two outs, the worst kinds of runs to give up.  Now, finally and too late, really, Detroit gets out of the inning on a bounce out.  BOTTOM 5: DETROIT 1, OAKLAND 3.