I saw an intereting note about our old friend Brandon Inge this afternoon at MLB.com (I’ll include the linky so you don’t think I’m stealing!)

As you know, Brandon hit a Grand Slam last night.  It was his second Granny of the week and this, as it turns out, puts him on the cusp of Big League history:

Inge now has 21 calendar days left to become the 10th player in history hit three slams in one month.  The most recent player to do this was Carlos Beltran in July 2006.  The others with three in a single month:  Rudy York (May 1938), Jim Northrup (June ’68), Larry Parrish (July ’82), Eric Davis (May ’87), Mike Blowers (Aug. ’95), Mike Piazza (April ’98), Shane Spencer (Sept. ’98) and Devon White (May 2001).

Roger Schlueter is senior researcher for MLB Productions http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120511&content_id=30954888&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Rick Porcello to the hill tonight in another late one.  We’ll be there for it, and we’ll keep you posted on the early action as well.

It was a light schedule yesterday, but there was still a lot going on.  In addition to the Orioles becoming the first American League team EVER to hit 3 consecutive homers to start a game (think about how many games have been played in the American Leauge. Baltiomore alone has played 17,342) you also had Stepen Strasburg of the Nationals striking out 13.  That’s not an unimpressive number, but what makes it eyepopping is that he did it in 6 innings of work.  He had to come out because of the Pitch Count  (103) when he was on pace to strike out 19 and a half.  The record is 20. 

Who knows what we will see tonight!

A bit of a light night. Only 5 games going on right now in MLB (am watching them all) and no hockey. When was the last time there was no hockey? April 7, I’m guessing. Highlight of nite so far: Boston trails Cleveland 7-1 in 3rd and Josh Beckett is gone after giving up 7 earned runs on 7 hits with 2 walks in two-and-a-third. His ERA is now 5.97. Perhaps he should take up golf! Earlier today, 1st 3 Orioles batters in game 1 v Texas homered and O’s held on for 6-5 win. Scherzer goes for Tigers tonight in 10:05 start in Oakland v Brandon Inge’s A’s.

We’ve got a full slate of 15 games tonight around The Bigs and thanks to MLB.TV I’ve been able to see parts of almost all of them. I’ve yet to check in in Oakland, Milwaukee or Houston, but I’ve been everywhere else. And what I have seen…

First, of course, would be the 4-homer night by Josh Hamilton in Baltimore as he becomes only the 14th player since 1900 to hit four in a game, and only the 6th American Leaguer to do it. This makes it a feat more rare than a Perfect Game, as there have been 21 of those. I saw them all thanks to a feature in the media player which lets me know when those players I’ve selected for special attention (tonight they were Hamilton, Adam Dunn, Albert Pujols and Bryce Harper) are about to come to bat. You get and on-screen alert and you switch to the game they are playing in. So, I was able to see that bit of history tonight by Hamilton as it unfolded, which was pretty cool.

I saw Chris Sale, in his first appearance as the new closer for the White Sox, fail. He came on in the 8th with two on, none out and Chicago ahead 3-0 in Cleveland. By the time he retired the side, the Indians had tied the score, although the White Sox did go on to win in 10, 5-3, which means the Tigers will be two back of Cleveland if they can beat the Mariners tonight and of course you have to figure that would be quite a feat in its own right as the Tigers have lost all four games they’ve played against the M’s this season.

One note about the 14-14 Tigers. They are actually doing better through 28 games this season than they did last year when they were 12-16 at the same point, and were a startling 7.5 games out of first place which was then as now, held by the Indians.

I saw David Robertson, in the first save situation for the Yankees since Mariano Rivera hurt his knee last week, succeed in dramatic fashion. Tampa Bay loaded the bases against him in the 9th but he struck out Carlos Pena on a 2-2 pitch to end the game and earn his first save.

6 games are done now (Washington at Pittsburgh deserves honorable mention as the Nats got a 2-run homer in the top of the 9th to take a 4-3 lead only to lose when the Bucs scored a pair in the bottom of the 9th) and 9 are in progress.

The night goes on…

http://godsofolympia.blogspot.com/2012/05/things-i-know-that-i-shouldnt.html

Ever hear of Nap Lajoie?  In his time, he was one of the most famous ballplayers in America.  But his time was 100 years ago when he starred for the Cleveland Indians.  Here’s the thing.  Tonight, Travis Hafner was hit by a pitch which is no big deal, I mean at least not yet.  The pitcher who threw it hasn’t, at least yet, confessed (bragged) that he hit Hafner on purpose the way Cole Hammels bragged (confessed) that he deliberatly hit Bryce Harper last night, earning himself a 5-game suspension and creating a minor sensation in the Majors.  What was notable about Hafner’s run-in with a baseball was that he tied the Indians’s all-time record for getting in the way of a pitched ball at 79 with the aforementioned Lajoie.  Which isn’t even the story I’m trying to tell.  It’s just that when I saw the name “Lajoie,” I realized that not only did I know who he was which, just guessing here, I am thinking not many people do, but I also knew that when it came to product endorsements, he was what we would call today an early adopter.  Lajoie modeled in ads for Red Devil tobacco.  You’d see his picture with the words, “Lajoie chews Red Devil.  Ask him if he don’t.” 

The thing is, how the heck do I know that?  I mean, I know it’s true, I saw a picture of the ad and that’s how I know it’s true, but why would a thing like that stick in my head?  The book I saw the picture in I read when I was, like, 12.  Sometimes I wonder about myself.

Here’s my favorite stat today, and it too is something I should not know.  But, I did the math and so now I do. 

Did you know that Phil Humber of the White Sox has allowed 20 runs (earned) on 21 his in 13.1 innings since he threw his perfect game in Seattle two weeks ago Saturday?  It’s true, he has.  I He got pulled after two-and-a-third today in Cleveland and wound up charged for all 8 the Indians scored 8-6 win oved the White Sox.  Since his Perfect Game, his ERA is 13.53.

Speaking of those two, they are playing one of those hated day-night doubleheaders.  Game One was delayed for about half an hour at the outset by rain, and Game Two was delayed for almost an hour-and-a-half by rain with Cleveland leading 2-1 in the 8th, two on and one out. 

Dan Wheeler was announced as the pitcher for the Indians just before they brought out the tarp, but Wheeler was not the Indians pitcher when the game resumed.  So Wheeler was technically in the game, but never actually in the game.  According to the rules, he is in the box score, but will not be credited with an appearance.  Odd.  And I should not know this.

Anyway, the wait was worth it as the Sox tied the game in the 8th when play resumed. But know the Indians have retaken the lead in their half of the inning.

Adam Dunn made the last out of the to of the 8th.  And here’s an interesting thing about him, which I should not know.  Everybody is talking aobut his great comeback this year what with the 9 homers (2 against Detroit over the weekend) and all of that, but did you know he is hitting .100 (3×30) against lefties?  It’s true.  That gamer he hit off Valverde Saturday, that 500-foot bomb, was his 3rd hit of the year off a left hander.  Did you see where that thing landed?  It bounced into the concourse beyond the seats in right after landing in the last row.  I thought to myself, “That’s where I sat for the playoffs last fall.”

The Indians are rallying in their half of the 8th, the Royals are trying to come back against the Red Sox, the Tigers are in the bottom of the third, and there is still no score in Phoenix which isn’t a baseball game at all, but rather a Stanely Cup playoff game.  (And did you see how the Rangers game ended? The Blueshirts tied it at 19:53 of the third and won it in overtime, wow!)  So, I better get back to work.  I’ll share more things I shouldn’t know later…

The headline of this article is untrue.  Jim Leyland rarely smiles.  Not even when the subject is a 22-year old second year pro who by all rights should be pitching where every other second year pro pitches, which is to say, “A” ball.  Instead, the 22-year-old to whom we here refer, Drew Smyly, is impressing here in Detroit at the Major League levelHe’s impressing me, at least.  

Smyly held the Texas Rangers, only the best-hitting team in the American League, to a single run here the day before yesterday and he should have gotten the win but the Tigers gifted the Rangers the game-tying run in the 8th which meant Smyly was no longer the pitcher of record and he took a no decision and the Tigs wound up losing in 11 and that is why they enter player here tonight TIED for the AL Central lead with the Chicago White Sox who are really pitching well these days what with that guy Phil Humber tossing the perfect game Saturday (against the same Mariners who are town here tonight) and with Jake Peavy throwing a 107-pitch complete game shutout last night in Oakland and so on.  At any rate, after the off-day Monday, Smyly’s impressive outing was one of the main topics of discussion at The Gaggle™ today.  (The Gaggle™, you may or may not know, is the daily gathering of the media in the office of Tigers Manager Jim Leyland).

I could tell you about it, but let’s try something new, shall we?  How would you like to listen to Mr. Leyland yourself?  That would be great, wouldn’t it?  I’ve been working on my (not-so) mad blogging skills, so let’s see if this works.  The next thing you see should be an little media player, containing ACTUAL GAGGLE AUDIO!   And, when you hear the question being asked in the middle, that would be me.  Anyway, here’s Jim Leyland on Drew Smyly…

(I was going to write more afterwards,  but it was so much of a hassle just getting the audio posted that I need a break…)

http://archive.org/embed/Apr_24_Gaggle

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.