It’s not Bonderman’s turn after all.  It’s Maroth’s:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/probable_pitchers.jsp?ymd=20070618#DET@WSH

Tigers: Maroth had just one 1-2-3 inning in his last start against the Brewers on June 13, but he still managed to keep the Tigers close in a 3-2 loss. He allowed 13 baserunners over seven innings on nine hits and four walks, but gave up just one run. He was aided by three consecutive innings with a double play and threw just 97 pitches despite all of the baserunners. It will be Maroth’s second straight game where he will start against a team he has never faced. Maroth has never faced the Nationals/Expos franchise.

Somebody you’ve never heard of, Matt Chico, of goes for the Washingtons:

Nationals: Chico had another solid outing against the Orioles last Wednesday. He lasted 6 2/3 innings and gave up three runs — two earned — on eight hits. He did not figure in the decision, however, as the Nationals won the game, 9-6, in 11 innings. Chico hasn’t won a game in almost a month and will face the Tigers for the first time in his career.

First pitch at 7:05…same as in Cleveland where the Indians play, hey, look at that, it’s Philadelphia and they’ll be mad after losing 2 of 3 to Det at home.  The Phils start Cole Hamels:

Phillies: Hamels became the first National League pitcher to nine wins by beating the White Sox his last time out. He nearly managed his third complete game of the season, going eight innings and leaving with a comfortable 7-2 lead. Hamels allowed two earned runs, both coming on solo homers in the first inning. He pitched a shut out after that, striking out eight. Hamels has never faced Cleveland.

Cliff Lee goes for Cleveland:

Indians: Lee snapped a four-start losing streak by battling through five innings against Florida on Wednesday. He allowed three runs in the first inning, but shut out the Marlins for the next four frames to keep Cleveland in the game until a late rally earned him the victory. Lee is 2-1 with a 4.76 ERA in three Interleague starts this season. This is his first career appearance against Philadelphia.

I watched off and on last night.  I watched golf all day–it’s the Open, after all–and I do have a daughter.  So I had to go play with her after the golf and the golf didn’t end until 7:30.  Lucky for us, Disney was showing "Pirates of the Caribbean" for the second Saturday night in the last three weeks and its her favorite movie ever so I can only watch the game during commericial breaks.  I saw Granderson’s homer and I saw Andrew Miller battling.  Overcome eventually I gather, but battling.  A good road start for a developing young pitcher.  In a bandbox of a ballpark.  That’s what they used to call small ballparks.  A bandbox.  I am not enitrely sure what a bandbox is, much less what the dimensions of one are.  Small, I guess.  Anyway, Miller only gave up two homers but that gave Philly seven circuit clouts in the first two games of the series and I say when you give up seven dingers in two games you deserve to lose one of them.

Cleveland lost.  Atlanta beat ‘em again.  I looked up and saw highlights on SC but I can’t recall the details. The Braves will be going for the sweep today.  Detroit still one back in the Central.

Verlander goes today, right?  Looking to go all Johnny Vander Meer on ‘em.

If you want to understand a baseball manager all you have to know is that all a manager does, all the time, is worry.  Baseball is now, has been, and will be a game of worst-case scenarios.   

Take last night when Detroit took that four-run lead into the bottom of the 9th.  Sure the bullpen was leaking oil again, an 11-3 Detroit lead cut to 12-8 with three outs to get, but a four run lead in the 9th is a four-run lead in the 9th.  Your odds of winning a with a four-run lead is the 9th is certainly 90-point-something percent, maybe 99-point-something percent, so you’ve got to like the current state of affairs.  Right? 

A manager, Leyland, all of them, sees the identical situation and all he can see is this: In four pitches, four bleeping pitches, Philly can tie this thing and tell you and your bleep four-bleep-run bleeping lead and go and bleep yourself with it. 

Didn’t happen this time, though.  In fact, the Tigers almost hit what in the Baseball Business might be considered the Superfecta last night.  While they were letting us wonder down to the 27th out if 12 was going to be enough in that 12-8 win, everybody the Tigers are concerened about in the pennant races (remember, we have to say "races" now since there are more than one; there’s the Division race and the Wild Card race) lost except one. ***** you, Athletics. 

Cleveland manager Eric Wedge did an odd thing last night, letting his starter CC Sabathia come out to start the 9th inning even though he’d thrown 111 pitches and his season high was 113.  I’m sure the reason for this odd managerial behavior will turn out to be that the Cleveland closer wasn’t available having worked the night before or having worked the last few nights before.  The Clevelands had taken a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th as Travis Hafner extended his hitting streak to 24 or 25 games, the longest by an Indian in a decade in any rate, with solo, tie-breaking homer.  Sabathia couldn’t hold the lead and Atlanta won 5-4 with two in the 9th.  Huzzah!

Elsewhere, Seattle, Minnesota and New York all lost but Oakland clobbered St. Louis 14-3.

So, then, the standings as of this morning:

                   AL Central

  Cleveland  –

  Detroit -1

                 Wild Card

  Detroit–

  Oakland -1

  Seattle -2

  Minnesota -4.5

  New York -4.5

Detroit’s .576 winning percentage means 93 wins over 162 games.

The song remained the same for the Tigers in their win at Philly last night.  A starter, Jeremy Bonderman, who couldn’t get deep enough into the game and a bullpen seemingly ****-bent on coughing up a big lead. 

Down 2-0 after Bondo surrendered the first two of the four homers he’d give up in six innings of work, the Tigers tied it in the second then broke it open with 9 runs in the 5th and 6th innings combined.  The biggest of the hits was the three-run shot hit by Ivan Rodriguez that made it 7-2 in the 5th.  It was a long fly to center that at first had to you saying, "Get over his head, get over his head!" And then, "Get out of here! Get out of here."  It did, clearing the wall in center with a yard or so to spare and, as almost all three-run homers do, it broke the game wide open.  There’s a reason Earl Weaver’s favorite play in baseball was the three-run homer.

So the Tigs were up 11-3 after they hit in the 6th but Bonderman gave up his 4th homer of the night in the bottom of the inning and when he gave up a single to the lead-off guy in the 7th his 105 pitches-to-27 hitters night was over.

Leyland brought in Tim Byrdak, maybe even hoping in the back of his mind that Byrdak could finish it. 

Brydak had a rare rocky outing though, quickly giving up a two run homer in the 7th and an RBI double in the 8th and Fernando Rodney had to be called in to get the last out in the 8th. 

Bobby Seay, brought in by Leyland to start the 9th, walked a guy with two out so Leyland had to go and get Todd Jones (who I think he would rather have rested) and Jones walks the first guy because we all know he just has to put a runner on because that’s the way he pitches and now the tying run is in the on-deck circle when Jones ends it with a strikeout. No save for Jones because he himself created the save situation (tying run either on base, at bat, on deck in the 7th inning or later).