The Catch of a Lifetime

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a catch, wow. GW Catch. Don't here that often, but it was the case. Up 1, Verlander pitches a gem and BAM Grady Sizemore crushed one to the centerfield wall....and CG leaps and grabs the ball. Honestly, one of the best catches of all time (regular season) considering the circumstance. VIDEO AT BOTTOM.

Justin Verlander was not good his first few times out. In his first 4 starts of the season he gave up 21 Earned Runs, and had not won a game yet. In his last 3 games he turned it around, IN A HUGE WAY.

Last 3 games by Justin
7 IP o ER 9 Ks
7 IP 1 ER 11 Ks (only gave up 2 hits)
9 IP 0 ER 11 Ks (2 hits)

Cliff Lee pitched real well for Cleveland but was up against a hot pitcher. The only score for the Tigers offense was on an infield single from Clete Thomas.

Tigers 1 Indians 0

HAROLD REYNOLDS TALKS ABOUT CG'S SEASON AND ESPECIALLY THE CATCH!!!!

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games

Performance Enhancing Drugs will cost him $8 million dollars

MLB announced today that Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for violating the leagues anti-drug policy.

The Dodgers currently lead the league with a 21-8 record including a 13-0 home record.

Ramirez is hitting .348 with 6 HR and 20 RBI on the season.

New lineup Sparks offense

Anderson leads off, Granderson and Ordonez hit 5 and 6

Carlos Guillen was put on the 15 day DL and Jim Leyland took the opportunity to shake the lineup around. He moved Anderson up to leadoff, CG to the 5 spot, and Ordonez down to the 6 hole.

The Tigers wondered how it would work, well, for one day it worked very well. The Tigers came out early and exploded. After scoring 1 run in the first, the Tigers put a 5 spot up in the 2nd. A Single by Anderson, Double by Santiago, and Triple by Clete Thomas did the damage. In the 4th inning Cabrera and Granderson went back to back to put the Tigers up 9-0, and that would be the final score.

Porcello was on the mound coming off of two bad starts pitched amazing. He may not have needed to be great today, but he definitely was. 7 innings pitched, and only 4 hits allowed.

Tigers 9 Twins 0

*Sidenote: Frederick Alfred Porcello is the Rookie Standouts full name.

Cabrera's Homerun was measured at 440 feet to Left Field. Check out the video by Clicking Here

Need better hitting than this...

The Tigers offense had only 1 hit through 6 2/3 innings, than with a 2-0 count Cabrera smoked a low and inside pitch over the left center field wall. That tied the game, but only for a minute.

Once again the Tigers went scoreless for 5 innings to start the game, this is just too taxing on your Pitching Staff. Jackson started out really strong, only allowing 1 R through 6, but was hit hard in the 7th inning allowing 5 Runs. It probably didn't help that we were DH'ing a minor leaguer (Raburn). The bullpen gave up a couple more, and the game looked uglier than it really was.

Tigers get 4 whole hits, not good enough. Not even close actually.

Twins 7 Tigers 2

Tigers Week That Was.....

Tigers went 3-3 versus Cleveland and the Yankees

The Tigers began the week versus the Yankees. Game 1 was Monday and the Tigers sent Verlander to the mound against C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees.Verlander would pitch a gem, striking out 9 Yankees in 7 innings, and not giving up a run. The Tigers won that game, but lost the next two. Tuesday the Yankees exploded for 10 runs in the 7th in a 0-0 game. Edwin Jackson was once again money, but the bullpen on this day was horrible. Wednesday, in the series deciding game, the Yankees led throughout, and the Tigers 5 run 9th inning was not enough. Porcello was awful on this day.

Friday would be the series opener against divisional foes, the Indians. Galarraga would take his first loss. Like the game prior vs NYY, the Tigers would score 5 runs late, and it still wouldn't be enough. The Tigers would win the next 2 games. Saturday in a great game with many lead changes, and a GW HR by Granderson. Sunday they won behind another stellar effort from Verlander.

The Tigers would finish the week 3-3, and on a 2 game win streak. The starters were strong, and the pen was solid other than the 10 run explosion vs NYY. Rodney, still is yet to blow a save, and CG is a stud.

Weekly Grades:
Hitting: C+ (stayed off the scoreboard for 4+ innings too many times)
Starting Pitching: B+ (Galarraga was bad, others were good to great)
Bullpen: B (Couple bad innings, but still solid)

Overall: B- (3-3 record, too many zeros offensively)

5 most important things from the week that was
1. Verlander, Verlander, Verlander (14 IP, 20 K, 1 ER)
2. CG is a stud
3. Carlos Guillen needs to start hitting
4. Edwin Jackson looks like a steal
5. Too many errors defensively

It Rained,

and then the Tigers offense forgot the game got started back up

Galarraga was not at his best Friday night, and the game was delayed 40 minutes which pitchers hate. That being said, the Tigers hitting has been bad for about a week now. It is very difficult to win games when you go 4-5 innings scoreless day after day.

The Indians scored 4 runs in the 2nd and ended up carrying a 6 run lead for most of the game after that. The Indians starter Carl Pavano had been rocked all season, well, not today. The Tigers would remain scoreless until the 8th inning when they piled on 5 runs, capped by a 3-R HR by slumping Miguel Cabrera. The Tigers would fall a run short as closer Kerry Wood would shut the door on the Tigers in the 9th.

Indians 6 Tigers 5

The Tigers are now 11-11 on the season, which is fine, but it would be nice to get a win on Saturday and Sunday so they don't lose back to back home series.

Let's go boys, Miner takes the hill Saturday afternoon looking to get the Tigers back in the Win Column.

I Am Calling for it NOW!!!

Pretty much since the day Granderson stepped foot on the Comerica Park Field I have said that he is not a leadoff hitter. He just isn't exactly what you want from the leadoff position. He is a gap to gap hitter, and seems to be turning into a possible 30+ HR guy. Granderson needs to move down in the lineup, for a few years it was understandable why he was at the top. We didn't have anyone to move up to the 1 spot. Now we do, and it would be a move that helped the team in a variety of ways. How about this lineup.

1. Anderson LF
2. Polanco 2b
3. Granderson CF
4. Cabrera 1b
5. Ordonez RF
6. Guillen DH
7. Inge 3b
8. Laird C
9. Everett/Santiago SS

To me this balances the lineup better, and it moves speed to the top of the lineup. Now when opposing pitchers are facing the likes of Granderson, Cabrera, Ordonez they will also have to think about the fact that Anderson is on base and might steal on them.

I am not here telling you that Anderson is the next Ricky Henderson, definitely not, this is more based on the fact that I believe that moving Granderson down and letting him knock some more runs in would really benefit this team.

Anyways, I highly doubt Jim will even think of this, but he should.

*Anderson hasn't helped my cause in the past few days with his less than stellar play in the field.