The real story tonight was Zach Miner, who shook off a bad outing with a strong effort.  in 13 innings against the Royals as a starter, he's allowed no runs and six hits, and walked just two batters.  But after Miguel Cabrera took us to the gun show tonight, we're firing back with a handful of bullets.

• Will Cabrera hit that car in left field tomorrow?  He came close to denting it with a baseball again tonight on his 28th homer of the season.  Watch out tomorrow, Dodge Avenger.
• Maybe I'm just reaching for anything to feel good about with 30-plus games remaining, but Cabrera posing in front of the dugout camera and then flexing a bicep on the bench showed a guy who's having fun playing baseball.  He didn't look that way earlier in the season.
• What are the chances of Cabrera catching Josh Hamilton for the major league RBI lead?  Rod and Mario brought this up on FSN Detroit tonight.  With 100 RBIs now, he's 15 behind Hamilton, with Philly's Ryan Howard sandwiched between them.
• And perhaps best of all, there was no comeback drama in the late innings tonight, with Bobby Seay and Kyle Farnsworth both pitching scoreless, hitless frames.

With a win tomorrow, the Tigers can finish off their second straight sweep of the Royals and even the season series.  They can also get back to .500, and jumping over that mark is the least that can be done with the remainder of this season.

Do I have to write another woeful recap about a terrible Tigers pitching performance?  I think we're tapped out on those.  And I'm sure you don't want to read another one.  Unless I could find another photo of a train wreck, explosion, or sinkhole. 

So tonight, we'll try something different.  This recap is dedicated to bowing before our Baltimore overlords.  What Melvin Mora and Luke Scott have done to Detroit Tigers pitching this season is akin to barbarians destroying a village.  I can imagine Dave Tremblay gathering his team in the clubhouse after today's game, asking them to form a circle around him, Mora, and Scott, and asking his two sluggers the following question:

"What is best in life?"

To which Mora and Scott would respond in unison, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of the women." 

Here's some lamenting for you: Today, Mora went 5-for-6 with two homers and six RBIs.  In this three-game series, he hit 10-for-13 for a .769 average.  He slammed three home runs, and drove in 10 runs.  In seven total games against Detroit this season, Mora has a .572 average (16-for-28) with six homers and 17 RBIs. 

Scott wasn't quite as dominating in this series, today's 3-for-6, 2 homer, four RBI performance notwithstanding.  But in his seven games against the Tigers this year, he's batted .542 (13-for-24) with five home runs and 12 RBIs. 

These two guys are stone cold Tiger killers.  If you saw two gentlemen walking toward a team bus with fresh tiger skins draped over their shoulders, wearing the heads of those beasts as hats, chances are it was Mora and Scott.  Wearing fur in 80-plus degree weather.  That's how fearsome this pair was.

For the second time in three days, the Orioles' lineup hung double-digit runs on a Tigers pitching staff that may as well be throwing the ball underhanded.  And we can't even blame today's 16 runs on favorite BYB whipping boy, Nate Robertson.  No, Zach Miner had easily his worst start of the season, one in which he couldn't even make it out of the second inning.  In just 1 1/3 innings, Miner virtually turned to quivering jello on the mound, giving up five runs, six hits, and four walks.  Coming into today, Miner had only given up seven earned runs and walks in five starts. 

But Baltimore scored 11 more runs, and we have the bullpen to thank for that.  Casey Fossum: four runs.  Aquilino Lopez: four runs.  Francis Beltran: three runs.  Fail, fail, fail.  These guys weren't just gas cans today; they were tanker trucks full of petrol.  And the Orioles treated that tanker truck like the 18-wheeler Batman flipped tail-over-head in The Dark Knight.  And he needed a bad-ass motor scooter with grappling hooks and cables to pull that off.  The Orioles just needed sticks of maple and ash.  And, of course, that generous Tigers pitching serving the baseball up on a tee. 

What a total traveshamockery.  Detroit needs the Tigers to go on a seven-day road trip to get the smell of this homestand out of Comerica Park.

Roll Call

We had an active GameThread, but unfortunately, it sort of turned into accident gawking right away.  By the end, men and women were trading cheesecake and beefcake photos.  Those that remained, anyway.  This is what we've been reduced to.

Thanks to wepri31, rook34, densogirl, ThaWalrus9, Juskimo, explosivo2k2, Rogo, Boney, spotstarters, gf206, and Wingz for viewing the carnage.

I thought this photo would pretty much be retired to the BYB archives once Jason Grilli was traded to Colorado.  But Joel Zumaya is taking on the look of a gas can, and thus forced us to dust the image off.

(That one's for you, John Milton.)

The Tigers had this game.  They got another fine pitching effort from Zach Miner, who gave up only one run and five hits in six innings.  Those numbers (along with five strikeouts) should be enough to win most of the time.  Unfortunately, Miner had to leave after throwing more than 100 pitches, and the game was turned over to the bullpen that treats leads like handling a hot pan with bare hands.

Bobby Seay and Zumaya were charged with two runs apiece, but it was Zumaya who truly lit the match.  He failed to record a single out, giving up a single, a walk, a double, and two more walks (one of which was intentional).  That's not just failing to put out the fire.  That's rolling in the gasoline when you're already set aflame. 

Jim Leyland said in his post-game interview that he thought something was wrong with Zumaya and would make sure he gets checked out.  If it's a physical problem, at least that's one explanation.  But if this is in Zumaya's head - and he sure looks like someone whose confidence is shot - we could be looking at a reclamation project that will go into next spring.

The shame of it all is that Zumaya's meltdown wasted a possibly redemptive performance from Gary Sheffield.  Did his two home runs leave you flabbergasted, shocked, and blindsided?  Were you caught off-guard?  Did he just boost his value to the Tigers or increase what trade value he might have?  Regardless, Sheffield has been criticized (and justifiably so) for not getting the big hit with runners in scoring position.  Tonight, he took care of that by just driving himself in. 

Was Sheff fueled by anger?  Did Leyland inadvertently or knowingly push a button to fire up his struggling slugger?  We'll probably never know.  Hopefully, for everyone involved, this wasn't just a one-game blip. 

If only we could say the same thing about the Tigers' bullpen.  We've all fallen into a burning ring of fire.  Going down, down, down, as the flames get higher.  And it burns, burns, burns.  The ring of fire.

Roll Call

Love is a burning thing.  Why else would so many of us risk falling into the ring of fire for this team that keeps putting out cigarettes on our forearms?

Cold packs and Advil for Jerkwheat, HavocRox, dettigionswings'stons, ThaWalrus9, TFerg1103, MackAveKurt, BigAl, PBURGTIGER, Zappatista, spotstarters, rook34, Rogo, MSU4LIF, densogirl, pfuhrmeister, and ashmark to treat their burns.

So has Zach Miner earned a spot in next year's starting rotation?  The guy has clearly found his niche.  Why take him out of it? 

Once again, Miner threw well, giving the Tigers a chance to win the game.  He allowed only one earned run in six innings, and most importantly, issued zero walks.  And unlike Miner's last start, the Detroit lineup followed through on their end with some runs tonight.  The middle of the order brought the big sticks tonight, led by Miguel Cabrera, who went 3-for-3 and gave the Tigers a lead they never relinquished with a two-run homer in the third inning.

What was the play of the game?  Ryan Raburn's diving catch of a line drive into left center to end the eighth inning would be a strong pick.  Before Raburn hustled to get his glove under the ball, it looked like the bullpen had given up another crushing blow.  (Great quote from Mike McClary via IM after that play: "What's all the fuss?  Marcus makes that catch."  Sure he does.)

But the lead became safe(r) in the top of the 9th when Magglio Ordonez made Ozzie Guillen pay for intentionally walking Carlos Guillen to set up a double play.  Maggs launched a ball past Brian Anderson in center field that eventually went for a triple, bringing home two insurance runs.

So at least the Tigers didn't have to choke down a sweep.  Considering how the previous six games have gone, that's something worth feeling okay about.

Roll Call

The GameThread started off a bit slow, but that was understandable.  The last two games have been painful, and most of us surely struggled with trying to stay away.  Plus, the Lions' exhibition opener may have piqued some curiosity.  But after dipping some toes in, we found out the water was fine and eventually had a long-awaited victory to celebrate.

Thanks to MackAveKurt, PBURGTIGER, HavocRox, spotstarters, Wingz, explosivo2k2, TFerg1103, MI-FANinTX (Welcome!), wepri31, dettigionswings'stons, jerseyboyinmi, Tony K, ThaWalrus9 (Watchmen!), densogirl, STEVIEYz1, SpartanNate for keeping it alive.

6 1/2 games out of first place is better than 8 1/2 out.  It's not as catchy a slogan as "Who's Your Tiger?" and probably shouldn't be a slogan at all.  But after a weekend in which the Detroit Tigers didn't really accomplish what they hoped (or needed) to do, salvaging one victory is something of a consolation. 

Zach Miner threw his second straight quality start, keeping a hot White Sox offense in check until the Tigers' bats swung the bat with authority in the third inning.  Curtis Granderson hit a home run to put Detroit ahead to stay, while Miguel Cabrera knocked two hits for the third straight game and drove in two runs.  (Cabrera, by the way, has hit safely in his last seven games, batting .375 - 13-for-35 -  with 15 RBIs during that span.) 

But the real pitching story came in the eighth inning, when Joel Zumaya left after facing two batters.  No discomfort was obvious from watching Zumaya or trainer Kevin Rand, but it was later revealed that tightness in the right triceps was the problem that took Zumaya out of the game.  (His status is listed as day-to-day.)  That brought in the Tigers' new closer, who got the job just before game-time.

Did having to rush in and warm up on the field, rather than in the bullpen, affect Fernando Rodney upon entering the game?  We may never know, though being taken out of a routine can be a jarring thing for an athlete.  Rodney certainly seemed to be off initially, walking two of the first three batters he faced, followed by giving up a two-run single to Jim Thome.

You could hear all of Tiger Town go "Uh-oh" at that point.  It wasn't a save situation, but how was Rodney going to handle this closer thing?  Not badly, as it turns out.  After giving up those two runs, Rodney escaped further damage by getting a ground ball to end the eighth.  And in the ninth, which will be his territory for the time being, Rodney struck out the side.  When was the last time Tigers fans saw a pitcher do that to end the game?

Hopefully for the Tigers, this change wasn't made too late to make a difference in their season.

Roll Call

I wasn't sure what kind of turnout we'd get in today's GameThread.  It's been a rough weekend, and no one could be blamed for being disheartened and wanting to take a break.  But some of us just couldn't stay away.  It's in our blood now.

Thanks to ThaWalrus9, MikeMcClary, Zappatista, BigAl, MackAveKurt, HavocRox, Juskimo, rock n rye, gf206, MSU4LIF, dettigionswings'stons, tplants, Wingz, Germantiger, and pfuhrmeister for enjoying the weekend's lone victory and being on the scene when the Rodney news started to make the rounds.

I don't know about you, but I'm a guy who prefers the world to remain in its natural order.  The sun rises in the east, sets in the west, etc.  And in this world order, the Detroit Tigers should regularly defeat the Kansas City Royals.

When something comes along to shake up that order, it's not always a bad thing.  It may be jolting.  The Royals' 6-0 record so far this season against the Tigers probably fits into that category.  But such freak occurrences can remind us of how important it is for the world to work a certain way, and order will impose itself to make a correction. 

I didn't necessarily think the Tigers would make up their 15-run margin with the Royals in one game.  But the guys in that clubhouse must have been sick of seeing that 26-11 run differential and decided to take care of it in one game.  Hell, Miguel Cabrera and Matt Joyce almost covered it by themselves, with 11 RBIs between them.

Poor Jimmy Gobble almost gave back that 15-run margin by himself, allowing 10 runs (with seven hits and four walks) in just one inning of work.  Even Nate Robertson was shaking his head, thinking "Oooh, that's bad" after seeing that carnage.  Someone needs to check that kid for post-traumatic stress disorder today.  He's going to be jumping at the slightest noise for at least a few days. 

Heroes?  Golden Tiger Claw winners?  Take your pick.  The aforementioned Cabrera matched a career-high five hits and six RBIs.  Joyce had four hits and five RBIs, yet another strong argument for staying in the lineup.  Gary Sheffield hit a three-run homer, looking as healthy as he has all season.  (But is he hitting better because he's fully healthy or because Jim Leyland is handling him exactly the right way?)  And Zach Miner - for one game, at least - quieted any doubts about rejoining the starting rotation.  No runs and three hits over six innings is exactly what the Tigers needed from a starting pitcher not named Justin Verlander or Armando Galarraga.

Let's just hope the Tigers saved some order-restoring baseball for the remaining two games of this series.

Worries? Here Are Two:

But it looked like the Tigers might need every one of those 19 runs once Miner left the game and turned it over to the bullpen.  Should we begin to worry about Freddy Dolsi?  After the four runs he coughed up last night, Dolsi has allowed six runs, along with five hits and no strikeouts, in his last 1 2/3 innings.  Should he begin to focus more on pitching instead of shearing the hair off his teammates and collecting $200 paychecks for his barbering?

And Aquilino Lopez shouldn't be let off the hook, either.  Both of the runs he gave up were charged to Dolsi, but he still allowed them to score.  That's not exactly cleaning up a mess.  In his last 4 2/3 innings, Lopez has allowed nine hits, four runs, and three walks.  Does anyone smell gasoline?

The Other Side:

For the full effect, check out Royals Review's game recap, "Yes, That Happened."

And the KC Star's Joe Posnanski also chimed in with a look at the horror - the horror! - that was Jimmy Gobble's performance, while also spotlighting the one highlight for the Royals: Tony Pena, Jr's one scoreless inning of pitching.

Roll Call

I expect to get hammered for admitting this, but I conked out after the fifth inning and missed quite a bit of the GameThread fun.  That's what I get for cutting my lawn before watching baseball, I guess.

Thankfully, ThaWalrus9 (welcome back!), rock n rye, spotstarters, rook34, Zappatista, wepri3 (Re-Joyce!), pfuhrmeister, Jerkwheat, TFerg1103, Boney, Oost, gf206, HavocRox, MSU4LIF, dettigionswings'stons, Juskimo, alwayshoping (Welcome!), TonyS, ahtrap, explosivo2k2, Germantiger, Tony K, and densogirl were all stronger than me and got to celebrate the run parade.  Great job, people.

Immediately after yesterday's win in Baltimore, the Tigers made the roster move we knew they'd make, bringing up Zach Miner from Toledo to start tonight's opener in Kansas City.  Miner handed off his Mud Hen baton to Jeff Larish, who goes back down to Triple-A after a rather impressive return to Detroit. 

At first glance, the hope would seem to be that Miner could fill the fifth starter role long-term.  Or at least until Dontrelle Willis proves he's ready to pitch in the majors again.  However, in today's Detroit News, Jim Leyland said that he still envisions Miner as a reliever.  Why?  Because of that sinker ball. 

"With that pitch, I thought of him as someone to bring into the sixth or seventh inning to get a ground ball and get us out of an inning," Leyland said.  "I still think that.

"He has two good pitches, and a third one that's OK," he said.  "If the third one (his change-up) gets better, he can be a starter.  But I thought he could be a good reliever for us, and I still think he could be.

"I like having a guy in the bullpen with a good sinker.  But we'll see how he does (as a starter)."

Miner was presumably starting in Toledo to give him more opportunity to refine that change-up.  We'll see tonight how that's developed for him.  Regardless, he helps the Tigers more as a starting pitcher right now, as it's the greater need.  If Willis returns, Fernando Rodney is included in a deal, or Miner fumbles his audition for the rotation, then that role will obviously be re-evaluated. 

As a starter, Miner has a 7-7 record and 5.08 ERA in 17 appearances (85 innings).  As a reliever, he's 6-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 76 games (106 1/3 innings).  Miner last started a game for the Tigers in May of 2007, when he gave up two runs (one earned) and six hits in 5 1/3 innings at Fenway Park.

Following the Tigers' 8-6 win over the Indians last night, I was on the phone during the post-game show.  I'm only bothering to mention that because when I saw Dave Dombrowski on the screen, it became rather apparent that something was going on.  How often does the general manager talk to the press after the game?  And you never see Double-D on the FSN "Tigers Live" post-game show. 

Sure enough, stuff was happening with the Tigers' roster after the game.  With Brandon Inge finishing his rehab assignment with Toledo and set to rejoin the team, Detroit had to make a move.  And the spot to clear was back-up catcher, so Dane Sardinha was the guy to go.  It's worth noting that he was designated for assignment, rather than sent to Toledo, but I'm assuming that's because Sardinha was out of minor league options.  But since he's likely to clear waivers, after which he'll probably report back to Toledo, it's really a minor point to discuss. 

The other move was perhaps a bit more surprising, though probably could've been predicted around the third inning of last night's game.  Eddie Bonine was sent to the minors, but rather than to Toledo, he was shipped down to Double-A Erie.  That seems a bit harsh for a guy who was on the major league roster just a few hours earlier, but Bonine really had only two good starts among his five appearances with the Tigers.  And that success was surely skewed by the lesser opponents he was facing in the Padres and Rockies.  Once he faced American League competition, Bonine couldn't even complete four innings. 

Why Erie, and not Toledo?  The Tigers must feel Bonine lost something in the transition from Triple-A to the majors, and needs some work to find it again.  Or there's just not a spot for him in the Mud Hens' rotation now, with Zach Miner starting games to tune up his variety of pitches. 

(UPDATE: According to MLive.com's Graham Couch, Bonine was sent to Erie so he can start Monday on his normal pitching schedule.  The Mud Hens will be off on Monday for the Triple-A All-Star break.)

But what made the Bonine move surprising is who was called up to Detroit to replace him.  Rather than promote another pitcher to fill that spot, the Tigers decided they could get by without a fifth starter as only four games remain before the All-Star break.  So instead, Detroit will carry another bat, bringing back Jeff Larish.  Where exactly Larish will play isn't clear to me, but maybe the Tigers thought a left-handed bat with some pop off the bench would be a nice luxury to have against Minnesota for the next four games.

In the meantime, we can ponder who will take that fifth spot in the starting rotation after the All-Star break.  Will it be the presumably stretched out Aquilino Lopez?  Could it be Miner, who Leyland has acknowledged might be better as a starter?  Or could another Toledo guy, like Chris Lambert (8-5, 3.25 ERA, 78 strikeouts in 102 1/3 innings), get a shot?

Walking seven batters in your last 5 1/3 innings is no way to get through life, son.  I don't know if those were the exact words that Jim Leyland used while informing Zach Miner that he was being sent down to Triple-A Toledo, but what he actually said couldn't have been much different.

With the emergence of Freddy Dolsi and the return of Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya to the Tigers' bullpen, Miner was seeing his role increasingly marginalized.  Yet with no one standing out as the sort of lock-down reliever that made Detroit so fearsome in 2006, Miner continued to get chances in middle relief, especially as a bridge between the starting pitcher and the set-up crew.  But games can get out of hand or out of reach when pitchers come in and walk batters.  Obviously, Leyland had seen enough of that from Miner.  Tuesday's four-walk, 49-pitch outing (over two innings) was the breaking point.

"We want Zach to work on all three of his pitches and have a little better command," manager Jim Leyland said.  "He's (gone) back to 3-2 on too many hitters and to walking too many guys.

Remember when the Tigers traded Denny Bautista because they'd designated him for assignment and he was out of minor league options?  And they could've sent down Miner instead?  Okay, just checking.

Taking Miner's spot in the bullpen will be Aquilino Lopez, who was supposed to be getting "stretched out" in anticipation of him helping out as a starting pitcher, if needed.  Perhaps that's still the role Detroit has in mind for him, but for now, they just want someone who can come in from the bullpen and throw strikes.

Meanwhile, Leyland said that Miner would be starting in Toledo, which would allow him to work on all of his pitches, but particularly his change-up.  Having to pace himself and stretch out might also compel Miner to ease up on the throttle.

"When he is [throwing] 93-94, he's not as good as he is when he is 91-92," Leyland said.  "I think sometimes when you start, you back off a little bit because you don't throw that same pace, and you become better -- you have better control."

Besides giving him the opportunity to tune up his pitching repertoire, could this also be an indication that the Tigers think Miner could now help them more as a starter?  He started 16 games for Detroit in 2006, going 7-6 with a 5.31 ERA.  With questions remaining about Eddie Bonine and the lack of a track record to judge Armando Galarraga on, that might end up being a greater need for the team.

I have to admit, I didn't think we'd ever see Fernando Rodney pitch for the Detroit Tigers again.  When a guy has to stop throwing sessions short because of pain in his shoulder, and makes appointments to see Dr. James Andrews, his pitching career begins to take on the faint burning smell of toast.  Yet Rodney kept at his rehabilitation.  Six minutes of throwing here, another pain-free day of long toss there.  And the Tigers held out hope, though Jim Leyland acted as if he didn't dare depend on someone who might not come back. 

But Rodney really is coming back (complete with some coaching tweaks), joining the team tonight in San Francisco.  And Joel Zumaya isn't far behind him.  Just as the Tigers are playing their best baseball of the year and appear ready to turn their season around, the two relievers that made their bullpen so dominating in 2006 are returning.  If Rodney and Zumaya are capable of pitching as they once did, is there any other team in baseball that's going to add relievers of such caliber in mid-season? 

With news of Rodney's return imminent, the question became who would have to go?  BYB reader Matt astutely observed that Freddy Dolsi would probably draw the short straw, based on his inexperience and remaining minor league options.  The general reaction to that was "What?  Are you nuts?  He's the Tigers' best reliever right now!"  But it made sense, given that Zumaya and Rodney were likely to take over the late-inning set-up roles, while Dolsi would be better served by getting innings in the minors, rather than pitch mop-up duty. 

Apparently, however, the Tigers agreed that Dolsi is pitching too well in relief to send down right now.  Or they're placing more of a priority on trying to rebuild their starting pitching depth.  In a rather surprising move, Detroit is sending Aquilino Lopez back to Toledo, in order to stretch himself out with more innings and become a starting pitcher for the organization.

What does that say about the depth in the minor league system right now?  Virgil Vazquez hasn't been very good this year (4-6, 5.08), and Jordan Tata has plummeted all the way down to Lakeland (he ain't down there for no rehab assignment).  Macay McBride was injured before the season, and Yorman Bazardo (1-3, 5.17) isn't throwing like someone who wants to get a call back up to the bigs.  The Tigers already called up the one guy they could, when Eddie Bonine came up for his start on Saturday.  And though he got a win, it wasn't exactly a dazzling performance.

Making Lopez a starter is a curious move, considering that Casey Fossum and Zach Miner both have more recent experience as starters.  (Both Billfer and Lee point out that Lopez last pitched as a starter in 2002, with Triple-A Tacoma.)  But he has pitched well in longer outings this season, including a four-inning stint in early April that would've been one of the Tigers' best starts of the year had Lopez actually started the game.  It looks like we'll be seeing him get those starts with Detroit pretty soon.