Polanco regrets comments

Thanks for the news, Jason. Yeah, I've had cortisone shots in the knee. After the first one, I thought they'd crippled me for life. This is good to hear.

If one were cynical, one could guess that Polanco was telling the truth, but was asked by management to back track. But, cynical is not my nature...........lol.

Do ya suppose that Kenny has another good game in him? I sure hope so.

That's good to hear. Thanks Jason for keeping us up to the minute!

I saw the lineup (from he!!) for today. Doesn't much resemble yours Marty.

Granderson, Casey and believe it or not, Perez at 2B.

Monroe batting 2nd.

Infante must feel real good about himself. That's what you get for not getting that bund down Omar! You can tear the mask off the Old Lone Ranger, You can spit into the wind but you don't mess around with Jim.

Perez again???? AArrgghh! I can't stand it any longer!!! Omar, don't put that gun to your head, let me use it first!!

Perez? Okay, mark it down as another loss.

My first question in heaven will be "Why did Jim Leyland keep starting Neifi Perez?

Please, Jim, I beg you...Neffer Perez!

Well the bats have come out very aggressively. At the risk of being blamed for hindsight--I don't think you send those two runners with nobody out. Sure they have to be ready to go hard but much better off making sure the ball is on the ground. Lots of highs and lows that inning!

What a broadcast crew! This guy is calling the kettle black. That was an insulting remark to make about the club for someone who is paid to be a little more neutral. Seems to me his White Sox have been struggling a bit too. Makes me really appreciate Mario and Rod.

Agreed! No way you send the runners with no outs. Took Buerhle off the hook, and now Rogers has thrown more pitches at the end of the first than Buerhle has! Ouch! At least we are up 2-0.

Leyland is trying to shake things up a bit and can't blame him for that. If the ball hits the dirt he looks like a genius.
BTW--Rogers is fun to watch. Such a crafty guy on the mound. The problem he is going to have tonight is the umpire.

Yes, Rogers needs to get those generous calls on the corners to be effective. When he gets them it is fun to watch him frustrate hitters.

Leyland's lineup is wriking tonight. Let' hope they all get 2 hits thonight.
Good luck guys.

Leyland's lineup is working tonight. Let' hope they all get 2 hits thonight.
Good luck guys.

I just about can't stand these two announcers. Ugh. Sound may have to come off soon. These guys have no clue as to what's going on with the Tigers. "Course we don't seem to either."

These pros want to erase a home run so badly they're willing to call it a foul on its way out! Way to go Maggs.

So far, Kenny has gotten through the 3-7 hitters well. Let's hope it continues and his pitch count keeps getting closer. Seven innings tonight would be a big help!

Welcome to small ball Tigers style and it hurts. Buerle was hanging by a thread in the first inning and I was glad when they took the bunt off but you gain nothing by sending the runners. Guillen won't beat out any ground ball and unless Casey is involved, Thames and Ordonez lose any race they are involved in. There is nothing to win you can only lose. Who'd think there would be a triple play but it makes as much sense as doing a hit and with Casey on and Inge at the plate (twice saturday night).

I had to take the weekend off the site because my emotions are getting the best of me and between Stairs and Perez I just can't see straight anymore. I watched Inge's throw from yesyerday 15 times and while it is high all Perez has to do is jump and he gets one and ****, maybe two. That play is just athletic instinct, you can't teach it or explain it and Infante makes that play every time. I can't believe how far Inge went to get that ball -- I don't believe any other 3rd basemen in the league even touches that ball. I promise you Infante gobbles up Iguchis single in the 3rd.

I'm at the end of my rope with Leyland and am losing my mind.

Buerle doesn't have it tonight, Inge needs to go deep and we need to get six before we see the pen.

If you want small ball why isn't Granderson bunting with a man on and nobody out in the 3rd?

Somehow, someone has to get Granderson thinking opposite field. Geez! Am I seeing things or is he is trying to pull everything? Early in the year he was hitting to all fields more, right?

Fourth walk tonight! Where is the strike zone?

We need to get to Buehrle this inning. He's not that sharp tonight.

Yes, Maggs! Welcome back!!! Yahoo!

Maggs comes through..............I didn't know he had it in him.

They have hit the ball HARD tonight........it oughtta be more like 7-0.

Gotta get through this inning...........with 3-4-5 coming up.

WOW...........got through that somehow.

Thank gawd, who the Sox had at the plate. Clueless, AJ is.

Why in the $%#@*(&%^$ did we pull Rogers????

Is Rodney a ready for prime tie player???

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Fernando! You are up by four, throw freakin' strikes!

Ahi'na'ma Fernando. Gracias hermanito. You came through again chico! But next time pleeeese, without the full counts.

Rodney scares me to death.

We did NOT want Dye up with two men on.

Now, we get 3-4-5 with no one setting the table. HUGE difference.

Clevlen in right, and Rodney still pitching.

Zumaya not available???

This game is so important, it will pretty much bury the Sox.

Inge, who I have been bagging on all year............somehow comes through.

Brandon, I apologize. You are DA MAN!!!!!!!

Ok, I know this sounds crazy and I may be out of my mind with euphoria (so correct me if I am), but do we have someone who can get through the 9th with a 6 run lead besides Jones? We may need him tomorrow.

Excuse me, make that a 7 run lead. How about Miller? Tata? Someone?

Ok, Walker, I guess. Get'em lefty.

I hear ya.............but Jomes could use the work.

How did that one clear???

Oh boy.............lol.

Nice to laugh about a Sox homer. The rookie must be thrilled with his first hit! To clear that had to have divine intervention!!!

Hawk was beside himself, and so demure!!

Nice to see him humbled. Hawk...take your sayings, and I hope you see Inge's homer in your dreams.

Great game! If someone had told me we were going to see two Sox homers, walk 5, and still win by 6, I would have laughed in their face! Let's get them again tomorrow!

This one puts them on their heels.

Although, with Thome, Dye, Konerko, and Crede..........we can never relax.

But this was sweet!!!!!!!!!!!1

Wow, did you guys enjoy the game? You must have your computers next to your TVs. :-)

Well that was somewhat of an important win (he said in the understatement of the year). Here's what I noticed.

Ordonez: he seems to have changed his stance, I think, since yesterday. Much more pronounced of a crouch and it appears to have worked for him. You know, he really is ending up with cleanup numbers.

Perez: all right, you have to admit, we're seeing a glimpse of what Leyland is wanting from this guy. He goes with Neifi when he thinks it may be a low scoring tight game. The dude can lay down a bunt, that's for sure. Steady at second, as long as he's not overly challenged. I'm not ready to hand the job over to him, of course, but I've finally made some sense out of all this. Whoever it was that referenced Infante failing to bunt hit the nail on the head. Anyway, I'm glad I don't have to go to my grave wondering why he plays. I see it now. Whether I agree is another question, but at least I see some reasons.

Rodney: they call Todd Jones Rollercoaster??? Fernando gives me vertigo. I can't imagine him pitching in a tight postseason game, we'll lose our minds. He gets it done, though.

"Hawk" Harrelson: yeah, you guys are seeing what I've complained about. This guy is the worst announcer in all of baseball. No real game sense, hopeless homer, and a bunch of idiotic, made up cliches like "he gone" and "can we put it on the board......yes!" That's kid stuff. You know, someone in the upper deck at Tiger Stadium in 1968 threw a lit M-80 at him. While I don't condone that kind of behavior, they had the target right. :-)

The triple play: can't really say much, as it would be second guessing. All I can say is that, in that situation, starting the runners never occured to me at the time.

Well, pressure squarely on the Sox now. They're hanging by a thread. Let's cut that thread tomorrow night.

Verlander, who RARELY has two bad starts in a row, is due to bury the Sox once and for all.

Couldn't happen to a better organization, as far as I am concerned.

Maggs shocked me, as did Inge. Maybe this IS our year.

As if we need anything more to play for, I'd like to point out that we trail the Yankees by one game for the best record in the AL, and home field advantage in the playoffs.

The 2 Magglio homers were HUGE! Runs number 3 and 4.
I guess Neifi can play rover anyway. That was innovative against those power lefty hitters. (Who's idea?) He can bunt and he has shown improvement at the plate. I still go with Infante.

Inge is looking better and better at the plate. That was a great at bat, fouling all those pitches before hitting his HR. He has quietly moved over .250 hitting now, a number I kind of consider an acceptable cut off. 25 HR-77 RBI is excellent.

I'm still disappointed that Leyland didn't give Shelton a shot. This would have been the obvious game with LHP. I believe Casey and Granderson went a combined 2 for 9 with 3 K's.

I'm about worn out fighting for Shelton and Infante. It's obviously not going to happen at least at this point in the season. Might as well sit back and watch 'cause "news flash", Leyland ain't looking for any inspiration in these blogs.

Well, tonight was a nice ballgame to watch. Easier on the nerves than most. Good lead, very good pitching (a little scare with Rodney), solid defence, and the bounces and calls mostly went the Tigers' way for a change. Might have been a wider run spread had it not been for some great stops by the White Sox infield. I believe Crede looks as quick and fast as Inge.

New game tomorrow. As we all know, tonight's win will have no effect on it.

Man-I can't tell you how thrilled I was to get home tonight and check my computer and see this score on the board.
And to see all the blogers here and stoked!

We've got some good and knowledgeable fans here (that's the way Tger fans are accustomed to be)- and it is interesting to see some of my personal opinions an comments validated here by such a group.

Marty-I totally agree about Infante especially. Shelton I like and feel he deserves another chance but Infante has filled in with both performance and character under really challenging emotional circumstances. I missed almost all of the game tonight but one thing is abundantly clear to me--Perez is no Infante. He seems to be able to plod through and has been rewarded offensively with a few seeing eye hits but Infante makes him look like he belongs in Detroit all right. In the Henry Ford Museum Perez is a Model T and Infante is a Mustang.

I am hoping in my bones that Big Red gets a cahnce to come up in a key situation and walk off the field with his buddies mobbing him. That's the way it should be as he was the single biggest factor of the clubs initial thrust this season. He then had to deal with the ignomy of a minor league demotion but has handled it with dignity and style. He will have his moment again this year. Count on it.

Rogers has been as perfect as you could reasonably expect out of someone with an 87 MPH fastball. He is amazing.

Our relievers (who we keep hearing our so good) scare me quite a bit. There are no lead pipe cinch performers out there. They are all capable but they all have their idiosyncracies. Walker can look awesome then awful.

Rodney is so unpredictable that he has turned it into a virtue. The hitters can't dig in against him because he is all over the map with his pitchers. I didn't check the box score but it sound from above that he got a bit wild again tonight?

Enough negativity--great win after a disheartening loss. 3 out of the last 4 and the Chisox are on the ropes.

Who are we getting on Wednesday? Garland?

Actually, rl, I don't get to watch the Tiger games on television. I am relegated to Gameday. I keep track of the game there. I really just discovered this blog about a month ago. It is a great place! Knowledgable fans here! Those of you who get to actually SEE the game on tv mention things that help me understand certain situations that happen during the game that Gameday doesn't explain. Thanks guys! Thanks to you Jason for having this spot!

Dsmith, I realized later that many of us were watching the game on MLB.com. Since the Chicago announcers were being commented upon, I assumed we were all watching the game by subscription TV. Turns out it was the same feed for both.

No subscription TV this weekend, though, so I'll be on MLB.com too. I've actually hooked the computer to my TV for this purpose. :-)

If the Tigers win tonight they only need to win 5 more (no matter how many the Sox win) out of the next 11 to clinch the wild card.
Baseball lovers have seen stranger things happen at the end of a year but this is very do-able.

I hope Verlander is able to get a 3rd pitch over for strikes tonight--that is the key.

I've enjoyed reading your various thoughts, hope you don't mind my joining in. I've followed the tigers since 1968 when I moved to Michigan. This season has been great but... I also like Shelton but I doubt well see much of him unless the tigers clinch the division before they get to Kansas City. He probably won't be put on the post season roster and I expect him to be delt away by next spring. Management has soured on him for some reason. They'll keep Casey for another year and either turn Gullen into a first baseman or trade for someone. I hope I'm wrong.
Your comments on MLB -tv afirms my decision not to subscribe. Fortunately we get most of the broadcasts with Merio and Rod - much better than anyone else!

Welcome aboard. I've been wondering the same thing about Shelton and Infante. If they're not going to play them, they may as well trade them for value. I'm sure a number of teams would happy to have either one of them. I'd hate to see Shelton go, though, and my wife would probably stop watching altogether.

RE the subscription, I couldn't do without it. I'm hundreds of miles from Detroit, and some of us are thousands. It does give me an opportunity to grade the different broadcast teams. I'm probably biased, but I too think Mario and Rod are the best. Coming in second is the play by play man up in Minnesota, he's very good. Cleveland's announcers are good too, I rate them third. Chicago comes in dead last, obviously. And if I want a classic, I just tune into Vin Scully over there with the Dodgers.

Ditto for me on MLB TV. I am out in Western Canada and rekindled my affair with the Tigers this year after having given up on the game due to salarie, owners, player egocentricity, loss of fundamentals etc.
I reluctantly got ****** into following this team again and much of that has to do with with less of the above defects than I have witnessed on the national stage.

Interesting team and as much as I have fun with ragging on Leylan--good manager too (I agree with him about half the time anyway). Really would like to see this group of guys get rewarded for their efforts.

Shelton will likely stay IMO. Casey will go.

Infante will go and I hope a couple of pitchers that will have value because they are on a staff that is somewhat highly regarded around the league. I expect Jones, Miner, Grilli, Rodney, Maroth, and even Bonderman are prime trade bait.

Thames, Perez, Ordonez, Polanco, Rodriguez will also be leveraged IMO. Not sure who would accept some of those contracts but we'll see.

That's next year. We need a closer. We also need a cleanup hitter and a leadoff hitter, and one of these will need to be a highly regarded impact player.

Don't know why I am even talking about next year. This is the year we are in and the club has a shot. I kind of get the feeling that the team is about to synthesize itself into a sum that is greater than its parts. Hold on.

Interesting thoughts Atkinson. I hope you're wrong on Shelton. But in light of how he has been treated you might be right. Infante too may be gone. There is still a lot of baseball to be played here so things can still happen. You know how the playoffs and World Series seem to "morph" into their own season, the way everything just seems to intensify. Everything gets stretched out, innings, at bats, etc.
If Shelton, Infante and whomever else I like as players, are relegated to riding the pines from here on in,and not even given spots on the post season roster(pending making them), and if they're not in the future plans for the Tigers, it's just one more reason why I'll find this harder to do next year. I mean, the team we see regularly on the field is not the one we had been so enthusiastically supporting most of the season. It's very hard for me to adapt to these evolving changes.

I just can't seem to get beyond the harsh business realities of the game. Back in 1968, I didn't even get to watch most of the World Series games. Most of them were played in the afternoon back then, and I was grunting those afternoons out in football pads behind the school. I remember catching just bits of a couple of games on the radio in our lockerroom. And I never lived anywhere near Detroit so forget about ever seeing them on TV in western New York. But it seemed so magical back then. I know it was most likely because I was just a kid. I'm sure there was the "business" side of baseball back then too, but as kids we were really incapable of perceiving that.(we didn't care) I sometimes think that's the precise reason baseball is really a game for the youth.

Here I am, behind this computer, able to watch EVERY game and then dicuss, analize, complain, whine, whatever about EVERY minutia of detail , it's really pretty amazing.

I've never EVER been able to do anything like this before.

It's so available it's almost anticlimactic!

Having said that I'm having a ton of fun and these fellow bloggers have been the bigger part of that. When I first subscribed to mlb.com I was a bit intimidated by the high quality of the insights/knowledge that these guys had. But after watching enough of these games, most anyone with a love and passion for it can begin to see the trends, the details.

So I figure I'm in this for the "long haul" at least this year. After that who knows? Dsmith you really ought to try subscribing to mlbTV. Even my stick figure cartoons are an upgrade to gameday.

No lineup will be forthcoming this evening. If I did submit one it would be in alphabetical order.

Great note, Marty.

I too, find the business side of the game a little disheartening.

I had stopped following MLB pretty much. Grew up in Ann Arbor, now reside in San Diego. For some reason, I found myself subscribing to the MLB ticket during spring training. I guess I just missed baseball. The Tigers' prospects didn't seem all that promising. After all, the champ Sox, were in their division, and the Indians, who seemed on the verge of another great year with ANOTHER group of good young ball players, and the Twins, who always seem to well built.

Needless to say, this season has been such a pleasant suprise, and I have watched every bit of it from beginning 'till now. It has been a joy to watch our Tigers revel in their success. I don't know who is more suprised, us fans or the players themselves.....lol.

It IS hard to get behind theserecent aquisitions, however. As painful as it was to watch Shelton struggle, I would still rather see him trying his best than Stairs or Casey in there. Nothing against those two gentlemen, it's just that Chris is a Tiger. These others are hired for the short term. Almost like scab labor(not really, but sorta????)

That said, it has been a wonderful season, and it has personally been a joy to get back into baseball, feel a little young again, and root for our home town boys!

Scratch, I grew up in Ann Arbor too. Just moved from there seven years ago. My wife thinks that "Go Blue" thing I get from strangers is like some kind of gang sign. :-)

I never really quit watching baseball, but I got more involved again starting in 2004. Guess I thought there was no way to go but up.

Hey---He didn't say "HeGOAN"
after Verlander struck out Thome. You know he didn't even mention the "word" strikeout or "Called strike 3".

What an embarassement to the broadcasters.

What a joke--AJ strikes out and all he has to say is "2 down"

Well, Dan, that is because the White Sox have the worst announcer in the world with Harrelson. I am sure you also noticed that on the great play Inge made on the grounder by Podsednik he claimed no one else would have fielded it except for Crede. Cause no one could possibly do anything better than a White Sox player. I may be from Illinois but he is the reason I could never like the White Sox. That and I have always loved my Tigers. MLB.tv is awesome because I can watch most of the Tigers games (except like last night when playing the White Sox and it is on TV around here.)

Even when they compliment a Tiger player it is with a certain loathsome disdain.

Living here in Tennessee, or traveling the country, I get the Tigers on XM radio. Aren't the White Sox radio announcers the worst?

Verlander is all over the place with his contol. I knew those 2 free passes would kill him. AJ hit a pretty good pitch from Verlander. 4 runs is a HUGE deficit in this game. Better bring some bats in Jim.

Somebody please stop the bleeding! Time to bring some bats in, know what I'm talkin' about? It's 6 zip, this game's gone south, time to try some things.

Marty, that WAS a good pitch, wasn't it? I don't know how AJ golfed it out, but some nights, things just don't go your way.

Press, Ann Arbor was a great place to grow up, wasn't it? And, it was fun to watch the Wolves put the wood to ND. Any chance they can get past Illinois and Minnesota? They sometimes win the big ones, and then lose to inferior teams.

Dye just went yard, and the way Garcia is going, tonight doesn't look good.

Thanks for the help Joe. It's good to see other teams can be as generous as the Tigers in this respect. Bring some bats out Jim.

This one's gone, ain't it? These guys have never been able to hit Garcia. This goes back years. And Bonderman can't have one of his blowup innings tomorrow night, either. Jon Garland.

It appears that Minnesota will catch us in the loss column, just as many predicted. If these guys never lose a game, what are you going to do, win eleven straight?

Not even these two madcap gaffers could make this one entertaining. Hey I'm seeing parts of the line up I was hoping for in the mop up role again.

Just got home and am glad to see I missed this night. I guess it doesn't surprise me much. The Sox have their back to the wall and we haven't been able to put two or three good games together lately. Thanks for the tip on MLB.tv. I will take your tip to heart and get in for the next year. Even if the twins do end up catching us, I just want to see us make the playoffs. If we could get a few breaks, and if Polanco can at least make some kind of a contribution, anything can happen in a short series. I am confident we could take the Twins (just like the Mud Hens took out the Red Wings), even if we had to play the deciding game in their park. I have a feeling that Bonderman's outing tomorrow will tell us a lot about his future with the Tigers. Garland is one tough cookie, but Bondo can be too. Let's play the game and find out what is going to happen. Go Tigers! Go Red Sox!

The more I think about this, the less I'm impressed with Jim Leyland. Remember back in April when Shelton was hot and people were clamoring for him to be elevated from the six hole? The answer I heard was that JL didn't want to change his lineup because he wanted everyone to be familiar with the hitters and baserunners around them. I bought that then. Since then, we've seen Shelton sent to the minors, brought back as a third string catcher, then given about two at bats per week against the league's toughest pitchers, while all the while Leyland never turns in the same lineup card two days in a row. Now what's up with that? This is not in line with the reputation he's carrying around as a player's manager. I won't even mention Omar, it's not even necessary. Or Maroth.

How in the world did we end up with Casey and Stairs and Perez as our starters? I just don't get it anymore. So I don't end up preaching to the choir, does anyone disagree with what I'm saying?

You won't hear a negative word on all that from me, rl. Lots of sense there for sure. Hey, Marty, you are in western NY? I only know two other fans out our way. If we make the playoffs, maybe you should join us for the game at a local watering hole. The only requirement is a Tiger hat. My wife, a long time Yankee fan, is even considering wearing one!

Did everyone go to bed? Well, Shelton finally gets a plate appearance and it's against one of the best right handed closers in baseball. Still, he got 2 good rips at 2 good strike zone fastballs, didn't appear he missed by much. However,that last pitch just overpowered him... I still stand by my belief he deserves legitimate playing time in meaningful situations. (He did make a good scoop at first.)
Not much positive to take from this one, except the bull pen closers got a night's rest. Verlander struggled with control again, forcing him to come in with too many strike zone fastballs.

Minnesota wins again. Maybe Boston will show some pride and take at least one in their own ballpark.

Rich, I echo your frustrations. We've been saying this all along. It's obvious that Leyland's philosophy is to go with the veteran players down the stretch. He is so afraid of losing with the young players that he is willing to trot the same veterans out day after day regardless of the games' outcomes. He is literally dogmatic in this respect, because the Tigers have been playing .375 or so baseball for the past 6 weeks using this formula. OK, so the 3 afore mentioned players are veterans. Have any of them played on a playoff team before? Heck, have any of them played on a winning team before? I don't know. Anybody got some quick stats out there?
You know, most of the Tiger wins in the second half have come on good pitching performances anyway. Rarely have they outslugged an opponent. My point, as long as their starter pitches well it's not the end of Leyland's world to change the lineup up a little. Find an offensive spark somewhere on the bench. If you're afraid of losing you're not going to win most of the time. I'm tellin' ya, this is getting old. If they flounder down the stretch with the same old same old, I for one will be hard pressed to even stay interested.

You cannot judge Shelton's and Clevlen's readiness by throwing them in a mop up ninth inning situation against a closer like Jenks.

Yes the Tigers have a 5 game lead, but I want them to win the Central like they deserve. Not wait to the very end of the season to have the Twinkies steal it from them! Not back into the playoffs with the wildcard spot, with a that's good enough attitude!

Go Tigers!

I'm beginning to think that Leyland would trot Nate Colbert out there if he had him. Even at his worst, Shelton hit better than Casey and Stairs. And, as another Casey would say, you can look it up.

I just don't think NL hitters can come over here to the AL and hit like they're accustomed to doing. You can't work the count to 2-0 or 3-1 and expect to get a fat fastball in this league. Leyland, Dombrowski, both National League people.

BTW, this little rant has little to do with how the team is performing and more to do with how you handle the players you have in any situation. Yeah, we can probably get into the playoffs, but I'd like to not only win the Central but go after the Yankees for the best record and get that home field advantage. For a team that played .670 ball for four months, that's not too much to ask at this point.

Hey I'm still up Marty and with the aid of a stiff drink I'm trying not to rant and rave like those hecklers on the muppets.

Great to see Shelton out there tonight, however briefly, though at two at-bats a week against Jenks or Santana it is going to be hard for him to make a contribution. He did go up there ripping, after a night of very polite Tiger hitting, and that was good to see. Maybe we're all just too romantic to be fans of contemporary baseball but seeing Shelton mop up in the 9th inning just makes me miss him all the more. We wouldn't even be in first place without him and there not only seems to be no loyalty from management but a complete lack of comprehension. Shelton is like, 7-17 against Garcia with a couple of taters and he still can't get into the lineup. Dan I loved what you wrote about Shelton having another moment this season, making a difference, mobbed by his reammates. It's quite a beautiful idea and I have to believe that its true, that Big Red will get his chance.

Stairs, Casey and Perez in the starting lineup tonight, I mean who are these guys and what have done with my Tigers? I loved Inge's joke about Stairs looking like a bush-league softballer player. To me he looks like Casey's older brother. The big brother who stays out too late, gets in trouble and then has to be bailed out by the mayor. These games are too important to trust to lineups like this. What exactly has Stairs down lately that is so wonderful that Thames should sit in a stretch run? And if we do play October baseball then we turn to Thames and say yeah, we believe in you, you can do it? We didn't have faith in you when the immortal Matt Stairs was a option but now we have no choice.

Thames only has 3 at-bats against Garcia but he does have a homerun.

Perez could barely make the throw from short right field last night, and then tonight he could barely go 5 feet to his left to get Piersynskis(sp?) grounder and then his throw pulled Casey off the bag. Infante has shown determination, talent and character, and admitedly he failed to get down one sacrifice bunt but why does hhe sit against the White Sox again. By the way, Infante is 5-25 career facing Garcia with 2, yes 2, home runs.

Now probably nobody does much off Garcia tonight, he's always killed us and he clearly has been feeling it lately but Csaey batting third??? Stairs sixth and then of course the Nefarious one?

Verlander continues to baffle, though he seems to have plenty of good stuff, he is just getting rocked. He is still having trouble throwing the curve ball for strikes but those walks and careless 2 strike pitches are just as deadly. You just can't walk Brian Anderson or truthfully, you can't walk anyone when you have to face this line-up. His mechanics looked ok to me, his shoulder wasn't flying open like it did last week but it looked like after the grand slam Verlander was so upset with himself that he was done for the night. With all his talent and grit you have to feel that he'll be great next start. Hang in there Justin. Hang in there everybody.

By the way Rich and Scratch, though I was born and raised in St. Joe I went to school in Ann Arbor and lived there till I moved to New York City 7 years ago. For some reason the Michigan/Notre Dame game got me thinking not about school spirit but about blimpy burgers on Division St.

Got home and saw the score and had to immediately crack open a Moosehead.

Here's my take on Leyland. He comes out and sounds all ful of baseball logic and simplicity but doesn't follow his own convictions.

Casey has been hitting and a righty is on the mound. I can handle it (even without being totally enamored with it). Perez, pure obstinancy on Leyland's part. My guess (and only a wild guess at that) is that Infante has transgressed the old coot and is paying the price whenever Leyland has one smidgen of a reason to teach the young upstart a lesson. Shelton is a pretty easy going guy with a bread basket American respect for his elders and probably calls Leyland "Sir" or "Mr."

He should call him a couple of other names and dare him to put him back in the lineup full time.

Stairs is quite clearly a stop-gap measure at best and a fruitless dream at worst.

Perez is the second best hitter on Stairs softball team next year. (Unless they give Joe Schmoe from Des Moines a couple of kegs and free batting gloves to come over and bat cleanup)

It's time for Leyland (and I've said this before) to smarten up, admit his stubborness has not worked out for the best, and make some adjustments.

Verlander has been allowed to be cocky because he has this "great arm". His head is bigger than his arm and we as fans should sue Sports Illustrated.

He is not a dominating pitcher because he has not learned to love the game. With his stuff, and he most certainly has great stuff, he needs to be a strikeout pitcher--plain and simple. I am in my late 50s and still love to go to the batting cages and time those 90 MPH straight fastballs.

We all know that a lot of what we post here is venting after a loss--but we all here know the game of baseball and most of us have been around long enough to have some kind of sense of understanding people. Leyland needs to care more about the young players who are silled and hungry than to keep trying to make Dombrowski look good.

Stairs and Perez are not what got ushere, not what will take us there and not what will play if we get there. I do like Casey but he is not a messiah, he is a platoon first basemen and a good guy to have around.

Leyland also needs to have a heart to heart with Verlander. He needs to let him know that while he may be the best thing since sliced bread he needs to put a little more yeast in the dough and rise to the occasion.

You look at that White Sox lineup---you simply cannot have a bad game the rest of this month. They do have the ability to overpower anybody they play.

Hope we are all in love with Leyland tomorrow and obviusly tonight was not his fault--but he is going to be as big a factor in the standings right now than any one player on the club.