Ernie to broadcast two games

Jason, can you give us an update on progress for Vance, Kenny and Bondo?

I see that Troy Percival is making a comeback and is selling himself to someone, anyone. First Clemens, now Percival. Who's next, Jack Morris?

Here's a random comment from a cranky old man: if there's anything MLB does that irritates me, and there are a LOT of things MLB does to irritate me, the most irritating might be their selling of rights to televised games thus enabling the dreaded blackout. I never expected to see the Tigers this Saturday on Fox since I reside in the Washington Nationals home area. I did think they'd show us Phillies-Braves (East division) but no, the listings say Cubs-Dodgers! Now what do the Cubs and Dodgers have to do with anything? Maybe they think we want to see more of Soriano? I saw enough last year.

If we're getting Cubs-Dodgers, why not Tigers-Indians? It's only two teams battling for first place, after all.

Thanks for listening.

Yes Sheffield is hitting better. Better is the operative term. Better than he was which was horrible but he is not getting the clutch hits.
There have been recent games where a long ball by Gary would have been monumental and motivating. More often thatn not those times have become minumental and frustrating. Too many times where he has stranded 2 or 3 o base in a game deciding situation. I hope he starts to 'really' hit soon.

"Minumental." I like that. Good word.

Yeah, there have been times when a well timed tater from Sheff would have made it possible for him to be elected governor of Michigan, last night was one. I can't really complain, however, as he has as much to do with the excellent Tiger hitting as anyone. I think he's directly responsible for Maggs' big numbers, and he's been thoroughly professional throughout. I think he should get a few more starts in rightfield. A few, maybe? I know he doesn't want to play firstbase, but I have no doubt the dude would do it without complaint if absolutely necessary. Let's hope it doesn't become necessary. There are other discussion boards where he was being called "Colbert" during April. I thought that was very wrong. If anything, Sheff might be the one guy in the lineup who SHOULD swing at the first pitch. He looks at some awfully tempting fastballs.

"You can't win 'em all" is the old saying, and last night was a perfect example of why. All the Tiger hitters did was smack the ball all over the ballpark and got very little to show for it. If even half of those defensive plays aren't made, we probably win by at least two runs.

Our Jekyll and Hyde bullpen is at it again tonight. Grilli threw well and Mesa , well let's just say that Leyland is going to make some more changes. If Grilli's ERA is 6 and Mesa's is 12 does that mean Grilli is twice as good?
Byrdak-wow! Yeah I know it was Figgins who is struggling but that was a **** impressive strikeout.

Grandy just popped one. Nice.

Kind of be neat to see Byrdak stay in for the 9th but you can bet Jones will be coming in to face the top of the order. He likes those 2 run leads! Even if he gives one up he still gets the save.

Grilli showed what he's capable of tonight. Wouldn't you like to see that on a more consistent basis? When his stuff is working....well, that's why Leyland sticks by him.

Quite an entertaining ninth inning. Jonesie is playing psychologist while ready to Farnsworth him. :-) Oh boy, you gotta love this game. Tim Kirby has a good account of the action, and JL's explanation of the bullpen machinations, over on the main site.

Meanwhile, the FIRST PLACE TIGERS go again tomorrow afternoon with Bondo and Ernie all set to make it another fun day.

You called it Dan. When that high chopper was hit I thought, here we go again. How many times have we seen that happen? Todd came through though. I too would have liked seeing Byrdak come back out in the 9th. But I think JL made the right decision. Sometimes an injury/diversity can open a door and provide an opportunity for a guy who otherwise may never have gotten it. Tim Byrdak may be the guy that walked through, and I'm rooting for him. Could be a very good story, only time will tell. Right now Grilli seems to be coming around. He came in and slammed the door in the 6th. Not writing him off as a viable middle inning guy, capable of holds. Mesa is questionable but I think it would be a bit hasty to write him off this early. If there's one thing I notice about us bloggers, it's that we (myself included) are plenty quick to judge. Two cases in point. First, Sheffield. I didn't like the trade, didn't want him on the team. Most of my opinion about him was based on, really, very little first hand knowledge of him as a player. I had judged him as a player with an attitude. Wrong. After watching him play, my understanding of him now is that he is without a doubt a gifted player, who thrives on the adoration of the fans. He's intense, if anything he tries too hard, if there's such a thing. I think the last thing he wants to do is disappoint. He plays the field with great intensity too. This intensity rubs off on players. I think as long as the Tiger fans stay behind him he's going to be a positive force, even if his numbers are off this year. And they may end up where they should. Be patient. Brings me to Ordonez. Great to see you smile tonight Magglio. Man did we get down on Magglio back in April during that windy game nightmare? When Maggs doesn't hit, we can really criticize his defensive skills! Maybe he was listening, because, he's picked up his game in right, is being more aggressive, and has an excellent arm. I think most of us expressed/felt (myself included), that his best offensive years were behind him. Last I checked he was on pace for about 40 home runs and 160 RBIs... And I'll take Casey for his defense and good at bats. Yeah, little home run production, but this is a team that already has power throughout the lineup. So I think the team has the luxury of not needing that from him. Remember the 1st baseman for the 1984 Tigers? Wasn't it Bergman? Not known for his bat but an excellent fielder. Casey is the better hitter, his career numbers prove that. Probably as good a fielder. Have some patience. I whined about this team not being able to "manufacture" runs last year and at the beginning of this year continued to whine. Admit it, I wasn't alone. They're tops in baseball "manufacturing" runs right now. And there are at least 2 or 3 guys who can lay down a bunt when necessary. It's taken a while but this team is proving to be at least as good and every bit as fun to watch as last year's. REALLY looking forward to hearing Ernie tomorrow and Friday. Good win tonight against a very good Angel team.

Good game last night, another nailbitter in the 8th, Jones made it a little exciting, but lets face it a flukey single and a stolen base, not the norm. Anyway, as usual he got the job done. GO TIGERS.

Has anyone else noticed that the Tigers seem to have a team that bring every other team out of whatever funk they are in. When the Angels come in we hear they are not a homerun hitting team, they have had six in the last two days. When we played the Red Soxs last week, Taverez was scuffling, he was Cy Young. When we played Seattle they were scuffling offensively, I don't know how many runs did, they get off of us, I don't remember, but it was a lot. Anyway, I just find it funny???

Surprised that I havent heard much about Durbin here. A lot of people were calling for his head (including my wife), but JL said give him time, and it appears (again) to be the right call. Hoping to make the game on Friday, should be a great one with Robertson vs Byrd.

Durbin's been an important part of this team so far. JL could have asked no more from anyone. Another decent outing last night, and he's been the beneficiary of good run support. His confidence has grown. You can see it in his face. His pitches seem to have good movement, though when he hangs a curve like last night he can get tagged... So can anyone else. Another guy you want to pull for. JL shows the patience that makes him such a great manager. These guys show their appreciation. I imagine Chad is a hard worker with a good attitude.

Co-signed on Durbin. There have been too many clutch performances to get them all in sometime.

Something else about last night's ninth inning: the umpiring crew totally blew it by not calling a strike on Cabrera during that stolen base. So Jones ends up with a man on first and a 2-0 count on a hot hitter, while he should have been working from a 1-1 count. Big difference, especially with the way Jones works. Maybe he shouldn't be called "Rollercoaster" and insted should be nicknamed "Twilight Zone." Strange things happen.

BTW, Fox is showing Phillies-Braves here on Saturday after all. Not that that's a good thing, but at least it makes more sense.

It's not often you see a team play a perfect game, but I'm going to nominate today's performance. In fact, the only suspense involved whether I'd be able to come on here and make that statement.

12 runs on 13 hit, at one point 10 runs on 9 hits. A dominant pitching performance. Several doubleplays and overall good defense.

And Bonderman looks much better with hair. I guess we don't have to call him Charlie Brown anymore.

You may have noticed Ernie was somewhat less talkative than what we're used to with today's broadcasts. That's old school. The oldtimers didn't talk as much during televised games, correctly assuming we could see what was happening with our own eyes.

It's interesting that Guillen recently commented that, while he was fairly happy with his hitting thus far, he thought he should be hitting more out of the park and was going to work on that. And you see the results.

All in all, the Tigers are on a roll and the amazing thing is they're still improving.

I love Rod and Mario, but it was fun to listen to Ernie again today. Just some of the stories, they are great.

I agree today was a well played game. I thought in the first inning, here we go again, Bondo getting himeself into trouble. But after that double play, I knew it was going to be a great day for baseball in Detroit. Bondo was great, Ledezma did well and the hitting almost all the way around was timely. And yeah, they found the gaps instead of hitting them straight to guys like in the first game of the series.

GO TIGER, it is going to be a hard fought weekend.