Inside the Tigers: First place on the line

[IE]

Who?s hot: Carlos Guillen (.455), Placido Polanco (.432) and Ramon Santiago (.421) hit well over .400 on the nine-game road trip.

Who?s not: Closer Fernando Rodney gave up a two-run homer Thursday and a three-run homer Sunday.

Matchup of the week: A four-game series with the Minnesota Twins with the AL Central title on the line. Detroit has a 3-2 edge in games at Detroit, while the Twins went 7-2 at the Metrodome.

Schedule: Tigers vs. Minnesota, 7:05 p.m. Monday (Rick Porcello vs. Nick Blackburn, FSD), 7:05 p.m. Tuesday (Justin Verlander vs. Brian Duensing, FSD), 7:05 p.m. Wednesday (Eddie Bonine vs. Carl Pavano, FSD), 1:05 p.m. Thursday (Nate Robertson vs. Scott Baker, FSD). Tigers vs. Chicago, 7:05 p.m. Friday (Edwin Jackson vs. Daniel Hudson, FSD), 7:05 p.m. Saturday (Rick Porcello vs. John Danks, FSD), 1:05 p.m. Sunday (Justin Verlander vs. Carlos Torres or Mark Buehrle, FSD).

Seay likely to return
Left-handed reliever Bobby Seay remained confident on Sunday he would be able to pitch in the Minnesota Twins series beginning today. He strained a chest muscle pitching Thursday night in Cleveland.

?They?re letting me rest one more day and I?ll try to throw tomorrow,? Seay said.

Analysis: Detroit has its top two winners, Verlander and Porcello, pitching the first two games against Minnesota. It needs to take control of the series in those games.

 

[IE]

Quick thoughts heading into Motown Showdown

--Minn Tribune

? The Twins will enter their four-game series with the Tigers on Monday, trailing by two games in the American League Central.

The Tigers lost 8-4 to the White Sox in Chicago today, but the Twins fell 4-1 to Zack Greinke and the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Greinke (16-8) held the Twins to one run over seven innings, notching eight strikeouts and lowering his ERA to 2.06. Joakim Soria pitched two innings for his 29th save.

Twins starter Francisco Liriano (5-13) lasted just 1 2/3 innings. He gave up a three-run homer to Yuniesky Betancourt in the second inning, and that was enough for Greinke and Soria.

The Twins had chances all afternoon but wound up stranding 11 runners on base. Joe Mauer, who went 2-for-5 to keep his major league leading average at .371, grounded to shortstop to end the game after the Twins had put runners at the corners against Soria.

The Tigers? magic number to clinch the Central is six. Here are the scenarios entering this week?s series in Detroit:

Tigers sweep: Twins eliminated
Twins sweep: Twins magic number would be 2, entering final weekend.
Tigers go 3-1: Twins eliminated
Twins go 3-1: All tied, entering final weekend
Split: Tigers magic number would be 2, entering final weekend

 

[IE]

Not much left to say at this point. The weekend went nicely for the Twins, as they won two out of three in Kansas City, losing only to the top pitcher in the league, and the Tigers lost two out of three in Chicago, winning only when the White Sox coughed up a 5-0 lead. With seven games remaining the Twins trail the Tigers by two games heading into a four-game series in Detroit, which basically means they need to win three of these four matchups to have more than slim playoff odds going into the final weekend:

TONIGHT:
Nick Blackburn 192 IP 4.2 SO/9 1.9 BB/9 45.4 GB% 4.85 xFIP
Rick Porcello 159 IP 4.5 SO/9 2.8 BB/9 54.6 GB% 4.56 xFIP

TUESDAY:
Brian Duensing 78 IP 5.7 SO/9 3.2 BB/9 45.3 GB% 4.97 xFIP
Justin Verlander 224 IP 10.3 SO/9 2.4 BB/9 35.6 GB% 3.40 xFIP

WEDNESDAY:
Carl Pavano 189 IP 6.5 SO/9 1.7 BB/9 44.5 GB% 4.16 xFIP
Eddie Bonine 29 IP 4.9 SO/9 3.1 BB/9 55.8 GB% 4.49 xFIP

THURSDAY:
Scott Baker 189 IP 7.5 SO/9 2.0 BB/9 33.9 GB% 4.34 xFIP
Nate Robertson 44 IP 6.8 SO/9 5.8 BB/9 41.8 GB% 5.40 xFIP

Based on the pitching matchups each team has an edge in two of the games. Detroit has an edge with Justin Verlander, who's one of the five best pitchers in the league, and Rick Porcello, who's one of the five best rookies in the league. Minnesota has an edge against Eddie Bonine, who's 28 years old and making his ninth career start after posting a 4.10 ERA in 62 starts between Double-A and Triple-A, and Nate Robertson, who's 9-13 with a 6.19 ERA since the beginning of last season.

There's certainly a lot more room for analysis, but at this point we're essentially talking about a series of four coin flips, with each one weighted somewhere in the range of 50-50, 55-45, or 60-40. A split is the most likely scenario and would leave the Twins needing to sweep the Royals while the Tigers lose at least two of three to the White Sox during the final weekend. However, a 3-1 series win for the Twins would put them in a relative driver's seat and a 4-0 sweep would all but lock up the division title.

As a wise man once said, "There's one word in America that says it all and that word is youneverknow."

 

[bleedingpurple]

Praying for the Twins but realistically the winner of all this goes to New York :scared Have to hope for the chip and a chair.... I fully expect the Tigers to take 3 out of 4 and end this.. Twins have had a nice run but I think it comes to an end. Hope I am wrong.