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Kenny Rogers, Fernando Rodney Combine for Tigers 14th Shutout of the Season

It’s funny how the two pitchers everyone got concerned about were Rogers and Justin Verlander.  Both have bounced back in this series in a big way and while it might not last, it wasn’t certainly timely.

Marcus Thames had the big game at the bat.  He walked in a run in the first, tripled home a run in the third and then topped all of that with a solo homerun in the fifth inning.  It was his first homerun and first RBI in over two weeks.  The last time he had a multihit game was July 31.

We all moaned when we saw Neifi Perez’s name penciled in at the leadoff spot.  Just to prove me wrong (again), Perez led off the game with a weak little flair single to right field and he later scored on Magglio Ordonez’s RBI single.  In his next at bat, he tried to bunt himself on but did such a horrible job, he ended up popping out to the first baseman.  What was even more strange was Pablo Ozuna did the same thing in the next inning.

We were sitting on the third base side close to the Tigers dugout.  What’s weird is, it’s almost impossible to know whether any given pitch is a ball or strike because of the angle.  Sounds like Ozzie Guillen had a legitimate beef when he got kicked out of the game.

Going into the series, I would have been happy with a split and the Tigers are now guaranteed that.  It would be nice to bury the White Sox though.  Zach Miner goes head to head with Freddy Garcia tonight.



i’m a massive believer in Thames. I think he should be out there every night. The guy can hit. If Monroe is hitting then he should be in there. The odd man out is Young. The nefi Perez lead-off experiment has got to stop. baseball prospectus prettym uch labels Perez as the worst player on the planet.

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Posted by Michael on August 23rd, 2006 at 5:53 am

by the way, massive win for the tigers last night. 1 more win in this series and we can pretty much put a fork in the sox. tonight is our best chance with GArcia going.

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Posted by Michael on August 23rd, 2006 at 5:54 am

from Baseball Prospectus

Oh, the humanity, etc. There’s something fundamentally ugly about letting Perez glom on to a good ballclub and get handed the ninth slot in the lineup with a post-it asking that he not be any worse than usual, but that’s what happens when you’re born under the right stars, I suppose. I can accept some sort of argument that there’s virtue in leaving Omar Infante in a utility role, and I think we can all accept that Santiago is one of the few utility infielders who might be worse than Perez. (We’ll get to the return of Manny Alexander in the Pads section.) I just don’t really buy into it all in concert: the Tigers would be best off with Infante in the lineup, and if you stick Perez in a reserve role as an infrequently-used reserve, that’s not the end of the world. The decision to make Perez the team’s everyday second baseman, however, might actually cost the team just enough runs and outs that a hot streak by the White Sox or Twins starts making things interesting. I know, it’s a stretch, but Neifi’s one of the game’s all-time execrables.

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Posted by Michael on August 23rd, 2006 at 11:12 am

My biggest concern isn’t making the playoffs now. My biggest concern is Perez basically being four or five easy outs in a playoff game where ever run counts.

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Posted by Brian on August 23rd, 2006 at 11:49 am


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