GDT: 7/9/08 - DET (45-44) VS CLEV (37-52) - 7:05 p.m. ET

DETROIT -- The Tigers believe they discovered a cure to Edgar Renteria's cold spell at the plate.

"We've been watching the tapes and stuff, and hopefully we see something that's going to [work]," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He's been struggling, and hopefully we've got something that will straighten that out. We don't know for sure, but we think so."

Leyland said hitting coach Lloyd McClendon made a mechanical tweak to the five-time All-Star.

The Tigers' skipper would not reveal details.

"He just needed to change his mechanics," Leyland said.

McClendon echoed Leyland, but he suggested that part of the problem could also reside in Renteria's head.

"Obviously, from a mental standpoint, it grinds on you when you're not getting the positive results," McClendon said. "And Edgar's a guy who really cares and tries so hard.

"You go into a little funk like that and you start listening to a lot of different questions. You lose a little bit of your swagger, a little bit of your confidence. I firmly believe when guys are in a funk, the worst thing they can do is have a lot of different voices in their ears telling them what to do. You need to focus on one individual. He needs to focus and concentrate on the things we're trying to do and keep the big picture in mind. I think Edgar's going to be fine."

Renteria snapped a hitless streak of 23 at-bats -- one shy of his career-high -- in the seventh inning of Tuesday's win over the Indians. During that span, his batting average dropped from .275 to .254.

Considered a quality RBI man, Renteria last drove in a run June 16.

"Some days you feel like you hit the ball good, then you hit a ball bad and it goes through for a base hit," Renteria said at Seattle last weekend. "Right now, I feel like everything I hit, somebody's got it. They make every play."

A six-game homestand could help Renteria get back on track. He is hitting .306 at home this season, compared to .208 on the road.

"Hopefully, [his seventh inning single] was the start of something good," Leyland said. "We need to get him going."



Pitching matchup

DET: RHP Eddie Bonine (2-1, 4.30 ERA)
Bonine was pushed back a day from his original rotation spot, which was slated to fall on Tuesday. That makes this his final scheduled outing before the All-Star break. Facing an Indians club that has struggled offensively this year could provide an opportunity for Bonine to get back into quality pitching, if he can attack the strike zone on the corners rather than the middle of the plate, which was his downfall his last time out at Minnesota.


CLE: RHP Paul Byrd (3-10, 5.53 ERA)
Byrd has had a very inconsistent season, but one constant has been his penchant for dishing out the home run ball. He might fare a little better in the pitching-friendly confines of Comerica Park. He had a strong outing there on June 6, when he held the Tigers to a pair of runs on four hits over seven innings for his 100th career victory, but he nonetheless gave up a pair of homers in that start.


Tidbits

Tuesday marked the fourth game the Tigers have hit four or more home runs in a game this season. ... Curtis Granderson is hitting .441 in his last 17 games, while Ivan Rodriguez is hitting .418 in his last 19 games. ... Leyland said that backup catcher Dane Sardinha will start on Wednesday, adding that Rodriguez looked tired after catching a 15-inning marathon game on Sunday afternoon. ... Leyland also said injured utilityman Brandon Inge could return from his Minor League rehab assignment before the All-Star break. ... Since the beginning of last season, the Tigers have a 46-21 record against left-handed pitchers.

On the Internet

MLB.TV
Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes

On television
• FSN-HD

On radio
• 97.1FM/1270AM

Up next

• Thur., July 10: Tigers (LHP Kenny Rogers (6-6, 4.60 ERA)) vs. Twins (RHP Kevin Slowey (6-6, 3.78 ERA)), 1:05 p.m. ET

• Fri., July 11: Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 7-2, 3.27) vs. Twins (Glen Perkins, 5-2, 4.27), 7:05 p.m. ET

• Sat., July 12: Tigers (Nate Robertson, 6-7, 5.19) vs. Twins (Scott Baker, 5-2, 3.32), 3:55 p.m. ET

STARTING LINEUPS

Cleveland AVG
Sizemore, CF .267
Carroll, 2B .268
Francisco, LF .272
Peralta, SS .250
Blake, 1B .279
Choo, RF .237
Garko, DH .241
Marte, 3B .143
Fasano, C .333


Detroit AVG
:curtis: Granderson, CF .300
Thomas, LF .284
Guillen, 3B .286
Cabrera, 1B .291
:joyce: Joyce, RF .219
:sheff: Sheffield, DH .220
:edgar: Renteria, SS .254
Santiago, 2B .361
:dane: Sardinha, C .143

Live Blog Is Here



NOTE TO EVERYONE:
We can allow up to 10 users to post without permission (they will automatically post without having to be accepted). If you navigate away from this page, you will have to be accepted again.

If you are a regular, you should have no problem getting accepted.

But it's on a 1st come, 1st serve basis.

If you want to open this live blog up in a new window CLICK HERE

Any questions, use the announcement thread.

NOTE (from catbox): Just for clarification - we can have infinite users but only 10 are unmoderated. Unmoderated users will have their posts show up instantly. Moderated users will have a slight delay before their posts show up. It should only be a second or two as the moderators will be watching closely.

GO TIGERS!!! I don't think I get to see any of this game cause I have to babysit

RATS....Magglio was signing before the game! Of course no one was out yesterday because of the rain!

blog is open

Walk-off Home Run!!! Tigers Win!!!

I'll go out on a limb and say that Eric Wedge will get fired pretty soon...

July 9, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Cleveland	3	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0		6	14	1
Detroit	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	2		8	14	1

Cleveland AB- R- H- RBI- BB- SO- LOB- AVG Sizemore, CF 5 0 3 2 0 0 1 .272 Carroll, 2B 4 1 1 1 1 0 3 .268 Francisco, LF 3 1 1 0 2 0 4 .273 Peralta, SS 5 1 2 1 0 2 5 .252 Blake, 1B 3 0 1 1 1 2 2 .280 Choo, RF 5 0 1 1 0 1 4 .235 Garko, DH 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 .237 - 2-Velandia, PR-DH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 Marte, 3B 5 2 2 0 0 2 4 .162 Fasano, C 4 1 3 0 0 0 1 .500 - 1-Gutierrez, PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .215 - Shoppach, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .260 Totals 39 6 14 6 4 8 29 1-Ran for Fasano in the 8th. 2-Ran for Garko in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Peralta 2 (23, Bonine, Fossum), Marte (3, Bonine), Fasano (1, Fossum), Blake (22, Jones, T). TB: Sizemore 3; Carroll; Francisco; Peralta 4; Blake 2; Choo; Marte 3; Fasano 4. RBI: Peralta (41), Blake (48), Choo (17), Sizemore 2 (52), Carroll (20). 2-out RBI: Choo; Sizemore. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Carroll; Marte 2; Blake; Peralta. SF: Blake. GIDP: Carroll; Peralta. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING E: Fasano (1, throw). DP: (Marte-Carroll-Blake).		Detroit AB- R- H- RBI- BB- SO- LOB- AVG Granderson, CF 5 1 2 0 0 2 2 .302 Thomas, LF 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 .279 - a-Thames, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .271 Guillen, 3B 5 1 1 2 0 0 3 .285 Cabrera, 1B 5 1 2 3 0 1 3 .292 Joyce, RF 4 2 3 2 0 0 2 .247 Sheffield, DH 4 0 2 0 0 0 3 .226 Renteria, SS 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .254 - Polanco, 2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .311 Santiago, 2B-SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .350 Sardinha, C 4 1 1 0 0 2 2 .167 Totals 38 8 14 8 2 6 18 a-Singled for Thomas in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Joyce (4, Byrd), Guillen (22, Betancourt). HR: Joyce (6, 7th inning off Betancourt, 1 on, 1 out), Cabrera (16, 9th inning off Lewis, J, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Granderson 2; Thames; Guillen 2; Cabrera 5; Joyce 7; Sheffield 2; Renteria; Santiago; Sardinha. RBI: Renteria (33), Guillen 2 (46), Cabrera 3 (56), Joyce 2 (14). 2-out RBI: Renteria. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Joyce; Granderson; Sheffield; Santiago. GIDP: Renteria. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING SB: Renteria (3, 2nd base off Byrd/Fasano). FIELDING E: Guillen (12, fielding). DP: 2 (Renteria-Santiago-Cabrera, Guillen-Santiago-Cabrera).
Cleveland IP-- H- R- ER- BB- SO- HR- ERA Byrd 6.0 9 3 3 1 5 0 5.47 Betancourt (BS, 3) 0.1 2 3 3 1 0 1 6.30 Mujica 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 5.79 Perez 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.52 Lewis, J (L, 0-3) 0.1 2 2 2 0 0 1 4.73		Detroit IP-- H- R- ER- BB- SO- HR- ERA Bonine 3.2 9 5 5 1 1 0 5.40 Fossum 3.1 3 1 1 2 6 0 7.24 Zumaya 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1.93 Jones, T (W, 4-0) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.93
Byrd pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. IBB: Blake (by Fossum). Pitches-strikes: Byrd 86-61, Betancourt 13-8, Mujica 11-9, Perez 6-4, Lewis, J 7-4, Bonine 74-46, Fossum 63-41, Zumaya 17-12, Jones, T 12-9. Ground outs-fly outs: Byrd 4-9, Betancourt 1-0, Mujica 3-0, Perez 1-0, Lewis, J 0-1, Bonine 7-3, Fossum 1-3, Zumaya 0-2, Jones, T 3-0. Batters faced: Byrd 28, Betancourt 4, Mujica 4, Perez 1, Lewis, J 3, Bonine 19, Fossum 16, Zumaya 5, Jones, T 4. Inherited runners-scored: Betancourt 2-2, Fossum 2-0. Umpires: HP: Fieldin Culbreth. 1B: Jim Reynolds. 2B: Tim Timmons. 3B: Gary Cederstrom. Weather: 79 degrees, clear. Wind: 11 mph, Out to LF. T: 3:00. Att: 41,062.

Bye Eddie, Hello Jeff Larish!

Now, I can change my 'Favorite Tiger' thing on my profile.... again

yeah, that's right! At least Matt is staying up here?

laprimamirala wrote:

yeah, that's right! At least Matt is staying up here?

Yeah 'sept I'm not allowed to like him either, or I will die a slow painful death.

All I saw of the game was the 9th inning. I had to spend the entire day babysitting. Which SUCKED. I was sooo pissed off. I was there from about 2 - 11.... got payed $20 and have to go back tomorrow to babysit. AND I"M TIRED.

BUT... GO TIGERS!!!!

TigersGirl wrote:

All I saw of the game was the 9th inning. I had to spend the entire day babysitting. Which SUCKED. I was sooo pissed off. I was there from about 2 - 11.... got payed $20 and have to go back tomorrow to babysit. AND I"M TIRED.

BUT... GO TIGERS!!!!

Now you have incentive to find jobs that pay well without a lot of manual labor!

Seriously, you made out like a bandit. I made a total of 50 cents an hour back in prehistoric times when I watched rugrats. Then I found out I could make quite a bit more if I taught 'em swimming lessons with the Red Cross!

laprimamirala wrote:

TigersGirl wrote:

All I saw of the game was the 9th inning. I had to spend the entire day babysitting. Which SUCKED. I was sooo pissed off. I was there from about 2 - 11.... got payed $20 and have to go back tomorrow to babysit. AND I"M TIRED.

BUT... GO TIGERS!!!!

Now you have incentive to find jobs that pay well without a lot of manual labor!

Seriously, you made out like a bandit. I made a total of 50 cents an hour back in prehistoric times when I watched rugrats. Then I found out I could make quite a bit more if I taught 'em swimming lessons with the Red Cross!

See, the reason I was irritated though was this kid is IMPOSSIBLE to deal with. She won't listen, yells and screams, breaks stuff and tells her mom I did it, and lots of other stuff (and she is 9). And when you are there ALL day... it sucks.

kinda makes ya wanna slam her in the wall?

Pretty much. Of course if I did that there might be some more problems...

Of course. Thinking it is okay, as long as it doesn't lead to doing it.