GDT: 7/21/08 - DET (49-49) AT KC (45-54) - 8:10 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE -- The last time the Tigers took Zach Miner out of their rotation, manager Jim Leyland made the point that Miner may fit better as a reliever. That was two years ago, after Miner had filled in admirably for an injured Mike Maroth that summer, but faded in August.

Leyland still believes in Miner's potential as a reliever who can enter games in big situations. Right now, however, the Tigers need a starter to take the mound every fifth day and give quality innings.

Enter Miner, who will take the fifth spot in Detroit's rotation again when he takes the mound Monday in Kansas City.

Miner made 16 starts for the Tigers as a rookie in that 2006 campaign, including his first 15 Major League outings. At that point, he was the second player in the trade that sent Kyle Farnsworth to Atlanta the previous summer that had brought over the more highly touted Roman Colon. Miner started out well in Toledo, earned a callup when Maroth underwent elbow surgery and won six straight starts after losing his Major League debut.

Miner's starts weren't necessarily efficient, but they were more than effective. He induced 15 ground-ball outs in a complete-game victory at Milwaukee, 14 groundouts on two other occasions, and never recorded an out in the air in a victory at Seattle. Three straight losses in August knocked him out of the rotation in favor of Wilfredo Ledezma, though Miner made one more start in a rough outing on the season's final weekend that elevated his ERA by half a run.

Miner's only start for the Tigers since then came last year in Boston, when Maroth suffered food poisoning. He lost that outing, but he pitched well enough to make an impression on Leyland, who kept him in the bullpen through mid-August.

"I just thought with that sinker, he's a guy that can come into the sixth, seventh inning, get you a ground ball, get out of an inning," Leyland said Sunday. "I still think that."

That doesn't mean that Leyland doesn't believe he can be a starter.

"He's got two good pitches and a third one that's OK, that needs to get better," Leyland said. "If he gets that, he could be a starter."

The third pitch is the changeup to complement his sinking fastball and slider. When the Tigers optioned him to Toledo last month, they put him in the Mud Hens' starting rotation to get him to use all three of his pitches. He had come to rely too much on his fastball and overthrow it. At that point, Leyland was saying that they didn't see him as a starter. Eddie Bonine's recent struggles changed their view.

"He's done a pretty darn good job for us," Leyland said. "I thought he'd be a real good reliever, and I still think he can be. I like a good heavy-sinker guy in the bullpen. He can get you ground balls. We'll see how he does."

If Miner does well enough, he could earn the Tigers their first win against the Royals this season. A three-game sweep at Comerica Park sent the Tigers on their way to an 0-7 start, then a pair of low-scoring losses set the tone for another three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium in mid-May.


Pitching matchup

DET: RHP Zach Miner (3-3, 4.23 ERA)
Miner wasn't in the Tigers' plans to become a starter again, but after Bonine struggled in his last two starts, team officials decided to make Miner the latest to try to shore up the fifth spot in Detroit's rotation. His performance as a starter in 2006 helped the Tigers go on a summer tear and reach the postseason. A similar performance this year would be a blessing for Detroit and its search for pitching help.

KC: RHP Luke Hochevar (6-7, 5.10 ERA)
Hochevar pitched what he considered his best game on July 11, when he beat the Mariners, 3-1, a five-hit, no-walk performance. The rookie considered the game a breakthrough because "a light" came on and he trusted his stuff, pitched aggressively in the strike zone, worked both sides of the plate effectively and moved the ball around. In a departure from his results with his sinker, though, he had more fly-ball outs (nine) than ground-ball outs (eight). He also had struck out four.

Tidbits

Magglio Ordonez is expected to get Monday off after he came off the disabled list to play all four games against the Orioles this past weekend. Matt Joyce will get another start to provide a left-handed bat against Hochevar, who has allowed a .305 batting average and .846 OPS to left-handed hitters this year. ... Carlos Guillen is expected to return to the Tigers' lineup on Monday after missing all four games against Baltimore to be at home in Detroit with his wife, who underwent surgery following complications from the birth of their daughter two weeks ago. ... Curtis Granderson grounded into a double play on Sunday for just the second time all season. Only Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura, Oakland's Jack Hannahan and Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury have been tougher double-play outs among AL hitters this season.

On the Internet

MLB.TV
Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes

On television
• FSND

On radio
• 97.1FM/1270AM

Up next

• Tue., July 22: Tigers (Kenny Rogers, 7-6, 4.62) at Royals (Kyle Davies, 3-1, 4.59), 8:10 p.m. ET

• Wed., July 23: Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 7-4, 3.41) at Royals (Zack Greinke, 7-6, 3.90), 2:10 p.m. ET

• Thurs., July 24: Off-day

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STARTING LINEUPS:

Detroit AVG
Granderson, CF .292
Polanco, 2B .309
Guillen, 3B .284
Cabrera, 1B .281
Joyce, RF .272
Sheffield, DH .225
Thames, LF .270
Rodriguez, C .290
Renteria, SS .256

Kansas City AVG
DeJesus, LF .306
Aviles, M, SS .318
Butler, DH .256
Guillen, RF .270
Grudzielanek, 2B .303
Gordon, 3B .250
Gload, 1B .269
Buck, C .251
Gathright, CF .252

90 degrees at Gametime


Winds 5-10 mph

My predictions:
Win for the Tigers!
No CG for Miner.

I'm going to miss half this game because of class

Well, here goes nothin'! GO ZACH!!!
I mean, we gotta whomp these guys. They made us look bad long enough!

BOO! Poor Jeffrey.
And stupid classes.

I want you to be able to see "GOT MINER?" start.

blog will be open at 8:00

oh no! sorry about the storm!

Can someone do a normal GDT for the whole game?

Sorry Garrett, I'm not watching right now. When I start watching... which might be a while, I will watch

We can go normal, if you want!

My parental controls dont allow me to talk in the blog so I cant do that. And I get my post count up, so if you dont mind, could we do normal?

3rd inning 0-0 - 1 out

:edgar: on 1st

:curtis: walks

I will kill the live blog and we will do the game normal

Yay, that means I can continue watching what i am and not turn on the game...

:placido: k

Los singles - run scores on Royals error

1-0

Miggy with an RBI single

2-0

Joyce with a 3 run HOMER!

5-0

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Joyce with a 3 run HOMER!

5-0

You have got to be kidding me. The one game I don't watch...

I LOVE YOU JOYCE!!!!

SHEFF - 3 outs

5-0

And it was a LONG homer too!!!

Buck - flies out to rf

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

And it was a LONG homer too!!!

watch, and tomorrow night when I'm at the mudhens game he'll hit another one.

much of a storm, gogetem?

Gathright - singles past Guillen (Inge would have got that ball!)

laprimamirala wrote:

much of a storm, gogetem?

Yea, lots of lightening and power went out twice. Still booming out there but not as bad. It is a "cold front" coming through.


Gathright steals 2nd
DeJesus walks