DET. TIGERS 2008 REG SEASON SCHEDULE & SCORES

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Angels 3, Tigers 2
Angels catch Tigers late
Leyland pulls the plug on Bonderman early, Tigers go down drain.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- They hadn't lost one this way yet. Now they have.

Seemingly headed for extra innings, the Tigers lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 3-2, Tuesday night when reliever Aquilino Lopez walked two in a row with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, then gave up the winning single to Gary Matthews Jr.

It only made matters worse that the hitters Lopez walked were Sean Rodriguez, hitting .167, and Maicer Izturis (.205).

Once again, however, the Tigers' offense was almost non-existent on the road. Limited to three hits by Ervin Santana, the Angels' complete-game winning pitcher, the Tigers didn't have an at-bat the entire game with a runner in scoring position.

Nor did they strand a runner.

Their only runs came on Miguel Cabrera's two-run home run in the second after an infield single by Magglio Ordonez.

It's because of such feeble performances that the Tigers have lost 10 of their last 11 away games since their three-game sweep in New York.

"This club is supposed to hit, and we haven't hit," said manager Jim Leyland. "We can talk about other things, but the fact of the matter is that this is supposed to be an offensive club, and we haven't hit. That's the way it is.

"You have to stay aggressive and, hopefully, break out of it. But, at some point, you have to do it."

To Leyland, the reason for the loss was the lack of offense. To others, it might have been his decision to take Jeremy Bonderman out of the game.

Bonderman lasted until the eighth, turning a 2-0 lead over to Francisco Cruceta with runners at second and third and one out. Bonderman had thrown only 83 pitches when he departed.

"There are too many guys in the lineup not hitting," said Leyland. "We got three hits. I mean we really didn't even threaten.

"Everybody will talk about Bonderman and Cruceta, but you're not going to win many games with three hits. It just doesn't work."

As for taking Bonderman out when he did, Leyland said: "I thought he still had something left in the tank, but the other guy has a wipeout pitch. To me that was a no brainer.

"You're looking for a strikeout in that situation, which Cruceta got, but he couldn't finish the job."

Upon arriving, Cruceta responded with a quick strikeout of Matthews Jr. But when Cruceta threw a run-scoring wild pitch with Vladimir Guerrero at the plate, it appeared to rattle him.

"The one risk with a split is that you know one of them might go back to the backstop," said Leyland.

Guerrero walked, Garret Anderson singled to right, tying the score, and Torii Hunter walked after that to load the bases. Cruceta was up against a bases-loaded jam, the game on the line, but he got out of it on Casey Kotchman's fly ball to left.

The lead the Tigers had held since the second was gone, however, and so was the victory for which Bonderman seemed headed.

"He was tremendous," said Leyland. "But as a club, we have nothing to show for it."

Bonderman retired the first 12 batters he faced, striking out four of the first seven.

Along the way, he got some help in the third at third, where Brandon Inge made a nice play on Brandon Wood's ground ball; and in the fourth when Placido Polanco threw out Izturis at first after making a good stop of a possible hit. Mostly, though, it was Bonderman in absolute command of the early innings.

The Tigers, meanwhile, didn't have a runner after Cabrera's home run until Inge's leadoff single in the sixth. They didn't get anywhere with that, though. Inge was out on a fielder's choice, Curtis Granderson was thrown out trying to steal second and Matt Joyce struck out for the third of his four consecutive times.

"They are working him over a little bit now, obviously," Leyland said of Joyce.

Granderson made a fine catch of Kotchman's drive to center in the seventh, but the highlight catch no doubt will be Torii Hunter's diving grab to take a hit away from Edgar Renteria in the eighth.

Chances are the Tigers won't be watching any replays, though. Not of this game.

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com

05/29/2008 12:45 AM ET

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Galarraga, Thames highlight Tigers' win
Outfielder homers twice; righty goes 8 1/3 innings vs. Halos
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland openly wondered Wednesday afternoon about not pushing the buttons with his team. He didn't have to say anything about it Wednesday night.

"I'm glad I mentioned Marcus [Thames] before the game," Leyland said.

Before the game, Leyland talked about playing Thames regularly for the near term, trying to get him on a hot streak that could boost the club. After Thames' two home runs helped the Tigers salvage Wednesday's series finale against the Angels with a 6-2 win, the boost was there. Most of it was propelling his drives over the outfield fence.

"He can hit big flies," Leyland said. "That's what he does pretty good. His ratio [of home runs to at-bats] is pretty good over the years, probably as good as anybody. Let's take a look. Maybe that'll give us a spark. It certainly did tonight, but off a left-handed pitcher. When you face the [right-handers], you don't know what's going to happen. It worked out OK tonight."

A few extra feet were all that separated Thames from a three-homer game. As it was, his two-run home runs in the first and fifth innings proved more than enough for Detroit to end its three-game losing streak and continue its relative dominance against left-handed pitching.

Seven of Detroit's 22 wins this season have come against left-handed starters. The Tigers entered Wednesday hitting lefties to a .301 average, second in baseball only behind the Red Sox. In this case, it wasn't just the offense, but everything that seemed to flow.

"We haven't been in sync," Leyland said.

After walk-off losses in the first two games of the series, the Tigers strolled in the finale. While Thames powered his way to four RBIs, Armando Galarraga came within two outs of throwing the Tigers' first complete game of the season, let alone their first shutout.

As Friday's upcoming starter, Nate Robertson, put it simply, "We're streaky."

It wasn't just the Thames decision that worked out. After Leyland decided to play Curtis Granderson against left-handers in an effort to get his struggling bat going, he led off the game with an opposite-field single. Two batters later, Thames took a Joe Saunders changeup and lofted it deep to left.

Thames barely missed another homer to the same part of the park, sending left fielder Reggie Willits to the fence for a fly ball he later said he hit off the end of his bat leading off the third inning. Thames responded his next time up by hitting the ball out of the deepest part of the park, launching a first-pitch changeup to nearly straightaway center in the fifth following Placido Polanco's double.

Saunders (8-2) entered the night tied for the American League lead in wins and second in ERA by limiting his damage. Not only had he surrendered just five home runs over 70 innings, opponents had a mere .306 slugging percentage against him. Just 11 of the 55 hits he had allowed had gone for extra bases.

His ratio ran into Thames' ratios. His rate of at-bats per home run was at 13.4 two years ago and 14.9 last season. It's a small sample size so far this year, but his two homers dropped his ratio this season to 13.8.

"I don't get to play that much, so I don't look at the [opposing] numbers that much," Thames said. "[Saunders] has been doing great, but he left a couple pitches out over the plate where I could get extended on them."

Thames already had been told before the game that he'd be playing more often. Leyland didn't go into the details of looking for a spark but simply told Thames that he felt like the outfielder deserved it.

"He's done something up here," Leyland said, "and I think he deserves an opportunity before you go out there and give it to someone else."

The way Thames hit Wednesday, he won't be turning elsewhere anytime soon.

"It sounds good," Thames said. "I'm a guy that I need to get more at-bats to get going, so hopefully this will get me going a little bit to help the ballclub."

Given a three-run lead by the time he took the mound, Galarraga (4-2) used it as a cushion with which to attack Angels hitters. After taking a no-hit bid into the sixth inning against the Angels last month, he didn't try to change a whole lot. He was more concerned with improving his command after five walks in his previous outing last week against the Twins.

He was going to go after the Angels regardless. The first-inning outburst helped.

"I have to be aggressive," Galarraga said. "I have to be aggressive with every guy. I know they're struggling a little right now. Just try to be aggressive and go pitch for pitch."

Granderson's diving catch in left-center field took care of the one really solid ball hit off of Galarraga early. He sent down 13 of 14 batters from the third inning through the seventh, using few pitches in the process. He retired the side in order in the fifth on just five pitches.

With 91 pitches heading into the ninth, Galarraga took his shot at the shutout with no one warming up in the bullpen. A full-count groundout from Sean Rodriguez and a five-pitch walk to Willits showed the wear of the night on him. Finally, an 0-1 slider to Maicer Izturis ended up driven out of the park to right.

"I was a little tired," Galarraga said. "I was just trying to get the ball down. He got me."

When that's the worst that could be said for the Tigers' evening, it's not bad.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

GO TIGERS

Leyland can be a streaky manager! Geez! what do you expect when Marcus doesn't play every day!

GO THAMES

TIGERS 6, LOS ANGELES 1 (2 FP error)
Thames comes through in Tigers' victory

By JOHN LOWE • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • May 28, 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As he announced Marcus Thames’ promotion to full-time leftfielder before Wednesday night’s game, manager Jim Leyland said that Thames is a streaky hitter and it would be great if he could start hitting some three-run homers.

Two-run homers will be fine, too.

Thames hit two of those off lefty Joe Saunders, including one to start a three-run first. The blows sent the Tigers to a 6-2 victory over the Angels.

Rookie right-hander Armando Galarraga carried a bid for his first big-league shutout to the ninth, when his evening ended on a two-run homer with one out by Maicer Izturis. The Angels’ offense has been dormant for more than a week, and Wednesday night it lacked its foremost star, the suddenly inconsistent Vladimir Guerrero, who got his second night off in the last four games.

Still, all of this is impressive: Galarraga raised his record to 4-2. He gave the Tigers’ their fifth straight quality start and their 12th quality start in the last 17 games.

Galarraga walked the leadoff man in the first on four pitches, then got a line-drive double play and a diving catch by Granderson for the third out. Then Brandon Inge made two tremendous plays at third for outs the second inning: He stopped a smash by Torii Hunter, then zoomed way behind third to reel in Casey Kotchman’s looper.

After that Galarraga didn’t let anyone past first base, thanks in part to how Inge flagged Mike Napoli’s hard grounder to his left and started a double play.

Saunders came in with an 8-1 record, but the Tigers might have started to beat him even before Thames batted with one out in the first.

Curtis Granderson, in his new leadoff role against lefties, began the game with a single. Placido Polanco, down 0-2, fouled several pitches and finally struck out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. So the Tigers were doing what they haven’t done nearly enough this season — they were grinding, to use Leyland’s word, and really making the pitcher work.

Saunders was already on his 19th pitch of the inning when Thames shot his 2-2 serve over the leftfield fence. The Tigers added three singles for a third run in the inning, and would have had three more if Inge’s drive into the leftfield seats hadn’t narrowly gone foul.

The Tigers didn’t get a hit after the first until the fifth. Then Polanco doubled off the centerfield wall and Thames then cleared it.

It was Thames’ fifth career two-homer game, but his first of those in which both homers came off the same pitcher.

Quote :

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As he announced Marcus Thames’ promotion to full-time leftfielder before Wednesday night’s game, manager Jim Leyland said that Thames is a streaky hitter and it would be great if he could start hitting some three-run homers.

Two-run homers will be fine, too.

Say What?????? I didn't hear about that! I JUST finished saying in the GD thread that Thames needs to be our everyday left fielder! LOL How crazy is THAT?

GO THAMES GO

Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tigers 6, Angels 2
Thames muscles up to back Galarraga's gem
Reserve left fielder hits a pair of two-run homers while rookie starter turns in another solid outing.
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- That's one way to do it. In fact, that's two ways. Hit some pitches over the fence. Throw a great game.

What's more basic than that?

Turning to the raw power of Marcus Thames - who hit two home runs Wednesday night (and nearly two others) - and getting a start from Armando Galarraga that's sure to keep him in the rotation a while longer, the Tigers did what they could have done to the Los Angeles Angels the entire series - if their bats hadn't spent two nights snoring.

They beat them handily.

Didn't embarrass them, didn't score 19 runs or anything like that, they beat them 6-2, anguish and disappointment taking the night off.

Because lost in the previous two games at Angels Stadium, a 1-0 loss for the Tigers in 12 innings followed by a 3-2 defeat that changed complexion in the eighth, was the simple fact that the Angels haven't exactly been lighting up the scoreboard, either.

They have people hurt. They have people slumping, and when Vladimir Guerrero takes the night off, as he did in this game, the Halos need some hellos of introduction.

Then again, the Brandon Woods and Sean Rodriguez's of the world had done enough to beat the Tigers the first two nights, so despite getting the victory to send them on their merry way to Seattle, the Tigers still lost two of three to the Angels.

They allowed six runs in three games, sweep-like stinginess, but lost the series all the same. The Tigers tend to play odd series, though -- at least lately they have. They outscored the Twins, 24-18, in that three-gamer at home before leaving for the West Coast, yet still found a way to lose two of three.

That said, it was still a heck of night for Thames and Galarraga.

Thames was in the starting lineup, hitting third, for two reasons. Three, actually. Gary Sheffield is on the disabled list -- that's one. A left-hander, usually-tough Joe Saunders, was on the mound for the Angels -- the second reason.

And the third was that intriguing quality about Thames, as there always has been, called brute strength. There are times he's used and that strength doesn't surface.

There are other times he's in the lineup and you come away wondering what he would do if he played more often -- like a lot more often. This was one of those times.

"Maybe he can give us a spark," manager Jim Leyland said of Thames before the game.

Maybe he already has. For sure what has happened, however, is that Thames can look forward to more playing time.

"We're going to play him quite a bit more for a while," said Leyland. "I don't know how long that will be. If he produces, obviously, it will be longer. But he deserves the opportunity."

With Curtis Granderson on first and one out in the first, Thames gave the Tigers a quick 2-0 lead with his fourth home run of the season -- a long drive to left in the ballpark where it takes a long, long drive to clear the fence.

The Tigers added another run in the first on three more hits, looking distinctly unlike their recent road selves (this being just their second victory on the road in their last 12 tries). Being 0-for-24 on the road with runners in scoring position, dating back to Arizona, they even responded positively in those situations.

Edgar Renteria's first-inning single drove in Magglio Ordonez from second base. It's true -- and Thames' second home run of the game came in the fifth with Placido Polanco on the second.

It was enough to make the Tigers look like, dare we say it, a normal team.

Between his home runs, and after his second one, Thames also hit long drives to left that were caught close to the wall. But on a night he hit two, there was no room for disappointment that he didn't hit more.

Galarraga, meanwhile, shut down the Angels until Maicer Itzturis's two-run home run in the ninth that knocked him out of the game, and while he walked the first batter he faced, making it appear briefly that he might struggle with his command again, he ended up not struggling at all.

As a measure of how much Galarraga (4-2) was in charge, he didn't throw his 80th pitch until the eighth inning.

"He pitched very well," said Leyland. "So did all our starters in this series."

Jeremy Bonderman, for instance, also didn't throw his 80th pitch until the eighth inning on Tuesday night -- but came away empty. Funny thing, run support.

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com.

GO TIGERS!

Mrs. Galarraga, take care of your man!!!
(Armando is a newlywed)

05/31/2008 12:45 AM ET

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Tigers ride big inning to win in Seattle
Seven-run first inning does all the damage against Mariners
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

SEATTLE -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland still has changes he wants to make. The way his team performs against the Mariners, he can afford to wait.

For the second time in 11 days, Detroit hitters roughed up longtime nemesis Carlos Silva, this time knocking him out with a seven-run opening inning. They didn't score after that, but they didn't need to; Nate Robertson and the Tigers bullpen used the lead to their advantage over the course of the evening for a 7-4 win Friday night at Safeco Field.

Coupled with Wednesday's win over the Angels, Friday's victory earned the Tigers back-to-back wins on the road for the first time since sweeping the Yankees at the end of April. Detroit has gone 9-16 since that trip to the Bronx, but four of those wins have come at Seattle's expense.

Silva (3-5) has built a well-earned reputation for giving up hits and containing the damage, and the Tigers entered the year batting over .300 off him for his career. Their two meetings this season, however, have shown no struggles on Detroit's part to pile up RBIs on the former Twins starter turned free agent defection last winter.

Once Detroit's first three batters all singled against Silva on Friday, including Carlos Guillen's RBI liner to left to score Curtis Granderson, the situation was set for another Tigers breakout. Marcus Thames doubled in Placido Polanco, Miguel Cabrera singled in Guillen, then Jeff Larish's first Major League at-bat saw him beat out a double-play throw to allow Thames to score.

Finally, Brandon Inge smacked a line drive off the center-field fence for a two-run triple, stretching the Tigers lead to 7-0 and sending Silva out of the game. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings to halt the assault, but he could do nothing about the deficit.

Given a touchdown lead before taking the mound, Robertson (3-5) came out firing. Though Adrian Beltre homered twice, both were solo shots and they were Seattle's only hits through the first five innings before Robertson tired in a two-run sixth. Freddy Dolsi took over and worked through the seventh, allowing Zach Miner to set up Todd Jones' eighth save of the season and his first since May 20 -- against the Mariners.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Sweet!

Saturday, May 31, 2008
Tigers 7, Mariners 4
Seven-run first holds up for win
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

SEATTLE -- Not even the many trains that rumble past Safeco Field on a daily basis could drown out the sound of more tinkering on Friday for the Tigers.

Nor for that matter, the sound of them getting one hit after another off Mariners starter Carlos Silva in the first inning.

With seven quick runs, the Tigers beat the Mariners 7-4, Nate Robertson (3-5) lasting until the sixth to get the victory.

The Tigers had eight hits in the first, seven of them off Silva, who's been a $48 million flop so far. Curtis Granderson singled and doubled in the first, scoring the first run of the inning and knocking in the last.

Marcus Thames drove in two runs with a double and rookie Jeff Larish, in his first major-league at-bat, knocked in a run with a fielder's choice. Larish singled in the fifth for his first hit.

Adrian Beltre hit two home runs off Robertson, who left in the Mariners' two-run sixth. If you're thinking he allowed his usual four runs, it's understandable. Robertson has allowed four runs this year in seven of his 11 starts.

Whether he's struggled enough to be part of the changes to come remains to be seen but there are changes coming. Most of them small, perhaps, but not all of them.

After working hard on the off day, manager Jim Leyland has made some decisions. Before the game, however, he wasn't ready to discuss them because he hadn't yet told the players involved.

But they appear to be of the magnitude that could ruffle some feathers.

When asked if the changes involve only the lineup or also how he handles players during the games (such as defensive replacements), Leyland said, "Everything."

One of the "significant" changes will involve the pitching staff.

But one already made had Miguel Cabrera hitting sixth instead of fifth, where he had hit all year. Thames hit fifth.

"Marcus hit two home runs the other night," Leyland said.

"Hopefully he's running into a hot hand."

Leyland made it clear, however, that Brandon Inge catching Friday night's game instead of Pudge Rodriguez should not be construed as permanent.

"Brandon has to start catching a little bit more," Leyland said. "That's one thing. Plus Pudge caught all three games in Anaheim and will also catch here Saturday and Sunday."

Around the horn

Leyland said the changes also involve the planning for the eventual returns of relief pitchers Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya .

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com.

GO TIGERS

05/31/2008 6:23 PM ET

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Verlander, Tigers stymied by Seattle
Righty allows four runs in seven innings; bats rap two hits
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

SEATTLE -- The Tigers have had at least a few games among their nine shutouts where they felt like they had no business being blanked. This wasn't one of them.

Not many American League pitchers have had worse run support than Justin Verlander, but Felix Hernandez is one. In this case, misery didn't love company. Once Hernandez had a two-run lead heading into the second inning, he found a level where Detroit hitters weren't going to do much against him.

"There's nothing embarrassing about getting shut out by a guy like that, with that kind of stuff," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He's got very good stuff."

Embarrassing or not, Saturday's 5-0 Tigers loss to the Mariners still furthers Detroit's lead in times shut out. No other team has been shut out more than six times. Verlander has been the losing pitcher for three of them.

"It kind of feels like everything that can go wrong is going wrong," Verlander said.

He wasn't just talking about the shutouts, or the teams doing them to him. The way this shutout unfolded for him was frustrating in a completely different way, and much of it involved Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima.

A diving catch by Curtis Granderson that somehow didn't result in a sac fly became moot with a two-run Johjima single in the first inning. A squeeze bunt attempt that Verlander spotted became a steal of home when catcher Ivan Rodriguez couldn't dig Verlander's pitch out of the dirt.

The way Hernandez was pitching, those plays pretty much ensured Verlander (2-8) of retaking the American League lead in losses. The Tigers have scored two runs or fewer in all eight of those defeats.

"He gave us a chance," Leyland said. "That's what we always talk about. When you run into a pitcher that has a hot game, one thing you have to do, you have to shut [the opponent] down for as long as you can and give your team a chance. We just didn't do that. As it turned out, he pitched well enough that on a lot of occasions, we might've even got a win, let alone a chance."

Verlander was "hyper" early, by Leyland's standards, but Granderson gave him a chance to get out of his first-inning jam when he made a sliding catch of Adrian Beltre's fly ball into shallow left-center with runners at the corners. Jose Lopez seemingly wasn't expecting a catch, and thus wasn't ready to tag when Granderson pulled it off.

With the sac fly opportunity erased, Verlander went to work on Johjima, who lined the first pitch in front of left fielder Marcus Thames.

It was only the first inning, but to Leyland, it was the play that determined the course of the game.

"When we gave up the base hit with two outs, that's a killer," Leyland said. "That was the golden hit of the game for me."

It was not, however, necessarily a mistake pitch to Verlander.

"It was in -- jammed him," Verlander said. "It was a little elevated, but jammed him. A little blooper. It was a shame, because Grandy just made a great play.

"But when it rains, it pours."

The rain was literally starting around that point, prompting stadium officials to close the retractable roof. It couldn't change the outlook on Verlander.

Johjima started the other rally his next time up when he doubled leading off the fourth. After advancing to third on a Jeremy Reed groundout, the M's decided not to play for the sac fly with Miguel Cairo.

As Verlander went into his delivery, Johjima took off for home. The way Verlander's fortunes were going, he tried to do something about it.

"I was getting ready to deliver to the plate," Verlander said, "so I spiked it. It was a curveball. I can't change pitches, but I can throw it where he can't bunt it."

In that regard, the reaction worked, and he would've had the out had Rodriguez been able to pick the ball out of the dirt cleanly.

"He had him," Leyland said. "Pudge actually made a heckuva play to stop it. If he picks it up, obviously, the guy's out, but I think when he reached to pick it up, he kind of glanced at the runner and didn't come up with the ball."

Verlander (2-8) retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced, lasting seven innings. With a four-run lead for Hernandez, however, the game was pretty much decided.

Much as the first inning was critical for the Mariners, it was costly for the Tigers, who had two on and one out for the middle of the order. Hernandez recovered to strike out Magglio Ordonez and Thames, and the Tigers didn't put another runner in scoring position the rest of the afternoon.

Two hit batters, a Carlos Guillen first-inning single and an Ordonez single in the fourth were the extent of Tigers baserunners off of Hernandez (3-5) over his seven innings, though Granderson certainly felt like he should've been included. His roller down the third-base line took Adrian Beltre into foul territory as he fired across the infield towards first baseman Cairo, who lunged to catch the throw as he fell off the bag.

First-base umpire Dan Iassogna called the out, ruling that Cairo had his foot on the bag when the ball reached his glove. The normally level-headed Granderson immediately confronted Iassogna before Leyland took over the argument for him and was ejected.

As Verlander said, it was pouring. By the eighth inning, Dontrelle Willis was warming up in the bullpen just to get in some work ahead of his scheduled start Tuesday.

"It's tough," Verlander said, "but it's baseball. I've talked about it before. It seems like the same discussion every time."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Verlander 2-8

Best losing streaks:
7 games
5 games

Best winning streaks:
4 games
3 games


Our two longest losing streaks are longer than our best winning streak. That will never work.

06/01/2008 7:25 PM ET

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SEATTLE -- Finally, Sunday was the Tigers' day.

Of all the struggles the Tigers have had, from low-scoring games to close-score divisional contests, their winless record on Sundays had neither rhyme nor reason. Thanks to an equally unlikely ninth-inning rally off Mariners closer and Michigan native J.J. Putz, it's now over. Placido Polanco's go-ahead single set off a four-run outburst, taking the rubber match of the three-game series for Detroit with a 7-5 victory at Safeco Field.

Though Seattle had more than doubled Detroit's hit total going into the ninth, the Tigers were still tied at 3 thanks to damage control from starter Jeremy Bonderman and defensive plays from the fielders behind him. It was a game of single-run innings until Brandon Inge's one-out walk began the rally.

Putz hadn't allowed a run to his former home-state team over 15 innings since he was a rookie in 2004, but the Tigers hit him well enough to more than double his career damage to them. Curtis Granderson hit several hard shots foul before pulling a ground ball under first baseman Miguel Cairo for a single to put runners at the corners. Polanco blooped the next pitch into short right field for a timely end to his 0-for-10 slump.

Putz briefly recovered with a Carlos Guillen ground ball for the second out, but Magglio Ordonez beat out an infield single for another RBI and a two-run lead. Miguel Cabrera followed with a line drive down the left-field line to plate two more runs and build a 7-3 lead.

As Seattle rallied in the bottom of the inning, those eventually became the deciding tallies. Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer off Tigers closer Todd Jones to halve the lead before Kenji Johjima's walk brought the potential tying run to the plate, but Jones recovered to salvage the non-save situation.

With that, the Tigers had their first Sunday victory since last season's finale. They were 0-7 on Sundays heading into the afternoon.

Granderson scored three times in a 1-for-4 performance. Guillen, making his first career start in left field, combined with Ordonez and Cabrera for a 6-for-14, five-RBI performance from the middle of the Tigers order.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Sunday, June 1, 2008
Tigers 7, Mariners 5
Tigers rally for 4 runs in 9th to beat Mariners
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

SEATTLE -- There was a time, not light-years ago, when the deeper a game went, the tougher the Tigers got.

If they didn't get you in the eighth, they'd get you in the ninth. Keep on grinding, right?

That's exactly how they got the Seattle Mariners on Sunday with four runs in the ninth en route to a 7-5 victory.

The four gave the Tigers a four-run lead that was cut in half in the bottom of the ninth on Raul Ibanez's monstrous, two-run home run off Todd Jones, who eventually faced the tying run after a walk to Kenji Johjima.

With a strikeout and a fly ball to center field, however, Jones ended it.

Despite being shut out nine times this year, including twice in the six games of their trip so far, there's occasionally enough spunk in this team to still think it's capable of much better than what it's been so far.

This was a good game for the Tigers, a tough game. They led, then trailed, got out of a jam in the eighth, then roughed up a good pitcher, J.J. Putz in the ninth, for one of their gutsier victories this year.

"We hung in there and were fortunate enough to score a couple off one of the top closers in all of baseball," manager Jim Leyland said. "That won't happen very often."

It started with a one-out walk to Brandon Inge, but the key at-bat was the way Curtis Granderson hung tough against Putz after two hard-hit fouls to single Inge to third.

"The way Inge worked that walk also was huge," Leyland said.

After Granderson's hit, Placido Polanco blooped a tie-breaking single into right, Magglio Ordonez singled in Granderson with two outs and Miguel Cabrera doubled in two more.

"That's a nice win for us," Leyland said. "We just keep creeping along."

With Zach Miner taking over for starter Jeremy Bonderman, the Tigers got out of a jam in the eighth. Jeremy Reed led off with a bloop single to right that Magglio Ordonez overran. Reed took second on the error.

Opting to play for the one run, the Mariners sacrificed Reed to third, but Miner was equal to the task. On a broken-bat liner to third, an intentional walk to Ichiro Suzuki and a weak grounder to third, the threat went nowhere.

"Throwing sinkers and just hoping to get something on the ground," Miner said. "It worked out well."

Bonderman allowed 12 hits in seven innings, but only three runs. What helped him was that, in a continuing trend of his control getting better, he didn't walk anyone.

After getting shut out Saturday, the Tigers struck early this time, Ordonez driving in a run in the first after Granderson walked and stole second.

Adrian Beltre's second-inning home run, his third of the series, tied the score. Both teams scored in the third, Carlos Guillen doubling in the Tigers' run, and after the Mariners took the lead for the first time in the fifth, the Tigers tied it on Pudge Rodriguez's sacrifice fly in the sixth.

They had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth against Seattle's faltering starter, Miguel Batista, but came away with just the one run.

The game marked the first outfield start in the majors (or minors) for Guillen, who handled everything efficiently that came his way in left.

With Inge starting at third base, Guillen was moved to his third position this year (first, third and now left), but didn't look out of place.

"He looked happy and comfortable out there," Leyland said. "To me, it's not a big deal. Everyone wants to make it sound like some glaring big news. To me, there's not much to it."

Then why had the plan to start Guillen in left been such a secret until this series?

"You don't want to alarm everything because that's just what it does," Leyland said. "It becomes a big issue."

Big issue or small, the Tigers are 1-0 with Guillen in left. They're also 1-0 in June.

When's the parade?

06/03/2008 2:55 AM ET

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Rogers solid in Tigers' loss to A's
Granderson hits solo home run; Larish collects RBI single
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- The last time Kenny Rogers lost here, Rich Harden outpitched him. That was four years ago, and considering it remains Rogers' only loss at McAfee Coliseum since 1994, it has become a rare feat.

Rogers' 25-4 career record in Oakland remains intact, but so do the Tigers' struggles when scoring fewer than four runs in a game. This time, Harden and Rogers battled to no-decisions before Bobby Crosby's ninth-inning single off Francisco Cruceta sent the Tigers to a 3-2 loss to the A's Monday night.

Though Rogers didn't get a decision, it was the first time the A's had simply won a game against him since that 2004 matchup with Harden. Yet, the way Rogers pitched -- and especially the way Harden pitched -- made it hard to consider it as a game on Rogers.

"Quite a contrast in their styles, obviously," manager Jim Leyland said. "You've got one young guy with just overpowering stuff -- really good pitches; really, really good -- and you've got the old-timer that pitched a masterful game, I thought. Tremendous ballgame."

After battling through two different stints on the disabled list last year and struggling with his command earlier this season, Rogers pitched into the eighth inning for the first time since he won Game 2 of the 2006 World Series. He'll remember it more for pitching into the seventh with a 2-1 lead before Daric Barton's leadoff homer tied the game.

"I knew today was going to be tough," Rogers said. "I knew Rich was going to throw great -- he's got great stuff -- and he wasn't going to let me have many runs to work with. I had the seventh inning, 2-1, and just left a cookie over the plate to the left-hander. Didn't help the cause there, because sometimes you have to win, 2-1. But 2-2 wasn't going to do it."

The way Rogers' start began didn't suggest he was going to get that far. Jack Hannahan's leadoff single set off an opening-inning rally that loaded the bases with one out. Rogers escaped with a Mark Ellis sacrifice fly, then tossed five scoreless innings from there.

It wasn't necessarily dominant, but it was effective. Rogers helped himself by running down Crosby between third and home on a comebacker in the third inning, then erased a fifth-inning walk with an inning-ending double play.

"Today was a little bit of a struggle," Rogers said, "because I really didn't feel like I had quality stuff. At least I had the ability to make an adjustment and make a pitch. I feel comfortable where I'm at, because these are the types of games that I normally have -- days where you don't have great stuff and your location's off and you're trying to invent a release point that can get somebody out.

"This isn't typical me, but I'm at least able to do that, because I was completely the opposite about a month ago."

He was 1-3 with a 7.66 ERA in late April, walking 15 batters over 24 2/3 innings in his first five starts. Even two starts ago, his ERA stood at 6.66, and he was allowing a .402 on-base percentage. He tossed seven scoreless innings on May 26 against the Angels, and went seven-plus innings with two runs allowed this time. He has no win to show for them, and the Tigers lost both decisions by one run in the final at-bat. The way Harden was pitching, though, they arguably had little business being in this game.

With mid-90s velocity and nasty movement, Harden held the Tigers to one hit through five scoreless innings, retiring 11 straight Tigers at one point, and took a 1-0 lead into the sixth. That's when Curtis Granderson battled him to a full count before jumping on a slider and driving it to right for his first home run since May 20.

Carlos Guillen's one-out double put the go-ahead run on base, and though Harden struck out Magglio Ordonez, his intentional walk to Miguel Cabrera backfired when rookie Jeff Larish pounced on a fastball and lined it to left for a single that sent Guillen home and ended Larish's 0-for-10 slump.

"Just a really good at-bat against a real tough pitcher," Leyland said. "I thought [Larish] and [Clete] Thomas battled all night long. [Harden] just didn't give up much to anybody."

Rogers actually outlasted Harden, who left with two outs in the seventh following Ivan Rodriguez's infield single. That, however, was Detroit's last hit of the night. Knowing runners were scarce, the Tigers went for the win when Edgar Renteria drew a two-out walk in the ninth. With Thomas up, Renteria tried to steal second, but Kurt Suzuki's throw barely beat him to retire the threat.

Suzuki then stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the inning and greeted Cruceta (0-3) with the single that started the winning rally. After Hannahan sacrificed him to second, Cruceta threw back-to-back splitters to Crosby, who swung at the first and laid off the next before he lined a high fastball to right-center.

"I expected that [Cruceta] was going to nibble a little bit," Crosby said.

He had reason to. Eric Chavez was waiting on deck as a pinch-hitter.

"Today, I was working to command my fastball," Cruceta said. "I threw a fastball for a strike and he jumped it."

It marked the Tigers' third walk-off loss in seven games on this West Coast road trip. They lost back-to-back games in that fashion last week to the Angels. The Tigers, meanwhile, fell to 1-30 when scoring four runs or fewer. Rogers, meanwhile, retains his success against the A's; he just couldn't get a win out of it.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

06/04/2008 3:28 AM ET

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Tigers drop second straight in walk-off
Willis returns to rotation; Detroit falls in extras, drops series
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- Dontrelle Willis had a happy return home. The Tigers couldn't get enough runners home to make it a victorious one on their side.

While one pitcher walked seven batters over 4 1/3 innings, and another walked two batters ahead of a game-tying three-run homer, neither of them was Willis. Pitching minutes from where he grew up, Willis shrugged off five walks to toss four scoreless innings of two-hit ball. He was long gone when Jack Cust's infield single in the bottom of the 11th sent the Tigers to their second straight walk-off defeat and fourth through eight games of this road trip, this one a 5-4 loss to the A's on Tuesday night at McAfee Coliseum.

The Willis performance was encouraging for the Tigers long-term. Much of the rest of the game matched the frustrations that have encountered the Tigers for most of the season.

"Sometimes, it almost appears like we're sitting around, waiting to get beat," manager Jim Leyland said afterwards.

Willis tried his best to change that feeling. Hopping off the mound after strikeouts and pumping a fist after an inning-ending out, he was the source of some early energy and the escape from some later wildness.

The Tigers essentially put two starters in the same slot for this game in a piggyback start, allowing them to place Willis back in the rotation for the first time since he hyperextended his right knee on April 11 while still keeping Armando Galarraga on schedule. As it turned out, it wasn't simply a tale of two starters, but almost two Dontrelles.

Willis commanded the game early by attacking the strike zone for the first 2 1/3 innings. He reached three straight 0-2 counts in that stretch, scattered two hits and induced an inning-ending double play in the second.

After retiring Carlos Gonzalez to lead off the bottom of the third, Willis lost No. 9 hitter Kurt Suzuki to a walk, and battled from there. Suzuki was the first of four walks in a five-batter stretch, separated by a critical Bobby Crosby double play that ended the third.

Another set of back-to-back walks led off the fourth, but Willis showed some of his better stuff to get out of it. He struck out Emil Brown on a slider that broke inside as Brown tried to check his swing, then blew three fastballs off the outside corner past Travis Buck.

"It felt good for me to be able to compete, go out there and showcase my stuff," Willis said. "I was able to have fun, get out of some jams and make some key pitches to hitters."

Another walk to Daric Barton loaded the bases with two outs, but Willis escaped with a Carlos Gonzalez groundout to first. He was animated as Miguel Cabrera tagged the bag for the final out, and he received a warm reception from the Oakland crowd.

"That was pretty cool," Willis said. "I think they know how I feel about this organization, and especially the city of Oakland. They pretty much made me the player that I am."

No one got the ball in play out of the infield on Willis after the opening inning. Between walks and strikeouts, just three hitters put the ball in play on him anywhere in the third and fourth.

"I think he was OK," said Leyland, who wasn't sure how he would handle the rotation spot when it comes back up next week. "I think that there was a little bit of both. I saw a little of not letting it go, almost falling into that pattern of trying to place it there. But when he got in trouble, I was really impressed. I thought he really threw the ball very well. He tuned it up a notch."

A's starter Dana Eveland, by contrast, was wild for all 4 1/3 of his innings, and he eventually paid for it with a three-run fifth that included a Placido Polanco RBI single and a Miguel Cabrera sacrifice fly. Galarraga took over for Willis in the bottom of the inning and walked two of the first three batters he faced before Eric Chavez took him deep for a game-tying homer.

Galarraga retired the final seven batters he faced from there, keeping the game tied for Carlos Guillen's seventh-inning single to pull the Tigers ahead after Alan Embree walked the bases loaded. But Chavez struck again in the eighth, singling off just-recalled Casey Fossum, advancing on a walk and scoring on Buck's single when Rodriguez couldn't handle Clete Thomas' throw home.

"The walks were a huge part of that game," Leyland said. "Our walks burned us, and their walks didn't. We should've scored 10 runs. We just looked like we have no clue on how to knock in a run."

Despite 22 combined walks, none of them came with the bases loaded. The teams left a total of 26 runners on base. But while the A's went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, the Tigers went 3-for-15. Even with Guillen's hit in the seventh, the Tigers turned a bases-loaded, one-out chance into an inning-ending double play. Gonzalez threw out Thomas at the plate in the eighth, then Cabrera struck out with a runner on third and one out in the 11th before Crosby made a diving catch for the final out.

The last of the walks came from Freddy Dolsi, whose four-pitch walk to Crosby loaded the bases and extended the game for Cust. After swinging for the fences a couple times, he grounded a 1-2 pitch between first base and the mound. Cabrera fielded the ball, but Dolsi was late off the mound to break for the bag. Cust beat both of them to first base as Suzuki came home with the deciding run.

"He got me to do what he wanted me to do -- roll over it," Cust said of Dolsi. "I just didn't hit it hard enough for them to get me out."

With that, the A's went home winners. Willis was home with a no-decision but his strongest pitching as a Tiger. And the Tigers were still wondering about getting runners home.

"You can't make the mistakes we made and expect to win," Leyland said. "You can't do it. There were so many things going on in that game that we didn't do right, you can't win Major League ballgames playing that way."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

06/04/2008 6:24 PM ET

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Detroit hit hard and swept
Tigers pitching can't contain Oakland bats
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- For the first time this series, there was no walking off needed. Nate Robertson tried to keep the Tigers in contention for six-plus innings, but a five-run seventh off Robertson and three relievers sent Detroit down to a three-game sweep to the A's with a 10-2 loss Wednesday afternoon at McAfee Coliseum.

While A's starter Justin Duchscherer (5-4) held Detroit's offense to one single over the first five innings, Robertson battled through middle-inning trouble, including a Bobby Crosby two-run double in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.

Just when the Tigers seemed headed for double digits in shutouts, three fifth-inning walks helped draw the Tigers within a fly ball of tying the game. Carlos Guillen singled in Ryan Raburn before Duchscherer hit Magglio Ordonez with a 2-2 pitch, plating Curtis Granderson and bringing up rookie Jeff Larish with the bases loaded and one out. Duchscherer escaped with two strikeouts, followed by an inning-ending double-play grounder.

Travis Buck restored a two-run lead for Oakland by driving a hanging curveball from Robertson deep to right leading off the sixth inning. Still, the Tigers had one more chance at tying when an Ivan Rodriguez walk and Ramon Santiago single put the potential tying run base. Both moved up on a Duchscherer wild pitch, but Raburn struck out swinging for the second out. Lefty Alan Embree entered to face Granderson, who lined a hard-hit ball to Buck for the third out.

For Detroit's purposes, the game unraveled from there. Robertson left after walking Mark Ellis and striking out Jack Cust, then Freddy Dolsi caught Crosby looking at a fastball on the corner for a called third strike. But a two-out walk to Emil Brown extended the inning and brought on Casey Fossum for the bottom of the A's lineup.

All four batters to face Fossum had base hits, including a bases-clearing double for Carlos Gonzalez to break open the game.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Athletics 10, Tigers 2
A's complete sweep of Tigers
Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Justin Duchscherer allowed three hits over 6 2-3 innings and the Oakland Athletics beat the Tigers 10-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.

Duchscherer (5-4) struck out three and faced only one batter over the minimum through the first five innings while winning for only the second time in his last five starts despite a season-high five walks.

Tigers' starter Nate Robertson (3-6) took the loss after giving up five runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. The left-hander had won his previous two decisions but remained winless in five starts on the road.

The Tigers haven't fared much better away from Detroit. They finished their nine-game road trip with a 3-6 record and return Friday for the start of a 10-game homestand.

Travis Buck hit his second home run of the season and Daric Barton matched his career high with three hits as Oakland won its fourth straight. It's the fifth time this season the A's have swept a three-game series after having only three three-game sweeps in all of 2007.

Alan Embree, Brad Ziegler and Kiko Calero finished the four-hitter for Oakland while handing Detroit its fourth straight loss. The Tigers dropped a season-high 11 games under .500 at 24-35.

Detroit's frustration showed in the fourth when Magglio Ordonez got into a brief exchange with home plate umpire Angel Hernandez after being called out on strikes for the third out. At one point Hernandez pointed at Ordonez just before the Detroit slugger slammed his helmet to the ground and flung his bat to the side.

The day didn't get any better for the Tigers. Shortstop Ramon Santiago was taken out of the game in the seventh after appearing to injure his left shoulder while diving at Rob Bowen's RBI-single to center. Santiago rolled around on the ground and winced in pain when a team trainer tried to touch his shoulder.

Crosby's double in the fifth sailed over the head of Detroit left fielder Marcus Thames, allowing Jack Hannahan and Jack Cust to score to make it 3-0.

Duchscherer retired nine straight before running into trouble with one out in the sixth after back-to-back walks to Ryan Raburn and Curtis Granderson. Guillen then lined a 1-0 pitch straight back at Duchscherer, sending the ball caroming off Duchscherer's left arm and into center field.

Duscherer knelt on the ground and grabbed his arm as Raburn scored but stayed in the game after being checked out by Oakland's coaching staff and Sayles. He walked the next batter to load the bases then hit Maglio Ordonez to force in another run but escaped the jam by getting Jeff Larish to ground into a double play.

Buck, whose double-play grounder in the fourth scored the A's first run, homered to begin the sixth for a 4-2 lead.

Carlos Gonzalez drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double in the six-run seventh.

A's 3B Eric Chavez was given the day off to rest his legs after homering in Tuesday's win over the Tigers. Chavez missed the first 53 games of the season recovering from offseason back surgery.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Athletics 10, Tigers 2
A's complete sweep of Tigers
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Swept by the Athletics, capped by Wednesday's 10-2 trouncing. How the heck did that happen?

Then again, how is anything that's happening to the underperforming, underachieving, over-perplexing Tigers happening?

They don't hit the way anyone thought they would. That's how.

"We look like we're swinging underwater," manager Jim Leyland said.

This isn't about the pitchers. They've not been great, but nobody claimed they would be. But they had every right to expect, with this lineup, more consistent run support than they've received.

It's like Leyland said after Tuesday night's 5-4 loss in 11 innings: Much of the time it looks like the Tigers have no clue how to knock in a run.

The same malady didn't affect the A's, especially in their six-run seventh inning that broke open a fairly close game. However, it only was close at the time because the Tigers again had more walks than hits.

In the first five innings, it looked like the Tigers wanted to be anywhere but in a day game after an 11-inning night game at the end of a 10-day West Coast trip. Granted, that's a challenging combination for any team.

But by the time the Tigers put their first threat together, with the help of three walks and a hit batter in the sixth, they were down by three runs against a team that flat-out looked hungrier.

"They did everything in this series," Leyland said of the A's. "They're a tough, scrappy team."

Leyland isn't mincing words about the Tigers' offense, though. He was verbally tough about it again Wednesday.

"You have to battle through it, but some of the guys aren't quite sure how to do that," Leyland said. "Some are confused right now. They don't know what to do. They look like they're lost.

"In the history of my career, I've never seen so many flyball outs to right field from right-handed hitters. It happens day after day after day. I've never seen anything like it.

"This is just a fact: But if this club, at this point, had hit like it was expected to, we'd be close to being in first place right now. We've lost one game after another in which we get shut out, get one run, get two runs.

"We talk about preparation for at-bats, but in a lot of situations, it looks like to me that we take strikes and swing at balls. That's not concentration. But I don't have to say it. Everybody else is watching."

In other words, everybody else has seen the same thing.

"I'm befuddled by it. Not everybody is Sandy Koufax," Leyland said. "But it will get better. We will get rolling."

Maybe in the next 59 games, because it certainly hasn't happened in the first 59.

Compounding the lopsided loss was a separated left shoulder that forced shortstop Ramon Santiago out and probably will land him on the disabled list.

Santiago got hurt when he dove for an infield single in the seventh. He left the clubhouse with his shoulder in a sling.

"When it happened, it was very painful," Santiago said.

The Tigers, meanwhile, left with their heads down after having a difficult time against A's starter Justin Duchscherer (5-4), "a know-how pitcher," Leyland said, "not a stuff-stuff pitcher."

Giving up five runs in 6 1/3 innings, Nate Robertson fell to 3-6 with the loss. But even in this eventual rout, Tigers pitchers had a better game than the hitters.

"I don't buy all that (about being tired at the end of long trip)," Leyland said. "To see so many slow bats and long swings on June 4 is amazing. If you're tired this early, we have problems."

Not even walks helped the Tigers in this series, at least the last two days of them. On Tuesday night, they walked 12 times, but stranded 15 runners. That game was ugly for both sides, though.

"Twenty-two walks in a major league game is a disgrace," Leyland said. "We walked 10, they had 12 and they took better advantage of it than we did. But that's a disgrace."

The Tigers' only sign of life Wednesday was when they cut the A's lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the sixth. Carlos Guillen singled in the first run, a pitch that hit Magglio Ordonez with the bases loaded forced in the second.

The Tigers appeared to have a legitimate gripe in the seventh inning when, with two runners on, Duchscherer discarded a ball by throwing it into his own dugout before time was called. Leyland said he should have protested the game at that point, but didn't.

Even if it had led to another run or two, however, it wouldn't have changed the bottom line.

"I can't make guys hit," Leyland said.

So far, nobody can.

Quote :

"I can't make guys hit," Leyland said.

Gee...why not, JL? That's your JOB! It's YOUR responsibility to get them game-ready, and lately, you haven't done diddly- about it!

If I hear Leyland or someone else say that Leyland has no answers one more time, I am gonna scream!


FIRE LEYLAND

06/04/2008 8:45 PM ET

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Missed opportunities define sweep
Tigers can't take advantage of chances and fall to A's
By Jason Beck / MLB.com


OAKLAND -- This loss wasn't a walk-off. It was a runaway. And yet, even in a 10-2 loss to the A's, it still came down to a key hit.

Twice, the Tigers had the potential tying run in scoring position with less than two outs. They were a sacrifice fly or well-placed ground ball away from tying the game in the sixth, then a hit away in the seventh. Again, Detroit's offense couldn't come through.

It was the story of a 10-day road trip in about half an hour. This time, though, the Tigers unraveled from there. A five-run seventh saw Casey Fossum face four batters without retiring any. A popup to second turned into a double when it fell behind Ryan Raburn. The one encouraging sign late could have been Ramon Santiago's hustle to try to make a diving stop, if he hadn't ended up separating his shoulder.

"You're at the end of a 10-day trip," manager Jim Leyland said. "You're in the ballgame. You're pretty pumped up and all of a sudden, you're out of it."

From an offensive standpoint, however, the Tigers have been out for a while. Wednesday's finale continued it.

"Our offense basically has stunk," Leyland said later. "I'm sorry. That's just the way it is. I'm not upset about it, but I'm befuddled by it. I've talked about it long enough. Our offense basically has stunk. It hasn't really gotten into gear on any consistent basis the entire season.

"We had a couple opportunities [Wednesday], didn't do anything with it. They did everything. You have to give them credit."

His players were taking the other end of it.

"To sum it all up, we pretty much stunk at the plate as a team," Marcus Thames said.

On a day when A's starter Justin Duchscherer walked five batters over 6 2/3 innings, the Tigers were held to four at-bats with runners in scoring position, getting one hit out of them. That was Carlos Guillen's sixth-inning single following back-to-back one-out walks, breaking up Duchscherer's one-hit shutout.

The Tigers entered that inning showing few signs of life with a 3-0 deficit. Once Detroit was on the scoreboard, a four-pitch walk to Thames loaded the bases for Magglio Ordonez, whom Duchscherer hit in the left shoulder with a 2-2 pitch to knock in the second run and move the potential tying run to third for rookie designated hitter Jeff Larish.

Larish took a first-pitch strike, fouled off a breaking ball, then hit a ground ball to short that started an inning-ending double play.

Travis Buck restored Oakland's two-run lead by driving a hanging curveball from Nate Robertson deep to right in the bottom of the sixth. An inning later, though, the Tigers had yet another chance when an Ivan Rodriguez walk and Santiago single put the potential tying runs on base. Both moved up on a Duchscherer wild pitch, but Raburn struck out swinging for the second out.

Lefty Alan Embree entered to face Curtis Granderson, who lined a hard-hit ball to right in one of his better at-bats against a lefty this year. Nonetheless, the liner went right to Buck for the third out.

"As soon as I hit it and looked up, I knew it was right at him," Granderson said.

Almost as soon as they didn't get the hit, the game was over from a competitive standpoint. Robertson (3-6) left after walking Mark Ellis and striking out Jack Cust, then Freddy Dolsi caught Crosby looking at a fastball on the corner for a called third strike. But Dolsi's two-out walk to Emil Brown extended the inning and brought on Fossum for the bottom of the A's lineup.

All four batters to face Fossum had base hits, including a bases-clearing double for Carlos Gonzalez.

Given that, there's plenty of reason to think the Tigers wouldn't have held onto the lead had they gotten it. Still, the Tigers never gave themselves the chance to find out.

"The combination of one hit, one situation, both offensively and defensively," determined the series, Granderson said. "But that's the game. It's inches. If we just keep putting ourselves in situations where we have shots to do it, things are going to turn. Because eventually we're going to get that big pitch or that big hit."

That's how the Tigers have to try to think. After Tuesday's game, though, Leyland said it seemed like the Tigers were almost sitting around waiting to lose. Though players said the frustration of the last two games had nothing to do with this one falling apart, it nonetheless provided a punctuation mark.

"You keep looking and you just keep thinking, you just need to get over that [hump] and get the job done," Granderson said. "At the end, each game had opportunities for us to get the job done. One pitch, one hit, one way, we have either a better chance shot at winning it or we win it."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Tigers fans...


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well, I wouldn't got that far....