GDT GM1: 9/29/09 - DET (83-72) VS MIN (81-74) - 12:05 p.m. E

CHICAGO -- Rick Porcello wasn't even close to being born when the 1984 Tigers won the World Series. He was born two months after former Tigers great Kirk Gibson hit his famous home run for the Dodgers in the 1988 Fall Classic.

Yet as someone in a baseball family, he knows what that Tigers team means. He knows Jack Morris from watching highlights, and he knows Alan Trammell. With the Tigers celebrating the 25th anniversary of their World Series champions from '84 on Monday night, he knows they'll all be watching.

Most importantly, he knows that a Tigers win Monday could go a long way toward Detroit's first division title in his lifetime.

After a year of defying expectations and standards for his age, Porcello takes the mound in what might be the biggest game of the Tigers' season -- at least, until the next night. With a four-game series against the Twins, the Tigers control their own destiny in the American League Central, and Porcello can control the opener.

He lost a pitchers' duel against the Twins a week and a half ago despite a quality start. In this case, winning would be the best revenge, but he isn't thinking of it as a revenge game.

"It's a big game," Porcello admitted, "but it's just another game. I'm trying to take that approach and stay even-keeled throughout the entire time."

That hasn't been a problem for him for much of the season. His teammates aren't expecting it to be an issue now, not after all the other key games in which he has pitched this year in his first experience above Class A ball.

"We've put him in every situation," Curtis Granderson said. "He started against the Yankees. He started against the Red Sox. He's thrown against Chicago here. He's thrown in big division matchups. Mentally, he's just been ready to go. I think that's the big thing, the fact that you've given him all the opportunities to do it from day one. There's no second-guessing him. There's no judgment side from the players' standpoint."

When manager Jim Leyland pushed to put him in the Tigers' rotation out of Spring Training and team officials agreed, they did it with the belief that he had the maturity already to pitch in big situations and learn from them. His success, and the way he has succeeded lately, has seemingly proven them right. When hitters started sitting on his sinker and passing on his curveball, he dusted off his slider as a breaking pitch and became more of a power pitcher with four-seam fastballs to challenge hitters and set up the sinker.

Now it's his turn to adjust from his last meeting with the Twins. He induced two dozen balls put in play over his six innings of three-run ball, scattering eight hits, but he also had nine swings and misses from them. The Twins were aggressive on him, and they had a Michael Cuddyer two-run homer and a Delmon Young RBI double to show for it.

"You look at some of the mistakes I made then and try to correct it," Porcello said. "That's the biggest thing. We're going to go in there with a game plan and see what happens. Obviously things could change throughout the course of a game, adjustments and whatnot. We know what we want to do, and we're going to go out there and try to do it. It's going to be a fun series."

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Pitching matchup

DET: RHP Rick Porcello (14-9, 4.14 ERA)
Armed with a four-run lead before taking the mound, Porcello overcame early command issues to cruise to victory with five innings of one-run ball in his last start Wednesday at Cleveland. He improved to 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA over 11 starts since the beginning of August, scattering 56 hits over 61 1/3 innings. Rather than running out of gas in his first Major League season, he almost had too much energy in his last start, working at too quick of a pace for Leyland's liking. Now, he gets a rematch with the Twins, who beat him despite a quality start Sept. 18 at the Metrodome.


MIN: RHP Nick Blackburn (11-11, 4.18 ERA)
Blackburn looked much more like the first half version of himself in his last outing. While the second half of the season has been rough for Blackburn, he’s started to turn things around of late and his best outing came in his last start in Chicago. The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings, scattering eight hits and striking out six in the victory. Blackburn mixed in all of his pitches and the Twins were pleased by the number of off-speed pitches he used in the outing. The club hopes to see more of the same from Blackburn when he faces the Tigers in the series opener. Blackburn is 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA in two starts vs. Detroit this season.

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Tidbits

... Granderson is 6-for-10 over his past two games, including a leadoff homer Sunday, and he said he has hope that a recent adjustment with help from hitting coach Lloyd McClendon has put him on track for a final-week hitting performance.
... The Tigers will hold a photo opportunity and a question and answer session with greats from the 1984 team soon after the gates to the park open at 5 p.m. ET Monday.

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Up next (Probable Pitchers)

• Tuesday: Tigers (Justin Verlander, 17-9, 3.41 ERA) vs. Twins (Brian Duensing, 5-1, 3.33 ERA), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Wednesday: Tigers (Eddie Bonine, 0-1, 4.60 ERA) vs. Twins (Carl Pavano, 13-11, 4.86 ERA), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Thursday: Tigers (Nate Robertson, 2-2, 5.56 ERA) vs. Twins (Scott Baker, 14-9, 4.48 ERA), 1:05 p.m. ET

STARTING LINEUPS:

TWINS

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Jose Morales, DH
8. Matt Tolbert, 3B
9. Nick Punto, 2B

P: Nick Blackburn

TIGERS

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Thomas, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Huff, DH
6. Guillen, LF
7. Laird, C
8. Inge, 3B
9. Santiago, SS

P: Rick Porcello

let's go Tigers. a W would be nice.

here we go!!

Inning 1
Top Half

B:3 S:2 O:1 -
Denard Span grounds out, second baseman Placido Polanco to first baseman Miguel Cabrera.

B:2 S:2 O:2 -
Orlando Cabrera lines out to right fielder Clete Thomas.

B:1 S:0 O:3 -
Joe Mauer lines out to second baseman Placido Polanco.

0-0 after .5 inning

Bottom Half

B:2 S:0 O:0 -
Curtis Granderson doubles (23) on a line drive to right fielder Jason Kubel.

B:1 S:1 O:1 -
Placido Polanco grounds out, shortstop Orlando Cabrera to first baseman Michael Cuddyer.


B:3 S:1 O:2 -
Clete Thomas grounds out, second baseman Nick Punto to first baseman Michael Cuddyer. Curtis Granderson to 3rd.

B:4 S:2 O:2 -
Miguel Cabrera walks.


B:1 S:0 O:3 -
Aubrey Huff grounds out, second baseman Nick Punto to first baseman Michael Cuddyer.


0-0 after 1 inning

woo-hooo!!!!!

go grandy!!! go grandy!!! go grandy!!

aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!!!

that is bleeping normal

yes, we need bats, too.

Inning 2
Top Half

B:3 S:2 O:0 -
Jason Kubel singles on a ground ball to third baseman Brandon Inge, deflected by pitcher Rick Porcello.

B:0 S:2 O:2 - Michael Cuddyer grounds into double
play, first baseman Miguel Cabrera to shortstop Ramon Santiago to first
baseman Miguel Cabrera. Jason Kubel out at 2nd.

B:2 S:2 O:3 -
Delmon Young grounds out, second baseman Placido Polanco to first baseman Miguel Cabrera.

0-0 after 1.5 innings

whew

Bottom Half

B:1 S:2 O:1 -
Carlos Guillen grounds out, second baseman Nick Punto to first baseman Michael Cuddyer.

all i can say is: if the Tigers want to be in the WS show, they really have to get it together. Let's go.

B:2 S:0 O:1 -
Gerald Laird hit by pitch.

c'mon Brandon!!!

B:3 S:1 O:1 -
Brandon Inge singles on a line drive to right fielder Jason Kubel. Gerald Laird to 3rd.

hustle, laird - yah!!!

B:3 S:1 O:1 -
Coaching visit to mound.

B:1 S:1 O:1 - Ramon Santiago singles on a line drive
to second baseman Nick Punto, deflected by first baseman Michael
Cuddyer. Gerald Laird scores. Brandon Inge to 2nd.
DET 1, MIN 0

B:2 S:2 O:2 -
Curtis Granderson flies out to left fielder Delmon Young. Brandon Inge to 3rd.

B:0 S:1 O:3 -
Placido Polanco grounds out, pitcher Nick Blackburn to first baseman Michael Cuddyer.

DET 1, MIN 0 after 2 innings

Inning 3
Top Half

B:2 S:3 O:1 -
Jose Morales called out on .

B:1 S:2 O:2 -
Matt Tolbert pops out to third baseman Brandon Inge in foul territory.

B:2 S:1 O:2 -
Nick Punto singles on a ground ball to left fielder Carlos Guillen.


B:0 S:1 O:2 -
Denard Span singles on a ground ball to third baseman Brandon Inge, deflected by pitcher Rick Porcello. Nick Punto to 2nd.


B:1 S:2 O:3 -
Orlando Cabrera pops out to shortstop Ramon Santiago.

DET 1, MIN 0 after 2.5 innings

ooooh - double!!!

Bottom Half

B:1 S:2 O:0 -
Clete Thomas doubles (13) on a line drive to left fielder Delmon Young.

B:0 S:0 O:0 -
Miguel Cabrera singles on a ground ball to right fielder Jason Kubel. Clete Thomas to 3rd.

B:1 S:1 O:1 - Aubrey Huff reaches on a fielder's
choice out, first baseman Michael Cuddyer to catcher Joe Mauer. Clete
Thomas out at home. Miguel Cabrera to 2nd.

hmmmm...one long inning --

fragile lead....