Tigers try to regain footing against Blue Jays

These last three games were a series where nothing seemed to go right for the Tigers. Lots of hits ended in stranded base runners, many inexplicable mental lapses by the Tigers in the field, and collapses at the worst possible time all made contributions to the end result. And now, the Indians might try to stay in the divisional race instead of trading away players to build for the future.

At least Detroit won one game. At least there’s that.

Tuesday night was a 3-2 loss, where the frustration of watching the Tigers continually strand runners began. Cleveland took a 2-0 lead, on runs scored with rallies in the 2nd and 4th innings, until Miguel Cabrera tied the game with a 2-run homer in the top of the 7th inning. Of course, that relief lasted less than a half-inning, as Doug Fister gave up a triple to Travis Hafner, and then fumbled away a sacrifice bunt to score Hafner.  3-2 Indians, and the Tigers never rallied again.

Wednesday night was Max Scherzer’s, along with the only solid game of the Tigers’ offense.  Scherzer went seven innings, with only two runs, three hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts.  The two runs came with one swing in the 3rd inning, a two-run home run by Casey Kotchman, Scherzer’s only big mistake of the night.  By that time, the Tigers’ offense was already rolling, with a 3-0 lead after two innings, and two more runs tacked on later in the game.  All of the runs came in larger rallies, as this was a game where the offense clicked.  Even Jose Valverde had an uneventful night by his standards, locking down the save (after giving up a home run, of course).  The final score was 5-3 Tigers.

Thursday night was all my fault.  Let the lesson be learned, never begin to write before the game is over.  In the middle of the 7th, with the Tigers leading 3-1 and a rolling Justin Verlander on the mound, I decided to save some time and start writing the piece you’re reading now.  Naturally, Verlander’s first two pitches of the 7th inning were 400-foot home runs to right field.  Tie game. Expletive tie game. The fireworks continued for Cleveland, as two singles sandwiched the first two outs of the inning. With the game tied, two outs, and two men on…the Indians hit two more, one to the outfield and one within the infield.  5-3 Indians. Good night.  Despite two baserunners in the 9th inning, Indians closer Chris Perez shut down the Tigers when it mattered, ending the rally.

That last game took the Tigers out of first place for the first time since last weekend. While the Tigers dropped two of three to Cleveland between Tuesday and Thursday, the White Sox swept Minnesota between Monday and Wednesday. Chicago gained two games on Detroit, going from 1.5 down to 0.5 up.

The big gain of the week went to Cleveland though, despite the margin only being a half-game. By beating the Tigers over the course of a series, the Indians might have convinced their management to put faith in this season, trading to build the team up, rather than build for the future. Cleveland may have created a three-team race for the AL Central crown with those wins, or even just last night’s win.

Next up for the Tigers is a weekend series in Toronto, a series that will be aesthetically pleasing to say the least.  The Blue Jays changed their jerseys before this season, going from a black, blue and gray color scheme to the blue, white and red uniforms of Toronto baseball’s glory days.  The jerseys have been slightly modernized, but the overall look is absolutely beautiful.

The pitching matchups are nothing too notable. Detroit’s pitchers will be Rick Porcello tonight, Anibal Sanchez (in his Tigers debut) on Saturday and Doug Fister on Sunday. Toronto will have Carlos Villanueva (5-0, with a good season so far), Henderson Alvarez (6-7, lit up in his last start) and Brett Cecil (2-3, unremarkable).

If the Tigers play up to expectation, Detroit could be back in first place with a nice lead by the end of the weekend. The Tigers will be playing the 4th-place Blue Jays for three games, with Toronto at an even 49-49.  The White Sox, on the other hand, will be playing at Texas for the weekend, with the Rangers holding a commanding 58-39 record, just a half-game behind the Yankees for best in the American League. (Cleveland will be spending their weekend against last-place Minnesota, and would need complete collapses by both Detroit and Chicago to get close to 1st place.  As they are three games back of two teams, the Indians need to win all that they can and slowly take advantage of losses.)

Tonight’s game is at 7:05, with both Saturday and Sunday’s games at 1:05. Toronto always has early-afternoon games on Saturdays, as the typical FOX broadcasting times of 4 p.m. for national telecasts and 7 p.m. for everyone else doesn’t apply to MLB’s only Canadian team. All of the weekend’s games will be on FS Detroit, with tonight’s game also being shown on MLB Network.

After the recent trade, the Tigers of 2012’s second half are beginning to come together. Series like the last one happen, and now we’ll see how these Tigers can react to adversity.