This afternoon, in the finale of a 3 game series between cellar dwellers, the Detroit Tigers take on the Seattle Mariners.

Taking the mound for the Mariners is Miguel Batista (3-5, 6.11). Batista is 1-3 with a 4.54 ERA in nine career appearances, including five starts, against the Detroiters. He'll be facing the Tigers' Jeremy Bonderman (2-4, 4.76), who is 4-3 with a 5.01 ERA in eight career starts against the Mariners. Bonderman has yet to win a game at Comerica Park in 2008, today would be as good a game as any to end that streak. Speaking of streaks...

The Tigers find themselves on a mini-roll, having won 2 straight since Jim Leyland's legendary "I don't want to hear any weak s*** from Jason Grilli" rant, and 3 out of 4. Having already won this series, the Tigers will aim for their first series sweep since taking 3 from the Yankees 3 weeks ago.

I'm not about to get overly excited just yet, thinking the Tigers have turned their season around.  As we've seen so far in this series, the Mariners are far from being a juggernaut, fully earning the distinction of having the worst record in the AL. Let's not forget, the Tigers still have the 2nd worst record in the AL, and 3rd worst in all of MLB.

Despite their overall record, the Tigers have shown signs of coming alive during their mini-streak. We'll soon find out if the Tigers' upward trend continues.

Short hops:

WDFN's Jamie Samuleson, in his latest Freep blog post, believes Grilli was on to something regarding the Tigers lack of chemistry. If Grilli wasn't correct in his observations, why was the Marlboro Man so upset?

My compadre in keeping ByB running relatively smoothly in Ian's absence has released his latest  "The Detroit Tigers Podcast." . Mike speaks with ESPN's Rob Neyer about his new book, and the Tigers outlook for the rest of 2008. Mike's podcast is always worth a listen, and I'm not just saying that because he's had me on a few times! 

As we all know, the Pittsburgh Penguins are taking on the Detroit Red Wings for the NHL's Stanley Cup. As we also know, Jim Leyland lives in Pittsburgh, and is employed in Detroit. When asked who he was pulling for, the answer was classic Marlboro Man . "I'm rooting for the guy that signs the checks."

Somewhat lost in the Dontrelle Willis to the bullpen news was the report that LOOGY Clay Rapada was placed on the 15 day DL to make room for the D-Train on the 25 man roster. Rapata has been diagnosed with biceps tendinitis, leaving Bobby Seay as the only late inning situational lefty in the pen.