Morning Prowl: Grandy Talks Chicago, Verlander's Inner Monologue, Santiago the Pitcher, and Let's Go Wings!

  Curtis Granderson talked to Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago about his beloved hometown, including his favorite local foods, why Chicago should host the 2016 Olympics, the differences between Sox fans and Cubs fans, and whether or not he sees himself eventually playing for the White Sox or Cubs.

Hmm... who do you think he's rooting for in the Red Wings-Blackhawks series?

  Could Curtis be too nice of a guy?  After forcing Jesse Crain into a balk in Wednesday's game by faking a steal attempt of home, Granderson sent Crain a text message saying, "It wasn't my idea."  (But apparently, they're buddies.)

  What could Justin Verlander have said to his teammates (especially the bullpen) after a 5-0 lead became a 6-5 loss?  Roar of the Tigers takes a look at an open letter Verlander could've written (with, as usual, a very funny cartoon), maybe during the flight back to Detroit.

  Mack Avenue Tigers takes a closer look at Dontrelle Willis's performance on Wednesday night.  What did he do well, and what does he need to work on for his next start?

  Umpire Paul Schreiber is not expected to be suspended after he apologized for making contact with Magglio Ordonez in Wednesday's game. 

I don't have a problem with that, as I buy Schreiber's explanation that he was trying to prevent Ordonez from getting himself ejected.  However, I still think Ordonez would've been penalized had he done the same thing, and that double standard bugs me.

  Old English D wishes a position player had gotten to pitch in the 13-inning game vs. Minnesota.  Brandon Inge seemed like the ideal candidate, but it turns out that Ramon Santiago would've gotten the nod had the game gone to a 14th inning.  (This was also mentioned in the comments yesterday.)

  By the way, Jim Leyland told the press that Nate Robertson injured himself last weekend in Cleveland while doing squats.

  The Detroit News's Tony Paul wonders if Kirk Gibson will ever get a chance to be a major league manager, after he was passed over in Arizona for A.J. Hinch. 

I think that might be why he agreed to stick around after Bob Melvin was fired.  If Hinch can't cut it (though Josh Byrnes gave him a pretty long leash, with a baffling four-year contract), Gibson might be next in line.

  And now that the Detroit Red Wings are in the NHL's Western Conference Finals after beating the Anaheim Ducks, click on over to our SB Nation sister site Winging It in Motown to show another Detroit sports team your support.