Sometimes, you're the broom. Sometimes, you're the dirt.  Sweeping the Yankees at Yankee Stadium doesn't seem quite so grand after getting swept in turn by the Twins at the Metrodome.  And the way in which the Tigers lost all three games was disturbing enough to make Jim Leyland consider "drastic" changes.  More on that later.

Detroit jumped on Boof Bonser from the start, with Curtis Granderson hitting a leadoff home run.  And that was just the beginning.  The Tigers tagged five more runs on the scoreboard from there, taking a 6-0 lead and seemingly on their way to a blowout victory.  Unfortunately, after that first inning, everyone in the Detroit dugout apparently felt like they could take the rest of the day off. 

Bonser pulled himself together and somehow stayed in the game for five more innings, allowing just two hits.  Only one Tigers batter reached scoring position after that first inning, until Granderson stole second base in the ninth.  That allowed the Twins to mount a comeback in a game that looked over early, chipping away at Kenny Rogers until he finally ran out of gas in the seventh.

However, Rogers would've gotten out of the inning had Carlos Guillen not let Nick Punto's ground ball through his legs.  That opened the gate, and the Twins were off.  Zach Miner came in and reminded all of us why we figured he'd be sent down to Toledo when Francisco Cruceta was ready.  He only faced two batters, and both of them got hits, bringing in two Minnesota runs.  (And at least one more would've scored had Brendan Harris' deep drive to left field not bounced into the seats for a ground-rule double.)  That, ladies and gentleman, was the game.  The Tigers' lineup had already turned the switch off and wasn't going to start it up again. 

Drastic Fantastic?

Sinking back into the malaise that has plagued them throughout this series brings us to Leyland's promise to make some changes to his lineup.  Does that mean anyone is getting benched?  (That sound you hear is the collective hands of Tiger Town rubbing its hands together, hoping Jacque Jones takes a seat.)  Probably not, since Leyland said the lineup would have the "same pieces, but different."  But he promised we'd see quite a difference tomorrow. 

The Detroit News' Tom Gage thinks that might mean Gary Sheffield is moved down in the batting order, but that doesn't really seem "drastic," does it?  As usual, Billfer  seems to be onto something at The Detroit Tigers Weblog.  His idea is to push Sheffield up to the leadoff spot, while sliding Granderson to the middle of the order, two moves that make a whole lot of sense.

Sheffield's lack of power (or any kind of hitting, really) wouldn't be as much of an issue atop the order, where his ability to draw a walk (.340 OBP) and savvy baserunning would still help the Tigers even if that trick shoulder wasn't allowing him to "fire."  Meanwhile, Granderson has been swinging a Big Boi bat since returning from his broken hand, and would likely have many more RBIs than his current seven if his home runs and extra base hits came with more runners on base in front of him. 

I'd also be in favor of a new left fielder, whether it was Marcus Thames, Ryan Raburn, or the return of Clete Thomas.  Even if Jones is currently at the bottom of the order, that ninth spot doesn't have to be the black hole that it's been with him batting there.  Nor does there have to be a turnstile at third base, with opposing runners flying through, knowing that they won't be thrown out at home.

As exciting as it was to see the Tigers' offense come alive in their first win of the season Wednesday night, it was good pitching from Jeremy Bonderman and the bullpen that finally broke their losing streak.  If you needed a reminder of that, the pitching staff provided a sobering one last night, while also making it pretty clear that this team's long-term problems weren't solved with one win.

Accentuate the Positive?

In writers' workshops, we always tried to start out with a positive criticism before tearing a classmate to shreds.  So let's begin on a good note: Both Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco appear to be out of their respective slumps.  Maggs hit his first home run of the season (giving him his first RBI, as well), showing off that familiar whip-like swing that usually means a ball is landing in the seats.  And Polanco went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  If both batters are heating up, that could go a long way toward solving what's plagued this team.  Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how many runs are scored, if the bullpen insists on giving up huge amounts of runs.

Eliminate the Negative

A slightly nagging question on my mind after Wednesday's game was why Zach Miner hadn't been used when the bullpen had to hold down a lead.  Was there anything to read into with that?  In Spring Training, Miner was being touted as an important part of the bullpen, someone who would be pitching important set-up innings.  One theory could be that Jim Leyland was nervous enough about his infield defense that he didn't want to put a sinkerball pitcher on the mound.  But maybe we got a more illuminating answer last night. 

Nate Robertson had already given up the lead when he left in the sixth inning.  But at 4-3, the Tigers were still in the ballgame.  That is, until Miner got generous with the walks.  He managed to get out of the sixth without a walk to Coco Crisp coming back to bite him.  But in the seventh, consecutive walks to Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz (who had to be happy Robertson was no longer in the game) gave Manny Ramirez an opportunity to build a more imposing lead.  And he obliged by driving both runners in.

But I don't mean to single out Miner because he wasn't the only reliever that hemorrhaged runs in this game.  Francis Beltran also walked two batters (one intentionally), though those runners didn't come around to score.  Yorman Bazardo, however, might have cost himself a major league job with his performance after taking over for Beltran.  Any chance the Tigers had at a comeback - and they did cut the margin to two runs - were destroyed with Bazardo's eighth inning.  Two walks, three hits, and four runs later, Detroit was flattened.  Even Jason Grilli was probably thinking, "Hoo!  That stunk!" 

Both Tom Gage and Danny Knobler write this morning that changes are likely to be made, possibly as soon as this afternoon.  Something has to be done, because this bullpen really has been as bad as people feared coming into the season.  (Detroit Tigers Thoughts has ideas on how the bullpen should be shuffled.)  Two guys will probably get the boot, as Leyland wants to go back to a 12-man bullpen and he'd prefer another left-hander among the relief corps.

Clerical Issues

Apologies for not sticking around in the Game Thread discussion last night.  Besides wireless connectivity issues here at Fort Casselberry, a long couple of days apparently caught up with me around the fourth inning and I crashed.  Not that it matters.  But if you were hanging out, looking for someone to chat with, I apologize for leaving you to listen to crickets chirp.  Or maybe very few wanted to endure that bullpen meltdown and changed the channel.  Anyway, we're back at it again tonight.

Wait a minute.  Was this supposed to happen?  0 and 2?  Yes, it's only two games.  No panic in Detroit.  That would be silly.  But it is, shall we say, a bit of a concern that this Superfriends lineup hasn't really flexed its muscles yet.

A big reason for that is surely the two pitchers the Tigers have faced in these firest two games..  Gil Meche and Brian Bannister are going to make a lot of batting orders look bad this year and should keep the Royals competitive throughout the season.  But could today's game been the first example of what Don Mattingly warned Jim Leyland about in the offseason?

With so many gifted hitters, Leyland recalls Mattingly explaining, can come a tendency from players to believe that if they don't drive in the run or reach base to put someone in position to score them, the star hitter behind them will do it.

Maybe that's exactly what we saw today.  As the game wore on, with that zero still on the scoreboard, each hitter in the lineup began to press.  Who's going to get on base?  Who's going to get a hit?  And the Royals' pitching staff capitalized on that anxiety.

Other Players Are Allowed to Get Hits, Too:

The box score from today's game might make you want to rub your eyes before taking another look at it.  But you didn't see things.  Only one Tigers batter got a hit today.  All three hits were by leadoff batter Edgar Renteria.  Everyone else had a donut in the hit column today.  Renteria got on base like you'd prefer your leadoff hitter to do (though like all of the Tigers' hitters, he didn't work Bannister nearly hard enough), setting the table for the lineup's big bats, but no one could move him along, let alone drive him in. 

Feel Free to Take a Pitch, Fellas:

Rod Allen said during the FSN Detroit broadcast that both teams were swinging like it was getaway day.  Maybe both lineups knew each pitcher likes to work fast and throw strikes (hat tip to Billfer) right away, so they had to jump on the hittable stuff early in the count.  But the Royals eventually settled down after the first three innings, while the Tigers stayed aggressive impulsive.  Bannister threw just 85 pitches in seven innings and didn't walk anyone.

Who Has What Role in the Bullpen?

Leyland's use of his relievers in the first two games has me kind of baffled.  In Monday's opener, he brings in Jason Grilli - the presumed "long man" of the bullpen - into a tied ballgame with runners on first and third.  If Zach Miner or Denny Bautista are your set-up guys, why not bring one of them in?  Isn't that why you have them in those roles?  (Especially Bautista, who seems to be the one guy with swing-and-miss stuff.) 

Then today, with the Tigers down 2-0 in the 7th, Leyland brings in Miner.  Well, you say, he brought in his best guy to try and make sure the Royals didn't score any more runs.  Okay, I agree with that.  Plus, Miner needed to get some work in.  But why leave him in for two innings?  Did Leyland figure Miner was pitching well (he only threw nine pitches in the 7th) and wanted him to face the top hitters in the Royals' lineup? 

I'm completely speculating here, and shouldn't really pretend that I understand how a pitcher's mind works, but it seems to me that if you tell Miner during Spring Training that he's going to be a one-inning set-up man and train him for that expressed role, that's exactly what he's conditioned himself to do.  So if Miner figures he's done his job in his one inning of work, and then you ask him to go back out there the next inning, maybe that messes him up a bit.  Anyone else have thoughts on the matter?  Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?