No gameday thread today, as I couldn't get to the site to post one, or to post anything about Verlander last night. I hope I'll be able to post this when I finish writing it. SB Nation is having server problems -- the same ones that dogged us all weekend were worse last night and today. Apologies again if you tried to logon to post or read and were denied.
Good news today, though. Bonderman pitched beautifully again, Granderson hit another dong, and the Tigers handled the Twins 5-2 in the rubber game of their five-game series. The win came despite the best efforts of Dmitri Young, who stranded four runners in scoring position all by his lonesome. The only other dull spot on the offense was Brandon Inge, whose downturn may be beginning to take on worrisome proportions.
Verlander got knocked around a little bit last night in his second big-league start, before getting jerked around a little bit and sent back to Double-A. The man who replaced him is 34-year-old lefty Vic Darensbourg, the one-time Marlin. Darensbourg has been absolutely dominating Triple-A hitters this season to the tune of one earned run in 30 2/3 innings pitched. He took, however, 44 appearances to get those thirty innings, meaning he was probably used as a one-out lefty specialist. Platoon splits should give him a chance to be more than August's Doug Creek, and maybe he'll even pitch when the game is on the line. Incidentally, as a rookie, he had a terrific 0-7 season, posting a 3.68 ERA, 74 K, and only 52 H in 71 IP. He never pitched close to that well in the majors again, though he's been killing hitters in Triple-A since 2003 and probably deserves another shot.
Magglio Ordonez knocked three hits today to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. It is the longest active streak in the majors by six games, and "only" 23 short of Ty Cobb's Tiger record.