Tigers stick it to NL West

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Tigers 5-3 Padres


Detroit finished their set against Whale's Vagina on a positive note, taking the rubber match to win the series. After sweeping the Dodgers and taking 4 of 6 on the road in California, the Tigers will come home to face the Cardinals in a series that stars Tuesday, and they're probably bringing a ton of confidence. Along with a 3-game stint against the Rockies, they can really get back into contention if they take take at least another 4-out-of-6.

- I got home from work at the start of the 7th inning. I apparently missed another good outing from Verlander (10K's, 5 hits in 5.1 IP). His ERA (4.49) has come down a bit from where it was a few weeks ago. His velocity is back up to topping 98MPH whereas earlier in the year he was only throwing in the low 90's.

- Pudge hit his 2nd homer of the season to give the Tigers an insurance run late in the game. It was his first homer that left the yard on it's own -- his first, against Minnesota, went off of the right fielder and over the fence back in April. He had 2 hits and -- gasp -- 2 walks ... now with 15, he has 6 more than all of last year.

- Raburn went 0 for 5 while batting 2nd. He's now OPS-ing below .700.

- Maggs had a HR and 3 RBI, possibly breaking out of this little slump. The pitch he hit out looked like a complete meat ball. He crushed it.

- The Padres uniforms were odd to say the least. Camo. Apparently Adrian Gonzales thought he would just blend in or something when he was thrown out at home by like 10 feet. At least, that's the excuse I would use.

- Only 5 back of the Sox with a shitload of games to go.

- It's good to see Joel Zumaya back out there. Even in giving up runs, I'm just glad he can throw without his arm flying off. In fact, now that I've thought about that, he's due to have that happen to him next. His arm will come helicoptering off of his body and club the batter in the head, leading to the first ever bench-clearing brawl involving a one armed man. The batter will be A.J. Pierzynski, who will assume that the whole thing was done on purpose and will charge the mound with Zumaya's detached arm to use it as a weapon. Given Zumaya's absurd injuries and Pierzynski's ability to be a maniacal douche bag, you can't even say that this scenario is totally out of the realm of possibility.