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    <title>SB Nation - Brandon Inge</title>
    <link>http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge</link>
    <description>Stories From Around SB Nation About Brandon Inge</description>
    <item>
      <title>Brandon Inge on the Trade Block, Too?</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/11/11/1126973/brandon-inge-on-the-trade-block-too</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/11/11/1126973/brandon-inge-on-the-trade-block-too</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:25:47 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-banner&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inge-on-the-trade-block-too&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Are the Detroit Tigers putting Brandon Inge on the trading block? SI.com's Jon Heyman says he might be available.&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/168993/144080_royals_tigers_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inge-on-the-trade-block-too&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Duane Burleson - AP
        
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        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Are the Detroit Tigers putting Brandon Inge on the trading block? SI.com's Jon Heyman says he might be available.
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inge-on-the-trade-block-too&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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&lt;p&gt;Okay, this may be getting out of hand now.&amp;nbsp; First, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Detroit Tigers&lt;/a&gt; let it be known that &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/661/Edwin_Jackson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Edwin Jackson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; was available for trade.&amp;nbsp; Then, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/272/Curtis_Granderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Curtis Granderson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; was also&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/11/11/1126481/could-curtis-granderson-be&quot;&gt; dangled out there&lt;/a&gt; for interested teams.&amp;nbsp; And now, perhaps &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is being offered up, as well?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That's what SI.com's &lt;b&gt;Jon Heyman&lt;/b&gt; posted on &lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman/status/5634838816&quot;&gt;his Twitter feed&lt;/a&gt;, reporting from the GM meetings in Chicago:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;status-body&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;entry-content&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://twitter.com/search?q=%23tigers&quot; title=&quot;#tigers&quot; class=&quot;tweet-url hashtag&quot;&gt;#tigers&lt;/a&gt; surprise sale: brandon inge may be available, as well as curtis granderson and edwin jackson, sources say&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This one is a bit more difficult to believe.&amp;nbsp; You can see why other teams would be interested in picking up a starting pitcher like Jackson or a centerfielder like Granderson.&amp;nbsp; And the Tigers should see what they might be able to get for those players in trade.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But Inge?&amp;nbsp; Sure, he brings a glove, one of the best in the league at third base.&amp;nbsp; And since the Tigers don't seem to have anyone who could replace him at that position, Inge might be more valuable to Detroit than to any team they could trade him to. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet he swings a bat that's hit under .240 for three straight seasons (and under .260 for four).&amp;nbsp; And as this rumor is being floated out there, Inge is sitting in two straight-legged casts, unable to put weight on his feet after having surgeries on both of his knees.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Inge is also coming off a year in which he hit 27 home runs and drove in 84 runs.&amp;nbsp; Had he not developed patellar tendinitis in both of his knees, who knows what those final numbers would've been?&amp;nbsp; He ended up batting .186/.260/.281 in the second half of the season, with six homers and 26 RBIs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One more year remains on Inge's contract, in which he's set to be paid $6.6 million.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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    <item>
      <title>Brandon Inge's Knee Surgery Successful</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/11/4/1115434/brandon-inges-knee-surgery</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/11/4/1115434/brandon-inges-knee-surgery</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:45:18 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-right_portrait&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inges-knee-surgery&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge underwent successful surgery to correct patellar tendonitis in both of his knees on Tuesday. He's expected to recover in time for Spring Training.&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/160530/143774_tigers_red_sox_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inges-knee-surgery&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Elise Amendola - AP
        
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        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge underwent successful surgery to correct patellar tendonitis in both of his knees on Tuesday. He's expected to recover in time for Spring Training.
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/brandon-inges-knee-surgery&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Tigers&lt;/a&gt; third baseman &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; underwent&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091104&amp;content_id=7616488&amp;vkey=news_det&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=det&quot;&gt;surgery on both of his injured knees&lt;/a&gt; yesterday at the Detroit Medical Center, as scheduled.&amp;nbsp; And according to the team, the procedures to correct his patellar tendinitis were successful.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dmcsurgeryhospital.org/?id=94&amp;sid=1&quot;&gt;Dr. Stephen Lemos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; of the DMC performed the surgery, which involved the debridement and repair of Inge's left and right patellar tendons.&amp;nbsp; Inge won't be able to put any weight on his knees for six weeks.&amp;nbsp; After that, if all goes according to plan, he should be able to begin a strengthening and rehabiliation program.&amp;nbsp; And from there, Inge should be ready for the beginning of Spring Training in February.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;(I don't know about you, but I had to look up what &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/debridement&quot;&gt;debridement&lt;/a&gt;&quot; was.&amp;nbsp; It sounds like what might happen to Don Draper on &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/&quot;&gt;Mad Men&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;, but it actually refers to the removal of dead or damaged tissue.&amp;nbsp; Thank you, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.detnews.com/article/20091104/SPORTS0104/911040416/1129/rss15&quot;&gt;Lynn Henning&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, for being the one reporter who bothered to explain this for readers.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As &lt;b&gt;John Lowe&lt;/b&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freep.com/article/20091104/SPORTS02/91104030/1050/rss15&quot;&gt;pointed out&lt;/a&gt; in today's&lt;i&gt; Freep&lt;/i&gt;, Inge started 157 games at third base this season, more than any other third baseman.&amp;nbsp; He also took over as a defensive replacement in four other games.&amp;nbsp; Only two other players in the American League played in 161 games.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I know some people think Inge actually hurt the Tigers at times by trying to tough it out when his knees clearly prohibited him (most especially when batting).&amp;nbsp; And others believe Inge gets too much unwarranted praise from Tigers fans.&amp;nbsp; Regardless, it's pretty amazing that the guy played in that many games, dealing with that kind of physical difficulty.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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    <item>
      <title>Who Would You Rather Have: Alex Rodriguez or Chase Utley?</title>
      <guid>http://www.faketeams.com/2009/10/30/1106971/who-would-you-rather-have-alex</guid>
      <author>raygu</author>
      <link>http://www.faketeams.com/2009/10/30/1106971/who-would-you-rather-have-alex</link>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:00:26 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p&gt;Time for the World Series edition of Who Would You Rather Have? CBS Sportsline recently completed a 5x5 mixed league mock draft, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/188/Chase_Utley&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chase Utley&lt;/a&gt; was selected 4th overall before Ryan Braun, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/648/Joe_Mauer&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Joe Mauer&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/602/Alex_Rodriguez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Alex Rodriguez&lt;/a&gt; to name a few. After Utley went deep twice on Wednesday night do you select him before ARod? Or is ARod still a more valuable fantasy player?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let's take a look at their 2009 stats:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 20pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;27&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;100&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 20pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;27&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;80&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;30&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;97&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 21pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;28&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;14&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; x:num=&quot;0.28599999999999998&quot; style=&quot;width: 31pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;41&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;0.286&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; x:num=&quot;0.40200000000000002&quot; style=&quot;width: 31pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;41&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;0.402&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; x:num=&quot;0.53200000000000003&quot; style=&quot;width: 31pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;41&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;0.532&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; x:num=&quot;0.93400000000000005&quot; style=&quot;width: 31pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;41&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;0.934&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ARod had better overall numbers across the board in less ABs, but Utley is one of the few stud fantasy players at 2B, and there is more depth at 3B than at 2B, right?&amp;nbsp;I am not so sure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More after the jump:&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;Here are the third baseman who hit more than 20 HRs in 2009:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;width: 122pt; border-collapse: collapse;&quot; width=&quot;162&quot;&gt;
&lt;colgroup&gt;&lt;col width=&quot;129&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt;&quot; /&gt;&lt;col width=&quot;33&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/colgroup&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;height: 12.75pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl24&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 12.75pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;javascript:__doPostBack('LB$dg1$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00','')&quot; title=&quot;Click here to sort&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Name&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl25&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;javascript:__doPostBack('LB$dg1$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl09','')&quot; title=&quot;Click here to sort&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;HR&amp;nbsp;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7619&amp;position=3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#810081&quot;&gt;Mark Reynolds&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;44&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4220&amp;position=3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Ryan Zimmerman&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;33&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=9368&amp;position=3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Evan Longoria&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;33&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1274&amp;position=3B/SS&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Alex Rodriguez&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;30&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1935&amp;position=1B/3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Kevin Youkilis&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;27&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=470&amp;position=C/3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;27&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=5409&amp;position=3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Pablo Sandoval&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;25&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1392&amp;position=2B/3B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Mark DeRosa&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;23&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 97pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1286&amp;position=2B/SS&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Michael Young&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 25pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;33&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;22&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And here the second baseman who hit more than 20 HRs in 2009:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;width: 102pt; border-collapse: collapse;&quot; width=&quot;136&quot;&gt;
&lt;colgroup&gt;&lt;col width=&quot;105&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt;&quot; /&gt;&lt;col width=&quot;31&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/colgroup&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;height: 12.75pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl24&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 12.75pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;javascript:__doPostBack('LB$dg1$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl00','')&quot; title=&quot;Click here to sort&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Name&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl25&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;javascript:__doPostBack('LB$dg1$ctl01$ctl02$ctl00$ctl09','')&quot; title=&quot;Click here to sort&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;HR&amp;nbsp;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6104&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#810081&quot;&gt;Aaron Hill&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;36&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1679&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Chase Utley&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;31&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6195&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Ian Kinsler&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;31&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3442&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#810081&quot;&gt;Dan Uggla&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;31&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7435&amp;position=2B/SS/OF&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Ben Zobrist&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;27&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3269&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Robinson Cano&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;25&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3114&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Jose Lopez&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;25&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1830&amp;position=2B/SS&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Clint Barmes&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;23&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl26&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;width: 79pt; height: 15pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;105&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=791&amp;position=2B&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;Brandon Phillips&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;xl27&quot; style=&quot;width: 23pt; background-color: transparent; border: #ece9d8;&quot; width=&quot;31&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;20&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One could make the case that third base is a scarce postion in 2010, especially if you think that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/700/Mark_DeRosa&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mark DeRosa&lt;/a&gt; is tailing off as a fantasy player and don't think &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt; can hit 27 HRs again. Of course the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/CHC&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Cubs&lt;/a&gt; third baseman &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/698/Aramis_Ramirez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Aramis Ramirez&lt;/a&gt; should hit 30+ HRs should he stay healthy in 2010, but can one count on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/957/Chipper_Jones&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chipper Jones&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/949/Scott_Rolen&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Rolen&lt;/a&gt; to hit 20+ HRs again?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Second base is not as scarce as it used to be with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/866/Aaron_Hill&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Aaron Hill&lt;/a&gt; having a breakout (career?) year in 2009, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/672/Ben_Zobrist&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ben Zobrist&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; coming out of nowhere to hit 27 HRs in 2009. I won't count on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/547/Clint_Barmes&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Clint Barmes&lt;/a&gt; hitting 20+ HRs again, especially with the AVG that comes with it. Could the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/ATL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Braves&lt;/a&gt; Martin Prado sneak into the 20+ HR range with regular playing time in 2010?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, with all that said, who would you rather have?&lt;/p&gt;
  


 	&lt;fieldset class=&quot;poll-box&quot;&gt;
  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;Who would you rather have: Chase Utley or Alex Rodriguez?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_54109_1140267166&quot; class=&quot;poll_container&quot;&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;41%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;ARod-he can hit 40+ in that ballpark&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;64&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;58%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Utley-he brings power and more speed.&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;92&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
  &lt;p class=&quot;poll-total-votes&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;156&lt;/strong&gt; votes
      
    | &lt;span class=&quot;poll-has-closed&quot;&gt;Poll has closed&lt;/span&gt;
  
  &lt;/p&gt;  
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&lt;/fieldset&gt;

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      <title>Both of Brandon Inge's Knees to Receive Surgery </title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/22/1096848/both-of-brandon-inges-knees-to</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/22/1096848/both-of-brandon-inges-knees-to</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:30:06 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-right_portrait&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/both-of-brandon-inges-knees-to&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Brandon Inge had to look after his knees all season long. Now the Detroit Tigers' third baseman will undergo surgery on both knees to correct patella tendinitis.  &quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn0.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/146005/155054_brandon_inge.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
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          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/both-of-brandon-inges-knees-to&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Duane Burleson - ASSOCIATED PRESS
        
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        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Brandon Inge had to look after his knees all season long. Now the Detroit Tigers' third baseman will undergo surgery on both knees to correct patella tendinitis.  
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/both-of-brandon-inges-knees-to&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;We're a little late with this news today, but just in case you haven't heard or read it yet, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; will be &lt;a href=&quot;http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091021&amp;content_id=7518082&amp;vkey=news_det&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=det&amp;partnerId=rss_det&quot;&gt;getting the knee surgery&lt;/a&gt; he's needed for a long time, probably since June.&amp;nbsp; Inge has been suffering from patella tendinitis in both knees.&amp;nbsp; Or to put it more painfully, both of his patella tendons had microtears in them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And because Inge is the kind of guy who does everything full-tilt, he's not having surgery on just one knee.&amp;nbsp; Both knees are going under the knife.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As reported by &lt;b&gt;Jason Beck&lt;/b&gt;, Inge will&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091021&amp;content_id=7518082&amp;vkey=news_det&amp;fext=.jsp&amp;c_id=det&amp;partnerId=rss_det&quot;&gt;undergo the procedures&lt;/a&gt; next Tuesday, November 3 at the Detroit Medical Center.&amp;nbsp; The surgery will be performed by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Tigers&lt;/a&gt;' team physician, &lt;b&gt;Dr. Stephen Lemos&lt;/b&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Having the knees repaired now should give Inge approximately three months to recover and rehabilitate in time for Spring Training.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Avoiding surgery was a possibility (and I presume it's often the preference).&amp;nbsp; But head trainer &lt;b&gt;Kevin Rand&lt;/b&gt; told Beck that non-surgical methods, such as injecting protein-enriched plasma into the knees to try and promote healing, wasn't a sure thing.&amp;nbsp; And if it hadn't resulted in any improvement after six weeks, Inge would need surgery anyway.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When exactly Inge began experiencing knee troubles isn't clear, but the left knee definitely became a problem in mid-June, when he felt it &quot;pop&quot; during a series versus the Cubs. (He mentioned this in a &lt;i&gt;Detroit News&lt;/i&gt; article, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.detnews.com/article/20090722/SPORTS0104/907220435/Tigers++Brandon+Inge+would+go+on+DL+if++excruciating++knee+pain+could+be+cured&quot;&gt;it's no longer available online&lt;/a&gt;.)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Inge attempted to play through the pain, believing that going on the disabled list to rest wouldn't improve his knees any more than if he continued to play on them.&amp;nbsp; Plus, the Tigers were in a playoff race.&amp;nbsp; Trainers and doctors also tried treatments such as prolotherapy, in which glucose was injected into the knees as an irritant to try and accelerate healing.&amp;nbsp; But while those method may have prevented the knees from getting worse, they didn't help them get better.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But after hurting that knee, Inge's numbers steadily plummeted, going from a .278/.371/.535 batting line to .230/.314/.406 by the end of the season.&amp;nbsp; He had 21 home runs and 58 RBIs by the All-Star break.&amp;nbsp; Afterwards, he managed six homers and 26 RBIs.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Plate Discipline: The Detroit Tigers' Mantra Next Season?</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/13/1083785/plate-discipline-the-detroit</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/13/1083785/plate-discipline-the-detroit</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:00:27 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/plate-discipline-the-detroit&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;How closely will the Detroit Tigers' braintrust watch their batters' plate discipline next season?&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/136679/145962_tigers_father_and_son_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/plate-discipline-the-detroit&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          How closely will the Detroit Tigers' braintrust watch their batters' plate discipline next season?
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/plate-discipline-the-detroit&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;After last season, an issue that was quickly identified on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Detroit Tigers&lt;/a&gt;' pitching staff was the failure to throw strikes.&amp;nbsp; The Tigers moved quickly to remedy that problem by hiring &lt;b&gt;Rick Knapp&lt;/b&gt; as pitching coach, hoping he would take the philosophy that he instilled in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIN&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Minnesota Twins&lt;/a&gt;' minor league system and apply it to the Tigers' major league pitchers.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This season, the mantra might change from &quot;throw strikes&quot; to &quot;plate discipline.&quot;&amp;nbsp; In his end-of-the-season meeting with the media, general manager &lt;b&gt;Dave Dombrowski&lt;/b&gt; identified&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freep.com/article/20091013/SPORTS02/910130361/1050/rss15&quot;&gt;the team's collective approach&lt;/a&gt; at the plate as a reason for their lack of production.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From &lt;b&gt;John Lowe&lt;/b&gt;'s story in today's &lt;i&gt;Freep&lt;/i&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We're not disciplined enough at the plate,&quot; Dombrowski said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;aa&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;pp&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dombrowski indicated he was referring to some, but not all, Tigers hitters. But he immediately added that he will implement an organizational-wide attack on the lack of plate discipline.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;aa&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;pp&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We had a meeting a couple of years ago on some of these topics with our hitting people, and we're going to do that again this winter, to try to get back, from a philosophical perspective, how to approach that -- major league and minor league,&quot; Dombrowski said. &quot;Sometimes at the minor league level when I traveled around, that (lack of plate discipline) was also an observation.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is a long overdue move by Dombrowski and the Tigers' organization.&amp;nbsp; Watching other teams throughout the majors and reading stories about them, you sometimes hear about how they've worked to instill certain philosophies in their minor league systems, hoping that those tendencies and skills will follow to the major league level.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;At &lt;i&gt;Take 75 North&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;b&gt;Matt Wallace&lt;/b&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://mvn.com/take75north/2009/10/tigers-will-strive-to-help-prospects-with-plate-discipline.html&quot;&gt;cited several examples&lt;/a&gt; of the Tigers' poor plate discipline in the minor leagues, listing a handful of players considered top prospects who didn't do so well with their strikeout-to-walk ratio.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Twins, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/NYY&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Yankees&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/BOS&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Red Sox&lt;/a&gt; are three teams that come to mind which train their hitters to take pitches and work counts.&amp;nbsp; And you can definitely see the results of that when those teams play the Tigers.&amp;nbsp; Their hitters foul off pitches, wait for the one they know they can hit, and make opposing pitchers work, often forcing them to leave ballgames far earlier than they'd prefer.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/661/Edwin_Jackson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Edwin Jackson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; seemed particularly victimized by this approach late in the season, especially once batters knew to expect his slider.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It can result in some tedious baseball.&amp;nbsp; Games against the Yankees and Red Sox seem to take far longer than those against other teams.&amp;nbsp; And when they play each other?&amp;nbsp; Set aside four hours of your time.&amp;nbsp; But it seems to yield winning results more often than not.&amp;nbsp; All three of those teams made it to the postseason.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Compare that to the Tigers, who continually let opposing pitchers off the hook by jumping on pitches early in the count.&amp;nbsp; Many times, pitchers had to throw less than 10 pitches to get out of an inning.&amp;nbsp; Only one regular starter, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/2009-batting.shtml&quot;&gt;averaged&lt;/a&gt; more than four pitches (4.09) per plate appearance.&amp;nbsp; (Though &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/272/Curtis_Granderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Curtis Granderson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; was close at 3.96.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That's not to say that Tigers batters should never swing at the first pitch (which I know is a pet peeve for several fans).&amp;nbsp; You see your pitch, you attack it.&amp;nbsp; That seems to have been &lt;b&gt;Lloyd McClendon&lt;/b&gt;'s philosophy as hitting coach.&amp;nbsp; So it's troubling that he appears to be returning in that role for next season.&amp;nbsp; But perhaps he believes a change in approach is necessary, as well, and sold that to &lt;b&gt;Jim Leyland&lt;/b&gt; and Dombrowski when his performance was up for review.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So is this an encouraging development going into next season?&amp;nbsp; Is it too early to say, before seeing if this new philosophy is actually enacted and yields some results?&amp;nbsp; Who are some current Tigers hitters that you think would benefit from a more patient, disciplined approach at the plate?&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Brandon Inge's TBS Feature</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/11/1080106/brandon-inges-tbs-feature</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/11/1080106/brandon-inges-tbs-feature</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:46:20 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p&gt;I'm a few days late with this &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; video, as I was hoping an embeddable copy would eventually become available from TBS.&amp;nbsp; But MLB just doesn't allow its videos to be posted elsewhere.&amp;nbsp; Not even TBS can get around that, unfortunately.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/187428/inge_tbs.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;photo&quot; src=&quot;http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/187428/inge_tbs_medium.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Inge_tbs_medium&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you missed it (or haven't &lt;a href=&quot;http://tbshotcorner.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/10/brandon-inge-gives-back.html&quot;&gt;found it yourself&lt;/a&gt; already), TBS ran a feature on Inge's work with children at Mott Children's Hospital during the first and second playoff games on Wednesday afternoon.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For those of you who have been watching all season, you'll remember the stories of Tommy and Noah, and the home runs Inge ended up hitting for them.&amp;nbsp; But if you'd like to relive those moments, and hear Inge talk about them, this is definitely worth your time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just be warned.&amp;nbsp; Keep a box of tissues nearby or watch alone.&amp;nbsp; You might find yourself getting a little misty.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://tbshotcorner.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/10/brandon-inge-gives-back.html&quot;&gt;You can see the video here&lt;/a&gt;, courtesy of the TBS Hot Corner blog.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Pride in Defeat: Twins 6, Tigers 5</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/7/1074697/pride-in-defeat-twins-6-tigers-5</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/7/1074697/pride-in-defeat-twins-6-tigers-5</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:45:49 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/pride-in-defeat-twins-6-tigers-5&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;There was no champagne in the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse on Tuesday night, but high-fives, forearm bumps, and handshakes were much deserved.&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/129688/153170_tigers_twins_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/pride-in-defeat-twins-6-tigers-5&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Jim Mone - AP
        
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        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          There was no champagne in the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse on Tuesday night, but high-fives, forearm bumps, and handshakes were much deserved.
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/pride-in-defeat-twins-6-tigers-5&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;In the days and weeks to come, the collapse will probably be the story.&amp;nbsp; Post-mortem examinations will be performed on the 2009 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Detroit Tigers&lt;/a&gt;, and plenty of people will point to what they see as the cause of loss.&amp;nbsp; And we have nothing but time in which to go over that stuff.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But for now, hours after &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/904/Carlos_Gomez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Carlos Gomez&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; glided across home plate and then jumped in the air just before his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIN&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Minnesota Twins&lt;/a&gt; teammates swarmed him in celebration, the game should be the story.&amp;nbsp; And maybe, just maybe, the game will be a determining factor in how this season is ultimately perceived.&amp;nbsp; Maybe the little picture deserves to overtake the big picture.&amp;nbsp; Just this once.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because this game was that good.&amp;nbsp; It had drama.&amp;nbsp; Suspense.&amp;nbsp; Triumph.&amp;nbsp; Despair.&amp;nbsp; Anger.&amp;nbsp; Jubiliation.&amp;nbsp; And unfortunately, for the Tigers and their fans, defeat.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Years from now, many people might still be talking about where they were on October 6, 2009, and the five hours they spent watching the Tigers and Twins fight it out for a division title.&amp;nbsp; And though there is most certainly disappointment in the final result among Tigers fans, there's no need for shame.&amp;nbsp; Under the big spotlight, the Tigers showed what they were made of.&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Roar:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/427/Miguel_Cabrera&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Miguel Cabrera&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; took out four days' worth of humiliation on the baseball, crushing it to right-center in the third inning.&amp;nbsp; After weeks of waiting for him to come up big when his team needed him, he did so.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/275/Magglio_Ordonez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Magglio Ordonez&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; continued the revival that looked all but improbable during the summer, hitting a game-tying homer in the eighth inning.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/32033/Rick_Porcello&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Rick Porcello&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; showed everyone that he grew out of rookie status months ago, striking out eight batters in less than six innings, while allowing only one earned run.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/271/Ryan_Raburn&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ryan Raburn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; became the latest victim of the optical illusion that is the Metrodome roof, losing sight of &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/732/Michael_Cuddyer&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Michael Cuddyer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;'s sinking liner to left and letting it get past him for a triple.&amp;nbsp; Yet in that very same 10th inning, Raburn redeemed himself by throwing &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/738/Alexi_Casilla&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Alexi Casilla&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; out at home plate after he tagged up badly on &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/654/Nick_Punto&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Nick Punto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;'s shallow fly ball.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/321/Fernando_Rodney&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Fernando Rodney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; - the guy who shouldn't ever pitch in a non-save situation, and is never used more than one inning - pitched three innings of relief, throwing 48 pitches.&amp;nbsp; Yes, he ended up allowing two runs, including the game-winner.&amp;nbsp; His name gets the &quot;L&quot; next to it in the boxscore, but when he was the best pitcher the Tigers had in late innings, he gave the Tigers the chances they needed to win the ballgame.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Whimper:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You could feel Tiger Town's collective cringe when &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/285/Zach_Miner&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Zach Miner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; took over for Porcello in the sixth.&amp;nbsp; Yet the man had pitched 12 straight scoreless innings before Tuesday night.&amp;nbsp; No one's going to remember that, though.&amp;nbsp; Not after he gave up four hits in less than one inning.&amp;nbsp; Not after &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/637/Orlando_Cabrera&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Orlando Cabrera&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;'s drive to left just snuck over the left-field wall for a two-run homer to give the Twins a 4-3 lead.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The game went far beyond that, but those looking for a scapegoat have a convenient target in Miner.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Jim Leyland&lt;/b&gt; will also surely receive plenty of criticism for how he leaned so heavily on &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/585/Brandon_Lyon&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Lyon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; and Rodney.&amp;nbsp; (Or choosing Miner to take over for Porcello.)&amp;nbsp; Not pinch-hitting for &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/102/Gerald_Laird&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Gerald Laird&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; in either the eighth, 10th, or 12th innings (especially in the 12th, with the bases loaded) is worth revisiting, also.&amp;nbsp; (Laird went 0-for-6, with 10 men left on base.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And home plate umpire &lt;b&gt;Randy Marsh&lt;/b&gt; ought to be a favorite target of Tigers bloggers for years to come.&amp;nbsp; Calling &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/273/Placido_Polanco&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Placido Polanco&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; out on strikes on a pitch in the ninth inning that was almost &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/6/1073974/game-163-overflow-thread-5#22391084&quot;&gt;a foot inside&lt;/a&gt;?&amp;nbsp; Or how about refusing to acknowledge that a pitch grazed &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;'s jersey in the 12th?&amp;nbsp; With the bases loaded, that would've forced in a run.&amp;nbsp; Even the Minnesota writers focused &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/63649632.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqCP:iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr&quot;&gt;on that play&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps such a game shouldn't have been decided on such a call.&amp;nbsp; But it stinks that Marsh's interpretation was so pivotal.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Okay, that might be a little bit of the bitterness bubbling up.&amp;nbsp; And really, there shouldn't be any of that today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comment of the Night:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;h5 class=&quot;comment_title&quot; id=&quot;comment_title_22389351&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/6/1073974/game-163-overflow-thread-5#22389351&quot; onclick=&quot;SBN.Comments.toggleComment('comment_body_22389351'); return false&quot;&gt;I've gone from loving baseball to hating baseball to loving it again in a very short amount of time&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&amp;rsquo;s very confusing&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/users/Dberg&quot;&gt;Dberg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/6/1074010/game-163-extra-innings-thread#22393715&quot;&gt;your runner-up&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; What an amazing night.&amp;nbsp; You guys really, really brought it.&amp;nbsp; Eight overflow threads!&amp;nbsp; More than 4,600 comments!&amp;nbsp; And that's not even including the 480 comments posted after the game.&amp;nbsp; The &lt;i&gt;BYB&lt;/i&gt; community made a spectacular showing of itself, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/2009/10/7/1074364/around-sbn-best-of-the-network&quot;&gt;your grace in defeat&lt;/a&gt; was noticed.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Congratulations.&amp;nbsp; And thank you.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Twins are Central Division Champs!</title>
      <guid>http://www.twinkietown.com/2009/10/6/1074095/twins-are-central-division-champs</guid>
      <author>cmathewson</author>
      <link>http://www.twinkietown.com/2009/10/6/1074095/twins-are-central-division-champs</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:45:32 -0000</pubDate>
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  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/twins-are-central-division-champs&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Minnesota Twins' Carlos Gomez (22) scores the game-winning run as his teammates follow during the 12th inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, in Minneapolis. The Twins won 6-5 to take the AL Central title. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/129196/153231_aptopix_tigers_twins_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/twins-are-central-division-champs&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Jim Mone - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
            &lt;strong&gt;2 months ago:&lt;/strong&gt; 
          
          Minnesota Twins' Carlos Gomez (22) scores the game-winning run as his teammates follow during the 12th inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, in Minneapolis. The Twins won 6-5 to take the AL Central title. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
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    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/twins-are-central-division-champs&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;They saved their best for last. In what will go down as the best regular season game in Metrodome history, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIN&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Twins&lt;/a&gt; matched the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Tigers&lt;/a&gt; hit for hit and play for play, eventually winning in the bottom of the 12th to claim the Central Division Championship&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Twins became the first team in baseball history to win the pennant after being behind by three games with four games to play. Both teams stranded runners, had runners thrown out in razor close plays, and failed in key situations. On the flip side, both teams got outs when they really needed them, especially late. Both managers used their whole bench and their whole bullpens to punch and counter punch into the 12th inning. Finally, it was &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/738/Alexi_Casilla&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Alexi Casilla&lt;/a&gt;, who redeemed himself for a late break on a tag play in the bottom of the 10th, to hit the game winning single, scoring &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/904/Carlos_Gomez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Carlos Gomez&lt;/a&gt; from second.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Neither player started the game--Gomez was a defensive substitution and Casilla was a pinch runner. Neither player played much down the stretch as both players were benched during the season. But their presence in the middle of the mob around home plate as the Twins celebrated their fifth division championship this decade is indicative of the Twins season. It took the entire team to win this division and it took the entire team to win this game.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The largest regular season crowd in Metrodome history screamed and waved their hankies, standing for most of the extra frames. In the end, they made the loudest noise I've ever heard on TV to cheer for the most improbable comeback in baseball history. Now the team is carrying that energy into the clubhouse, spraying champagne on their teammates and hooting and hollering.&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;Starters Scott Baker and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/32033/Rick_Porcello&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Rick Porcello&lt;/a&gt; matched each other pitch for pitch through five innings. Actually, Porcello pitched better than Baker, striking out eight in his five innings of work. He used a different approach tonight. The sinker baller&amp;nbsp; threw high fastballs, striking out hitter after hitter, including the American League Batting Champion on a check swing--his first check swing strikeout of the year. But eventually Porcello tired and the Twins got him for two runs, and forcing Jim Leyland to go to his bullpen earlier than he wanted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Baker gave up three runs in the third, but held the Tigers right there into the seventh. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/508/Jon_Rauch&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jon Rauch&lt;/a&gt; got him out of a jam, one of six relievers to strand runners late in the game to keep the Twins in it. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/31360/Jose_Mijares&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jose Mijares&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/658/Matt_Guerrier&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Matt Guerrier&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/749/Joe_Nathan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Joe Nathan&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/750/Jesse_Crain&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jesse Crain&lt;/a&gt; and finally Bobby Keppel clawed their way through the late innings. Nathan got a big double play in his second inning of work with the winning run on third and Keppel stranded the bases loaded in the top of the 12th to get his first major league victory.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Twins got homers from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/651/Jason_Kubel&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jason Kubel&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/637/Orlando_Cabrera&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Orlando Cabrera&lt;/a&gt;, the latter gave the team a 4-3 lead going into the eight inning. But the Tigers came back to tie it on a homer by Maglio Ordonez. After the Ordonez homer, Ron Gardenhire brought in Nathan who got out of a jam in the eighth and into one in the ninth. But Ordonez lined into a double play to keep the game tied going into the bottom of the inning and send it into extras, where the intensity of the game seemed to dial up a notch in every inning.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Tigers scored their fifth run in the top of the tenth off Jesse Crain. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/9/Aubrey_Huff&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Aubrey Huff&lt;/a&gt; was brushed by a pitch and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt; lined a double to score pinch runner &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/397/Don_Kelly&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Don Kelly&lt;/a&gt; from first on a bang-bang play at home. But the Twins came back in the bottom of the inning. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/732/Michael_Cuddyer&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Michael Cuddyer&lt;/a&gt; hit what looked like a single that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/271/Ryan_Raburn&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ryan Raburn&lt;/a&gt; tried to make a circus catch on and it got by him all the way to the wall for a triple. After a ground out and a walk, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/33400/Matt_Tolbert&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Matt Tolbert&lt;/a&gt; hit a six hopper up the middle past &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/273/Placido_Polanco&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Placido Polanco&lt;/a&gt; to score Cuddyer with the tying run.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the top of the 12th, the Tigers loaded the bases against Bobby Keppel. Brandon Inge appeared to be hit by a pitch but was not awarded first by Plate Umpire Randy Marsh, who had a tough night behind the plate. Inge instead grounded into a 4-2 force at the plate to keep the game tied. Keppel got &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/102/Gerald_Laird&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Gerald Laird&lt;/a&gt; to swing at a 3-2 slider at the shoe tops to preserve the tie and set up the 12th inning heroics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/321/Fernando_Rodney&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Fernando Rodney&lt;/a&gt;, pitching in his fourth inning, allowed leadoff hitter Gomez to hit a single to left. Cuddyer moved him to second on a ground out. And then Leyland did the Twins a favor by intentionally walking &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/592/Delmon_Young&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Delmon Young&lt;/a&gt; to get to Alexi Casilla. Young had grounded out on the first pitch four times in the game, and Casilla was 3-6 off the tiring Rodney before rolling the first pitch into right field for the game and division winning hit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h4&gt;&lt;b&gt;Studs:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Joe Nathan:&lt;/b&gt; Five of the toughest outs of the year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Matt Tolbert:&lt;/b&gt; He keep battling and coming up big in key situations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Orlando Cabrera:&lt;/b&gt; His 2-run dinger gave the Twins a momentary lead and put a charge into the Dome.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/648/Joe_Mauer&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Joe Mauer&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/b&gt; 2-4 with two walks and some huge plays behind the plate on balls in the dirt.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/654/Nick_Punto&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Nick Punto&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;: He had two huge at bats and a heads-up play to home when the conventional play would have been to second in the twelfth to preserve the tie.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h4&gt;&lt;b&gt;Duds:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Randy Marsh: &lt;/b&gt;My brother Stu called me after the third inning complaining about the tight strike zone. Porcello got a lot of calls that Baker did not tonight, and that trend continued into the late innings, especially on the low strike. But Marsh was not kind to the Tigers either, missing the Inge HBP with the bases loaded in a tie game.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Delmon Young:&lt;/b&gt; When this guy stops swinging at the first pitch, he'll be pretty good.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h4&gt;Honor Redeemed:&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Alexi Casilla: &lt;/b&gt;Casilla was down the line a couple of steps when Raburn caught what looked like the game winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th. Because of the late tag, he was thrown out at the plate by inches. If he's standing on the bag for the tag, he should have scored the winning run. Instead he hit the game winner in the bottom of the 12th.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Ryan Raburn&lt;/b&gt;: Rayburn played a single into a triple in the bottom of the tenth, allowing the tying run to eventually score. That same inning, he gunned down the winning run at the plate.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>The Finish Line is Near: Tigers 7, Twins 2</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/1/1063069/the-finish-line-is-near-tigers-7</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/10/1/1063069/the-finish-line-is-near-tigers-7</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:45:15 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/the-finish-line-is-near-tigers-7&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Magglio Ordonez and Ramon Santiago combined for five RBIs in the Tigers' 7-2 win over the Twins Wednesday night. Surely, that's what they're talking about in this photo.&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/122910/152279_twins_tigers_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/the-finish-line-is-near-tigers-7&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Duane Burleson - AP
        
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        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Magglio Ordonez and Ramon Santiago combined for five RBIs in the Tigers' 7-2 win over the Twins Wednesday night. Surely, that's what they're talking about in this photo.
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
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    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/the-finish-line-is-near-tigers-7&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;It's so close.&amp;nbsp; So very close.&amp;nbsp; Tiger Town is leaning on the dugout rail in anticipation, ready to jump over it and take the field.&amp;nbsp; And if the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Detroit Tigers&lt;/a&gt; win one more time, we're going to celebrate.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Right now, all things seem possible.&amp;nbsp; Heck, if the Tigers can beat &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/631/Carl_Pavano&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Carl Pavano&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, what can't they do?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pavano's mastery over the Tigers lineup was one of the most baffling aspects of this 2009 season.&amp;nbsp; In five starts against Detroit, he had a 4-0 record and 1.69 ERA.&amp;nbsp; Yet overall, he had a 4.86 ERA coming into Wednesday's game.&amp;nbsp; So the Tigers were probably due to finally get to this guy, right?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oh, they got to Pavano, all right.&amp;nbsp; And did so early, pouncing on him in the second inning with four runs.&amp;nbsp; The Tigers led off with on two singles and a walk.&amp;nbsp; With the bases loaded and no outs, this would either be a chance to finally lay a smackdown on Pavano or commit an epic squandering.&amp;nbsp; There was no squandering.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; stroked a two-run double to left-center.&amp;nbsp; Two batters later, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/4423/Ramon_Santiago&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ramon Santiago&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; singled to drive in two more runs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the Tigers weren't done with Pavano at that point.&amp;nbsp; They had five games worth of frustration to take out on the guy.&amp;nbsp; In the fifth inning, Detroit again loaded the bases on two singles and a walk.&amp;nbsp; This time, however, there were two outs, so the squandering would not have been epic.&amp;nbsp; But &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/275/Magglio_Ordonez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Magglio Ordonez&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; made sure that didn't happen.&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;Ordonez jumped on a first-pitch fastball up in the strike zone, lacing into a wide-open gap in left-center field to clear the bases.&amp;nbsp; (As I wrote &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/9/30/1062971/game-158-overflow-thread-2&quot;&gt;for one of our overflow&lt;/a&gt; gamethreads, is there any more beautiful sight than a ball into the gap with nothing but green surrounding it?)&amp;nbsp; That gave the Tigers seven runs, as many as Pavano had allowed altogether in his previous five starts versus Detroit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The primary beneficiary of all that offense was &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/35038/Eddie_Bonine&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Eddie Bonine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, who could've used at least three of those runs last Friday in Chicago, but was surely happy with what he received Wednesday night.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Bonine provided a huge scare in the first inning, however, putting five straight Minnesota batters on base.&amp;nbsp; With two runs already in, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIN&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Twins&lt;/a&gt; had the bases loaded with one out.&amp;nbsp; Imminent disaster?&amp;nbsp; Not this time.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/20306/Jose_Morales&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jose Morales&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; hit a groundball to second, which &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/273/Placido_Polanco&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Placido Polanco&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; and Santiago turned for a huge double play.&amp;nbsp; That might have been the ballgame right there, as the Tigers took control soon thereafter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So very close now.&amp;nbsp; The Tigers' magic number is two.&amp;nbsp; Can they push this pennant race over the finish line this afternoon?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Roar:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Bonine last night, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/285/Zach_Miner&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Zach Miner&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; now hasn't allowed a run in his last 12 innings.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And in a non-save situation with a five-run lead, &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/321/Fernando_Rodney&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Fernando Rodney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; got three straight groundball outs to finish out the game.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comment of the Night:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;h5 class=&quot;comment_title&quot; id=&quot;comment_title_22071205&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/9/30/1062902/game-158-overflow-thread#22071205&quot; onclick=&quot;SBN.Comments.toggleComment('comment_body_22071205'); return false&quot;&gt;Paging Kevin Rand. Kevin Rand to the field.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h5&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pavano&amp;rsquo;s been mauled by a gaggle of determined Tigers.  Bring the bandaids.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/users/wepri31&quot;&gt;wepri31&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  


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      <title>Tigers Win! Game 158 Afterglow</title>
      <guid>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/9/30/1056068/tigers-win-game-158-afterglow</guid>
      <author>Ian Casselberry</author>
      <link>http://www.blessyouboys.com/2009/9/30/1056068/tigers-win-game-158-afterglow</link>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:20:17 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/tigers-win-game-158-afterglow&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Brandon Inge tries to understand a world in which the Detroit Tigers scored seven runs against Carl Pavano by turning his batting helmet backwards.&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/122713/152179_twins_tigers_baseball.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/tigers-win-game-158-afterglow&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Duane Burleson - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Brandon Inge tries to understand a world in which the Detroit Tigers scored seven runs against Carl Pavano by turning his batting helmet backwards.
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blessyouboys.com/photos/tigers-win-game-158-afterglow&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/DET&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Tigers&lt;/a&gt; proved they can beat &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/631/Carl_Pavano&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Carl Pavano&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, after all.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/275/Magglio_Ordonez&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Magglio Ordonez&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; and &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/280/Brandon_Inge&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brandon Inge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; continued their hot hitting, combining to drive in five of Detroit's seven runs.&amp;nbsp; Seven runs matches the total Pavano had allowed to the Tigers in his five previous starts against them this season, by the way.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile,&lt;b&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/players/35038/Eddie_Bonine&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Eddie Bonine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; gave up only two runs for the second straight start, (though it looked shaky at the beginning) and three relievers pitched three innings of scoreless baseball.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And with that, Detroit's lead in the AL Central is three games.&amp;nbsp; Their magic number is two.&amp;nbsp; Something very cool could happen tomorrow afternoon at Comerica Park.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Tigers beat the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/teams/MIN&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Twins&lt;/a&gt;, 7-2!&amp;nbsp; Full recap to come.&amp;nbsp; But for now, enjoy the afterglow!&lt;/p&gt;
  


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