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Finally...thanks to the White Sox loss to Cleveland the Tigers picked up a game in the AL Central Standings. Improving to 18-9 Detroit now sits a half-game behind the World Series Champions. The Tigers look to go 10 games above .500 against the Angels tonight, which is something I am too young to remember happening. I imagine 1987 would be the last time, but only being 8 it wasn’t something I fully appreciated. Nate Robertson looks to extend his 14 inning scoreless streak against former Tiger Jeff Weaver and the Halos. The Tigers were able to move up a game in the standing in large part from the continued strong pitching from their starters. Mike Maroth has been amazing this year. He kept the Royals hitters off balance through six innings. He allowed only one run to turn in another quality start by a Tigers pitcher. They now lead the league in quality starts (6 or more innings allowing 3 runs or less). Maroth set the stage for the 7-8-9 combination of Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones to shorten the game. Each of them did their job with the only hit coming off Jones in the ninth. Zumaya earned his 6th hold and Rodney his 2nd. Jones got his fifth save since returning from the DL. Detroit’s offense keeps doing enough to win ball games. The power hitting continued against KC. Brandon Inge drove a two-run home run, his fifth of the season, over the bullpen in left in the third inning. Craig Monroe again provided an insurance run late in the game with his seventh home run of the year coming in the seventh inning. Detroit also scored a run in the sixth as Inge scored on a ground out by Ordonez. Chris Shelton continued to return to earth as his 0-3 effort lowered his average to .309. On the other end of the spectrum is Marcus Thames. I must mention the hot streak of Thames or I’d hear about it from the leader of the Marcus Thames fan club rmayer. Marcus went 2-3 with a run scored. After the 0-19 slump and hovering around the Mendoza line Thames is now hitting a solid .317 on the season. If he keeps it up he could make it tough for Dmitri Young to get full-time DH at-bats. *** OEs 3 Stars of the Game *** #3 Craig Monroe – 1-3 with a run scored on a HR
#2 Brandon Inge – 2-3 with 2 runs scored, a HR, 2 RBI, .241 AVG
#1 Mike Maroth – Win (4), 6 IP, 4 Hs, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 Ks, 1.78 ERA  On Tap – Game 28 (18-9) v. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (5-18) May 3rd, 7:05 ET
Nate Robertson (3-2, 3.77) v. Jeff Weaver (1-3, 7.48) --------------------------------------------------------
Go Tigers!!!
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