When Fernando Rodney signed on the dotted line, not only did he receive two years and 11 million dollars. He received, for the most part, a pretty tough entrance into the Angels fan base. In the land of Detroit Tigers baseball land, a sigh of relief the size of a tidal wave has rolled over the fans. You know those moments when you light up a cigar, just for the hell of it? In tiger land, closing the book on the reliever that once decided it would be cool to throw the baseball as hard as he could into the [...]

According to MLB.com’s Jason Beck (via twitter), the Tigers have extended salary arbitration offers to free agent pitchers Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon.  The two players both qualify as type-B free agents, so if either or both turn down the offers and sign elsewhere, the Tigers would recieve a compensatory draft choice.  The players have until December 7 to decide whether or not to remain with the club or to persue other opportunities on the open market.
 
Unlike Lyon and Rodney, second baseman Placido Polanco was not offered arbitration by the Tigers.  Polanco can now sign with any other club and [...]

The names are familiar, ones we have all cheered (and probably jeered) for most of the season.  Some will be easy to forget, some we will never forget, but the cold truth of baseball is that player and coaches move on.  If the Tigers cannot extend their season, we could be seeing the last of several men who helped get the Tigers this far.
 
Listed below are potential free agents (and one coach) and what I feel are the chances they would be retained.
 
Jarrod Washburn (1% chance of returning) came over from Seattle at the deadline, but aside from one sparkling [...]

Minnesota 3, Detroit 2 (10 inn.) (box)
Minnesota 5, Detroit 6 (box)
Magic Number 4
 
By this point, I’m sure most of you have read several game recaps covering these two ball games.  Seeing as how I attended game one, and made it home in about the third inning of game two, I decided to skip the usual recap and just sprinkle in some thoughts about the series thus far.
 

Curtis Granderson is really coming around, eh?  He is now 10 for his last 16 and six of those hits have been for extra bases.  He did still have a Granderson-like pop up with [...]

The job is a simple one for the Detroit Tigers as they embark on the final two weeks of the season: Finish what you started.
 
The Tigers began their journey some five-and-a-half months ago.  Amidst the cries from the pundits and talking heads that said this team could not, would not compete with the likes of the Indians, White Sox, and Twins.
 
They had a lame-duck manager that no player would respect.  Their pitching staff was shaky, at best.  They had no proven closer in the bullpen, they were relying too heavily on older, broken down players.  There would be no re-inforcements, [...]

Toronto 2, Detroit 7 (box)
Magic Number 15
 
Rick Porcello and Ricky Romero had squared off once before.  They both made their major league debuts against each other in Toronto back in April.  The second meeting went much better for Detroit prized right hander.
 
Porcello (13-8) went six strong innings, allowing two runs on just four hits.  Romero (12-8) allowed 14 baserunners over his six innings, and struggledwith command.
 
The Tigers took control of the game with a three run third inning that saw a pair of two-out RBI, one each from Marcus Thames and Gerald Laird.  Detroit scored five of their seven runs [...]

Toronto 8, Detroit 6 (box)
Magic Number 16
 
This is getting ridiculous.  The Tigers found yet another way to lose, in running their current losing skid to a season high five games.  Edwin Jackson couldn’t consistently keep the Jays in the yard, and the bullpen once again failed to stop the bleeding. 
 
Detroit opened the scoring with a Curtis Granderson lead-off homer in the first.  It was the sixth time this season he has began a game with a solo shot.  After Rod Barajas clubbed a two run blast to give the Jays the lead, Alex Avila responded with a two run shot [...]

Detroit 1, Kansas City 5 (box)
Magic Number 19
 
Justin Verlander suffered just his second career loss in Kaufman Stadium last night as the Royals bested the Tigers.  Robinson Tejeda did his best Zack Greinke impression in shutting down the Tigers offense.
 
Verlander struggled against his pitch count from the get go, and managed just six innings, allowing just one run and striking out eight.  The Tigers’ right hander failed in his attempt to become the American League’s first 17 game winner, but with even a little support, he could have succeeded.
 
Tejeda made sure that Verlander would get no help from his friends, [...]