not quite the formula advocated by the late Earl Weaver, but it is a formula that powered the Tigers to their 7th straight win, and Max Scherzer to his 16th win of the season.
Scherzer improved his record to 16-1 tonight as he blanked the White Sox 3-0 at Comerica Park. Scherzer pitched 7 and 2/3 scoreless innings, limiting the Sox to 3 hits. He struck out 6 and walked 3 on 107 pitches.
Jose Veras got the last out in the 8th and Joaquin Benoit recorded his 12th save by pitching a scoreless 9th
The offense was supplied by solo home runs from Torii Hunter, Jose Iglesias, and Jhonny Peralta.
Iglesias played third again tonight for the ailing Miguel Cabrera and looked excellent. His fielding looks like it comes naturally and his hitting, to this point, is better than advertised. We still need Miggy back, although the Tigers are 7-1 without him in the lineup. The rumor is that he won’t play tomorrow either but will suit up for the Indians series.
Despite the torrid pace the Tigers are on, 7 in a row and 10 out of the last 11, they can’t distance the Indians. The Indians won again tonight and remain only 3 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central. And, don’t look now but the Royals are only 7.5 back.
On a different note, today was Mexican heritage tonight at Comerica Park. Before the game, the Tigers honored former pitcher, Juan Berenguer. Much like retiring Willie Horton’s number to be politically correct, it seems like the Tigers were in dire need of a Mexican player to honor, and they must have pulled Berenguer’s name out of a hat, or more precisely, a BIG hat. This whole ceremony was asinine. Berenguer pitched parts of 4 seasons for the Tigers, hardly a track record that would warrant a ceremony. In any case that’s my take on it.
The Tigers go for the sweep and a perfect home stand tomorrow afternoon with Ricky on the hill.
“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
Chris, I agree with the choice of Berenguer as reeking of political correctness. My only vivid memory of him is when he took the line drive off his head in Baltimore, yet managed to throw the runner out AND continue pitching. Had he still been alive they probably would have chosen Señor Smoke instead.
I’ve seen this sweep of the home stand coming since early in the week. Granted, the Tigers have had the luxury of playing some of the weak sisters of the poor this week. Or is their pitching simply that dominant? I choose the latter. #9 for Ricky on Sunday!
Sark, the political correctness is getting to be more than I can take. Seriously!!!! And the whole thing about Willie Horton’s number being retired really irks me. Why didn’t they retire Whitaker’s number if they needed a token?
Instead of Berenguer, they should have honored Bruce Kim instead. At least he was an integral part of The Bird’s season in 77!!! 🙂
On a totally un related note….after 16 wins we need to look up and compare Max’s stats v.s. the last Tiger 30 game winner at this point in the season…think?
Thanks for getting me back on track Nebraska. I believe the last Tiger 30 game winner was Denny McLain. That being said, does Scherzer have 14 starts left?
My buddy in Boston tells me on this day in 68 Denny was 22 & 3 and won on Aug 4th…so I think the kitties did good today!