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