Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Cubs)

Well the Tigers should have swept the lowly Tigers, but they escaped with another series win which is important. Detroit just simply abused the Cubs bullpen (or whatever they call it), and Wrigley Field became Comerica Park West.  If you are a Cubs fan, I am sorry, but that was an embarrassment.

Verlander of the Series: This is a tough one between the fans and JV.  I will give JV the nod because at times he looked absolutely dominant again, and he got his first win since May 18th (his no-hit attempt). Folks, JV should never go a month in between wins, he is too good.  At some point this season will the offense bail him out or at least score 4 runs while he is on the mound?  Verlander struggled in the 2nd inning by giving up 2 runs, but then was lights out the rest of the way.  He finished with 8 strikeouts and 0 walks on the day. He also became the 2nd pitcher (after Strasburg the Great) to get to 100 K's on the season.  I am hoping JV doesn't get the extra day of rest for his next start which will allow him to pitch against St. Louis and Pittsburgh (when I visit PNC Park).

Schlereth of the Series: I have to give this to Jhonny Peralta.  Not only did he get an error on a routine ground ball to short, he followed it up on the next batter with a throwing error to first.  It was the only reason the Cubs scored a run off of Phil Coke on Tuesday night.  I don't know if the Tigers would have been able to score again to pull out the victory, but they should not have lost like that.  I knew the defense would be bad, but I thought they would at least be average in ground balls hit directly at them.

Looking ahead, the Tigers get the terrible Rockies coming to town.  These are the same Rockies who are 0-9 in inter-league play, so this probably means they will come in to Detroit and sweep the Tigers.  It would be nice to get another series win and pull closer to the White Sox (they play at the Dodgers).  The Rockies have some of the worst starting pitching that I can remember seeing.  They have a potent offense in their home stadium, but they lose their punch on the road.  Honestly, the Tigers should have no problem scoring 20+ runs in this series.  I guess at this point, let's just hope for another series win.