The 2008 Hill family vacation took us to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Beautiful country, plenty of shopping, tons of mosquitoes, and, yes, quite a bit of water.

Oh, by the way, the state’s baseball team isn’t half bad either.

We attended Wednesday’s matinee and I’m here to tell you, the Twins aren’t going anywhere. Bottom line, they bust their hump on every play, do the little things that allow themselves to win, and just about every player is playing for a contract (whether it be in Minnesota or elsewhere). I don’t believe you can underestimate the hunger factor this pesky group of Twins brings to every game. It’s certainly something that’s been noticeably absent from the Tigers much of the season.

One other reason why the Twins aren’t going to disappear is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I’ve been to plenty of yards in my day, but never anything quite as quirky, goofy, and most-assuredly unbaseballesque as this place. The fact the first three batters in their lineup can lay down a bunt plays with the minds of the infielders. And you can’t play too close because of how quick the turf is. Poor Marcus Thames may never be the same after his two-plus days at first base. Now we know why Miguel Cabrera came up lame Monday.

As for the Tigers on Wednesday, let’s just say I shouldn’t see the Detroiters on the road. I’m now 1-3 away from the CoPa. It was an uninspired effort almost from the beginning. Not that you could blame the Tigers as it dawned on me shortly after the start of the game that their were only two Detroit starters in their positions from opening day (Edgar Renteria and Placido Polanco) — and we’re only at the halfway mark of the season! Aside from the longball this group can’t seem to generate any offense; something the Twins are quite capable of.

There was some good to come of our trip to the Hump, however. It occurred when Jake and I took our first bathroom break in the bottom of the fourth and we discovered … troughs! Yep, I was able to show Jake the trough. Of course he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to relieve himself in it or drop in a toy sailboat and see how long it would take for it to sail dowstream.

Well the Tigers did very well in interleague play, and they won their last six straight series.  My thought was that they need to do the same thing against their American League foes, especially those in their own division. 

Tonight they had a good come from behind win.  In the seventh inning, Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen each had RBI singles to bring the Tigers within 1 run of the Twins.  In the eighth Matt Joyce delivered a game tying RBI triple, and Curtis Granderson followed with a RBI single to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish. 

Casey Fossum came on in the seventh inning and gave up 1 hit and struck out 1 to get his first win of the year, and Joel Zumaya pitched the last 1 2/3 to get his first save of the year.  He did give up three hits, and the Tigers committed three errors, but we’ll take the win.

• Bruce Kimm, Mark Fidrych’s personal catcher, turns 57 today.

• Eddie Miller played 14 games for the 1982 Tigers and got one hit in 25 at bats; that’s an .040 average, folks. He turns 51 today.

• Dizzy Trout was born on this date in 1915. The righty pitcher won 27 games for the Tigers in the 1944 season (and pitched 352 innings). Trout was part of a big-time trade on June 3, 1952. He was dealt by the Tigers with Hoot Evers, George Kell and Johnny Lipon to the Boston Red Sox for Bill Wight, Walt Dropo, Fred Hatfield, Johnny Pesky and Don Lenhardt.

• Old-time Tigers outfielder Bobby Veach was born 120 years ago today. He played 12 of his 14 big-league seasons in Detroit and finished with a .310 average.

And these three nuggets from Tigers history, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com:

On June 29…

• 1968: Jim Northrup’s third grand slam ties the major-league record for slams in a month (Rudy York, May 1938), and sets a major-league record for slams in a week. The Tigers win 5-2 over Chicago, as Denny McLain tallies his 14th victory.

• 1984: Twins rookie Andre David hits a two-run home run off Jack Morris in his first major-league at bat to spark Minnesota to a 5-3 win over Detroit before 44,619. It is the only home run David will hit in the big leagues and stops Morris’ 11-game win streak over the Twins. Detroit wins the nitecap, 7-5, as Kirk Gibson starts the scoring with a two-run homer in the first and ends it with a two-run homer in the ninth. The Tigers also score in the second on back-to-back homers by Chet Lemon and Rupert Jones.

• 1986: Detroit beats Milwaukee 9-5 in the first game of a doubleheader split, making Sparky Anderson the first manager ever to win 600 games in each league. The Brewers win game two, 3-1.

The Score: Tigers 4 - Rockies 3

The Gist: Dane Sardinha tripled for his first big-league hit and drove in two runs to power the Tigers to a sweep of the Rockies. Kenny Rogers allowed three runs in six innings and raised his record to one above the .500 mark. Marcus Thames went 3 for 4 with an RBI.

The Quote: “Couldn’t hit the kid [Dolsi] and Jones, we got him last night, couldn’t get him today.” — Rockies manager Clint Hurdle

The Stat: 42. The number of hits for the Tigers in the three-game series.

Up Next: Tigers @ Twins

Armando Galarraga (7-2, 3.32) vs. Glen Perkins (4-2, 4.47)

*If you don’t get the headline reference, click here to read about another one-hit wonder. Well, sorta.

The Score: Tigers 7 - Rockies 6

The Gist: Ryan Raburn hit his first career grand slam and Miguel Cabrera’s bottom-of-the-ninth laser to right center drove in the tying and winning runs to save Todd Jones’s neck. Saved, that is, from the choking hands of Justin Verlander or, quite possibly, Jim Leyland. Verlander allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. He walked four batters and fanned six, and was poised to earn his fifth win until…

The Quote: “Ouch.” — Magglio Ordonez as he pulled the most popular sports muscle of 2008, the cursed oblique — a.k.a. latissimus dorsi — muscle. He left Saturday night’s game in the third inning.

The Stat: 6. The number of series the Tigers have won in a row since that ugly sweep by the A’s in Oakland.

Up Next: Rockies @ Tigers

Kenny Rogers (5-5, 4.60) vs. Greg Reynolds (2-5, 5.68)

I’m leaving Cleveland in about six hours and getting cozy with U.S. 23 and I-75 for most of the day on the way back to Charlevoix. So, I wanted to clear out the mental notebook.

• Did you see that Chris Shelton got designated for assignment by the Rangers? In almost two months in Arlington, Big Red didn’t hit: 216 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in 41 games. Seriously, what happened with him?

• Denny Bautista made his debut with the Pirates on Friday night but the poor guy got nailed by a batted ball. He threw only 12 pitches and is likely out for a few days.

• I attended my first game at Progressive Field tonight. Craig Calcaterra of ShysterBall and I enjoyed about four innings before being spooked by lightning and threat of rain. The game was delayed about an hour before first pitch — my second rain delay in three days and probably the second of my baseball-attending life — so we cut our losses. Do yourself a favor and check out this photo I snapped of a guy sitting next to Craig. (The photo here is the view from our seats in section 409.)

That’s it from SABR…at least for me. The convention runs through Sunday.

ESPN highlights available here (eventually).

The Score: Tigers 7 - Rockies 1

The Gist: Eddie Bonine continues to impress in the most understated manner and Curtis Granderson — two triples, four hits and three runs scored on Friday — is darn-near hitting .300. Result? A more exciting brand of Tigers baseball. And how about Clete Thomas? Only 3-for-3. But back to Bonine: eight strong, five meager, one measly. (Innings, hits, runs, that is.)

The Quote: “I’ve been booed for 2 1/2 years. What’s another three days?” — Jason Grilli on his fondness for Detroit.

The Stat: 2. The number of times this season have the Tigers been just one game under .500: April 1 when they were 0-1, and a month later, May 1 at 14-15. We may want to forget what happened afterward. In case you don’t, let’s recap: six losses in a row in April; five losses in a row in May. That was then, this is now. Enjoy.

Up Next: Rockies @ Tigers

Justin Verlander (4-9, 4.49) vs. Jeff Francis (3-7, 5.65)

Still in Cleveland, still at the SABR Convention.

• Heading out to the Indians-Reds game tonight with fellow SABRtooths. It’s raining right now but because I already purchased my ticket, I’m going to this game come hell or high water. Come to think of it, one or both could occur.

• Overheard (and paraphrased): “Isn’t there a disconnect between a team that plays at Progressive Field and that team’s offensive Chief Wahoo logo? Doesn’t seem very progressive to me.”

• The Tigers are holding steady at #16 in this week’s ESPN MLB Power Rankings. At last, some consistency in something.

• Todd Helton won’t play tonight against the Tigers. Dang it. Just imagine if the Tigers would’ve accepted the Rockies offer in the late ’90s of Helton for Tony Clark — or was it Bobby Higginson?

Finally, this weekend is your chance to bring closure to your relationship with Jason Grilli. Be kind.

Oh, how those September call-ups can distort reality.

In nine games with the Tigers junior varsity (i.e., after they clinched the division), Simmons batted .433 (13 for 30). Move over, Larry Herndon, right?

Nah.

The Tigers’ second pick in the 1981 draft, Simmons (#37) hit 10 homers for the ‘85 Tigers. On April 29, 1986 Detroit released him. A few weeks later he signed with the Orioles but he played a mere 16 games in Baltimore during the ‘87 season, then got traded to the Mariners in August of that year. He never played for Seattle.

According to his Wikipedia page (yes, he has one), his last season was with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Triple-A Calgary Cannons in 1995. Whoda thunk it?

This morning I spent some time talking with Paul Parker, manager of the Rockies’ Community Fields Program and the club’s historian.

Having lived in Denver for six wonderful years — and attending the Rockies’ first home game ever at Mile High Stadium, and later the inaugural game at Coors Field — I developed an affinity for the only club in the Mountain time zone.

I sure wish I could attend the Rockies-Tigers game tonight (or tomorrow or Sunday) but will have to do without. The photo you see here, taken by yours truly, features Doug Hill at the Rockies’ first Opening Day on April 9, 1993. The team made the environmentally unfriendly decision to release a flock of purple-and silver balloons just before the first pitch.

I’ve grown weary of interleague play, but this is a series that intrigues me.

Final note: If over the weekend the Tigers were to swap, oh let’s say, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen for Todd Helton and Matt Holliday, I’d be okay with it.