The Score: Tigers 8 – Rangers 7
The Gist: Gary Sheffield hit his 493rd career jack and went 3 for 5, and Curtis Granderson drove in four as the Tigers escaped with an 8-7 win in Arlington. Kenny Rogers eeked out a win thanks to two four-run outbursts by his teammates in the seventh and eighth. [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Score: Tigers 6 – Orioles 5
The Gist: Gary Sheffield went yard (almost twice), as did Marcus Thames and Brandon Inge, and Kenny Rogers pitched just good enough to win the opening game of the four-gamer against the Orioles. Magglio Ordonez went 1 for 5 in his return from the DL. In [...]

The Score: Mariners 4 – Tigers 1
The Gist: Erik Bedard looked like the pitcher the Mariners thought they were getting in the offseason trade with the Orioles and the Tigers fell back in to old habits. You know, leaving gobs of runners on base in key, tight-game situations; wasting a stellar performance by Kenny Rogers, [...]

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 [...]

The Gist: Kenny Rogers pitched good enough to win — only if the offense provides nine runs, of course — and Marcus Thames hit a grand slam to lead the Tigers to a soggy on the outside, sunny on the inside, second-consectuive win over the Mariners, 9-4.
The Quote: “The political answer is I’m rooting for [...]

Dontrelle Willis returns to the D as a reliever. If he continues to pitch the way he has in Spring Training and early in the regular season, his name might very well end up ahead of Damion Easley as the Tigers most expensive contract-as-main-course ever. Rob Neyer’s already weighed in on the move.

Speaking of Mr. [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: Game #37 featured a terrific outing from #37 Kenny Rogers, three hits from Pudge Rodriguez and ridiculous ninth inning from Todd Jones. Luckily, and most importantly, it all added up to a Tigers’ 6-5 win over the Yankees. Rogers gave the Tigers a quality start — 6 IP, 9 H, [...]

Tigers April Record: 13-15
Individual Batting Leaders (minimum 20 games, my totally subjective criteria)

Average: Carlos Guillen, .321
Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, 5
RBI: Cabrera/Ordonez, 19
OBP: Guillen, .414
OPS: Guillen, .938
SLG: Guillen, .524
SB: Guillen, Pudge Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, 3

Individual Pitching Leaders

Wins: Five pitchers tied with two each – Jeremy Bonderman, Armando Galarraga, Aquilino Lopez, Clay Rapada, Kenny Rogers
ERA

Starter: [...]

ESPN highlights available here.

The Gist: It had its dicey moments — not the least of which was Kenny Rogers walking the bases loaded in the third — but the Tigers showed some grit in a 6-4 win over the Yankees in the Bronx. Rogers earned his second straight win and limited the Yankees to two [...]

Happy 33rd Birthday to Jacque Jones. Let’s hope he’s recuperating nicely from his collision with an unruly guard rail on Thursday.
• Speaking of birthdays, Feliz Cumpleaños to former Tigers Tony Phillips (49) and Larry Pashnick (52).

• The Tigers moved up seven slots on ESPN.com’s Baseball Power Rankings this week: from 27 to 20.
• On today’s [...]