Happy Birthday, Nate. Today’s starter is 32. Other notable Tigers birthdays today: Luis Gonzalez (42) and Steve Boros (73). (It’s also the birthday of my little boy!)

Catching up on Tigers Playoff Odds from Baseball Prospectus: We’re now looking at 68.86481 percent for a playoff spot. Inching up.

Here’s a piece I enjoyed. Titled “What The World [...]

Celebrate Nate! I might be the only person in the Tigers Fan Universe looking forward to Robertson’s return to the rotation. Ian?
Today’s Walewanders are fueled by Almighty Blend coffee from Ann Arbor’s Mighty Good Coffee Roasting Co., sent along by the aforementioned Mr. Casselberry.

Last July 9 I attend a Tigers/Indians game at Comerica Park — the one when the Tigers came back from six runs down to win it in the ninth on a Miguel Cabrera line-drive homer — and found myself utterly transfixed on the father and son duo sitting in front of me.
The dad, possibly [...]

Thanks to a timely ping from Ian Casselberry, we heard about the Tigers curious trade with the Braves this afternoon.
Here’s how Baseball Prospectus 2009 summed up Josh Anderson:
Now 26, he’s still nothing more than a fifth outfielder.
Nice.
Atlanta gets pitching prospect Rudy Darrow.
More to come, but three things come to mind:

Does this mean [...]

I’m down to my last box of Girl Scout Cookies — Thin Mints, don’t you know — but despite this unfortunate circumstance, I present the Wednesday Walewanders.

Rob Neyer yesterday linked to this list of The Worst Contracts in Baseball and, no, the entire Tigers roster does not appear. But there is some significant Detroit representation: [...]

This is the bullpen help we’ve been waiting for?

The Score: Tigers 5 – Orioles 1
The Gist: Justin Verlander dominated — 8.2 IP, three hits, three walks, three strikeouts — and Magglio Ordonez and Marcus Thames went yard to lead the Tigers to a series split against the pesky Orioles. Brandon Inge made the play of the week, if not the year, for the [...]

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: Tigers 9 – Indians 2
The Gist: Justin Verlander was virtually unhittable — two hits, seven strikeouts over seven innings — and Miguel Cabrera showed serious muscle in going 4-for-4 with two homers as the Tigers rolled over the cratering Indians, 9-2. Marcus Thames hit a home run to right field — right field [...]

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 [...]