The Tigers' Forgotten Man

The first Royals hitter Brad Penny faced -- Alex Gordon -- homered. 

In the fourth, Penny allowed four singles, a walk, and a three run homer to Eric Hosmer, and his night was over.

Final: 10-2 Royals; Tigers and Rangers now tied for the AL's second best record and home field advantage in the Division Series, with identical 89-65 records. I

In a five or seven game series, a fifth starter may not be needed. Penny won 10 this season and pitched well earlier, but that was then and the post-season is now, and his inability to go deep into games may make him the odd starter out when the roster is finalized.

If the Tigers are Rangers tie for second-best, the Tigers get home-field, having won the season's series six games to three. 

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The Tigers could have a Mickey Stanley up their post-season sleeves after all. 

If they do get to the World Series and lose the DH (Victor Martinez) in the NL park, V-Mart could play first, with Miguel Cabrera moving to third. 

M-Cab broke in with the Marlins in 2003 as an outfielder-third baseman. He played a full season at third with the Marlins in 2007 before becoming the American League's Albert Pujols with the Tigers; a slugging third baseman moved to first to possibly lengthen his career.

The NL has home field advantage in this year's Series. Move Cabrera to third for four games to make room for Martinez at first? No reason why not. 

Penny Comes Through

We knew what the other starters could do. Brad Penny was the mystery man. Coming off an injury-shortened season, he was penciled in as the third starter, after JV and Max Scherzer. 


Two starters -- even two good ones -- won't get you to the big October dance. For the Tigers to make it, the veteran right-hander from Blackwell, Oklahoma had to come through. 


That he did this afternoon, blanking the Royals on five hits and -- equally as important -- no walks through eight innings. A shutout would have been nice, but he'd thrown 108 pitches, and there's no need to stretch him out when Papa Save is ready to finish the game. 


Save it he did, and the Tigers have now won nine of their last ten, and are 22-18 after looking as helpless as kittens only twelve days ago. 

Penny's Debut

In 4 1-3 innings, he allowed eight runs on seven hits -- among them Mark Teixeira's second three-run homer of the series -- and was consistently behind the Yankee hitters. 

I don't think anyone expected him to throw seven innings of three-hit ball.

But today's pitching line was more than disappointing. He's the unknown quantity in the rotation; the newcomer who was out most of last season, signed to a one-year deal in the hope he still has some major-league years left.

One hundred and sixty games remain, but there remains the fear of falling too far back in the standings early, as the Tigers did in 2008 when many picked them to win the division, when they sank to the bottom and stayed there.