Detroit Tigers running away with Central Division title

The Detroit Tigers are getting hot at the right time.  The Tigers swept a 3 game series with the Minnesota Twins over the weekend at Comerica Park.  The fans would see 3 great games with Tigers playing some outstanding baseball.  The game that I was drawn too was on a cloudy and rainy night in downtown Detroit with another large crowd in attendance.   The Tigers would fall behind right off the bat with Brad Penny pitching for the Tigers and giving up 4 runs in the 1st inning.   Fans started to let Brad hear it with the boos raining down in the 1st inning.  Pitching Coach Jeff Jones made his way out to the mound to calm down Penny who would then to go onto pitch 4 shutout innings to get to the bullpen.

Alex Avilla would slam a 3 run homer to put the Tigers right back in the game.  Ramon Santiago and Delmon Young both would hit home runs to lead the Tigers to a 8-4 win over the falling Minnesota Twins.  These are the same Twins who have won 6 out of the last 8 Central Division titles.   Detroit's bullpen who has been almost untouchable this season now has the rotation down pat with Joaquin Benoit in the 8th inning and Jose "Papa Grande" Valverde for the 9th inning to close out the games. 

Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez are two of the top four hitters in the American League far into the season.  Cabrera is hitting just over .330 clip and with Martinez close behind at .326.   The home run production has been spread around the four hitters in the middle of the line-up with Alex Avilla, Jhonny Peralta, Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera leading the way. 

Brandon Inge provided the highlights on Saturday with a walk off home run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 3-2 victory.  On Sunday new Tiger Doug Fister gave the Twins fits for over 7 innings leaving the game without giving up a run.  The ace reliever Jose Valverde entered the 9th inning and gave up a rare run to hold onto a 2-1 victory to keep the 9 game winning streak alive.  Detroit now has a 9 1/2 game lead over the Chicago White Sox who they will face in a 3 game series starting tonight in Chicago.   Then off to Oakland for a quick four game set and back to face Kansas City for just 2 games. 

Comerica Park will be only hosting 7 more home games when they return home from the road trip.  The fans have been coming in record numbers and I expect that all of the 7 remaining games will be sold out or very close to being sold out.  So make your plans early and get to Comerica Park before the America League Divisional Series games start.