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To: Cactus Jack who wrote (72113)	6/29/2008 4:12:28 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 104154

Tigers reach .500 with dramatic ninth detnews.com Cabrera's two-run double ensures another series win. Saturday, June 28, 2008 -- DETROIT -- It ain't over 'til it's ... OK, you've heard it before, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland was pretty pleased to be quoting Yogi Berra after a topsy-turvy ninth inning that saw the Tigers lose a three-run lead and then earn a come-from-behind win in spectacular fashion Saturday night. "This is baseball ... that's why Yogi said what he said," Leyland said. "I mean, it's one you look like you had it in hand. They earned it, they took it away from us, and then we took it right back. I guess that's why they made it nine innings, bottom of the ninth for the home team. Pretty good." Miguel Cabrera hit a winning double deep to right-center field that scored Placido Polanco and Ryan Raburn for a come-from-behind 7-6 victory Saturday night before an announced sellout at Comerica Park. Two-thirds of an inning away from the victory, Tigers closer Todd Jones could not protect a 5-2 lead. He allowed five hits -- two doubles and three singles -- and four earned runs to give the Colorado Rockies a 6-5 lead. Jones left the game and was showered with boos. Freddy Dolsi (1-2) got the Tigers out of the inning and earned the win. Polanco started things for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth with a single to left. After Carlos Guillen flied out, Raburn walked, setting up Cabrera's winner. "Those are frustrating ones, to be honest with you," Leyland said. "You've got a three-run lead in the ninth and then you look up, bottom of the ninth and you're down one. But that's the life of a closer. Here's a guy who is 14-for-14 (in save opportunities). Pretty tough job when you're 14-for-14 and you blow one and get booed that bad. That's pretty tough." Jones took full responsibility for losing the lead. "It was a three-run lead, and there's all kinds of ways to blow saves, and believe me, I've done them all," Jones said. "But a three-run lead is pretty tough to swallow. You've got to go out there and nail those down 100 percent of the time. Tonight, I was just bad. Very thankful this is a team game." The Tigers are now .500 -- 40-40 -- for the first time this season. After an 0-7 start, reaching this point may have seemed far-fetched. But they have won four in a row and 16 of their last 20 games since June 7, the most wins in the majors during that stretch. While reaching the mark was being downplayed, Jones said it does offer a new beginning, in a sense. "It just gives us a clean slate, probably, something to build on, maybe a starting point everybody can circle," he said. "Maybe we can take off now." Raburn, a week and a half removed from being dubbed a "scrub" by a San Francisco columnist when the Tigers were playing on the West Coast, broke the game open in the fourth inning with his first career grand slam to give Detroit a 5-0 lead. Raburn, who entered the game in the third inning as a replacement for injured right fielder Magglio Ordonez, took a 1-2 pitch an estimated 370 feet to left field. He also was credited with a base hit on a bunt in the third inning. A throwing error on that play allowed Polanco to score, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Ordonez left the game early in the third inning just after Troy Tulowitzki doubled over his head in right field. Ordonez, who jogged off the field, had a spasm in the right oblique and latissimus dorsi muscle and will be further evaluated Sunday, the team announced. Ordonez said after the game that he suffered the injury in the first inning but believes he will be fine. The latissimus dorsi, or lat as it frequently is referred to, is the large flat muscle in the back that extends from just under the armpit to the lumbar area. The oblique is a lateral abdominal muscle. Tigers starter Justin Verlander had a solid outing, throwing 118 pitches, including 69 strikes, before Leyland decided to pull him from the game after 5 2/3 innings. Zach Miner relieved him. Verlander allowed five hits and two runs, both earned. He walked four and struck out six. Colorado starter Jeff Francis pitched six innings, giving up 10 hits, and five runs, four earned. Brian Fuentes was the losing pitcher.