Game 23: Tilde’s Twice-Baked Potatoes

Nothing silences food critics better than twice-baked potatoes. Just look at ‘em. Melts R.W. Apple’s heart every time. Moreover nothing silences baseball critics better than twice-baked home runs. And nothing certainly welds a baseball article together better than food metaphors. Wilmer Tilderrama had himself an appetite for destruction on the caloric Jason Jennings, smashing two home runs and driving in four in this 8-2 rout of the Texas Rangers. Delicious.

And … what the spud? Zach Miner went 3 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball for the win. Now that’s worth a look inside the series sweep:

• Three (3) games
• Thirty-seven (37) runs scored
• Ten (10) runs allowed
• Ten (10) home runs hit
• Twenty-one (21) LOB
• Fourteen (14) 2-out RBI
• Three (3) innings of 5+ runs
• One (1) inning of 11 runs
• Scored at least one (1) run in 13 of 24 innings
• Detroit trailed in every game (once, 5-0)
• Tilde: 5-for-11, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB
• *ALERT ALERT ALERT*: Bullpen: 2-0, 13 IP, 1 ER, (0.69 ERA), 13 K, 6 H, 3 BB (0.69 WHIP)
• Tigers fans’ pants creamed: 1,203,485

At 10-13 and riding a four-game winning streak, a test of fortitude strolls into town in the form of the Los Angeles Angels of Suburban Los Angeles for three games. Nate, Son Of Robert, will duel Ervin “Black Magic” Santana. Certainly a weekend series of au gratin proportions. Bring plenty of butter.