--RHP Jeremy Bonderman turned in his best performance of the season Wednesday night, surviving a rough first inning to work into the eighth inning. Bonderman loaded the bases in the first, gave up a sacrifice fly and an RBI single then settled down and retired 12 straight batters at one point. He gave up five hits in 7 2/3 innings. He threw his 100th pitch in the seventh. A turning point could have been the fourth inning when Bonderman's slider suddenly became unhittable.
--2B Placido Polanco got a power surge Wednesday night. Polanco hit home runs in two consecutive at-bats, his third multi-homer game of his low-power career. Polanco hit an inside curve the first time, pulling it down the left field line, and an inside fastball the second. After a four-hit game Tuesday, Polanco seems to be getting back in the groove after being bothered by a sore back early in the season. --DH Gary Sheffield followed up a game in which he hit a home run with one in which he had a pair of singles Wednesday night. Sheffield could be getting his timing down and his shoulder loose, signaling a hot streak similar to what he went on early last year after a slow start.
--LHP Clay Rapada got a key out Tuesday night, then came back Wednesday to retire the last four New York Yankee hitters of the game. Rapada doesn't blow batters away but his sidearm style is obviously upsetting to players who haven't seen him.
--CF Curtis Granderson did not start against Yankees LHP Andy Petitte on Wednesday, but manager Jim Leyland says he's going to sit less often against lefties this season. "He's going to start playing against those guys, too," Leyland said. "I think it's not so much about not playing him, but getting guys in." Granderson entered the game late when Pettitte came out, and he hit a double.
--RHP Francisco Cruceta will join Detroit's bullpen Thursday and become a late-inning candidate. Cruceta had allowed just two hits in seven innings for Class AAA Toledo after joining the Tigers organization late because he couldn't get a visa. He had three walks and 15 strikeouts. "Our reports on him have been outstanding," Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said. "He's been throwing the ball very, very well. Everybody has said he's ready." Cruceta has a 10.05 ERA in six games in the majors.
--RHP Jason Grilli was traded to Colorado on Wednesday to make room on the roster for RHP Francisco Cruceta. Grilli gave up five runs on seven hits in two innings over two consecutive outings earlier this month against the White Sox and at Boston. In his last six games, though, he had scattered four hits over 11 1/3 scoreless innings. "Jason's pitched better, no question," Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said. "He's pitched well for us recently. But we were in a spot. We think Zach (Miner) is throwing the ball much better. We think he deserves to stay here. We had to make a decision one way or another."
--LHP Dontrelle Willis has been cleared to make the first of at least two projected rehab starts Friday night for Class AAA Toledo. Willis reported no ill effects Wednesday from his Tuesday throwing session.
BY THE NUMBERS: 100 -- Major League games Carlos Guillen had played at third base (for Seattle) prior to making his first start at the position for Detroit this week. Guillen also said he'd played the position extensively in winter ball in Venezuela.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We believe it makes our team better. Actually, I know it makes our team better. In the long run, I believe your job as a manager is to get the most out of your players and put them in position to be the most successful. I believe that this makes our club better." -- Manager Jim Leyland, in announcing the switching of Carlos Guillen to third base and Miguel Cabrera to first.
