Time to give him a nickname?

It's probably a bit too early to propose giving Craig Monroe the nickname "Clutch" - and that could make The Daily Fungo nauseous - but the man has come up with two damn important hits over the past week that led to two huge wins over AL Central opponents.

Francisco Liriano was as good as advertised. There were a few times I was fuming over the high strike Bill Welke was giving him, but I suppose Welke did call it both ways. Zach Miner's pitches just weren't smoking by the Twins' hitters. But he did his best to match Liriano on the scoreboard and keep the Tigers in the game. That gave the Tigers a chance to see if they could beat the Twins' bullpen instead.

And once Monroe yanked that clutch single down the left-field line off Juan Rincon in the 10th inning, Detroit won one of the games in this series they were likely expected to lose.

Plenty more post-game analysis to be found in the Tigers-Twins corner of the blogosphere:

▪▪ Thank You Brian Sabean notes that each time the Tigers put runs on the board, a grounder past Luis Castillo fueled the score. Could a younger Castillo have made those plays?

▪▪ The aforementioned Daily Fungo sings the praises of Zach Miner (as does Mack Avenue Tigers) and Bert Blyleven, while pondering Joe Nathan's approach to the Tigers hitters.

▪▪ Todd's Twins, along with questioning age's effect on Castillo, laments the lack of patience at the plate, especially by Justin Morneau.

▪▪ The Detroit Tigers Weblog wonders why Detroit's hitters were so impatient against Liriano, yet made Nathan and Rincon work so hard later in the game. (Credit goes to Liriano's stuff.) Also, Billfer tips his cap to the Tigers' bullpen.