Lynn Henning

Pieces fitting together for Tigers

Detroit -- A few reasons the Tigers, who came back to win Thursday, 6-5, over the Chicago Cubs at Comerica Park, are in first place and just might stay there:

• The guys with the gloves: Wednesday's game explains how critical defense has been. Detroit's pitchers allowed the Cubs seven walks, normally a death sentence. Granted, the Cubs were just as charitable in walking seven Tigers. But the difference, beyond the 5-3 final score, was that the Cubs made one big error, and the Tigers as usual made none.

On Thursday, it was the same story. The Cubs had one error, the home team zero. The Tigers' infield defense is sublime, with Brandon Inge and Adam Everett sealing the left side, and Miguel Cabrera joining Placido Polanco in nailing down anything hit to the right half.

• Quality replacement parts: A team that loses three starters -- Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson, who has slipped to a remote bullpen niche -- should not be in first.

But the trade for Edwin Jackson, the arrival of Rick Porcello, and the ability to patch up with either Zach Miner, Alfredo Figaro, etc., has allowed the Tigers to stitch together a solid rotation and keep just enough pressure off a bullpen that otherwise would by now have exploded.

• Other teams make mistakes, too: What was going on with Cubs manager Lou Piniella in Wednesday night's game when he decided time after time against bunting in bunt situations? This was unusual managerial strategy, to say the least.

Then notice the gaffe by Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly on Thursday. After running the bat-dragging Magglio Ordonez into an 0-2 hole in the fourth inning in which the second strike was a fastball that left Ordonez overmatched, Lilly followed with a change-up that Ordonez was able to lift into the seats in left. And you thought Joel Zumaya committed a head-shaker in throwing a bad change-up to Micah Hoffpauir Tuesday night.

• Home runs are, for now, trumping the doubles and triples Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge once more regularly collected: Granderson is the real mystery. Two years ago, he had 38 doubles and 23 triples. Last season, he had 26 doubles and 13 triples in 59 fewer at-bats.

This year: seven doubles, two triples. But he has 17 home runs. Not sure how that set of numbers can be constructed if you're Granderson, although Inge, who averaged just over 28 doubles from 2005-07, and who has nine in 2009, also sits with 17 homers. Bigger, apparently, is better for two batters who this season should each finish well above 30 homers.

• Fernando Rodney gets the job done: He has 16 saves and is pushing to an extreme the old, spine-tingling ways of former closer Todd Jones.

Rodney has more the mindset of a set-up man. But with his fastball-change-up combination, he has stuff good enough to knock out batters.

• Its fans: The Tigers had 42,332 on hand Thursday. It was the fifth consecutive crowd of more than 38,000. In a tough town during tough times, the Tigers are fourth in the league in attendance (they were third a year ago when they drew more than 3 million). They're 11th in all of baseball. Tough times? Yeah. Tough fans? Even more so.

• The team is, to use Marcus Thames' word following Thursday's victory, "hungry." Thames took note of how Jim Leyland stopped by his locker Thursday, telling Thames to help get the message out: "Don't settle for two games (the Tigers won the first two games of the series). Let's bury 'em."."

Even when you figure this team, with all of its challenges, shouldn't win, the Tigers win. And they just might keep it up as they craft their unique blueprint.

lynn.henning@detnews.com (313) 222-2472