DETROIT - Brad Penny stood in the Detroit clubhouse after another victory and surveyed what was left of the race in the American League Central.http://www.max90saleukonline.com/air-max-90/air-max-90-hyp-prm.html . "The sooner we can clinch this thing, the better," the veteran right-hander said. "Were playing as good as anybody in baseball right now — and nows the time to be doing that." Penny didnt seem concerned about jinxing anything last week when he talked openly about wrapping up a division championship. The way the Tigers are playing, its hard to blame him for his straightforward attitude. After spending much of the summer in a tight playoff chase, Detroit has left the rest of the division behind thanks to a torrid three-week stretch that has the Tigers on the verge of their first division title since 1987. Detroit enters Monday nights game at Chicago on a nine-game winning streak — and with a 10 1/2-game lead over the second-place White Sox. Earlier this season, the Tigers would occasionally check out their AL Central foes on television in the clubhouse. Now, scoreboard watching is going out of style in Detroit. "Theres one goal that everyone should have in here, and thats just winning tomorrow," third baseman Brandon Inge said. "You win tomorrow, and move on to the next day. Thats the only goal. If you think about it, it does not matter what everyone else is doing. It doesnt matter. Were concentrating on what we can do." The Tigers led the division by 1 1/2 games over Cleveland on Aug. 19. Since that day, theyve gone 19-4, including two three-game sweeps of the Indians and another against the White Sox. Detroits magic number to clinch the division is seven. "Thats what they planned out of spring training, Im sure — to get a lead and run with it," said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire, whose Twins went 4-14 against Detroit this year. "Theyre a very good baseball team." For a while, it seemed the Tigers were merely the best of a mediocre group in their division, but at 84-62, Detroit now has a better record than AL West-leading Texas, and players from all over the roster are contributing. Justin Verlander is a leading candidate for the Cy Young Award, but right-hander Doug Fister has been just as dominant of late. Fister, acquired July 30 from Seattle, has allowed only three earned runs in his last 36 2-3 innings. Slugger Miguel Cabrera anchors the offence, but Alex Avila has been about as valuable, blossoming into one of the games top catchers. Free agent addition Victor Martinez is hitting .323, and shortstop Jhonny Peralta has 18 home runs. Even Inge, who hit so badly he was sent down to the minors in July, has contributed since coming back, hitting a game-winning home run Saturday against the Twins. Ramon Santiago, who looked like nothing more than a utility infielder for much of the season, has an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of .969 since Aug. 14. Detroit has gone 35-19 since the all-star break, quieting concerns about the teams penchant for second-half slides. General manager Dave Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland entered this season in the final year of their contracts, but both received extensions Aug. 8, shortly before the Tigers began opening a substantial lead in the division. Detroit has won its share of close games. Centre fielder Austin Jackson threw a runner out at the plate to preserve an 8-7 win over Cleveland on Aug. 21, and on Sept. 3, the Tigers rallied from a seven-run deficit to beat the White Sox 9-8 on a homer by Cabrera. The next night, as if to prove they werent just relying on late-inning fortune, the Tigers beat Chicago 18-2 to finish that three-game sweep. "This is the best team Ive probably ever played on, and the attitude is what makes us so good," Inge said. "Obviously, we have good, quality guys on paper, but its the attitude, kind of the never-say-die attitude — were never going to lay down for another team — thats whats probably the most important thing." Inge played on Detroits 2006 team that went to the World Series as a wild card. The Tigers havent made the playoffs since then. They came excruciatingly close in 2009, when they had a three-game lead with four games remaining, but Minnesota caught up and then handed Detroit a heartbreaking loss in a one-game playoff for the division title. Detroits last division championship came 24 years ago, when the Tigers swept a season-ending three-game set against Toronto at Tiger Stadium to edge the Blue Jays by two games in the AL East. This years Tigers appear ready to claim their title without that sort of drama. "If we keep winning, no one can catch us," Inge said. "Thats a fact." Air Max 90 Vt Uk .After struggling to score goals during a poor first half of the season, Lille claimed only its sixth league win after Traore beat defender Cedric Cambion and fired home a low shot from the edge of the box in the 61st minute. http://www.max90saleukonline.com/air-max-90/air-max-90-ultra-moire.html . Ramirez felt tightness in his right side before Friday nights game, the start of a three-game series with Milwaukee. He walked in the first inning before being removed in the bottom half. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals manager Ned Yost admitted that he often manages an entire game around getting the ball to reliever Wade Davis in the eighth inning and closer Greg Holland in the ninth. The fact that Yordano Ventura gave him six solid innings made things even easier. Ventura returned from a sore elbow to keep the St. Louis Cardinals off balance, and Kansas City rallied for three runs in the sixth inning before the bullpen closed out a 3-2 win Thursday night that ended a string of eight straight home losses to its cross-state rivals. "The bullpen was fantastic tonight," Yost said. Of course, so was Ventura. The hard-throwing right-hander was skipped his previous time through the rotation because of the ailment, but looked sharp in his return. Ventura (3-5) pitched to contact and took advantage of some sharp defence, which helped him to limit the damage whenever he ran into trouble. "Everything was good," Ventura said through a translator. "I wasnt nervous. I was very anxious. I wanted to pitch well to help the team win." He wasnt in line for the win until the Royals rallied for three runs off Michael Wacha (4-4) in the sixth inning, and Francisley Bueno and Davis each pitched a perfect inning in relief. Holland made things interesting in the ninth. Oscar Taveras led off with a grounder toward second base that Omar Infante fielded deep in the hole and threw awkwardly to first base. Umpire Dan Iassogna initially ruled the throw beat Taveras to the bag, but a video review showed that he was clearly safe. Holland proceeded to strike out Jhonny Peralta, but a wild pitch sent pinch runner Randal Grichuk to second base. Holland then struck out Jon Jay and Peter Bourjos to end the game. The Royals took the first two games of the four-game, two-city series at Busch Stadium, and then lost 5-2 in 11 innings on Wednesday night before taking the series finale. Kansas City improved to 6-2 against National League clubs this season, while its slumping cross-state rivals lost for the seventh time in their past eight games. The game was expected to be a showdown between two oof the games bright young pitchers in Ventura, with his 100 mph fastball, and Wacha, who emerged for St. http://www.max90saleukonline.com/air-max-90/air-max-90-jcrd.html. Louis last season. Neither of them disappointed. Ventura left two runners aboard in the first inning and a runner on third base in each of the next three innings. Alex Gordon then helped him out of the fifth, when he threw out Yadier Molina trying to stretch a single into a double with a strong throw from left field. The call was confirmed after a review that lasted 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Wacha only allowed two hits through the first five innings before Alcides Escobar started the Royals rally with a double in the sixth. Nori Aoki followed with an RBI double and Eric Hosmer guided a single through a drawn-in infield to knot the game 2-all. Salvador Perez, who had been in a 2-for-24 slump at home, followed with a go-ahead single. "Wacha was real good up the point of the sixth inning and thats consecutive starts where weve had starters come out and be real good and just hit a wall," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We just werent able to get enough offence back after that." The fact that Aoki had a part in the Royals sixth-inning rally was perhaps fitting. The outfielder was leading off in the first inning when he took a pitch low and inside. He was still leaning slightly over the plate when Molina tried to return the ball to Wacha, and the throw instead ricocheted hard off Aokis helmet and toward the third-base dugout. Aoki crumpled into a heap and lay in the dirt for several minutes before resuming his at-bat. He later grounded out, but hurt the Cardinals with his double during the Royals decisive rally. "Yadi was real apologetic," Yost said. "Nori was just like, OK, OK." NOTES: Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong left in the fifth inning with soreness in his left shoulder, which he hurt diving for a ball Tuesday night in St. Louis. Daniel Descalso replaced him. ... Royals RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts a four-game series against the Yankees on Friday night. Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn will start for St. Louis to open its three-game set in Toronto. 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