Written by WOI Contributor Tim Goergen

“A scrub is a guy who thinks he’s fly, and is also known as a busta.”

Two weeks ago, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed Tigers ultra-reserve Ryan Raburn a “scrub”. That game, Raburn hit a pinch-hit solo homerun to put the Tigers ahead and up for good on their way to a 5-1 win against the San Francisco Little People. Since then, the Tigers are 9-2 and their “scrubs” have had a considerable hand in each of the nine victories.

On paper, the Tigers have a lineup that you only see in video games. They hold the second highest payroll in baseball and have multiple future Hall of Famers. But, no matter how talented one or two or three regulars might be, you need a full 25-man roster to win 15 of your last 18 games. Guys like Raburn, Armando Galarraga, Clete Thomas and Dane Sardinha and Eddie freakin Bonine are essential to a winning club. Wait, who? Eddie Bonine? Clete Thomas?

Following Raburn’s pinch-hit dinger, the Tigers have received darn near daily boosts from guys who were barely known to the nerdiest of baseball nerds before their recent triumphs.

June 18 – Galarraga, who is well-deserving of a spot on the American League All Star team (a scrub on an All Star team – get out), threw six innings rendering zero earned runs, and K’ing five. While it may be somewhat apparent after 12 starts, this kid knows how to get Major League hitters out.

June 20 – Despite the team losing to the San Diego Fathers, Bonine matched HOFer Greg Maddux pitch for pitch before giving way to the big names in the bullpen. Bonine went seven strong and his only two mistakes resulted in solo homeruns. You can’t ask for more than that from a minor league journeyman making his second big league start.

June 21 – Two lesser-known bats came off the bench with big pinch-hits to key the victory. Marcus “The Babe” Thames hit a two-run job while Jeff Larish added an RBI single.

June 25 – Clete “don’t call me Cletus” Thomas was responsible for two of the Tigers three RBIs on the game, including taking a game-ending walk that forced in the winning run. Thomas has arguably been the second most important reserve for the Tigers during the first half. Don’t look now, but the Todd Helton pupil has a .400 on-base percentage through 30 games.

June 27 – Eddie freakin Bonine was back at it, lulling a normally good hitting Colorado Rockies team to sleep over eight innings. He scattered five hits and gave up one earned run. Who would have thought that his numbers through three Big League starts would match his first three at AAA Toledo this season? I wouldn’t have and neither would you.

June 28 – Scrub Rayburn proved his worth again, this time coming off the bench to replace an injured Magglio Ordonez. Raburn stepped to the plate with the bases juiced and lined a BP fastball into the left field seats. I just happened to be at this game. I called the salami and I lost a bet because of it, but hey, it ended up being a crucial hit in a 7-6 win.

June 29 – I would like to unofficially dub June 29, 2008 Dane Sardinha Day in Detroit. With the Tigers trailing 3-2 in the fourth inning of Sunday’s contest, Sardinha stepped to the plate with one out and runners on the corners. What’d he do? He grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3. But, two innings later, he stepped to the plate in the same situation and hammered his first Major League hit for a triple to the gap in left-center, driving in the tying and winning runs. This guy won’t be considered to replace Pudge next year, nor should he be; but he proved his worth on Sunday.

Short story long, the Tigers have had contributions from a lot of guys in their recent resurgence, many of who were unknowns before the season started.

Contrary to what Chili, T-Boz and the late Left Eye Lopez said, I would take these scrubs and I’d take them any day of the week.