Well, last night was a hide tanning. To be honest, 10 runs isn’t much considering over 1 out of every 2 Rangers batters reached based. The Rangers were 5-18 with RISP and had only 4 XBH. 4 out of 19. That’s incredible.

Despite all of that, what was most frustrating to me was that the Tigers let Yu Darvish out of the game with only 1 ER, despite 5 walks, 1 WP and 121 pitches in 6 1/3.

But it’s a long season and there are going to be a few more 10-3 losses in the coming months. So on to tonight’s match-up. A win tonight and all will be good in the D.

Last time Porcello and Harrison matched-up they both pitched well in a rainy ALCS game 4 until they were pulled late in the game. I don’t remember what happened after that. Harrison has historically struggled with the Tigers, to the tune of 1-4 with a 6.89 ERA.

Porcello has been dynamite both times out this year. He’s reached the 7th in both games and has only walked 1 batter thus far.

Tigers look to keep the Raburn/Inge winning streak alive…

1. Jackson, CF
2. Boesch, DH
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Raburn, RF
7. Peralta, SS
8. Avila, C
9. Inge, 2B

9-3, 1st place, 2.5 games up on CWS

Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.

The first highly anticipated rematch of the 2011 ALCS begins today and continues through Sunday for a four game set. Sunday’s game will be the national game on TBS. (Tigers will also be featured next Sunday in NY.)

The Rangers, have been an unstoppable force so far, pummeling their opponents by averaging 5.75 runs per game while only allowing 2.5 per game. The Rangers lead the AL in every major offensive category, blasting 22 home runs during their torrid start. As if their modern day murderer’s row isn’t enough (Mike Napoli bats 7th most days), their pitching staff sports a 2.33 team ERA to go along with their 10-2 record.

The world’s only 6-5 Japanese/Iranian pitcher, Yu Darvish gets his 3rd start of the season tonight. It will be a while before anyone can reconcile his $100M price tag, but the early returns look good. He got shelled in his first inning of the season, but has only given up 2 runs in 10 innings since then. That said, he’s giving up a lot of hits and walking a lot, so the Tigers should have opportunities to score, and to hit into DPs.

The immovable force is our own Detroit Tigers, whom will not budge no matter how many quality starts from left handed pitchers the opposing teams throw at them.  The Tigers won the last two in Kansas City despite being tied or behind in the 7th in both games and scoring only 10 runs in the series. The Tigers may not be putting up the numbers that the Rangers are, but they’re not winning by good fortune. The Tigers offense ranks in the middle of the AL and their pitching staff is posting a fantastic 3.08 ERA and 1.18 WHIP.

Looks like Fister may need more time, so perhaps that will help to relax Wilk tonight. Taking this series would really make a statement to the rest of the AL.

I gotta admin, I’m still a little frightened of Nelson Cruz.

***************

Tomorrow is the 100th birthday of Tiger Stadium (woulda been). The Freep is asking for memories from readers to publish tomorrow. When I was a kid I loved being able to sit behind home plate, shouting, and hearing myself in the radio broadcast. I think the proximity to the field brought a special tint to Harwell’s broadcasts.

Pudge Rodriguez is hanging them up and will retire as a Ranger.

Jim Price is back tonight. Petry was good, Price is better. Glad you’re back Jim.

***************

Pre-Game player of the game is Cabrera. He’s due.

Delmon Young DHs, Don Kelly gets the nod in left in tonights Inge/Rayburn less lineup. If the playoffs started tomorrow this is what I would expect the lineup to look like.

1. Jackson, CF
2. Boesch, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Avila, C
7. Kelly, LF
8. Peralta, SS
9. Santiago, 2B

The Tigers are now 8-3, 2 games up on Cleveland (Cleveland?) in the AL Central.  The Tigers are also still undefeated in night games, and Ryan Raburn and Miguel Cabrera both have 1-game hitting streaks.

Drew Smyly was again effective, and it was needed–Royals starter Bruce Chen once again shut down the Tiger hitters. The only run Smyly gave up was in the 3rd, when he joined Adam Wilk as victim of the Tiger rookie pitcher curse, and took a line drive by Escobar right between the shoulder-blades and then bounced the ball by first base. Smyly was fine, but said his back was tightening up after the game.

Tonight is Max Scherzer’s private rubber game:  he has had one start as Bad Max, and one as Mad Max.  The Royals will send out ex-Giant Jonathan Sanchez, who is known for being effectively wild, which should be a good test of patience for Detroit hitters. The only Tiger Sanchez has a real history with is Prince Fielder, and the results are encouraging: 5-14 with 4 BB, for a .550 OBP.

Tonight marks the return of the Bottom Of the Order Bombers lineup, with Inge/Laird batting 8-9.  The Tigers are undefeated (2-0) when Inge starts, and undefeated (2-0) when Laird starts.

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Andy Dirk

Dirks will be a fascinating study as he sits in the dugout watching Ryan Raburn take over for Delmon Young in LF, wondering what he has to do before he gets to wear a glove.

Today’s Undefeated-at-Night Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Brandon Inge 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Tigers are now 7-3, and have increased their Central lead to 1 1/2 games, thanks to a dramatic 9th inning performance by Justin Verlander.  (link via stephen).

Verlander looked headed for an oh-no-not-again outing, with 8 great innings and a shaky 9th, until he put away Alex Gordon in dramatic fashion.  In fact, after Leyland visited the mound and left JV in, he told the ace “you’re going to get me fired.”  

Meanwhile, the offense still struggles, and had to rely once again on unlikely heros. The best hitter in the league is in his worst slump since his rookie season: Cabrera is now 0-for-his-last-21, and has not looked good doing it.

The team is struggling in clutch situations.  They have failed in half of their attempts with a runner at 3rd and less than 2 out, and have trouble advancing runners (they have grounded into 11 DP, and have yet to successfully bunt).

Ryan Raburn is, literally, the worst hitter in the league right now, with a .065 BA (lowest) and a .212 OPS (not even close: next worse is Miguel Olivo at .274). He has the further distinction of being the only American League starter who has yet to record his first RBI.  And as early as it is, there is not a lot of reason to trust that it will improve dramatically any time soon–Raburn’s CAREER BA for the month of May is .169.  Then there is his fielding…Raburn’s career UZR at 2B is negative 14.0, which is a fancy way of saying he is the worst 2B in the league.  So Ryan Raburn may have the current distinction of being the worst hitter AND worst fielder in the league simultaneously. That is not easy to do.

Nonetheless, Jim Leyland has opted to give Babe Inge a much-needed day off against lefty Bruce Chen (but see below!), pointing out that while Raburn is only batting .065 overall, he hits lefties much better, posting an .083 so far for the season.

Yet the Tigers are 7-3.  So how are they winning? Starting pitching, and Austin Jackson.  The Tiger starters have only allowed an average of 3.60 runs per game, 2nd best after Texas (2.40).  And as far as leadoff hitters go, the Tigers have spent several seasons at the bottom of the league, including last year with Austin Jackson.  So far this year though, Jackson has gotten on base at an incredible league-leading rate of .511 (.600 leading off the game), and consequently leads the league in runs scored (11).

Today Drew Smyly , a fan following, and a and a well-rested bullpen will take on the dreaded Bruce Chen, who always seems to give the Tigers problems.  Well, not seems, he does:  especially Inge (.043), Peralta (.111), and Jackson (.133).  Tonight would be as good a time as any for Cabrera to get back on track–against Chen he is 9-18 with 3 HR.

***

MLB has reviewed Delmon Young’s Bigtop Twirl in LF against the White Sox, and decided it was an error after all.  In protest, Ol’ Smokey has pencilled Delmon Young in at LF tonight, leaving the less peripatetically inclined Andy Dirks to watch the upside of every inning from the DH seat. (Young, by the way, has crushed Bruce Chen, 6-11 lifetime).

***

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Don Kelly

The versatile Kelly will be entrusted with protecting Drew Smyly from shoulder-seeking dugout missiles off the bat of Prince Fielder.

Today’s Smokey-Going-All-Out-on-Matchups Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Alex Avila C
7. Ryan Raburn 2B
8. Ramon Santiago SS
9. Andy Dirks DH

Some thunder from the bat of Air Laird, some cleverly induced wild pitches, and the 6-3 Tigers head to Kansas City to once again defend their perch atop the AL Central, in their 2012 night game debut.

Without the big bat of Laird in tonight’s lineup, the Tigers will have to depend on help from unlikely sources, perhaps even Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera is in the midst of an 0-18 slump, the longest since he went 0-23 as a wee tyke on the Marlins.

Justin Verlander will try for a third straight brilliant start, and hope this one ends better than the other two did. And if the Royals choke, he may even get the save. If anyone on the Royals is going to give him trouble, it is, unsurprisingly, the dreaded Bill Butler, who has hit Verlander at a career .359 pace.

2nd-year lefty Danny Duffy will take the mound for the Royals. Duffy was 0-2, 5.63 against Detroit last season, but is fresh off 6 shutout innings with 1 hit, 4 walks against Oakland.

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Delmon Young

Young’s bat started to heat up against the White Sox, and he should welcome the Kauffman stadium lights. Delmon is a career .304 hitter in night games, vs. .255 in day games. And as DH, he doesn’t have to dizzy himself in left.

Today’s Under-the-Lights Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 2B

5-3, 2nd place, .5 games behind CWS

Several things came to an end yesterday. The Tigers will not go wire to wire this year a la ’84 (though 35-5 still remains a possibility). The Tigers will not win every series this year. The Tigers will not go all season without back to back losses.

But we did see a strong performance from Adam Wilk before Fielder knocked him out of the game with a line drive to the shoulder (unintentionally, I think). Wilk will be a great spot starter and could get some innings if Smyly doesn’t pan out.

Rick Porcello climbs the hill today looking for his first W, and trying to notch the first W of the season for the starting pitching.

At DH, Brandon Inge, batting 8th. Inge, batting 8th. A lineup like this lineup against lefties could spell trouble this season.

1. Jackson, CF
2. Santiago, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Raburn, RF
7. Peralta, SS
8. Inge, DH
9. Laird, RF

2:10 PM ET Start

5-2, 1st place, .5 games up on CWS. Here’s a random Fox News article about how great the Tigers are.

Also – this just broke, Clete Thomas has been claimed by the Twinkies.

Adam Wilk makes his big league starting debut this afternoon a little ahead of schedule as he fills in for Doug Fister. Wilk was an 11th rounder (out of the 100 or so that make up the MLB draft, so that’s pretty good) in 2009, and has had an impressive minor league career to date, posting a 2.58 ERA in 60 career starts. He strikes out enough (almost 7 per nine), but he doesn’t walk many and has a career 1.02 minor league WHIP.

In case you missed the transaction line yesterday, Inge came up with Wilk, and Villareal and Worth were sent down. Wilk should be here through another start until Fister is back.

1. Jackson, CF
2. Boesch, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Avila, C
7. Peralta, SS
8. Dirks, DH
9. Raburn, 2B

Yup, Dirks at DH with the ballerina in left.

5-1, 1st place, 1.5 games up on CWS

The Tigers pull into the south side of Chicago with a sparkling 5-1 record and series victories against two clubs in the upper echelon of the American League. Many believe Tampa to be the best team in the AL, and the Tigers were one overthrown JV fastball from sweeping them.

Friday afternoon will be the home opener for the White Sox who looked good against a great Texas team in Arlington, and then took both games in a rain shortened series against the Indians earlier this week.

Though Ozzie Guillen is now managing the Marlins from a hotel bar in Little Havana, the White Sox remain largely unchanged from last year’s disappointing third place finish. It will be interesting to see the reception that Adam Dunn gets after what was likely the worst season contract wise in MLB history. Dunn is off to a slow start again this year with only 4 hits and 1 HR this season contributing to a .753 OPS. .753 isn’t terrible for the bigs (slightly below average), but it’s bad for the a 1B and pretty empty since his 4 walks are buoying that average. I wonder how much longer he’ll be the everyday first baseman. I can’t imagine that he gets more than a month.

In controversial Tiger player news, Brandon Inge hopped on a bus in Toledo last night and ended up in Detroit (or somewhere near Detroit). Inge’s short stint in Toledo was disappointing, at best, where he mustered 1 hit in 9 ABs against AAA pitching. Inge shrugged it off, citing that “the timing will come back” and that “drawing walks” is important (he drew 3). But it looks like his Babe Ruth reputation also made the trip to Toledo because Inge “really didn’t get many good pitches to hit. They weren’t throwing me much — which was kind of funny.” Funny indeed.

When asked about Inge’s performance, Phil Nevin responded in coach-speak with an eye on Gene Lamont’s job by failing to offer anything of interest: Toledo manager Phil Nevin gave this assessment of Inge to the Toledo Blade: “He was moving around well, and he’s a great athlete. He was tested on some diving plays, and he looks as if he’s ready to go.” Knowing JL, I expect Inge to be in the lineup on Sunday against Lefty Chris Sale.

Scherzer v. Peavy at 2:10pm eastern. Someone please post the lineups when avail.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but the perfect season is ruined. Now back to our regularly scheduled baseball season.

Not that there weren’t any positives to be found yesterday.  Justin Verlander pitched 8 innings of the best baseball seen in these parts for a while.  He also, and I quote Elias, was the 1st pitcher to do THIS in 23 years:

• -Enter the 9th inning with his team leading
• -Start and pitch at least 8 full innings
• -Allow 0 runs and either no hits or one hit through those 8 innings
• -Get the loss in the game.

So there’s that.

In retrospect, Verlander was done when he threw the wild pitch to Pena that let in the 1st TB run.  Radar gun says:  100.  Remember that Verlander? The one who tried to blast his way out of every tough spot? Leaving him in for the 9th was the no-brainer move, but he clearly lost his focus.

So we got that first loss out of the way.  And we also got the first “hey wait, Inge would have gotten to that one” out of the way.

Today it will be up to Drew Smyly to try to put the happy face back on Tiger Fan.  In his tune-up start in Toledo, Smyly couldn’t make it out of the 2nd inning, giving up 3 runs on 50 pitches in 1 2/3 innings.  Which means he could very well dominate Tampa today in his MLB debut, because that’s how baseball works.

Not that Drew Smyly is even his real name.  But Todd Andrew Smiley is hoping to join Charles Brandon Inge and Jose Miguel Cabrera, and not become a Michael Clete Thomas.

At any rate, expect him to be on a short leash in his MLB debut, so we are likely to see some Balester-Below action as well.

Jeff Niemann takes the mound for the Rays, and he has been a solid bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher for Tampa Bay, going 38-23 in his 4-year career.  And if nothing else, at 6-9, 285 he probably doesn’t have to worry about anyone charging the mound.

***

Brandon Inge will finish his rehab assignment on Thursday and will be back with the Tigers on Friday. Which means…? Well, it’s not Clete.  He has already got the DFA to make room for Smyly.  Clete has good speed, a good glove, a great arm, and is a lefty, so the odds of him getting claimed by another team are decent. If he is not, then he will be assigned to Toledo. Inge, meanwhile,  didn’t get a hit yesterday in Toledo, but did get hit by a pitch, and no doubt swung the bat well, so he seems game-ready.

***

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Ryan Raburn.

The Tigers are still undefeated when Raburn starts.

Today’s  Happy-faced Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Andy Dirks DH
9. Ryan Raburn 2B

The Tigers are still hot, even in the snow.

Porcello said cold weather be damned, and pitched a gem, marred only by 3rd inning control problems.  Austin Jackson continued to excel, provided power and patience, raising his SLG to 1.000 and his OBP to .650 in the process.

Non-obvious play of the game: with no outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, Jim Leyland replaces Delmon Young with pinch-runner Clete Thomas.  With an early jump, Thomas beat out a tailor made DP ball off the bat of Ryan Raburn, which meant that Peralta’s fly brought home a run and kept the inning alive for Gerald Laird, instead of ending the inning.  The two insurance runs made life easy for the bullpen. Gold star for Smokey.

The Tigers will load up with lefties to take on James Shields today, and vie with Kirk Gibson’s Diamondbacks to see who the last undefeated team standing will be.  Current Tigers actually have fared quite well against the Rays ace, compiling team numbers of .329/.366/.588/.954, with Jhonny Peralta leading the pack at 8-16 with 4 home runs.

Mr. CyVP himself takes the mound for Detroit, and looks to continue his early season dominance. He has done well historically against the Rays lineup (poor Ben Zobrist with a 2-23, and 7 Ks), with the exception of the Cat-Saver Matt Joyce.  Joyce is 6-11 against Verlander, with a 1.183 slugging percentage.

***

Can you imagine the Tigers this season with Victor Martinez in the lineup? You may not have to imagine: it is possible he could return in August.

***

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Austin Jackson.

Ajax continues to lead MLB with a .650 OBP.  On the other hand, he has yet to find first base in 4 career ABs against Shields. Which trend will continue today?

Today’s Debut of the Donkey lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta SS
6. Alex Avila C
7. Andy Dirks DH
8. Ramon Santiago 2B
9. Don Kelly LF

With the first round of MLB series in the books, the two hottest teams in baseball meet in Detroit for a 3-game series.  The Tigers swept their opening series with the Red Sox and the Rays swept the Yankees, only the 2nd time the Yankees and Red Sox were simultaneously swept in their opening series. This will be the first time an opening series Soxsweeper meets an opening series Yanksweeper.

This series will also feature a matchup of the early edition two hottest hitters in baseball. Sorry Miguel, but that would be Evan Longoria and Austin Jackson. Longoria merely bashed the Yankee pitching for a 1.792 OPS, reaching base at a ridiculous .692 clip.  Jackson was almost as good, with a .625 OBP and 1.482 OPS.

One of the stories of spring training was Austin Jackson’s new swing, which was designed to cut down on strikeouts, but didn’t seem to be having a great effect.  But that was spring training, which doesn’t always predict future performance (see Raburn, Ryan).  Was kidding a bit about leaving Cabrera out of the hottest hitters discussion, but if Jackson can improve his OBP significantly from last season (a thin .317), it may end up being the story of the year in Detroit.

Rick Porcello takes the mound today to take his shot at Best Pitcher on the Team Not Named Verlander.  I won’t trot out the stats about how Porcello has fared with different game time temperatures again, since it’s cold and windy in Detroit, and…well, the Tigers score a lot of runs anyway.  The Rays counter with Matt Moore, who is younger than Porcello, and has never faced Detroit–in fact he has had a 9-inning pro career so far.  Look for a some heat (97) and a good curve.

And if it comes down to it, look for old crooked-hat himself to come in to close out the game:  ex-Tiger Fernando Rodney has replaced ex-Tiger Kyle Farnsworth as the TB closer.

***

Meanwhile Adam Wilk gets the surprise nod to take Doug Fister’s spot in  Saturday’s game against the White Sox. (Well, technically, Scherzer is moving up from Saturday to Friday to take Fister’s spot). And let the Inge watch begin: Inge is starting a rehab assignment in Toledo today, in the lineup as a…DH).

***

Today’s Player of the Pregame:  Ryan Raburn

As DH, Raburn will be ineligible to be anyone’s defensive replacement.  Sunday Raburn played 2B like a DH, and LF like a DH. Today he gets to DH.

Today’s totally sick lineup (Santiago was scratched with bug, Leyland has it also):

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Ryan Raburn DH
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Danny Worth 2B

2-0, 1st place, 1 game up over Chi and KC

We’re only two games into the season, and the Tigers have already played what could be their most complete game of the season. After Doug Fister left with a strained left side (it’s is costochondral muscle if you must know) min the 4th, the bullpen came in and shut-out the Red Sox over 5 1/3, allowing only 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8. Only one runner advanced to 2nd during that stretch – Ryan Sweeney in the 7th via defensive indifference.

And then there were a few HRs. All told the offense had 12 hits, 6 of them for extra bases, and had runners on base in every inning except for the 2nd.

The Tigers go for the series sweep today behind Max Scherzer. Mad Max only faced the Red Sox once last year, and the result was his worst outing of the season when he allowed 7 ER in 2 IP. Buchholz looks to plug the dam for the Red Sox.

1:05 PM ET start.

Dirks in Left, Raburn at 2B

Jackson, CF
Boesch, RF
Cabrera, 3B
Fielder, 1B
Young, DH
Avila, C
Peralta, SS
Dirks, LF
Raburn , 2B