The diagnosis is in: Miguel Cabrera has a grade 3 calf strain, and is expected to miss 6 weeks. The good news is that Cabrera has no achilles damage and won’t require surgery; the bad newses are most of the summer without Cabrera and no real Plan B to replace him.

The Tigers have called up Jefry Marte from Toledo, who is at .271 for the season, with 13 homers and 55 RBI, and has had a hot June (.317). He has played 10 games at first over the span of his minor league career. For today, the Tigers are going with Alex Avila at first. Brad Ausmus said that playing Victor Martinez at first is “not an option.”

The Cabrera injury was the beginning of what was a very strange baseball game. He probably actually injured it on a strange play where he tried to go from 1st to 3rd on a goundout, and was tagged out on a hard and slightly awkward slide. But the Blue Jays put on a clown show (including errors on back-to-back plays by former Tiger Carrera), and it looked like a blowout win. All the excitement in the game came from the mound, with Anibal Sanchez cruising into the 8th with a no-hitter. At 110 pitches Anibal was probably just out of gas, but Ausmus tried to let him finish the inning, and the Blue Jays pounced. By the time the inning was over, the game had turned into a nail-biter.

If the Tigers had come out on the wrong end of last night’s game, that and the Cabrera injury could have been too big of a blow to rebound from. As it is, the team will have to show some character and come together to fill in for the big man. Miguel has had some mini-slumps over the season, and when he does the team has tended to not do well. Let’s see what they can come up with without him in the lineup at all.

Today’s Who’s On First? Lineup:

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
3. Victor Martinez, DH
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Alex Avila, 1B
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Josh Wilson, SS
9. Anthony Gose, CF

“And now batting fifth, 1st baseman Alex Avila!” [Crowd roars]. I had figured we’d see Romine at first, but Avila makes sense also: he had played first in Spring Training in case Cabrera wasn’t going to be ready to start the season. (But batting 5th?). To me the curious move is resting Iglesias. A win today, on Cabrera’s first day on the DL, would make a statement. I say rest Iglesias tomorrow. Unfortunately, Brad isn’t taking my calls at the moment.

The Tigers will be wearing special 4th of July uniforms; the game post picture is from a JD Martinez tweet.  Happy Independence Day everyone!

Well, us fans aren’t the only ones who feel like something has to be done with this team. The front office started off by shaking up the bullpen. It couldn’t hurt, right? The Tigers brought up converted starters John Ferrell from Toledo and Drew VerHagen from AA Erie, and gave the boot to Joba Chamberlain and Tom Gorzellany (which leaves Hardy as the only lefty in the bullpen). I’ll miss Joba–I’ve been missing him all season, he just never really came back after falling apart in the postseason last year.

Brad did a little shake of his own, his with the lineup. Kinsler will be leading off, and Cespedes will be taking over the 2nd spot. Gose was certainly not cutting it as a leadoff hitter, but why not move the very consistent Iglesias into the 2nd spot? Or the hot JD Martinez in the 4th spot?

Even Miguel Cabrera has seemed to be a problem lately. The air has seemingly gone out of him like he’s a football in New England. I checked the team hitting numbers over the last 7 days, and there he is a mere 8th on the team with a .200 avg. and .600 OPS, and he’s made some uncharacteristic and costly blunders in the field.

Topping the list by the way is young James McCann (.500, 1.500), who is back on the bench now that Alex Avila is back (Bryan Holaday back to Toledo).  And the bottom of the list? With a cringe-worthy .056 BA and .111 OPS I present to you your new #2 hitter, Yoenis Cespedes.

Tonight’s All Shook Up Lineup:

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. JD Martinez, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Anthony Gose, CF
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

This team seems so uninspired. We may be beating a dead horse, but how long can this go on?

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

BTW – I have a friend who works for the Indians. I texted him last night after the 2nd out of the 9th to say “looks like you’ll be busy tonight.” Next pitch was a line drive single to right.

TIGERS (career numbers off Liriano)

1. Rajai Davis, CF (7-for-23, 3 doubles, HR, walk, 4 K’s)
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (3-for-20, 2 doubles, HR, 4 walks, 4 K’s)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (9-for-35, 3 doubles, 2 HR, 8 walks, 8 K’s)
4. Victor Martinez, DH (13-for-28, 6 doubles, HR, 4 walks, 6 K’s)
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (1-for-12, 2 K’s)
6. J.D. Martinez, RF (2-for-5, HR, walk, 3 K’s)
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B (2-for-5, K)
8. Bryan Holaday, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS (1-for-1, walk)

Last night’s loss is on the O, not the pen, or even Gorzelanny. Alex Wilson was at 50+ pitches and Gorzelanny was the last guy in the pen. Ausmus didn’t have any other options. A hit with a RISP would have been nice. 3-15 usually isn’t going to get the job done; unless of course you are Pittsburgh and get a W hitting 2-16 w RISP. Baseball is a funny game.

TIGERS (career numbers off A.J. Burnett)

1. Rajai Davis, CF (6-for-13, 2 doubles, triple)
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (5-for-29, HR, walk, 7 K’s)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (6-for-28, 2 doubles, HR, walk, 4 K’s)
4. Victor Martinez, DH (8-for-29, 2 doubles, 2 HR, 7 walks, 4 K’s)
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (1-for-3, double, K)
6. J.D. Martinez, RF (1-for-13, 3 K’s)
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B (1-for-3, K)
8. James McCann, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS (1-for-2, walk)