Justin.

As in Justin case you missed it, Verlander threw his second career no hitter yesterday, and was one excruciating 12-pitch-AB-walk away from a perfect game.

Ian Casselberry has a look at the Pitch F/X of the walk, in which it appears that it was indeed a ball. MLB.com has a video of all 27 outs.

And Justin time, since the Tigers looked like they had lost any momentum they had from the 3 consecutive wins against the Yankees.

The tough-act-to-follow starter for today is Brad “Brutus” Penny, who flirted with a no-hitter himself recently.  And to make things a bit tougher, Bautista returns to the lineup for Toronto.

Toronto sends out lefty Jo-Jo Reyes, which means Alex Avila will get a much-needed rest, and The Ghost will patrol right-field.  Reyes had a good 1-run 6 inning outing against the Rays last time out, but his spot in the rotation has been considered shaky.  Also:  his name is Jo-Jo.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Victor Martinez

Martinez straps on the catcher’s gear for the first time since coming back from the DL.  Here’s hoping his groin withstands the crouching–we need a healthy V-Mart in the lineup.

Today’s Wave-To-Mom Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Scott Sizemore 2B
3. Magglio Ordonez DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez C
6. Johnny Peralta SS
7. Ryan Raburn LF
8. Casper Wells RF
9. Brandon Inge 3B

There wasn’t a single thing that I liked about yesterday’s loss to the Blue Jays.

Least not the single thing where the Blue Jays hit single after single after single after single.

Today Justin Verlander will take the mound with a “single THIS” demeanor.  Which former Tiger great Jack Morris suggests may be a bit overdone–Morris says that Verlander could 1, 2, or 3-hit teams all of the time if he were less intent on the strikeout.

Oh, and it’s May!  Justin Verlander, career in March/April:  9-14, 4.75.  Career in May: 18-8, 2.80.

Morris will be opposed by Ricky Romero, whose start was pushed back because of a mild oblique strain.  I’m guessing he will have a short pitch-count leash.  Do you get my point, you first-pitch swingers? Word is there will be no Bautista again, but that he will be back by the end of the series.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Daniel Schlereth

Apparently Schlereth, who was born in Anchorage, likes to call himself The Alaskan Assassin.  His mission today, if called on, is to shut down the Toronto Singlers; if not called on, to trademark his nickname before a certain Presidential candidate steals it.

Today’s Kentucky Derby Day lineup, presented by manager Holy Bull, who says “I think we have the horses to win today”:

• Post 1: Skip Away CF
• Post 2: More Than Ready 2B
• Post 3: Medaglio d’Oro RF
• Post 4: Go For Gin 1B
• Post 5: Indian Charlie DH
• Post 6: Stage Door Johnny SS
• Post 7: Lost In the Fog LF
• Post 8: Afleet Alex C
• Post 9: Whirlaway 3B

After a quick and satisfying 4-game home stand vs the Yankees, the Tigers hit the road for a costly 4-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Not that I’m predicting it will go badly, it’s just that players’ taxes are pro-rated depending on venue of performance, so they have to pay the higher Canadian taxes for playing in Toronto.

One presumes they left the bus home.  At any rate, sadly, the Tigers may have dibs on the team plane again soon.

The Blue Jays are also known as the Toronto Jose Bautistas.  Bautista not only leads the AL in OPS, he leads the league in each category:  BA (.357) OBP (.530) and SLG (.762).   And to make matters worse, the opponent he did best against in 2010:  Detroit.

Fortunately, the Tigers don’t have to face him today (neck spasms), and he is day-to-day for the rest of the series.  Time to capitalize on our good fortune.

The Tigers send Phil Coke to the mound, who has so far mixed flashes of brilliance with problems finding the strike zone.  The Jays counter with Jesse Litsch, whose numbers this season are about the same as Coke’s.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Brandon Inge

Jim Leyland has proclaimed–and this time I paraphrase–that Inge is “due,”  adding that we have to understand that Inge is a “Spurt guy.”

Today’s Overtaxed Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Scott Sizemore 2B
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Maggio Ordonez RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B

I blame the bus.

The Tigers took the unusual step of going to Cleveland by bus instead of plane, and look what happened: a three-game sweep at the hands of the Indians.  So, yes, I’m throwing the bus under the bus.

Unfortunately, they will be taking the same bus back to Detroit to face the Yankees.  Or will they?  Does the bus drop them off and then wait 3 days, or does a different bus take them back?  Or might they go by bus, and return by plane? Details on this are frustratingly scarce.

Brandon Inge did not mention how the team got back to Detroit, but he did call a team meeting, which he referred to as a unifying meeting, and added “we are going to be a winning team.”

At any rate, the Yankees have been hot, winning 4 of their last 5, and the hottest of the hot has been none other than our old friend Curtis Granderson, who hit his 8th HR of the season yesterday.  Granderson credits his hitting coach, Kevin Long, with helping him refine his swing.

An intriguing match-up to watch will be Granderson vs Justin Verlander, who opens the series for Detroit.  They have faced each other once before, and Granderson has a HR in 4 ABs to show for it.  And that was with his old swing.

The Yankees send out a reanimated Bartolo Colon, taking the rotation spot of Phil Hughes, whose arm apparently died.  Colon did not pitch in 2010, added another 30 pounds or so to his already portly frame, and was signed by the Yankees in the spring.  Now what kind of message does that send to the youngsters out there?

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Austin Jackson

Austin’s mission is to find a way to sneak in a bit of time with that Kevin Long guy.

Today’s Magglio’s-back lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ramon Santiago 2B
3. Magglio Ordonez DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Brennan Boesch RF
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B

April clowns bring May frowns, as the old saying goes.

So what are the Tigers to do about their woeful offense?  Jim Leyland says that they have to concentrate better with 2 strikes.  Lynn Henning suggests they should offer some of their good pitching prospects to the Mets and replace Inge with David Wright.  Sure, Inge isn’t hitting, but he’s the number 9 hitter.  That tends to happen.  But when your number 3 hitter is hitting .159 with 1 RBI, now THAT’s a problem.  When your DH can’t get a ball out of the infield, that’s a problem.  He is the designated hitter.  He is designated to, you know, HIT.  This might not be as obvious as it seems, since the Tigers haven’t had a strong DH since Leyland has been managing the team.  He tends to use the DH spot as a place for semi-rest for the weary, instead of a place for a fearsome bat.

And as far as the concentrating with 2 strikes things goes, here are Ordonez’ ABs yesterday

• first pitch, ground out to 3rd
• first pitch, ground out to SS (runner left on 1st)
• first pitch, popup to 2nd (runner left on 2nd)
• 2-1 count, ground out to 2nd
• K, 3 pitches
• first pitch, ground out to 2nd (runner left on 1st)

The 3rd AB was particularly annoying.  Austin Jackson had a good AB and worked a walk after a 1-2 count (good concentration!), and Leyland had Rhymes bunt him to 2nd.  Really?  You really just wasted an out to move him to 2nd with Ordonez coming up?  Of course Ordonez grounded out, and Cabrera was intentionally walked.

For whatever reason, Ordonez is just not capable right now; it’s 2008 Gary Sheffield all over again.  He at least needs some time off.  I know Leyland is a players’ manager, and I know that this often pays off, but this can’t continue forever.  It’s not fair to Magglio. Magglio is still a fan favorite, but eventually he will be greeted with boos when he steps up to the plate, and he deserves better than that.

This afternoon, Phil Coke (1-4) takes on the undefeated Justin Masterson (5-0) as the Tigers try to avoid the back-to-back sweep.  And it looks like Maggs has the day off.  Finally.

Player of the Pre-Game:  Al Alburquerque

Yes, I know he will have the day off.  But lost in the loss yesterday was a completely dominating 3 innings by Captain Querque.  He threw strike after strike and slider after slider, and the Indians were helpless.  Not only did he strike out 6 of 9 batters (the last Tiger reliever to do that was Willie Hernandez), but the other 3 batters couldn’t get the ball out of the infield.  Good stuff.

Today’s sweep-stopping lineup:

1. Rhymes 2B
2. Santiago SS
3. Kelly RF
4. Cabrera 1B
5. Boesch DH
6. Raburn LF
7. Avila C
8. Inge 3B
9. Jackson CF

A walk-off.  Followed by a skate-off.  Harrumph.

At least it was a walk-off and not a WALK-off:  when the count went to 3 balls with the bases loaded you could almost see it coming.  In fact I even had renamed Joaquin Benoit in my head (Walk-in Benoit).  So, at least that was averted.  The bad news is that we are now on a 4-game losing streak.  I blame myself:  I didn’t have my customary Player of the Pre-Game.  Won’t happen again.

Another day, another chance to get back to that winning thing.  Justin couldn’t do it, Bad Brad couldn’t do it.  Max had winning by the tail, but it apparently injured itself doing the 7th-inning stretch and danced off to a Carlos Santana tune.  Today it is up to Rick Porcello to get the Tigers back on track.  Porcello was brilliant in his last outing against Seattle, and has always done well in his career vs Cleveland (4-0, .228), so hopefully the evening will be filled with the sound of groundballs.

Porcello will need to be good, since he is being opposed by Major-League-Debut-Guy, who consistently stymies Detroit’s offense.  Today’s MLDG is 22 year old righty Alex White, who was a freshman at North Carolina when they were recruiting Porcello (to put Porcello’s age in perspective). It will be up to the lineup to try to capitalize on their opportunities today.  The same lineup that had no trouble getting on base yesterday, but tended to get left there (10 LOBs)

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Alex Avila

Alex got his 18th RBI yesterday. We now have 19 RBI from the catcher position.  Last year we only had 55 for the entire season.  Avila’s .319 BA leads all AL catchers.  And he has been up 9 times with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out, and has a walk, a single, a double, a triple, 2 sac flies, and 9 RBI to show for it.  So if we get that guy to 3rd today, Alex will get the run home.

Today’s same-as-yesterday lineup:

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

Tonight the Tigers try to stop their longest losing streak of the season at 3 when they take on the surprising Cleveland Indians.  The Tigers send Max Scherzer to the mound, which seems like a good plan to stop the losing, since Max so far this season has known only winning (4-0).  The key to Scherzer’s success has been that he has been able to locate his pitches well and not get behind in the count.  That may be a more difficult task against the Indians than it was against the free-swinging White Sox.

Jeanmar Gomez takes the mound for Cleveland for only his 2nd start of the season.  The first he only lasted 4 1/3 innings vs KC and gave up 9 hits.  More of that would be nice.

Of note is the fact that the Tigers went to Cleveland by bus–the Red Wings got dibs on the team plane.  Maybe this will allow each player to get in touch with his inner minor leaguer.

Ol’ Smokey managed the bus trip without throwing anybody under.  So the lineup will be what we’re used to.

It’s hard to get used to though:  we have a leadoff hitter who can’t get on base, a 3 hitter with 1 RBI, and the weakest top third of the lineup in the league, maybe in all of baseball.

Just a quick look at DET vs CLE top of the lineup OBP/OPS fills one with envy:

1 DET .223 .456   2 DET .300 .596   3 DET .312 .672

1 CLE .393 .971   2 CLE .318 .758    3 CLE .317 .747

Today’s nobody-under-the-bus lineup:

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

Winning! The Tigers are now a winning baseball team.

Thanks to an outstanding effort by Bad Brad Penny (to be distinguished from Brad “Bad” Penny), some timely hitting by about everyone, and a hint of clown show by the White Sox, this afternoon is now the closet game of the 3-game series.

The Tigers send Max Scherzer out to grab the broom.  The Sox will try to keep the closet locked by means of John Danks, the backwards lefty.  Backwards because:

• career RHB BA vs Danks:  .248
• career LHB BA vs Danks:  .260

Consequently, Leyland has loaded the lineup with RHB, because Danks is a LHP (not to worry; it will somehow turn out geniusy).

Danks has a good mid-90ish fastball, a cutter,  a sharp slider, and a good changeup. He also has a big slow curve which he sometimes throws, often on the first pitch.  I’m not sure if any of this really explains his backwardness.  Perhaps it’s just part of an inherent dankness.

But Mad Max is armed with broom, and poised to become the 4th AL pitcher with 4 wins, joining Jared Weaver (5), Dan Haren (4), and Justin Masterson (4).

While Max is 3-0, 4.30, Danks is 0-2 3.00, which gives you some idea how much fun it is being a White Sox pitcher at the moment.

If Max is going to get run support today, where will it come from?  Not likely Inge or Raburn (combined .215 and 13K in 42 AB) or, sadly, Cabrera (.211, 4-19, all singles).  Which leads us to:

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Magglio Ordonez

• Magglio career vs Danks:  .609 (14 – 23), 2 HR, 7 RBI
• He is also playing his former team
• He also needs 1 more double to become the first player to hit 100 at Comerica
• There you go Maggs, you couldn’t ask for a better set up
• You’ll notice this sounds familiar.  You have a 2nd chance.  Do you hear me Maggs?

Today’s Lucky Nickname lineup:

1. Tex Jackson CF
2. Ryan “Three True Outcomes” Raburn 2B
3. Magglio “Enemy of Dankness” Ordonez DH
4. Cabby Cat 1B
5. H-Factor Peralta SS
6. Bashin’ Brennan Boesch LF
7. The Ghost RF
8. Strokin’ Alex Avila C
9. Walkoff Inge 3B

OK, let’s try this again.  This afternoon the Tigers have a second chance at attaining that elusive first winning record.  They will be working against an old friend, Edwin Jackson.  The Tigers counter with the to-this-point underwhelming Brad “Bad” Penny.

I seem to remember Mr. Jackson had quite a proclivity for the high pitch count; perhaps his teammates remember also and we can get to the Chicago bullpen early today.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Brennan Boesch

Boesch continues to bash; sandwiched between the always dangerous Cabrera and the suddenly hot Raburn, the Boesch Bash will be the key to putting runs on the board.

Today’s Raburn-homers-then-dropped-in-the-order lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Will Rhymes 2B
3. Magglio Ordonez DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Brennan Boesch RF
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B

Detroit returns to Comerica for some home cooking with a 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox.  They likely will be fed a diet of cutters and changeups by Mark Buehrle, who faces Justin “Hop-Throw” Verlander.  Verlander was 2-0 vs the White Sox in 2010; Buehrle was also 2-0 vs Detroit in 2010.  May the best man win (and the best man’s initials are JV).

The Tigers catch the White Sox at a good time:  they have only won 2 of their last 10, and like the Tigers, have had all sorts of trouble generating offense, batting only .202 in that 10-game span.  And like Detroit, most of their offense has come from one player, Paul Konerko, who is hitting .320 with 4 HR and 15 RBI.

You might want to take the “under” on this one.

One big difference is that the White Sox don’t strike out as much as the Tigers:  111 to 133.  And it isn’t because they are more patient at the plate:  they only have 53 BB compared to Detroit’s 72, and have the lowest Pitch-Per-Plate-Appearance in the AL at 3.66 (Detroit is 2nd to Boston at 4.00). So the Sox will be up there taking their hacks.

Against Buehrle today discipline at the plate will be necessary.  Buehrle features an inside cutter and an outside changeup.  Apparently, the key to beating Buehrle is to lay off of the changeup, which lately he has had trouble getting in the strike zone, and then to look for the cutter.  There appears to be a direct correlation between the effectiveness of his cutter and the location of his changeup.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Magglio Ordonez

• Magglio career vs Buehrle:  .469 (15 – 32), 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI
• He is also playing his former team
• He also needs 1 more double to become the first player to hit 100 at Comerica
• There you go Maggs, you couldn’t ask for a better set up

Today’s Jhonny-Phrotecting-Cabrera? lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ryan Raburn 2B
3. Magglio Ordonez DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta SS
6. Brennan Boesch LF
7. Brandon Inge 3B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Casper Wells RF

This afternoon is the asphalt game of the 4-game series as Brad “Bad” Penny takes on Trevor Cahill.  Then the Tigers skedaddle to Seattle.

Penny has a slight edge in the matchup, because Trevor Cahill is just not a very good baseball name.  More golf, really.  Watch for wild pitches; he has already had 3 this season, and at the Coliseum wild pitches have a lot of territory to roam.

Last night winning proved elusive (so no Charlie Sheen picture), and now we’re back to pursuing neither / nor.  Also, for once, my predictions fell flat, spectacularly. Although whether or not this is actually indicative of anything remains to be seen (see my publication:  “Incorrect predictions:  variance, or flat-out wrongness?”).

While we contemplate that question, let me say a word about the famous situation where you have the baserunning man on 3rd base and the number of outs is not 2, no, not at all.  The thing to do here is to hit the ball, somewhere, anywhere.  Because the aforementioned baserunning man will possibly score,  thus procuring your team a run.  By no means should you engage in swinging and whiffing–this is highly discouraged.

Last night Jhonny Peralta struck out in this very scenario, which was so rare and shocking that he could not resist doing the very same thing the next time he was at the plate.  Justin Verlander was so disturbed by this performance that he aimed a pickoff throw at the batter’s shoe (a normal baseball shoe;  the A’s left their clown shoes in the locker room last night).

This afternoon, Jim Leyland, known as the consummate player’s manager, will expertly avoid such embarrassment by devising a lineup which is extremely unlikely to produce a runner at 3rd with less than 2 out.

Player of the Pre-game: Austin Jackson

Brad Penny pitched well in his last start, but that was at 51 degrees.  With the warm afternoon Oakland weather, expect less break on the breaking balls, and a lot of long fly balls.  Whether AJax hauls them down or not will make the difference in the game. And let’s see how he responds to not being the leadoff batter.

Today’s xR3L2O lineup:

1. Will Rhymes 2B
2. Austin Jackson CF
3. Brennan Boesch DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Ryan Raburn LF
6. Don Kelly 3B
7. Johnny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Casper Wells RF

Jim Leyland has his 1,500th victory along with a bunch of cigars and some champagne (somehow the idea of Ol’ Smokey sipping from a flute of Dom just doesn’t resonate with me), and the Tigers have now climbed back up to the nor-winning-nor-losing mark (7- 7).  Next step: winning! (insert Charlie Sheen picture).

This is the plasticine game of the series, the Tigers having taken the first 2.  It is also the first game of the series which has the Tigers as the favorites, mostly because of the ace-ly presence of Justin Verlander on the mound.  Today also features an odd 6:00 pm PST start time, warm temperatures, and a stiff wind, so some non-Miggy balls may actually have a chance of clearing the park.  Not to fear though, since the warmer weather favors the pitcher with a fastball, and Justin sure has one (yes, I’m going to keep riding the weather horse until it bucks me).

One of the advantages of watching the Tigers in an opponent’s park (besides the fact that visitor-side tickets are easier to get) is the perspective you get from talking with / listening to the opposing team’s fans.  A’s fans were blasting Bob Geren last night:  the team is undisciplined, awful fundamentals (OK, is that really his fault?), bad bullpen management (they may have something there).

And the fans next to me all agreed:  the A’s could really go somewhere if only they had a manager like Jim Leyland. We were sitting in front of the bullpen, and they were all commenting on the difference between the A’s bullpen and the Tigers’–not the pitchers, but how it was managed.  “You guys are flat out professional” one commented.  “It’s all planned out.”

Player of the Pre-game:  Jim Leyland

OK, he isn’t actually a player.  But let’s celebrate his 1,500th, and be thankful he is not…Bob Geren.  Leyland’s lineup was heartily criticized on this very blog.  And yet almost all of his substitutions contributed to the victory:  even Donkey Don Kelly doubled.  And his pitching moves were right on.  So following that Smokey momentum, I will predict that Jackson and Ordonez spark the lineup tonight, with a timely contribution from Santiago.

Today’s Return-of-Magglio lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ryan Raburn LF
3. Maggio Ordonez DH
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez C
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Brennan Boesch RF
8. Brandon Inge 3B
9. Ramon Santiago 2B