75-67, 2nd place, 1 game behind CWS.

Scherzer was spectacular again, and with his team leading 16th win, he’s got an outside shot at 20 wins this year.

“So that gets us to tonight. Regular season games don’t get any better. Division rival. Ace v. Young Phenom. Win and we’re tied for first. My plan is progressing as planned, and I fully expect JV to bring it tonight.”

If that looks familiar, it’s because it’s what I wrote 11 days ago. 11 days of downs and a few ups, and we’re right back to playing for first place. Let’s just hope that after a win tonight, we don’t have to go through another 11 days like we just did.

Verlander takes the ball tonight after failing to reach 100 pitches for the first time in 80 starts. He’s been drilled in 2 out of his last 3 starts, with an 8 inning, 1 ER, 11 K performance sandwiched in-between. A win tonight would be his first road win since July 15th. He’s also struggled in his career at Cellular field, posting a 5-6 record and 4.27 ERA. Not to pile on, but the Tigers are 7-9 in JV road games this year.

I think a JV loss would look worse on paper than it really is. 2 games back with 18 games to go isn’t a bad spot. Nevertheless, with his recent struggles, the emotional effect on JV and the team could be a big nail.

Even with a great performance by Verlander, beating the White Sox will be no small accomplishment as starter Chris Sale is 8-0 with a 1.20 ERA in his last 9 starts at Cellular Field. Boesch broke through last night with his first hit against Floyd, and he’s been rewarded with a start against the Lefty Sale. Sale has only given up 3 HRs against lefites all year, but 2 of those were to big BB.

A few notes:

– Raburn to the DL with a quadriceps strain.

– 20 of the Tigers final 23 games are against the Central, the Tigers are 9 games over in the division this year (1 game under against everyone else)

Tonight’s First Place Snatching Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Garcia, LF (first time in Left…)
8. Boesch, RF
9. Laird, C

74-67, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS.

Well, can one swing of the bat turn around a miserable two week stretch? It certainly felt like that in the 5th inning of last night’s game when AJax parked one 400 feet away in the left center field seats.  The Tigers won and remain a manageable distance behind the Sox. It’s manageable because with a win tonight, JV can bring home a 1st place tie tomorrow.

Tonight will be Gavin Floyd’s first game back from the DL. Floyd has been pretty average all year, posting a 1.43 WHIP and 4.55 ERA. He hasn’t made it into the 7th inning since July 7th, though he’s only allowed 2 ER against the Tigers in 13 innings covering 2 starts this year. Floyd is 7-2 with a 3.42 ERA against the Tigers in his career.

A Jax (.926 OPS in 19 ABs, hence the glory of a game post photo) and Peralta (.928 OPS with 2 HR in 35 ABs) have absolutely hammered Floyd in their career. Also note that Delmon has a .970 OPS at Cellular field in his career.

Despite the fact that he’s 0-17 off of Floyd lifetime, Brennan Boesch (.000 OPS) finds himself batting 6th tonight. Leyland relied on lefties’ successes against Floyd this year (.314 average and .936 OPS) and the hope that Boesch will run into a 3 run homer when he made tonight’s lineup. Quentin Berry remains a ghost on the bench.

Hopefully the Tigers won’t have to face a dreaded bases loaded situation, as they are the 2nd worst team in the Majors in bases jammed situations.

Dunn is still out, and Beckham sits tonight for the Sox.

Everyone is getting in on the lineup fun as Denny McClain thinks that swapping Fielder and Cabrera will ignite the whole offense.

Tonight’s Streaking Lineup:

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

73-67, 2nd place, 3 games behind CWS.

Baseball is a cruel game.

Omar Infante has played 335 innings for the Tigers, roughly 1/2 of how many he played for the Marlins. He has 6 errors so far with Detroit, compared to 8 with Miami, and a RF that has slipped almost a full point. Perhaps no error has been worse than last night’s. Infante’s error sparked a 4 run bottom of the 6th that put the Tigers in an insurmountable 3 run hole. And I don’t use that term lightly. In fact, the entire season looks to be insurmountable now. Drew Sharp may have said it best:

“When dissecting the cold corpse of a once promising season now almost certainly destined for disaster, the sixth inning at U.S. Cellular Field Monday will offer a fruitful diagnosis.”

Reciting the Tigers woes would be an extreme act of apathy, as you can find hundreds of words on the subject on any website that has “Detroit” in the URL. Some of the numbers are fascinating. In fact, the hitting incompetency has become so apparent that even Jim Leyland has caught on: “We’re not scoring very much, obviously,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Monday after a 6-1 loss to the White Sox. “It’s puzzling.”

So let’s focus on the pitching. In case you haven’t noticed, the Tigers staff is pitching like a post season staff should. Over the last 12 games, a starting pitcher has allowed more than 3 runs only twice. They have 13 QS out of the past 19, and over the last 24 games, the staff has a 2.76 ERA, and a .232 BAA.

The crazy thing is, we’re really not out of this thing. A brief 2 game win streak, and we’re playing for first place on Thursday night. First place! 

Brennan Boesch is my pick to click tonight, as an early 3 run HR ignites a Tiger win. If it doesn’t happen, remember, Baseball is a cruel game.

Tonight’s Streak Starting Lineup:

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

73-66, 2nd place, 2 games back, WC is gone.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Today’s Pre-Player of the Game is…see above.

Tonight’s Okay Jim, We Get It, You’re the Manager, You Make the Lineups Lineup:

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

71-61, 2nd place, 1 game behind CWS, 2 games behind WC.

One game at a time.

Max Scherzer continued his August assault on the American League with a masterful 4 hit, 1 walk, 0 ER and 9 strikeout performance over the White Sox last night. Don’t look now, but Scherzer has an outside chance at 20 wins. The Tigers got timely hits from Cabrera and Garcia, and Delmon Young hit two HRs, though one only counted as a triple. (Are you guys with me here? That ball clearly hit the yellow. How could they miss that?) It was a complete team performance.

So that gets us to tonight. Regular season games don’t get any better. Division rival. Sunday night baseball on ESPN. Ace v. Young Phenom. Win and we’re tied for first. My plan is progressing as planned, and I fully expect JV to bring it tonight.

To give you an idea of just how good Justin Verlander is, even with the 8 ER aberration last time out, JVs August ERA is 3.53.Verlander shut down the White Sox in his only start against them this year back on July 20th,when he allowed 2 ER in 8 IPs.  Pierzynski has 3 career HRs off of Verlander in 71 ABs. JV has a 1.75 ERA and .92 WHIP at Comerica this year.

The Tigers have had Sale’s number this year, scoring 8 ER in 12 IPs covering two starts. Sale was roughed up last time out against Bal, but it’s nothing like what KC did to JV. Despite the Tigers’ successes against Sale, only Laird and Peralta have hit him well. Jackson, Cabrera and Fielder are a combined 3-26. I expect this to be a low scoring affair. Hopefully JV can keep his pitch count down.

A few notes:

– JV has allowed 10 unearned runs this year. Chris Sale has allowed 1.

– Before the single in the 9th off of Valverde, the White Sox were 0-17 in the series with RISP. It happens to everyone.

– Rangers rookie phenom and #1 overall prospect Jurickson Profar went yard in his first ML AB.

– DY is 12-27 over his last 7 games. His .740 season long OPS is only a shade off of his career .748 OPS. I hope he continues to mash this September and perhaps even into October, and I hope equally as much that DD doesn’t neglect his career body of work this off-season.

– Brandon Inge will undergo season ending shoulder surgery. Too bad he won’t be with Oakland for their stretch run.

– Al Al will be available tonight. Look for Smokey to use him in the most high leverage situation possible.

Tonight’s Series Sweeping Lineup:

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

70-61, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 2.5 games behind WC.

One game at a time.

Doug Fister was uncharacteristically wild last night, and as a result, the Tigers’ 4 early runs didn’t hold up into the 6th. The Tigers had no problem reaching base all night, but they were still waiting for the big hit…and then came the 7th. Delmon Young smacked a bases loaded double to left center in the bottom of the 7th, and Dotel, Benoit and Valverde shut down the Sox for a 7-4 win. Considering the how hard it seemed the Tigers had to work to score early, and how effortlessly the White Sox were able to come back,, this would have been a depressing loss. But thanks to DY and the 7-8-9 guys, we’re 1 game into my 4 game plan for usurping first place.

Next step, win game 2.

On paper, tonight’s game looks be be favorable. Mad Max toes the rubber as the Tigers most consistent starter over the past month. Max has won his past 4 starts in dominating fashion. In 27 innings, he’s allowed 4 runs, 21 hits, 8 walks and has struck out 35. Max can have an off start every now and again, but he’s been pretty consistent since May. Take away the first month of the season, and Max’s ERA is 3.45 and his WHIP is 1.22. That works for me as a #2. Pierzynski is 10-26 lifetime off of Max and Konerko is 7-24 with 2 HRs.

Opposing Mad Max tonight is displaced Twin Francisco Liriano. Liriano has been so-so for the Sox since the deadline deal, but he’s been better in Chi-town than in Minnesota. Yes, he’s posting a 5+ ERA, but that’s mostly because of an atrocious April. With Chicago he’s 2-0 with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. He’s only pitched into the 7th once since the trade, so again, the Tigers should have their chances early. Cabrera (1.177 OPS) and Boesch (1.126 OPS) hammer Liriano….(and of course you can’t move Delmon Young from the 5 hole because he had a hit last night, so that means Boesch will bat…)

I know there are a lot of distractions tonight, namely about 20 miles to the West of me in Arlington. I’ll have two TVs going with the Longhorns (thank you UVerse for adding the Longhorn Network) and Michigan games, and then the Tigers game on my laptop.

Today’s Call-ups – Worth, Raburn, Kelly, Holaday, Marte. Al Al coming up tomorrow (he had to spend 10 days in the Minors).

Tonight’s Is It Really That Difficult to Work Garcia Into the Lineup? Lineup is:

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

69-61, 2nd place, 3 games behind CWS, 3 games behind WC.

Well, after getting swept by KC while the White Sox lost 3 out of 4 to the Orioles certainly has dampened everyone’s spirits, there is still a lot of baseball left, and the Tigers could very well find themselves tied for first place on Sunday night. Isn’t this why we love baseball? So rather than focus on the negatives, which would be all too easy, let’s try to get back into this thing, one game at at time.

We’ve got our top three starters going for us, we’re at home, and we have a guy named Miguel Cabrera. We can do this.

Last time we played the White Sox, we swept them in 3 home games. We can do this.

We start tonight with the towering Doug Fister. If you can overlook his last start…Fister has been nothing short of dominant since the All-Star break. Prior to the Orioles outing, Fister had seven consecutive quality starts, and allowed 1 ER or less in 5 of those. He’s 6-3 over his last 10 and has reminded all of us of why we came to love him during the 2nd half of 2011.

It won’t be easy, as the Tigers face White Sox ace Jake Peavy tonight. After a sub-par July, Peavy has had a scorching August, posting a 2.83 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. His 9-9 record is really more reflective of poor run support than his success this season. Fielder is 9-27 lifetime off of Peavy; Cabrera is 9 for 38 and he and Delmon Young’s 1 homer each are the only Tiger homers. Note that Peavy dominates innings 4-6 (.543 OPS against), so we have to take advantage of any early opportunities as there aren’t many holes in the Sox bullpen. UPDATE – Cabrera has 2 career HRs off of Peavy.

A few quick notes:

– Jeff Baker is done, I expect him to get picked up somewhere else. It was worth a try. Prospect Avisail Garcia is up, and remember, since he got called up before Sept 1, he can be on the playoff roster.

– Al Al will be back on Saturday, the first day he’s eligible to be back. I think he’s okay for the playoff roster because he was on the DL, can someone confirm?

– If Infante has a big night (4 hits) he may reach 1,000 for his career. I like that guy a lot.

Tonight’s Hope Restoring Lineup:

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

66-57, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1 game behind WC.

Hard to pick up games when the White Sox sweep the Yankees, but the White Sox are off today, and the Tigers go for a sweep of their own.

Don’t look now, but Benoit and Valverde have become quite the 8-9 combo. Valverde has only allowed 2 runs in his last 10 outings (10 innings) and 9 of those outings have been scoreless. Benoit has allowed only 1 hit over his last 5 outings covering 4 1/3 IPs,

Despite Valverde’s recent success, I’m very leery of his continued effectiveness. I believe that Ks are king for closers. Last season was the first in Valverde’s career when his K rate was below 1 per inning. It was still very close – .95 per inning (or 8.58/9), but it has dropped precipitously this year. Through last night, Valverde only has 38 Ks in 51 2/3, for a rate of .74 an inning or 6.62/9. His career rate is 10.1/9. Velocity wise – he’s lost a little over 1 MPH on both his fastball and splitter, anything more and we’re going to see his BAA spike.

Benoit, on the other hand, has kept his velocity constant despite the fact that he’s a year older than Valverde. I think that Al Al or Rondon make more sense as the closer of the future, but Benoit should have the 8th inning spot for a few years. Remember, Valverde’s on a one year deal.

Anyway, Sanchez had his best outing last night, allowing 2 ER over 6 2/3. Even if we just get that kind of a start every other one, for a #5 guy, that’s pretty salty.

JV climbs the hill today. A win would only be his 2nd in the past month, so he’s due. Plus, JV dominates the Blue Jays. There was that no-hitter last May (the last time he faced Tor), and the current Blue Jays batters are a combined 7 for 59 v. Verlander.

A few notes:

– Raburn hit a HR and a double last night in Toledo, which I’m sure has caught Leyland’s attention.

– Fister has been scratched for tomorrow’s start. Smyl Smyly.

Today’s Lineup:

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

65-57, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1.5 games behind WC.

Kind of a disappointing win last night, if such a thing exists. The Tigers were spectacular in their inability to exploit a Dontrelle-esque start by a terrible RISP display. The Tigers are now 6-43 over the past week in RISP situations.

Sanchez has had his struggles since joining the Tigers. He’s had 1 okay game, and 3 bad ones, resulting in a 1-3 record and 2.12 WHIP as a Tiger. He has not yet reached the 7th inning, and has failed to get out of the 6th in 2 out of the four starts. His Miami WHIP this year is 1.26, so he’s got the stuff. The biggest issue is his lack of Ks – his K rate is down to 5.76/9 as a Tiger from 8.18/9. He needs to stop listening to the “too many strikeouts” mandate coming from the dugout. (If you’re interested, the two BIG pitching moves at the deadline haven’s fared much better from a performance standpoint – Dempster is now 2-1, 6.04 as a Ranger, with the club 3-1 in his starts, while Greinke is 1-2, 6.19 in his five, with Los Angeles 1-4 when he pitches).

Some runs would be nice, as Sanchez is only getting 3.31 runs per start across both Detroit and Miami this year.

In other news, Smyly was pulled after one inning in Toledo last night as a contingency in the event that Fister can’t pitch on Saturday. Fister is still on the ever crowded “day-to-day” list.

A few notes:

– Jackson rakes against Tor – batting .400 with 8 XBH in 18 games since 2010.

– The first Blue Jay to go down swinging (or looking) will be the 1,000 Tiger K this year, the 13th time that has happened in club history.

– A Valverde save tonight would mark his 100th, which means that all of our hearts are that much weaker.

– Bartolo Colon joins Melky Cabrera on the early golf circuit.

Today’s Al Have Another Lineup:

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

67-54, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1.5 games behind WC.

Scherzer had his best start of the season last time out, allowing only 4 hits and 2 walks over 7 innings. That was only the second time all season that Max did not allow a run. Scherzer has been good at home as of late, posting  4-1 record with a 2.78 ERA and 63 Ks over his last 7 starts. Fortunately Bautista is on the shelf (6-11 v. Scherzer), but look out for Yunel Escobar…yes, Escobar (11-23 with a HR).

Romero has followed up his brilliant 2011 campaign with a rather poor year. His 2012 WHIP is 1.52, which is off his career mark of 1.35, and his 2012 ERA is 5.53. He’s struggled mightily over his last 10, posting an 0-9 record, 7.62 ERA, and 1.84 WHIP. Cabrera, Laird, Santiago (not in the lineup) and DY are all .375+ in their career vs. Romero. Well, so is Avila, who hit a HR in his only at-bat against the lefty. I’m certain that he’ll shut the Tigers down now.

Not much time today, but a few notes of interest:

– Fister is day-to-day with a groin issue.
– With 7 Ks tonight, Scherzer will set a career high. Is 7 too many?
– Raburn is back in Toledo.
– Oh, and how about that Melky Cabrera story? You know, if Melky Cabrera gets an out in the 1st, JV doesn’t register the worst All Star game start in history.

Tonight’s Another Lefty Lineup:

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

64-56, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind CWS, 1 game behind WC.

Well, that stunk. The Tigers were completely shut down by the worst starting pitcher (statistically) that they’ve seen all season. Now, Britton was pretty good as a rookie last year, and is well thought of around Baltimore (he’s only 24), but they simply let him off the hook early with bad swings in crucial situations. 1-9 RISP pretty much says it all.

But they still have a great shot to win the series, and winning series is how you win the division.

Fister looks to save the series this afternoon against Lefty Wei–Yin Chen (not Tiger killer Bruce Chen). You could look back to the Fister start against Baltimore on July 13th as the one that got him going. He limited the Orioles to 1 run on 3 hits in 7 IPs, and that kicked off 7 straight quality starts, a 1.52 ERA and a .86 WHIP since then. Yes, .86.

Chen is the 2nd of 5 straight lefties that the Tigers are slated to face.

Hopefully AJax’s two hits yesterday will get him going…he’s batting .208 over his last 10.

A few notes:

– VMart’s not coming back this year.

– I still can’t believe that our DH’s OPS is .698. He’s the designated hitter.

Today’s Berry Interesting Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Peralta, SS
6. Young, DH
7. Baker, RF
8. Laird, C
9. Berry, LF

64-55, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind CWS, tied for WC lead.

Yes, Prince Fielder had 2 HR and 4 RBIs last night, but let’s not overlook what Miguel Cabrera dud. He hit a jack in the 1st to put the Tigers up 1-0, and then got on base twice in front of Fielder HRs. And to think, he’s only 29. And the more Fielder hits, the better pitches Cabrera will see. Watch out.

For all of the whining that goes on around here about blown calls (much of it by me), we had two wrong ones go in our favor last night. First, there was the Markakis run that wasn’t counted. And secondly, the Peralta play. Last night was the first call that I have ever seen reversed at 1B. Seriously, can you remember another one? It looked like the umps took a great play away from Machado and Reynolds. The baserunner didn’t turn into anything, so no harm, but Reynolds looked to be on the bag. What I really don’t get is how in the world Machado was charged with an error on that play. The Reynolds ejection was baffling as well. What’s up with umpiring these days? If you missed it, check out the video replay of the Orioles tv guys calling the incident. Really impressed by their objectivity and knowledge of the rules.

Should we be concerned about Verlander? Not his best game…he couldn’t spot his fastball and he walked three guys in the third inning alone. 6 IPs is not like JV. Especially considering his career dominance against the Os.

Nevertheless, your Tigers have now won 3 in a row (5-5 in their last 10), and last night’s win kicked off a 14 home games in 17 games stretch. We’re 17-3 over our last 20 at home, so this could be the part of the schedule that propels us into first place. One year ago the Tigers were 65-58 and 2 games up on Cleveland. 17 games later they were 78-62 (13-4) and 6.5 games up. A 9-1 streak after that and the division was clinched. If that happens, we may see more of this. Tigers fans really are the best.

Porcello has not been good as of late. Though he’s 3-2 in his last 5, he’s got a 5.40 ERA and .329 BAA during those starts.

He’ll be opposed by Zach Britton. The lefty has was only called up after the All-Star break and has been getting hit pretty hard. In five starts he’s allowed 31 hits, 16 BBs and 21 ER in 23 1/3 for an 8.10 ERA. He doesn’t strike out many and his BAA this season is .313. But DY will be in full effect and the Tigers have routinely failed to capitalize on mediocre pitching. Could be a wild one out there.

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

A few notes:

– The Tigers 8.31 K/9 (for the pitchers) is the highest rate in club history.

– The Tigers have 82 XBH over their last 21 home games. They are averaging 6.1 runs per game during that time.

– Prediction: Miguel Cabrera will win the Triple Crown.

Tonight’s This is What We Went Out and Got Jeff Baker For Lineup (though I wouldn’t mind seeing Berry inserted for DY as a defensive replacement in the 4th):

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