10-10, 2nd place, 1 game behind Cle.

Short and sweet for the W.

10-9, tied for 1st place with Chi and Cle.

Could it possibly be that the Tigers are only 19 games into the season, and they have already hit their low point?

And that their low point is tied for 1st place?

And that Brandon Inge is no longer a Tiger, at any level?

Yes, probably, and yes.

I think there’s a decent chance that the Tigers lose 6/7 again this year, but losing those on a homestand, with three of the games vs. Seattle, is inexcusable. Jim Price said it best during the game on Thursday – “They just don’t look interested.” Delmon Young was clearly interested in a few beers last night, and his resulting altercation in NYC and ugly words have landed him on the bench for tonight. Young has a history of poor decision making and clearly should not be looked to right now to right this team.

The hitting was anemic, the fielding pathetic, and the Team’s general disposition was indifferent. I really think that the Tigers hit a low point late last night after an uninspired game, the Inge release, and Young’s arrest. Yes, it’s early, but it’s hard to think that the baseball can get much worse.

And after all of that, the Tigers are 10-9, tied for first place in the AL Central. I don’t expect them to hold down first place starting tonight through the end of the season, but this goes to show that the Tigers will have to fall a long ways to be out of contention in the Central.

So with that, we open a 3 game set at Yankee Stadium. Ivan Nova is off to a nice start for the Yankees, posting a 3-0 record thus far. But JV should come in tonight and end this losing streak.

In other news:

– Doug Fister threw about 50 pitches yesterday and said that it “felt good.”

– Longman Superstar Duane Below will take Fister’s spot on Monday against KC.

– Brad Eldred up in Inge’s spot. Eldred is 31 and a journeyman who has had 3 unremarkable stints in the bigs between Colorado and Pittsburgh. He has been blasting 1 HR every 6.15 ABs in the international league so far this year. No word on whether he has any friends who can play 2B.

Tonight’s Brad Eldred featured lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Don Kelly, LF
6. Brad Eldred, DH
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Jhonny Peralta, SS
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B

Good pitching beats good hitting. Or maybe the adage should be superior pitching meets incredible hitting.

On a day when JV did not have his best stuff, he demonstrated why he’s the best pitcher in baseball by shutting down baseball’s best offense and ending the Rangers’ 8 game winning streak. Ron Washington said after the game “We didn’t lose, we got beat.”

+ 1.

JV’s run was unearned due to a passed ball where Avila simply missed a high curve. The Rangers took pitches and worked counts, which is what led to Verlander’s departure after only 6 but 115 pitches. Dotel was good, Benoit was okay enough and Valverde was Valverde. But the pen got the job done.

The Tigers face the shrewd Colby Lewis tonight, a guy with average stuff at best, but who has a supreme understanding of the Art of Pitching. He gives up a lot of flyballs (30/11 fo/go), but has solidified himself as the Rangers’ ace. Though the Tigers have hit him hard. Over the past two years Lewis is 2-3 with a 7.52 ERA against Detroit. For the 2012 season he’s 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA and 22 Ks in 19 2/3 against only 1 walk.

Smyly is will be tested a bit more today than he was in his first two starts against TB and KC. Smyly will need to limit base runners, so keeping walks down will be crucial.

I’m looking for AJax to break out of this 10 game funk (6/32) today. Jackson is a career .444 hitter off of Lewis.

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

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.

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

1-0, First Place, 1 game up on 4 others.

The Tigers get ready for game 2 after a thrilling opening day win on Thursday. Have I mentioned how much I despite the off day after opening day? Though a W makes it a bit easier.

There has been a lot of talk about the Valverde insertion in the 9th. Though I would have loved to see JV get a complete game on opening day, Valverde in the 9th was not a surprise for anyone who knows Leyland, and it was the right move. When you have the 2nd best closer in the AL, you look for every reason to get him into the game.

I do think there was some truth to Leyland’s statement after the game that he’s glad the streak (Valverde’s) is over. We have no idea what kind of pressure it created, and it has got to be a relief for at least a few key people inside the clubhouse.

A W today would be the Tigers’ first game 2 win since 2006.

I watched a lot of Josh Beckett last year. He can be very good but he only went 7+ in 11/30 starts last year. He doesn’t walk a lot, but he does run the pitch count up there searching for the K.

4:05 PM ET start.