Yeah, that was the fur game of the series.  Like the fur on the bottom of the strawberries that have been in the refrigerator a week too long, like the fur on your tongue at 7 am after a long night of drinking, like…well, you get the idea.

So here’s a fun one to keep you occupied over the break:  when is the last time the Tigers gave up 8 unearned runs? (I mean, after that ambushing, Furbush still has a 4.03 ERA).  And when is the last time Detroit scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings and lost?  Even the bullpen, which gave up 4 runs, was only on the hook for 1 earned run.

They say that there is no such thing as an ugly win.  Certainly, though, there is such a thing as an ugly loss.

At any rate, Charlie Furbush was optioned to Toledo after the game.  Danny Worth was recalled.

Luckily this afternoon brings The Antidote (no, I didn’t enter this in the Free Press official Let’s Make Up Some Nickname for Justin Verlander contest).  JV From the D (also not entered) looks to make it 3 of 4, and take the Tigers into the break on a winning note.  Which is a good thing, since I think Don Kelly is about 3rd on the bullpen depth chart at this point.

The Royals will counter with some guy who is not Justin Verlander.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Justin Verlander

For obvious reasons.

Today’s Ghostly Leadoff Lineup:

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

Well, Rick Porcello did his part, the bullpen held on in roller-coaster fashion, and the Tigers head into the fur game of the 4-game series only 1/2 game behind the Indians in the Central.

Fur game because the performance of Furbush will be key tonight;  with Valverde done until the break and Alburquerque out until the break, the bullpen is a bit light right now, and Furbush is on a limited pitch-count.  If Furbush and the Tigers do come through tonight, they head into the first-half finale with none other than Justin Verlander holding the broom, and with 1st place in sight.

The Royals will turn to Luke Hochevar, who may look a bit nervous as the 5th inning begins–in his last start he gave up a 5-run 5th.

As noted yesterday, Austin Jackson will be kept out of the starting lineup for the rest of the series with wrist soreness (he will be available for defense and pinch-running).  Tonight Casper takes his turn haunting CF.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Don Kelly

They pitch around V-Mart to get to Kelly, and The Donkey makes them pay

Today’s All-Star Peralta Gets the Dhay Off Lineup:

1. Andy Dirks LF
2. Ramon Santiago SS
3. Brennan Boesch RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Don Kelly 3B
7. Alex Avila C
8. Ryan Raburn 2B
9. Casper Wells CF

Last night Max Scherzer came through with a sparkling performance after falling apart the start before against the Giants.  Most impressively, he walked none, only getting to a 3-ball count 3 times.  This followed another solid outing by Brad Penny, who shook off a 4-run first to grind out a win.  Tonight is Rick Porcello’s turn to follow up the success of his last outing where he was wild but won.  Another good go by Porcello, and suddenly the starting pitching could begin to once again look like a strength of the team.

Porcello will by opposed by Kyle Davies, who has been having all sorts of trouble (1-7, 7.77), including rotator cuff inflammation.  In his April 13 start against Detroit he didn’t make it through the 4th inning.

And speaking of pitching, Jacob Turner, who began the season as Baseball America’s 21st ranked prospect, has jumped up to 11th in their midseason rankings. If the rotation continues to improve, and with Coke stabilizing the bullpen and Turner in the wings, is it possible the Tiger shopping list might veer away from pitching toward a position player?

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Andy Dirks

Austin Jackson will miss the rest of the KC series with a sore wrist.  Dirks will try to hold down the fort in CF and takes over leadoff duties.

Today’s They Must Be Saving Kelly for the Bullpen Lineup:

1. Andy Dirks CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Alex Avila C
8. Ryan Raburn 2B
9. Brandon Inge 3B

The Tigers start a 4-game series tonight in Kansas City, which currently has the worst record in the American League, so now might be a good time to find out if the Tigers have actually been struggling lately, or have just run across some very good opponents.  Avila, Cabrera, Verlander, and Valverde get to wear special stars on their hats and jerseys for the series because they are special.

The Tigers managed to salvage the last game of the Angels series when Miguel Cabrera woke up from a week long nap (.130) in time to hit a 2-run home run, and after Bad Penny re-emerged in the 2nd inning as Shiny New Penny, after going Bonderman in the 1st inning.

Max Scherzer continues his quest to become the first Tiger pitcher ever to win 20 games with a 5.00+ ERA (9-4, 4.90).  His last outing he was bombed for 9 runs by the Giants during Rick Knapp’s going away party.

Detroit will be up against the dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy, who has dominated them the past few seasons.  Tonight’s version is named Danny Duffy, and he brings a 1-3 record and 5.09 ERA into the game.  As if statistics matter when you are facing Rookie Pitcher Guy.

In other news, Carlos Guillen, who reportedly will re-join the team after the All-Star break, is hitting .176 (3-for-17) in his Toledo rehab stint.

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

Victor gets an All-Star vacation after finishing 2nd to Paul Konerko in the last-guy-in All-Star voting.  Tonight he takes it to Rookie Pitcher Guy.

Today’s Avila-Sandwiched-Between-2-Slices-of-Whiff Lineup:

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

Short and Sweet for the W.

Lineup coming soon (if one of you doesn’t beat me to it).

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

That’s five series in a row now where the Tigers have lost the opening game, and unless they win today, that will be four out of five series losses.  Not a good start to the 2nd half of the season.

JV looks to continue his dominance tonight.  I’d post the numbers, but you’ve likely already seen them.  In case you haven’t, 8 in a row would be big time.

He’ll be opposed by the formidable Dan Haren.  Actually, formidable might be downplaying it. Haren is 8-5 with a 2.85 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP.  He was roughed up for 6 ER in 4+ against the Mets 3 starts ago, but 14 of his 17 starts have been quality, and he has 6 starts where he’s allowed 1 or less runs and pitched at least 7 innings.  Now quality doesn’t necessarily get it done against JV, but we’ll need JV to really be JV tonight.

Kelly Gets the Nod at Third Tonight:

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

In my mind, this is a really, really big game for the Tigers.  A JV loss could turn a bad two week slide into an avalanche.  So JV is my pick to click tonight.  He’s gonna be filthy.

Well, we asked for it, and now we got it.  Rick Knapp is out as the Tigers pitching coach, Jeff Jones is in.  The Tigers’ pitching staff has been awful over the last two years, and really hasn’t been good as a whole since 2006.  But is Knapp the culprit?  Or the scapegoat for Dombrowski’s under performing roster and/or Leyland’s mismanagement?  Drew Sharp thinks it’s a sign of panic…and Knapp says he’s already getting calls, but those could be orders for ham sandwiches for all we know.

Before we get to tonight’s game, does Hiroki Kuroda do anything for you? Rumor is that the Tigers are “interested”, but I’m guessing that they are interested in plenty of starters these days.  Kuroda gets run support like Ryan Raburn gets hits, so you’ve gotta ignore his 6-9 record, and focus on his 2.90 ERA, and his career 3.48 ERA and 1.18 WHIP.  I love Kuroda, but he has a VERY SHORT shelf-life, and I don’t think the Tigers are in a position to play for this season only.  The Kuroda reward doesn’t justify the Jair Jurrjens risk.  On the other hand, if a cash strapped Dodgers team is willing to shed salary, then we can easily find a spot for Kuroda.

On to the Angels…who are 13-5 over their last 18…

Charlie Furbush gets his first big league start today, in an audition to take Phil Coke’s spot in the roster.  Furbush put up great numbers at Toledo, limiting hitters to 29 hits in 46 1/3 innings for a 2.91 ERA and .95 WHIP over 8 starts.  Predictably, he’s allowed more hits in the bigs (1.29 WHIP), but he’s still been pretty good out of the pen thus far.  He’s only going to get 75-80 pitches tonight, let’s hope those are in the 7th, not 2nd.

Angels hurler Joel Pineiro sports an impressive 7-3, 3.33 ERA career record against the Tigers, though he was lit up for 9 runs last time he met the Tigers in April 2010.  He’s better on the road than at home, posting a 4.97 ERA in six starts at home this year.  He hasn’t pitched out of the 7th since May 15th, and he’s allowed 4 or more runs in 1/2 of this starts this year.  But pitchers like Pineiro seem to give the Tigers fits.

In other news:

– JV has started a Twitter campaign to help Martinez get voted in by the fans. #votevictor
– David Ortiz did not pick Cabrera to be on his home run derby team.  I know what that feels like.
– Magglio Ordonez did get picked to one team…but teammates like Dunn and Uggla are not what he was hoping for.  (need Insider)
– While we’re not the only ones wondering why Raburn continues to start everyday, I don’t think this offense needs any help.  The Tigers are batting an AL leading .296 over the past 30 games an are averaging just over 5 runs per game.  Boesch is hitting .404 during that stretch.

Today’s pick to click is Maggs, who is a career .393 hitter against Pineiro and is showing signs of hitting again.

Tonight’s Can’t Don Kelly Play 2B AND 3B Lineup?

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

I chose to watch the alternate baseball reality version of yesterday’s game, where the Tigers were rained out in the 3rd inning.  No word so far on the makeup date.  I hear there was another version of the game played;  I hope I didn’t miss anything.

The Giants wield the interleague brooms today as they go for the sweep of the 3-game series, which concludes the both the homestand and the 2011 interleague schedule.

The matchup looks favorable for San Francisco. The surprising Ryan Vogelsong (6-1, 2.09) takes the mound for the Giants against the equally surprising–and not in a good way–Rick Porcello.  Kid Rick (6-6, 5.06) has allowed 18 runs in his last 11 innings, and concedes that he has hit a “bump in the road.”  Porcello attempts to smooth the bumps today, and keep the Tiger rotation from devolving into Verlander then Head For Cover.

Adam Wilk was recalled from Toledo to bolster the beleaguered bullpen. (The phrase beleaguered bullpen has been used so much for the Tigers this season that they might want to look into a trademark). To the surprise of no one, Villarreal was sent down.

In other news, the Tigers signed Adelin Santa, a 16-yr old Dominican 3rd baseman, known for his raw power and arm strength. In the meantime, Adam Everett is always available–he was just released by the Indians.

Oh, and by game time today the final results of the All-Star voting should be public.  Go Alex!

Update:  Alex Avila has been voted as the American League starting catcher for the All-Star game (fireworks). Miguel Cabrera, Jose Valverde, and Justin Verlander have also been named to the team.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Don Kelly

Yes, the Donkey is not in the lineup.  But after catching last night, Kelly has now played all 9 positions in the major leagues.  Today he takes over as manager.

Today’s Broom-busting Lineup:

1. Andy Dirks CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Ryan Raburn 2B
8. Ramon Santiago SS
9. Brandon Inge 3B