The Tigers lost yesterday and Justin Verlander  (20-5, 2.38) is pitching today, we we all know what that means.

Tonight will be Verlander’s 20th start of the season following a Tiger loss (which says something about the bottom of the rotation, doesn’t it?), and his record in those games is 14-3.

Verlander was a bit shaky his last start, but the Tigers pulled out a win.  Tonight the stakes are high, since Chicago has won 7-of-10 and pulled into a 2nd place tie, 5 1/2 games behind Detroit, with 6 games between the teams remaining (3 this weekend at Comerica and 3 more in Chicago in 2 weeks).

The always entertaining Ozzie Guillen has decided to celebrate the pennant race by demanding a contract extension beyond next year, has threatened to walk if he doesn’t get one, and by all accounts is openly feuding with his general manager.

Chicago has proved to be a bit tricky for the Tiger ace–he is 3-1 this season against the Sox, but with a rather unimpressive 4.03 ERA.  He does enjoy a bit of Adam Dunn though, who has struckout 9 times in 13 AB against Verlander.

The White Sox send out John Danks, who has been inconsistent, but when he is good he is quite good.  His last start was a 3-hitter with 10 strikeouts, beating Seattle 3-0.

In other news Al Alburquerque has been cleared to resume pitching again, and is beginning a rehab assignment at Toledo.

Player of the Pre-Game:  Magglio Ordonez

Where did THAT Magglio come from yesterday?  2007?  And look at that:  Magglio is a career 15-for-29 against the Dank One.  Go Magglio!

Today’s Maybe-Magglio-Batting-2nd-Ain’t-So-Bad Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ramon Santiago, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

The comeback boys look to take an appended 4 game series with today’s make-up of a rain-out from mid-may.

Danny Duffy is a 22 year old lefty in his first season in the bigs.  He throws a low to mid 90’s fastball, and has had a strong minor league career, posting sub 3 ERAs with lower than .230 BAAs at every stop.  But, considering that his highlights on MLB.com are all pickoffs, he may not exactly bring the heat.  On the other hand, the Tigers have a knack for struggling against Unknown Rookie Guy.

Phenom Jacob Turner makes his 2nd big league start, as the organization’s top prospect auditions for the playoff rotation.  The expanded roster also now includes Will Rhymes (remember him?), Andy Dirks and Luis Marte, who posted some AlAl-ish K numbers at Erie.

Today’s Series Winning Lineup:

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

Not much time to celebrate last night’s walk off

Paulino is a late scratch with back-spasms, so Nate Adcock takes the ball for the Royals. Adcock is on a pitch count limit of about 50 pitches, and then some guy named Everett Teaford will man the mound.  This actually does not bode well for the Tigers, as the Royals pen is touting a sub 2 ERA against the Tigers this year.

Porcello was pretty good his last time out, but he’s been pretty bad over the past three months. At this point in time, I’ve got to think (hope) that he’s not quite a lock for the playoff rotation, and every start is an audition.  That plot will really thicken tomorrow between innings 1 and 6.

– Avila’s streak of 18 consecutive games at C is tops this year, says Freep.
– Who knows when Boesch will be back, if at all…as Gage reports that he needs surgery.
– That same article says Al Al has been cleared for baseball activities.  Get better soon Al Al.

Today’s Lining Up for a Series Win Lineup is:

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

Ignoring the last two games…

There’s a great debate brewing over Verlander’s candidacy for the AL MVP.  MLB.com weighed in with a yay and a nay, and Buster Olney recently wrote that JV would get his vote if he had to vote today (you’ll need insider).  One of the key contentions is that pitchers should not be considered with hitters because pitchers only pitch every 5th day.  In fact, even Ol’ Jimmy argued this a few days ago when he said “I’m not looking for arguments or controversy I just think when a guy goes out there 158 times or 155 times and has a big year, an MVP type year I don’t think the guy that goes out there 35 times should be named over that guy.”

Well, Olney responds to the every 5th day argument with a clever # of plate appearances argument.  “But here’s a number worth thinking about when considering how integral a great starter can be to success: Verlander has been involved in 830 plate appearances this year; the AL leaders, among position players, are at about 600.”  The problem with this argument is that it does not take into account the defensive value of a hitter. It would be interesting to see how many fielding plays a pitcher is involved in versus each of the other positions.

FanGraphs weighed in yesterday and argued that while JV’s core stats lead the league, his WAR is marginally ahead of Weaver and Sabathia, and thus perhaps he has not been as dominant as perceived.  Their argument is that in a year when he’s not head and shoulders above the rest of the pitchers, how can he be considered for MVP?

Perhaps the strongest argument for JV 4 MVP is his value to the Tigers.  The Tigers are 21-8 on days when he climbs the hill, and 52-53 on every other day.  You take out Granderson or Gonzalez, and the Yankees and Red Sox are most likely not any worse off record wise.

Oh yeah, Fister looks to be the new stopper tonight at CoPa.

Tonight’s Regular Lefty Lineup:

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

The Tigers return home from a rather memorable road trip on the heels of a rather forgettable loss to the Twins.  I found this in an MLB.com story today:

“Despite the loss, the Tigers still finished 5-2 on the trip.  Over seven games, the Tigers’ pitching staff posted a 3.16 ERA, while the starters went 5-1 with a 3.37 ERA. Entering Sunday’s game, the Tigers had a 1.84 ERA through the first six games of the trip, including the starters with a 2.15 ERA.”

The Royals come to town for 4, and open up a Tigers homestand in the middle of a 19 game AL Central only stretch.  The White Sox will round out the homestand this weekend.

Hochevar has been pretty good as of late, posting 4 QS in his last 6 outings.  This is his 4th start against the Tigers this season.  He’s 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA, including 6 earned in 3 1/2 in early July in Detroit.  Cabby is a lifetime .480 hitter off of Hochevar with 2 bombs, I’m looking for him to get to 5 today.

Max Scherzer toes the slab in an effort to get his ERA below 4.20 for the first time since May.  Scherzer has had two streaks of 5 QS this season, let’s get one started tonight to carry us through September.

A few notes:

– Jacob Turner is going to get a “spot” start on Thursday so that JV can get an extra day of rest.  I’m guessing that this is an audition for the “5th spot”.
– Did you know that a recent SI poll of ML players ranked Leyland as the 3rd skipper on the list of managers that they would like to play for?
– Guillen will start a rehab stint in Toledo tonight.  Not sure if this is a good thing.
– Raburn and Boesch are still day to day with sore fingers.  Boesch needs to get healthy soon before JL gets any ideas.

Tonight’s Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Ramon Santiago, 2B
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Wilson Betemit, 3B
9. Don Kelly, RF

Previously here at DTW we pointed out how much better Brad Penny was pitching at night vs pitching during the day, and hoped that Leyland would change the rotation to get him off of the day shift.

Sure enough, he returned with a solid night start against Minnesota and a great 1-run evening win against Tampa Bay.

Leyland, being the scientific type that he is, clearly decided to test whether the night start was responsible or Penny was just getting better, but starting him in another day game.  So even if he is awful this afternoon, the knowledge gained will be invaluable, so the Tigers really can’t lose.

Meanwhile, the Tigers can bask in the glory of Justin Verlander’s 20th win, especially since, for a change, it was a real team effort, as Justin had a merely human outing.  Verlander becomes the earliest 20-game winner in MLB since Curt Schilling in 2002.

Detroit faces Brian Duensing (8-13, 5.12) who has had a rough August (0-5, 8.65).  Duensing said “I’m just kind of wrong right now.”  Stay wrong Brian, stay wrong.

And just for fun:  Detroit is now only 1 game behind Texas for the playoff 2nd-seed.

Player of the Pre-Game:  Alex Avila

He just keeps going.  August Alex is now hitting .408 (1.300 OPS), with 7 HR and 17 RBI for the month.  The Tigers are 16-8 for the month, which ties them with Tampa Bay for AL best (the Brewers have somehow gone 20-5).

Today’s Because-Whoever-Plays-RF-Has-To-Bat-2nd Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ramon Santiago, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Dare I say it, the Detroit Tigers are beginning to look like a team on a roll. Rick Porcello pitched like a Rick Porcello should, the Tigers, led by Delmon Young, piled on a bunch of runs, and Detroit cruised to an easy victory over Minnesota (so easy that the game elicited a scant 7 comments).

And now we come back with Mr. Verlander, who seems primed to become the first Tiger since Bill Gullickson (1991) to win 20 games, and the first this season in MLB.  Facing a decimated Twins team that has lost 6 straight, this one seems all but inevitable.  But this is baseball, so nothing can be taken for granted.

If ever there were an appropriate villain to play spoiler to Verlander’s bid for 20, it would be Carl Pavano, who takes the mound for the Twins.  Pavano is 6-10, 4.54, and is facing a milestone of hs own:  he has 99 career losses.  But Tiger fans will not easily forget what he did to Detroit in the nail-biting 2009 season.

Player of the Pre-Game: Brandon Inge

Yes, he is not playing today.  But with Santos sent back to Toledo,  Martinez still hurting, and Kelly on paternity leave, he is Detroit’s only backup catcher.  His job is to sit in the dugout, vote for himself for Top Web Gem (he is in the running against Ben Revere), and pray that nothing happens to Avila.

Today’s Make-Verlander-Proud Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Ramon Santiago, 2B
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Wilson Betemit, 3B
9. Ryan Raburn, RF

Tonight the Tigers arrive at Target Field in Minneapolis faced with the daunting prospect of 10,000 Jim Thomes.

Fortunately, none of them will be in a Twins uniform.

(Unfortunately, Jim Thome is back in a Cleveland Indian uniform).

On Jim Thome Wind Up Walker Giveaway Night, the first 10,000 fans will receive a replica of the player the Twins just traded to Cleveland for Player-To-Be-Named-Later.  Thome will rejoin the team on which he began his career,  and began killing the Tigers.  The Indians are hoping he will be able to continue the Tiger-killing, or if not at least give the fans something to talk about other than the team’s August downslide.

If the Tigers continue winning, they won’t have to worry about Thome or anyone else:   Detroit now has a solid lead of 6 1/2 over Cleveland, and 7 over Chicago,  with a week of baseball against the struggling Twins and Royals on tap.

And the Tigers have been winning without even scoring–Detroit only scored a total of 11 runs in the 4-game series with Tampa Bay, but managed to win 3-of-4 anyway.

That approach may not work tonight, unless Rick Porcello has a much better showing than he did when he faced the Twins on Aug 16.  He gave up 6 runs in 6 innings, and followed that up with a 5-run, 3 2/3 inning appearance against Cleveland.  With a season ERA now at 5.17–and 9.15 in August–he has been doing a good impersonation of a 5th starter.

The Tigers will be facing dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy, this one a lefty named Scott Diamond (0-1, 4.26), making his 2nd major league appearance.

Player of the Pre-Game: Alex Avila

I might as well just leave this name up here for a while.  He is now hitting .418 (1.336 OPS) for the month of August, with 6 HR and 16 RBI.  His 2010 season totals:  7 HR and 32 RBI.

Today’s Wind-Up Lineup:

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