Last July 16 the Tigers, in a virtual tie for first with Minnesota, came out of the all-star break on a 3-day trip to Cleveland, were swept, and never came near first again.  And Detroit hasn’t won at Cleveland since.

During this Cleveland trip Detroit has seen its Central lead slip from 4 to 2, with one more game left at Progressive field.  Could this be a deja-vu sweep, and if so can the Tigers recover?

One doesn’t have to go far for a bit of optimism.  Because…Justin Verlander.  (Of course last year’s series featured a Verlander start also–he gave up 3 in the 1st inning and lost.  But that wasn’t 2011 Verlander).  Feeling pessimistic? Verlander’s career record in Cleveland:  4-8, 6.31.  An interesting matchup will be Verlander vs rookie 2B Jason Kipnis, who has never faced him.  Kipnis went 5-5 last night and is hitting .364 over his last 10 games.  Tiger fans gaze out to 2nd with a sigh of envy…

Facing Verlander will be Fausto Carmona, perhaps best known to Detroit fans as the guy who played a knuckle tune on Gary Sheffield’s head.  Carmona is having a lackluster 5-11, 5.19 season.

Boesch will sit out the game with a sore thumb (no indication how much more time he will miss if any), which means we get to play Raburn Roulette in LF.

ESPN covers the Tigers today in its daily look at playoff contenders. Terry Foster says the Tigers will win the division–if Leyland changes the batting order. (Still, he can’t resist leaving Jackson in the leadoff spot).

Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson

He has already struck out 39 times this season leading off, nobody else comes close (27 is next highest).  Add to that an OBP of a meager .267, and it may be time to try moving him elsewhere in the lineup.

Today’s Special K Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ryan Raburn LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Carlos Guillen 2B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Wilson Betemit 3B

What a game, and what a way to lose a game, with a walk-off HBP.

Although losing tough ones at Progressive field has become something of a habit:  the Tigers have lost 12 straight there, and all 4 this season–and all of them Cleveland has won it its final at bat.

I blame the rain.  For the 2nd time in a row, the Tiger bats went dead following a rain delay.  In fact the Tigers have only scored 1 run in their last 14 post-rain-delay innings.

As frustrating as the loss was, there were some things to cheer about:  the Tigers played good defense almost the whole game, with standout plays by Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera (the 14th inning play by Guillen, not so much).  But mostly, it was the much-maligned bullpen, which came up huge.  For 11 innings, from the 2nd to the 13th, Below, Schlereth, Coke, Alburquerque, and Benoit combined for 11 innings, giving up only 2 hits, with 3 walks and 12 strikeouts.

That’s the 2nd sparkling appearance in a row for Below.  If he turns out to be a revelation the same way that Alburquerque has, the Tigers could end up with an impressive bullpen.

The bad news is that there isn’t much relief left for tonight, so Rick Porcello will take the mound and attempt to bring it all the way to Valverde.  Porcello is on a hot streak right now: he is 5-0, 3.26 over his last 6 starts, and has the confidence of the team behind him. “Every time he goes out there now, we really feel we’re going to win,” says Brennan Boesch.  Perhaps most impressive lately has been his control–he has only walked 2 in his last 26 innings pitched.  This should help him work late into the game.

We didn’t get to see much of our trade-deadline catch Doug Fister last night.  Tonight Cleveland brings out its deadline darling, Ubaldo Jimenez.  He had a rough go of it in his first outing for Cleveland, giving up 5 runs to Texas, and more importantly, only lasting 5 innings (Cleveland’s bullpen is in as bad a shape as ours tonight).

In other news:  He’ll be back…Brandon Inge says the Tigers assured him he would be back with the team on Sept 1.

Player of the Pre-game:  Alex Avila

Avila caught all 14 innings last night.  With Martinez still having a sore knee, He’ll strap on the gear again tonight.

Today’s Iron-man-Avila Lineup:

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

The manager has been extended, the GM has been extended,  and with a 3-game series against Cleveland beginning tonight,  there is an opportunity for the division lead to be extended.

The Tigers took advantage of their last off-day of the month to announce that the contract of manager Jim Leyland has been extended through 2012, and President/CEO/GM Dave Dombrowski through 2015.  Dombrowski said that more than a 1-year deal for Leyland was never discussed, and was never requested by Leyland.

Dombrowski also stressed that the rest of the front office was extended–Al Avila (asst GM), Scott Reid (top scout), John Westhoff (attorney, contract negotiations), and David Chadd (amateur scout), and said getting the deal done now was important because this is the time of year other teams start asking around about personnel, and you risk someone jumping to another organization.

Reaction to the extensions in the media has been mixed–Drew Sharp likes the idea, Terry Foster doesn’t–as I’m sure it will be here.

As if on cue, the newly-extended Tigers front office followed up today by announcing they have signed their first 2011 draft pick, catcher James McCann from Arkansas.

In tonight’s first of three (and first of 12 remaining this season) against the Indians, Detroit’s trade-deadline catch Doug Fister takes the mound for the 2nd time as a Tiger. His first outing was a solid 3-runs in 7 innings against the tough Texas offense, which means he’s already done more for the team than the 2009 deadline darling, Jarrod Washburn.  Fister draws a tough match-up in Justin Masterson (9-7, 2.63), who faced Fister in Seattle April 9 and came out on top 2-1.

Player of the Pre-game: Carlos Guillen and Alex Avila (tie).

Right now the hottest bat on the team belongs to Alex Avila, who has on On-Base Percentage of .441 over the last 2 weeks.  The coldest bat belongs to Carlos Guillen (.154 OBP).  Guillen bats in front of Avila.  Whether or not Guillen manages to get on base could have a big effect on the outcome of the game.

Today’s Return-of-V-Mart Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Andy Dirks RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Carlos Guillen 2B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Don Kelly 3B

The Tigers look to sweep their three-game series this afternoon in hot Kansas City (temperature 92 and climbing).

Mad Max Scherzer will man the broom against the Royals.  He has been in good form lately, with a 2.14 ERA over his last 5 starts.  Bruce Chen has a 7.48 ERA over his last 4 starts, but always seem to give Detroit trouble.

V-Mart will not be in the lineup:  he suffered a knee sprain on an ill-advised attempt to score. Word to come on how serious it is.  Victor says “I felt a sharp pain in my knee, on the way up (to the clubhouse), I felt the pain go away. I just iced it, and we’ll see how it feels. Everything looks pretty good so we’ll see how it looks (Sunday).”

The lack of Martinez for any length of time would cause serious problems for the Tigers, so let’s hope it isn’t bad.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Gene Lamont

Today Gene sleeps standing up and nobody gets hurt.

Today’s Sweepy Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Ryan Raburn 3B
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Magglio Ordonez DH
6. Carlos Guillen 2B
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Andy Dirks RF

It’s Justin time!

Tonight Justin Verlander looks to follow up his near-no-hit bid against the Angels with a win against KC (and possibly tie CC Sabathia with the AL lead at 16).

In fact Verlander still has an outside shot at the pitching triple crown:  He is 2nd in wins at 15, has a solid league lead in strikeouts at 178, and has only Jered Weaver (1.78) and Josh Beckett (2.20) with ERAs better than his 2.24.

Kansas City would seem to be a good opponent in his pursuit of win 16:  he has won 3 straight vs the Royals, with a 1.19 ERA.

Billy Butler is most likely to be a Royal pain:  he is hitting .389 against Verlander.

Also Detroit is planning to pitch Verlander against Cleveland Thursday on 4 days rest, so, for a change, his pitch count may be an issue tonight.

KC sends out rookie starter Danny Duffy (3-4, 5.05).  As always with Detroit, beware Rookie Pitcher Guy (I would love to see the Tigers’ cumulative stats against rookie pitchers).

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Ryan Raburn

Raburn will make the occasional brilliant play in the outfield, or nice play at 2B. Not so much at 3rd.  Over the last 3 seasons he has 4 errors at 3rd (and only 7 assists) in 44 innings, so it’s been almost an error per game with him.  With Verlander on the mound, the Royals are likely to try to bunt their way on.  Take a deep breath.

Today’s Raburn Roulette Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Carlos Guillen 2B
8. Ryan Raburn 3B
9. Alex Avila C

Here’s a Penny for your thoughts:  Night Penny.

For some odd reason, Brad Penny’s turn in the rotation inevitably falls on a day with a daytime game.  12 of his 16 starts (75%) have been day games, while only 40% of the team’s overall games have been in the day.

And if you look at Penny’s career numbers on night vs day games, the numbers are like…well, like day and night.

• Penny by day:  31-31, 5.27 ERA  (2011:  6-6, 5.21)
• Penny by night: 84-65, 3.74 ERA (2011: 1-3, 4.24)

Rod and Mario have mentioned that Penny has said he doesn’t like day games.  And he doesn’t do that well in day games.  So here’s a crazy idea:  why not move the rotation around a bit to get him out of the day game pattern?

Tonight Rick Porcello looks to win his 6th consecutive start, which would be a career best, against Kansas City’s Felipe Paulino.  Porcello is 3-0, 3.15 since the All-Star break, and during that time has only given up 2 walks, against 13 strikeouts.

The Kansas City hitters, though, are on a bit of a hot streak, batting .309 over their last 7 games.  The hottest has been Alex Gordon, who has hit .474 over his last 9 games.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Wilson Betemit

Betemit makes the Royals pay for trading him.

Today’s Rather Standard Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Carlos Guillen 2B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Wilson Betamit 3B

7 IPs, 8 H, 0 BB, 2 ER.  Fist-bump for Fister.

Ryan Raburn has a 1.111 OPS Post All-Star game.

Tigers have welcomed the Rangers bullpen help with game deciding home runs in back to back nights.

Cle lost, CWS lost.

Tigers go for the sweep today.

It won’t be easy against Alexi Ogando.  Ogando went from the A’s farm system as a 19 year old outfielder, to the Department of Homeland Security detention center at age 22, to the Rangers farm system at 26, to pushing Neftali Feliz out of the closers role into the starting rotation, and then into the rotation himself.  And he’s flourished.  As a starter this year he’s posted a 2.88 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 2.12 BAA, with only 2 pitches.  A fastball that hits 96 and moves, and a devastating slider.  After a tremendous April and May which saw Ogando at the top of the leaderboards in ERA, WHIP and BAA, he was roughed up a bit in June.  But he rebounded with a strong July and will be looking for this 11th win of the season this afternoon.

Tigers send out Brad Penny with the janitor’s broom and hopefully a happy face, as he will likely be caught by VMart today for a day game with another game tomorrow.  If you will recall, Penny was blasted last week by LAA, and had a few choice words for Martinez as the two seemed out of sync all game.

Someone help us out with the lineup when it’s posted.

Thanks to some late inning heroics by Boesch & Boston, the Tigers woke up today up 3 games in the AL Central.  Prior to last night’s win, the Tigers were 3-6 in their last 9 series openers, and are now 15-19 for the year (according to my front of several Post-Its math).  A win tonight guarantees a series win, with a day game to follow and then a weekend set in Kansas City.  The Tigers then face the Indians and Twins in 9 out of the next 12 in what should be a pivotal two week stretch for the Central Division.

Doug Fister gets his first start for the boys in blue tonight.  Fister is a tall and lanky 6-8, 210 righty (who bats lefty!) out of Fresno State.  Fister is in his 3rd year in the bigs, and he’s been improving every year.  He started 10 games in ’09 for Seattle, 28 last year, and then 21 this year before the trade.  He doesn’t strike out many, but he’s trending in the right direction (kind-of 5.31/4.89/5.48 K/9).  His real strength is that he doesn’t walk many (career 1.88 BB/9) nor allow many hits (just over 1 per inning).  He doesn’t throw hard, but he throws a two-seamer, curve and slider with regularity, and effectively.  He surely benefited from Safeco, so while his numbers should dip a little at CoPa, there is no reason why he can’t have success as a #4 or #5 starter here.

Matt Harrison climbs the hill for the Rangers.  Harrison has been nails over his last five starts, going 3-0 while posting a 1.16 WHIP and 2.04 ERA, but he is 1-3 with a 7.11 ERA in six career games against the Tigers.  Harrison is hittable, but he really limits the walks.

Guillen gets the day off to work on his home run trot, and because Raburn is 6-9 lifetime off of Harrison.

Your Please AJax, just take one pitch, Lineup is:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, 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. Wilson Betemit, 3B