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

Detroit Tigers, 73-65, 2nd place, 2 back.

My own game post pictures now haunt me.  I decided on a new set of pictures for this important road trip:  serious, determined faces.  Now instead they look tense, stressed.

Jim Leyland has said that he doesn’t believe in team chemistry; it may also be that team chemistry does not believe in him.

He has become increasingly frustrated in recent days, even lashing out at fans who question his lineup.  The fact that Leyland is losing his cool with the criticism, and publicly, may be reflecting–or setting–the tone for the team as the pennant race winds down.

Justin Verlander wasn’t himself, for the second time in three starts.  Austin Jackson, after resisting all season long, decided to try on the floppy shoes in centerfield. And Miguel Cabrera, after a 3-strikeout night (and after watching his chances of beating out Trout for the MVP plummet), had a meltdown on a seemingly correct strike call.  Cabrera is frustrated.

There were a couple of good things about the game:  Putkonen is quietly putting together a decent season; Infante seems to be coming out of his slump; Garcia plays with a hustle and enthusiasm that the team could really use.  And Prince Fielder stepped in to try to keep Cabrera from being tossed: he scooted all the way from the on-deck circle, and put himself in between Cabrera and the umpire, retreating when Leyland made it out to take up the argument.

In fact Fielder has been a real bright spot, despite some mildly disappointing power numbers:  he gets on base, he plays hard, he runs hard, he gets runners home from 3rd, he is very aware, and he just may be starting to take more of a leadership role with the team.

The Tigers could certainly use it.  I have a feeling the Tigers are missing the leadership of Victor Martinez, and yes, even Inge.  The look on Leyland’s face as last night’s travesty was unfolding seemed to say he’s done all he can do.

Maybe the talented Ryan Raburn will turn it around.

It is an old truism that every teams starts the season with the goal of playing meaningful games in September, and the Tigers have accomplished that. The weight of expectations may be getting to the team though; it certainly has gotten to the fans.  The four games in Chicago will determine whether the rest of the month is exciting, or whether September becomes a very, very long month.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers have yet to win a game in which they have been outscored by the opposition.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Prince Fielder. Forget the statistics; this team right now needs a leader, and Fielder is going to have to be The Man.

Todays Anibalic Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Normally, a Verlander start would be all about Verlander.  But recently, the Tigers have fallen into a funk where sharp starting efforts have been undone by an inability to score runs on offense.  Last night after a brief bit of trouble in the first (exacerbated by Cabrera’s failure to turn a DP), Max Scherzer settled down and had one of his best outings of the season.

After the 1st inning, Scherzer only gave up 2 hits in 7 innings, with 9 strikeouts (and 0 walks for the game), which incidentally puts him in the Tiger record book as the only Tiger to strike out 8 or more in 10 consecutive starts, breaking a tie with Hal Newhouser. Max seems to be in playoff form…if only.

Unfortunately, the Tiger offense was unable to put together a rally, settling for a couple solo home runs (the hallmark of their early season malaise), had too many strikeouts (10 from their 3-6 hitters), were unable to advance the potential winning run from 2nd with no outs in the 9th, and had the range of their infield exposed.

Result: for the 3rd time in the past week, the Tigers fall 3-2 (in fact the Tigers have had 16 3-2 games already this season). The Tigers now have a 2nd-half record in 1-run games of 3-10, which is not how one makes the playoffs.  The last 1-run game the Tigers won on the road: June 24th. Perhaps the Tigers could borrow a 1-run game or two from the Orioles.

Also notable last night: Ryan Raburn made his late season debut.  Confidently aggressive, he scorched a two-hopper to the mound on the first pitch he saw. Impressed, Leyland decided to start him tonight, and placed him in the 6th spot in the lineup.  (This may be the season where Raburn waits until the 3rd half to get hot).

I blame the fans.  Someone emailed in a lineup that had all right-handers.  I’m not blaming any of you personally, but if you confess we will go easy on you. (Luckily, Leyland scratched out “Santiago, 1B” and scribbled in “Fielder, 1B”).

Leyland also decided to take a day off from the Maybe-Boesch-Will-Run-Into-One Project (and he did run into one against Cleveland, a mammoth shot to dead center), perhaps inspired by his 4 AB, 3K performance last night, so tonight in RF we get to see Mini-Mig, Avisail Garcia.

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder had one of the few offensive highlights last night with a solo home run. Over the past 2 weeks, Fielder has hit for .385 (1.196 OPS), with 3 HR and 6 RBI.  And 3 HBP.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Avisail Garcia.  The Halos pitch around the dangerous Raburn to get to Garcia, and he makes them pay.

Todays Almost All-Right Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Avisail Garcia RF
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Danny Worth SS

Detroit Tigers, 73-63, 2nd place, 1 back, WC 5th place.

Every game counts.

Don’t blame me for that, that’s the official Tigers.com slogan.  A lot of us were saying that back in May, but they didn’t seem to count as much back then, at least officially.

Anyway, let us not detract from the matter at hand, which is:  Battle of the MVPs! Tonight Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers take on Mike Trout and the LA Angels, with the AL MVP on the line!!

(I don’t know, works for ESPN, thought I’d give it a shot).

I don’t have a real plan for how the Tigers will take this series (no thanks to Kevin the Greek), but my gut tells me tonight might be a good time to take a game.  Here are the pitching match ups for the series:

• Scherzer (15-6, 3.93) vs Santana (8-11, 5.32)
• Verlander (13-7, 2.73) vs Wilson (11-9), 3.85)
• Sanchez (7-11, 4.08) vs Greinke (13-5, 3.72)

So on paper, this looks a bit like the rubber game of the series.

And let’s hope Kansas City continues to be a royal pain.

It looks like the Tigers may have gotten a bit of a break:  Jered Weaver is missing his scheduled turn in the rotation.  On the other hand, if recent history is a guide, the 5.00+ ERA Santana tonight will turn out to be the real challenge.

Strangely consistent Max Scherzer will try to strike out Too Many tonight (8+ strikeouts in last nine starts).  Max has an ERA of 1.03 over his last 5 starts, and is 2-0, 1.29 vs the Angels this season.

The late start tonight (10:05 EST) will test the endurance of the DTW posters; it will be interesting to see who sticks this one out; at least we have some West Coast followers. Tomorrow night should be better, with the special 9:05 start time, which seems to have nothing to do with anything.

Stat of the Day: Ramon Santiago in the 2nd half practically makes one long for Raburn. In addition to various clown episodes in the field, he is hitting .136, with a robust .376 OPS.  Although he is 1-for-3 lifetime against Santana, so there’s that.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson.  In Wednesday crucial game against Cleveland, Detroit was making Jimenez look all Cy-ish, and was about to become the first team Jimenez faced in 2012 to leave the field without a single walk. When Jackson finally broke the spell and worked him for a walk in the 8th, the floodgates opened.  I don’t think 2011 AJax would have pulled that off.

Todays ‘MonyBall Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Detroit Tigers, 72-63, 2nd place, 1 back, WC not gonna happen.

Well, that’s baseball.  And you’ve got to tip your hat to Cy Masterson. Etc. Etc.

See what happens when you don’t have a plan? Hopefully Kevin will use the day off tomorrow to devise something good. Or maybe we should all use the time to work on our lineup submissions.

For his part, Jim Leyland had an explanation for why he went with Don Kelly at 1B (batting 6th) yesterday: “He has not had a good year, obviously, this year, but that’s OK. I’m tickled for him. I’m glad for him.”  See, this lineup business is harder than you think.  Make sure you leave some tickle room when you fill out your cards folks.

Tonight the Tigers go for their 3rd straight series sweep, this one, like Kansas City, on the business end of the broom.

Doug Fister takes the mound for Detroit, but if this game goes according to trend it will matter more who shows up at the plate against Ubaldo Jimenez. So far this series Detroit has hit .177 against the worst starting pitching staff in the AL. Jimenez’ biggest problem is his control (he is 2nd in AL with 84 walks), which tends to be some sort of secret weapon against Tiger hitters.

Stat of the Day: We’ve said before that the Tigers just aren’t made to win a majority of close games.  Well how is this:  the Tigers are 2-8 in their last 10 1-run games, and their last 8 losses have been by a combined total of 9 runs.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. Will the day of rest cool him off?

Todays Delmony Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Intante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 72-62, 2nd place, 1 back, 3 back for WC spot.

Apparently sweeping the White Sox is a momentum killer.  The last time the Tigers swept the White Sox they followed up by losing to Cleveland, who took 2-of-3 for the series.

Well, you know the old saying that momentum in baseball is the next day’s starting pitcher.  Except…Anibal Sanchez did well, and the Tigers were facing a pitcher with 0 major league wins. So much for that.

At any rate, Delmon did his part yesterday.  As frustrated as everyone had been with Delmon all season long (this writer included), Jim Leyland kept telling us he was going to get hot, and get hot he did. Over the past 7 days Young leads the team in OPS (1.383), has hit .429, and has 42% of the Tiger RBIs. And he has been consistent game after game, with a 9-game hitting streak, a 4-game RBI streak, and a 4-game extra base streak.  Smokey was right.

Now that Delmon has the D-train in gear, the next order of business is…to get Prince Fielder “off his feet.” Huh? Yes, Fielder will be DH-ing today, to get him off his feet (what about Cabrera’s feet?).  Maybe this is Fielder’s reward for making 2 impressive plays in the field yesterday.

This means Delmon has been bumped from DH, and gets the day off.  Leyland may have done what opposing pitchers could not do–find a way to cool off Delmon.

Not to worry though:  Don Kelly is there to pick up the slack. Batting 6th.

Alex Avila states the obvious, speaking of a guy who looks like he could use some time off.

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder leads the league in both HBP (15) and IBB (17).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Don Kelly.  The Donkey replaces the hot bat of Delmon Young in the lineup. Good luck with that. Maybe Kelly will surprise us all and this will be one of those Lucky Leyland moves.

Todays Who’s On First Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder DH
5. Brennan Boesch RF
6. Don Kelly 1B
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Intante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 72-61, 1st place (tie), 2 back for WC spot.

Well, here we go. It’s all even, the season starts today, and it’s only 28 games.

Unlike Kevin, I don’t have a plan for this thing, so I will go with his suggestion that Detroit win this afternoon.

It all went according to plan last night:  Verlander gave up a leadoff home run, which combined with his 8-run last outing made the White Sox (and a few Tiger fans) think “aha, he’s lost it.” The overconfident Chicagoans were helpless the rest of the night, until Valverde entered to provide fun and excitement for all.

Also according to plan Brennan Boesch finally baesched, to dead center, no less; Jhonny Peralta made perhaps the best tag on a stolen base attempt for the season; Avisail Garcia practiced his look-alike Cabrera opposite-field stroke, Don Kelly um…got in the game, and most of all Delmon Young kept the D-train rolling, when he golfed a pitch over the left-field fence for his somethingth home run of the week (depending on whether we are counting the “home runs” as well as the home runs).

There was a downside to the sweep:  watching Robin Ventura calmly take it all in. Would have been awfully entertaining to hear what Ozzie Guillen had to say afterward.

The Tigers face a Cleveland team that has lost 16 of their last 18, and a pitcher who has yet to win. In fact, they are looking like an alternate-ending version of Major League.  I’ll save the sympathy for later:  it’s a pennant race. Besides Cleveland still leads the season match-up, 7 games to 5.

With Garcia continuing to look promising, Dirks back, and Boesch showing glimmers of hope, the outfield suddenly seems a bit crowded, with Quintin Berry holding the short straw.  Nonetheless, Leyland found a way to get short-straw Berry in the lineup, as Jackson gets the day off.   Might have also been a good day to let Cabrera DH, but it looks like the Jackson/Berry plan took precedence (you don’t dare leave Delmon out right now). Meanwhile, look for Danny Worth to appear in a pinch-running role, now that he has proven his ability to elude goats.

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young has hit 15% of his 2012 RBI and 19% of his home runs in the last week.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young.  I have a one-game plan for him to continue his hot streak.

Todays AJax on Holiday Lineup:

1. Quintin Berry CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Intante 2B

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