Detroit Tigers, 42-42, 4 1/2 games behind Chicago.

Today the Tigers have a chance to win 4 in a row, which they last did when their starting second baseman was named Brandon Inge (April 15-18), and would tie their longest winning streak of the season.  Indicators are positive: the April 4-game winning streak was also against the Royals.

The Tigers will send Doug “Five-Inning” Fister out to the mound, who seems to have misplaced his fastball velocity when he returned from the DL.  The Royals counter with their lefty-du-jour, sometimes troublesome Bruce Chen (3-1, 3.00 in his last 4 vs. Detroit).

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The player of the game last night was Drew Smyly, who once again struggled after the 4th inning, but pulled it together, clowns be damned. And what a first 4 innings those were: Smyly struck out 9 batters, and only gave up 2 singles and no walks.  The Royals seemed to have no idea what he was throwing.  Was it a new pitch?

Or maybe he was just trying to impress Kate Upton. Yes, apparently Miss Upton has jumped on the Tiger bandwagon now that they are a .500 club.  Her appearance at Comerica last night set off a Twitter firestorm.

Personally, I have more important things to worry about.  Like these 4:00 starts.  When they do day/night game splits, they count as day games.  But don’t you think there are players who struggle in early day games, but do perfectly fine in 4:00 games? Should there be a 3rd category in the splits? Who has time for supermodel gossip when there are issues like this at hand?

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Stat of the Day: The Tigers have attempted 41 stolen bases this season (33 successful), the lowest number of attempts in all of MLB.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Gerald Laird.  The Royals like to run, and like to get caught–22 times in 75 attempts.  Laird obliges, and also nails Prince Fielder with a pickoff throw as retribution for the black eye Fielder gave him.

Today’s Winning Record Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Ramon Santiago 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 41-42, 4 1/2 games behind Chicago.

Well, here we go again.  The Tigers have their 9th shot at getting to the .500 mark since May 15, and are 0-8 so far at it.

They will have to do it against the Royals, who will go all-lefty on the mound for the 3-game series. The first lefty up will be Jonathan Sanchez, future topic of Worst Trade lists (the Royals traded Melky Cabrera, who is tied for the NL BA lead at .356).

Sanchez has had trouble finding the plate: he has given up 40 BBs in 46 innings, including 6 each in his last 2 outings.  The Tigers have had recent success with an aggressive approach at the plate.  It will be interesting to see if they change this up against the struggling Sanchez, or continue to whack away.

Detroit sends out Drew “Four-Inning” Smyly, who pitched against the Royals in April and held them to 1 unearned run in 6 innings.

Justin Verlander says cheer up fans, the 2nd half will be better.

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Yesterday’s game had a little of everything: a rain delay, two consecutive outs at the plate (nice throws by Cabrera and Raburn; nice plate-blocking by Laird), a little 3 Stooges action on a pop bunt, in which Fielder almost took out Laird (I guess that makes Laird Larry); dodge ball on the mound, which led to an early exit for Porcello; big hits by Jackson and Cabrera and a really big hit for Fielder (if you wait long enough, the 3-run homers will come).

But with everything that happened, Jim Leyland said the key to the game was the clutch relief performance of Darin Downs, who relieved Porcello after he took a line drive off of his bicep. Downs must have felt some sympathy for Porcello.  Nicknamed The Pitcher Who Lived, Downs suffered a fractured skull from a line drive in AA in 2009.

Stat of the Day: Detroit passed Minnesota, and is now only the 2nd worst team in the league in bases-loaded hitting (.219 BA, .531 OPS).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Austin Jackson.  AJax is hitting .400 with 6 RBI over his last 6 games, which doesn’t match what Cabrera has done in the same span, but Cabrera gets funny sometimes when he is at DH. Jackson stays hot against the all-lefty menu.

Today’s Clown Show Alert Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry RF
3. Miguel Cabrera DH
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Ryan Raburn 2B
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Ramon Santiago 3B

40-42, 3rd place, 4.5 games behind CWS.

JV turned in just the performance that the Tigers needed last night, tossing a complete game 4 hitter in the 5-1 win. Incredibly, he only needed 78 pitches to get through 7 innings, and only because of a few long ABs in the 8th did his pc escalate to 115. JV was efficient early on and pitched to contact, before logging more Ks later in the game. For the first time in a while, JV never hit 100 on the gun.

The Tigers get sophomore sensation Scott Diamond today, as Diamond looks for his 3rd straight win, and 8th of the season. Diamond is a soft tossing lefty with tremendous command, having only walked 11 in 72 IPs this year. Curiously, his lefty/righty splits are inverted, as he’s held righties to a .255 average with a 2.08 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, but lefties hit .324 off of him for a 4.60 ERA and 1.53 WHIP.  Which means that Quentin Berry should be starting.

Porcello looks to continue his hot streak, where he’s allowed only 3 ER in this last 20 IPs. Porcello has seen his ERA drop from 5.18 to 4.35 during that streak, and a win today would be his third straight, and make him 4-1 over his last 5.

A few notes:

– JV is Verducci’s pick for mid-season Cy Young.
– Scutaro at 2B? Let’s do it.

Today’s Why Is Raburn Even Playing Much Less Batting 2nd Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Raburn, LF (11-38 w/5 xBH since his recall)
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Boesch, RF
8. Laird, C
9. Santiago, 2B

39-42, 3rd place, 4.5 games back.

Happy Independence Day everyone.

The Twins are now 4-0 at Comerica this year.

In a season which began with sky high expectations, the Tigers arrive at the midway point 3 games under .500 with little reason to believe that the second 81 will be much better. Last night’s game was a microcosm of the season. Two Santiago errors led to 5 unearned runs, and Brennan Boesch’s poor play in the 7th led to another. Though the play was ruled a 2B, most other regular OFers make that play. The Bullpen’s walks (5) nearly matched its IPs (6.1), and the Tigers again failed to produce with the bases loaded, lowering their season average to .219  with a .531 OPS. (Contrast that to batting .294 with a .797 OPS with RISP for the season). Both Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham are having better offensive seasons than Prince Fielder.

To be honest, the loss was embarrassing. Dan Dickerson and Jim Price raised several concerns after the radio broadcast and chided the organization for the guys’ inability to manufacture runs and play defense, and questioned whether the Tigers can get back to .500. Price inferred that Ramon is being overplayed at 2B simply because the Tigers don’t have any other options.

Another loss today would be devastating.

But fortunately, Justin Verlander climbs the hill.

The Tigers simply need to start winning.

Now.

Lineups Later (or please post if you get the chance, headed to a BBQ, as I hope you are).

39-41, 3rd place 3.5 games back.

The Tigers are now 0-8 in get back to .500 games since mid-May. Hopefully they’ll have an opportunity to break that streak tomorrow.

A sore hamstring has pushed Scherzer back to Sunday (and gives JV a leg up on the K king race), so Duane Below gets his first start of the season today. Below hasn’t pitched more than 2 2/3 since April, so Jimmy doesn’t expect to let Below go more than 4 today. Drew Smyly will be watching intently…

A few notes:

– Matt Young down (was he still up?) reliever Darin Downs up. Young struck out 9 times and doubled in his other plate appearance. Downs put up some solid numbers in Toledo- 29.1 IP, 2.15 ERA, 33 Ks, 1.13 WHIP. No word on whether he can play 2B.
– Fielder’s error in the 8th inning against the Rangers last Wed has been changed to a single; presumably to boost the Rangers bullpen ERA. Funny how other teams do that for their pitching staff.

Tonight’s Lineup Features a Flash Clown Show Flood Warning:

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

39-40, 3rd place, 3 games back.

Let’s talk about the lineup for a second. I really feel that the Berry/Jackson swap is gaining momentum, since I now know of 3 people on the bandwagon (me, Coleman, and Sean). Jason Beck even chimed in, though he thinks AJax should stay at the top. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Beck raised the point that Jackson’s doubles rate makes it likely that a double + bunt puts one one at third with Cabby/Fielder coming up. My contention is that if Berry gets on 1st, we have a much better chance of bringing him home with AJax behind him (due to Berry’s ability to get to 2nd on his own, + the XB power of Jackson, Cabrera & Fielder).

But, the other point to consider is Jackson’s current .404 OBP (also raised by Beck). Now, Berry’s is currently close enough (.385) that I still think it makes sense. But if their OBPs diverge, then Jackson is likely a better choice. In the long run, I see Jackson moving down the order (a la Granderson/Cano/Sizemore).

Last night’s game saw an ordinary Smyly (actually, he was fantastic for 4 innings, and terrible for 1) followed by a superb bullpen. While the Tigers are addressing the 5th spot, the bullpen looks to be set. 4 IP, 2 H and 6 Ks last night. I wonder if Leyland is considering going with Villarreal and Coke as his 7th innning guys in lieu of Dotel. After a great April, Dotel was lit up in May and June to the tune of a 6.32 ERA. Villarreal led the bullpen with 16 innings in June posting a .94 WHIP and 22Ks.

The Tigers get Liam Hendriks tonight, a guy who has yet to win in 12 ML starts. It’s hard to believe that the Twins don’t have a better option than a guy with a 6.82 ERA this year (6.55 career) and a 1.61 career WHIP (1.67 this year). Though the Tigers have been known to turn unknowns into Cy-knowns. Hendriks does have 2 QS this year, one was a ND against Texas back in April, and the other was his last time out against the Sox.

This will be the Tigers’ 8th shot at getting back to .500 since May 15th…

A few notes:

– Congrats to Fielder (starter), JV (in the running to start) and Cabby for their all star selections. Jackson was left of the vote-in list, but he’s got to be next on the list in the event that an outfielder gets injured.
– I saw Leyland’s press conference last night (UVerse offers FSD as part of its regular sports package) and he mentioned that Villareal really loses arm strength after an inning, especially the next night. I’m okay with that.
– Ryan Raburn hit .321 with an .809 OPS in June. Boesch hit .220 with a .576 OPS. Which explains the order below, despite a RH starter.
– Dontrelle Willis announced his retirement today.

Tonight’s Back to .500 Lineup Is:

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

Detroit Tigers, 38-40, 4 games behind Chicago.

Is it time to move Austin Jackson back in the lineup?

AJax continues to impress, still leading the Tigers in batting average (.326), on base percentage (.408) and OPS (.945), and only a few points behind Cabrera in slugging percentage (.537 to .541).

With runners in scoring position, the big bat in the Tiger lineup is not Miguel Cabrera, and not Prince Fielder, but Austin Jackson, who is hitting .372 with an OPS of 1.212 with RISP, with 3 HR and 29 RBI.  Cabrera is at a healthy .368/.966, also with 3 HR and 41 RBI–but he has had the advantage of twice as many plate appearances with RISP as Jackson has had (103 vs 56) because of Jackson’s spot in the lineup.

Jackson came up big again last night with 2 out and 2 on, and put the game away with a rare multi-run home run against Pine Tar Peralta.

The win last night means that the Tigers still have a chance to hit the halfway point of the season above .500, but they will have to win today to do it.

That task will fall to Drew Smyly, who after a blistering start, has had a string of rather ordinary outings.  There was nothing ordinary about the last start of his opponent, Alex Cobb.  In what coach Joe Maddon called a “heroic” performance, Cobb pitched a complete game against the Royals–an 8-run, 13-hit complete game. Let’s hope there is more of that heroism this afternoon.

Stat of the Day: Over his last 2 starts Rick Porcello has an ERA of 0.69, and a WHIP of an even 1.000.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Raburn, Kelly, and Santiago, who between them will find some way of getting a runner or two into scoring position for Austin Jackson

Today’s Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Don-Kelly Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Ryan Raburn 2B
8. Don Kelly RF
9. Ramon Santiago SS

Detroit Tigers, 37-40, 5 games behind Chicago. Tiger record against AL East: 9-9.

Yesterday we had a long intro and few comments, and the Tigers lost. Today looking to change things up.

It’s Earth, Wind & Fire night at Tropicana, as Rick Porcello takes the mound against the Rays in game 3 of 4 in Tampa.

It’s also pine tar and takedown night, as Tampa regains the services of relievers Joel Peralta and Kyle Farnsworth for tonight’s game.

Stat of the Day: Tampa Bay is mysteriously bad against the AL Central: 4-10, including a sweep by the Royals. In fact, remove the AL Central games from all the AL East teams’ records, and the Rays are comfortably in first place.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Delmon Young. Delmon is having one of those mini-hot streaks that can make him seem like an actual threat, hitting .346 with a home run over the last 6 games. Let’s see if he can keep it up another game or two.

Today’s Back-To-Jacksonberry Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 37-39, 4 games behind Chicago. Tiger record with Toby Harrah as Special Co-Hitting-Coach-Consultant-Guy: 2-0.

So what kind of genius thing was that anyway, the Toby Harrah deal? I’m not talking about the 32 hits in 2 games, that is most likely mere coincidence.  But there was this dilemma:  the Tiger offense was woefully underperforming, and fans wanted the head of Lloyd McClendon, if nothing else to “send a message” (although to whom, and about what, was less clear).

On the other hand, there was Leyland’s legendary loyalty to his coaches (and players), so at the same time, the scenario of a McClendon firing was almost unimaginable.  Then someone had a truly brilliant insight:  you don’t need to fire McClendon (loyalty intact)–just hire another hitting coach.  In fact, they may be hiring more, who knows?  There are no limits on the number of hitting coaches you can have (although they can’t all be in the dugout)…just wish I knew whose idea it was.

Or maybe the key to the offense is more hitting slumps. Leyland seems to think they are a good thing.

Max Scherzer leapfrogged Justin Verlander back into the AL strike out lead.  This is a less frivolous thing than you might think. With Detroit’s gloveless wonders in the field (sorry Austin, but you can’t cover the entire field), every ball not put into play is a blessing.

Alas, poor Max, your lead will be short-lived, for The Man himself takes that mound tonight:  it’s V-Day again. Justin Verlander is not in the mood to lose games. You can see it from his Game Post picture.

But Verlander will have to contend with Batman; former Tiger Will Rhymes (who we jettisoned because we had too many second basemen) is in the Rays’ lineup.

*****

It’s not V-Mart day though:  the news on Victor wasn’t bad per se, but it doesn’t look like an August return is in the cards . More mid-Septemberish.

And what’s up with Andy Dirks? This one has flown a bit under the radar. But Andy Dirks is actually 4th on the team in OPS (right between Cabrera and Fielder…think about that), and can actually glove it in the outfield. I think his absence from the team is vastly underrated.

Things are looking better for Al Alburquerque. If Al-Al could actually come back as anywhere near the pitcher he was last season, the Tiger bullpen could turn into something very special

*****

Stat of the Day: Detroit and Texas are the only AL teams without a single at bat this season by a player 36 or older. Where have all the old dudes gone?

(The Tigers blow the tie with a September call up of their hot shortstop prospect, 43-year old Cale Iorg).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Toby Harrah.

Today’s Berry-Stays-In-With-A-Lefty Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ramon Santiago 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Quintin Berry LF

Detroit Tigers, 36-39, 4 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers may not have been able to keep up with the Ranger scoring onslaught last night, but the offense did finally have a big game.  Maybe there will be more of the same now that Detroit has another hitting coach, ex-Ranger Toby Harrah, Detroit’s minor league hitting coordinator.  Harrah will probably “come and go,” and will be working alongside Lloyd McClendon.

More help for the offense may–or may not–come later in the season from Victor Martinez, who is undergoing an MRI today, which should give some clues as to his progress.

Hopefully the hot Tiger bats don’t cool in air-conditioned Tropicana Field, where the Tigers take on Tampa Bay in a 4-game series. The Rays are fresh off of a sweeping at the hands of the Royals, who have snuck up to within one game of Detroit in the Central.

Stat of the Day: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are #1 and #2 in the AL in strike outs with 113 and 107.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Ramon Santiago.  Santiago has quietly been heating up (hitting .310 over the last 2 weeks).  Look for a Santiago-Jackson-Berry rally, and a respite from clown antics.

Today’s Indoor Lineup:

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

36-38, 3rd place, 3 games behind CWS

Dombrowski said today that “he did not think that 2B is going to be the reason why we win or lose the division.” Was this an endorsement of Santiago? Santiago’s hitting .286 in June and as long as Ramon gets the majority of the ABs, then I agree with DD. Despite that, Tigers 2B are hitting .202 this season, which is why Lowrie remains a trade rumor.

Fister climbs the mound tonight the 9th time, looking for his 7th quality start…and 2nd win. He’s the mark of consistency, having posted 14 quality starts in his 18 career Det starts. Fister is 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA over his last three against Texas, including 2 runs in 7 and 1/3 in last year’s ALCS. Nelson Cruz is a lifetime 7-14 with one dinger off of Fister.

The Tigers will face Roy Oswalt (remember him?) on a scorching Texas night (hit 104 here today). Oswalt went 6 2/3 allowing 9 hits, 1 walk, 1 run and striking out 6 in his first game back since injuries cut his season short last year. Oswalt has dominated Cabrera (3-15) and Fielder (5-36) in his career; with few ABs against anyone else.

A few notes:

– AJax has the AL’s top OBP from the lead -off spot at .402
– JV is up for two ESPY’s – Best Male Athlete and best MLB player
– Did you know that the Tigers are 24-18 when Raburn starts, but 6-12 when Worth starts?
– Good article on MLive today which discussed Scherzer opening up about his brother.

Tonight’s Series Taking Season Turn-arounding Lineup Is:

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

36-37, 3rd place, 2 games behind CWS.

Rick P climbed the mound last night against the same team that battered him for the worst performance of his career eight weeks ago, and turned in his best performance of the year. He threw first pitch strikes to 19 out of 27 batters, and used the Texas heat to consistently threw his best sinker of the year down in the strike zone. Now, he still walked 3 and gave up 6 hits before being pulled 1 batter into the 7th, but he was charged with only 1 run (due to Villareal’s only bad pitch of his outing). I think that Porcello still has a lot to learn about the art of pitching, but that sinker can win a lot of games.

Smyly back up today and will make his first start in 15 days. Smyly’s brief career can be defined by the number 6 – as in 6 brilliant starts to begin his career, and then 6 mediocre ones. He started his career 4-2 with a 1.59 ERA (including 1 ER over 6 IP against Texas), but is 1-2 with a 6.67 ERA since. Let’s hope that this begins a devilish 6 game win streak and brings his 6 streak to 6 – 6 – 6.

No word on how debilitated Yu Darvish has become from hearing the intro to Soldier Boy over and over.

I’m wondering if it may make more sense to bat Berry 1st, and Jackson 2nd. With Jackson’s ability to go the other way, I think that he can develop into a great #2 hitter; and Berry’s speed and base stealing ability almost mandate that he bat 1st.

A few notes:

– Dave Cameron demonstrates how pitchers are successfully pitching to Josh Hamilton.
– Fangraphs posted an argument that JV could have entered the 7th on Sunday with a no-hitter on the line, but for Cabrera’s defense. (Video replays included, makes for healthy debate).

PoPG is Cabrera. He mashes against Texas – .378 BA and 1.033 OPS over his career. He leads the AL in hits since May 10th with 60, and has posted a 1.065 OPS during that time.

Tonight’s Seemingly Rational Lineup Until I Looked at Order Splits:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Berry, LF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Boesch, RF (2012 OPS batting 6th – .615, 2012 OPS batting 7th – .839)
7. Peralta, SS (virtually identical 6/7 order splits)
8. Avila, C
9. Santiago, 2B