13-12, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind Cle

Jhonny Peralta may have hit the walk-off, but Alex Avila won that game.

On another night when the Tigers bats struggled against a front line pitcher, Avila reached base 4 times, banged out 2 XBHs, and started the 9th inning rally. Not to mention that Avila also called a tremendous game.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Avila has caught every one of Smyly’s start’s this year. Last night, Drew Smyly had another strong outing, striking out 7 and allowing only 2 runs in 6 IP.  That makes 4 straight quality starts, and his debut only didn’t qualify because of a pitch count limit.

Raburn lucked into his 2nd RBI of the season (he’s on pace for 14) when a fly ball he hit happened to be with a runner on 3rd and less than two outs. I’ve been a big Raburn supporter in the past, but this is too much. It’s only a matter of time before someone else on the farm gets a shot.

Mad Max against Gavin Floyd this afternoon. Last time out Floyd carried a no hitter into the 7th and ended up allowing 3 runs in 6 2/3 against Boston. He’s held the opposing team to 3 hits or less in 3 out of his last 4 starts, though he’s been roughed up in his other 2 starts this season.

Mad Max has been flat out awful this season. He’s posting a 2.04 WHIP through 5 starts, and while the Ks are there, he’s sporting a 7.77 ERA thus far. Part of that is bad luck, as his BABIP against him is a ridiculous .442, even though his LD% is near his career average. The BABIP and BAA (.346) will regress, but they won’t account for that much of an ERA swing. There is still plenty of time to work things out, but Jones & Smokey have got to be concerned.

Delmon Young is sorry, not a racist, and back in the lineup. He’s at least trying.

In player news – Leyland thinks that Schlereth’s shoulder injury may have had something to do with his poor performance before he was sent down to Toledo a few weeks ago.

Today’s Series Clinching Lineup Is:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Boesch, RF (I don’t like it)
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Avila, C
7. Peralta, SS
8. Dirks, LF (I like it)
9. RABurn, 2B (gonna help him get started today)

Today’s Game is the Fox Game of the Week.

(sorry for the delay, server was down, back now)

Last minute so this will be short, but a couple of newsworthy items:

– Fister is back and will start on Monday.

– Delmon Young’s suspension is over today and Leyland has said that he will DH tomorrow and Sunday.

The 12-11 Tigers, now only percentage points out of first, look to sweep the abbreviated 2-game home series with the Royals this afternoon.

Justin “No-Hitter” Verlander will take on Jonathan “No-Hitter” Sanchez.

Today’s player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson, who last night put up his 3rd 4-hit game already this season.

Today’s Dirks-Day-To-Day Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Ryan RaburnLF
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Alex Avila C
8. Brad Eldred DH
9. Danny Worth 2B

After a rain postponement to be rescheduled for September 24, the Tigers are still 11-11, tied for 2nd with Chicago, 1 game behind Cleveland.

Duane Below and his 0.00 ERA have been bumped back to the bullpen, and instead Rick Porcello will face off against Luke Hochevar.  Tune in early for an idea how this is going to go: Porcello has a 2012 1st-inning ERA so far of 22.50.

The lineup is pretty much the same as what was scheduled for last night, although with the extra day to mull it over Ol’ Smokey bumped Ramon Santiago in front of Don Kelly.

***

Tonight’s random fact: Last year, to solve their 3rd base problems, the Oakland A’s acquired Virginia Commonwealth product Scott Sizemore from the Detroit Tigers.  This season, with Sizemore injured, the A’s aquired Virginia Commonwealth product Brandon Inge from the Detroit Tigers.

***

Tonight’s player of the Pre-game:  Still Miguel Cabrera, who is 15-29 career against Royals starter Luke Hochevar

Today’s Best-LFielder-DHing Lineup:

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

11-11, tied for 2nd with Chicago, 1 game behind Cleveland.

One of the things going right for the Tigers so far this season had been the starting pitching, which has kept the team in games even as it has been unable to produce runs.

Over the last 10 games, that has all changed, with the starters going 2-6 with a 6.65 ERA.  Bad Max Scherzer was the latest victim, giving up 3 runs and a damaging 7 walks in fewer than 5 innings.  In fact there was even some speculation a trip to Toledo could be in Scherzer’s future, but Leyland has apparently put the lid on that conversation.

Tonight Duane Below will get his first start of the season and try to get things back on track.  Below has pitched 12 innings of relief so far this season, is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, and has yet to give up his first walk (0.58 WHIP), which could be a nice antidote to what we watched yesterday.

Meanwhile, sources say Delmon Young will be suspended by MLB, with an announcement coming as soon as tonight (duration unknown).  Andy Dirks has played capably in Young’s place so far, although the unaccustomed display of fielding prowess in left field that has come as a result has shocked Leyland into moving him back to the DH spot.

***

In other news, former Tiger Brandon Inge will be making his debut as an athletic Athletic tonight.  The Tigers will see him in Oakland May 10-13.  Meanwhile the first-place Indians are unveiling the newest member of the tribe, Johnny Damon.

***

Tonight’s player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera, who is 15-29 career against Royals starter Luke Hochevar

Today’s Best-Fielder-DHing Lineup:

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

11-10, 1st place, tied with Cle.

Two in a row.

10-10, 2nd place, 1 game behind Cle.

Short and sweet for the W.

10-9, tied for 1st place with Chi and Cle.

Could it possibly be that the Tigers are only 19 games into the season, and they have already hit their low point?

And that their low point is tied for 1st place?

And that Brandon Inge is no longer a Tiger, at any level?

Yes, probably, and yes.

I think there’s a decent chance that the Tigers lose 6/7 again this year, but losing those on a homestand, with three of the games vs. Seattle, is inexcusable. Jim Price said it best during the game on Thursday – “They just don’t look interested.” Delmon Young was clearly interested in a few beers last night, and his resulting altercation in NYC and ugly words have landed him on the bench for tonight. Young has a history of poor decision making and clearly should not be looked to right now to right this team.

The hitting was anemic, the fielding pathetic, and the Team’s general disposition was indifferent. I really think that the Tigers hit a low point late last night after an uninspired game, the Inge release, and Young’s arrest. Yes, it’s early, but it’s hard to think that the baseball can get much worse.

And after all of that, the Tigers are 10-9, tied for first place in the AL Central. I don’t expect them to hold down first place starting tonight through the end of the season, but this goes to show that the Tigers will have to fall a long ways to be out of contention in the Central.

So with that, we open a 3 game set at Yankee Stadium. Ivan Nova is off to a nice start for the Yankees, posting a 3-0 record thus far. But JV should come in tonight and end this losing streak.

In other news:

– Doug Fister threw about 50 pitches yesterday and said that it “felt good.”

– Longman Superstar Duane Below will take Fister’s spot on Monday against KC.

– Brad Eldred up in Inge’s spot. Eldred is 31 and a journeyman who has had 3 unremarkable stints in the bigs between Colorado and Pittsburgh. He has been blasting 1 HR every 6.15 ABs in the international league so far this year. No word on whether he has any friends who can play 2B.

Tonight’s Brad Eldred featured lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Don Kelly, LF
6. Brad Eldred, DH
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Jhonny Peralta, SS
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B

Well, here we go.  Rick Porcello–he of the 8-run first inning–is all that stands between the Tigers and a series sweep, at home, at the hands of the lowly Mariners.

Not to worry:  Rick, who no doubt reads DTW before starts, will be inspired by both the picture for today’s post, and his resplendent full name festooned across the banner.

The Tiger offense continues to struggle (but it was King Felix), although the Boesch HR is a hopeful sign that he has emerged from his funk.

So what is wrong with the offense so far?  Time to take a look, as promised.

Today’s category:  Runner at 3rd and less than 2 out.  The complaint is that the Tigers are awful at this, and waste rare scoring opportunities.  Verdict:  true, and it’s worse than it looks.

Detroit is dead last in the R3L2O category, only scoring 34% of its runners (AL average: 48%, Best team Toronto at 61%).  But if you look at RBIs with a R32LO instead of runs scored, the Tiger performance drops to just 28%–5 of the runs they have scored have been on errors and wild pitches.  Their OPS with R3L2O is .310, vs a league average of .820.

These are early season results and are based on small sample sizes, so some caution must be used in concluding anything about how the season will go.  The R3L2O failure has definitely been a part of the early season struggle to score runs though. We will revisit these things on a periodic basis.

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

This is the day the Dirks day-to-day ends, and it ends up with him in the leadoff spot.  Guy still can’t manage to take the field with a glove on though.

Today’s Where is Everyone? Lineup:

1. Andy Dirks DH
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Don Kelly CF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Ryan Raburn 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Well, it’s not about Brandon Inge.

So, what is it about?

Is it about the lack of a mean streak?

Is there a mean SOB in the minor league system who could replace the friendly Inge?

Yes, there was another Bad Max sighting.  But the Tigers scored a relatively healthy 4 runs, with comforting contributions from the middle of the order.  Still, they were no match for the mild Mariners, and consternation brews.

Is it about epic failures with runners on 3rd and less than 2 out?  Are the Tiger hitters too impatient, letting starting pitchers off the hook? Too many strikeouts? Inability to advance runners? A big hole in the lineup with whoever is scribbled in as 2B?

I will look at all of these issues and more in tommorow’s post (this in the tradition of the Anglo-Saxon beot).

Tonight the Tigers try to get back on track with Rookie Adam Wilk facing King Felix Hernandez. Tiger-Killer Hernandez has won 8 consecutive decisions against Detroit, so…good luck with that, kid.

And what’s up with Andy Dirks? He has been out 8 days now with a day-to-day mild hamstring something.  If he could play, he would (Smokey is going full-bore lefty tonight)…if not, why not DL him, and bring up Clete? (oops).

***

Today’s random note:  Jeremy Bonderman is contemplating a comeback.

***

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young

The Tigers need a mean streak. Delmon once threw his bat at an umpire.

Today’s Donkeiago Lineup:

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