The Tigers have the brooms and the tarps handy, as they look to sweep the 3-game series with the Rays, weather permitting.  Last night the Tigers pulled off the rare feat of overcoming both a subpar performance by Justin Verlander and a Tiger Clown Show.

This afternoon manning the broom is Bad Brad Penny, who is looking to overcome a subpar performance of his own, as his 5 walks led to 5 Pittsburgh runs.  He will be faced by Andy Sonnanstine, who has transitioned from the bullpen, but is yet to make it past the 5th inning of any game.  That and the fact that the Rays’ bullpen has been well-used this series bodes well for Brutus’ chances to wield the broom.

On a side note, reading a Rays blog it is clear that Rays fans really, really don’t like Kelly Shoppach.  Laird was a fan favorite last season by comparison.  Shoppach’s failure to block Boesch from scoring was seen as the main cause of the first loss in the series, and when he was later hit by a pitch one fan said, “good, he needs to get hit with a pitch every at bat for the rest of the season.”  Ouch.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Alex Avila

Alex was the hero in last night’s game, and gets another RHP to jump on today.  And he is not Gerald Laird or Kelly Shoppach.

Today’s Back-to-Back Kelly Lineup:

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

Detroit is off to a new streak, winning their 2nd consecutive yesterday vs. Tampa Bay, 6-3.  Although who could have predicted how the win would come about:  Phil Coke with 4 great innings, Phil Coke with a hurt ankle (what is it with Tiger ankles anyway?), Charlie Furbush dominating in his first MLB appearance, Andy Dirks with his first career HR, Brennan Boesch diving around Shoppach at the plate, and all sorts of 9th-inning roller coaster excitement.

Update:  Phil Coke has been placed on the 15-day DL with a bone bruise in his right foot, and Adam Wilk has been called up from Toledo to take his roster spot, although presumably to join the bullpen.  The plan is to call up Andy Oliver to take Coke’s next turn in the rotation according to Jason Beck.

Today looks to be the more standard fare, with ace Justin Verlander taking the mound against Wade Davis.  Justin is looking to rebound from a merely good performance, and get back to his how-are-we-supposed-to-hit-that? ways.  Tampa Bay is notoriously better against RHP than they are against LHP, so he has a bit more work to do than Cokebush did last night.

This will also mean the Rays starting lineup will feature hot-hitting former Tiger Matt Joyce, savior of kittens.

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

With another RHP in the lineup, and batting behind Victor Martinez, Dirks will be the man on-the-spot with runners on base.

Today’s Where Hasn’t Kelly Batted Lineup:

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

“No, no, no, no”

This was Jim Leyland’s response when asked if he considered leaving Porcello in the game yesterday.  He added, “To me, it’s a no-brainer,” Leyland said. “Your closer is supposed to be better than your starter after eight innings, in my opinion.”

As much as we are used to the no-brain style of management, it is strange that Leyland didn’t mention the only decent rationale for removing Porcello, using the pinch-hitter to try to add another run (you know, those things that we get 2 of per game).  At any rate, Leyland later decided to go all F-bomb about fan second guessing. Fun stuff.

Today is a homecoming of sorts:  The Tigers return home, and greeting them will be the Tampa Bay Rays, and some old friends:  the suddenly brilliant Matt Joyce, a reanimated Johnny Damon, and the Sobbing Barber himself, Kyle Farnsworth.

Making the start for the Rays will be the promising youngster Jeremy Hellickson.  And the Rays could use a bit of promise in their starting pitching lately.  Phil Coke will be going for Detroit, which, inasmuch as it keeps lefty Matt Joyce on the bench, is a promising thing right from the start.

About Coke:  his last start against Boston was perhaps the best of his career.  There had been rumors afloat after the demotion of Benoit that the solution was going to be Coke to the BP as the new 8th inning guy, and Andy Oliver up to join the starting rotation.  Coke made that very difficult with his last outing.  Is the un-demotion of Benoit back to the 8th inning role related to the continued presence of Coke in the starting rotation?

In other news, after placing Brad Thomas on the DL with an elbow that can’t pitch, the Tigers recalled Charlie Furbush, then followed that up by sending Brayan Villarreal to the Hens of Mud, and bringing up Enrique Gonzalez, because they missed having a guy who pitched like Brad Thomas.  I expect the Rreality Show to resume in time for the fall season, if not sooner.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Joaquin Benoit

After a 1-game demotion, it looks as though Benoit will be Joaquin to the mound in the 8th inning again.  Because…it’s a no-brainer.  Seeing the Rays reminds Benoit that he was actually really good last year, and he responds with a good outing.

Today’s Intraleague Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Scott Sizemore 2B
3. Brennan Boesch RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Andy Dirks LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B

Short and sweet for the W.

Amazing what can happen in 7 days.  A week ago, the Tigers had won 7 in a row, were a season high 4 games over .500, and were leading the AL in runs scored.  Since then, the boys are 0-4, they’ve managed 6 runs in those 4 games, and are now 26 runs behind the Yankees.

Beyond the anemic offense, the bullpen has gone from terrible to catastrophic, allowing 10 ER in 4 2/3 IP over the last four games.  Help is on the way, as Charlie Furbush was recalled from Toledo today, with Brad Thomas going to the DL.  Furbush has been pretty darn good down there, posting a 2.91 ERA and striking out an international league leading 55 in 46 1/3 IP covering 8 starts.  I’m curious to see what his role will be.  Coke has certainly earned his spot in the rotation, but he’s sorely missed out of the pen.

Max Scherzer gets the ball today, on the heels of three fantastic starts where he allowed 2 ER over 20 innings.  At the plate, Max is a career .176 hitter with 2 doubles and 3 RBI in 68 career plate appearances.

Kevin Correia (core – A – ah) climbs the hill for the Pirates.  Correia has been in the bigs for 7 years, mostly as a spot starter until 2009 when he had a fine season with the Padres, towing a 3.91 ERA (3.81 FIP) over 33 starts and just under 200 IP.  He only pitched 145 innings last year (injury, I presume, but I practically had to look up where Pittsburgh is), and for 2011, he’s 5-4 with a 3.97 ERA and 1.25 WHIP (remember he’s facing a pitcher almost every 9 batters).   He doesn’t walk many (2011 2.06/9), nor strike out many (3.81/9) so let’s see if the Tigers can hit ’em where they ain’t.

I’ve got to get to a BBQ, someone please post the lineups when they are avail.

Let’s go Tigers!

Just how important is this inter league series, you ask?  I mean, we all know that AL Central match-ups have a direct effect on the standings; and playing the Yankees and Red Sox allow the boys to see where they stack up against the best.  But, Pirates?

Well, this weekend series against the Bucs kicks off a 12 game span that could demonstrate that 2011 could be a banner year for the Tigers, or could mean that the season is virtually over.  An article in today’s WSJ (yes, the WSJ, I found it underneath my baseball card magazines and Good Housekeeping) states that since 1996, just 9% of teams with a losing record on June 1 wound up with 90 wins, and the average correlation between a team’s win percentage on June 1 and its final winning percentage is 0.76 (which is high).  Before Cleveland’s inexplicable rise, 90 wins would have been a good bet to win the Central, and it still may be, or at least to earn a Wild Card slot.  The Tigers thus have 12 days to keep treading above .500, or we can all count on Matt Stafford shoulder updates 24/7 in October.

Who are the Pittsburgh Pirates, you ask?  Well, they come in at 20-23, which isn’t bad considering they have failed to finish above .500 since 1992, and have not won more than 68 games in a season since 2004.  Jeff Karsten started out in the pen, but now makes his 7th start of the season for Pittsburgh.  The righty has a 3.62 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and average 6.99 K/9.  He’s been much better in 2011 than the rest of his career, perhaps due to the development of a two-seam fastball which he’s relying on more in 2011 than ever.  He’s been decent over his 7 starts, keeping Pittsburgh in the game by not allowing too many runs, but he’s only reached the 6th inning twice all season.

Brad Bad Penny takes the first awkward swings of the year for a Tigers pitcher, as he looks to stop the 3 game slide.  Penny was awesome last time out versus Kansas City, allowing only 5 hits with no walks and no runs over 8 innings.  Over his last five BBP is 4-1 with a 1.51 ERA and .93 WHIP.

Lineups to come.

“I don’t recall any team ever winning a game without scoring a run.”

This is one thing we learned from yesterday’s game, courtesy of Stormin’ Norman.

For all of the hand-wringing over Leyland’s decision to go with Schlereth, and stay with him after he walked Crawford (not to mention the decision to lift Coke at 78 pitches after a short rain delay), the real story of the game was the failure to capitalize on 2 opportunities with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out.  In fact, after a big recent surge, the offense has started sputtering a bit

A big reason for this has been the slump–yes, it’s time for the “S” word–of Miguel Cabrera.  Over the past 2 weeks, here are the numbers of Cabrera, and the much-maligned Inge:

.188 .372 .281 .653

.200 .314 .300 .614

Inge with a bit more hitting and power, Cabrera with more BBs…otherwise, almost identical. Yikes.

Tonight has all of the makings of another game where capitalizing on scoring opportunities will sort the winner from the loser, as the 2 hottest starting pitchers in the AL, Justin Verlander and Josh Beckett face off.  While Verlander has been nearly unhittable, literally, in his last 2 starts, Beckett has posted a 1.75 ERA for the season himself, so this will likely be good stuff for fans of the pitching duel.

Tonight also has the makings of another rain-delayed affair.  Weathermen are standing by.  Brandon Inge has the hockey gear ready.

One more thing we have learned:  it isn’t just here at DTW that clowns are unwelcome.  The anti-clown backlash has been sweeping the nation–even Ronald McDonald is not immune: Critics to McDonald’s: Stop the clowning

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Miguel Cabrera

Was his double yesterday against the tough Buchholz a sign that he is emerging from his little “s” thing? In a game where one big hit could make the difference, we hope so.  Hit one for all of the classy Red Sox fans who were chanting “DUI” yesterday.

Today’s Mr. Dirks meets the Green Monster Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Scott Sizemore 2B
3. Brennan Boesch RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Andy Dirks LF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B