69-61, 2nd place, 3 games behind CWS, 3 games behind WC.

Well, after getting swept by KC while the White Sox lost 3 out of 4 to the Orioles certainly has dampened everyone’s spirits, there is still a lot of baseball left, and the Tigers could very well find themselves tied for first place on Sunday night. Isn’t this why we love baseball? So rather than focus on the negatives, which would be all too easy, let’s try to get back into this thing, one game at at time.

We’ve got our top three starters going for us, we’re at home, and we have a guy named Miguel Cabrera. We can do this.

Last time we played the White Sox, we swept them in 3 home games. We can do this.

We start tonight with the towering Doug Fister. If you can overlook his last start…Fister has been nothing short of dominant since the All-Star break. Prior to the Orioles outing, Fister had seven consecutive quality starts, and allowed 1 ER or less in 5 of those. He’s 6-3 over his last 10 and has reminded all of us of why we came to love him during the 2nd half of 2011.

It won’t be easy, as the Tigers face White Sox ace Jake Peavy tonight. After a sub-par July, Peavy has had a scorching August, posting a 2.83 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. His 9-9 record is really more reflective of poor run support than his success this season. Fielder is 9-27 lifetime off of Peavy; Cabrera is 9 for 38 and he and Delmon Young’s 1 homer each are the only Tiger homers. Note that Peavy dominates innings 4-6 (.543 OPS against), so we have to take advantage of any early opportunities as there aren’t many holes in the Sox bullpen. UPDATE – Cabrera has 2 career HRs off of Peavy.

A few quick notes:

– Jeff Baker is done, I expect him to get picked up somewhere else. It was worth a try. Prospect Avisail Garcia is up, and remember, since he got called up before Sept 1, he can be on the playoff roster.

– Al Al will be back on Saturday, the first day he’s eligible to be back. I think he’s okay for the playoff roster because he was on the DL, can someone confirm?

– If Infante has a big night (4 hits) he may reach 1,000 for his career. I like that guy a lot.

Tonight’s Hope Restoring 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

Detroit Tigers, 69-60, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 2 back for WC spot.

“That’s just baseball,” said Tiger manager Jim Leyland about last night’s loss to the Royals, so we’ll just leave it at that.

Well, as soon as we tip our hat to Royals ace Bruce “Cy” Chen, who earned praise from Leyland: “Well, he was awful good,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “He made it look pretty easy, to be honest with you. He was good. He cuts the ball and changes it up, backdoor breaking ball. He really knows what he’s doing, obviously. He’s not overpowering, as anybody can see. He pitched a great game.”

OK then.  As we previously mentioned here on this very website, the Tiger offense is either feast or famine; last night it was famine, and they lost, since they don’t do the kind of things to scrape out a run in low scoring games (when they lose “feast” games like the Tuesday game, that spells trouble).

One of these little things is managing a simple fly ball to the outfield with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out (R3L2O).  They had 2 chances last night:  2 strikeouts. Are they really as bad at this as they seem?

I like to measure this by runs per plate appearance (RPA), which tilts a tiny bit in favor of slugging teams, in that it is higher for teams who sometimes hit the 3-run homer instead of the sac fly.  The average AL RPA for R3L2O is .663, or approximately 2 runs every 3 PA.

The Tiger RPA is only .613.  The White Sox RPA, by contrast, is .730.  That means if the Tigers had been as good with R3L2O as the White Sox, they would have plated an additional 32 runs so far this season, based on their 274 plate appearances with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out.  Think those runs would have been helpful this year?

Well, today is another day, another chance to feast.  And the White Sox already lost.

Stat of the Day: Tiger record in 1-run games since the break: 3-7.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Cannot be revealed. He agreed to POPG on condition of anonymity.

Todays Laird of the Rings 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. Omar Intante 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 69-59, 2nd place, 2 back, 2 back for WC spot.

Well, that was different.

The very first comment on yesterday’s post (Tigers Rule) predicted a bucket full of runs, and as if on cue the Tigers hit the bucket with 3 in the top of the first.  Meanwhile Baltimore had jumped to a 4-0 lead on Chicago and knocked Sale out of the game, Verlander was about to take the mound, and if finally looked like Detroit was going to make its move.

And then…well it’s hard to describe actually, but it lead to Darin Downs warming up in the 2nd inning of a Verlander start.  I wonder how many times the bullpen had to be called before they were convinced it wasn’t a prank call.

The game did have a little of everything, that’s for certain.  Once could almost make separate posts on Verlander, Coke, Cabrera, and Young.

As for Verlander:  Not Enough Strikeouts.

As Kevin and I have pointed out before, Too Many Strikeouts is an odd thing to worry about when you have possibly the worst defense in the league–the fewer balls put in play, the better. And although Verlander was certainly off, he was also the victim of bad luck and bad defense.  Just look at how the 2nd inning went:

• Strikeout
• Error by Cabrera (scored as single to left, on 1-2 count)
• Popup in between 2nd/SS/CF (on 2-2 count)
• Ground single between 3rd and short (run scores)
• Flare double on foul line to left (1-2 count)
• Ground single over 2nd (1-2 count, run scores)
• Ground out at 2nd, failed DP
• Ground single over 2nd
• Popup to first

4 of the 6 batters with hits had 2-strike counts; only 1 out was recorded for 5 ground balls (for those who like such things, Verlander’s BABIP for the game was .512). A perfect storm of shaky defense, bad luck, and an inability to close out with the K on batters with 2 strikes.

All I have to say about Coke is Leyland will bring in a lefty in that situation every time, and not to bring in Coke would go against his penchant for sticking with struggling players to keep their confidence up (call it the Raburn effect). Well OK, one more thing:  so far this season lefties have hit .217 against Villarreal, .267 against Coke.

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The there was the 9th inning.  After a disappointing strikeout by Cabrera by a runner on 3rd and one out and an intentional walk of Fielder, Delmon Young, to the surprise and joy of Tiger fans, put the Tigers back up with a 3-run shot inside the RF foul pole. Or around it. Or behind it. Or through it, or something. Or not: it was ruled a foul ball, a call which held up after a video review.

It seemed like a home run to me just based on where it landed–the ball was slicing, and to get where it ended up while being foul it would have had to change its arc in flight.  But what do I know. The video replays were confusing. You tell me.  Both teams said the umpires made the right call.   That’s hard to argue with: if conclusive video is needed to overturn a call, they had no choice.  By the same token, if it had been called a home run, it would have also been difficult to overturn the call.

One thing that’s good to know:  even though MLB instituted the home run replay review, there are no standards or methods to insure consistency in what exactly they are reviewing.  The quality, number and positioning of cameras are the responsibility of the home team broadcast crew, so what you get in Boston and what you get in Kansas City may be completely different.  Here is more on the vagaries of video replay. Really, technologically, one could probably design a system that could use videos from intelligently designed angles, combined with measuring velocity etc, to actually predict where a ball in flight will land, much less judge after the fact.

Actually there is such a system:  the human brain.  That’s how outfielders catch balls.  Watch the video again, and focus on the path Francoeur takes.  He is pursuing a fair ball. That’s all I’m saying.

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The real question we all want answered:  was Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi actually at the game, and what did HE think?

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One thing that can’t be denied is that the Kansas City Royals will have a huge effect on who wins the Central.  The Tigers still have 9 games left–almost a third of the remaining schedule–against KC.

Tonight Anibal Sanchez will try his hand against Bruce Chen, Tiger-killer in decline.

Stat of the Day: Tiger pitchers are on a hot streak…wait, that was yesterday’s. So much for that.  OK, how about today’s trivia question:  Which is the only AL team with more intentional walks than sacrifice flies? You are correct! The Tigers have 35 IBBs, and 32 SFs.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. DY did it again yesterday.  One more game Delmon, one more.

Todays Is Omar In the Doghouse? Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 69-58, 2nd place, 2 back, 1 back for WC spot.

The Tigers hit the road after a successful 6-3 home stand (that somehow didn’t feel like 6-3) with a little mini-trip to KC for three, before returning for a big series against Chicago.

Kansas City shouldn’t be taken too lightly: less than 2 weeks ago they did the Tigers a huge favor and swept the White Sox in 3, and this after taking 2-of-3 in Chicago earlier in the month. In fact the Royals have accounted for 5 of the last 8 White Sox losses.

Justin Verlander takes the mound, and should be taking tonight’s outing more seriously than the last time he was in Kansas City, when he started the All-Star game, tried to light up the radar gun, and was instead himself lit up. The Royals uniforms in the batters box should be a welcome sight: JV is 14-2, 2.36 career against KC, and 9-2 1.83 at Kaufmann. Excluding All-Star games.

Tigers go up against Luis Mendoza, who, unfortunately, struggles with command, which against the Tigers is not a bug, it’s a feature.

Miguel Cabrera will be back at the hot corner, Dirks is bumped down to the 2-spot, and Delmon Young keeps his temporary hold on the 5th spot.

Stat of the Day: Tiger pitchers are on a hot streak. Over the last 5 games they have gone 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA, a team 0.894 WHIP, and a .190 batting average against.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera.  Let’s hope the ankle holds up, and Jeff Baker stays scarce.

Todays Q-Brera Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 68-58, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 1 back for WC spot.

The Angels came in to Detroit with the hottest 2nd half offense in baseball (.816 team OPS), but missing the big bat of Albert Pujols.  The Tiger pitchers have taken advantage.  Porcello had his best start in weeks, holding LA to 2 runs (and those in an inning extended by bad defense).

More bad defense put Smyly in a hole last night, but he kept his composure and held the Angels to 3 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings, and kept the Tigers in the game, a clutch performance by a spot starter.

The offense was in here-we-go-again mode: run-costing base running blunders, double-plays with a runner on 3rd and 1 out, which combined with the fielding follies made the game’s outcome seem inevitable.  But it turned out to be evitable after all, thanks to a late inning splurge by the bottom of the order, and the much-awaited big day from Delmon Young.

Strangely enough, Miguel Cabrera was the hole in the lineup, and seemed generally unhappy at the plate.  Leyland pulled the plug on him for today, giving him 2 days off with the off-day tomorrow.

Today Max takes the mound, and tries to make it 3-for-3 in strong starts this series. Max was his bad self last time out against Toronto, holding the Jays to 1 run and 5 hits in 7 innings, and striking out Too Many (8).  The last time he faced the La-Las he held them to 1 run and struck out Too Many (9).

The Tigers will face Ervin Santana (7-10, 5.46), who is likely to be completely unhittable.  Or Detroit will put up a bunch of runs against him.  And either result will be completely predictable.

Stat of the Day: Gerald Laird has reverse splits this season:  He is hitting .169 against left-handers, and .429 against right-handers. .429!

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Gerald Laird. Leyland forgot to rest Avila with all the lefties pitching, and now is stuck playing Laird against the RHP. Or is Leyland more clever than we think? (see above). Plus he is .333 lifetime against Santana.

Todays First Cabreraless Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Andy Dirks LF
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Jeff Baker 3B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 67-58, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 1 back for WC spot.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and the Tiger win streak ended with a couple of misplays in the field, one bad pitch, and an incredible disappearing offense (or Greinke suddenly found himself again, pick your explanation).

Cabrera and his taped ankle provided the lone run of the game, and the grumbling commenced.  Just how bad has the Tiger offense been? Well…not bad at all, which is the mysterious part.  The Tiger team OPS (.779) is 3rd best in the AL since the break, behind only the Angels and Yankees.  If you just look at August, they are 3rd best (.820) behind only the Angels and Rangers.

What makes them frustrating is that they tend to be starving or binging: they already have 8 5 run+ innings this season, but when they need just one run, like last night, they seem unable to create one, instead crossing their fingers and waiting for Cabrera and Fielder to come up.

The win Thursday over Toronto was an anomaly: a single, stolen base (!), single to win the game. Sloppy play in the field, bad base running (and an inability to stop running teams), a tendency to hit into DPs, an inability to move runners up or score them from 3rd with less than 2 out (except for the wild pitch runs; they’ve got that down), mean that they are going to lose more often than win in games like last night.

So the Tigers are NOT a bad offense; they are one of the league’s best. Just incredibly inconsistent.  No three solid meals here, it’s feast or famine.  Hopefully The Tiger is hungry tonight.

Smyling Drew Smyly makes his way back into the starting rotation tonight.  As expected, Putty Time has come to an end for now: Luke Putkonen has been returned to Toledo to make room for Smyly.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers have the 2nd-half lead in intentional walks with 12. Wonder why.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Delmon Young.  He has seen all of 24 pitches in his last 9 at bats. So he is more rested than some of the other guys. That’s the best I can do at why he is batting 5th again.

Todays Half-Baked Lineup:

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

The Tigers are fresh off of a sweep of the Blue Jays, which, despite some underwhelming offense, ended in exciting fashion.

And a game ball goes to…Jim Leyland. Not only did he replace Crazy-Legs Young with pinch-runner Quintin Berry, but he actually sent him! and that extra base won the game.  And how much fun is it to watch Berry on the base paths! His enthusiasm really brightened a rather dreary offensive performance.  He may not be the fastest Tiger I’ve ever watched (think I’d have to go with Gary Pettis there), but he is at the top of the list of most fun to watch run.

The Tigers try to keep the streak going against the redundantly named Los Angles Angels, who send old Tiger nemesis Zach Greinke to the mound. Greinke has had a rough go of it in Los Angeles, and joins trade comrades Anibal Sanchez and Ryan Dempster as the subject of  this study of the trio’s difficulty in adjusting to the AL (which is an odd way to frame it for Greinke, who has spent 80% of his career in the AL).

At any rate, Greinke has been 1-2, 6.19 with a 1.59 WHIP since joining the Angels. He has a history of being tough on Detroit though (career 11-6, 2.84). Omar Infante has had especially a hard time of it–a .190 OBP in 22 PAs. Even Miguel Cabrera has only put up a measly .619 OPS against Greinke over 30 PAs, with an unusually high strikeout rate (9). It will be interesting to see which Greinke trend prevails today.

Rick Porcello has struggled his last 2 starts (9 runs in 12 innings), but gets to face an Angel lineup missing Albert Pujols.

The Tiger lineup does have Miguel Cabrera, although he has been shifted to DH to lighten the load on his sore ankle.  Ramon takes over the hot corner, and Boesch is back in the lineup because Leyland liked how Boesch matched up with Greinke.  Just kidding. It’s because “I’m going to play Boesch. I’m playing Boesch for sure. He sat long enough. He’s been a good teammate. He’s pulling for everybody.” Apparently he sat so long that he is now due to bat 5th.

Meanwhile in Toledo, Ryan Raburn homers again…

Stat of the Day: Catch this:  Gerald Laird is hitting .300 career vs Greinke (20 PAs). Alex Avila says I can top that! at .429.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Brennan Boesch.  He is pulling for everybody! Hopefully he pulls one in the gap.

Todays Day-to-Day DH Lineup:

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

66-57, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1 game behind WC.

Hard to pick up games when the White Sox sweep the Yankees, but the White Sox are off today, and the Tigers go for a sweep of their own.

Don’t look now, but Benoit and Valverde have become quite the 8-9 combo. Valverde has only allowed 2 runs in his last 10 outings (10 innings) and 9 of those outings have been scoreless. Benoit has allowed only 1 hit over his last 5 outings covering 4 1/3 IPs,

Despite Valverde’s recent success, I’m very leery of his continued effectiveness. I believe that Ks are king for closers. Last season was the first in Valverde’s career when his K rate was below 1 per inning. It was still very close – .95 per inning (or 8.58/9), but it has dropped precipitously this year. Through last night, Valverde only has 38 Ks in 51 2/3, for a rate of .74 an inning or 6.62/9. His career rate is 10.1/9. Velocity wise – he’s lost a little over 1 MPH on both his fastball and splitter, anything more and we’re going to see his BAA spike.

Benoit, on the other hand, has kept his velocity constant despite the fact that he’s a year older than Valverde. I think that Al Al or Rondon make more sense as the closer of the future, but Benoit should have the 8th inning spot for a few years. Remember, Valverde’s on a one year deal.

Anyway, Sanchez had his best outing last night, allowing 2 ER over 6 2/3. Even if we just get that kind of a start every other one, for a #5 guy, that’s pretty salty.

JV climbs the hill today. A win would only be his 2nd in the past month, so he’s due. Plus, JV dominates the Blue Jays. There was that no-hitter last May (the last time he faced Tor), and the current Blue Jays batters are a combined 7 for 59 v. Verlander.

A few notes:

– Raburn hit a HR and a double last night in Toledo, which I’m sure has caught Leyland’s attention.

– Fister has been scratched for tomorrow’s start. Smyl Smyly.

Today’s Lineup:

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

65-57, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1.5 games behind WC.

Kind of a disappointing win last night, if such a thing exists. The Tigers were spectacular in their inability to exploit a Dontrelle-esque start by a terrible RISP display. The Tigers are now 6-43 over the past week in RISP situations.

Sanchez has had his struggles since joining the Tigers. He’s had 1 okay game, and 3 bad ones, resulting in a 1-3 record and 2.12 WHIP as a Tiger. He has not yet reached the 7th inning, and has failed to get out of the 6th in 2 out of the four starts. His Miami WHIP this year is 1.26, so he’s got the stuff. The biggest issue is his lack of Ks – his K rate is down to 5.76/9 as a Tiger from 8.18/9. He needs to stop listening to the “too many strikeouts” mandate coming from the dugout. (If you’re interested, the two BIG pitching moves at the deadline haven’s fared much better from a performance standpoint – Dempster is now 2-1, 6.04 as a Ranger, with the club 3-1 in his starts, while Greinke is 1-2, 6.19 in his five, with Los Angeles 1-4 when he pitches).

Some runs would be nice, as Sanchez is only getting 3.31 runs per start across both Detroit and Miami this year.

In other news, Smyly was pulled after one inning in Toledo last night as a contingency in the event that Fister can’t pitch on Saturday. Fister is still on the ever crowded “day-to-day” list.

A few notes:

– Jackson rakes against Tor – batting .400 with 8 XBH in 18 games since 2010.

– The first Blue Jay to go down swinging (or looking) will be the 1,000 Tiger K this year, the 13th time that has happened in club history.

– A Valverde save tonight would mark his 100th, which means that all of our hearts are that much weaker.

– Bartolo Colon joins Melky Cabrera on the early golf circuit.

Today’s Al Have Another Lineup:

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

67-54, 2nd place, 2 games behind CWS, 1.5 games behind WC.

Scherzer had his best start of the season last time out, allowing only 4 hits and 2 walks over 7 innings. That was only the second time all season that Max did not allow a run. Scherzer has been good at home as of late, posting  4-1 record with a 2.78 ERA and 63 Ks over his last 7 starts. Fortunately Bautista is on the shelf (6-11 v. Scherzer), but look out for Yunel Escobar…yes, Escobar (11-23 with a HR).

Romero has followed up his brilliant 2011 campaign with a rather poor year. His 2012 WHIP is 1.52, which is off his career mark of 1.35, and his 2012 ERA is 5.53. He’s struggled mightily over his last 10, posting an 0-9 record, 7.62 ERA, and 1.84 WHIP. Cabrera, Laird, Santiago (not in the lineup) and DY are all .375+ in their career vs. Romero. Well, so is Avila, who hit a HR in his only at-bat against the lefty. I’m certain that he’ll shut the Tigers down now.

Not much time today, but a few notes of interest:

– Fister is day-to-day with a groin issue.
– With 7 Ks tonight, Scherzer will set a career high. Is 7 too many?
– Raburn is back in Toledo.
– Oh, and how about that Melky Cabrera story? You know, if Melky Cabrera gets an out in the 1st, JV doesn’t register the worst All Star game start in history.

Tonight’s Another Lefty Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Peralta, SS
6. Young, DH
7. Baker, RF
8. Dirks, LF
9. Laird, C

64-56, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind CWS, 1 game behind WC.

Well, that stunk. The Tigers were completely shut down by the worst starting pitcher (statistically) that they’ve seen all season. Now, Britton was pretty good as a rookie last year, and is well thought of around Baltimore (he’s only 24), but they simply let him off the hook early with bad swings in crucial situations. 1-9 RISP pretty much says it all.

But they still have a great shot to win the series, and winning series is how you win the division.

Fister looks to save the series this afternoon against Lefty Wei–Yin Chen (not Tiger killer Bruce Chen). You could look back to the Fister start against Baltimore on July 13th as the one that got him going. He limited the Orioles to 1 run on 3 hits in 7 IPs, and that kicked off 7 straight quality starts, a 1.52 ERA and a .86 WHIP since then. Yes, .86.

Chen is the 2nd of 5 straight lefties that the Tigers are slated to face.

Hopefully AJax’s two hits yesterday will get him going…he’s batting .208 over his last 10.

A few notes:

– VMart’s not coming back this year.

– I still can’t believe that our DH’s OPS is .698. He’s the designated hitter.

Today’s Berry Interesting Lineup:

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

64-55, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind CWS, tied for WC lead.

Yes, Prince Fielder had 2 HR and 4 RBIs last night, but let’s not overlook what Miguel Cabrera dud. He hit a jack in the 1st to put the Tigers up 1-0, and then got on base twice in front of Fielder HRs. And to think, he’s only 29. And the more Fielder hits, the better pitches Cabrera will see. Watch out.

For all of the whining that goes on around here about blown calls (much of it by me), we had two wrong ones go in our favor last night. First, there was the Markakis run that wasn’t counted. And secondly, the Peralta play. Last night was the first call that I have ever seen reversed at 1B. Seriously, can you remember another one? It looked like the umps took a great play away from Machado and Reynolds. The baserunner didn’t turn into anything, so no harm, but Reynolds looked to be on the bag. What I really don’t get is how in the world Machado was charged with an error on that play. The Reynolds ejection was baffling as well. What’s up with umpiring these days? If you missed it, check out the video replay of the Orioles tv guys calling the incident. Really impressed by their objectivity and knowledge of the rules.

Should we be concerned about Verlander? Not his best game…he couldn’t spot his fastball and he walked three guys in the third inning alone. 6 IPs is not like JV. Especially considering his career dominance against the Os.

Nevertheless, your Tigers have now won 3 in a row (5-5 in their last 10), and last night’s win kicked off a 14 home games in 17 games stretch. We’re 17-3 over our last 20 at home, so this could be the part of the schedule that propels us into first place. One year ago the Tigers were 65-58 and 2 games up on Cleveland. 17 games later they were 78-62 (13-4) and 6.5 games up. A 9-1 streak after that and the division was clinched. If that happens, we may see more of this. Tigers fans really are the best.

Porcello has not been good as of late. Though he’s 3-2 in his last 5, he’s got a 5.40 ERA and .329 BAA during those starts.

He’ll be opposed by Zach Britton. The lefty has was only called up after the All-Star break and has been getting hit pretty hard. In five starts he’s allowed 31 hits, 16 BBs and 21 ER in 23 1/3 for an 8.10 ERA. He doesn’t strike out many and his BAA this season is .313. But DY will be in full effect and the Tigers have routinely failed to capitalize on mediocre pitching. Could be a wild one out there.

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A few notes:

– The Tigers 8.31 K/9 (for the pitchers) is the highest rate in club history.

– The Tigers have 82 XBH over their last 21 home games. They are averaging 6.1 runs per game during that time.

– Prediction: Miguel Cabrera will win the Triple Crown.

Tonight’s This is What We Went Out and Got Jeff Baker For Lineup (though I wouldn’t mind seeing Berry inserted for DY as a defensive replacement in the 4th):

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