56-50, 2nd place, 2.5 games behind CWS (who have won 3 in a row, come on LAA).

Nice easy win last night. Haven’t seen one of those in a few days. Cabrera was Cabrera again, going 3-5 with 2 runs and his MLB leading 88th RBI. Prince Fielder’s 4 RBI has him tied for 4th with 77.

Though Sanchez’s final line looked pretty good, he really wasn’t that great last night. He allowed 10 base runners in only 6 innings, and benefited from Cle’s 1-10 RISP. Downs and Villareal, on the other hand, were tremendous. No word on whether Leyland was miffed by the relievers’ 5 Ks in 3 IPs. Like Coleman said yesterday, when we get Al Al back, we’ll have one of the top bullpens in the AL.

Check out what Sanchez had to say regarding the standing O he got when he checked out yesterday. To summarize, he inferred that it was better than after his no-no in 2006. Tigers fans are the best.

Today’s match-up features the Tigers 2nd half ace, Douglas Wildes Fister, going for his 5th quality start in a row, and 5th win in 6 tries. Over his last 5 starts, Fister has a 1.00 WHIP, and a 33/8 K/BB.  His ERA during that time is a sparkling 2.50.

Carlos Guillen will be inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame prior to tonight’s game.

Headed to a pool to get out of the scorching Texas heat, if I can’t get to the lineups, someone please post when they are avail. I read this morning that Dirks will sit in favor of DY b/c DY is 10-23 off of Jimenez (DY’s .645 OPS against righties be damned…Dirks’ is .944 v. righties).

55-50, 2nd place, 2.5 games behind CWS

Your rested Tigers begin a 7 game home stand tonight against the Indians. The Indians have dominated the Tigers this year, as they hold a 7-2 series lead. But the Tigers have been nearly unbeatable at home as of late, having won 11 out of their last 12. Let’s hope that the home cooking tips the scales in our favor.

Anibal Sanchez makes his 2nd start for the Tigers tonight. His first start was rather forgettable, as he allowed a career high 3 HR in a 6 IP 5 ER performance. Sanchez was uncharacteristically wild last time out; the 3 walks allowed was only the 6th time in 20 starts this season that he walked more than 3. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was just an off game.

Or maybe Miami outsmarted DD.

After a 7 IP 3 hit performance on May 29th, Sanchez was 3-3 with a 2.57 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Since that May 29th win, Sanchez is 2-4 with a 5.82 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. His K/9 is down to a 6.86 from 9.04 and he is issuing over 1/2 a walk more per 9.

Not to mention that Infante has actually been worse than our previous 2B band-aids (.167 and 3 errors in 8 games).

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A few notes:

– Dirks is back, Dirks is back! Kelly down.

– Alburquerque is moving on up to Toledo. Should be back with the big club soon.

– Indians let Johnny Damon go earlier today.

Tonight’s Lefties Do It Better Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 54-50, 2nd place, 2.5 3 back.

Well, maybe the less said about the past two games the better.  It was a bit annoying that they started the game in the rain, played in the rain, then called the game once it became official (with bases loaded no less).

Although that was all fine with Jim Leyland.

By the way the early conclusion of the game ended Verlander’s streak of 6-inning plus starts. After the game Verlander tweeted: “Thx to all who followed the streak. Was an honor to be mentioned in same breath as Carlton, Gibson #legends. Now let’s start a win streak..”.

After seeing Delmon Young ripped here last night, Leyland has taken the drastic move of bumping him to 6th in the batting order.

Stat of the Day: Doug Fister has been the staff ace in the 2nd half: 3-1, 1.80, with a team-leading 31 Ks.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Brennan Boesch.  Leyland got all crazy and swapped Boesch and Young in the 5 and 6 spots, lets see how Boesch does.

Today’s Not-Set-In-Stone-After-All Lineup:

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