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

63-55, 2nd place, 2.5 games (that’s what you get for taking a day off) behind CWS, 1 game behind WC

There’s been a lot of talk as of late regarding Miguel Cabrera’s MVP candidacy. In fact, it seems as if the local papers have received an edict to write about it daily. And they make strong arguments in his favor. But MLive’s Josh Slagter made a fantastic point in an article today – if the Tigers really do have 3 MVP candidates (Keith Law suggests that Verlander and AJax are in the top 5 right now), how are they 2 (really 2.5) games out of first place? Think about, when else have we had this talent at the op of the roster? Not to mention that our 1B has been a perennial NL MVP candidate over the last few years. Says a lot about the bottom…

(Interesting follow-up today on ESPN Insider – Dave Cameron uses Fangraphs’ Leverage Index to demonstrate why Cabrera’s clutch performance makes him a legitimate MVP candidate.)

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Tommy No Support Hunter opposes the Tigers tonight to kick off a three-game set. The O’s have scored two or fewer runs for Hunter in 10 of his last 16 starts, and 5 out of the last 6. Hunter is 4-7 for the year with a 5.54 ERA, and is 1-5 with a 5.94 ERA on the road. He’s getting hit pretty well by lefties (.291) AND righties (.321), which explains why Delmon Young is in the lineup. 67% of the runs that Hunter has given up this year have come in the 4th, 5th or 6th.

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A few notes:

– Al Al is hot on the comeback trail, he’s got 8 Ks in 4 innings and a 3.18 ERA since his move to Toledo on August 3rd.

– Schlereth is dominating…at Lakeland. 1 ER over five innings since August 3rd.

– The Tigers are 3-4 in extra innings this year, and 15-14 in one run games; the Orioles have won their last 11 one run decisions.

Tonight’s Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 62-55, 2nd place, 2 back.

Doug Fister didn’t disappoint, and despite a carnival of a 3rd inning, and Gene Lamont being A Great 3rd Base Coach, the Tigers ended their 3-game losing streak.  Cabrera reached the century mark in RBIs, and Dirks hit one out, which I’m still trying to figure out, because both he and the pitcher are lefties, and I didn’t think that was possible.

The Tigers finish off the three-game series with Max on the mound.  Scherzer was impressive Friday against Texas (2 runs in 6 innings), although he had too many strikeouts (8) and ran up a pitch count of 112 in 6 innings.  With the way the bullpen has been lately, a longer outing is recommended for today.

He may need to be at his best, since the Tigers will encounter dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy again, this one named Cole De Vries. CDV was pounded his last time out–8 runs in 1 1/3 innings.  Will the Tigers finally break out of their Rookie Pitcher Guy slump?

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young is only hitting .217 in day games.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Andy Dirks.  What a difference having Dirks back!

Today’s Berry Different Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 61-55, 2nd place, 2 back.

Well, as expected the Tigers couldn’t manage much against Cy Deduno.  Deduno’s flaw is that he can’t find the strike zone, but against Detroit that is not a flaw, but a feature. I wish we had been keeping a tally of how many times in the pre-game we have noted a pitcher with control problems, only to watch the Tiger hitters struggle (the two pitchers with the highest walk ratio in the AL, Ubaldo Jimenez and Yu Darvish, have victimized them multiple times).

Not that it mattered:  Sanchez was Horibal, Coke has lost his fizz, and the Twins pounded Detroit for 18 hits and 9 runs.

Duane Below was scapegoated to Toledo after the game. The Tigers have recalled ol’ Putty, RHP Luke Putkonen.

The Tigers now have an actual losing streak going (3 games), which is something not recommended for pennant chases. Time to bring the Fist down on the Twins.

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As if things aren’t bad enough, on ESPN’s injury report is listed “Justin Verlander SP – Aug 12: Day-To-Day.” What’s that all about?

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Stat of the Day: Everyone loves Twins! Well, not Doug Fister. He is a career 1-6, 4.36 against Minnesota.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Jhonny Peralta.  A bit of a surprise choice. Peralta was the one Tiger who was having none of what Cy Deduno offered last night–he took two walks and doubled.  And hey, look at that! He gets the troublesome 5th spot tonight.

Today’s Lineup:

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