71-49, 1st place, 2nd place team too distant to be reliably identified.

Imagine how much better the best team in baseball could be if they weren’t also the worst baserunning team in the history of the game. This has something to do with how a hittable Jeremy Guthrie wasn’t rocked out of the game like he should have been.

Otherwise, the 4-1 win last night was all good. Anibal Sanchez recovered from a 30-pitch first with a had his whole arsenal working, the art of pitching sorta thing. Andy Dirks found his stroke – did you see it? The results were almost incidental. If he can hold on to that, Tui and Donkey are going to fade ever so slightly from the scene… Not only did Prince Fielder hit his first home run since about 1986, but did you see the bat speed? Flashback… Jose Iglesias at SS. Enough said.

Whatever happened to the regularly scheduled doubleheader? They even used to have different kinds of doubleheaders. It made those pocket schedules so much more complicated and visually appealing. Bring back the doubleheader. The baseball season is in need of some Crisco.* Mandatory doubleheaders every Saturday and Sunday. Get rid of the All-Star break. You could fit a 162-game season from April 15 to August 31 with more off days. Make all the playoff series best-of-seven (no days off) and play the World Series the first week of October. That’s what I say. Today.

*Because it’s shortening, of course.

In the spirit of the doubleheader…

Splitting the season to date in halves (by player games as of #117 rather than the calendar):

Al-Al 17G 16IP 27K 16BB 2.76ERA 13/46%IR/IS .226BA .682OPS .517WPA -0.88RE24
Al-Al 18G 16IP 20K 11BB 8.27ERA 6/33%IR/IS .299BA .860OPS -.682WPA -4.79RE24

J. Benoit 23G 25IP 31K 8BB 2.16ERA 5/0%IR/IS .216BA .611OPS 1.560WPA 8.12RE24
J. Benoit 24G 23IP 26K 5BB 1.17ERA 10/30%IR/IS .218BA ,545OPS 1.535WPA 7.91RE24

Phil Coke 19G 19IP 18K 6BB 5.49ERA 12/33%IR/IS .265BA .694OPS -.917WPA -0.69RE24
Phil Coke 20G 15IP 11K 9BB 4.80ERA 5/20%IR/IS .283BA .838OPS -.768WPA -3.86RE24

Doug Fister 12G 77IP 66K 12BB 3.27ERA ,267BA .652OPS -.120WPA 4.21RE24
Doug Fister 12G 78IP 49K 17BB 3.92ERA .268BA .714OPS .781WPA 4.13RE24

Rick Porcello 11G 57IP 47K 11BB 5.21ERA ,272BA ,729OPS .064WPA -3.46RE24
Rick Porcello 11G 68IP 47K 16BB 3.57ERA .268BA .676OPS .462WPA 7.67RE24

Bruce Rondon 9G 8IP 6K 4BB 7.04ERA 1/0%IR/IS .353BA .969OPS -.722WPA -3.39RE24
Bruce Rondon 10G 13IP 13K 3BB 2.13ERA 5/60%IR/IS .171BA .442OPS .760WPA 3.16RE24

Anibal Sanchez 10G 64IP 80K 17BB 2.38ERA .230BA .592OPS .463WPA 11.79RE24
Anibal Sanchez 10G 61IP 59K 21BB 2.79ERA .217BA .615OPS .061WPA 9.24RE24

Max Scherzer 11G 76IP 91K 18BB 3.42ERA .187BA .568OPS 1.078WPA 8.76RE24
Max Scherzer 12G 82IP 84K 17BB 2.30ERA .197BA .557OPS 1.994WPA 19.67RE24

Drew Smyly 22G 38IP 39K 11BB 2.11ERA 8/13%IR/IS .213BA .582OPS .663WPA 11.33RE24
Drew Smyly 22G 25IP 28K 3BB 1.78ERA 6/0%IR/IS .194BA .496OPS .343WPA 8.27RE24

Justin Verlander 12G 73IP 87K 24BB 3.70ERA .263BA .710OPS .143WPA 4.28RE24
Justin Verlander 13G 85IP 67K 33BB 3.47ERA .251BA .695OPS -.121WPA 4.13RE24

Brayan Pena 24G 94PA 295/323/409/732 2HR 12RBI -.624WPA -4.81RE24
Brayan Pena 25G 87PA 300/326/425/751 2HR 7RBI -.096WPA -3.25RE24

Miguel Cabrera 54G 254PA 369/445/676/1.121 17HR 65RBI 2.437WPA 36.56RE24
Miguel Cabrera 55G 236PA 363/475/710/1.184 20HR 46RBI 3.143WPA 29.87RE24

Prince Fielder 58G 264PA 288/398/516/914 12HR 48RBI 1.369WPA 21.52RE24
Prince Fielder 59G 261PA 236/307/354/661 5HR 33RBI .089WPA -3.77RE24

Omar Infante 38G 154PA 313/344/444/789 3HR 14RBI .035WPA -0.20RE24
Omar Infante 39G 159PA 298/327/437/764 3HR 13RBI -1.013WPA -2.85RE24

Ramon Santiago 24G 62PA 148/233/241/474 0HR 2RBI -.507WPA -6.88RE24
Ramon Santiago 24G 87PA 257/333/311/644 0HR 5RBI -.076WPA -1.11RE24

Andy Dirks 47G 183PA 247/308/373/681 5HR 16RBI -.966WPA -5.20RE24
Andy Dirks 47G 173PA 242/312/318/631 2HR 10RBI -1.065WPA -8.13RE24

Torii Hunter 52G 242PA 305/353/413/765 2HR 24RBI .211WPA 6.32RE24
Torii Hunter 52G 236PA 311/323/527/850 11HR 36RBI -.536WPA 4.95RE24

Austin Jackson 43G 207PA 306/374/409/782 3HR 16RBI .652WPA 8.09RE24
Austin Jackson 43G 207PA 232/302/432/735 6HR 12RBI -1.100WPA -7.90RE24

Don Kelly 40G 88PA 173/295/307/602 2HR 6RBI -.025WPA -2.99RE24
Don Kelly 41G 95PA 313/394/475/869 3HR 14RBI .713WPA 7.37RE24

Matt Tuiasosopo 28G 61PA 327/459/490/949 2HR 12RBI .145WPA 8.28RE24
Matt Tuiasosopo 28G 83PA 254/361/535/897 5HR 16RBI .491WPA 7.45RE24

Victor Martinez 58G 242PA 241/289/355/644 5HR 30RBI -.386WPA -7.29RE24
Victor Martinez 58G 252PA 323/385/460/845 5HR 36RBI 1.004WPA 7.54RE24

Alex Avila 36G 142PA 175/261/286/546 4HR 11RBI -.513WPA -12.94RE24
Alex Avila 37G 147PA 220/315/394/709 5HR 25RBI 1.101WPA 3.27RE24

Go Justin. Go Miggy. Go Tigers. This series is off to a good start. If you should suddenly lose consciousness and come to again Sunday to see Jamey Carroll pitching the bottom of the 8th for the Royals, take it as a sign that the Tigers held down the fort (Fort Detroit?) while you were away.