I didn’t think I’d get to watch the Tigers last night, but thanks to a 2-hour plus rain delay I got to see most of the game, and I saw a little of everything. The lowlight of the game for me was Iglesias–again–being thrown out at the plate. The Tigers still lead baseball in runners thrown out at the plate, and it looks like they won’t be caught. Meaning they will be caught. You know what I mean.

This time was a particular head-scratcher, because holding Iglesias on 3rd would have meant bases loaded for Miguel Cabrera.

The highlight had to be the 8th inning, which began with a Gose bunt single (hey, how’d they think of that?) and then a surprise bunt single by Mr. October, Ian Kinsler, who was a mere 5-for-5 last night. It turned into a 3-run inning, and it turned out they needed all 3, especially after the weirdlight of the night, when a runner on 3rd was awarded home after a ball became briefly caught under McCann’s mask. Can’t say that I’ve seen that before.

Mr. Kinsler now sports these ridiculous 2nd half numbers: .387 BA, .412 OBP, 1.009 OPS. And that’s not exactly a small sample size, that’s 131 plate appearances. If the Tigers were in a pennant race, he’d be the talk of baseball.

The Tigers burned through a lot of bullpen last night, so they’ve finally sent Jefry Marte back down and called up RHP Drew VerHagen. See you in a couple of weeks, Jefry.

Today’s Let’s Score Another 10 Lineup:

1. Raji Davis, LF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B
6. James McCann, C
7. Victor Martinez, DH
8. Anthony Gose, CF
9. Van Norrison, P

The Tigers stop in Chicago for a couple, but not with that team with the annoying announcer, for 2 with the Cubbies. Tonight Anibal Sanchez will try to keep the ball within the friendly confines, and Brad Ausmus will match wits with Joe Maddon. who goes weeks without changing his socks.

I’m off to watch the Royals and Reds, a game that I assumed way back when would be an important one. So much for that.

The Cubs have released their starting lineup already, but not the Tigers, the slackers, so I’ll have to leave that to one of our fine commentators here.

Taking a series from Houston would be nice. Props to JV for putting us in a position to do it.

And the season sludges on.

Jason Beck posted an insightful article on Ausmus and expectations today. I think he’s gone at the end of the season.

I’m traveling this weekend, so these will be brief. Miggy is back tonight. That’s fun. Someone please post lineups when available.

When the Tigers only got 4 hits on Monday, all you could really do was shrug; it’s not like Johnny Cueto hasn’t done that before, to other teams. A different feel after a 2nd 4-hit night last night, an “oh this again feel. And it didn’t help that the Tigers made more outs on the base paths again.

Remember when the Tigers were leading the league in a lot of offensive categories? Well, they still are. They are #1 in:

• Runners thrown out at the plate (17). Castellanos leads with 3.
• Pickoffs (16). Kinsler leads with 5.
• Caught Stealing (38) Gose leads with 8.
• GIDP (111) Castellanos leads with 16.

The one bit of life the Tigers have had this series has been Jefrey Marte, who has half of the team’s 8 hits so far. Today will likely be the last day we see him for a while, since there is a tentative plan to activate Miguel Cabrera from the DL for Friday’s game in Houston. Miguel is itching to play. The question is whether he will play first or DH; Ausmus has had discussions about the possibility of playing Victor Martinez at 1st.

Today’s More Play For Marte Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. JD Martinez, RF
6. Tyler Collins, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Jefrey Marte, 1B
9. James McCann, C

Brad may have figured out that James McCann hits right-handed pitchers still better than does Alex Avila: Avila has only caught 4 of the last 21 games.

It looked like another blowout in the making yesterday with Boyd’s first inning, but he pulled it together and ended up pitching a good game, and giving Detroit a chance to win. Unfortunately: Johnny Cueto vs. Detroit bats. Even Ian Kinsler was blanked.

You know Norris and Boyd have a little bit of a competition with each other. Boyd just pulled in front.

Brad Ausmus complained about Johnny Cueto’s delivery both during and after the game, which provoked a huge shrug.

In other, more interesting news, Miguel Cabrera is fixing to come back. Apparently there was a rehab assignment discussed, but Cabrera says he doesn’t do no rehab.

In preparation for Cabrera’s return, Tom Gorzelanny pitched batting practice to him. These things write themselves sometimes.

Today’s First Time We’ve Seen This One Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. JD Martinez, RF
6. Tyler Collins, LF
7. James McCann, C
8. Jefrey Marte, 1B
9. Andrew Romine, 3B

Last night McCann and Iglesias both out, tonight both in. They are now forever linked.

If things weren’t bad enough in Tigertown, it looks like there’s a glitch in the feel-good story about building a recreational field for kids at the old Tiger Stadium site. It turns out people have gotten wind that the plan is to replace the grass with…artificial turf.

Anyway, tonight Johnny Cueto takes on Gas Can Boyd. That’s mostly a nod to Oil Can, for us old timers, but if he imitates Norris for his 2nd start, we know how this one is going to turn out. Or…do we?

Maybe Jose Iglesias is hurt again, or maybe he is just slumping, or maybe he is feeling the fatigue of his first full season as a starter. Either way, he doesn’t seem to be handling it well, so Brad says: sit a spell. It has absolutely nothing to do with the dugout blowup, oh no, not at all, how could you think that?!

Today’s Iggy Needs to Chill Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Tyler Collins
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. JD Martinez, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Jefrey Marte, 1B
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Andrew Romine, SS

A win today would be the first back to back series wins since Cle/Chi June 22 – 28.

In his last 6 starts, Verlander’s K/BB ratio is 8.25/1. That’s just sick.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

Verlander vs. Henry Owens in Owens’ 2nd career start.

1. Rajai Davis, LF
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jefry Marte, 1B
9. Anthony Gose, CF

Now that the dust has settled a bit on the Dombrowski firing, and there’s been plenty to read about the subject, I’d like to offer up a few thoughts:

A. This was a win big or go home year for Dombrowski. It’s been revealed that Dombrowski never got any indication of an extension during the season, which we would have expected for someone with his tenure and past success. I think Mr. I wasn’t happy with a string of unsuccessful playoff runs and likely felt that the team shortcomings (lack of a bullpen, no young talent) were mostly, or at least partly, on Dombrowski. As the season progressed and the mediocrity set it, Mr. I made up his mind.

B. Mr. I played this masterfully. According to Lynn Henning, Illitch made up his mind during a front office meeting in Florida before the trade deadline when DD confirmed that the Tigers didn’t have the roster, or the chips to get the right pieces, to make a playoff run. (Why anyone would have to travel to Florida to learn that news is a mystery to me; DTW faithful have known this for a month.) But Illitch still left DD in place to do what he does best – make deadline deals. I’m sure that DD was well aware that his job was in jeopardy, but by Illitch keeping DD in the dark, DD was left with no choice but to make the best deals possible for the team, in hopes of keeping his job. He did make great deals, netting 6 prospects, 5 of whom are pitchers, and I’m thankful that he was around to do it. This may not have been the nicest way to treat a great employee, but it was best for the ball club, which is what is most important to me. Dombrowski has been well compensated for his time here, and I’m sure he’s still collecting a paycheck. No need to feel sorry for him.

C. Great Move Putting in Avila Early. Once Illitch made up his mind and the trade deadline had passed, there was no reason to keep a lame duck around. By calling Avila and offering him the job before letting DD know, that gave Avila the chance to round up his team, and make sure the other lieutenants didn’t bolt with DD to wherever is next for him. Moreover, since Illitch was willing to commit to Avila (5 year contract, never any talk of an “interim” tag), why not let him start playing around with the roster to try some things out over the rest of the meaning less season?

D. I think (hope) that Ausmus is auditioning for his job. I really don’t have  lot of insight as to who hired Ausmus, but given Dombrowski’s tenure and multiple titles (President, CEO, GM), I’m guessing that it was Dombrowski’s hire. Hopefully Al Avila isn’t yet committed to Ausmus and can objectively evaluate things over the remainder of the season.

E. We’re stuck with Alex Avila. Alex is a great game caller and a good defensive catcher. He’s young enough that there is still hope for him to be a close to average hitter, which could keep him in the bigs for a long time. (Does that resume sound familiar to anyone?) I think he has a lot of value here b/c of his familiarity with the staff and the lack of any left handed bats in the dugout. With his dad now in charge, I don’t see how he ever gets dealt. I’m sure that Illitch thought this through. What makes this even more difficult is that McCann looks to be a real leader (see below), and he’s earned the starting role. If Avila can be the #2, I’m fine with that. Hopefully his Dad is too.

***

Good chatter on the thread yesterday regarding the McCann/Iglesias scuffle. It’s hard to believe that with Iglesias’ range he ever takes a play off, but usually where there is smoke there’s fire. Kaline Fan mentioned that he (she?) remembered Iglesias and Kinsler getting into it earlier in the season. Maybe there is some precedence, but considering Kinsler took off the entire month of June, perhaps it was the other way around. Regardless, I’m happy to see some spirit in the dugout, because I worry about apathy.

Iglesias was unapologetic today after no comments last night. I don’t have a problem with Iglesias standing up for himself, but I do have a problem with the way he handled it. Ausmus seems in the dark about everything. Par for the course.

What I loved most about the scuffle was the way the team handled it afterwards. Good solidarity. And I get the feeling that it came from the players, and not Ausmus. McCann and Gose, however unlikely, look the be the ones who are stepping up. Maybe this galvanizes the team. Not to make a playoff run, but at lease to play smarter and harder. Also, if you didn’t see it already, check out the comments from David Price regarding James McCann. Those got me fired up. McCann should be getting the majority of the ABs moving forward.

Overall, I like where the players are going, in spite of their direct leadership.

Pray that Simon goes at least 6 tonight, because Buck Farmer is the designated long man.

TIGERS (career numbers off Miley)

1. Rajai Davis, LF (1-for-2, HR, K)
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B (0-for-3)
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF (0-for-2, walk, 2 K’s)
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jefry Marte, 1B
9. Anthony Gose, CF

These last few days have been fun. It’s exciting to watch the new kids perform. Daniel Norris on the mound tonight.

The Tigers added some assistant GMs to the fold.

Tonight’s Lineup

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Tyler Collins, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Alex Avila, 1B
9. James McCann, C

Impressive debut number two was nice to watch, and even more impressive, and surprising, was the way Rondon-Hardy-Wilson came out of the bullpen and slammed the door shut.

We may have something with these two lefties, although, as our Hong Kong correspondent pointed out, we felt the same way about Shane Greene.

Still, maybe their performances will inspire the veterans. I’m looking scowling grinning shrugging at you, Anibal.

As good as the game was yesterday, it didn’t really have a rivalry game feel. Maybe that’s because the Royals are too used to the Tigers being a level above them, but you’d think with the chip the Royals have on their shoulders that would make it worse. Especially considering how chippy the Royals seem to get with other teams. It may have something to do with the Royals being 11 1/2 games up on us, but I watched the Reds and Cardinals last night, and the 20 game lead didn’t seem to make them play each other any less hard.

Today’s Alex Gets His Chance Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Ian Kinsler, 2B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. JD Martinez, RF
6. Tyler Collins, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Andrew Romine, 1B