Well, that was a forgettable start to the road trip, wasn’t it? Actually, it wasn’t as forgettable as I wish it were. It was also, somehow, the first time they were shut out this season.

If you knew that one of the teams on the field last night was the worst in baseball, it would have been hard to guess which one: the A’s kicking the ball around like they had taken the field with spiked clown shoes, or the Tigers who were unable to score a run off Cy Whatshisname, despite getting 4 guys freely clowned onto base.

To distract myself from the debacle, I read a rant by Cubs manager Joe Maddon about the horrible Memorial Day schedule.  Poor guy had to play a game that ended at 3:45 in Arizona on Sunday, then play another that began at 1:20 on Monday afternoon in Chicago. And this after traveling 1,700+ miles. “Quite frankly to play a day game two time zones away then come back [to] another one the next day … it’s tough,” Maddon said.

I mention this because the Tigers had a similar day game-day game turnaround, and had to travel through three time zones to do it. No whining from Brad though. I would chalk yesterday’s sluggishness up to travel fatigue, were it not for the fact that we’ve already seen the same a lot this month.

My annoyance with last night’s performance was exacerbated when Rod Allen said that Tiger pitchers can count on getting a lot of run support “with the potent offense the Tigers have.” Has he even been watching the games he broadcasts? Yes, the Tigers are at the top of the league in many offensive categories. But they also have already had 21 games with 2 runs or fewer (that’s 46%), including 12 already in May. (The Royals, by way of comparison, have 11 this season). That’s hardly “potent.”  The Tigers actually won 6 of those games, but I think counting on many more 1-0 and 2-1 wins is expecting a bit much out of the pitching staff.

Tonight’s Potent Third-Place Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Rajai Davis, DH
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Andrew Romine, SS
9. Hernan Perez, 2B

Miguel is back in the lineup tonight, night-game woes and all (he is still struggling through a .231 night batting average, with a light-weight .689 OPS). Ian Kinsler, he of the 0-for-20 slump, finally gets his first day off of the season, to be replaced by Hernan the Barbarian, who could probably pull off an 0-for-20 if he only got enough playing time. Kind of makes you miss Don Kelly, doesn’t it?

Brad tries a little something different tonight and leads off with Gose followed by Davis. I like it.

Gold stars for any of you Eastern Time Zone fans who stay up for this one.

Well, and here I thought having Dixon Machado called up would mean that we’d be spared the awe-inspiring sight of Hernan Perez at the plate for a while. A lot of us have been saying that Ian Kinsler could really use a day off (he was 1-for-Houston, with a number of cringe-worthy strikeouts), so Brad Ausmus is giving the day off to…Miguel Cabrera, who just went 2-for-4 with a HR. Hmm. Miguel will be replaced by Babe Hernan Perez at first; Dixon Machado gets his first major league start at short.

There will be more days off coming I presume; the Tigers are beginning a West Coast trip without the usually travel day off, going from a late-afternoon Detroit game to an afternoon game on the West Coast, something I can’t remember happening in a long time.

They play three in Oakland, then travel down to maybe their least favorite place to play the LA Angels, which will give them 20 straight games without a day off by the time it is finished.

Kevin asked whether this is just a .500 team we are watching (throw out the first week-and-a-half of the season, and that is what they have been achieving). Something to ponder. The A’s have been struggling, but the Tigers have a habit of letting struggling teams off the hook (I’m sure when they read today’s lineup they felt the hook loosen a bit).

Hopefully the return to his old stomping grounds will put Yoenis Cespedes in a Home Run Derby kind of mood.

Today’s Jet-Lagged Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. JD Martinez, DH
4. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
5. Tyler Collins, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Hernan Perez, 1B
9. Dixon Machado, SS

Here is a nice story about the cover photo. Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day.

This 2 runs or less thing is getting really old, really fast.

Losing today and splitting the series would feel like losing the series to me. Sanchez has more bad starts than quality starts this year.

Lobstein to the DL with “sore shoulder” (wth?); Iglesias is day-to-day.

1. Gose, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Martinez JD, DH
5. Cespedes, LF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Davis, RF
8. Holaday, C
9. Romine, SS

Good win last night. Check that, great win. The Tigers got another outstanding start from Simon – 7 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 ER, JD Martinez hit a 3 run bomb (how many of those have there been this year?, and the bullpen went 6 up and 6 down. JD Martinez is now hitting .405 over his last 10 games with 15 hits, 2 HR and 5 RBI. Whatever funk he was in, he’s out.

So the Tigers are now in a great position to win a long series against the hottest team in the AL. Still got two games to go, but feels good for now.

Lobstein draws a rookie call-up, Lance McCullers today. McCullers made his big league debut on Monday striking in 4 2/3 while allowing 1 ER. Traditionally, the Tigers haven’t seemed to fare well against rookie call-up guy, and Lobstein has been struggling, so today could be tough.

I saw some chatter on here regarding the Tigers hitting in key situations. I want to make sure that we’re all on the same page here. The Tigers are one of the best offensive teams in the Majors. They have the Majors’ 2nd best OPS (.774) and 2nd best avg (.280). With RISP – the team OPS goes up to .812, 7th in the Majors. In R3L20 situations their OPS jumps to .873, which is only 12th in the Majors, but I’ll take .873 all day long. Look, baseball hitters are going to fail the VAST majority of the time. Even if we’re adding OBP + productive outs, there will still be very few guys who get the job done more than 1/2 the time. 95%+ of hitters are going to fail more than half of the time. This is simply the game. We can’t get worked up of we fail to score in every scoring situation. The boys are doing just fine.

Now what is curious is that the Tigers have the best OBP in the Majors (.346), the 2nd best OPS (see above), the third most ABs in the Majors, yet are 5th in runs. This doesn’t match-up with their overall team hitting prowess. The Tigers’ 190 runs scored this season is 36 behind the league leading Toronto Blue Jays. I would guess that if the Tigers had scored just 10 more runs they would have three more wins. (Now, this flies in the face of their Pythagorean X W-L which would suggest that they have been lucky, but I think it’s a sample size issue as I noted a few days ago). So why aren’t they driving in more runs? They really should be considering they are getting on base so frequently and hitting so well.

I think there is one direct cause – Victor Martinez, ,more specifically, where he bats in the lineup.  Here is the Tigers offensive rank by lineup position (using OPS)

1. 4
2. 7
3. 1
4. 27
5. 9
6. 6
7. 17
8. 13
9. 19

So, which one of the above is not like the others?

And of course, the 4th spot is maybe the worst to be so bad because of all the run scoring opportunities. The Tigers still have middle of the pack run production from the 4 hole (23 RBI – 15th in the Majors), but that just demonstrates how many opportunities there have been.

The indirect cause is Brad Ausmus – and his insistence on sticking with VMart for so long, but a young manager against an established vet, I get it. VMart is a professional hitter and he’s going to come back and hit. But his bat, or lack thereof, has cost this team several runs in 2015, and likely a few wins.

In other news…is anyone noticing what Prince Fielder is doing right now? Good for him.

Baseball Reference Game Preview here.

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

Nick Castellanos had his biggest hit of the season last night, a slicing line drive with the bases juiced in the 8th inning. Castellanos was credited with a triple and showed a ton of emotion standing on third, rightfully so. It was a huge moment for a team that sorely needed a big hit. (Let’s be clear, the RF took an awful angle, but it would have driven in at least 2 in any event).

So the Tigers avoid being swept, at home, by Milwaukee, and are rewarded with a 1:08 PM eastern start against the 13 games over .500 Houston Astros. Yes, 13. The Tigers are 7 over, which means they are 17-17 in their last 34 games. For all the great hitting and solid bullpen work, this team is not winning as many games as you would expect. Or is it…the expected win loss for this team is 22-19, which would suggest that the Tigers have been very lucky to date. Though that could easily even out over the course of the season. I’ll say it again, I think they are being mismanaged, and Ausmus has probably cost the team a game or two.

1. Gose, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez J.D., DH
5. Cespedes, LF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Davis, RF
8. McCann, C
9. Romine, SS

Short and sweet for the win.

We’re not gonna get swept at home, by the Brewers, are we?

Baseball Reference game preview here.

1. Gose, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez J.D., RF
5. Cespedes, LF
6. Collins, DH
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

(doesn’t he look injured in the pic above?)

Victor Martinez and his inability to hit left handed (against right handed pitching) has been the most popular Tiger topic as of late. He’s in a massive slump (let’s hope it’s a slump), and looked downright awful in two key late inning game-tying/go-ahead situations over the past two nights. He weakly grounded out to 3rd on Sunday night, despite an overshift where a normal speed runner would have likely made it to first, and then grounded into a 1st and 2nd no out double play last night which was upheld on replay, to the great dismay of Rod Allen. Had he not been “injured” he may have beaten the relay last night. Just moving the runners over last night would have put the Tigers in a great position to win the game.

Through 34 games this year he’s posting an OPS of .578, which ranks him 89 out of 92 qualifiers in the AL.

In 2013, his only season to finish with an OPS below .832 in his past 7 seasons, he had a .562 OPS through the first 34 games of the season. From game 35 on, he resumed his normal V Mart awesomeness, and posted a slashline of .326/.377/.469 for an OPS of .847 the rest of the season. I know he’s been downright awful this year, but let’s not forget this guy’s resume. He finished 2nd in MVP voting last year. He’s well established as a professional hitter. Guys like VMart don’t forget how to hit. It’s a bad slump, but he’ll be out of it soon.

Collins up for VMart. Collins has been a borderline average minor leaguer at every level above A, and he’s about to turn 25, so don’t hold out too much help that he’ll be anything more than a role player. But even if he hits league average for a bit (or even a little below it), it will be an upgrade over what injured VMart has been producing.

Here’s a take on how VMart’s DL stint will affect the lineup.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Gose, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez J.D., RF
5. Cespedes, LF
6. Collins, DH
7. Castellanos, DH
8. Holaday, C
9. Iglesias, SS

This one really snuck up on me…go Tigers.

(I loved that bunt that Kinsler laid down last night. He’s such a ballplayer.)

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

Davis in LF tonight, Cespedes with the night off.

1. Gose, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez V, DH
5. Martinez J.D., RF
6. Davis, LF
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

Miguel Cabrera went deep last night for the 3rd consecutive game, this one his milestone 400th, although there was a long wait before he could be sure the game would finish and his home run count. It did, earning Cabrera congratulations–and awe–from his teammates and fans alike.

It wouldn’t be for another hour and a half before the first inning finished and much later than that when Cabrera also turned in a defensive gem, making a tough catch on a pop foul, then immediately turning and throwing a strike to third to get the runner tagging up from 2nd.

In addition to Cabrera’s big day, JD Martinez had another solid game (1-for-3 with 2 walks) in the cleanup spot, Kinsler and Cespedes had 3 hits each, and Jose Iglesias came through with what proved to be a game-winning RBI single in the 10th. Pretty good stuff against the team who had the best record in the majors heading into the series.

Let’s hope tonight the Tigers break their bad recent habit of flopping on nationally televised games.

In other news, here’s an update on Shane Greene (courtesy of Mr. Stormin).  Ausmus says the “the level of concern is way down.”

Tonight’s Broom-Wielding Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. Alfredo Simon, P

Anthony Gose is a few plate appearances shy of qualifying for the league leader lists; if he weren’t, he’d be leading the AL in hitting right now at .354, bumping current leader Jose Iglesias down to 2nd.

So are the Tigers (in other words Miguel Cabrera) over their night game funk? It certainly seems like it after last night. On the other hand, other than Gose and Cespedes the bats seemed to be full of NyQuil until the 7th inning, so maybe it was more a St. Louis Blowpen issue than kicking the night-game stupor. At any rate, it’s incredible how often that scenario happens: Cabrera gets a big hit, then the rest of the team suddenly starts hitting.

For 2/3 of the game, it was looking like a Cespedes home run and a Gose triple were going to have to be enough to win the game, and maybe would. Greene was cruising along and doing so well that he felt all tingly. Oh, actually, that was an ulnar nerve, which is why he left at only 70-some odd pitches. File under: never good news without some bad news.

I was thinking in the 5th inning or so, when it looked like the Cespedes blast might be the big hit of the game, that this is how teams run up a lot of wins in a season. Cespedes was the only guy in the starting lineup yesterday without a hit, and one of only two without multiple hits, and here he is with the big blast today.

When guys in a lineup take turns getting hot it seems to result in a lot more wins than when you have one or two guys with MVP seasons and a bunch of slugs. I don’t think we’re going to get anything like consistency from Cespedes. But if he is hot while the others are cold, that will work. No matter, I’ll take the 23 runs in two days.

Miggy’s home run, by the way was #399, which is statistically significant for two important reasons: his next home run puts him past Mr. Tiger himself, Al Kaline, and the Venezuelan home run king, Andres Galarraga, who Cabrera grew up idolizing. (The link was an interesting read; the reverence for Galarraga from Cabrera and Sanchez makes you realize how much he meant to Venezuelans).

Random impression: McCann’s got some wheels. His first double was a real hustle double; his second was a single that he stretched into a double, in a way a 220 pound catcher shouldn’t be able to do.

Other, less random impression: it’s National League baseball, so you might not have noticed the Hernan Perez at bat, because it looked like the standard pitcher at bat. There is a reason Hernan is still on the team–he was highly regarded, and is out of options, which means they can’t just send him back to Toledo without risking him being claimed. I suspect we’ll see a lot more of Perez in coming weeks, and if he continues to look as lost at the plate, that sometime after that we’ll not see any of him at all.

Let’s end on a good impression: last 4 games for JD Martinez:

• 1-for-4, RBI
• 2-for-2
• 2-for-4
• 2-for-5, RBI

That adds up to 7-for-15 (.467), the last two games of which had the added pressure of hitting in the cleanup spot. And this after an 0-for-weeks slump. JD may actually end up being an even better hitter for this slump experience.

Today’s OK, NOW Go Back to That Day/Night Thing Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. David Price, P

The Tigers tried something a little different yesterday (no, I don’t mean scoring run, although that too) and it worked: going with both Davis and Gose in the outfield, resting Victor Martinez and letting JD bat 4th, and giving Holaday his first start all worked like a charm, and the Tigers pulled out the series win.

Gose and Davis combined for 7-for-10 with a double and triple, Holaday went 3-for-5 with his 2nd career home run, and even JD Martinez knocked in a run from the cleanup spot with a 2-for-4 game. Of course none of them could match Miguel Cabrera with his two home runs and 5 RBI, but it was nice to see the very different lineup work so well.

The Tigers finished the series with 17 runs, which works out to an average of 5.7 runs per game, which is excellent. It isn’t recommended, however, to accomplish that average with games of 2, 2, and 13.

The difference between yesterday’s game and the first two was like night and day. The difference might not have been the revamped lineup though–it might have been, well, night and day.

The Tiger is becoming a fully diurnal creature this season, pouncing in the daytime and snoozing at night.

Day Tiger:   14 – 4  (.778)  Night Tiger: 7 – 10 (.412)

Most of this can be traced to the Big Man, Miguel Cabrera, who is actually a giant during the day and a little guy at night.  I ran his numbers earlier; they’ve split even farther apart.

• 2015 Night:  70 PA .158 BA .472 OPS
• 2015 Day:    81 PA .471 BA 1.455 OPS

Last season, and over his career, he was actually better at night than day:

• 2014 Night: 437 PA .343 BA .983 OPS
• 2014 Day:   248 PA .260 BA .741 OPS

• Career Night: 5266 PA .328 BA .979 OPS
• Career Day:  2696 PA .304 BA .925 OPS

So there you have it: last season his success split significantly toward the night from his career average; this season it has split even more significantly toward the day.

Any theories? There are some guys who are just better at one than the other; it’s not to hard to theorize that that is because of how they see the ball in different conditions, since hitting is so much about vision. But someone who has been better at night throughout his career flip-flopping like that is very unusual.

It is most like just a random variation that will even itself out over the season. And remember, a lot of these early night games have been quite cold, and maybe that is a factor. Something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds.

Tonight’s A Little Greene With the Bat Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. Shane Greene, P