Thank you Wily Mo Pena…

The Tigers sent 13 runners safely towards first base last night, but managed only 3 runs.  A coupla GIDPs and 0-6 with RISP will do that to you.  Maggs reached twice in three at bats, but before we get too excited about his return, realize that he only has 2 XBH out of his 10 hits since his return a few weeks ago.  He was taken out in the 6th last night, but it looks like it was simply precautionary.  Leyland took some of the heat for Schlereth’s woeful performance (8 earned on two swings is quite a feat), mentioning that he (Leyland) had not done a good job of keeping Schlereth sharp.  Last night was Schlereth’s first appearance in a week.

In other news…

– Apparently the Tigers are looking to move Brad Thomas.  I don’t think DD needs to worry about overages on his cell plan.  In fact, they might get more interest if they shopped Dave Thomas.
– New Mets skipper Terry Collins is an EMU alum.  Remember when they were the Hurons?  Can we bring that back?  (Did you know that EMU was originally named “Michigan State Normal School?”  What does that say for our friends out in East Lansing?)
– Avila is only about 400,000 votes behind Russell Martin.  If you have not already, get out there and vote.  Avila really deserves it this year.  And do you want Russell Martin and Derek Jeter batting in the first three innings in a game which could determine whether the Tigers or Phillies get home field advantage in October?
– Oh yeah, there’s a game tonight.  We really need a solid outing from Phil Coke.  More on Coke v. Capuano later today.

The Tigers desperately need a good start from Coke today.  Pretty much the exact opposite of his last two starts.

Capuano had a rough go early on in 2011, but he’s posted 4 straight quality starts dating back to June 7th.  On the year he’s a pedestrian 6-7 with a 3.99 ERA and 1.37 WHIP.  He’s walked 1 or fewer in 8/15 starts.  I think the boys will have their work cut out for them tonight.

Cabrera is the only Tiger with more than 4 career plate appearances against Capuano, and he’s got 7 hits in 19 ABs with 2 HR.  VMart is 2-3.

Tonight’s Troops Are:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Casper Wells, RF
3. Magglio Ordonez, DH
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, C
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Brennan Boesch, LF
8. Brandon Inge, 3B
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B

The Tigers welcome the resurgent Mets into CoPa today for the first time since the Mets took 2 of 3 at Citi Field last year.  After a horrendous 5-13 start, the Mets have been playing pretty well, and may even be buyers at the trade deadline instead of dangling Reyes and Carlos Beltran over drooling front runners.

Journeyman R.A. Dickey throws for the Mets, his 3rd team in 4 years.  Dickey was phenomenal in his second year with Mets last year, posting a 2.84 ERA and 1.18 WHIP over 175 innings. He’s returned to closer to his career numbers this year, with a 3.76 ERA (remember, it’s the NL), and a 1.32 WHIP.  He’s striking out 6.1/9 this year, his best since his first full season with the Rangers in 2003.

Porcello looks to get the Tigers to a season high 8 games over .500 tonight.  Porcello has been drilled his last two outings, and is looking to return to his late April and May form which saw him go 6-1 over a 9 game stretch.  Let’s hope the heat is not starting to affect his sinker.  Game time temperature is expected to be 75.

Now for today’s obligatory Ryan Raburn talk…  Joe Posnanski wrote up a piece yesterday on how boring Adam Dunn is to watch, and spent a little time on Dunn’s record setting strike-out rate. Currently, Dunn is striking out in 36.6% of his PAs (it’s gone up since Posnanski did his research) which would be the worst such rate in baseball history.  As many swing and misses Raburn and Jackson have put us through, their rates are 27.25% and 32.9%, respectively.  So it could be worse.  That said, though I couldn’t find anywhere which lists K/PAs, Jackson and Raburn seem to be comfortably in the top 5.

A few other notes of interest:

– Tigers are 2nd in the AL in BA with a .266 mark
– Tigers starters named Brad, Phil, Max and Rick do not have a win since June 7th.  Tigers are 7-9 in games when JV doesn’t pitch over that stretch.

Your Ra-Barely Made It Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, LF
3. Magglio Ordonez, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Brandon Inge, 3B
9. Ryan Raburn, 2B

Short and sweet for the W headed into an off-day.

Today’s game is free on MLB.tv.  Check out the Tigers wearing 1944 throwback jerseys.

My pick to click is Cabrera.  He’s fuming from yesterday.

1. Casper Wells, CF
2. Ryan Raburn, 2B
3. Brennan Boesch, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, C
6. Magglio Ordonez, RF
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Danny Worth, 3B
9. Rick Porcello, P

Last night’s trivia answer: Jack Morris, Dan Petry, and Walt Terrell.  Wilcox had been relegated to a spot starter by 1985.

Tigers are 1-3 thus far to start this 6 game interleague road trip.  During these four games, opposing pitchers are 2-7 with 5 RBI and 3 BB.  That’s a .500 OBP, and as many RBI as any other spot in the lineup.  Arguably, it only really mattered in Saturday’s loss, but watching the opposing pitcher drive in more runs than the whole team can’t be much of a boost in the dugout.

Max Scherzer looks to be the first ML pitcher to get to 10 wins tonight.  He hit a rough patch in late May/early June, but he’s rebounded nicely allowing only 3 ER over his last 12 2/3 with a .95 WHIP.

Scherzer will be opposed by Chad Billingsley.  Billingsley is hittable with a 1.52 WHIP on the year against a 4.65 ERA.  Note his 2011 stats are significantly worse than his career stats (3.66 ERA and 1.37 WHIP), and he had a 16 win season back in 2008.  I get the feeling that he’s the kind of guy who could turn into Cy for a night against the boys.

My pick to click is Jackson, as he’s also on my Scoresheet roster.

No Peralta or Cabs (or Maggs) tonight.

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Don Kelly, 3B
3. Brennan Boesch, RF
4. Victor Martinez, 1B
5. Andy Dirks, LF
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Ryan Raburn, 2B
8. Ramon Santiago, SS
9. Max Scherzer, P

The Tigers stroll into LA on the tail of another JV masterpiece.  The last time the Tigers had multiple 9 game winners this early in the season was 1985, when they had 3.  Can you name them?

For the Tigers, tonight’s game is all about Brad’s balls.  How many, to be exact.  Did you know that when he gives up more than 2 walks he’s 0-3 with a 9.73 ERA?  On the flip side, when he allows 2 or fewer BBs he’s 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA.

Penny will be opposed by Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw.  Kershaw is a mid-90’s lefty who relies heavily on his fastball with a good slider out pitch.  On the year he’s 6-3 with a 3.28 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.  He strikes out a ridiculous 9.67/9 (contrast that against JVs 8.20/9) against less than 3 walks per 9.  He had his two worst outings of the season on June 4th and June 9th, but then righted the ship with a 7 inning, 4 hit, 1 ER performance last time out.

A few notes:

– JV was named co-player of the week in the AL (second time he’s shared the award this season) alongside James Shields.
– Inge is hitting .176 through four games at Toledo.
– Clayton Kershaw has 9 hits and is second in the majors among all pitchers with a .290 BA.
– The Tigers are batting .312 with 95 runs scored, 31 doubles and 20 home runs in 18 games during June.

Today’s pre-game player of the game is Ryan Raburn.  For no reason other than he’s on my Scoresheet team.

Your Maggs is Due Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Casper Wells, LF
3. Magglio Ordonez, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, C
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Ryan Raburn, 2B
8. Danny Worth, 3B
9. Brad Penny, P

Happy Father’s Day All.  This is my first! (shameless plug)  Anyone watching the game with their kids?

Tigers lose last night in a game where they doubled their opponents’ hits – 12 to 6.  The Tigers had plenty of scoring chances, and even hit 4-10 with RISP, but back to back walks in the 2nd followed up by a Ubaldo Jimenez single did in Phil Coke.  Coke had little control throughout the game, and 9 walks given up by Tigers pitching was just too much.  One bright spot – the bullpen was pretty darn good, giving up 1 hit (just happened to be a HR) and 2 walks against 4 ks in three innings. Like Ron Washington said, That’s the way baseball go.

Thus, the Tigers are on the verge of losing back-to-back-to-back games for 4th time this year.  But I’m not worried, as Justin Verlander climbs the mound this afternoon.

Since I did not yet get an opportunity to do so, I wanted to take a look at JV’s pitch selection from his masterpiece last Tuesday.  To say that he’s mixing it up would be a gross understatement, like saying Maggs in in a little slump.  In the first inning he started off relying heavily on his fastball, per usual, but note that every out pitch was on an off-speed pitch, recording two strikeouts on his curveball, and getting Brantley to ground out on a change-up.  The 4/14 off-speed pitches that he threw in the first all went for strikes.  If he can establish his complimentary pitches like that today, he’s going to be 9-3 when he leaves the ballpark.

In the second he again stuck with the fastball, throwing 6 of them against 3 changeups.  In the third, he shifted gears and began throwing more off-speed stuff.  This has got to be demoralizing for the opponents, as just when they think they are getting their timing down against the fastball, he becomes an off-speed pitcher.  From the third to the seventh, he alternated brilliantly between fastball heavy innings, and non fastball heavy innings.  In the 6th he set down Hannahan on three straight fastballs, and then in the 7th he reached 99 MPH for the first time all game to Brantley. So what does he do in the 8th when it looks like he’s all warmed up and ready to hit 100?  He throws 2 fastballs against 12 off-speed pitches.  The Cabrera hit was on a fastball that JV would likely tell you was poorly located.

Other than starting games with predominantly fastballs, JV’s pitch selection has been impossible to predict as of late, and as a result, he has been nearly impossible to hit.

The Rockies counter with mainstay Aaron Cook, a soft-throwing right-hander who neither strikes out nor walks many, but gives up a lot of hits.  Cook has started only 2 games this year after slamming a door on his finger during Spring Training.  Seems like a convenient way to get out of drills, if you ask me.  He gets pretty good movement on his two-seamer, and that combined with the Rockies’ inability to develop young pitchers have kept him in the rotation for almost 10 years.

Your Father’s Day Lineup:

(coming soon)

Well, Leyland continued his “lousy” performance in Colorado last night, as the Tigers were spanked 13-6 by the Rockies.  Walking Jason Hammel with the bases loaded may have been the leak that sprang the dam, but the Rockies tacked on another 7 runs (their margin of victory), after the forgettable 2nd inning.

Phil Coke will be the guy to get the Tigers back on track tonight, as he looks to build on his strong 6 1/3 no ER allowed performance against Tampa earlier this week.  Coke’s 1-6 record doesn’t suit his 3.69 ERA and 1.28 WHIP, so let’s just say he’s due.

Opposing Coke is Ubaldo Jimenez.  Or a guy who looks just like Ubaldo Jimenez and has the exact same pitching motion as Ubaldo Jimenez.  Jimenez has inexplicably been average this year, suffering a 1-7  record with a 4.63 ERA and 1.38 WHIP.  His walks and K/9 are close to his career average, and his .245 BAA is just a little higher than usual.  Lefties actually have a lower BA against him (not much – .240 to .250), but slug a little more.  Like I said, his ERA and W-L is inexplicable.  Let’s just hope the bad luck continues.

Tonight’s boy do I wish Don Kelly could play 2B lineup:

1. Austin Jackson — CF
2. Don Kelly — 3B
3. Brennan Boesch — RF
4. Miguel Cabrera — 1B
5. Victor Martinez — C
6. Andy Dirks — LF
7. Jhonny Peralta- SS
8. Ryan Raburn — 2B
9. Phil Coke — P

Well, well, well.  I wake up from my Mavericks exuberance state and look where our beloved Tigers are.  First place.  Who, other than Mr. X, can say they saw this coming?

For all of his idiosyncrasies and questionable moves, Ol’ Smokey has been pulling all of the right strings as of late.  Dirks, Worth and Santiago have contributed, and the bullpen has been outstanding over the last month or so.  In fact, since an ill-fated Ryan Perry appearance on May 21st which saw his ERA skyrocket to an even 10, the bullpen has posted a 2.48 ERA and limited opponents to a .198 BA.  The Furbush call-up and Purcey deal have contributed heavily to the bullpen’s success, and Al Albuquerque leads all AL relievers with 15.49 K/9 and a .128 BAA.

The Tigers resume interleague play tonight at Coors Field, as they look to continue their interleague dominance, and keep Cabrera away from the Coors part of the field.  The Tigers are 64-29 since ’06 against the NL, which is second best in the majors behind Boston during that time.

A very good Jason Hammel climbs the mound for the Rockies tonight.  For the season he’s posting a 3.65 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.  He doesn’t strike out many (45 in 81.1 innings), and he walks just under 3 per game.

Porcello looks for his 7th win tonight, coming off three quality starts in a row after a blowup against Boston.  Since that Boston game, Porcello has only allowed 6 ER in 19 2/3 (2.75 ERA) with a 1.27 WHIP.  Note that Porcello is 4-1 on the road this year with a 2.27 ERA away from Comerica.

Tonight’s pre-player of the gamepost is Brennan Boesch.  The altitude helps his swing as he looks to continue his hot hitting after his 5-11 performance against Cleveland.

Tonight’s Special Alex Avila Experiment Lineup looks like this:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, C
5. Magglio Ordonez, RF
6. Alex Avila, 3B
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ryan Raburn, 2B
9. Rick Porcello, P

Speechless and kinda sick to my stomach after game 1.  Beckett v. Verlander II sounds fun, more later.

(game will be televised on FSD)

Lots going on today.

First of all, in a move that reeks of DD desperation (and rightfully so), Scott Sizemore was traded yesterday to the athletics for LH reliever David Purcey. Considering Sizemore was once a top organizational prospect and is now gone after just over 200 ABs in the bigs demonstrates that there were some serious evaluation problems up and down the chain.  David Purcey is in his 3rd year in the bigs and looks to have finally figured out how to pitch at this level.  He was having a pretty decent ’10 campaign (1.21 WHIP, .210 BAA) until an injury ended his season after 34 IP. Detroit is his 3rd team already in 2011 as he was dealt to Oakland after being DFAd from Toronto early this season.  Though he had pitched well for the A’s, they have a plethora of worthy relievers (and Bailey is coming off the DL soon) which made Purcey expendable.  Apparently, the A’s have coveted Sizemore for some time.

I make the point about desperation because 1) DD is not under contract for 2012, 2) DD is admitting that the bullpen needs help as he has not been able to develop talent internally, nor has Benoit panned out thus far and 3) Sizemore is not the answer at 2B.

I also make the point about desperation because Ryan Raburn, who seems to have tree limbs for hands at times, will now be the regular 2nd baseman.  Whether this move came from the top, or it is Ol’ Smokey’s own doing, a fellow  2012 contract-less Jim Leyland is also beginning to realize that time is of the essence.  Lowe’s article in Today’s Freep contains a very scary chart which displays the offensive output for each of the four different 2B starters this season.  Read it at your own risk.

In today’s exciting news, Andy Oliver makes his 2011 debut after an impressive 9 starts in Toledo. Covering 9 starts with the Hens, Oliver had a 3.31 ERA , 1.26 WHIP, and 8.53 K/9.  The 2009 second rounder will fill in for Phil for at least two starts over the next week.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the rotation if he pitches well.

In other roster news – Wilk & Perry down to make room for Purcey & Oliver.

Tonight’s reasonably composed lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Andy Dirks, LF
3. Brennan Boesch, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Ryan Raburn, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Thank goodness yesterday’s game was rained out.  Wait, scratch that.  It actually counts.

Though the Tigers are still over .500 and stand comfortably in second place, they are 6.5 games behind the Indians and are hitting about as well as the Gas House Gorillas.  In fact, the first few innings in that clip look eerily similar how Max Scherzer did yesterday.  Rosenberg put together a piece today in the Freep on some of the aforementioned troubles, but here was the strongest line (not that it’s news to us): “They are getting below-average production from second base, third base and — perhaps most critically — all three outfield positions.”

The red hot Red Sox have won 11 out of 13 and are now tied atop the AL East.  Their bats are booming, plating more runs in the past two games than the Tigers have in their last 10 games (and that includes 13 in the short sweep over Tampa Bay).  The elder statesman of the Majors, Tim Wakefield, takes the mound celebrating his 44th year and 298th day birthday.  Wakefield has been a spot starter for the Red Sox, posting a 4.50 ERA for the year.  In his 3 starts he’s had two decent ones, allowing 1 ER in each though he never made it out of the sixth, and got drilled for 6 ER in 4 1/3 innings against the meek Twins on May 6th.

The Tigers counter with Rick Porcello, who has been phenomenal for over a month now, posting a 1.59 ERA and .98 WHIP over his past 6 starts.  A win tonight would match Porcello’s career best of 5 consecutive wins.

Today’s Miggy at DH/VMart at 1B for the first time all year lineup is:

1. Jackson cf
2. Santiago 2b
3. Raburn lf
4. Cabrera dh
5. Martinez 1b
6. Peralta ss
7. Avila c
8. Wells rf
9. Inge 3b

Short and sweet for the W.