PREGAME: As I start to write up today’s game thread, I realize the team has split the first 2 games of a series quite frequently. Basically every series since their first 2.

Today it will be Justin Verlander who is coming off his best start of the season. We’ll see if the stuff is there again, and it better be because the Indians can beat up Verlander pretty good. He has a 4-10 career mark against Cleveland and they’ve hit him at an 837 OPS clip.

The Indians send out their ace as well, lefty Cliff Lee. Clifton Phifer Lee was shelled in his first 2 starts, but has posted 3 quality starts since then allowing 3 runs in his last 20 innings.

One thing to watch today, Inge has hit Lee to the tune of 400/471/633 in 34 plate appearances. Inge is also riding that consecutive games on base streak. Things look favorable for him today in terms of match-up, but will these be one of those paradoxical baseball things where he gets stymied?

Inge might get an extra shot for his streak as he moves up one spot in the order with Gerald Laird getting the day off.

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Ordonez, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, LF
6. Inge, 3B
7. Raburn, DH
8. Everett, SS
9. Sardhina, C

Cleveland vs. Detroit – May 3, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Verlander’s fastball was the story of this game. He rode his high 90’s heater to 11 strikeouts, good enough to put him on top of the AL leaderboard. It was simply a matter of overpowering the Indians hitters. It wasn’t fancy, it was just raw heat. He’d mix in a curve or change early in the count, but more often than not it was the fastball that either had Cleveland frozen or waving at air. It was beautiful.

And when Verlander did get in trouble in the 7th inning, with the bases loaded and nobody out, it was more domination. His last 7 fastballs AVERAGED 99.25mph. As Rod Allen would say, that’s some serious cheese. He went to that cheese 79 times today, 55 for strikes and 11 of the swing-and-miss variety (plus 2 foul tips into the glove).

Bobby Seay was a little shaky for the second straight day, but Joel Zumaya came in and induced a bullet right at Adam Everett. Fernando Rodney finished things off with a 1-2-3 9th inning on 12 pitches.

As for the offense, it was Brandon Inge again going deep. Everybody had a hit except for Guillen and Raburn. Guillen hit the ball well in 3 of his at-bats, but right at the right fielder every time.

This one felt good, and in what was a very up and down week finishing the week 3-3 isn’t so bad.

PREGAME: It’s the Tigers first foray into “National TV” (by National I mean Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, the Dakotas, parts of West Virginia, Erie PA and Spokane) today with an afternoon tilt as game 3 of Fox’s MLB Saturday.

Zach Miner takes the hill for Detroit. This may not bode well because he posts an 857 OPS against at home (653 on the road) and a 799 OPS against in day games (738 after dark). Oh yeah, and the Indians have a 987 OPS against him. Then again Carl Pavano was supposed to be awful and he stymied the Tigers.

For the Indians it will be Aaron Laffey. The 24 year old lefty has a 2.41 ERA in 18.1 innings due in large part because he’s kept the ball in the park. He’s yet to allow a homer this year. He has walked 10 and only fanned 9.

Cleveland vs. Detroit – May 2, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

Game Time 3:40

POSTGAME: Well a lot happened in that game. The Tigers got a big inning and an Adam Everett grand slam. The Indians got a Raburn induced big inning right after. And the the teams took turns picking on each other’s bullpens but the Tigers prevailed. That was your 4 sentence summation.

• Everett had a great at-bat (and not just the result) when he hit the grand slam. It was nice to see him rewarded. But I have to wonder how often a player hits a slam, and then is asked to sacrifice bunt, and then is pinch hit for? I’m not saying any of the decisions were wrong, but an interesting day for Everett
• Inge continues to pick it and get on base.
• A lot of people love small ball. When it works it can be fun. But thank goodness Leyland wasn’t having Granderson sacrifice in the 8th inning. I love it when we beat up on Betancourt.
• Miguel Cabrera is back to ripping the ball.
• Carlos Guillen has been a ground ball machine lately, but he kept the ball in the air today. He only had a sac fly to show for it, but is this the start of something?
• Miner didn’t deserve to be hung with 5 earned runs. Official score keeping is bizarre. It started in the Angels series, but the Comerica scorer has been awful this week as well.
• Bobby Seay gave up a run. First one this year. I can’t complain, especially since the boys still got a W.
• Joel Zumaya is making me smile
• Fernando Rodney has pitched 5 innings in save situations this year and has allowed 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.

Toledo 5 Lehigh Valley 6
Dontrelle Willis walked 2 in the first, but finished after 5 IP, 7 hits, 2 BB’s, a HBP, and 4 K’s. Sixty of his 102 pitches went for strikes.Fu Te Ni allowed 2 runs on 4 hits while recording just 2 outs. Jeff Larish homered and drove in 2. Wilkin Ramirez singled and added his 7th stolen base of the season.

Erie 5 Bowie 2
Max Leon, Deik Scram, and Brennan Boesch each had 2 hits. Brooks Brown allowed 2 runs (his first this season) on 7 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings. Cody Satterwhite allowed 3 hits and fanned 3 in 2 innings.

Lakeland 0 Brevard County 2
There was really no offense to speak of. Lauren Gagnier fanned 5 and walked 2 while allowing 7 hits and 2 runs in 4.1 innings. Robbie Weinhardt struck out 3 and allowed 2 hits in 2 innings.

West Michigan 6 Cedar Rapids 5 (15 inn)
Joe Bowen went 3 for 7. Brandon Douglas, Bryan Pounds, and Jordan Lennerton each had 2 hits. Casey Crosby allowed 4 runs in 4 innings on 6 hits, 2 walks and 6 K’s. Matt Hoffman pitched 8 shutout innings in relief with 5 K’s, no walks and 4 hits.

PREGAME: It’s AL Central season for the Tigers. After playing only 5 intra-divisional games in the month of April, the next 13 are against divisional foes. First up are the Indians, who are for the time being Hafner-less.

Carl Pavano will make the start for the Tribe. Pavano has given up more than a run an inning this year, thanks in part to a 9 run 1 inning effort his first time out. Things have been a little better since then, but he still only has one quality start. One thing Pavano has done well is limit the free passes with only 5 walks in 18 innings.

Armando Galarraga gets the ball for Detroit with his 1.85 ERA. He’s done that by fanning a batter an inning and keeping the ball in the park with only one homer allowed on the season. He has been a little susceptible to the walk though with 8 issued over his last 2 games.

Your Guillen-returns-to-the-field starting lineup:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Ordonez, DH
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, LF
6. Laird, C
7. Inge, 3B
8. Anderson, RF
9. Everett, SS

Cleveland vs. Detroit – May 1, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: The Tigers dropped their 3rd in a row. It’s the first time they’ve dropped more than back to back games this year and now find themselves back at .500.

Armando Galarraga wasn’t good and he followed a disturbing Tigers pattern of being undone by a big inning when 5 runs crossed in the 2nd.As such he was done after 5 leaving 4 innings for the bullpen. The pen, by comparison didn’t fare too poorly with Nate Robertson allowing a run in 3 innings and Ryan Perry pitching a scoreless 9th. It wasn’t a real clean performance with 6 baserunners allowed, but the damage was minimal.

Of course it also proved difference making with the team coming up one run short.

The most troublesome aspect of the game was the offense being 4 hit by Carl Pavano. Pavano just breezed through the Tigers lineup way too easily. I appreciate the fact that they rallied in the 8th inning, but they have to generate more offense consistently.

• Nice to see Miguel Cabrera ripping the ball again. He had a couple hard outs as well as the homer.
• Carlos Guillen is playing too deep in left field, especially with runners in scoring position
• Brandon Inge continued his streak of being on base every game. He also add a web gem-ish quality play on a foul ball

Bowie 6 Erie 1
Alex Avila went 2 for 4. Scott Sizemore homered. Jeff Frazier walked twice. Jay Sborz walked 4 and allowed 4 runs (2 earned) in 3.1 innings. Alfredo Figaro was supposed to start this game but was shelved with back stiffness.

Tampa 0 Lakeland 5
Audy Ciriaco and Kyle Peter were both 2 for 3 with a walk. Andy Dirks walked twice and singled. Thad Weber pitched 7 innings of 2 hit ball with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Lester Oliveros walked 3 in his 2 innings but didn’t allow other baserunners.

West Michigan 0 Cedar Rapids 3
Bryan Pounds, Gustavo Nunez and Ronnie Bourquin had the only hits for the Whitecaps. Victor Larez allwed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk in 3 innings.

PREGAME: It’s kids day at Comerica Park with Joba Chamberlain taking on Rick Porcello. Porcello has been solid in his first 3 starts, but he has been susceptible to the homer with 5 dingers allowed in his 18 innings.

Chamberlain is making his 4th starter and he brings in a 3.94 ERA. But Chamberlain hasn’t been striking out many by his standards (6.2/9) and he’s been walking quite a few by anyone’s standard (5.6/9).

The Tigers bats have been relatively quiet of late with only 17 runs scored in their last 5 games – and 9 of those came in one game. But Ramon Santiago returns to the lineup tonight:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Ordonez, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Guillen, DH
6. Laird, C
7. Inge, 3B
8. Anderson, LF
9. Santiago, SS

Over at Tigers Corner you’ll be able to get a different perspective as Gary Gillette blogs from the press box.

Game Time 7:05

NY Yankees vs. Detroit – April 29, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME: Another disappointing game. Porcello struggled in his first home start and he was shelled for 6 hits to go with 3 walks and didn’t get out of the 4th inning. And what a 4th inning it was with 7 runs plated for the Yankees. And that was that.

In terms of positives, the defense wasn’t bad and Miguel Cabrera made a couple nice plays. Also Joel Zumaya looked quite good and is probably ready to assume the set-up duties. And with 3 more walks  Ryan Perry looks ready to relinquish the role.

Also, after the offense went very quiet for 2 games, they woke up in the 9th inning for 5 runs. Hopefully it carries over.

I hate off days.