Just like that, no more first place.  Back with the Stroh’s

It started well, with a 3-run first, but the rest was forgettable and it kept being so, on-and-on, for 3 1/2 hours.  But the Tigers can still take the series with a win this afternoon.

Perhaps Raburn will help.  Today is his turn; he has been platooning with Santiago.  Jim Leyland says of Raburn that he is going to “play him more, play him less, whatever.”  Actually I think “whatever” sums it up best.

Today Max Scherzer tries to right the pitching ship vs. Mitch Talbot.

And Brandon Inge is off to Toledo to start a rehab assignment, starting as DH.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Alex Avila

Support for Alex is growing like an Avila beard; he is now 2nd in All-Star voting. And he has even been taking infield practice at 3rd.

Today’s Rubbery Lineup:

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

That, said Justin Verlander, was my good stuff.

Hard to argue with that; if possible he looked even better than he did when he threw his no-hitter against Toronto.  Many were convinced by the 7th inning that another no-hitter was inevitable (I won’t name names), but, alas, it was not to be.  Still a masterful performance, including fitting our old friend Grady Sizemore for the golden sombrero.

All kinds of people were raving about Verlander on the sports shows and internets, which is nice.  The Free Press launched a Let’s Give Verlander a Nickname campaign, which is something else.

Oh, and now we’re really, really in first.  Break out the Stroh’s!

Brad Penny will venture out to defend first place tonight.  Penny was good enough his last start, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings, but unfortunately that night the Tigers couldn’t muster any offense against Cy Bedard. That may be less of a problem against Fausto Carmona, perhaps best known for playing a tune on Gary Sheffield’s head.

Carmona has dropped 5 consecutive starts, posting a 9.55 ERA over that span. His last start prompted Manager Manny Acta to declare Carmona was “divorced from the strike zone.”  So the Tiger plan will be to be patient at the plate and build hitters’ counts, right? Right?

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Magglio Ordonez

He didn’t get a hit his first game back, but hit the ball hard twice–harder than he was hitting it before his Toledo stint.  Let’s see how today looks.

Today’s Maggsnificent Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Don Kelly 3B
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Magglio Ordonez RF
7. Alex Avila C
8. Jhonny Peralta SS
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

First place on the line and Justin Verlander on the mound, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Although last night will be tough to top:  tense, tight game, close plays on the bases, the rare night when the calls were going Detroit’s way, and a dramatic walk-off triple (the first career walk-off hit for Ramon Santiago).

The triple was aided by B.J. Upton, who was playing Santiago shallow and shading toward left.  In fact Rod Allen commented more than once during the game that Upton was playing a very shallow CF for Comerica, and that came back to bite Upton.  There certainly was no reason to play shallow with Martinez on first;  even a double wouldn’t have scored the run. One wonders if Maddon were on the bench, if Upton would have been repositioned.  Was Maddon’s ejection the hidden key play of the game?

Not that you can blame Maddon for being upset.  Ruggiano, the runner called out at the plate, even took it to another level, hinting that he’s just going to do a Posey on catchers from now on. “If they’re going to give catchers the benefit of the doubt on those plays, then I feel like that narrows down our options to a collision at home every time,” Ruggiano said.

Tonight not only brings us the battle of first-place teams, but also the battle of the Justins, Verlander vs Masterson. Verlander is in top form, 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA his last seven starts. And he says he isn’t really pitching his best right now.  I can’t wait to see what that is.  The key for our Justin is to get past Michael Brantley, who is .538 for his career vs Verlander.

The other Justin did well in his start against Detroit earlier in the year, and is pitching well in general, but falling victim to the team slump–he held the Twins to 2 runs in 8 innings his last start, but got the loss.

In unrelated news, Ryan Raburn needs a few more ABs to statistically qualify for the league leader lists.  Which is a shame, because he just edged Chone Figgins for the lowest On-Base Percentage in the American League (.235).

In other news, Brandon Inge was seen taking batting practice today.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Don Kelly

See above.

Today’s Lucky Lefty Lineup:

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

Well, after a forgettable performance to close the Seattle series, we are still sort of tied for first with Cleveland.  As it so happens, there are only two American League games scheduled for today, the Cleveland and Detroit games, so all eyes will be upon the Tigers.

Just kidding–Cleveland plays the Yankees, and Derek Jeter might get a hit or something.

The big news is that after a month away, Magglio Ordonez has returned from the Toledo mud, and will be stepping into that 6th spot in the lineup reserved for right fielders. Ordonez hit a home run in his last start for the Mudhens Saturday, so hopefully this portends a return of at least a bit of his customary power.

According to the official Tiger twitter, Magglio wants to walk up to the plate to a Motown song, but is looking for suggestions. Detroit Tigers (official_tigers) on Twitter. Anything but Tears of a Clown!

And guess who the roster sacrifice for Magglio was.  Enrique Gonzalez! We currently have a bullpen with no Enrique, and no Brad Thomas.  It’s a nice feeling.

Phil Coke takes the mound tonight as Detroit tries to complete a delayed sweep of the last Rays series.  The Rays counter with Relatively Unknown Guy (Alex Cobb), who historically tends to give the Tigers problems.

Oh, and just for fun, how about a 104-yr old Tiger fan

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Magglio Ordonez

He’s back.  Is he Magglio? Singglio? Mendozlio?

Today’s Surgically Repaired Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Don Kelly 3B
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Maggio Ordonez RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila DH
9. Ryan Raburn 2B

Well they did it!  The Tigers battered the tough Michael Pineda, and in doing so gained a first-place tie with Cleveland.  Time to break out one of the bottles of ’68 Stroh’s that I save for such occasions.

Except…hmm, now that I look at it, the Tigers are tied as in they are 0 games behind, but if you calculate the winning percentage, Cleveland still has a slight edge.  So back in the cellar with the Stroh’s.

It’s not too soon to celebrate the return of Mad Max Scherzer, who pitched like we know he can.  Jim Leyland is a seer, he saw what he saw even when he didn’t see it.  As Rod Allen would say, I see you, Skipper.

This afternoon Detroit has the daunting task of facing Felix Hernandez, who the Tigers last beat in 2006.  Then again, Pineda can daunt too, and look how that worked out.  Rick Porcello has quietly strung together some very good performances himself, allowing only 3 runs in his last 12 2/3 innings.  One guy that does hit Porcello well:  Ichiro, who is .417 lifetime against Kid Rick.

Word is that Magglio is back in Detroit, and will probably officially rejoin the team on Monday, when the Tigers play a one-game makeup series with the Rays.  Leyland has said a reliever will be sent down to make room for him, though he didn’t specify which one.  One would think it will be Wilk, but one can always hope it is Enrique.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Brennan Boesch

Boesch has hit .439 so far for the month of June

Today’s No-Burn Again Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Don Kelly 3B
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez C
6. Andy Dirks RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila DH
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Well, Brad Penny was a Good Enough Penny;  unfortunately the Tigers ran into Cy Bedard and couldn’t muster any offense.  Jim Leyland said “Tonight felt like one of those games that you just aren’t supposed to win.”  OK, to me it felt like the opposite, but hey, that’s just me.

At least Cleveland lost.  And so did the surging White Sox, beaten by the A’s, who were led by their new phenom Scott Sizemore (3-4, 3 RBI).  And hey, look at that, Cleveland already lost again today.  A share of first is for the taking.

Today’s trivia answer (question below): Chone Figgins, Alcides Escobar, and Mark Ellis.

Tonight Max Scherzer tries to get back on track–he has a 12.51 ERA his last 3 outings.  If he can’t get back on track against the light-hitting Mariners, we may have a problem.  But not to worry.  Jim Leyland studied video of Max and saw…something: “I didn’t know what I was going to see, but I know what I saw. I saw something else, then I saw what I was looking for.”

On the other side of the mound, the Tigers won’t have an easy time getting their bats going again against Michael Pineda. He has a 1.64 ERA in his last 5 starts, and is looking more and more like an All-Star pitcher all of the time.

Today’s trivia question:  Name all of the AL hitters with a lower OPS than Ryan Raburn.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Casper Wells

Yesterday I named Ryan Raburn player of the Pre-game.  He responded by striking out, then striking out, then striking out, then being lifted for a pinch-hitter.  So today it seemed prudent to name a player not in the actual lineup.

Today’s No-Burn Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Don Kelly 3B
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Andy Dirks RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

There’s not much to say about Justin Verlander that hasn’t been said;  he just keeps turning in one excellent performance after another.  OK, maybe one thing:  he must lead AL pitchers in weird plays.  The weirdest is still the strange hop-jump-chuck-the-ball-at-the-batter thing he did, which was so confusing it even started a thread on umpire.org. Tonight’s entry:  the only run of the game scored on a strikeout that skipped off of the top of Avila’s glove, which Avila fumbled while trying to get to Verlander covering home.

The Tigers are no 8-2 over the last 10 games, which makes them the hottest team in baseball in that period, and leaves them one thin game behind the sinking Indians.  Oh, and the second-hottest teams in baseball, at 7-3?  The Twins and White Sox.  You knew it was inevitable.

The bad news is, the Tigers did their very best to squander their scoring opportunities, but were bailed out courtesy of Mr. Avila and Mr. Boesch.  After Avila’s first triple, the Tigers had a runner at 3rd with nobody out:  Raburn and Jackson both failed to get him home.  After his next triple, with a runner at 3rd with nobody out, Raburn and Jackson both failed to get him home.  At this rate the R3L2O Police will be setting up checkpoints outside of Comerica for tonight’s game.

So which has happened most recently, a catcher hitting back-to-back triples, or back-to-back R3L2O fails, back-to-back?  This question is bound to give someone hours of amusement.

Tonight the Tigers will be up against Erik Bedard, who only allowed 1 run to Detroit in April en route to a 10-1 Seattle win.  But as we pointed out yesterday, that was then, this is now.  Brad Penny goes for the Tigers.  The Bad Penny threw 100 pitches and gave up 3 runs in 5 innings in his last start, but got the win.  I guess that actually makes him Good Enough Penny, which works for me.

Fun stat:  this is the second time this season that Justin Verlander and Jose Valverde have exactly the same ERA (2.89). The first time was…well, you know.  Can’t sneak a trick question by this crowd.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Ryan Raburn

I recently said some fairly nice things about Mr. Raburn.  He proceeded to pop up in the infield with Avila on 3rd and nobody out, then strike out with Avila on 3rd and nobody out, then, with Avila on 1st and nobody out, grounded into a double-play.  Then he was pulled for a defensive replacement. Alex Avila was seen in the dugout begging to bat AFTER Raburn for today’s game.

Today’s Alex-Gets-His-Wish Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Casper Wells RF
3. Brennan Boesch LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Ryan Raburn 2B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Danny Worth 3B

Well, that was forgettable.  Still, the Tigers came away with their 2nd consecutive road series win, and that against a first-place team, so things are looking good (in fact for the season the Tigers are just one notch under .500 in road games).

Don Kelly provided a brief highlight with a rare home-run, only to undo it with a spectacular 2-run error.  Guess he didn’t hang out later to watch the ESPN highlights after all.

But enough of that. Tonight brings the two words we love to hear:  Justin Verlander.

Now yes, the last time the Mariners came to town the Tigers were the victims of a lopsided sweep.  And the Tigers even lost Verlander’s start 10-1 (it should be added that the bullpen gave up 6 of those runs in the 9th, on the day the term “blowpen” was coined).  But that was then, and this is now.  I mean, just look at the picture above.  See the concentration.

The Mariners send out Doug Fister, whose 3-6 record doesn’t do him justice (3.29 ERA).

In other news, the Tigers drafted Gene Lamont’s granddaughter’s boyfriend in the 740th round of the MLB draft.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Jhonny Peralta

He will like being back at Comerica, where he is hitting .337 (.985 OPS)

Today’s Return-of-the-Burn 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. Alex Avila DH
9. Ryan Raburn 2B