Still traveling, so I’m gonna make it short. Seems to be working.

My fault guys. Very limited picture options via mobile.

Well, here we are, all that early season winning has been squandered and we’re back where the season started, neither winners nor losers. Although that could change today, facing a tough pitcher and a Yankee team that’s as hot as Detroit is cold.

After the game Victor Martinez stated the obvious: “If we keep playing like this, we’re going nowhere.” One thing the team definitely has been missing is Victor’s leadership and focus, and hopefully his return will help in that respect. I don’t expect much help from his bat in the near future: before his DL stint he was the worst left-handed hitter on the team, and it’s unlikely that he will be instantly better in that respect. So for the short-term, we are likely to actually have a drop off in production from DH and the cleanup spot.

As far as Brad Ausmus goes, he held a team meeting after last night’s game, but no word on what was said or the tone of the meeting.

Tonight’s In Lettuce We Trust Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. JD Martinez, RF
7. Bryan Holaday, C
8. Andrew Romine, 3B
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Another start for Romine. They must be saving Josh Wilson for the bullpen.

Well, at least all that Alex Rodriguez stuff is over, which is the best thing I have to say about last night’s game. In other news, there have been murmurings about the Tigers and Reds and Johnny Cueto. Why would the Reds trade Cueto? Because his contract is up after this season, and the Reds have no intention of paying a Kershaw/Scherzer salary, no matter how deserved. I have no sense of what the Tigers would have to give up for a one-season rental, but Jason Beck said that the Reds had scouts checking out Detroit’s AA Erie team.

Cueto would fit right in with the 1-2 Runs-a-Game Tigers: he has had some of the worst run support in the NL, which is why he is only 4-4 despite a 2.98 ERA.

Tonight’s Still Over .500 Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. JD Martinez, RF
7. James McCann, C
8. Andrew Romine, 3B
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Well, at least we get a night off from gnashing our teeth about Castellanos .

After a whole lot of rain in Cincinnati, some of which I wore personally, the Tigers should have a dry evening in New York. Justin Verlander will be pushed back after the rainout last night and get the start. The game will be broadcast on the MLB Network, but don’t think that ESPN won’t be cutting in each time Alex Rodriguez comes up to the plate, since A-Rod now has 2,999 base hits.

The big news for us Detroit fans though will be the return of Victor Martinez, who is back in his accustomed clean-up spot in the lineup. The activation of Martinez means the return of Tyler Collins to Toledo. Collins did a reasonable job filling in, leaving with a .275 BA / .805 OPS, and will probably be seen again at some point this season. I expect it to take a little while for V-Mart to get up to speed (OK, maybe that is a bad phrase to use with him), but with V-Mart back and Verlander on the mound tonight’s Tigers lineup is back to looking like the one we expected to be watching this season.

Tonight’s Biting the Big Apple Lineup:

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. JD Martinez, RF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Bryan Holaday, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Well, that was a kick in the n*ts. I mean, do all the runs have to count?

The Tigers run the risk of a very bad 4 game series unless they can pick up a win tonight.

Report from our DTWer on the scene, Coleman, is that there is a lot of hail and rain in Cincy right now, so this thing may not get going for a while.

Bryan Holaday spells McCann after yesterday’s marathon.

TIGERS (career numbers off of Mike Leake)

1. Anthony Gose, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (0-for-4)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (1-for-3)
5. J.D. Martinez, RF (2-for-6, walk)
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Bryan Holaday, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. Justin Verlander, P

So, I’m posting this from a bar in Austin. Kinda slipped my mind. Go Tigers.

Well by now I’m sure that most of you have heard the big news in baseball, that the FBI is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking, accessing the Houston Astros internal databases and using the information there to leak trade rumors, apparently in an attempt to intentionally mess up deals that Houston was working on.

It was hardly “hacking” in the strict sense of the word: Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, previously from St. Louis, used the same passwords in Houston that he had while with the Cardinals. Oops. The Cardinals employees weren’t exactly devious themselves–they accessed the Houston databases from an IP address that was easily traced back to the home of one of the Cardinals employees. Oops.

At any rate, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Word is that FBI agents are converging on Comerica Park this evening, working from a tip from an anonymous source that Nick Castellanos is known throughout the league to be a hacker.

*****

It’s hard to say enough about the job that Anibal Sanchez did last night. Apparently Jeff Jones had worked with him to change his positioning on the rubber before he pitches. Could something like that really make such a huge difference?

Tonight’s OK-We’ll-Try-Collins-6th Lineup:

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

This is a big 2-and-2 swap series for me, living in the Cincinnati area. It has been ridiculously hot and humid here, until late this afternoon, when it became overcast and windy. So I went on a nice walk; then the sun came out, and it became hotter and hotter, and I began walking more and more slowly, and…this is a metaphor for something, I’m not sure what. There is a lesson here that will apply to today’s game, if only you have the proper interpretive skills.

There are plenty of Tiger alumni on the Reds: tonight we get Eugenio “Hey, I was Way Better Than Hernan Perez” Suarez at short, and Brennan “Boesch Bash” Boesch in left, and we will see Brayan Pena probably tomorrow, who has become a fan favorite in Cincinnati, the way he does everywhere he goes.

The weather will be a big issue tonight; I will be shocked if there are no delays. It will also be an issue in Cincinnati Wednesday and Thursday.

I’ve been pondering the GIDP issue. Perhaps I’ll have some thoughts on that tomorrow.

Tonight’s Dial it up to the Red Lineup:

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

Raj and Gose swap spots in the 1-9 / 9-1 world. Nick is back. Yay. Well, OK, Yay-ish. Sort of. McCann moves up to 6th, his highest spot in his career.

JV was okay yesterday. Not great, but not bad either. He only allowed 3 hits and 2 walks in 5 IPs, while surrendering 2 ER. His fastball velocity was okay, sitting at 92-94 and touching 97, and his command was decent enough for a first start. I am worried that he only got 5 swings and misses, this could be a harbinger of things to come.

Anyway, I said I’d be pleased with 6 IP and 3 ER, so 5 IP and 2 ER ain’t bad. The bullpen, however, was awful. Again. This is becoming an alarming trend, one that gave us nightmares late last season and that was outright terrifying in the playoffs. The pen is posting a 5.47 June ERA, and the Tigers are now 2-11 in their last 13 games decided by 2 runs or fewer. Much of this can be blamed on Ausmus. This smart guy on Bless You Boys points out that other than handing the ball to Soria in the 9th from time to time. Ausmus isn’t doing so hot with the pen. The gist of it is that Ausmus’ bullpen management WPA is below average, and if you remove Soria it’s flat out awful. Let’s all say it together now “he’s learning.”

Anyway, Tigers go up against Indians ace Corey Kluber in today’s rubber match. Don’t let Kluber’s 3-7 record fool you, he’s only getting 2.46 runs behind him per game. He’s actually throwing slightly more strikes, striking out more, and walking less than he did when he won the Cy Young award last year. His BABIP currently sits at .356, the highest for his career. So I hate to break it to you, but he’s likely pitching even better than he did last year. Though the Tigers’ big three do rake against the guy (see below).

The Indians are calling up highly touted SS prospect Francisco Lindor, but he’s not in the starting lineup.

Lineup (career numbers off Corey Kluber):

1. Anthony Gose, CF (1-for-3, HR, 2 K’s)
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (4-for-18, triple, walk, 4 K’s)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (19-for-33, 2 doubles, 4 HR, 2 walks, 6 K’s)
4. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (4-for-10, double, HR, 2 K’s)
5. J.D. Martinez, RF (5-for-12, double, HR, K)
6. Tyler Collins, DH
7. Bryan Holaday, C (2-for-6, 3 K’s)
8. Andrew Romine, 3B (1-for-4, walk, 2 K’s)
9. Jose Iglesias, SS (0-for-4)

I’ll be glued to the radio for today’s broadcast. Of course I’d like for the Tigers to win, but I’m much more interested to see how JV pitches. If we can get 6 innings and 3 or less runs, I’ll be pleased. Getting through the first two innings will be crucial. Chris Iott of MLive did a story today which explained that one of JV’s biggest problems last year was pitching behind in the count. OPS in these situations ballooned in 2014 relative to his career. I can’t help but wonder if this is b/c hitters could, for the first time, sit on his fastball.

Back in February I did some comparisons between JV and other similar pitchers in an attempt to forecast what the rest of Verlander’s career might look like. There is still a very good chance for him to be dominant, but we all need to understand that the fastball velocity is likely never coming back. As a result, he has to be better early in at bats, and the curve and change have to be better. He’ll still have days where he strikes out 10+, but I don’t think he has the arm strength to throw fireballs forever like a Ryan or Clemens.

Are you guys following what’s going on with the All Star game voting? Currently 7 Royals for the AL, and 4 Cardinals for the NL, are leading their respective positions. Technology has enabled teams and fans to legally rig the system. If anything, I wish they would get rid of the dumb home field advantage rule. It’s an exhibition, no one cares. In fact, the All Star game is upsetting to me b/c it means nearly a full week of no real baseball. I’d be more interested if they would let the mascots play each other.

Lineups: (career numbers off Carrasco)

1. Rajai Davis, DH (3-for-12, double, triple, 2 K’s)
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (7-for-19, 3 doubles, walk, 4 K’s)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (8-for-21, double, HR, 3 walks, 5 K’s)
4. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (1-for-3, walk, K)
5. J.D. Martinez, RF (4-for-13, double, HR, 2 K’s)
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B (3-for-8, 2 walks, 4 K’s)
7. James McCann, C (0-for-2)
8. Jose Iglesias, SS (2-for-3, K)
9. Anthony Gose, CF

Winning 3 of 4 ain’t bad, unless you consider that we’d have to do that over 16 games, just to get back to 8 over.

A bunch of roster moves today, or coming soon.

First of all, Shane Greene has been optioned to Toledo. Greene has been getting drilled over the past two months and some time down on the farm could be useful. Jason Beck reminds us that the Tigers sent down Scherzer in 2010 for two starts, so expect Greene to be a leading Cy Young candidate for some other team in 2020.

Ian Krol back up. Meh.

More excitingly, Justin Verlander is slated to start tomorrow, which most likely means that Angel Nesbitt will be sitting around the campfire next to Shane Greene telling all the kids about the good ‘ole days soon.

Tonight’s Lineup with career #s off of Salazar:

1. Rajai Davis, DH (2-for-7, walk, K)
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B (5-for-12, HR, 2 walks, K)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (6-for-17, double, HR, 8 K’s)
4. Yoenis Cespedes, LF (0-for-3, K)
5. Tyler Collins, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B (4-for-11, 2 doubles, HR, 3 K’s)
7. James McCann, C (0-for-1)
8. Jose Iglesias, SS (1-for-7, walk, K)
9. Anthony Gose, CF (1-for-4, walk, 3 K’s)