Detroit Tigers: 52-42, 1st Place (1.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Baseball is back!

The Tigers head into Kansas City to kick off the 2nd half of the season (which, with only 68 games remaining, is actually almost 60% over). Which also means we have less than 2 weeks remaining before the July 31 trade deadline. The Tigers, who seem to have lost Octavio Dotel, have jettisoned Jose Valverde, and have watched Bryan Villarreal and Al Alburquerque struggle, would seem to be prime players in the relief pitcher market.

There were murmurings that the Tigers may be pursuing Tim Lincecum: not as a starter, but to do a Smoltz and make a closer out of him. Lincecum’s no-hitter and subsequent praise by the Giants General Manager make it unlikely they will move him anywhere, although if they do, there would be a very short list of teams willing to take on his contract ($22 million this season).

Whatever trade rumors are brewing though, be assured Mad Max will be on top of it all. Scherzer says, somewhat redundantly, that he is a “pretty fanatical fan” of the MLB Trade Rumors web site, which he reads almost every day.

*****

Also of note as the second half of the season begins: it is beginning without Omar Infante. Infante’s injury was originally deemed minor enough that he was not even put on the disabled list: now it is beginning to look increasingly bad (it is not the shin contusion that is the problem, but the accompanying sore ankle). At any rate Infante is still down in Lakeland and will join the team Saturday for a medical re-evaluation.

*****

It’s yesterday’s news now, but the Tigers shone in the All-Star game, which resulted in AL home field advantage for this year’s World Series. Scherzer pitched one perfect inning; Fielder tripled, Cabrera doubled and made some nice plays at third, Peralta singled, and even Torii Hunter, who hit into a DP, contributed by making the AL pre-game speech. Good job, guys!

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Prince Fielder. Prince has finally caught his breath from his All-Star Game triple, and is ready to start the 2nd half with a bang.

Today’s Oh My No Omar Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Avila, C
9. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 48-39, 1st Place (2.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Well the Tigers made what looked like a potential blowout game interesting, only to have a bullpen fail that left them a few runs short. The 11 runners left on base didn’t help, former Indian Jhonny Peralta being the biggest offender (6).

At any rate, the Tigers still have an 8-3 lead in the season series, and have a chance to win the road series with a victory tonight, which would bring them to a very nice 7-4 on what looked to be a difficult 11-game road trip.

Tonight Magic Max looks to round off his charmed first half with a perfect 14-0 on his way to being the All-Star game starting pitcher (if I may make a wild prediction). The record, by the way, for consecutive wins to start a season is 15-0, set by Cleveland’s Johnny Allen in 1937 and tied by Baltimore’s Dave McNally in 1969.

*****

The Home Run Derby teams will be chosen tonight, too late for this post. I will be shocked if reigning champ Prince Fielder is not on the AL team. No word on whether Brandon Inge will get an invitation for the NL team.

****

I mentioned yesterday that this season will be Miguel Cabrera’s first All-Star game start. Since someone asked me who the starters were on the other years he went, I figured I would list them:

• 2004 NL RF Sammy Sosa
• 2005 NL LF Carlos Beltran
• 2006 NL 3B David Wright
• 2007 NL 3B David Wright
• 2010 AL 1B Justin Morneau*
• 2011 AL 1B Adrian Gonzalez
• 2012 AL 3B Adrian Beltre

*Cabrera actually started the game, since Morneau was scratched with a concussion.

You’ll note the gap in 2008-2009, which goes to show the difficulties in adjusting to a new league, if only in reputation–Cabrera’s numbers were actually quite good, even in the first half:

• 2008 first half .284/.837, 16 HR 57 RBI
• 2009 first half .321/.926, 18 HR 50 RBI

2009 of course is the famous season when Brandon Inge made the All-Star team and Miguel Cabrera did not.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Torii Hunter. Torii is heading into the All-Star game in style: he is on a 7-game hitting streak in which he is batting .419.

Today’s Mash-For-Max Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Tuiasosopo, LF
8. Pena, C
9. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 48-38, 1st Place (3.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Detroit continued its dominance of the division rival Cleveland Indians last night, with a 9-4 win which featured a good 5-inning return by Anibal Sanchez. The Tigers have now taken 7 in a row from the Tribe, and 8-of-10 for the season. The Tigers have already outscored Cleveland 16-4 in this series, and 49-22 over the 7-game run, which led the Indians to hold a players meeting after the game. Manager Terry Francona promised “we’ll show up tomorrow.”

The All-Star rosters were announced, and the Tigers have at least 6 players going. Miguel Cabrera finally landed a starting spot at 3rd base, and the pitching staff features Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander (manager’s pick…Leyland preemptively defends his pick). Jhonny Peralta, Torii Hunter, and Prince Fielder all made the team as reserves (I am mildly surprised about Fielder).

One more Tiger has a chance to make the team: this year’s AL Final Vote contest for the last spot uniquely features all relief pitchers, including Tiger Joaquin Benoit. Are you an MLB.TV subscriber? No? Then if you vote in the Final Vote you are eligible for a free 14-day MLB.TV trial.

Random stat of the day: Torii Hunter had a double, triple, and home run last night for Detroit. The 37-year old Hunter is the oldest player to do that since 39-year old Dave Winfield did it back in 1991. But you knew that.

In bullpen news, Darin Downs has been placed on the 15-day DL with left rotator cuff tendinitis, and has been replaced on the roster by Evan “White Flag” Reed.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson. AJax sets the table for the 3 All-Stars hitting behind him.

Today’s Same As Yesterday Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Avila, C
9. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 47-38, 1st Place (2.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Yes, it’s that time of the season, that 4th of July lull where DTW game threads only draw a couple of comments and places like ESPN resort to discussing topics such as the All-Star game snubs before the teams are actually named. Snub predictions, I guess.

Anyway, despite the lulliness of the week the Tigers are in gear to put some space in between themselves and Cleveland before the break, after a 7-0 series opener.  That makes it 6 games in a row now that the Tigers have taken from the Indians, which should give Indians fans serious pause when considering their playoff contention hopes, as should the Cleveland record of 18-29 vs. teams with a winning record.

For the Tigers, aside from gaining a game in the standings, the win over the Indians was encouraging because of how well Rick Porcello pitched. Jason Beck notes that Rick Porcello has started doing something that Max Scherzer has been doing all season–increasing his use of the curve, especially against left-handed hitters. In fact, Porcello got 5 outs against lefties in the first 4 innings of last night’s game with the curveball. Can we get a +1 for the coaching staff?

Tonight’s game features the much-anticipated return of Anibal Sanchez to the starting lineup. Anibal will be on a limited pitch-count, so the bullpen should get plenty of work.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Victor Martinez. Martinez continues to hit his ex-teams well. Yesterday’s performance leaves him with a 2013 average of .382 against Cleveland (.954 OPS), and a career BA of .364 (.995). He also hits Boston well (.318, .920). Strangely, the one team Martinez never hit well was Detroit, only putting up .244/.722. I would expect that to change if he ever becomes an ex-Tiger, based on the above.

Today’s Hit the Ball for Anibal Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Avila, C
9. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 46-38, 1st Place (1.5 ahead of Cleveland).

Somehow the Tigers have pulled the Bengal-Bus into Cleveland in first place, and even-up on the road trip, pulling 3 of 4 from the previously-hot Blue Jays despite the lack of Cabrera and Infante in the Independence-Day-in-a-Foreign-Land-Finale.

(Although I will go on record here as saying that Kansas City will turn out to be the real division rival, despite the Franconized Indians).

In fact, the bench…OK, let’s have some respect here: The Bench…excelled: Santiago and Kelly were a combined 5-for-9, Jackson, Dirks, and Hunter followed up with a top of the order binge, and Justin Verlander remembered who he was. Perhaps he realized that he has to work harder, now that he is getting old and all, as Jack Morris says

Tonight Cleveland sends out the Other Justin, Justin Masterson, to face The Appealing Rick Porcello.

Jose Valverde is working hard too. In fact his minor league stint should only last a couple of weeks. The Potato will surely rise again after the All-Star break, n’est-ce pas?

Max Scherzer,  on the other hand, needs to work a bit harder. According to SI, if the Cy Young were to be handed out today, he would have to be happy with the Bronze.

Oh, and you will notice this is game 85 already. There are those out there who will be talking about the halfway point of the season “approaching.” Here, we realize that point has passed a few days ago. Nonetheless, it will be worth looking at the various halfway-point (even though the halfway-point is long gone) assessments. For example, did you realize that the Tigers could actually be doing better?

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Don Kelly. The Donkey has now raised his batting average to .240. I have a hunch that Kelly will follow up on his big game yesterday with a hit or two today.

Today’s Oh, No Omar Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Dirks, LF
3. Hunter, RF
4. Cabrera, 3B
5. Fielder, 1B
6. Martinez, DH
7. Peralta, SS
8. Kelly, RF
9. Avila, C
10. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 42-34, 1st Place (2.5 ahead of Cleveland).

The Angels continued their befuddling mastery of the Tigers last night with a 7-4 victory which put them at 5-for-5 for the season, a stretch in which they have outscored Detroit by a whopping 43-16. Their Pythagorean winning percentage should probably be at least 1.000.  Home, away, it doesn’t seem to matter.

This afternoon Los Anaheim looks to make it a perfect 6-for-6 2013 sweep.

What has gone wrong? Even though there have been a few outbursts of power and a few runs scored, the hitting has been lackluster at best, hitting .247 for the season, with a meager .676 OPS, which puts the team as a whole almost exactly in Avisail Garcia territory. And this against the team with a pitching staff that has been one of the shakiest in the league: they are 13th in team ERA with a hefty 4.39, and better than only Houston in Runs Per Game, at 4.74.

Not that the Tiger pitchers have fared any better against the Angels. Oh no. The Tiger hurlers have been bombed to the tune of a 6.65 ERA and a ridiculous .325 Batting Average Against. Oh, and that ERA doesn’t include the 6 Runs on Errors; yes, the fielding has been awful also.

The good news is that the one pitcher that has been immune so far has been today’s starter, Doug Fister. In his previous start against the Angels he went 7 innings of shutout baseball, holding them to 5 hits, though the bullpen eventually lost the game. Perhaps he could try to make it 8 innings today?

The other good news is that regardless of what happens today, Detroit has seen the last of the Angels for this year. It doesn’t get any easier though: on deck is an 11-game road trip with 3 in Tampa Bay, 4 at the hot Toronto Blue Jays, and then finishing with 4 at the Cleveland Indians, who are right back in the race.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Torii Hunter again. Torii was a good call yesterday, going 2-for-5 and flexing some muscle with a home run and a double. The Ex-Angel now has hit his former team to the tune of .400 with a 1.128 OPS, 2nd only to Miguel Cabrera (.474/1.388).

Today’s Return of Ramon Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Pena, C
9. Santiago, 2B

Detroit Tigers: 42-33, 1st Place (3.5 ahead of Cleveland).

Well, that did not go well (including those ground ball things we were looking at). What is it with the Angels anyway?  Jason Beck looks at the disaster that was Game 75 in a bit appropriately titled “Breaking Down the Tigers’ Breakdown.” The most distressing thing about the game last night for me is that Porcello has joined the Troubled Starters brigade, following rough outings by Verlander and Fister, and the injured Sanchez. Max is holding it all together right now. Perhaps New Guy Jose Alvarez will right the ship tonight.

Perhaps we should change the subject. How are those Mud Hens doing? What? they lost 16-3 last night? Oh.

OK, how about this. The Tigers may have given up 16 hits last night, but in a game back in 1977, Boston pitcher Reggie Cleveland gave up 18 hits to Detroit. And won, 12-5. And pitched a complete game. Check out his line in the link above: 18 hits with no walks, and only 5 runs (also pitching for Detroit that day: Steve Grilli, father of Jason). This courtesy of John Lowe.

I’m guessing this might be the last 18-hit complete game victory in our lifetimes.

So, where were we…I think there was a game or something last night. At any rate, there is one tonight, and the Tigers are still in first.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Torii Hunter. He was 3-for-4 in that debacle last night, and should have had an assist at the plate. Something tells me he doesn’t particularly like how his former team has been dominating against Detroit.

Today’s Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Infante, 2B
9. Pena, C

Detroit Tigers: 42-32, 1st Place (3.5 ahead of Cleveland).

Yes, the Tigers are lucky to play in the Central. But if they were playing in the East, they would be in 2nd, only 2 games out of first, behind Boston, from whom they just took 3-of-4. Of course, that was at home. But if the Tigers could figure out how to step up their road game, they could be as good as anybody.

The Tigers finish off their home stand by welcoming the redundantly-named Los Angeles Angels for 3 games before departing for a rough road-trip that begins in Tampa Bay, rolls into the suddenly unbeatable Blue Jay juggernaut for 4 games, then ends in Cleveland. The Angels have owned Detroit lately–they have a 6-game winning streak in which they have outscored the Tigers 34-9. None of those games were at Comerica, however, and the Tigers are a different beast there.

Porcello will try to keep the ball down tonight: last time he faced the Angels he was bombed for 9 runs in less than an inning, including a Trout grand slam on a hanging curve ball.

C.J. Wilson will do his best to avoid joining his teammate Josh Hamilton in succumbing to the well-known Head & Shoulders Curse.

*****

When Porcello is at his best he gets a lot of ground balls. Actually, the Tigers as a team do the same (starters and relievers combined):

• 858 Ground Balls (11th most)
• 594 Fly Balls (15th most)
• 379 Line Drives (15th most)

So the balls put in play are predominantly ground balls, and they do the best at any team of avoiding the dreaded line drive, which results in a .698 batting average (league average; for Detroit it is a fairly average .704).

You’ll notice that even though the Tigers have fewer Line Drives and Fly Balls than Ground Balls, that they are low in every category. This is because so many plate appearances end in strike outs (701, best in the league by 40). Combine that with being 3rd best in allowing the fewest walks (197: the Twins are best at 193), and what you get is just not that many balls put in play of any kind, and not that many total plate appearances. In fact Tiger pitchers have only pitched to 2795 total batters, well below the league average of 2871.

The bad news is that those ground balls have been getting through. The Tigers have a .268 batting average on ground balls hit against them, highest in the AL (the league average is .241; Baltimore is best at .214). Not to mention the ground balls rarely result in double plays (Tigers have turned a league-low 46).  Something to keep in mind for Rick Porcello on the mound.

*****

In other news, the Tigers had a scout at the Marlins/Giants series. They are rumored to be interested in Miami relievers Steve Cishek and Ryan Webb.

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson. We’ll ignore the career 2-for-13 he has against Wilson. AJax is .457 (16-for 35) since his return from the DL, which may be energizing the offense as much as the return home. Before his trip to the DL he was in a horrible slump, but also playing through a bad hamstring. One should not forget how well he was hitting to start the season; that swing may be back. Enjoy.

(Oh. And how good does the Edwin Jackson/Curtis Granderson for Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer, and Phil Coke (and Schlereth, oh well) trade seem now?).

Today’s Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Infante, 2B
8. Garcia, LF
9. Holaday, C

Detroit Tigers: 37-29, 1st Place (4.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Here are a few of the things that we know, statistically, about the Detroit Tiger offense at this point in the season:

• They struggle on the road (.259/.726, vs. .302/.825 at home).
• They are more likely than most teams to score 2 runs or fewer (18 times so far).
• They are more likely than most teams to score 7 runs or more (21 times so far).
• They struggle mightily in late innings, particularly in late and close situations (league worst; see yesterday’s post).

Let’s set aside the more specific late and close statistics for now, and just look at the overall late inning statistics. In innings 7-9 the Tiger hitters come out 14th best in OPS out of 15 teams (luckily that 15th team is Cleveland):

• BA: .220 (13th)
• OB: .276 (8th)
• SLG: .313 (15th)
• OPS: .622 (14th)
• Runs: 57 (15th)

So once it hits the 7th inning, the Detroit Tigers become the American League team least likely to score. It has been said that the bullpen problems put pressure on the hitters. Doesn’t it seem likely that knowing that there are no more runs coming from the offense also puts pressure on the bullpen?

Here are the individual numbers, ranked by OPS, for inning 7-9 hitting:

1. .286/.929 Tuiasosopo
2. .254/.853 Cabrera
3. .266/.791 Fielder
4. .274/.714 Infante
5. .245/.656 Dirks
6. .254/.649 Peralta
7. .235/.611 Martinez
8. .184/.525 Avila
9. .195/.511 Jackson
10. .222/.489 Pena
11. .200/.471 Garcia
12. .138/.458 Kelly
13. .113/.376 Hunter
14. .067/.243 Santiago

Quick reaction: let’s have more Tuiasosopo!

You’ll notice above that On Base is the only category in which the Tigers are decent (8th). In other words, somebody is getting a lot of late inning walks. Those somebodies are Cabrera (14) and Fielder (12), which is why they are so high up on the OPS ranking. In other words, once it gets late in games, teams are pretty much done pitching to those two.

Apparently they have plenty bases open by the time Cabrera comes up, with Hunter struggling with a .214 late inning on base percentage. Torii was the biggest surprise for me when I pulled these numbers up. Here are his splits:

• Innings 1-3: .416/1.004
• Innings 4-6: .273/.681
• Innings 7-9: .113/.376

So there it is, over the course of a game Torii Hunter goes from a .400 hitter to an average hitter to a pitcher trying to bat. Is it fatigue? He seems to have lost a step in the outfield. Maybe Leyland knows what he is doing giving Hunter frequent days off?

*****

Today Doug Fister takes on the Pajama Man, P.J. Walters. These two faced off on May 25, where Walters bested Fister in a 3-2 victory, sprinkling 8 hits over 6 innings. Pena had a big game against Walters (3-for-4), and Peralta hit a solo shot. Walters has pitched well since then, and has a 2.49 ERA for the season. As in his first outing against Detroit, guys do get on base against him–his WHIP is 1.46–but they don’t seem to score. Fister has his fingers crossed–the Tigers have put up a total of 4 runs in his last 4 starts.

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Let’s go with Dad here. Happy Father’s Day everybody!

Today’s Where’s Pena? Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, DH
5. Martinez, 1B
6. Peralta, SS
7. Dirks, LF
8. Infante, 2B
9. Avila, C

No, that is not a mistake, Avila gets the start again, despite Pena having the 3-for-4 day against Walters May 25. I guess Avila is “due.”

Detroit Tigers: 37-28, 1st Place (4.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Who the (expletive) should Leyland close with? (to quote the skipper). Well it looks like the answer, for now, is going to be Jose Valverde, who is still the closer. (Although it should be noted that Valverde’s appearance was not a save situation, and that Phil Coke was warming up in the bullpen). Valverde himself was campaigning for an appearance, and “wasn’t shy” about it.

*****

In Friday’s pre game talk Leyland followed up his “who should I close with?” rant by putting a little heat on his offense. When someone mentioned that the offense seems to fall off in late innings, Leyland went off: “Why don’t you write about it?” Leyland said. “You write about Valverde. You write about the (expletive) closer. Write about that. Write about it…We have to improve in close games,” Leyland said. “We haven’t done very well in close games. We’ve been terrible.”

That IS the other side of the poor record in one-run games (7-11) and extra inning games (2-7): if the offense regularly disappears in the late and close situations, eventually a crack will show somewhere in the bullpen. It is possible to have your bullpen give up a run or two and still win games.

Here is what happens to the Tiger hitters in “Late and Close” situations:

• BA: .198 (15th)
• OB: .291 (13th)
• SLG: .267 (15th)
• OPS: .558 (15th)

They also have scored a mere 23 “late and close” runs, which is also dead last (Baltimore is best with 72).

Blame can be evenly spread, even Cabrera isn’t immune. Here are the team late and close BA/OPS numbers.

1. .231/.858  Tuiasosopo
2. .278/.806  Infante
3. .167/.786  Santiago
4. .289/.684  Peralta
5. .211/.671  Avila
6. .231/.605  Jackson
7. .222/.596  Kelly
8. .220/.587  Fielder
9. .238/.499  Pena
10. .135/.482  Cabrera
11. .130/.390  Dirks
12. .114/.368  Hunter
13. .143/.343  Garcia
14. .139/.339  Martinez

*****

All that aside, today’s matchup projects to be one that favors the Tigers. Detroit sends out Anibal Sanchez, who was a Joe Mauer single away from no-hitting the Twins the last time he faced them. The Tigers face Deduno, whom they knocked for 6 runs in 5 innings.  Dirks had 3 hits against Deduno in that game, and Kelly hit a home run, and they are both in the lineup today, in case you thought nobody paid attention to these things

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Victor Martinez. Teams have been putting Cabrera on base, and Fielder has been making them pay.  Deduno pitched around Fielder the last time the two teams played (2 walks), and Victor couldn’t capitalize. He is likely to get another chance tonight…hopefully not when the game is late and close (see list above).

Today’s Donkified Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Dirks, LF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, DH
5. Martinez, 1B
6. Peralta, SS
7. Kelly, RF
8. Infante, 2B
9. Avila, C

Detroit Tigers: 36-28, 1st Place (4.5 ahead of Cleveland).

Well the Tigers had a much-needed day off to shake off their latest one-run loss (their 11th), a 2nd consecutive Valverde home run derby which even had manager Jim Leyland playing hot potato. When Leyland says “who the (expletive) should I close with?” he does have a point. It wasn’t Leyland’s idea to have Valverde as a closer, and he has tried everyone from Coke to Benoit to Alburquerque to Rondon in the role, with nothing but problems. And when you look at the trade options Dombrowski has (Papelbon?) I can imagine he has his own expletives.

This Closer creature is a mysterious beast, often record-setting one year and a scapegoat the next. And it is also a fairly new creature, one perhaps spawned by a baseball writer who created the Save statistic (thanks to StorminNorman$ for the link, I recommend reading this).  One thing in the article that’s hard to argue with: Billy Beane’s point that you can look at all the probabilities you want, but closing a game is an emotion magnet, with the fans, the writers, and even the players drawn in. There is something about being ahead in the 9th and then losing that just does not sit well. The fan comments on blogs are one thing, but even the Tiger players looked demoralized Wednesday.

So the logical answer to Leyland’s question might be that you don’t need to “close with anybody.” Does it really make sense to only use who is supposedly your best relief pitcher in “save situations,” games that statistically you are overwhelmingly going to win no matter who pitches? It is almost a self-perpetuating system: closers are judged–and paid–by numbers of saves, then used in such a way to maximize their numbers of saves without a real thought whether this is really the best way to use them.  Oh, and they only pitch the 9th and only the 9th inning.

This is not to suggest that there is any chance of Jim Leyland doing anything other than having a Setup Guy/Closer system. In that light, I’ll throw this in: last night Rondon K’d the side in the 9th for a save for the Mud Hens.

****

Just for fun:

World Champion 1968 Detroit Tigers bullpen:

• ERA: 2.26
• WHIP: 1.113
• W/L:  29-13
• Saves: 29

Saves:

• 7 Pat Dobson
• 7 Darryl Patterson
• 5 Fred Lasher
• 3 John Warden
• 2 John Hiller
• 2 John Wyatt
• 1 Mickey Lolich
• 1 Don McMahon
• 1 Dennis Ribant

*****

In other news, the Tigers signed Johnathan Crawford, their top pick in the draft, along with 18 others, including Ben “Little Bro” Verlander.

*****

As for tonight, the big news is that Ajax is back! To make room for Jackson, Avisail Garcia has been returned to Toledo. There is also a guy in Center for Minnesota who may look familiar: Clete Thomas gets the start for the Twins tonight.

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson. Let’s see if Austin can wake up the road offense. He is only 4-for18 career against Diamond, but I am predicting he comes back with a flourish.

Today’s Welcome Back Ajax Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, DH
5. Martinez, 1B
6. Peralta, SS
7. Tuiasosopo, LF
8. Infante, 2B
9. Avila, C

Avila gets the start even with the lefty pitching; Infante works his way up into the 8th spot.

Detroit Tigers: 31-26, 1st Place (2 ahead of Cleveland).

This afternoon’s game will be a rubbery affair between Detroit and Tampa Bay who have split the first two of the series, but also between Detroit’s Feast or Famine offense, who put up 10 runs Tuesday but 0 last night.  The indicator is twitching toward the Feast side of the dial, with Max Scherzer on the mound. Max so far this season has gotten run support to the tune of 8+ runs per 9 innings. This would seem to be random luck, but perhaps Max has special powers. I have been unable to verify the rumor that Doug Fister has been following Max around in an attempt to learn his secret.

At any rate, Fister had another great outing last night. Until the Rays finally broke through in the 9th inning, Fister had put together a stretch of 21 consecutive scoreless innings–a stretch in which the Tigers scored a total of 2 runs. Detroit did support him with some good defense, including a great unassisted double-play by the much-maligned Alex Avila. But no real hitting to speak of–or great pitching by Cobb, depending on which side of the coin is facing up–and a couple of failed attempts to manufacture something (a failed SB with a runner on 3rd and 1 out, a failed sac bunt), and the Tigers came up empty.

Today the Tigers face Roberto Hernandez, if that’s really his name. Tiger fans probably best remember Hernandez (in his younger guise as Fausto Carmona) for playing a tune on Gary Sheffield’s noggin.

*****

Whether the Tigers go Feast or Famine today, or even that rare 4-run game, we will probably know fairly early in the game. For whatever reason (I have no explanation for you), the Tigers don’t seem able to score runs in the last 1/3 of the game.

The average AL team has scored 71 runs so far this season in innings 7-9; the Tigers have only scored 53, just nosing out Seattle (52) for that 14th of 15 spot. Their inning 7-9 OPS (.631) is also 14th ahead of only Cleveland (.615. Maybe that’s why Cleveland is struggling?). Their late-inning slugging really suffers, with a dead-last (by a comfortable margin) Slugging % of only .322

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And I would be remiss if I did not point out that David Spade is throwing out the first pitch before today’s game. Just because.

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Today’s Player of the Pre-Game:  Prince Fielder. Joe Maddon and the Rays will not be shy about walking Cabrera another two times today, or even more if the situation dictates. Prince struck out after both intentional walks last night, but previously had a spree of RBI hits following Cabrera walks. What Prince does today may make the difference in the game.

Today’s Max Run Support Lineup:

1. Dirks, LF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, DH
5. Martinez, 1B
6. Peralta, SS
7. Avila, C
8. Infante, 2B
9. Kelly, CF

Loon gets his wish and Kelly takes over CF from Garcia