Detroit Tigers, 80-71, 2nd place, .5 back.

Well, they say that it’s a hard thing to win both games of a double-header, although why that is harder than winning any other two games in a row has never been explained to me.  At any rate, after some preliminary calculations, I’ve concluded that there is a high probability that it is equally difficult to lose both games of a double-header.

So the Tigers have that going for them.

Detroit will be entrusting the rubber game to Smiling Drew Smyly, who will be faced by the Pajama Man, P.J. Walters. Forecast calls for probable hitting duel.

And this just in: once again a share of first place is on the line, the White Sox get swept by the Angels (don’t think the Indians will be so accommodating though).

According to ESPN, the White Sox have a 75.4% chance of making the playoffs, the Tigers have a 26.4% chance.  Say what?

Stat of the Day: 28 HR, 73 RBI, .346 BA, 1.146 OPS. A bit low on the RBI maybe, but that is an All-Star season. That is also the line Miguel Cabrera has put up so far this season AT COMERICA PARK. That’s 1 short of 1 RBI PER GAME.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Ramon Santiago.  The knock on Santiago has always been that he just doesn’t have the endurance to play full-time. Considering he has 2 ABs in the last 26 days, he must be really due, and will endure throughout the game.

Today’s Ramon Who? Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Detroit Tigers, 80-70, 2nd place,  .5 back.

The rain went away, Doug Fister was the Fister we expected and more (he pitched his first career shutout), the bats were booming (every Tiger except Peralta had at least one hit, and 5 different Tigers knocked in runs), and the Angels were playing well, which means the Tigers have the potential to end today in 1st place (the White Sox game begins shortly before the Tigers’ should end; the the 2nd inning or so they could find themselves tied for first).

That all will depend in large measure how Max Scherzer bounces back from his sore shoulder. Since July 30th Scherzer has been the best pitcher on the Detroit staff, going 6-0 with a 1.93 ERA, and a whole barrel of strikeouts.

Scherzer, for his part, says he feels fine. “Everything felt good,” Scherzer said. “My arm warmed up quick. My arm felt 100 percent. I was able to throw every pitch.”

Going for the Twins will be Scott Diamond, who has pitched well against Detroit (3.26 ERA), but only has an 0-2 record to show for it.

Oh, and Miguel Cabrera hit home run 42 and is now tied for the triple crown lead, in case any of you somehow missed that.

Stat of the Day: 1/2 game behind is the stat for today.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera.  Predicting #43 for today.

Today’s Day-Night Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Andy Dirks LF
8. Avisail Garcia RF
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 79-70, 2nd place, 1.5 back.

OK, let’s try 150 again.  The weather doesn’t exactly look promising today either, and with a day-night doubleheader on Sunday, the Tigers are already in a jam with their pitching rotation; Detroit will need 6 pitchers over the next 5 days.

The good new is that Max Scherzer has been cleared to pitch, so it looks like Max will pitch the first game Sunday, with Drew Smyly taking the rescheduled rain-out game Sunday night.

In other news, Ron Gardenhire thinks that Cabrera, not Trout should be the MVP: “you can saber all you want.”

Lee Panas has a good breakdown of why “sabering” gets you Trout as the MVP.

Stat of the Day: Detroit leads the AL in first-pitch hitting at bats with 666. (Their results are a bit above average:  the average OPS for first-pitch at bats is .884, the Tigers come in at .899).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Alex Avila. Alex will try to avoid another bout with Prince Fielder, and try to pick up from the hot-hitting Gerald Laird (.364 over last 2 weeks).

Today’s Rain, Rain Go Away Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Andy Dirks RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 79-70, 2nd place, 2 back.

You can’t win them all.

Even the very best teams lose 40% of the time; that’s baseball. The Tigers took 2 games out of 3 from a very successful Oakland A’s team, which all-in-all was a successful series. And yet…to look so bad losing, at this point in the season, is not encouraging.

Lynn Henning is perhaps stating the obvious when he said the main weakness the Tigers have is their gloves.  It is hard to tell how last night would have turned out with good defense, but the impact defense had on the game was certainly far beyond the 1 unearned run in the box score.

Buster Olney has a bit of a different take on the topic. Yes, the Tiger defense is awful, but the players have been supportive of each other–notably the pitchers have never publicly complained. Perhaps Jim Leyland deserves some credit for the team unity.

Well it’s all Twins and Royals from here on out.

Tonight Rick Porcello will try to break a personal 6-start winless streak, and last beyond the 4th inning.  Whether he can or not will probably have something to do with Denard Span (11-for-29 against Porcello). Samuel Deduno will try the Tigers again, after lasting a personal best 8 innings while beating Detroit during the last series between the teams.

No word yet on whether Max Scherzer will or will not make his Sunday start.

Stat of the Day: Detroit leads the AL in first-pitch hitting at bats with 666. (Their results are a bit above average:  the average OPS for first-pitch at bats is .884, the Tigers come in at .899).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Alex Avila. Alex will try to avoid another bout with Prince Fielder, and try to pick up from the hot-hitting Gerald Laird (.364 over last 2 weeks).

Today’s Alex Is Back Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Andy Dirks RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 77-67, 2nd place, 1 back.

After 6 2/3 innings of no-hit pitching and a 5-3 victory, the Tigers continued their push for the Central division title.  And after 6 2/3 innings of no-hit pitching and a 5-3 victory, the White Sox continued their push for the Central division title.

I think I’ll go ahead and predict a 163-game season here.

Even before the no-hit bid set in, yesterday’s game was entertaining, with the Tigers posting an un-run on the scoreboard, and Quintin Berry trying to end his perfect streak not once, but twice from second base (for his part, Avila says he did touch third).  What must Berry have been thinking?

“I had a feeling on Twitter it was going crazy.”

The Tigers look to continue their Sunday dominance (17-6) in today’s 3:05 series finale, which gives Cleveland fans time to give up on the Browns at halftime and make their way out to the ballpark.

Detroit will face Ubaldo Jimenez for the 6th time this season.  Jimenez mystified them the first three times around, and the Tigers turned it around the last two.  Today they will look to even the books with both Jimenez and the Indians (9-8 vs Detroit).

Detroit arms Rick “No Run Support” Porcello with the broom.  Porcello has only gotten an average of 1.06 runs in support over his last 6 starts. Look for the bullpen to play a big role today:  Porcello tends to struggle later in games, especially with his sinker, which batters hit at a rate of .410 in innings 5-7.

Stat of the Day: Rick Porcello has the league’s highest BABIP (batting average on balls in play, which measures how effectively the defense turns plays into out) at .346. The league average is .293.  2nd worst? Max Scherzer at .337.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Quintin Berry.  Berry draws multiple walks from the strike-zone challenged Jimenez, and creates some havoc on the base paths. Austin Jackson is a late scratch (possibly some soreness from crashing into the wall trying to save the no-hitter), so Q-Berry will be leading off and patrolling center.

Todays Broom-Brandishing Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF  Quintin Berry CF
2. Quintin Berry LF  Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 76-67, 2nd place, 1 back.

Last night again went according to plan, as Justin Verlander shook off his last start and shut out the Indians, with the help of some diving stops by the big guys on the corners.

Today Anibal Sanchez will try to do his part as the Tigers look to even up the 2012 tally with Cleveland (9-7 vs Detroit) over these last two games.

And the Tigers will be peeking at the Chicago-Minnesota game in the clubhouse, which should be ending just as their game begins.

Be aware that tomorrow’s Cleveland finale has the odd 3:05 start time.

Speaking of scheduling, the Detroit’s 2013 schedule has been released, and the Tigers have drawn the short end of the stick with the inter league scheduling, getting the only inter league season ending series, in Miami–which means they will be closing out 2013 with a possible pennant race decided by games in which their pitchers are batting.

Stat of the Day: Quintin Berry is 3-5 (.600) with 2 doubles against Justin Masterson.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Quintin Berry.  Berry takes advantage of the Masterson sinker to rack up multiple infield hits.

Todays Boeschberry Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Brennan Boesch DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Quintin Berry LF
9. Omar Infante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 75-67, 2nd place, 1 back.

OK, let’s try this again. Rained out yesterday, Justin Verlander still has the ball for tonight’s game against Cleveland and Corey Kluber. You may remember him: Cy Kluber beat Detroit (3-2, naturally) on Sept. 3 for his first, and only major league victory.

The result of pushing back the Verlander start will be that the last game against the White Sox will now feature Doug Fister against Gavin Floyd, instead of Justin Verlander vs Chris Sale, a swap that seems to favor the White Sox (despite Sale’s brilliant season he has struggled against Detroit).  Although Drew Sharp seems to think otherwise, for reasons I can’t quite make out.

As a couple of commenters here (stephen and Mark) noted, there was something odd about the moving of Ryan Raburn to the DL, now that rosters have expanded to 40.  What this move does do is actually free up an extra spot on the postseason roster.  If a player on a team’s roster is on the DL on Aug 31 he is eligible for the team’s postseason roster; if that player is also on the DL at season’s end, he can be replaced by any player who is in the team’s organization as of Aug 31.

What does this mean? It means that Al Alburquerque could replace Raburn on the eligible list.

Not that that has anything to do with the Raburn move, as Leyland says.  But if it had, he couldn’t have set it up better:  first Leyland says Raburn is “talented,” causing fans to groan everywhere.  Then he says that Raburn looks “sluggish.” Then they find a quadriceps strain (dang! and he was so talented!) that gives them some roster flexibility.

First things first though:  let’s get these guys into the postseason.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers are the only Central team with a winning record within the division–and that’s with a 6-9 mark against Cleveland.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. Happy Birthday!

Todays Rain-Delayed Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 73-65, 2nd place, 2 back.

My own game post pictures now haunt me.  I decided on a new set of pictures for this important road trip:  serious, determined faces.  Now instead they look tense, stressed.

Jim Leyland has said that he doesn’t believe in team chemistry; it may also be that team chemistry does not believe in him.

He has become increasingly frustrated in recent days, even lashing out at fans who question his lineup.  The fact that Leyland is losing his cool with the criticism, and publicly, may be reflecting–or setting–the tone for the team as the pennant race winds down.

Justin Verlander wasn’t himself, for the second time in three starts.  Austin Jackson, after resisting all season long, decided to try on the floppy shoes in centerfield. And Miguel Cabrera, after a 3-strikeout night (and after watching his chances of beating out Trout for the MVP plummet), had a meltdown on a seemingly correct strike call.  Cabrera is frustrated.

There were a couple of good things about the game:  Putkonen is quietly putting together a decent season; Infante seems to be coming out of his slump; Garcia plays with a hustle and enthusiasm that the team could really use.  And Prince Fielder stepped in to try to keep Cabrera from being tossed: he scooted all the way from the on-deck circle, and put himself in between Cabrera and the umpire, retreating when Leyland made it out to take up the argument.

In fact Fielder has been a real bright spot, despite some mildly disappointing power numbers:  he gets on base, he plays hard, he runs hard, he gets runners home from 3rd, he is very aware, and he just may be starting to take more of a leadership role with the team.

The Tigers could certainly use it.  I have a feeling the Tigers are missing the leadership of Victor Martinez, and yes, even Inge.  The look on Leyland’s face as last night’s travesty was unfolding seemed to say he’s done all he can do.

Maybe the talented Ryan Raburn will turn it around.

It is an old truism that every teams starts the season with the goal of playing meaningful games in September, and the Tigers have accomplished that. The weight of expectations may be getting to the team though; it certainly has gotten to the fans.  The four games in Chicago will determine whether the rest of the month is exciting, or whether September becomes a very, very long month.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers have yet to win a game in which they have been outscored by the opposition.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Prince Fielder. Forget the statistics; this team right now needs a leader, and Fielder is going to have to be The Man.

Todays Anibalic Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B

Normally, a Verlander start would be all about Verlander.  But recently, the Tigers have fallen into a funk where sharp starting efforts have been undone by an inability to score runs on offense.  Last night after a brief bit of trouble in the first (exacerbated by Cabrera’s failure to turn a DP), Max Scherzer settled down and had one of his best outings of the season.

After the 1st inning, Scherzer only gave up 2 hits in 7 innings, with 9 strikeouts (and 0 walks for the game), which incidentally puts him in the Tiger record book as the only Tiger to strike out 8 or more in 10 consecutive starts, breaking a tie with Hal Newhouser. Max seems to be in playoff form…if only.

Unfortunately, the Tiger offense was unable to put together a rally, settling for a couple solo home runs (the hallmark of their early season malaise), had too many strikeouts (10 from their 3-6 hitters), were unable to advance the potential winning run from 2nd with no outs in the 9th, and had the range of their infield exposed.

Result: for the 3rd time in the past week, the Tigers fall 3-2 (in fact the Tigers have had 16 3-2 games already this season). The Tigers now have a 2nd-half record in 1-run games of 3-10, which is not how one makes the playoffs.  The last 1-run game the Tigers won on the road: June 24th. Perhaps the Tigers could borrow a 1-run game or two from the Orioles.

Also notable last night: Ryan Raburn made his late season debut.  Confidently aggressive, he scorched a two-hopper to the mound on the first pitch he saw. Impressed, Leyland decided to start him tonight, and placed him in the 6th spot in the lineup.  (This may be the season where Raburn waits until the 3rd half to get hot).

I blame the fans.  Someone emailed in a lineup that had all right-handers.  I’m not blaming any of you personally, but if you confess we will go easy on you. (Luckily, Leyland scratched out “Santiago, 1B” and scribbled in “Fielder, 1B”).

Leyland also decided to take a day off from the Maybe-Boesch-Will-Run-Into-One Project (and he did run into one against Cleveland, a mammoth shot to dead center), perhaps inspired by his 4 AB, 3K performance last night, so tonight in RF we get to see Mini-Mig, Avisail Garcia.

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder had one of the few offensive highlights last night with a solo home run. Over the past 2 weeks, Fielder has hit for .385 (1.196 OPS), with 3 HR and 6 RBI.  And 3 HBP.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Avisail Garcia.  The Halos pitch around the dangerous Raburn to get to Garcia, and he makes them pay.

Todays Almost All-Right Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn LF
7. Avisail Garcia RF
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Danny Worth SS

Detroit Tigers, 73-63, 2nd place, 1 back, WC 5th place.

Every game counts.

Don’t blame me for that, that’s the official Tigers.com slogan.  A lot of us were saying that back in May, but they didn’t seem to count as much back then, at least officially.

Anyway, let us not detract from the matter at hand, which is:  Battle of the MVPs! Tonight Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers take on Mike Trout and the LA Angels, with the AL MVP on the line!!

(I don’t know, works for ESPN, thought I’d give it a shot).

I don’t have a real plan for how the Tigers will take this series (no thanks to Kevin the Greek), but my gut tells me tonight might be a good time to take a game.  Here are the pitching match ups for the series:

• Scherzer (15-6, 3.93) vs Santana (8-11, 5.32)
• Verlander (13-7, 2.73) vs Wilson (11-9), 3.85)
• Sanchez (7-11, 4.08) vs Greinke (13-5, 3.72)

So on paper, this looks a bit like the rubber game of the series.

And let’s hope Kansas City continues to be a royal pain.

It looks like the Tigers may have gotten a bit of a break:  Jered Weaver is missing his scheduled turn in the rotation.  On the other hand, if recent history is a guide, the 5.00+ ERA Santana tonight will turn out to be the real challenge.

Strangely consistent Max Scherzer will try to strike out Too Many tonight (8+ strikeouts in last nine starts).  Max has an ERA of 1.03 over his last 5 starts, and is 2-0, 1.29 vs the Angels this season.

The late start tonight (10:05 EST) will test the endurance of the DTW posters; it will be interesting to see who sticks this one out; at least we have some West Coast followers. Tomorrow night should be better, with the special 9:05 start time, which seems to have nothing to do with anything.

Stat of the Day: Ramon Santiago in the 2nd half practically makes one long for Raburn. In addition to various clown episodes in the field, he is hitting .136, with a robust .376 OPS.  Although he is 1-for-3 lifetime against Santana, so there’s that.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson.  In Wednesday crucial game against Cleveland, Detroit was making Jimenez look all Cy-ish, and was about to become the first team Jimenez faced in 2012 to leave the field without a single walk. When Jackson finally broke the spell and worked him for a walk in the 8th, the floodgates opened.  I don’t think 2011 AJax would have pulled that off.

Todays ‘MonyBall Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Detroit Tigers, 72-63, 2nd place, 1 back, WC not gonna happen.

Well, that’s baseball.  And you’ve got to tip your hat to Cy Masterson. Etc. Etc.

See what happens when you don’t have a plan? Hopefully Kevin will use the day off tomorrow to devise something good. Or maybe we should all use the time to work on our lineup submissions.

For his part, Jim Leyland had an explanation for why he went with Don Kelly at 1B (batting 6th) yesterday: “He has not had a good year, obviously, this year, but that’s OK. I’m tickled for him. I’m glad for him.”  See, this lineup business is harder than you think.  Make sure you leave some tickle room when you fill out your cards folks.

Tonight the Tigers go for their 3rd straight series sweep, this one, like Kansas City, on the business end of the broom.

Doug Fister takes the mound for Detroit, but if this game goes according to trend it will matter more who shows up at the plate against Ubaldo Jimenez. So far this series Detroit has hit .177 against the worst starting pitching staff in the AL. Jimenez’ biggest problem is his control (he is 2nd in AL with 84 walks), which tends to be some sort of secret weapon against Tiger hitters.

Stat of the Day: We’ve said before that the Tigers just aren’t made to win a majority of close games.  Well how is this:  the Tigers are 2-8 in their last 10 1-run games, and their last 8 losses have been by a combined total of 9 runs.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. Will the day of rest cool him off?

Todays Delmony Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Intante 2B

Detroit Tigers, 72-62, 2nd place, 1 back, 3 back for WC spot.

Apparently sweeping the White Sox is a momentum killer.  The last time the Tigers swept the White Sox they followed up by losing to Cleveland, who took 2-of-3 for the series.

Well, you know the old saying that momentum in baseball is the next day’s starting pitcher.  Except…Anibal Sanchez did well, and the Tigers were facing a pitcher with 0 major league wins. So much for that.

At any rate, Delmon did his part yesterday.  As frustrated as everyone had been with Delmon all season long (this writer included), Jim Leyland kept telling us he was going to get hot, and get hot he did. Over the past 7 days Young leads the team in OPS (1.383), has hit .429, and has 42% of the Tiger RBIs. And he has been consistent game after game, with a 9-game hitting streak, a 4-game RBI streak, and a 4-game extra base streak.  Smokey was right.

Now that Delmon has the D-train in gear, the next order of business is…to get Prince Fielder “off his feet.” Huh? Yes, Fielder will be DH-ing today, to get him off his feet (what about Cabrera’s feet?).  Maybe this is Fielder’s reward for making 2 impressive plays in the field yesterday.

This means Delmon has been bumped from DH, and gets the day off.  Leyland may have done what opposing pitchers could not do–find a way to cool off Delmon.

Not to worry though:  Don Kelly is there to pick up the slack. Batting 6th.

Alex Avila states the obvious, speaking of a guy who looks like he could use some time off.

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder leads the league in both HBP (15) and IBB (17).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Don Kelly.  The Donkey replaces the hot bat of Delmon Young in the lineup. Good luck with that. Maybe Kelly will surprise us all and this will be one of those Lucky Leyland moves.

Todays Who’s On First Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder DH
5. Brennan Boesch RF
6. Don Kelly 1B
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Intante 2B