Detroit Tigers, 72-61, 1st place (tie), 2 back for WC spot.

Well, here we go. It’s all even, the season starts today, and it’s only 28 games.

Unlike Kevin, I don’t have a plan for this thing, so I will go with his suggestion that Detroit win this afternoon.

It all went according to plan last night:  Verlander gave up a leadoff home run, which combined with his 8-run last outing made the White Sox (and a few Tiger fans) think “aha, he’s lost it.” The overconfident Chicagoans were helpless the rest of the night, until Valverde entered to provide fun and excitement for all.

Also according to plan Brennan Boesch finally baesched, to dead center, no less; Jhonny Peralta made perhaps the best tag on a stolen base attempt for the season; Avisail Garcia practiced his look-alike Cabrera opposite-field stroke, Don Kelly um…got in the game, and most of all Delmon Young kept the D-train rolling, when he golfed a pitch over the left-field fence for his somethingth home run of the week (depending on whether we are counting the “home runs” as well as the home runs).

There was a downside to the sweep:  watching Robin Ventura calmly take it all in. Would have been awfully entertaining to hear what Ozzie Guillen had to say afterward.

The Tigers face a Cleveland team that has lost 16 of their last 18, and a pitcher who has yet to win. In fact, they are looking like an alternate-ending version of Major League.  I’ll save the sympathy for later:  it’s a pennant race. Besides Cleveland still leads the season match-up, 7 games to 5.

With Garcia continuing to look promising, Dirks back, and Boesch showing glimmers of hope, the outfield suddenly seems a bit crowded, with Quintin Berry holding the short straw.  Nonetheless, Leyland found a way to get short-straw Berry in the lineup, as Jackson gets the day off.   Might have also been a good day to let Cabrera DH, but it looks like the Jackson/Berry plan took precedence (you don’t dare leave Delmon out right now). Meanwhile, look for Danny Worth to appear in a pinch-running role, now that he has proven his ability to elude goats.

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young has hit 15% of his 2012 RBI and 19% of his home runs in the last week.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young.  I have a one-game plan for him to continue his hot streak.

Todays AJax on Holiday Lineup:

1. Quintin Berry 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, 69-60, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 2 back for WC spot.

“That’s just baseball,” said Tiger manager Jim Leyland about last night’s loss to the Royals, so we’ll just leave it at that.

Well, as soon as we tip our hat to Royals ace Bruce “Cy” Chen, who earned praise from Leyland: “Well, he was awful good,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “He made it look pretty easy, to be honest with you. He was good. He cuts the ball and changes it up, backdoor breaking ball. He really knows what he’s doing, obviously. He’s not overpowering, as anybody can see. He pitched a great game.”

OK then.  As we previously mentioned here on this very website, the Tiger offense is either feast or famine; last night it was famine, and they lost, since they don’t do the kind of things to scrape out a run in low scoring games (when they lose “feast” games like the Tuesday game, that spells trouble).

One of these little things is managing a simple fly ball to the outfield with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out (R3L2O).  They had 2 chances last night:  2 strikeouts. Are they really as bad at this as they seem?

I like to measure this by runs per plate appearance (RPA), which tilts a tiny bit in favor of slugging teams, in that it is higher for teams who sometimes hit the 3-run homer instead of the sac fly.  The average AL RPA for R3L2O is .663, or approximately 2 runs every 3 PA.

The Tiger RPA is only .613.  The White Sox RPA, by contrast, is .730.  That means if the Tigers had been as good with R3L2O as the White Sox, they would have plated an additional 32 runs so far this season, based on their 274 plate appearances with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out.  Think those runs would have been helpful this year?

Well, today is another day, another chance to feast.  And the White Sox already lost.

Stat of the Day: Tiger record in 1-run games since the break: 3-7.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Cannot be revealed. He agreed to POPG on condition of anonymity.

Todays Laird of the Rings 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. Omar Intante 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 69-59, 2nd place, 2 back, 2 back for WC spot.

Well, that was different.

The very first comment on yesterday’s post (Tigers Rule) predicted a bucket full of runs, and as if on cue the Tigers hit the bucket with 3 in the top of the first.  Meanwhile Baltimore had jumped to a 4-0 lead on Chicago and knocked Sale out of the game, Verlander was about to take the mound, and if finally looked like Detroit was going to make its move.

And then…well it’s hard to describe actually, but it lead to Darin Downs warming up in the 2nd inning of a Verlander start.  I wonder how many times the bullpen had to be called before they were convinced it wasn’t a prank call.

The game did have a little of everything, that’s for certain.  Once could almost make separate posts on Verlander, Coke, Cabrera, and Young.

As for Verlander:  Not Enough Strikeouts.

As Kevin and I have pointed out before, Too Many Strikeouts is an odd thing to worry about when you have possibly the worst defense in the league–the fewer balls put in play, the better. And although Verlander was certainly off, he was also the victim of bad luck and bad defense.  Just look at how the 2nd inning went:

• Strikeout
• Error by Cabrera (scored as single to left, on 1-2 count)
• Popup in between 2nd/SS/CF (on 2-2 count)
• Ground single between 3rd and short (run scores)
• Flare double on foul line to left (1-2 count)
• Ground single over 2nd (1-2 count, run scores)
• Ground out at 2nd, failed DP
• Ground single over 2nd
• Popup to first

4 of the 6 batters with hits had 2-strike counts; only 1 out was recorded for 5 ground balls (for those who like such things, Verlander’s BABIP for the game was .512). A perfect storm of shaky defense, bad luck, and an inability to close out with the K on batters with 2 strikes.

All I have to say about Coke is Leyland will bring in a lefty in that situation every time, and not to bring in Coke would go against his penchant for sticking with struggling players to keep their confidence up (call it the Raburn effect). Well OK, one more thing:  so far this season lefties have hit .217 against Villarreal, .267 against Coke.

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The there was the 9th inning.  After a disappointing strikeout by Cabrera by a runner on 3rd and one out and an intentional walk of Fielder, Delmon Young, to the surprise and joy of Tiger fans, put the Tigers back up with a 3-run shot inside the RF foul pole. Or around it. Or behind it. Or through it, or something. Or not: it was ruled a foul ball, a call which held up after a video review.

It seemed like a home run to me just based on where it landed–the ball was slicing, and to get where it ended up while being foul it would have had to change its arc in flight.  But what do I know. The video replays were confusing. You tell me.  Both teams said the umpires made the right call.   That’s hard to argue with: if conclusive video is needed to overturn a call, they had no choice.  By the same token, if it had been called a home run, it would have also been difficult to overturn the call.

One thing that’s good to know:  even though MLB instituted the home run replay review, there are no standards or methods to insure consistency in what exactly they are reviewing.  The quality, number and positioning of cameras are the responsibility of the home team broadcast crew, so what you get in Boston and what you get in Kansas City may be completely different.  Here is more on the vagaries of video replay. Really, technologically, one could probably design a system that could use videos from intelligently designed angles, combined with measuring velocity etc, to actually predict where a ball in flight will land, much less judge after the fact.

Actually there is such a system:  the human brain.  That’s how outfielders catch balls.  Watch the video again, and focus on the path Francoeur takes.  He is pursuing a fair ball. That’s all I’m saying.

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The real question we all want answered:  was Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi actually at the game, and what did HE think?

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One thing that can’t be denied is that the Kansas City Royals will have a huge effect on who wins the Central.  The Tigers still have 9 games left–almost a third of the remaining schedule–against KC.

Tonight Anibal Sanchez will try his hand against Bruce Chen, Tiger-killer in decline.

Stat of the Day: Tiger pitchers are on a hot streak…wait, that was yesterday’s. So much for that.  OK, how about today’s trivia question:  Which is the only AL team with more intentional walks than sacrifice flies? You are correct! The Tigers have 35 IBBs, and 32 SFs.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. DY did it again yesterday.  One more game Delmon, one more.

Todays Is Omar In the Doghouse? Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 69-58, 2nd place, 2 back, 1 back for WC spot.

The Tigers hit the road after a successful 6-3 home stand (that somehow didn’t feel like 6-3) with a little mini-trip to KC for three, before returning for a big series against Chicago.

Kansas City shouldn’t be taken too lightly: less than 2 weeks ago they did the Tigers a huge favor and swept the White Sox in 3, and this after taking 2-of-3 in Chicago earlier in the month. In fact the Royals have accounted for 5 of the last 8 White Sox losses.

Justin Verlander takes the mound, and should be taking tonight’s outing more seriously than the last time he was in Kansas City, when he started the All-Star game, tried to light up the radar gun, and was instead himself lit up. The Royals uniforms in the batters box should be a welcome sight: JV is 14-2, 2.36 career against KC, and 9-2 1.83 at Kaufmann. Excluding All-Star games.

Tigers go up against Luis Mendoza, who, unfortunately, struggles with command, which against the Tigers is not a bug, it’s a feature.

Miguel Cabrera will be back at the hot corner, Dirks is bumped down to the 2-spot, and Delmon Young keeps his temporary hold on the 5th spot.

Stat of the Day: Tiger pitchers are on a hot streak. Over the last 5 games they have gone 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA, a team 0.894 WHIP, and a .190 batting average against.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera.  Let’s hope the ankle holds up, and Jeff Baker stays scarce.

Todays Q-Brera Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 68-58, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 1 back for WC spot.

The Angels came in to Detroit with the hottest 2nd half offense in baseball (.816 team OPS), but missing the big bat of Albert Pujols.  The Tiger pitchers have taken advantage.  Porcello had his best start in weeks, holding LA to 2 runs (and those in an inning extended by bad defense).

More bad defense put Smyly in a hole last night, but he kept his composure and held the Angels to 3 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings, and kept the Tigers in the game, a clutch performance by a spot starter.

The offense was in here-we-go-again mode: run-costing base running blunders, double-plays with a runner on 3rd and 1 out, which combined with the fielding follies made the game’s outcome seem inevitable.  But it turned out to be evitable after all, thanks to a late inning splurge by the bottom of the order, and the much-awaited big day from Delmon Young.

Strangely enough, Miguel Cabrera was the hole in the lineup, and seemed generally unhappy at the plate.  Leyland pulled the plug on him for today, giving him 2 days off with the off-day tomorrow.

Today Max takes the mound, and tries to make it 3-for-3 in strong starts this series. Max was his bad self last time out against Toronto, holding the Jays to 1 run and 5 hits in 7 innings, and striking out Too Many (8).  The last time he faced the La-Las he held them to 1 run and struck out Too Many (9).

The Tigers will face Ervin Santana (7-10, 5.46), who is likely to be completely unhittable.  Or Detroit will put up a bunch of runs against him.  And either result will be completely predictable.

Stat of the Day: Gerald Laird has reverse splits this season:  He is hitting .169 against left-handers, and .429 against right-handers. .429!

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Gerald Laird. Leyland forgot to rest Avila with all the lefties pitching, and now is stuck playing Laird against the RHP. Or is Leyland more clever than we think? (see above). Plus he is .333 lifetime against Santana.

Todays First Cabreraless Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Andy Dirks LF
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Brennan Boesch RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Jeff Baker 3B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 67-58, 2nd place, 2.5 back, 1 back for WC spot.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and the Tiger win streak ended with a couple of misplays in the field, one bad pitch, and an incredible disappearing offense (or Greinke suddenly found himself again, pick your explanation).

Cabrera and his taped ankle provided the lone run of the game, and the grumbling commenced.  Just how bad has the Tiger offense been? Well…not bad at all, which is the mysterious part.  The Tiger team OPS (.779) is 3rd best in the AL since the break, behind only the Angels and Yankees.  If you just look at August, they are 3rd best (.820) behind only the Angels and Rangers.

What makes them frustrating is that they tend to be starving or binging: they already have 8 5 run+ innings this season, but when they need just one run, like last night, they seem unable to create one, instead crossing their fingers and waiting for Cabrera and Fielder to come up.

The win Thursday over Toronto was an anomaly: a single, stolen base (!), single to win the game. Sloppy play in the field, bad base running (and an inability to stop running teams), a tendency to hit into DPs, an inability to move runners up or score them from 3rd with less than 2 out (except for the wild pitch runs; they’ve got that down), mean that they are going to lose more often than win in games like last night.

So the Tigers are NOT a bad offense; they are one of the league’s best. Just incredibly inconsistent.  No three solid meals here, it’s feast or famine.  Hopefully The Tiger is hungry tonight.

Smyling Drew Smyly makes his way back into the starting rotation tonight.  As expected, Putty Time has come to an end for now: Luke Putkonen has been returned to Toledo to make room for Smyly.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers have the 2nd-half lead in intentional walks with 12. Wonder why.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Delmon Young.  He has seen all of 24 pitches in his last 9 at bats. So he is more rested than some of the other guys. That’s the best I can do at why he is batting 5th again.

Todays Half-Baked Lineup:

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

The Tigers are fresh off of a sweep of the Blue Jays, which, despite some underwhelming offense, ended in exciting fashion.

And a game ball goes to…Jim Leyland. Not only did he replace Crazy-Legs Young with pinch-runner Quintin Berry, but he actually sent him! and that extra base won the game.  And how much fun is it to watch Berry on the base paths! His enthusiasm really brightened a rather dreary offensive performance.  He may not be the fastest Tiger I’ve ever watched (think I’d have to go with Gary Pettis there), but he is at the top of the list of most fun to watch run.

The Tigers try to keep the streak going against the redundantly named Los Angles Angels, who send old Tiger nemesis Zach Greinke to the mound. Greinke has had a rough go of it in Los Angeles, and joins trade comrades Anibal Sanchez and Ryan Dempster as the subject of  this study of the trio’s difficulty in adjusting to the AL (which is an odd way to frame it for Greinke, who has spent 80% of his career in the AL).

At any rate, Greinke has been 1-2, 6.19 with a 1.59 WHIP since joining the Angels. He has a history of being tough on Detroit though (career 11-6, 2.84). Omar Infante has had especially a hard time of it–a .190 OBP in 22 PAs. Even Miguel Cabrera has only put up a measly .619 OPS against Greinke over 30 PAs, with an unusually high strikeout rate (9). It will be interesting to see which Greinke trend prevails today.

Rick Porcello has struggled his last 2 starts (9 runs in 12 innings), but gets to face an Angel lineup missing Albert Pujols.

The Tiger lineup does have Miguel Cabrera, although he has been shifted to DH to lighten the load on his sore ankle.  Ramon takes over the hot corner, and Boesch is back in the lineup because Leyland liked how Boesch matched up with Greinke.  Just kidding. It’s because “I’m going to play Boesch. I’m playing Boesch for sure. He sat long enough. He’s been a good teammate. He’s pulling for everybody.” Apparently he sat so long that he is now due to bat 5th.

Meanwhile in Toledo, Ryan Raburn homers again…

Stat of the Day: Catch this:  Gerald Laird is hitting .300 career vs Greinke (20 PAs). Alex Avila says I can top that! at .429.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Brennan Boesch.  He is pulling for everybody! Hopefully he pulls one in the gap.

Todays Day-to-Day DH Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 62-55, 2nd place, 2 back.

Doug Fister didn’t disappoint, and despite a carnival of a 3rd inning, and Gene Lamont being A Great 3rd Base Coach, the Tigers ended their 3-game losing streak.  Cabrera reached the century mark in RBIs, and Dirks hit one out, which I’m still trying to figure out, because both he and the pitcher are lefties, and I didn’t think that was possible.

The Tigers finish off the three-game series with Max on the mound.  Scherzer was impressive Friday against Texas (2 runs in 6 innings), although he had too many strikeouts (8) and ran up a pitch count of 112 in 6 innings.  With the way the bullpen has been lately, a longer outing is recommended for today.

He may need to be at his best, since the Tigers will encounter dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy again, this one named Cole De Vries. CDV was pounded his last time out–8 runs in 1 1/3 innings.  Will the Tigers finally break out of their Rookie Pitcher Guy slump?

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young is only hitting .217 in day games.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Andy Dirks.  What a difference having Dirks back!

Today’s Berry Different Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 61-55, 2nd place, 2 back.

Well, as expected the Tigers couldn’t manage much against Cy Deduno.  Deduno’s flaw is that he can’t find the strike zone, but against Detroit that is not a flaw, but a feature. I wish we had been keeping a tally of how many times in the pre-game we have noted a pitcher with control problems, only to watch the Tiger hitters struggle (the two pitchers with the highest walk ratio in the AL, Ubaldo Jimenez and Yu Darvish, have victimized them multiple times).

Not that it mattered:  Sanchez was Horibal, Coke has lost his fizz, and the Twins pounded Detroit for 18 hits and 9 runs.

Duane Below was scapegoated to Toledo after the game. The Tigers have recalled ol’ Putty, RHP Luke Putkonen.

The Tigers now have an actual losing streak going (3 games), which is something not recommended for pennant chases. Time to bring the Fist down on the Twins.

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As if things aren’t bad enough, on ESPN’s injury report is listed “Justin Verlander SP – Aug 12: Day-To-Day.” What’s that all about?

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Stat of the Day: Everyone loves Twins! Well, not Doug Fister. He is a career 1-6, 4.36 against Minnesota.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Jhonny Peralta.  A bit of a surprise choice. Peralta was the one Tiger who was having none of what Cy Deduno offered last night–he took two walks and doubled.  And hey, look at that! He gets the troublesome 5th spot tonight.

Today’s Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 61-54, 2nd place, 2 back.

Detroit had last night off, instead donning clown suits for a hilarious charity exhibition game. Brennan Boesch was a hit with his huge shoes and big floppy glove, and the performance was capped off by the always funny bit where the whole bullpen piles into a tiny car.

Unfortunately, Brayan Villarreal probably shouldn’t have been taking part in that particular stunt:  turns out he has actually had a problem with his elbow for the past week, and is now on the ever-popular day-to-day list.

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The Toledo Mud Hens put on a different sort of exhibition Saturday night.  In the 2nd inning Durham’s Will Rhymes hit a two-run home run, and admired it a bit, much to the chagrin of starter Drew Smyly, who plunked the next batter, leading to ejections (Smyly and manager Phil Nevin), and warnings.

Not to be left out of the fun, when reliever Bruce Rondon faced Will Rhymes in the 7th, he threw behind him, Rhymes charged the mound, and both benches cleared.  Not to excuse anybody here, but I think Wee Willie Rhymes needs a bit of leeway for home run admiration; it’s not like he gets them every day.  And Rhymes charging Rondon is probably its own punishment.

At any rate, suspensions have been handed down to Rondon (5 games) and Smyly (3 games).

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The Tigers travel to Minnesota tonight to finish the mini Stars loop road trip (random hockey reference).

Detroit will face the always tough Rookie Pitcher Guy, this one a righty named Samuel “Cy” Deduno (3-0, 3.27).

The Tigers hand the ball to Anibal, as we all wonder how many more times we will be able to use that phrase.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers now lead the American League in pitchers who bomb, turn out to have a physical problem nobody knew about, and become classified as “Day-to-Day.”

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:   Omar Infante.  After a bit of a slow start, Infante has hit .375 with power (6 extra base hits, 9 RBI) in his last 13 games.

Today’s OK-Your-Turn-To-Try-5th-Alex Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 60-51, 2nd place, .5 back.

Too many runs.  Too many runs finally ended the Tiger win streak last night, although the bats kept going and kept them in the game.

There were some things to like about last night:  the offense plated 8 runs, Jeff Baker’s Detroit debut was a success (“looks like he knows what the bat is for,” said Leyland), Dirks and Boesch continue to come up with big hits, we have a 2nd baseman who can put the ball over the fence, and Chicago lost.

On the other hand, there may be a few cringes the next time they hand the ball to Anibal, Ramon looks utterly last at the plate, and whatever has happened to Phil Coke, let’s hope it unhappens.

The likelihood of Too Many Runs is low this afternoon, with Doug Fister going up against Hiroki Kuroda (weren’t the Tigers rumored to be pursuing him this offseason?).

Mister Fister has come out roaring since the All-Star break, going 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA, and a remarkable 0.769 WHIP. He has been on close terms with the strike zone:  he has only walked 5 in 39 innings since the break.

Kuroda has been no 2nd-half slouch himself (2-1, 2.27).  He faced Detroit June 2, and gave up 2 runs, a Cabrera home run and an RBI single to Quintin Berry.

Stat of the Day: Ramon Santiago is only hitting .118 in the 2nd half, and has yet to plate his first RBI or get his first extra base hit.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Quintin Berry.  If he can get himself on base, watch for him to be turned loose on the bases for a change.

Today’s Resting-AJax Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 60-50, 2nd place, .5 back.

Well, Jose Valverde almost pulled a Chris Perez, but tragedy was averted and the Tigers won their 7th consecutive, and 10th in a row at Comerica.

But all’s well that ends well, and that one ended well, and Detroit finally picked up a game on Chicago, and added a bit to their growing aura of invincibility at home.

These auras…I don’t know how reliable they are, and I’ve been having trouble finding any statistical measures by which to judge them, but they can’t hurt.

Tonight the Tigers hand the ball to Anibal. C.C. Sabathia will face the Right version of the Tiger lineup, featuring newest Tiger Jeff Baker, and bad boy Gerald Laird, who will try not to get ejected today (apparently Laird said nothing that merited ejection–although he admitted to making “hand gestures” from the dugout).

Stat of the Day: Tiger starters, 2nd half: 14-7, 3.79

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Jeff Baker.  The Tiger unveiling.

Today’s Baker’s Dozen Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Omar Infante 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Jeff Baker LF
7. Brennan Boesch RF
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Ramon Santiago SS