Detroit Tigers, 43-42, 4 1/2 games behind Chicago.

Today the Tigers try to do something they have yet to do this season:  win 5 in a row.  And they will need it to keep pace in what has suddenly become the hot division in baseball.  Over the last 10 games, the White Sox are 8-2, the Indians are 7-3, and the Tigers are 7-3.

The Tigers send out Mysterious Max Scherzer, who has been hot and cold this season, most recently hot.  But he tweaked his hamstring, conceded his last start to Duane Below, and again takes the mound wearing a question mark.

The Royals counter with Sir Everett Teaford, Archduke of Kansas City.

Meanwhile, back in Kansas City, Tiger prospects Rob Brantly, Nick Castellanos, and Bruce Rondon prepare to play in tonight’s minor league all-star Futures Game (5pm, ESPN2).

Stat of the Day: Justin Verlander is tied for 9th in the AL with 4 sacrifice bunts.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Delmon Young. ESPN’s  Least Valuable Player of the first half has gone on a 3-game home run binge. Could he make it a 4?

Today’s Winning-Out-Into-The-Break 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, 42-42, 4 1/2 games behind Chicago.

Today the Tigers have a chance to win 4 in a row, which they last did when their starting second baseman was named Brandon Inge (April 15-18), and would tie their longest winning streak of the season.  Indicators are positive: the April 4-game winning streak was also against the Royals.

The Tigers will send Doug “Five-Inning” Fister out to the mound, who seems to have misplaced his fastball velocity when he returned from the DL.  The Royals counter with their lefty-du-jour, sometimes troublesome Bruce Chen (3-1, 3.00 in his last 4 vs. Detroit).

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The player of the game last night was Drew Smyly, who once again struggled after the 4th inning, but pulled it together, clowns be damned. And what a first 4 innings those were: Smyly struck out 9 batters, and only gave up 2 singles and no walks.  The Royals seemed to have no idea what he was throwing.  Was it a new pitch?

Or maybe he was just trying to impress Kate Upton. Yes, apparently Miss Upton has jumped on the Tiger bandwagon now that they are a .500 club.  Her appearance at Comerica last night set off a Twitter firestorm.

Personally, I have more important things to worry about.  Like these 4:00 starts.  When they do day/night game splits, they count as day games.  But don’t you think there are players who struggle in early day games, but do perfectly fine in 4:00 games? Should there be a 3rd category in the splits? Who has time for supermodel gossip when there are issues like this at hand?

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Stat of the Day: The Tigers have attempted 41 stolen bases this season (33 successful), the lowest number of attempts in all of MLB.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Gerald Laird.  The Royals like to run, and like to get caught–22 times in 75 attempts.  Laird obliges, and also nails Prince Fielder with a pickoff throw as retribution for the black eye Fielder gave him.

Today’s Winning Record Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Ramon Santiago 2B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 41-42, 4 1/2 games behind Chicago.

Well, here we go again.  The Tigers have their 9th shot at getting to the .500 mark since May 15, and are 0-8 so far at it.

They will have to do it against the Royals, who will go all-lefty on the mound for the 3-game series. The first lefty up will be Jonathan Sanchez, future topic of Worst Trade lists (the Royals traded Melky Cabrera, who is tied for the NL BA lead at .356).

Sanchez has had trouble finding the plate: he has given up 40 BBs in 46 innings, including 6 each in his last 2 outings.  The Tigers have had recent success with an aggressive approach at the plate.  It will be interesting to see if they change this up against the struggling Sanchez, or continue to whack away.

Detroit sends out Drew “Four-Inning” Smyly, who pitched against the Royals in April and held them to 1 unearned run in 6 innings.

Justin Verlander says cheer up fans, the 2nd half will be better.

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Yesterday’s game had a little of everything: a rain delay, two consecutive outs at the plate (nice throws by Cabrera and Raburn; nice plate-blocking by Laird), a little 3 Stooges action on a pop bunt, in which Fielder almost took out Laird (I guess that makes Laird Larry); dodge ball on the mound, which led to an early exit for Porcello; big hits by Jackson and Cabrera and a really big hit for Fielder (if you wait long enough, the 3-run homers will come).

But with everything that happened, Jim Leyland said the key to the game was the clutch relief performance of Darin Downs, who relieved Porcello after he took a line drive off of his bicep. Downs must have felt some sympathy for Porcello.  Nicknamed The Pitcher Who Lived, Downs suffered a fractured skull from a line drive in AA in 2009.

Stat of the Day: Detroit passed Minnesota, and is now only the 2nd worst team in the league in bases-loaded hitting (.219 BA, .531 OPS).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Austin Jackson.  AJax is hitting .400 with 6 RBI over his last 6 games, which doesn’t match what Cabrera has done in the same span, but Cabrera gets funny sometimes when he is at DH. Jackson stays hot against the all-lefty menu.

Today’s Clown Show Alert Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 38-40, 4 games behind Chicago.

Is it time to move Austin Jackson back in the lineup?

AJax continues to impress, still leading the Tigers in batting average (.326), on base percentage (.408) and OPS (.945), and only a few points behind Cabrera in slugging percentage (.537 to .541).

With runners in scoring position, the big bat in the Tiger lineup is not Miguel Cabrera, and not Prince Fielder, but Austin Jackson, who is hitting .372 with an OPS of 1.212 with RISP, with 3 HR and 29 RBI.  Cabrera is at a healthy .368/.966, also with 3 HR and 41 RBI–but he has had the advantage of twice as many plate appearances with RISP as Jackson has had (103 vs 56) because of Jackson’s spot in the lineup.

Jackson came up big again last night with 2 out and 2 on, and put the game away with a rare multi-run home run against Pine Tar Peralta.

The win last night means that the Tigers still have a chance to hit the halfway point of the season above .500, but they will have to win today to do it.

That task will fall to Drew Smyly, who after a blistering start, has had a string of rather ordinary outings.  There was nothing ordinary about the last start of his opponent, Alex Cobb.  In what coach Joe Maddon called a “heroic” performance, Cobb pitched a complete game against the Royals–an 8-run, 13-hit complete game. Let’s hope there is more of that heroism this afternoon.

Stat of the Day: Over his last 2 starts Rick Porcello has an ERA of 0.69, and a WHIP of an even 1.000.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Raburn, Kelly, and Santiago, who between them will find some way of getting a runner or two into scoring position for Austin Jackson

Today’s Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Don-Kelly Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Ryan Raburn 2B
8. Don Kelly RF
9. Ramon Santiago SS

Detroit Tigers, 37-40, 5 games behind Chicago. Tiger record against AL East: 9-9.

Yesterday we had a long intro and few comments, and the Tigers lost. Today looking to change things up.

It’s Earth, Wind & Fire night at Tropicana, as Rick Porcello takes the mound against the Rays in game 3 of 4 in Tampa.

It’s also pine tar and takedown night, as Tampa regains the services of relievers Joel Peralta and Kyle Farnsworth for tonight’s game.

Stat of the Day: Tampa Bay is mysteriously bad against the AL Central: 4-10, including a sweep by the Royals. In fact, remove the AL Central games from all the AL East teams’ records, and the Rays are comfortably in first place.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Delmon Young. Delmon is having one of those mini-hot streaks that can make him seem like an actual threat, hitting .346 with a home run over the last 6 games. Let’s see if he can keep it up another game or two.

Today’s Back-To-Jacksonberry Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 37-39, 4 games behind Chicago. Tiger record with Toby Harrah as Special Co-Hitting-Coach-Consultant-Guy: 2-0.

So what kind of genius thing was that anyway, the Toby Harrah deal? I’m not talking about the 32 hits in 2 games, that is most likely mere coincidence.  But there was this dilemma:  the Tiger offense was woefully underperforming, and fans wanted the head of Lloyd McClendon, if nothing else to “send a message” (although to whom, and about what, was less clear).

On the other hand, there was Leyland’s legendary loyalty to his coaches (and players), so at the same time, the scenario of a McClendon firing was almost unimaginable.  Then someone had a truly brilliant insight:  you don’t need to fire McClendon (loyalty intact)–just hire another hitting coach.  In fact, they may be hiring more, who knows?  There are no limits on the number of hitting coaches you can have (although they can’t all be in the dugout)…just wish I knew whose idea it was.

Or maybe the key to the offense is more hitting slumps. Leyland seems to think they are a good thing.

Max Scherzer leapfrogged Justin Verlander back into the AL strike out lead.  This is a less frivolous thing than you might think. With Detroit’s gloveless wonders in the field (sorry Austin, but you can’t cover the entire field), every ball not put into play is a blessing.

Alas, poor Max, your lead will be short-lived, for The Man himself takes that mound tonight:  it’s V-Day again. Justin Verlander is not in the mood to lose games. You can see it from his Game Post picture.

But Verlander will have to contend with Batman; former Tiger Will Rhymes (who we jettisoned because we had too many second basemen) is in the Rays’ lineup.

*****

It’s not V-Mart day though:  the news on Victor wasn’t bad per se, but it doesn’t look like an August return is in the cards . More mid-Septemberish.

And what’s up with Andy Dirks? This one has flown a bit under the radar. But Andy Dirks is actually 4th on the team in OPS (right between Cabrera and Fielder…think about that), and can actually glove it in the outfield. I think his absence from the team is vastly underrated.

Things are looking better for Al Alburquerque. If Al-Al could actually come back as anywhere near the pitcher he was last season, the Tiger bullpen could turn into something very special

*****

Stat of the Day: Detroit and Texas are the only AL teams without a single at bat this season by a player 36 or older. Where have all the old dudes gone?

(The Tigers blow the tie with a September call up of their hot shortstop prospect, 43-year old Cale Iorg).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Toby Harrah.

Today’s Berry-Stays-In-With-A-Lefty Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Ramon Santiago 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Ryan Raburn RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Quintin Berry LF

Detroit Tigers, 36-39, 4 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers may not have been able to keep up with the Ranger scoring onslaught last night, but the offense did finally have a big game.  Maybe there will be more of the same now that Detroit has another hitting coach, ex-Ranger Toby Harrah, Detroit’s minor league hitting coordinator.  Harrah will probably “come and go,” and will be working alongside Lloyd McClendon.

More help for the offense may–or may not–come later in the season from Victor Martinez, who is undergoing an MRI today, which should give some clues as to his progress.

Hopefully the hot Tiger bats don’t cool in air-conditioned Tropicana Field, where the Tigers take on Tampa Bay in a 4-game series. The Rays are fresh off of a sweeping at the hands of the Royals, who have snuck up to within one game of Detroit in the Central.

Stat of the Day: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are #1 and #2 in the AL in strike outs with 113 and 107.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Ramon Santiago.  Santiago has quietly been heating up (hitting .310 over the last 2 weeks).  Look for a Santiago-Jackson-Berry rally, and a respite from clown antics.

Today’s Indoor Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 34-37, 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland.

The Tigers couldn’t touch Cy Lincoln, McCutchen got an 0-2 fastball he liked very much, and that was that, a quick tidy victory for the Pirates.

Well, the Tigers got the obligatory solo home run, and have still not been shut out this season.  So there’s that.

Also Delmon Young got a walk, for those of you have have been holding your breath since his last one (May 22).

At any rate, the Pirates have the brooms out, ready to sweep Detroit out toward Arlington with their Tiger tails between their legs.

First they will have to deal with Justin Verlander.

The last time Verlander faced Pittsburgh, he threw a memorable one-hitter.  This time he also gets to bat, looking to break a career 0-for-22 slump.

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder has 11 home runs; 10 of them are solo home runs. He has 1 HR in 146 plate appearances with a man on base.  His career average is 1 HR for every 23 PA with men on.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Ryan Raburn.  With the middle of the lineup slumping horribly, Raburn gets a key hit off of Cy Young candidate Kevin Correia and the surprise POPG nod.

Today’s Burnberry Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young LF
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Ryan Raburn 2B
9. Justin Verlander P

Detroit Tigers, 34-36, 3 1/2 games behind Cleveland.

The last game had a little of everything–Pitcher Fielding Follies, Clownman antics in left, strange double-shifting–and a lot of nothing.

Friday night the Tigers continued to help Pittsburgh gain ground in the NL Central, this time by losing to the Pirates 4-1.  The Pirates tried to be sporting about it by sending Jason Grilli and his weak s*** out in the 8th inning to face the heart of the Tiger order, but nothing doing (yes, I realize Grilli is having a good season).

In fact there was a hole in the heart of the order all night:  the Cabrera-Fielder combo was 0-4 with RISP, and had an overall OPS of .000. Over the last 3 games the duo is a combined 2-for-24, and, significantly, 0 walks.

Today that may change against Pirate starter Brad Lincoln, who is has a 10.83 ERA in 3 starts since entering the starting rotation, and has yet to make it through 5 innings.

The offensive support would be helpful: Max Scherzer understandably may not be on the top of his game today. Scherzer is rejoining the team after two days away. There is speculation as to the reasons for the absence, but the official word is just that he was off for “personal reasons.”

Stat of the Day: Over the past 14 days Miguel Cabrera has put up this Inge-like line: .227 BA, .320 OBP, .354 SLG, .684 OPS. Fielder has hit .237 during that time.  I blame the All-Star Campaign Jinx.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Max Scherzer, you are our player of the game today, no matter how your outing turns out.

Today’s Underwhelming Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 34-35, 2 1/2 games behind Cleveland, Consecutive Interleague Series Won: 4.

You’re welcome Pirates fans, you’re welcome.

The Tigers head into Pittsburgh to close out an interleague swing that has seem them take series against the Pirates’ division rival Reds and Cardinals. The surprising Pirates are now just 2 games behind Central leading Cincinnati.

The Pirates open the series with the hot hand of A.J. Burnett, who has won 6 consecutive starts, beginning with a 5/19 victory over the Tigers in Detroit.

Doug Fister looks to continue his strong comeback and put Detroit back to the .500 mark. Following his thrilling 10th-inning walk off single, Quintin Berry gets the start in RF in place of the struggling Brennan Boesch. Boesch is 3-7 lifetime against Burnett, but playing Boesch would mean either sitting the Q-Berry, or sitting Young, and apparently we can’t spare his .615 OPS against RHP.  Or maybe it’s his glove we can’t spare, I forget.

In other news, Wednesday may have seen Jake Westbrook stymie the Tiger offense, but it was a day to celebrate for Ryan Raburn.  On Wednesday Raburn reached his 5-year service time milestone, which means that even though the Tigers still have one more option to send Raburn to Toledo, Raburn can decline to report, which would force the Tigers to either keep him on the roster or release him (and still be on the hook for his salary).

Stat of the Day: Prince Fielder leads all active players with 28 home runs against the Pirates, including 9 at PNC Park.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Prince Fielder.  See above.  And the last time Fielder faced Burnett he hit a 2-run HR–his only non-solo HR of the season.

Today’s Young Jacksonberry Lineup:

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

Detroit Tigers, 31-34, 4 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers evened up the series with the Rockies, as Miguel Cabrera got the rare double (Home Run plus Little League Home Run), and Doug Fister came back strong with his first victory of the season. (His next start should be Friday).

The Tigers look to take their 3rd consecutive IL series in today’s Father’s Day rubber game.  And dammit they are going to get this one.

On the mound for Detroit will be the enigmatic Max Daddy, Max Scherzer, against the struggling righty Jeremy Guthrie (3-5, 6.91). The righty on the mound means we will be treated to the Jacksonberry lineup.

Colorado would just as soon see Interleague season end.  They are one 10th-inning clown show from being winless in IL this year.

Stat of the Day: Miguel Cabrera leads all active Tigers with 1 LLHR.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Quintin Berry.  Q-Berry gets a rare start, and is itching to try his hand at one of those LLHRs.

Today’s Who’s-On-Third? Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera DH
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Brennan Boesch RF
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Ramon Santiago 2B
8. Don Kelly 3B
9. Gerald Laird C

Detroit Tigers, 30-34, 4 games behind Chicago (1st), 4 1/2 ahead of Twins (last).

That was an exciting game last night. I had to leave before the extra innings, but I’ve got it recorded and will watch as soon as I finish this blurb.  I can’t wait! Looks like Valverde is coming in in a non-save situation, but I’m sure it will work out fine.

This afternight (4:00 start) Doug Fister makes his 2nd comeback of the season, looking for his first win.

To make room for Fister, Casey Crosby was sent down. Or Matt Young (finally). They both went back to Toledo, and Thad Weber will be called up to shore up the thinning ranks of the bullpen.  Rumor has it that the bullpen was depleted last night (“We’ve got major problems,” Leyland said), and on top of that Fister can’t be expected to go too deep into the game in his first comeback experience.

Leyland has ruled out Villarreal, Benoit, and Valverde for today. Looks like Putty-time!

Detroit will be facing the dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy (Christian Friedrich, 4-2, 5.85).

In other news, don’t expect Dirks or Avila back soon.  And Ryan Raburn is still right-handed.

Stat of the Day: Doug Fister has a career winning % of only .370 (20-34), despite a career ERA of only 3.47.

Tonight’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson.  He bats right.  He hits lefties (4 HR, 11 RBI, vs Cabrera, 1 HR 6 RBI).

Tonight’s Because-There’s-A-Lefty-Pitching-That’s-Why Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Ryan Raburn LF
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Ramon Santiago 2B