Detroit Tigers, 19-20, 3 games behind Cleveland.

Last season on May 7 the Tigers were 16-18, and a whole 7 games behind Cleveland in the Central.  Then Justin Verlander sparked the team with a no-hitter against the Blue Jays, they won their next 6, and improved their way to a Central Division title.

Could Verlander’s dominating one-hitter last night be the spark that turns the 2012 season around?

Leyland perhaps summed up the game best: “Everybody who was here last night probably saw one of the best games pitched in the history of baseball.”

Here are some reactions by Verlander, Avila, and Harrison to the one lone hit.

There are those who think that the Free Press jinxed Verlander.  Justin’s own reaction was much more reasonable.  “God that sucks,” he said of the hit. But he knows he will have other opportunities.

Verlander’s shutout lowered his ERA to 2.14, good enough for 2nd in the AL (Derek Lowe is 1st at 2.05).  The 3rd place spot belongs to tonight’s pitcher and Little Rock native, Drew Smyly (2.31).  Smyly will smile upon fellow Little Rock native A.J. Burnett, who takes the mound for Pittsburgh.

***

Random stat of the day:  Jim Leyland’s career managing mark is hovering right around .500, but he is 71-38 in interleague play.

***

Random stat of the day part 2: We all know that Nolan Ryan holds the record for most career no-hitters with 7.  But he also holds the career record for the most no-hitters broken up in the 7th inning or later, with 24 of those (Randy Johnson is 2nd with 11).  So including the no-hitters that’s 31 times he has gone into the 7th inning of a game with a no-hitter.

***

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Delmon Young. Young had a HR and a double last night; the Tigers need some production from the 5th spot in the lineup if they want any kind of offensive consistency.

Tonight’s Undefeated Interleague Lineup (Austin Jackson is “feeling better” and may be available from the bench):

1. Don Kelly CF
2. Andy Dirks 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, 18-20, tied with Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yeah, I know.

But Justin Verlander needs no introduction; Justin Verlander needs no bullpen; and Justin Verlander needs no Game Post photo.

Verlander by the way, is one of 4 pitchers who have gone at least 6 innings in 50 or more consecutive starts. The others are Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Catfish Hunter.

Tonight is one of those great home interleague games, where the AL team has a huge advantage because of the DH rule.  Detroit runs out Delmon Young, who is putting up a .226 BA (.599 OPS), and the Pirates are stuck with Josh Harrison in the DH spot (.256, .711).  Haha, take that NL!

For what it’s worth, The Beekeeper says that Tiger fans have a right to be upset.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Prince Fielder. Fielder has broken out of his 0-23 slump in a big way, and is batting .489 lifetime against pitchers named Charlie.  (OK, I might have made up the last part).

Tonight’s Megatron (hands back, Calvin!) Lineup:

1. Don Kelly CF
2. Andy Dirks 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. Ryan Raburn 2B

Ryan Raburn can’t get no respect.

Raburn’s first home run of the year was the deadly blow in the Tiger’s 8-run, comeback 6th inning, which overcame a seemingly insurmountable lead built against Max Scherzer, jinxed by Kevin In Dallas.

And yet, in the account of the three 6th inning home runs, Jackson “belted” his, Cabrera “jackhammered” a massive shot, but Raburn merely “flicked” one over the wall.  No respect.

The Tigers are back in Detroit for another 2-day doubleheader, this one against their once-upon-a-time nemesis, the Minnesota Twins.

Rick Porcello, who has hopefully escaped jinxing, will take on Nick Blackburn, who doesn’t seem to like staying up late.  During day games Blackburn has a career 3.91 ERA.  Nick at Night is not so good though, putting up an ERA of 5.13.

If a closer is needed for these 2, it won’t be Valverde: his lower back strain will keep him out of this series; he is day to day after that.  According to Leyland, Joaquin Benoit will be the closer in the meantime. “Probably.”

Morneau returns from the DL for the Twins, but it has just been announced Tiger-killer Denard Span has been scratched from the leadoff spot (hamstrung), to be replace by Erik Komatsu.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Alex Avila.  Last night after Valverde gave up back to back singles and went to a 3-1 count on the next batter, Avila summoned trainer Kevin Rand to the mound and Valverde was removed.  Tonight Avila’s job is to summon Kevin Rand as soon as either Balester or Putkonen step on the mound.

Tonight’s Ramonburn Lineup:

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

Justin Verlander set a good example for young Drew Smyly, and callously shut down the Oakland A’s offense.  That’s the way to deal when your own team can’t score runs.

Today’s surprise prediction:  Smyly has his first shaky outing, but the offense will more than make up for it.

A lot of things have gone wrong with the offense.  Miguel Cabrera went on a career worst slump, followed by an unprecedented, and ongoing, Fielder slump (0-22 and counting).  They can’t score a runner from third with less than 2 out, they can’t bunt a runner up (it used to be every .200 hitter could bunt and run…not so much anymore).  And then there is Ryan Raburn.

Raburn has been awful.  And if past history is any guide, there is no reason to expect much improvement any time soon.  For those who missed it, Raburn has been consistently awful in May (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS)

• 2010 .115 BA .115 OBP .154 SLG .269 OPS 0 BB 7 K
• 2011 .113 BA .141 OBP .129 SLG .270 OPS 1 BB 22 K
• 2012 .114 BA .179 OBP .200 SLB .379 OPS 2 BB 14 K

(2012 numbers through 5/13)

In other words, as bad as he has been, he is having a career best May.

Leyland says he is going to keep playing him, no matter what (OK…maybe. But batting him 6th? Seriously?): “I’ve got to get him going, and I’m going to give him the opportunity to get going.  That’s why he’s playing.”

As Jamie Samuelsen says: “Leyland needs Raburn to hit. And the only way that he knows how to get him to hit is to keep rolling him out there. Why he thinks that strategy applies to Raburn and didn’t apply to players like Brandon Inge, Ramon Santiago or Don Kelly is something only Leyland knows. But it’s not going to change, at least not soon.”

Furthermore, if it is an established pattern that Raburn hits only after the All-Star break (Raburn is a career .300 hitter in the 2nd half), why in the world would it seem like playing him more now is a good idea?

Jason Back says that “Raburn is like a stock at 52-wk low but with history of beating 2nd and 3rd-qtr estimates. Maddening to own, panic move to sell.”

So what to do? You tell me.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Gerald Laird.  Laird is one of only 3 Tigers hitting .300, has shown surprising baserunning abilities, and may be one of the best minor moves of the offseason.

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

Well this series has had a lopsided game that we won, a lopsided game that we lost, a pitcher’s duel that we lost, now it’s time for a pitcher’s duel that we win.  And we have just the guy for it, Justin Verlander. By the way, Justin says Happy Mother’s Day!

JV will have his work cut out for him, facing the dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy who gives the Tigers so much trouble. This RPG is named Jarrod Parker, and he has been good, posting a 1.40 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in his young 4-start career.

***

Yes, the Tigers are struggling offensively right now. Prince Fielder is in a 0-17 slump and counting. Miguel Cabrera just ended an 0-13. The 5th and 6th hitters have ranked at the bottom of the league all season.  The Tigers can’t seem to find a second baseman who can bunt, much less hit .200.

But the credit for yesterday’s game has to be shared equally with Brandon McCarthy, who was brilliant.  McCarthy is a good pitcher; last night he was very, very good.  He had the Tigers guessing wrong all night.  He froze Cabrera, Fielder, and Young in succession with 2-strike curve balls when they were obviously looking for fastballs.

And Fister was almost as good, after a bit of a shaky first inning. After the 1st inning he gave up 2 singles and 1 walk and had 8 strikeouts. He even kept Babe Inge under control. That’s 2 great outings in a row for Fister, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.

The difference in the game was the A’s put together 3 singles in the first, and the Tigers got runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 5th–and struck out.

***

Quote of the day:  “We don’t do stupid stuff.  At least we don’t try to.” -Jim Leyland

***

Statistic of the day: Andy Dirks has had 0-2 counts 4 times so far this season. He is 4-4.

***

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson.  Jackson has been a real spark this season.  A well-rested Jackson joins fellow spark Andy Dirks in providing some top of the lineup hitting.

Today’s Really Due Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks 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. Ryan Raburn 2B

The Tigers take the field this evening at absurdly-named O.co Coliseum at 16-16, 2 games back of Cleveland in the AL Central.

A lot went wrong last night. Rick Porcello once again sang the First Inning Blues, and was generally ineffective.  The Below-pen didn’t fare much better. The Tigers blew their own chance at a big first inning when Cabrera grounded into a DP with runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out, and that set the offensive tone for the evening.

The Tigers even accidentally suited up the retired Dmitri Young for their DH, at least according to the official Tiger game notes.

But the big story of course, was Brandon Inge, who has been tormenting the Tigers as much or more as when he played for them.  Jason Beck collects some of the quotes about Inge’s new-found ability to hit a baseball (Inge now has 17 RBI in only 10 games with Oakland, which is more than Prince Fielder has for the season).

To add Inge salt to Ingery, Inge took the time to praise new hitting coach Chili Davis:  “he and I mix well.”

***

After the last two games, a pitcher’s duel might be just the thing.  Doug Fister was impressive in his first start back from the DL, going 7 innings without giving up a run or a walk.  He didn’t come away with a W, but at this point in the season seeing Fister returning to form is a far bigger deal.

Taking their cue from Seattle with Blake Beavan, Oakland will counter the towering presence of the 6’8″ Fister with their tallest pitcher, 6’7″ Brandon McCarthy.  McCarthy has followed up his big comeback season in 2011 (9-9, 3.32) with another good start (2-3, 2.96), although his turn in the rotation has been pushed back due to shoulder soreness.

The right-handed McCarthy isn’t much tougher on RHB than he is on LHB: last season lefties batted .256 against him, vs. .260 for righties.  Nonetheless, Leyland has loaded the lineup with every available lefty. The Santiago for Peralta move looks good on paper though:  Peralta is a career 1-for-21 against McCarthy.

Tonight’s Player of the Pre-game:  Andy Dirks.  Dirks has been nothing short of phenomenal, and has solved the problem of finding a 2-hitter who can take advantage of Jackson’s hot start this season.  He won’t continue to hit .381 (and that with a sore hamstring!), but let’s enjoy it while it lasts. If Cabrera and Fielder can get back to their usual selves while Jackson and Dirks are still hot, it should make for a good time.

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

1. Don Kelly CF
2. Andy Dirks LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Brennan Boesch RF
8. Ramon Santiago SS
9. Danny Worth 2B

If any eyes are still open at 10:05 EST and would like to watch baseball, they will have to tune in to Oakland where the Tigers will be starting a 4-game series with the A’s in tonight’s only MLB late game.

The Athletic Brandon Inge awaits the Tigers in Oakland, although they may not recognize him.  For one thing, he is wearing his pants all the way down to his white shoes.  For another, he seems to have figured out how a baseball bat works…so far, Brandon Inge has more RBI (9) in the month of May than Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Delmon Young combined. Inge responded to being slotted 5th in the lineup with a walkoff grand slam;  with the RHP Scherzer on the mound he moves to the 6th spot for tonight.

Speaking of which, for all the the hand-wringing about the weakness of the bottom of the order boys for Detroit, the glaring weakness of the lineup has been the 5-6 spots.

Here are the BA/OBP/SLG/OPS numbers for the Tiger 5-6 hitters compared to league averages:

• Tiger 5th (14th): .205 .274 .304 .578
• League Avg:      .260 .329 .458 .787

• Tiger 6th: (14th): .178 .267 .308 .575
• League Avg:       .257 .318 .421 .739

Either is bad enough alone; together they spell Rallykill.  Where have you gone, Victor Martinez?

And it doesn’t help that the weak 5th-hitter numbers are mostly from the DH spot (more on that tomorrow).

I was going to look at Scherzer’s last start, and the Reanimated Tiger-Cuddler Bartolo Colon (he last beat Detroit in 2003), but lately it doesn’t seem to matter how well the starters do–it’s all about scoring runs right now.

Yoenis Cespedes, the Cuban phenom A’s RBI leader, is out with a strained hand muscle, but it is not fractured as originally thought so he may yet play this series.

Tonight’s Player of the Pre-game:  Ramon Santiago.  Rockin’ Ramon is 11-20 against Colon.  If he has a good game, maybe he could slide over to 2B and give Raburn a, um, rest.

Today’s Dirkiriffic Lineup:

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

Ah, memories! Doug Fister returned to the place where he began his career, was his usual effective self, and went home without a W, like he had so many times in the employ of Nintendo (a 3.33 2011 ERA was only good enough to get him a 3-12 record).

Implosion may be a fair word for the performance of Dotel last night, and with Valverde struggling, it seems the bullpen has now become a weak spot for the team.  But is it really worse than last season?  In 2011, Jose Valverde’s perfect save record overshadowed the fact that the bullpen as a whole just was not very good (remember Ryan Perry?). In fact the Tiger bullpen ERA was 3.93 last season, good for only 11th best in the AL.  The BP WHIP was 1.392, only better than the Twins.  This season so far the bullpen is giving up runs at the rate of 4.25 (10th), with a WHIP of 1.483 (worst).

So while the bullpen is struggling (it’s the W part of the WHIP that is killing them), it wasn’t exactly a strong point last season, other than Valverde’s stellar, and somewhat lucky performance.  And speaking of Valverde:  so far this season he has appeared in 6 non-save situations, vs only 7 save situations.  With the early season offensive struggles, the fact is that there are just fewer save situations this season than last.  Could the lack of a regular save situation routine be affecting Valverde?

Tonight Justin Verlander takes the mound and says bullpen? What’s that?

***

So let’s take a moment to contemplate the season Ryan Raburn is having.

He doesn’t have enough PAs to qualify for the league leaders, but if he did, he would lead the league in lowest BA, lowest OBP, lowest SLG, and of course lowest OPS.  Among all players with at least 75 PA he is by far the worst at .127 / .192 / .169 / .361, easily outpacing Seattle’s Brendan Ryan (hmm, there’s that name again) at .147 / .272 / .240 / .512, and Chicago’s Brent Morel (.182 / .217 / .205 / .422).

Jim Leyland, however, is sticking with him.  For one thing, he’s due.  For another, Leyland says, “This guy has had a pretty good track record the last two or three years.” Well…depends what you mean by track record.  Raburn has been good late in the season, but dependably bad early.

Ryan Raburn’s May track record:

• 2010 .115 BA .115 OBP .154 SLG .269 OPS 0 BB 7 K
• 2011 .113 BA .141 OBP .129 SLG .270 OPS 1 BB 22 K
• 2012 .059 BA .105 OBP .118 SLB .223 OPS 0 BB 9 K

In 114 May plate appearances since 2010, Raburn has 1 BB and 38 K. Yes, that really is a 38-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio you are seeing.

In other news, Brad Penny is available.

Tonight’s Player of the Pre-game:  Gerald Laird. With a lefty going for Seattle tomorrow, that game would have been the typical time to give Alex Avila a day off.  But Avila has been struggling mightily, striking out 5 times in his last 3 games, and has yet to plate a runner on 3rd with less than 2 out (6 attempts, 3 Ks and a GIDP). Laird looks to continue his improbable success at the plate (.316).  Although the downside is that he will not be available for pinch-running duties.

Today’s If 6th Doesn’t Work Maybe Bat HIm 4th Next Time Lineup:

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

The 14-13, 2nd Place Tigers take the long bus ride to Seattle and take on the Mariners in a 3-game series.

Tonight marks the return of Doug Fister; from the DL, and to the team that traded him to the Tigers. To make room for Fister, the Tigers optioned Brayan Villarreal to Toledo.

Facing 6’8″ Doug Fister is Blake Beavan.  Taking on Fister is a tall order, but The Beave, at 6’7″ 240 could be up to the task.  It should be a big pitchers’ duel.

The Tigers headed west without broadcaster Jim Price, who is staying back for health reasons. Former Tiger pitcher Dan Petry will fill in for Price.

And it’s nice to see Dirks becoming a fixture in both left field and the two-hole.

Today’s Player of the Pregame: Ryan Raburn.  Raburn looks to get hot and work towards his career May average of .162.

Today’s Who’s On Second Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Andy Dirks 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. Ryan Raburn 2B

The 12-11 Tigers, now only percentage points out of first, look to sweep the abbreviated 2-game home series with the Royals this afternoon.

Justin “No-Hitter” Verlander will take on Jonathan “No-Hitter” Sanchez.

Today’s player of the Pre-game:  Austin Jackson, who last night put up his 3rd 4-hit game already this season.

Today’s Dirks-Day-To-Day Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Ryan RaburnLF
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Alex Avila C
8. Brad Eldred DH
9. Danny Worth 2B

After a rain postponement to be rescheduled for September 24, the Tigers are still 11-11, tied for 2nd with Chicago, 1 game behind Cleveland.

Duane Below and his 0.00 ERA have been bumped back to the bullpen, and instead Rick Porcello will face off against Luke Hochevar.  Tune in early for an idea how this is going to go: Porcello has a 2012 1st-inning ERA so far of 22.50.

The lineup is pretty much the same as what was scheduled for last night, although with the extra day to mull it over Ol’ Smokey bumped Ramon Santiago in front of Don Kelly.

***

Tonight’s random fact: Last year, to solve their 3rd base problems, the Oakland A’s acquired Virginia Commonwealth product Scott Sizemore from the Detroit Tigers.  This season, with Sizemore injured, the A’s aquired Virginia Commonwealth product Brandon Inge from the Detroit Tigers.

***

Tonight’s player of the Pre-game:  Still Miguel Cabrera, who is 15-29 career against Royals starter Luke Hochevar

Today’s Best-LFielder-DHing Lineup:

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