Injuries are part of baseball, but still…losing two starting pitchers in two days? That’s some pretty bad luck. But hey, there’s Buck Farmer. There’s a funny line in there somewhere about money growing on trees, but it’s not funny at all, not a bit, that in the first week of July the Indians have already won the season series.

Maybe Longball Anibal will beat Four-Hit Shutout Carrasco today. More likely, Michael Fulmer will have a chance to make a Rookie of the Year statement tomorrow.  Or maybe tonight can be one of those “that’s baseball” nights. Maybe the intense Game Post photo will help.

Still, the supposed big bats in the lineup haven’t been able to plate a run against the Indians. But no worry, Moya and Castellanos came through. So clearly, this is a good time to sit Castellanos for Aviles, because, hey, um…OK, I’ve got nothing here.

UPDATE: Castellanos has “flu-like symptoms,” so that explains that.

Watch out for Yan Gomes, batting 9th: career 7-for-16 against Longball with 2 HR.

Today’s Just Win One Already Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. V Martinez, DH
5. Upton, LF
6. Moya, RF
7. Aviles, 3B
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

The Tigers swept Tampa Bay, pulled into 2nd place in the Central, and now get another crack at the division-leading Indians.

Here are the schedule times and starters:

• Mon  7:10    Daniel Norris (1-0, 4.09) vs. Danny Salazar (10-3, 2.22)
• Tue   7:10   Jordan Zimmermann (9-4, 3.95) vs. Carlos Carrasco (4-2, 2.56)
• Wed 12:10  Michael Fulmer (8-2, 2.17) vs. Josh Tomlin (9-1, 3.21)

UPDATE: Zimmermanm to the DL with neck strain. Sanchez to start in his place. Molleken to be called up. The Cleveland Curse continues.

Why Cleveland will win this series:

Well, they are Cleveland. As in 9-0 vs. the Tigers Cleveland

They are IN Cleveland. They are 23-12 at home, where they hit especially well. Their batting average at home is a ridiculous .291 (.830 OPS), vs. .234 (.691 OPS) on the road.

Their starting pitching. Their worst pitcher this series is 9-1 with a .3.21 ERA, but that doesn’t take into account how they have owned Detroit so far this year. Their team ERA vs. Detroit is 2.00, with a 0.877 WHIP. It’s worth noting Salazar is the one guy they did hit this year, putting up 3 runs in 5 2/3.

Why Detroit will win this series:

The Tigers are coming off of a 4 game sweep where they won two games with late come backs, won one in a blowout, and generally pitched, hit and even ran the bases well. The Indians are coming in off of two games where they got completely buried following a 19-inning marathon victory. Still, momentum is only as good as the next day’s starter, as the saying goes.
Bullpens. The Tiger bullpen has been getting increasingly solid, and the Indians has been slammed and overworked. Check out these numbers:

81  60  175 Cleveland
35  18   31  Detroit

These are how many pitches each bullpen has thrown over the last 3 games, from this useful site (I don’t really like how they gave Bauer 83 pitches for Friday; McAllister is the bullpen guy who pitched 31 replacing Bauer as a starter. Still the difference is huge). The Tigers either have to jump on the starters early, or work up the pitch counts; either way, getting into the bullpen as early as possible will be key.

Key for the Series:

In addition to seeing as much bullpen as possible, Ian and Miggy need to show up this series. In the 9 games so far, Kinsler is hitting .162 (.427 OPS), and Miggy is hitting .172 (.437 OPS). Those are NL pitcher stat lines.

Today’s Stop That Damn Drumming Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. V Martinez, DH
5. Castellanos, 3B
6. Upton, LF
7. Moya, RF
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

We’ve won these last three against the Rays in three very different manners. Late inning improbable come back, blowout, pitching duel. With Pelfrey on the mound maybe today will be high scoring back and forth.

This is a day late, but Sanchez is not pitching his way back into the rotation.

The odd lineup frustrates me, but I know you gotta give 27 year old professional athletes a rest from their 3 hour a day jobs from time to time. It’s ridiculous, but I agree with the historical results.

1. Kinsler, 2B

2. Iglesias, SS

3. Cabrera, 1B

4. Martinez V, DH

5. Castellanos, 3B

6. Upton, LF

7. Moya, RF

8. McCann, C

9. Romine, CF

Half-way point after today.

Miggy sitting.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1.  Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Cameron Maybin, CF
3. Victor Martinez, DH
4. Nick Castellanos, 3B
5. Justin Upton, LF
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 1B
7. Mike Aviles, RF
8. James McCann, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

I admit…I did not see that one last night coming. Nor learn about it until this morning. Baseball is a funny game.

Would be nice to get a quality start from Zimmermann or Verlander sometime soon.

Fulmer v. Smyly today. Remember last year when Smyly was on his way to being an ace before an injury? He’s got some ugly numbers this year, but don’t be fooled. His WHIP is only 1.24, and he’s actually improved his K/BB rate pretty significantly (it’s at 5/1 right now, versus 3.67 career). He’s suffering from a slightly high BABIP this year (.312), and he’s given up .8 HR more per 9 than his career average. Thus, a few outliers are pushing up his ERA and loss total. Baseball is a funny game.

Fulmer has had 8 days off. Tigers going for 4 in a row.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B

2. Cameron Maybin, CF

3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

4. Victor Martinez, DH

5. Nick Castellanos, 3B

6. Justin Upton, LF

7. Mike Aviles, RF

8. James McCann, C

9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Will Cle ever lose again?

Weekend set v. the Rays starts tonight. TB is not good. 3/4 would be nice. 2/4 at a minimum. This kicks off a pre-All Star break 11 game road-trip, highlighted by 3 in Cle.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B

2. Cameron Maybin, CF

3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

4. Victor Martinez, DH

5. Nick Castellanos, 3B

6. Justin Upton, LF

7. Steven Moya, RF

8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C

9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Last night was starting to look like more of the same, then all of a sudden the Tigers, who had been making Conley look like Koufax the first few innings, had their own private Home Run Derby, inaugurated by Jose Iglesias.

Now the Tigers have a chance to sweep this two game series, and the four-game season series. For all the Tiger woes this season they are 39-29EC (except Cleveland). Maybe it’s just a Cleveland thing, and they aren’t so bad otherwise.

Today’s Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. V Martinez, DH
5. Castellanos, 3B
6. Upton, LF
7. Moya, RF
8. Saltalamacchia, C
9. Iglesias, SS

There’s an old saying, that the good thing about baseball is that there is always another game the next day. Unfortunately, yesterday was the exception, and so there was a whole day with nothing to do but stew over yet another humiliating sweep at the hands of the Indians.  I suppose it gave the team a day to recover and reboot, so maybe that will help.

Of course maybe the best way to start over again isn’t to lead off with Mike “I’ll Get Them Out Eventually” Pelfrey.  For what it’s worth though, Pelfrey says that his one stint in the bullpen was very valuable for him, and that he got his splitter working. And for what it’s worth, his relief appearance was better than his starts, and almost as long as most of them: 4 1/3 scoreless innings with three hits.

The Tigers just have two with the Marlins. They started the 2016 season with a 2-game sweep of Florida.

Today’s Bats in the Pelfrey Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. V Martinez, DH
5. Castellanos, 3B
6. Upton, LF
7. McCann, C
8. Aviles, RF
9. Iglesias, SS

Thank you to coleman for filling in on short notice yesterday. Checked with Dr. Andrews, MRI was negative. Back at it today.

In all honesty, getting swept at home in late June isn’t going to really affect our chances of competing in a mediocre division. But there are two things at play today which are much more serious.

1) If Ausmus intended to stir up his team through his comments about “getting angry” to the media, or in the clubhouse, it certainly didn’t work. There’s not a person reading this who isn’t surprised. But it brings Ausmus’ (in)ability as a leader to the forefront once again. This team has rolled over the last two nights, and just about every game of the 8 so far vs. Cleveland. The team is good enough to win a few on its own; I stand by that the team is competing in spite of Ausmus. A Avila and Mr. I and their consiglieres certainly know more about baseball than I do. I would love to figure out what I’m missing regarding Ausmus. It’s something. Perhaps there is a manager arc…imagine a baseball reference closest comps for managers – and he’s on the Tom Kelly/Tony LaRussa/Joe Torre arc, but with an Ivy League education. Let’s hope.

2) If Verlander wants to show that he’s an ace again (I read one Detroit columnist who said that JV could be in Cy Young conversations…tap the brakes on that) he needs to put an end to the losing streak, right now.

As far as Sanchez goes…I have no idea what to do with him. I’m sure he’ll get another start. It’s an ironic consequence of high paying contracts. He’s too expensive to bench or send down. So we’ll just continue to  get kicked in the nuts every 5 days b/c he had a great year a few years ago and DD overpaid him.

Don’t get too down. It’s an average team in an average division. It could still be a fun summer.

Moya day to day with a sore knee. Numbers below off of Josh Tomlin.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B (8-for-20, 2 doubles, HR, walk, K)
2. Cameron Maybin, CF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (7-for-18, double, HR, 4 walks, K)
4. Victor Martinez, DH (3-for-19, double, HR, 3 walks, 2 K’s)
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B (4-for-17, 2 doubles, 5 K’s)
6. Justin Upton, LF (2-for-9, double, K)
7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C (4-for-5, double, HR, walk, K)
8. Mike Aviles, RF (2-for-14, double, HR, walk, 3 K’s)
9. Jose Iglesias, SS (1-for-4)

Kevin was the scheduled blogger today, but experienced some elbow soreness warming up for today’s post, so I was moved up from my normal spot in the rotation on short rest.

Cleveland continued to own Detroit, and have pushed their season record to 7-0. Number 8 will be a challenge to avoid with 5-inning Anibal and a taxed bullpen facing the surging Racially Insensitives.

Today’s Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. V Martinez, DH
5. Castellanos, 3B
6. Upton, LF
7. Aviles, RF
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

The angry(?) Tigers, winners of 4 in a row, are set to host the first place, and streaking (as in winning streak, not JR Smith streaking) Indians, winners of 6 in a row. The Tigers have yet to win against Cleveland this year. That’s going to change soon

Fangraphs ran a very interesting post on Cabrera today, apparently he has the worst vsR/vsL splits in the majors; and the effect is reversed. That’s right, he’s crushing righties, and getting dogged by lefties. He’s also way off his career average on change-ups. The article points to age, but I see a splendid opportunity to progress towards the mean. He won’t be this good against righties all year, but he’ll be much better against lefties. Here’s something that should make you salivate…his BABIP v. lefties this year is .192. It’s likely to be around .300 by the end of the season.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, V, DH
5. Upton, LF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Moya, RF
8. McCann, C
9. Romine, SS

Daniel Norris has motored his van to town and joins the starting rotation, backed by a lineup Brad might have made out after a long night of celebrating the Tigers 3rd win. Not sure how Aviles got left out of this one.

Fulmer started out well last night, then just sort of lost it. After the game he mentioned feeling lightheaded and short of breath, which has been a common reaction here when the bullpen enters a game, but the Tiger bullpen was stellar last night, and Moya pounded the ball. That’s how you put together a winning streak, when different parts of the team take turns contributing.

Next up are the pesky Indians.

Today’s We Already Won the First Three So What the Heck Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Iglesias, SS
3. Cabrera, DH
4. Castellanos, 3B
5. Upton, LF
6. Moya, RF
7. McCann, C
8. Saltalamacchia, 1B
9. Romine, CF

The suddenly-hitting Iglesias, takes the 2nd spot (he has hit .299 over the last 30 days), Victor and Maybin get a rest, Miggy gets a semi-rest, although he never seems the same guy at DH (.268 lifetime), 1B will be a little salty, and the Lettuce will be Romine the expanses of center field.