Tigers have won 9 of 11, are 1 game over .500, and 2 back of Cle in the AL central. They won’t keep up this pace, but they could be average enough in an average division. Ausmus’ seat temp has been reduced from scalding to boiling, maybe even just hot at this point in time.

Matt Boyd gets his first start of the season this afternoon. He’s been tearing it up a Toledo this year – In eight starts he’s 1-3 with a 2.06 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

A’s pitcher Jesse Hahn has been very good against the Tigers in the past: 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA over 16 innings in two previous starts.

Castellanos’ defense looks to be so much better. Or he’s at least on the ground a ton more. Unfortunately, the stats don’t say so. He’s last among qualifying AL 3B in Fangraphs’ UZR and overall defensive rating. Sigh. I really wasn’t expecting that.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B

2. J.D. Martinez, RF

3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

4. Victor Martinez, DH

5. Nick Castellanos, 3B

6. Justin Upton, LF

7. Cameron Maybin, CF

8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C

9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Tigers find themselves only 3 games out of first in the crowded AL Central. Should be a fun weekend. Who’s staying up late?

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. 2B Ian Kinsler

2. RF J.D. Martinez

3. 1B Miguel Cabrera

4. DH Victor Martinez

5. 3B Nick Castellanos

6. LF Justin Upton

7. CF Cameron Maybin

8. C James McCann

9. SS Jose Iglesias

Maybin and Cabrera are still putting on a show, Justin Verlander was in vintage form, and the Tigers have their brooms out for the Phillies.

Since it is the day game after a night games, this will be a short one. Unless I can get Romine to give me a breather.

Today’s lineup:

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

Kinsler still out with flu-like symptoms.

It’s interleague time, the good kind this time. Most National League teams don’t carry a DH type of guy; they have an extra Romine type of guy. So when it comes time to pencil in a DH, there is usually some .230 hitter batting 7th, which gives the home team an advantage. OK, theirs is long-in-the-tooth Ryan Howard, who does have some power, but is batting all of .161. The Phillies on the whole have been having trouble using those wood things you swing at the baseballs: their team OPS is a ridiculously low .651. In other words, they are team Anthony Gose. Their starting pitching though has been another story, and they have been managing to win without scoring much.

Tonight seems like it might be the night. Everything’s all right. Mike Pelfrey might get that W, that has eluded him for so long. Cabrera is fine and in the lineup; Upton is a late scratch, but…Moya.

Today’s Lineup:

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

A few notes about the Second Inning (games 19-36):

– The Tigers went 6-12, marred by losing 11/12 at one point in time (I think we all remember that).

– The Hitters posted a slash line of .248/.314/.397 for an OPS of .711.

– The Pitchers posted an ERA of 5.25 with 121 Ks and 54 walks in 154 1/3 innings.

– Cabrera’s line during that period: .309/.390/.441 with an OPS of .831 and 5/21 hits were XBH.

– Here is the bullpens’ ERA & WHIP (most of the guys) during that time. ERA is dependent on a number of factors that the pitcher doesn’t control (like RBIs offensively) and FIP is a better measure (can’t get that easily), but with these gaudy figures, it really doesn’t matter. Numbers in parenthesis are their career WHIPs.

• Kyle Ryan: 3.00/1.50 (1.35)
• Drew Verhagen: 5.87/1.67 (1.44)
• Justin Wilson: 9.45/1.80 (1.21)
• Mark Lowe: 15.19/1.88 (1.40) – what’s incredible about Lowe is that of the 7 hits he gave up, 4 of them were HRs.
• Alex Wilson: 7.04/1.56 (1.15)
• Francisco Rodriguez: 1.69/1.31 (1.14)

So you had this amazing phenomenon where, based on WHIP (and likely several other key metrics) EVERY pitcher pitched worse, and mostly significantly worse, than his career average. Heck, you may be hard pressed to find a stretch that bad for Wilson, Wilson, and Lowe. All at a time when the offense was really bad too (the team OPS for the season is .751).

You could interpret this in two ways – 1) Ausmus lost the clubhouse. The team got into a funk and Ausmus couldn’t motivate anyone to get out of it. Or 2) the team played about as poorly in every facet of the game possible.  As far as starters go – Zimmerman and Verlander were solid in the second inning Sanchez, Fulmer, and Pelfrey had ERAs of 5.11/6.00/7.29 during that stretch.

With just slightly better bullpen pitching the Tigers win 2-3 more games during that stretch, and if the bullpen pitches like history says it should, we are probably closer to .500 for the Second Inning and are a few games over .500 right now.

Anyway, Zimmermann gets the rock to try and lead the Tigers to a series win today. Baseball Reference game preview here.

2B Ian Kinsler

RF J.D. Martinez

1B Miguel Cabrera

DH Victor Martinez

3B Nick Castellanos

LF Steven Moya

CF Cameron Maybin

C Jarrod Saltalamachhia

SS Andrew Romine

Smyly on the mound for the Rays this afternoon.

Fulmer brings his winning record and staff pacing 6.52 ERA to the hill.

Should be interesting. I’m lining up my lawn mowing/Skoal time with opening pitch. This hasn’t worked that well for me yet this year.

Baseball Reference game preview here.

Today’s lineup (career numbers vs. Drew Smyly):

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B (4-for-10, HR, walk, K)
2. J.D. Martinez, RF (0-for-3, 2 K’s)
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B (0-for-3)
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B (1-for-3, double, K)
6. Justin Upton, LF
7. Cameron Maybin, CF
8. James McCann, C (2-for-2, HR)
9. Jose Iglesias, SS (0-for-3, K)

TB in for a three game set. Sanchez starts tonight. Assuming the kids cooperate, I’m going to take a look at the 2nd inning tomorrow.

Baseball-Reference game preview here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B

2. J.D. Martinez, RF

3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

4. Victor Martinez, DH

5. Nick Castellanos, 3B

6. Justin Upton, LF

7. Cameron Maybin, CF

8. James McCann, C

9. Jose Iglesias, SS

You can’t tell anything about a baseball team until 40 games have been played.

-Sparky Anderson

Well, after today’s game it looks like we will be able to tell a thing or two about the 2016 Tigers.

Last night was the first time in a while that all parts of the game seemed to be clicking at that same time: the Tigers were hitting, fielding, running the bases; the bullpen did its job, and Mike Pelfrey finally picked up that elusive first W. Just kidding! Kyle Ryan got the W in relief, and Pelfrey’s last win is still August 12th, 2015.

Hit of the game has to be the Iglesias hit in the 7th. With the game tied, one out, and runners on the corners, James McCann whiffed, leaving two outs. Maybin steals second (that’s legal?) and Iglesias brings them both hone with a clutch single. The wheels fell off for the Twins after that, but I think if the Tigers had left that inning with a 2-2 ties, the game would have finished very differently.

Brad Ausmus is back today, looking to broom the lowly Twins out of town.

Today’s Lineup:

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

With the series ending with the day game after the night game, I thought we might see some lineup foolery (Aviles, anyone?), but other than giving McCann a much-needed rest, Brad’s giving us the full-strength regular mix.

Update: the original lineup that was released had Martinez at DH; now it’s Moya.

Well, that was certainly more exciting than I thought it was going to be last night. It looked like the Twins were cooked when Kinsler took the first pitch of the game deep and led off an 8-run first inning, especially with Zimmerman on the mound. But…Tigers.

Brad got a little excited also, and went all Earl Weaver out there. He said 7 or 8 players were upset about the strike zone, and he was speaking for them.

Tonight is the Pelfrey game of the series. The last time Pelfrey won a start Brad Ausmus was in grade school or something. He is the current whipping boy du jour (aside from Brad of course), but he really did pitch well enough to win last time out.

Today’s Lineup:

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

Maybin got off to a great start. Of course Gose did last season too. How about Moya as a late inning PH for McCann? There are worse things than having a lefty with power on the bench.

The Tigers may have gotten lucky on a checked swing call, but for a change they jumped on their break, putting the next two pitches over the fence, leaving the Orioles rather bitter about the whole thing.

The ongoing saga of the recovery of Cameron Maybin has finally ended with Maybin landing in tonight’s lineup. To make room for Maybin the Tigers have shipped out Anthony Gose. This seems like the right move: Gose has been contributing very little, even, frustratingly, on the base paths, while Moya’s bat has added some spark to the lineup, enough to make up for a bit of shakiness with the glove. Because it seems like the right move, I was mildly surprised. I was also ready to give the Upton/Moyà combo another spin, but apparently it is an unwritten rule or something that a guy has to start his first day back.

Good news for the home stand: the Tigers get the 10-26 Twins. More good news: the rotation has come back around to Zimmerman’s spot.

Today’s Lineup:

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

Drafting this on Saturday b/c I’m out of town on Sunday.

Fill in the blanks.

The Tigers lost in ______________ (spectacular, heartbreaking, the usual) fashion yesterday, falling a third straight time to the O’s, and for the 11th time in 12 games. That’s right, the Tigers have one win in May. While many will point to _______________ (a lack of hitting, Anibal Sanchez, the bullpen, Justin Upton, all four) for the loss, the reality is that Ausmus has lost this clubhouse, and the team is playing with about as much effort as my employees demonstrate after Friday taco lunch.

I still don’t understand why Ausmus ________________ (left in _______ so long, didn’t pinch hit for ____________, didn’t think about _____________ in ____________ situation).His managerial playbook is as confusing to me as are adult coloring books, and I wonder if his bench coaches are all mutes or dumb.

I will note that I’ve been turning on 1130 AM in the mornings via iHeartRadio. Matt Shepard let’s his callers go on forever (though that seems to be typical in a 1 host format), but there is a lot of Tigers commiserating going on. It’s good to not be alone.