Detroit Tigers: 73-51, 1st Place (5.5 ahead of Cleveland). Best record in the AL.

Well, apparently I managed to jinx Omar Infante, Rick Porcello, and Miguel Cabrera, all in the same post yesterday.

Of course, nobody wins them all. And sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other guy. No, really, all joking aside, this from Jim Leyland in the post game interview: “I’ve got to tip my hat to Pelfrey.” Yes, he really, actually, said that.

OK, as much as we joke about the hat-tipping here, sometimes lack of hitting is really great pitching, and vice-versa. But Mike Pelfrey? Not buying it.

****

Catching is hard. As in difficult, and as in hard on the body. Avila took batting practice again today, but is still not ready to play. The Twins put Joe Mauer on the new special 7-game concussion DL, so we won’t see him in this series. For Detroit, Pena is day-to-day with a bad toe (he has been a real spark lately), and Victor Martinez–yes, that Victor Martinez–has been putting in work behind the plate.  “I’m contemplating catching him a game in New York, and I’ll leave it at that,” Leyland said.

*****

As you all probably know by now, Phil Coke has been optioned to Toledo, and Jose Alvarez has been called up to take his place. Which is intriguing. Is he now the lefty bullpen specialist, instead of the 5th-6th starter guy? Not to worry about Phil Coke though: he could still be eligible for the postseason.

*****

Speaking of relievers, imagine this situation: tie game, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, bases loaded, and you need to bring someone in from the bullpen…hmmm, who do you go to? The Red Sox decided Brayan Villarreal, and every Tiger fan yelled Noooooooo!!!! Walked in the winning run. This is not to say that Zorro won’t turn out to be a key bullpen arm, but right then and there…um, no.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Victor Martinez. Martinez has a career 0-fer against Correia, but he has been hot (.358 in 2nd half), and has been strapping it on. I’m going against the splits today.

Today’s Celebrate Holaday Lineup

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Dirks LF
7. Infante, 2B
8. Iglesias, SS
9. Holaday, C

Detroit Tigers: 73-51, 1st Place (6.5 ahead of Cleveland). Best record in the AL.

Taking 3-of-5 from Kansas City was nice (sorry, Cleveland, but KC seems the the bigger threat right now), but after being swept in both games of the double-header–and held to 1 run and 6 hits–it was very nice indeed. All the better that the two series ending wins were driven off the bat of Miguel Cabrera, in back-to-back pitches ending Saturday’s game and beginning Sunday’s.

How good is Cabrera anyway? Lee Panas suggests the talk of the possible Triple Crown actually undersells how good a season he is having–whether he wins or not, his season is better than most Triple Crown seasons have been. Jason Beck points out that if his season ended today that he would have an historic season under his belt. Only 16 other people in baseball history have had a season batting .360 with 40+ home runs and 120+ RBI, and Babe Ruth is 6 of them. If he continues on the pace he is at, he would finish over .360 with 50 HR and 150 RBI, which has only been done twice, by Babe Ruth in 1921 and Jimmy Fox in 1932.

Is there any chance he could continue at this pace? Oh, he is just warming up. Here are Cabrera’s month-by-month OPS numbers:

• .995 Mar/Apr
• 1.222 May
• 1.196 June
• 1.028 July
• 1.265 August

Fasten your seat belts.

*****

This is not to say that everything is roses in Tigerland. Despite his ridiculously hot bat, Miguel Cabrera is playing hurt, with multiple injuries. His inability to move in the field and inability to run the bases (congratulations Victor, you are now no longer the slowest guy on the team) have already cost the Tigers a couple of runs (we’ll take it). I predict he will get some rest after September call-ups.

Alex Avila’s health is also a concern. The good news is, that Avila has been cleared for workouts, and will take BP and run drills today.

*****

Detroit looks to keep rolling with 3 against the Minnesota Twins, before going on a weird 3-game road trip against the Mets, and then back home. Tonight features Mr. 2nd Half Rick Porcello (5-0, 2.84 since the break), who will have to solve Josh Willingham (.438 lifetime against Porcello).

And a tip of the cap across the diamond to Mr. Joe Mauer. Miguel Cabrera isn’t the only one playing today who is compiling a pretty darn good career. Mauer is still doing it, and doing it on a team that that is OK on its good days, depressing on others. The Twins were awful in July (9-17), during which time Mauer merely hit .360. He just doesn’t give away at bats. After 10 years as a career .323 hitter, he is hitting .324 this season, mostly at catcher, on a team eliminated from contention roughly in May. [Tip].

[Update: Mauer scratched with dizziness in BP–he has been taking a lot of foul tips lately, like Alex has. Let’s hope they are both OK].

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Omar Infante. Omar returns to the lineup with a 15-for-34 lifetime vs. Pelfrey in his back pocket.

Today’s Infantastic Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Dirks LF
7. Infante, 2B
8. Pena, C
9. Iglesias, SS

Omar Infante is back after a day off with back stiffness. I am liking how the Infante-Pena-Iglesias bottom of the order is coming together.

72-51, 1st place, 6 up on Cleveland and 7.5 on KC. Ho-hum, just another day…

As you can see, Miggy pounded the ball into a misshapen lump and shot it right out of the screen.

OH! How sweet it is. A game like last night’s 6-5 win over the Royals is one of those up and down, back and forth affairs where you’re telling yourself near the end, “Well, no matter what, it was a good game,” knowing full well that if the Tigers lose, what you’ll really feel is what Kevin has expressed so well: “I hate baseball.” Well, we LOVE baseball now, don’t we? The Tigers had to pull this one out, to avenge the blown call and the ejections. Just like against the Phillies. Yeah.

Before Miggy brought us into his legend yet again, it went sorta like this:

The Squeeze: Can you believe it? Leyland called it, Iglesias and Infante executed perfectly, and you would not be mistaken to call this play every bit the game winner Cabrera’s home run was.

The Blown Call: Terrible call on the “WP,” aka Escobar foul ball. Unforgivably bad. But if you think the tying run scored because of it, I say you’re stretching it.

The clutch: Miggy’s double to put the Tigers up 4-3. Wasted. Prince’s shot to put the Tigers up 5-4 (view the video frame-by-frame, and his bat is still a blur). Wasted.

The narrow escapes: Fister all evening. How did he manage to go 6.1? Great curve, though, and I suppose he got nickel-and-dimed – and clown-showed – some. Veras by the skin of his teeth (and some Princely body parts), and the usual Benoit Show.

The Clown Show: The Pena throwing error. The Holaday throwing error (which the Amazing Mr. Iglesias has a share in; Holaday’s second crap throw on a SB was all on him.) Santiago’s ridiculous error which should absolutely be ruled an error. What was he looking at? Was he awake when the ball was hit? The game itself nearly bounced past him. Sheesh.

Anyway…

I was thinking about the (now) 60-23 in quality starts and the flip side of it, 12-28 in non-quality starts. And eventually came up with:

Hats off to the starter wins: 60
Decent non-QS + win: 5
Bad non-QS rescued by bats/bullpen: 7

QS wasted by bats and/or bullpen: 23
Blame the starter losses: 13
Non-QS blown by the bullpen: 8
Non-QS blown by the bats: 4
Decent non-QS blown by the bullpen: 2
Decent non-QS blown by the bats: 1

If that doesn’t blow you away, I’m guessing you would also say that Miggy is “putting up decent numbers.” Yeah. He’s batting a “solid” .358.

Wondering whether there’s anyone who gets Miguel Cabrera out took me down the following avenue. I invite you to check out the following matchups. If you’re too lazy to look up the numbers yourself, I’ll do you a favor by giving you the hint “first name = good news, second name = bad news.” I could have mixed it up just to confuse you:

Miguel Cabrera v Phil Hughes… and v David Price
Prince Fielder v Ervin Santana… and v Kevin Correia
Victor Martinez v David Price… and v C.J. Wilson (and Doug Fister, for laughs)
Torii Hunter v Jon Lester… and v Clay Buchholz
Austin Jackson v Luke Hochevar… and v Chris Sale
Omar Infante v Mike Pelfrey… and v Mark Beuhrle
Alex Avila v Jeremy Guthrie… and v Corey Kluber
Brayan Pena v Derek Holland… and v Chris Sale*
Don Kelly v Justin Masterson… and v Phil Hughes
Matt Tuiasosopo v Gio Gonzalez… and v John Danks
Ramon Santiago v Bartolo Colon… and v Felix Hernandez
Andy Dirks v Jeremy Guthrie… and v Ubaldo Jimenez
Justin Verlander v Nick Swisher… and v Billy Butler
Max Scherzer v Alexei Ramirez… and v Alex Gordon
Anibal Sanchez v Josh Willingham… and v Seth Smith
Doug Fister v Asdrubal Cabrera…. and v Michael Brantley
Rick Porcello v Alexei Ramirez… and v Carlos Santana
Joaquin Benoit v Derek Jeter… and v Lance Berkman
Jose Veras v Alex Rios… and v Kevin Youkilis
Phil Coke v Denard Span/Ben Zobrist… and v Chris Davis
Al Alburquerque v Asdrubal Cabrera.. and v Alex Rios
Drew Smyly v Joe Mauer… and v Paul Konerko

*Here’s some consolation: Martinez, Hunter, and Tuiasosopo eat him alive.

I don’t know what the following means, but we like to look at numbers, so here are some more to look at. This is combined runs & the Tigers record in corresponding games:

< 5: 12-14

6 – 11: 41-26

12 +: 19-11

I guess it might be a bit of a surprise that Detroit is so close to .500 in the < 5 category.

And now more from the Let’s Be Appreciative department:

1. Let’s not forget that at the time of his suspension, Jhonny Peralta was arguably the best all-around SS in the American League. His contribution to the success of the team was not small. I doubt that PEDs had anything to do with it. Plus, he kind of brought us Jose Iglesias. Could be a retroactive MVP thing happening here.

2. Last night’s game notwithstanding, the Tigers have become a pretty good defensive team while we weren’t looking. With the addition of Iglesias, I’d say more than a shade above average. The only liabilities that come to mind are 3B Cabrera (and this is moderated by his ability to confuse you with great plays), IF Santiago (not be confused with a late-inning defensive replacement at ANY position any longer, I’m afraid), and maybe the catchers, slightly. OK, some of the pitchers are pretty scary (in the wrong way) as defenders. OK, so maybe the Tigers are merely average defensively. That’s still an improvement. It’s trending upward.

3. As Coleman pointed out, AlburCokey(TM) appeared in two consecutive games on the same day without a) increasing its ERA, b) blowing a lead or a tie, or c) frightening us badly. I’m not sure what to make of it, but this has to be called good news, even in a losing cause.

Looking ahead (never too early to speculate), it goes without saying that some 2013 Tigers won’t be 2014 Tigers. The following ordered list of “top prospects” isn’t a wish list, but an educated guess list. Some of it’s pretty obvious:

1. Octavio Dotel
2. Jhonny Peralta
3. Ramon Santiago
4. Matt Tuiasosopo
5. Phil Coke
6. Al Alburquerque
7. Doug Fister
8. Joaquin Benoit
9. Alex Avila

In an earlier draft I made the flip comment that Dotel and Avila would be retiring. The notion of Avila retiring is pretty bizarre speculation. But hasn’t he struck you all season as a guy who doesn’t want to be there? I mean, seriously. And he would seem to have an off-the-field career in baseball ahead of him, yes? Maybe it’s not so bizarre to speculate that we would take a few years off from the grind for family reasons before coming back to the organization in another capacity. That speculation aside, the catching situation in 2014 is ripe for all kinds of speculation.

Max Scherzer’s only non-quality start since May 21* was an 8 IP, 4 R affair against Texas that you’d have to call decent and winnable; it’s where he took his only loss of the season. In Detroit, sadly enough. He’s faced the Royals twice, first time at home not so good (but a win), next time in KC an outstanding effort (and win). Is there anyone else we’d rather have on the mound today looking for the series win? I’m thinking that the bats have awakened now – nap time was Friday. Nap time is over.

*By my calculations, that is about 3 months ago.

Go Max. Go Miggy. Go Tigers. I don’t like Matt Tuiasosopo. Never did, never will. His flash in the pan time has come to an end. I hope he’s not even in the lineup today. Bruce Chen is going to hang 3/4 of a golden sombero on him if he is, and he’ll probably commit 7 errors in LF and get thrown out at home twice (despite never reaching base)…

71-51, 1st place, still way ahead of Cleveland and Kansas City, whoever they think they are.

I’ve just returned from the past, but I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know about the Tigers losing two in one day to the Royals. 2-1, 3-0. Yup. Royals-Tigers scores there, fer shur. The results were disappointing, but were the games bad? No, not really.

I don’t know whether to blame mlb.com or Ned Yost, but I was told that the first game starter for the Royals was going to be Big Game James. This appears to have confused the Tigers as well, a problem they solved by deciding to hit neither pitcher.

We complain a lot around here. It’s only natural. We want nothing but hits and runs from Tigers hitters, and nothing but outs from Tigers pitchers. We want nothing but wins from the team. If the Tigers were to finish 161-1 some season, that one loss would haunt us for years. It also seems like the negative lends itself to more description and analysis (and more humor). But this season has been a good one that only seems to be getting better, so I’m going to try to focus more on the positive. Once in a while.

It’s easy to be positive about the Tigers starters. Some look askance at the notion of “quality start,” but to my mind, going 6 innings or more while allowing 3 runs or less is about as big a contribution to a winning effort as any individual player is capable of, even though more dramatic events, especially late in a game, might draw more attention. Only 6 pitchers have started for the Tigers this season – that’s quite an accomplishment in its own right, and testimony to the health and consistency of the staff. Here’s how they have fared as far as quality starts go:

Sanchez: 15 QS in 21 starts, streaks of 7 and (currently) 6 in a row
Verlander: 16 QS in 26 starts, streak of 6 early
Fister: 17 QS in 24 starts
Scherzer: 20 QS in 24 starts, streak of 10
Porcello: 14 QS in 22 starts, streak of 6
Alvarez: 1 QS in 5 starts

Further good news is the team record (59-23) in these quality starts:

Sanchez: 11-4
Verlander: 10-6
Fister: 11-6
Scherzer: 16-3
Porcello: 10-4
Alvarez: 1-0

Drew Smyly is the most underrated good news of the season. Prior to the season, most of us had our money on either Porcello being traded or Smyly to Toledo. That Smyly would be so good out the bullpen… well, no, that’s not it. He worked out of the pen in 2012, too. The surprise is that he’s this good, and that it’s been that way all year.

Losing Jhonny Peralta to a suspension was a thing of dread, and being without Omar Infante for a month was an unexpected blow, and having these circumstances overlap could have been a disaster. And yet from it all emerges SS Of The Future Jose Iglesias and Utility Infielder Of The Middle Distance Hernan(do) Perez, just when we thought the pickings were slim and the cupboard was bare. Talk about a silver lining.

Matt Tuiasosopo is perhaps the biggest (positive) surprise. Even though I liked him right away and was delighted when he made the team, even I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I mean, look at his career numbers prior to this season. There is nothing there to indicate that he was anything. You had to see him to suspect it. You have to watch him now, perhaps, to continue to believe. He’s good. He’s an asset.

Look at Rick Porcello. He’s quietly having a career year, and is both still young and a veteran. Porcello, I would wager, is no longer the guy who falls off the edge of the table when Smyly is slid onto it. Uh-uh. Have you found yourself feeling something resembling confidence when Porcello is slated to start? I have.

Take another look at Justin Verlander. Look over his game logs and such. You know what? He’s still Justin Verlander. This is good.

Victor Martinez is the bad news that became good news. His roaring comeback is such that I find it hard to remember what it was like earlier in the season. I never doubted him, of course.

Torii Hunter, for all the occasional overstating and overrating, and some at bats and plays that make you go “huh?,” lights a fire under this team. It has helped a good deal how he’s gone from setting the table to clearing it.

Don Kelly. On balance, not a bad idea keeping him around, eh? How I wanted Berry and Worth over Kelly and Santiago. But Don Kelly has earned his keep.

And then there’s Miguel Cabrera, having an insanely productive year of insane consistency. What’s a slump for Miggy this season – 1 for 8 with only 1 HR? Every day we watch an all-time great playing at a high level, and while it’s fun, it’s just an everyday thing, isn’t it? You get used to it. For Most Valuable Player, defined carefully and reasonably, there is no competitor and no contest. And statistically, he’s having a Triple Crown season whether he literally acheives that or not. Winning a Triple Crown is usually if not always a matter of seasonal accident in one of the three categories. As of Game 121, the full season pace Cabrera was setting is this (without penalty for games missed): .359, 54 HR, 166 RBI. That’s not even modern. That’s black-and-white photo, herky-jerky newsreel stuff.

You know, one thing Miggy has over a number of contemporary and near-contemporary greats is his personality and showmanship. Did you see, not too long ago, when he tripped over third base and, after getting up, tipped his helmet to the fans? The kicker was that he didn’t grin and ham it up. He was annoyed with himself and embarrassed, you could tell. And he still made a joke of it. He knew it (the stumble) was funny, he knew people watching thought it was funny. There was nothing to add to it except an irritated but obliging tip o’ the cap. Which made all of it even funnier. Perfect touch. Prince Fielder was dying in the dugout.

What’s your 2013 Tigers good news? I know there’s more.

All right. Still time to take this series. Go Doug. Go Miggy. Go Iggy. Is he just on loan from the Red Sox or what? I’m having a difficult time associating the plays Iglesias is making at SS with the uniform he’s wearing. Is this for real? Do the Tigers get to keep him?

Go Tigers.

Look away. You may not read this or comment here until Game 121 is completed.

OK, it’s time for game two of the doubleheader. I’ve just returned from the future, but I promised not to give anything away about Verlander owning the Royals, or whether Fielder tied or broke the all-time record for home runs in a doubleheader.

Jose Alvarez turns out to be the TBA for the second game. I was highly annoyed when TBA was all I found yesterday at mlb.com, though I had a hunch it would be Alvarez. I was sorely vexed as to why it was necessary to substitute here, particularly as I had relished the prospect of getting all five regular starters in a single series. But seeing Jose pitch again is nothing to complain about, I guess. He’s been pitching up a storm in Toledo.

Some interesting matters brought up in the comments sections have caught my eye recently: Avila v. Pena. Tigers performance in extra-inning games. The left field situation.

There was the matter of team W-L for Avila and Pena games. In Avila starts, the Tigers are 49-24. In Pena starts, the Tigers are 20-22. More info:

Complete extra-innings games caught: Avila 3. Pena 12.

Games catching Scherzer and Sanchez: Avila 31. Pena 15.

CS% with Fister on the mound: Avila 20% of 5. Pena 50% of 6.

Only Porcello pitches appreciably worse with Pena catching.

Batting in losses: Avila, 24 G, 171/267/197/465, 0 HR, 2 RBI. Pena, 27 G (22 as starter), 362/384/500/884, 3 HR, 11 RBI.

One big reason the Tigers are 5-11 in extras is that a man on first base for the opponent constitutes a threat, every time. Not so when the Tigers are up. Does a Tiger reaching first in extras fill you with confidence that a run will score? I didn’t think so. The Tigers are a laughingstock on the bases and intimidate no one. Another reason is that Tigers home run power resides largely in the person of Miguel Cabrera. Yes, a lot of other Tigers can hit home runs, but no one but Cabrera is a home run waiting to happen. A number of teams have several such guys, and it comes in handy in extras. Yet another reason is that the bullpen chokes, even in the best of times. Tigers pen is 11-19. That’s 38.7% of team losses. They were 8-16 at one point, though. It must be getting better. Also, when you reach 5-11 in extras, doesn’t the law of averages start to side with you? Let’s hope so. I wonder if averages have lawyers.

Looking back over the Leyland Years, there have been more losing records in one-runs and extras than not, but enough exceptions to make you question blaming that on Leyland or the way the team is constructed. That’s baseball, as someone might say. Still, the blunders and failures to make things happen on the bases are glaringly apparent this season. (Maybe that’s just because this season is the one happening NOW, though. Whereas past seasons seem to have happened, you know, like, in the past.) Things like that can send a game to extra innings and rob you of any confidence once you get there.

Wasn’t I just saying that the Detroit Tigers are the best team in baseball? They must be, to be 71-49 in the face of all that. I mean 72-49, of course.

Is there a problem in LF?

Dirks 83 G, 252/310/355/665 6 HR, 24 RBI
Tuiasosopo 43 G, 279/394/486/880 6 HR, 22 RBI
Kelly 24 G, 326/356/535/890 2 HR, 7 RBI

Add that all up, you get “a guy” with a line close to this: 119 G, 275/350/400/750 14 HR, 53 RBI. Pretty respectable numbers. Add in the defense, and…

I don’t think there’s a problem in LF.

Go Jose. Go Miggy. Go Tigers. We get another chance to evaluate Alvarez and speculate on his future with the Tigers. A Smylyesque bullpen apprenticeship in 2014 before joining the rotation in 2015, perhaps?

71-49, 1st place, 2nd place team too distant to be reliably identified.

Imagine how much better the best team in baseball could be if they weren’t also the worst baserunning team in the history of the game. This has something to do with how a hittable Jeremy Guthrie wasn’t rocked out of the game like he should have been.

Otherwise, the 4-1 win last night was all good. Anibal Sanchez recovered from a 30-pitch first with a had his whole arsenal working, the art of pitching sorta thing. Andy Dirks found his stroke – did you see it? The results were almost incidental. If he can hold on to that, Tui and Donkey are going to fade ever so slightly from the scene… Not only did Prince Fielder hit his first home run since about 1986, but did you see the bat speed? Flashback… Jose Iglesias at SS. Enough said.

Whatever happened to the regularly scheduled doubleheader? They even used to have different kinds of doubleheaders. It made those pocket schedules so much more complicated and visually appealing. Bring back the doubleheader. The baseball season is in need of some Crisco.* Mandatory doubleheaders every Saturday and Sunday. Get rid of the All-Star break. You could fit a 162-game season from April 15 to August 31 with more off days. Make all the playoff series best-of-seven (no days off) and play the World Series the first week of October. That’s what I say. Today.

*Because it’s shortening, of course.

In the spirit of the doubleheader…

Splitting the season to date in halves (by player games as of #117 rather than the calendar):

Al-Al 17G 16IP 27K 16BB 2.76ERA 13/46%IR/IS .226BA .682OPS .517WPA -0.88RE24
Al-Al 18G 16IP 20K 11BB 8.27ERA 6/33%IR/IS .299BA .860OPS -.682WPA -4.79RE24

J. Benoit 23G 25IP 31K 8BB 2.16ERA 5/0%IR/IS .216BA .611OPS 1.560WPA 8.12RE24
J. Benoit 24G 23IP 26K 5BB 1.17ERA 10/30%IR/IS .218BA ,545OPS 1.535WPA 7.91RE24

Phil Coke 19G 19IP 18K 6BB 5.49ERA 12/33%IR/IS .265BA .694OPS -.917WPA -0.69RE24
Phil Coke 20G 15IP 11K 9BB 4.80ERA 5/20%IR/IS .283BA .838OPS -.768WPA -3.86RE24

Doug Fister 12G 77IP 66K 12BB 3.27ERA ,267BA .652OPS -.120WPA 4.21RE24
Doug Fister 12G 78IP 49K 17BB 3.92ERA .268BA .714OPS .781WPA 4.13RE24

Rick Porcello 11G 57IP 47K 11BB 5.21ERA ,272BA ,729OPS .064WPA -3.46RE24
Rick Porcello 11G 68IP 47K 16BB 3.57ERA .268BA .676OPS .462WPA 7.67RE24

Bruce Rondon 9G 8IP 6K 4BB 7.04ERA 1/0%IR/IS .353BA .969OPS -.722WPA -3.39RE24
Bruce Rondon 10G 13IP 13K 3BB 2.13ERA 5/60%IR/IS .171BA .442OPS .760WPA 3.16RE24

Anibal Sanchez 10G 64IP 80K 17BB 2.38ERA .230BA .592OPS .463WPA 11.79RE24
Anibal Sanchez 10G 61IP 59K 21BB 2.79ERA .217BA .615OPS .061WPA 9.24RE24

Max Scherzer 11G 76IP 91K 18BB 3.42ERA .187BA .568OPS 1.078WPA 8.76RE24
Max Scherzer 12G 82IP 84K 17BB 2.30ERA .197BA .557OPS 1.994WPA 19.67RE24

Drew Smyly 22G 38IP 39K 11BB 2.11ERA 8/13%IR/IS .213BA .582OPS .663WPA 11.33RE24
Drew Smyly 22G 25IP 28K 3BB 1.78ERA 6/0%IR/IS .194BA .496OPS .343WPA 8.27RE24

Justin Verlander 12G 73IP 87K 24BB 3.70ERA .263BA .710OPS .143WPA 4.28RE24
Justin Verlander 13G 85IP 67K 33BB 3.47ERA .251BA .695OPS -.121WPA 4.13RE24

Brayan Pena 24G 94PA 295/323/409/732 2HR 12RBI -.624WPA -4.81RE24
Brayan Pena 25G 87PA 300/326/425/751 2HR 7RBI -.096WPA -3.25RE24

Miguel Cabrera 54G 254PA 369/445/676/1.121 17HR 65RBI 2.437WPA 36.56RE24
Miguel Cabrera 55G 236PA 363/475/710/1.184 20HR 46RBI 3.143WPA 29.87RE24

Prince Fielder 58G 264PA 288/398/516/914 12HR 48RBI 1.369WPA 21.52RE24
Prince Fielder 59G 261PA 236/307/354/661 5HR 33RBI .089WPA -3.77RE24

Omar Infante 38G 154PA 313/344/444/789 3HR 14RBI .035WPA -0.20RE24
Omar Infante 39G 159PA 298/327/437/764 3HR 13RBI -1.013WPA -2.85RE24

Ramon Santiago 24G 62PA 148/233/241/474 0HR 2RBI -.507WPA -6.88RE24
Ramon Santiago 24G 87PA 257/333/311/644 0HR 5RBI -.076WPA -1.11RE24

Andy Dirks 47G 183PA 247/308/373/681 5HR 16RBI -.966WPA -5.20RE24
Andy Dirks 47G 173PA 242/312/318/631 2HR 10RBI -1.065WPA -8.13RE24

Torii Hunter 52G 242PA 305/353/413/765 2HR 24RBI .211WPA 6.32RE24
Torii Hunter 52G 236PA 311/323/527/850 11HR 36RBI -.536WPA 4.95RE24

Austin Jackson 43G 207PA 306/374/409/782 3HR 16RBI .652WPA 8.09RE24
Austin Jackson 43G 207PA 232/302/432/735 6HR 12RBI -1.100WPA -7.90RE24

Don Kelly 40G 88PA 173/295/307/602 2HR 6RBI -.025WPA -2.99RE24
Don Kelly 41G 95PA 313/394/475/869 3HR 14RBI .713WPA 7.37RE24

Matt Tuiasosopo 28G 61PA 327/459/490/949 2HR 12RBI .145WPA 8.28RE24
Matt Tuiasosopo 28G 83PA 254/361/535/897 5HR 16RBI .491WPA 7.45RE24

Victor Martinez 58G 242PA 241/289/355/644 5HR 30RBI -.386WPA -7.29RE24
Victor Martinez 58G 252PA 323/385/460/845 5HR 36RBI 1.004WPA 7.54RE24

Alex Avila 36G 142PA 175/261/286/546 4HR 11RBI -.513WPA -12.94RE24
Alex Avila 37G 147PA 220/315/394/709 5HR 25RBI 1.101WPA 3.27RE24

Go Justin. Go Miggy. Go Tigers. This series is off to a good start. If you should suddenly lose consciousness and come to again Sunday to see Jamey Carroll pitching the bottom of the 8th for the Royals, take it as a sign that the Tigers held down the fort (Fort Detroit?) while you were away.

70-49, 1st place, 6 up on Cleveland and 7.5 on Kansas City.

The Detroit Tigers are the best team in baseball. As the sour taste from the last 6 begins to fade, consider how close to 5-1 that 2-4 was.

Having done all within their power to chase off one would-be division challenger last week, it’s time to begin the more daunting task of staring down what many feel is the more legitimate contender: The Kansas City Royals. Beginning with the next 5 games, the Tigers will face the Royals 11 times over the next 43. Thus far the Tigers and Royals have played 8 consecutive close games; by my reckoning, the game has been in hand for one side or the other for all of one half-inning back in April. That’s how close. We could be seeing the beginnings of a serious rivalry that might stretch over the next few seasons.

Detroit v. KC to date:

Royals versus Tigers:

Tim Collins 2-10 .585 OPSA, 3 K, 3 BB
Aaron Crow 2-8 .667, 2 K, 2 BB
Wade Davis 16-43 .847, 7 K, 5 BB * 0-1, 4.35 in 2 G / 10 IP
Jeremy Guthrie 16-51 .791, 1 HR, 6 K, 5 BB * 2-0, 5.11 in 2 G / 12 IP
Kelvin Herrera 3-13 .574, 4 K, 2 BB
Luke Hochevar 0-6 .000, 2 K, 0 BB
Greg Holland 1-16 .188, 6 K, 0 BB
Luis Mendoza 1-8 .739, 2 K, 3 BB
Ervin Santana 2-23 .212, 6 K, 1 BB * 1-0, 0.00 in 1 G / 7 IP
James Shields 21-76 .742, 2 HR, 16 K, 5 BB * 0-1, 3.27 in 3 G / 22 IP
Danny Duffy —
Bruce Chen —

Yes, go ahead, weep. It’s OK.

George Kottaras 0-0 1.000 OPS, RBI
Salvador Perez 8-28 .705, 6 RBI
Jamey Carroll 7-27 .667, 2 RBI
Alcides Escobar 7-31 .508, 2 RBI
Chris Getz 2-15 .369, RBI
Eric Hosmer 9-31 .698, 4 RBI
Elliot Johnson 0-4 .000
Mike Moustakas 8-28 .783, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Jarrod Dyson 1-5 .400, 2 SB
Alex Gordon 5-33 .536, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 10 K
David Lough 3-16 .610, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Justin Maxwell —
Billy Butler 10-30 .745, 0 HR, 3 RBI

That feels better, doesn’t it? A Kleenex to wipe your tears away.

Tigers versus Royals:

Al Alburquerque 1-9 .384 OPSA, 4 K, 2 BB
Joaquin Benoit 2-12 .333, 3 K, 0 BB
Jeremy Bonderman —
Phil Coke 4-11 .988, 2 K, 6 BB (OK, some were IBB)
Doug Fister 16-58, .662, 1 HR, 8 K, 1 BB * 1-1, 2.57 in 2 G / 14 IP
Rick Porcello —
Bruce Rondon 3-12, .619, 2 K, 1 BB
Anibal Sanchez 5-26 .575, 6 K, 6 BB * 0-1, 1.50 in 1 G / 6 IP
Max Scherzer 11-45 .669, 1 HR, 12 K, 5 BB * 2-0, 5.25 in 2 G / 12 IP
Drew Smyly 3-12 .500, 3 K, 0 BB
Jose Veras 0-6 .000, 2 K, 0 BB
Justin Verlander 19-74 .638, 1 HR, 15 K, 7 BB * 0-1, 2.75 in 3 G / 20 IP

There is nothing to Coke but Coke itself, as FDR (Fernando Delano Rodney) famously said. Unless Downs (13.50 ERA vs. KC, and you surely remember how that happened) is back for this series.

Bryan Holaday —
Brayan Pena 2-6 .750 OPS, 3 RBI
Miguel Cabrera 7-27 .919, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Prince Fielder 7-30 .576, 2 RBI
Jose Iglesias —
Omar Infante 8-15 1.229, RBI
Ramon Santiago 3-11 .545, 4 K
Andy Dirks 6-20 .814, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Torii Hunter 5-33 .353, 2 RBI, 11 K
Austin Jackson 2-19 .348, 8 K
Don Kelly 2-8 .583, RBI
Matt Tuiasosopo 2-6 1.095
Victor Martinez 8-32 .586, 4 RBI
Alex Avila 3-19 .515, 2 RBI

From this it would almost appear that the matchup here is Royals vs. Royals.

Well, the die is cast with Miggy and his assortment of injuries. He’s gonna play hurt the rest of the way. Trundling doesn’t hurt (the team, that is) when you’re hitting it out of the park. It may be true that Miggy at 70% is better than most others at 100%. It’s unequivocally true that Miggy at 100% is way better than Miggy at 70%. But that’s a moot point now.

Somehow, I feel obliged to bring up the Game Poster League standings again, don’t really know why.

Smoking Loon 24-14
Coleman 24-16
Kevin in Dallas 22-19

Oh, right. That’s why.

A word of appreciation: Jason Beck is one of the better mlb.com bloggers. Lee Panas of Detroit Tiger Tales is brilliant. Samara at Roar of the Tigers is simply incredible; I’ll leave it at that before I lapse into proposing marriage. And yet… there’s no commentary on the Detroit Tigers I more look forward to reading than that of Kevin and Coleman here at DTW.

Begin the game with a friendly voice
A companion unobtrusive

If there’s anything we could do to get those two in the broadcast booth in place of Mario and Rod, I’m all for it. On the other hand, I haven’t heard their voices, so don’t hold me to this.

Go Anibal. Go Miggy. Go Tigers. Let the AL Central World Series begin.

69-49, 1st place, 6 games up.

On paper, everything looks good. Danks is 0-4 with a 9.79 ERA over his last 5 starts against the Tigers. Porcello is 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA in his last 6 starts, including 2-0, 1.74, against CWS. But you gotta play the game.

2:10 start today. Pena gets a rest, Holaday in.

Short and sweet for the W.

Today’s Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Tuiasosopo, LF
7. Infante, 2B
8. Iglesias, SS
9. Holaday, C

69-48, 1st place, 7 games up.

Baseball is a long season. There are many, many ups and downs. Rare is the season like the one the Tigers had in 2011 when they didn’t lose more the 2 games in a row all season (am I remembering right? something like that).

Anyway, we’re gonna lose a few more series from here on out, we’re gonna struggle with RISP in isolated instances, and we’re gonna have a few more losses against some bad teams like we did last night. Chris Sale was good last night, he beat us. Time to move on.

In case you missed Iglesias’ highlight reel play last night: http://www.freep.com/article/20130812/SPORTS02/308120159/detroit-tigers-jose-iglesias-video. Yes, he’s all ours. Until 2019, at least. Though he did sign with Scott Boras last week, so expect the extension talks to start soon.

Last time the Tigers saw Hector Santiago (all the way back to last week), he struck out Miguel Cabrera the first three times Miggy faced him. Santiago looked sharp through 7 and then came out for the 8th. We all thought that Santiago would be on a short leash, but after two outs, Santiago had earned the right to stay in the game even after a Torii Hunter blooper. Miguel Cabrera punished the next, and last, pitch of the evening for Santiago, and Cabrera has hit a home run in every game since that one. I’m excited to see watch this matchup tonight.

A few notes:

– MLB.tv game of the night tonight – free for you non-subscribers.

– Is it time to call up Castellanos? The LF platoon has become the latest whipping boy. Personally, I’d leave Castellanos in Toledo for the rest of the year.

Today’s Gotta Win to Take the Series Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Tuiasosopo, LF
7. Infante, 2B
8. Pena, C
9. Iglesias, SS

69-47, 1st place, 7 games up. Yes, 7.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and my 3 week old son has now witnessed his first series defeat of his young life. He was hysterical about it, btw.

But, as many said in yesterday’s thread, if there’s a good loss, this series was one of them. Two late inning rallies to tie the game off of the greatest closer of all time, and a solid drubbing in between. The runners left on was a little silly (26 total in the 2 losses), but that’s going to happen from time to time when you get on base a lot. The Tigers lead the majors with a team OBP of .347. (Since I already know the follow-up, here it is – .842 – OPS with RISP, good for 2nd in the majors; oh, and 2 outs – .788, 2nd again. So let’s table any of that talk until it’s convenient again).

You know, JV wasn’t all that bad yesterday. He pulled it together after a rough start and gave the Tigers a fighter’s chance. Which they took advantage of. Kind of. But I was very encouraged by JV’s 5th, 6th and 7th yesterday. That’s the JV of old. I think that we impart a super-hero invincibility on him, but he’s just another guy. Who makes $20M a year and dates Kate Upton. In all seriousness, I can’t help but wonder how much his struggles this year have worn on his psyche and caused him to question things that had become instinct to him. So I think there’s a lot of good that can come out of yesterday’s effort.

How about those Miggy bombs? Remember when Magglio won the batting title in 2007? I remember Jim Price mentioning on the air that he asked Magglio if the ball was “slow” during a hot hitting streak. Maggs replied “yes, and big too.” I’m certain that’s what Cabrera is seeing right now. He’s a monster among men.

So now we start a 3 game set against the White Sox which should draw several hundred south-siders over the next few nights. Here are your matchups:

Monday: Fister v. Sale

Tuesday: Scherzer v. Santiago (Hector, not Ramon)

Wednesday: Porcello v. Danks

The matchups don’t exactly lineup to what we saw last week because, well, the White Sox need rest and all that.

Lineups and more thoughts coming tomorrow.

Detroit Tigers: 69-46, 1st Place (8 ahead of Cleveland). 

Miggy is unreal.  That pitch was in his batters box and he hit a bomb. He has the cheat codes to this video game.

–Tweet from Max Scherzer.

Max is right on: ESPN had an overhead view of Cabrera’s home run, and the ball was not just inside, it actually crossed the batter’s box. How someone can even hit a pitch like that in fair territory, much less for a home run, is beyond me.

I remember at the beginning of the season that there was a lot of talk about how pitchers had to pitch Cabrera inside to have any success against him. I guess he has adjusted to that. He still seems to have trouble sometimes hitting (or laying off) the high heat; Salazar especially had success against him that way. But I would not be surprised to see him eventually start blasting homers on pitches up around his eyes.

In the past two seasons, Cabrera has hit 20 home runs on pitches outside the strike zone (Zimmerman has the next most at 11), 16 of which have come on inside pitches.

*****

Today the Tigers look to take the series from the Yankees, with Justin Verlander on the mound, trying to build on his impressive last outing and get back to being, well, Justin Verlander.

Of course there is a simple explanation for his struggles this season: he finally stopped taking steroids, says some guy named Jack Clark. Oh wait, you mean that Jack Clark? The one who feuded with teammates, managers, and fans every place he played (he couldn’t even get along with Tony Gwynn. Tony Gwynn!). Yep, that Jack Clark. Well someone thought it would be a good idea to give him a radio show, and he proceeded to tell how he knows a guy who knows a guy, and he knows Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander have been big steroid users. Oh well, it makes for good radio right? Verlander dismissed the comments as “moronic,” but Pujols called his lawyers, and the radio station decided maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, and fired Clark.

*****

.238 / .319 / .345 / .664

Those are Don Kelly’s numbers…er, wait, Ramon Santiago’s? Alex Avila’s? Nope, that is Prince Fielder’s line since the All-Star break. The .345 slugging % is especially baffling (Jose Iglesias has a SLG of .357 since the break).

But what about all of those RBIs? Fangraphs does an analysis of how many RBIs Prince Fielder would have if he were the cleanup hitter on every other team (if Fielder were on the Royals he would have 57).

*****

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Prince Fielder.  Seems every time I say something critical of him, he makes me look bad by having a big game. Which works for me.

Today’s Tuitastic Lineup:

(Alex Avila a late scratch)

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Tuiasosopo LF
7. Perez, 2B
8. Avila, C Pena, C
9. Iglesias, SS

Detroit Tigers: 68-46, 1st Place (7 ahead of Cleveland). 

Sneaking under the radar a bit: Detroit Tigers, American League’s Best Record.

Well all good things must come to an end, and the Tigers’ winning streak finally topped out at 12–but not without some excitement.  After failing to take advantage of several early inning opportunities, the Tigers went into the 9th inning down 3-1. A double by Austin Jackson set the stage for a two-out classic confrontation between Miguel Cabrera and the great Mariano Rivera, and after two quick strikes (and a foul shot off of his knee), Cabrera struck, with a massive home run to dead center.

Torii Hunter:  “they should make  movie from that at-bat.”

Unfortunately, the Tigers again failed to take advantage of runners on base in the top of the 10th, and Al Alburquerque couldn’t hold the Yankees in the 9th. Was there any doubt of the outcome once Alburquerque came into the game? Unfortunately the Tigers had already burned through Coke, Bonderman, Smyly, Rondon, and Veras, and didn’t have much choice (although Veras might have been able to handle one more inning).

*****

Cabrera has a bandaged left shin, but will be in the lineup.  Prince Fielder gets a “day off” at DH, with Victor Martinez digging out his glove and taking first. And Leyland is hoping Don Kelly will run into one in the 6th spot.

For the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez gets the day off, with Jayson Nix at 3rd.

*****

Omar Infante’s rehab assignment, finally, is progressing: last night he was 2-for-4. The Tigers are tentatively shooting for Monday for Infante’s return. They certainly could use the punch in the bottom third of the lineup.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Don Kelly.  The struggling Andy Dirks gets the day off, and the Donkey takes aim at that short RF porch.

Today’s Let’s Start a New Streak Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, DH
5. Martinez, 1B
6. Kelly, LF
7. Avila, C
8. Perez, 2B
9. Iglesias, SS