Detroit Tigers

Things that happened: Rain is following the Tigers around the Central. Miguel Cabrera is good at many things, including baseball. Frustration with Rick Porcello is once again reaching critical mass. The Red Wings lost a defenseman due to an arrow a puck to the knee, but lead the Blackhawks. Twins hatred. More Twins hatred. A general feeling of DOOOOM.

The Detroit Tigers will look to jump back into first place with a win tonight against the Minnesota Twins. Reports on Twitter state the game is likely going to be delayed. Brayan Pena will be getting his second straight start behind the dish with left-hander Scott Diamond pitching. With the way he has been hitting lately, its possible he would be getting the start even if the Twins were running a righty out there. Avisail Garcia will be starting in center-field for the Tigers tonight in the quest for his first MLB base-on-balls of 2013 Read more Avisail Garcia news

So should we still be worried about Justin Verlander? After two consecutive subpar — some might call them poor — starts, you could feel the panic level rise among Tigers fans. What was wrong with the best pitcher in baseball? Justin Verlander doesn’t walk five batters in a game. Yet that’s what he did May 11 against the Cleveland Indians. He certainly doesn’t give up eight runs in a start. Well… Verlander did just that  last Thursday (May 16) versus the Texas Rangers, throwing less than three innings in what was supposed to be a pitching duel with Yu Darvish. Maybe it’s the online contingent of Tigers fans that’s fretting the most. I’ve made the mistake in the recent past of presuming that what I read from blog comments, Twitter and Facebook indicates what the fanbase at large is feeling. (I don’t really do message boards anymore and since I no longer live in metro Detroit, sports talk radio can be easily avoided.) So I won’t make a blanket statement. I think Tigers fans are largely pretty rational. (Look at Scott Rogowski being the voice of reason.) But the vocal minority — if it is a minority — seemed to be freaking out after Detroit lost three of four games last weekend in Texas. That anxiety was focused individually on Verlander after his previous two starts, when he suddenly didn’t look as invincible as he has during the past two seasons. Has Verlander’s performance been a concern? Certainly. But he was so good in 2011 and 2012 that Tigers fans — and baseball fans, in general — expect greatness every single time he takes the mound. Given how great he’s been, maybe that’s not unreasonable. Yet it’s also not inconceivable that elite pitchers can have bad games. Starting pitchers make 33 to 34 appearances per season. They’re not all going to be stellar. Having said that, Verlander didn’t necessarily calm these fears down with his effort on Wednesday night against the Indians. He still didn’t look sharp, ultimately allowing five runs and 10 hits in five innings of work. The initial impulse might be to blame a 62-minute rain delay for Verlander going only five innings. But he’d thrown 100 pitches by that point. He wouldn’t have pitched past the sixth, unless he got by with some quick innings. However, the Tigers’ ace did rack up nine strikeouts and issued only one walk. So whatever Verlander worked on between starts in bullpen sessions appears to have helped him locate his pitches better. But back to that rain delay. Again, it was 62 minutes long. Verlander had thrown 100 pitches. The Tigers had a 9-5 lead. Once play resumed, Verlander’s night would be over, right? Yet Tigers manager Jim Leyland decided to send Verlander back out there to complete the fifth inning, breaking what he said was his personal rule in the process. The consensus among analysts seemed to be that an hour is as long as you would want a pitcher to go during a rain delay. After that, the arm is no longer warm, no matter how a pitcher tries to stay loose. The risk of injury is considerable. Leyland supposedly agrees with that philosophy. But the Tigers surely wanted to make the game official, had the umpires opted to call it short due to rain. It’s difficult to believe that making sure Verlander earned the win was any sort of consideration, but perhaps that factored in just a bit. After getting the decision and his fifth victory, Verlander is now 5-4 for the season. Maybe it’s that Leyland trusts Verlander. If Verlander said he still felt good and could pitch, Leyland would let him. Besides, the time span was close enough to the one-hour limit that it didn’t seem like a stretch. Leyland told reporters after the game that breaking his rule for Verlander was “a reward” for all of the ace’s hard work and success. But was sending his pitcher out there after an hour delay worth the risk of possible inju

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports Fantasy Baseball owners love to scour the Detroit Tigers box scores for free agents, because they have some of the best power hitters in the game and thus some of the best lineup security. However, if there is one stick to avoid in the coming weeks it is OF Andy Dirks. Since returning from a knee injury, Dirks has been one of the hottest hitters on the waiver wire. In 21 games, Dirks has impressively put five balls into the seats and knocked in 11 runs. However, he is still only hitting .258 and has been an extremely hit-or-miss fantasy option. He has also hit just three doubles this season. There are not many players in the MLB with more home runs than doubles, but Dirks is currently one of those guys. The most alarming thing about the recent power surge from Dirks is that we have never really had a large enough sample to gauge his big league power. In 2011 he bashed seven home runs in just 78 games. He followed it up by hitting eight homers in 88 games in 2012, so we have no idea what to expect from him moving forward. Additionally, he may have already had his power surge for the season. If that is the case, than you would just be wasting a free agent selection, and a roster spot for a couple weeks on a player that is likely to go 0-4 several times a week. To make matters worse, Dirks is a lefty. Managers love to sit down left-handed bats against southpaws, so Dirks will occasionally be on the bench. In weekly leagues, fantasy owners need all the starts they can get from their sticks, so a player not getting everyday at-bats can kill a fantasy week. Don’t get me wrong, Dirks has power and can hit home runs. However, at 27 years old, I think we have seen what he can do. It is only a matter of time until he is back in the minors, or even worse on the DL, so let someone else take a shot on this unproven power hitter. Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.

It’s the standard anti-lefty lineup for the Tigers, which means a second consecutive night off for Alex Avila. Brayan Pena actually has fared worse against Scott Diamond (0-for-5 with three strikeouts) than Avila (1-for-3, two strikeouts) has, but it’s a very small sample size. Interesting that a fair number of Detroit’s right-handed hitters haven’t hit Diamond well at all. One guy who has fared well is Miguel Cabrera, 8-for-16 against him. If he homers tonight, he’ll tie his career-best streak of four consecutive games with a home run, set back in 2004 with the Marlins. If you’re playing Beat the Streak, it’s tough not to pick him between the matchups and the way he’s going. You can follow the game online via Gameday, watch online through MLB.TV or listen on MLB.com Gameday Audio. Locally, you can watch on Fox Sports Detroit and listen on 97.1 FM AM 1270. As for the weather forecast … well, considering how off it was last night, let’s just not even get into it. TIGERS Omar Infante, 2B (2-for-7, HR off Scott Diamond) Torii Hunter, RF (1-for-6, 2 K’s off Diamond) Miguel Cabrera, 3B (8-for-16, HR, 2 K’s off Diamond) Prince Fielder, 1B (1-for-11, walk, 4 K’s off Diamond) Victor Martinez, DH (1-for-8 off Diamond) Jhonny Peralta, SS (3-for-15, 2 walks, K off Diamond) Matt Tuiasosopo, LF (0-for-2 off Diamond) Brayan Pena, C (0-for-5, 3 K’s off Diamond) Avisail Garcia, CF (1-for-5, walk, K off Diamond) P: Rick Porcello TWINS Jamey Carroll, 3B (7-for-19, walk against Rick Porcello) Joe Mauer, C (7-for-27, 3 walks, 2 K’s against Porcello) Josh Willingham, LF (6-for-10, HR, 4 walks, K against Porcello) Justin Morneau, DH (6-for-26, HR, 2 walks, 3 K’s against Porcello) Ryan Doumit, RF (4-for-10, walk, K against Porcello) Chris Parmelee, 1B (0-for-2, K against Porcello) Brian Dozier, 2B (3-for-5, HR against Porcello) Aaron Hicks, CF (0-for-3 against Porcello) Pedro Florimon Jr., SS (0-for-2 against Porcello) P: Scott Diamond

Tiger killer Scott Diamond takes the mound for the Minnesota Twins tonight as the Twins and Tigers begin a four game series at Comerica Park. Minnesota Twins (18-25) at Detroit Tigers (25-19) Time/Place: 7:08 p.m., Comerica Park SB Nation blog: Twinkie Town Media: Fox Sports Detroit, MLB Network*, MLB.TV (Free Game of the Day), Tigers Radio Network *It looks like this will only be on MLB Network for those in the Cleveland or Boston markets, but honestly it's anyone's guess Pitching Matchup: LHP Scott Diamond (3-4, 4.99 ERA) vs. RHP Rick Porcello (2-2, 5.92 ERA) I was in a great mood this morning until I realized that the Tigers would be facing Diamond this evening. Diamond is becoming a Tiger killer before our very eyes, allowing a 2.72 ERA in six career starts against Detroit. He followed up back-to-back quality starts in September of 2012 with a solid outing on May 1st, allowing two runs on just four hits in six innings. He doesn't own the Tigers as badly as he has dominated the Cleveland Indians -- 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA in five starts -- but his 59 tOPS+ against the Tigers would put him squarely atop this list with a few more innings under his belt. Given the numbers he has put up against just about everyone else, I have concluded that Diamond is a robot constructed by the Twins to conquer the rest of the league. However, in true Twins fashion, they have only figured out how to beat teams in the AL Central. Against other teams, Diamond has shown that he is, in fact, mortal. In his last two starts, he has allowed a combined 12 runs on 17 hits in 10 innings. Four of those hits were home runs, three of which came courtesy of the dinger-happy Baltimore Orioles. His normally excellent command also went array, as he allowed three walks in each start. For reference, he only allowed three walks in a start twice in all of 2012. His strikeout rate has never been anything to write home about -- he embodies the Twins' pitch-to-contact philosophy as well as anyone since Scott Baker -- but he only has six strikeouts in his four May starts. Is this the real Rick Porcello? After his horrid outing in Los Angeles, Porcello has pitched 25 innings in four outings. He has allowed nine runs for a 3.24 ERA and has 24 strikeouts to just five walks. He was the only Tigers starter to slow down the Texas Rangers' offense, holding them to a run in 5 2/3 innings. He has a 0.96 WHIP, which may be related to his .254 BABIP during this same span. Overall, Porcello's FIP and xFIP are once again outperforming his ERA. He has been particularly homer prone this season, resulting in an xFIP of 3.42. However, if we take his L.A. start out of the equation, Porcello would have a 3.86 ERA and 1.07 WHIP on the season. I'm not ready to proclaim that 2013 is his breakout season just yet, but he's definitely making his case as of late. Since we last met... The Twins are 6-13 since they left Detroit at the beginning of the month, but that doesn't tell the whole story. They started off 6-5, inexplicably winning three of four games in Boston. They were 18-17 at the time. Over the last nine days, the wheels have come off, and the Twins have lost eight straight, including three to those same Red Sox in Minnesota. Vance Worley, the only Twins starter not originally scheduled to pitch in this series, was sent down to Triple-A yesterday after his loss to the Atlanta Braves. Outlook Sweeping a series in Cleveland is always satisfying, but winning this series against the Twins is important with the rough stretch following this weekend. The Tigers play the Pittsburgh Pirates -- who have the third-best record in baseball at the moment -- the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, and the same Indians that they just swept in the following two weeks. Tonight, they need to take advantage of any mistakes by Diamond, especially since he seems to be making more than usual as of late. Prediction Porcello pitches well, but Diamond pitches better. Twins win a low-scoring game.

The season always feels a little better after a sweep. Even if it's only a two game series, getting out of a city without a loss always puts a hitch in your giddy-up. Doing it against a division opponent, especially one that's had your number lately, is fantastic, and though the wins weren't the prettiest, I'm almost positive nobody will complain. Now, we come back home for a four-game with...wait...we gotta play the Twins again? Didn't we just get done with an annoying team? We gotta play ANOTHER annoying team? I really don't want to sit through four hours of Scott Diamond turning into Johan Santana and #annoyinglongatbats and getting no run support for a gem of a pitching performance. Last season, we had a winning record against every team in our division except for the Indians. Did it feel like it? It didn't feel like it. It never does. Even with the Twins coming in on an 8 game losing streak, I'd rather see the Rays or the Mariners (yes, even the Mariners) than the Twins. What I'm saying is, you're gonna need a beer for this series. Given the Twins propensity for making a game take a while, you might need two or three each game. Luckily, Founders Brewing Company has the beer for you. Hidden among their stalwarts Centennial IPA and Red's Rye is one of the finest beers made in the country: Kentucky Breakfast Stout. via farm1.static.flickr.com The Founders Breakfast Stout is one of the best stouts you can find that's rather prevalent in good bars around the state. Now take that beer and age it in fine bourbon barrels for a year, and you get a smooth, mellow, rich vanilla tinge added to the flavor profile. Made with roasted Sumatra and Java beans and oats, the KBS blows you away with a rich coffee flavor with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, followed by the bourbon and a deep, strong chocolate profile. The collection of flavors is plentiful and perfectly balanced. At 11.2% ABV and 70 IBU, it is a fantastic sipping beer with dessert. The Founders Brewing Company is located in Grand Rapids, MI. Previous Posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 The season always feels a little better after a sweep. Even if it's only a two game series, getting out of a city without a loss always puts a hitch in your giddy-up. Doing it against a division opponent, especially one that's had your number lately, is fantastic, and though the wins weren't the prettiest, I'm almost positive nobody will complain. Now, we come back home for a four-game with...wait...we gotta play the Twins again? Didn't we just get done with an annoying team? We gotta play ANOTHER annoying team? I really don't want to sit through four hours of Scott Diamond turning into Johan Santana and #annoyinglongatbats and getting no run support for a gem of a pitching performance. Last season, we had a winning record against every team in our division except for the Indians. Did it feel like it? It didn't feel like it. It never does. Even with the Twins coming in on an 8 game losing streak, I'd rather see the Rays or the Mariners (yes, even the Mariners) than the Twins. What I'm saying is, you're gonna need a beer for this series. Given the Twins propensity for making a game take a while, you might need two or three each game. Luckily, Founders Brewing Company has the beer for you. Hidden among their stalwarts Centennial IPA and Red's Rye is one of the finest beers made in the country: Kentucky Breakfast Stout. via farm1.static.flickr.com The Founders Breakfast Stout is one of the best stouts you can find that's rather prevalent in good bars around the state. Now take that beer and age it in fine bourbon barrels for a year, and you get a smooth, mellow, rich vanilla tinge added to the flavor profile. Made with roasted Sumatra and Java beans and oats, the KBS blows you away with a rich coffee flavor with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, followed by the bourbon and a deep, strong chocolate profile. The collection of flavors is plentiful and perfectly balanced. At 11.2% ABV

Minnesota Twins (18-25) at Detroit Tigers (25-19) Time/Place: 7:08 p.m., Comerica Park SB Nation blog: Twinkie Town Media: Fox Sports Detroit, MLB Network*, MLB.TV (Free Game of the Day), Tigers Radio Network *It looks like this will only be on MLB Network for those in the Cleveland or Boston markets, but honestly it's anyone's guess Pitching Matchup: LHP Scott Diamond (3-4, 4.99 ERA) vs. RHP Rick Porcello (2-2, 5.92 ERA) I was in a great mood this morning until I realized that the Tigers would be facing Diamond this evening. Diamond is becoming a Tiger killer before our very eyes, allowing a 2.72 ERA in six career starts against Detroit. He followed up back-to-back quality starts in September of 2012 with a solid outing on May 1st, allowing two runs on just four hits in six innings. He doesn't own the Tigers as badly as he has dominated the Cleveland Indians -- 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA in five starts -- but his 59 tOPS+ against the Tigers would put him squarely atop this list with a few more innings under his belt. Given the numbers he has put up against just about everyone else, I have concluded that Diamond is a robot constructed by the Twins to conquer the rest of the league. However, in true Twins fashion, they have only figured out how to beat teams in the AL Central. Against other teams, Diamond has shown that he is, in fact, mortal. In his last two starts, he has allowed a combined 12 runs on 17 hits in 10 innings. Four of those hits were home runs, three of which came courtesy of the dinger-happy Baltimore Orioles. His normally excellent command also went array, as he allowed three walks in each start. For reference, he only allowed three walks in a start twice in all of 2012. His strikeout rate has never been anything to write home about -- he embodies the Twins' pitch-to-contact philosophy as well as anyone since Scott Baker -- but he only has six strikeouts in his four May starts. Is this the real Rick Porcello? After his horrid outing in Los Angeles, Porcello has pitched 25 innings in four outings. He has allowed nine runs for a 3.24 ERA and has 24 strikeouts to just five walks. He was the only Tigers starter to slow down the Texas Rangers' offense, holding them to a run in 5 2/3 innings. He has a 0.96 WHIP, which may be related to his .254 BABIP during this same span. Overall, Porcello's FIP and xFIP are once again outperforming his ERA. He has been particularly homer prone this season, resulting in an xFIP of 3.42. However, if we take his L.A. start out of the equation, Porcello would have a 3.86 ERA and 1.07 WHIP on the season. I'm not ready to proclaim that 2013 is his breakout season just yet, but he's definitely making his case as of late. Since we last met... The Twins are 6-13 since they left Detroit at the beginning of the month, but that doesn't tell the whole story. They started off 6-5, inexplicably winning three of four games in Boston. They were 18-17 at the time. Over the last nine days, the wheels have come off, and the Twins have lost eight straight, including three to those same Red Sox in Minnesota. Vance Worley, the only Twins starter not originally scheduled to pitch in this series, was sent down to Triple-A yesterday after his loss to the Atlanta Braves. Outlook Sweeping a series in Cleveland is always satisfying, but winning this series against the Twins is important with the rough stretch following this weekend. The Tigers play the Pittsburgh Pirates -- who have the third-best record in baseball at the moment -- the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, and the same Indians that they just swept in the following two weeks. Tonight, they need to take advantage of any mistakes by Diamond, especially since he seems to be making more than usual as of late. Prediction Porcello pitches well, but Diamond pitches better. Twins win a low-scoring game. More Roars: • Recap: Tigers 11, Indians 7: Tigers sweep! • Thurdays’s links: Max Scherzer likes Taylor Swift • GIF

Dadds Magic Bus, a paragon of failure, has struck again. This time leaving 29 Tigers fans without a ride to the game and without a full refund. WZZM in Grand Rapids reports: Several people hoping to see a Tigers game are out hundreds of dollars because their bus didn't get them to Detroit. 13 On Your Side exposed Dadds Magic Bus in 2009 and again in 2011. Now, two more groups have come forward saying they didn't get the service they paid for. "When we got there, there was no bus," says Jenae Jackson. She and her friends purchased a package online through Dadds Magic Bus for a Tigers game on May 11, 2013. That's right, this is the THIRD TIME in that the company has been on TV for screwing people. In West Michigan the company is a running joke. The least funny joke ever. Need to feel depressed sometime? Read some of the non-fabricated reviews on Google. Here are some highlights: From Adrienne Wallace: Not only was the experience a no show by the bus service for a Tiger game last weekend (and not just for our group), they also removed all negative "recommendations" from their FB page today surrounding the experience AND tried to withhold the refund in exchange for "non disclosure" documents. Terrible. Just terrible. Run from this business. Run. Another google user: WORST EVER!.... I was in a wedding this past weekend, (90 degrees outside) and all of us couldn't wait for the bus to get there to take us to the reception. The driver was a complete jerk. He was extremely rude to the groomsmen. We got on the bus and it was so crazy hot in there and all the tiny windows on the top were open. He said that it was so hot the air conditioning couldn't keep up! BS! It had to of been broken. We were all sweating like crazy. Then the day after, the bride calls to complain about the service and work out some kind of compensation for the mess. The MANAGER told her that he wasn't going to listen to her complaint and that she wasn't getting any kind of money back. Steer clear of this place. Its not worth the risk. Also the inside of the bus was completely nasty and gross. The walls were covered with spills. Another user: I could write all day, really. This was the ONE bachelorette party that my sister will ever have and Dadds ruined it in a sense. They are the sleeziest company and people EVER. You call and request to talk to someone high up and get a response, "Oh, theyre not in. Ill tell them you called." LIE. Pam sounded so concerned and you know the minute she got off the phone she was laughing with the other sleeze balls saying, "We got another one!" Or my favorite, "It's in the cntract." Ohhhhh youre saying its in the contract that I didnt see, sign, or read. NICE Dadds, nice. Shut your face, there is no contract. Bottom line? Some people are awful. More Roars: • Recap: Tigers 11, Indians 7: Tigers sweep! • Thurdays’s links: Max Scherzer likes Taylor Swift • GIF of the day: Bat boy just don’t care! • Home run blunders: Michael Bourn vs. Ryan Raburn

May 12, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers catcher Brayan Pena (55) and starting pitcher Rick Porcello (21) high-five after the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports Drew Smyly has been struggling out of the Detroit Tigers bullpen recently. He came into the game Wednesday night in relief of Justin Verlander and allowed two runs on three hits (one a home run) plus a walk. He induced three groundouts but didn’t strike out any of the seven batters he faced. The two-run outing means he’s now allowed six runs in his last five appearances (7.1 innings). The interesting thing about Smyly’s recent rough patch is that it has come directly alongside one of Rick Porcello’s best stretches of his career (at least since his rookie year). After a fantastic spring campaign, Porcello was awful to start the year. He was striking literally (figuratively) no one out, hits were dropping at an obscene rate, and he couldn’t seem to keep the ball in the yard. Things came to a head when he couldn’t get out of the first inning in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angeles – he recorded two outs and allowed nine runs. That pitiful (and woefully unlucky) outing against the Angels caused massive outcry for Porcello (11.08 ERA, 2.1 K/9 at the time) to be replaced by Drew Smyly (1.80 ERA, 10.2 K/9) in the starting rotation. Since that day, however, Rick Porcello has been very good, and Smyly hasn’t pitched at the dominant level from earlier in the year. Here are their numbers since that April 20 game in L.A. IP H SO BB HR ER ERA WHIP Rick Porcello 25.0 19 24 5 3 9 3.24 0.96 Drew Smyly 14.0 12 12 4 1 5 3.21 1.14 Despite the recent string of trouble, Smyly hasn’t been bad over this stretch – quite the opposite – but he hasn’t been any better than Porcello really. The ERA is basically the same (Smyly has had the added advantage of pitching out of the pen), Porcello has been better at limiting baserunners, and Porcello is actually the one with the (slightly) better strikeout rate. Who knows what Smyly would have done had Jim Leyland caved to the public pressure and added him to the rotation – maybe he would have out-performed Porcello, maybe he would have performed worse – but not making the move no longer seems like a bad managerial decision. Porcello’s numbers on the year still aren’t fantastic; his ERA is still above 5.00, his strikeout rate is only 6.4 per nine innings, and he’s allowed a career-high home run rate so far. But if that home run rate – something that hasn’t been a problem for him in his career – trends down toward his career rate of one per nine innigns, Porcello could be looking at a career year (old bit, I know). His strikeout rate, while still below average, is nearly one per nine innings better than it’s ever been, and he’s walking fewer than two batters per nine innings (which would also be a career best). We’ve seen Porcello put together solid stretches in the past only to fall back apart – though usually these stretches haven’t come with the high strikeout totals like we’ve seen recently – so we’re far from the point of full buy-in. That being said, we actually might be seeing (hopefullly, maybe) Rick take that elusive “next step”. At the very least, he’s earning more chances to prove that there’s something more there.