Travis

Cleveland lost today. Lead is currently 6.5 in the Central.

Yeah, great night for Inge. And for the Tigers as a whole. Happy to see them put big runs on their closest division rival. Things were going great today until Porcello wasted the 7 runs his teammates gave him. It's 7 - 5 now with Jackson having just stole 2nd. It will due my heart well if the Tigers can answer back here.

It's Betemit's horrendous defense, I'd assume. To be fair, Inge is batting .287 with 7 HR and 19 RBI in Toledo. Hopefully that translates to the bigs.

Haha, I know it was.

Glad you had a good time. Happy to help.

Vanna is going to be so bummed. Really, though. Tough loss for New Jersey going forward.

How Jim Leyland is hurting the Tigers - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN Something we've been discussing with some regularity as of late. edit: To add my two cents - the article leads to an interesting train of thought. We aren't a fast team, we don't play small ball, and the only guy we have with truly good speed is Austin Jackson; but he's rarely ever on base. So why keep building a line-up like we have a 'typical' ball club? We don't have a typical ball club, we have a batting order full of mashers that don't stretch singles into doubles and sometimes can't even stretch doubles into doubles. We go base to base unless the ball leaves the yard, so let's accept it and move on. Given what the article says about the top OBP guys we have, what if we turned the line-up into something like this? LF Young RF Boesch 1B Cabrera DH Martinez SS Peralta C Avila 3B Betemit 2B Guillen CF Jackson Or, if you desperately want Cabrera in that clean-up spot - but Peralta or Avila in front of him. (At the risk of exposing myself, I think I might be the blueadams of the baseball thread.)

Isles nix brawl game for viewing party - SI.com

I agree with you on all accounts. It's not surprising that Raburn popped out in that situation. I'm actually surprised he didn't ground into a double play, not that it matters. Good thing I'm borderline drunk at this point, or I'd probably be a lot more annoyed that our team is only playing well enough to lose the AL Central... again.

Per our conversation yesterday, Chance Ruffin has been sent to the Mariners to complete the Doug Fister / David Pauley deal.

Yeah, here's hoping they even each other out so neither team makes any gains. The line-up for tonight is as follows: Dirks CF Boesch RF Young LF Cabrera 1B Martinez DH Avila C Peralta SS Kelly 3B Santiago 2B

Right? Seriously, though, solid win. You need to do that to teams that are scuffling, too bad they don't do it often enough as of late. Regardless, strong win. Here's hoping for another tomorrow.

I'd heard that as well, but it doesn't appear that Ruffin has gone anywhere. Seattle has 4 days to name the player, though. Losing Schlereth would have made the trade an A+ move for me. Problem is no one wants him. I liked Oliveros out of the 'pen, but his numbers are pretty mediocre, so it's not a real loss. I think Magglio can be effective in his new, part-time role; and any Illitch run team isn't going to show a veteran the door in such a way. Which is good, I think. I agree that Rhymes or Worth needs to come up and get time at 2B, though. All year we were looking for a solid bat in that spot, but now we have solid bats everywhere else. Only a handful of teams are without liabilities at the plate - right now it's important to get some good defense out of our second baseman. If we brought up a speedy 2B we could even run out a line-up like: 1. LF Young 2. 2B Worth 3. RF Boesch ... 9. CF Jackson Bless You Boys also proposed perhaps batting Cabrera 3rd so that he actually has the chance to bat early with men on - instead of regularly leading off in the 2nd inning. Also, I really like Will Rhymes - but he's obviously frustrated and has been sort of running his mouth (albeit rather harmlessly) on Twitter since being sent back down again. He should probably reel it in before it comes back to bite him.

8/17 lineup vs Twins: CF Jackson RF Boesch LF Young 1B Cabrera DH Martinez C Avila SS Peralta 3B Kelly 2B Santiago I'm actually pretty happy with this line-up. Give Dumb & Dumber the night off. That 1 - 7 is monstrous, though. There's really no argument up there, though Jackson in the 9 spot turning the order over might be something to think about.

Well the great thing about Dan and Jim is that they don't mix words. Neither one of them are afraid to say a ball has been misplayed or that someone made a mistake. I love listening to it on radio because I think Jim is a great broadcaster, but I've always appreciated their fan-dom as well. Rod is great and all, but listening to he and Mario on TV is a much less enjoyable experience and I've noticed they have a penchant for taking it easy on guys when they screw up. Regardless, Raburn is a nightmare at this point. Having Dumb & Dumber (Raburn and Betemit) in the infield is actually hurting our team at this point. Giving the lead to Minnesota right after we took it definitely changed the outlook of the game. Especially against a pitcher we could - and should - have buried.

I really like that line-up, actually. Even though Betemit is really frustrating me at this point. Santiago is MUCH better in the field than Raburn, even though K-burn's bat is starting to come around (comparatively). I ******* hate Schlereth, but he had thrown 8 shut out innings until tonight. Regardless, he and Perry can go anywhere else at this point. Thome is a great ballplayer and it's nice that the Tigers fans in attendance gave him the ovation he deserved.

Young and Boesch are both better defensively than Raburn and both have better bats - so I'd rather see Raburn's useless ass ride the pine. That said, I loathe Ryan Raburn at this point. I was really hoping that Rhymes would stay with the big club, he's got some speed and has been hitting the ball well in AAA. He could have provided quickness at either the top (2nd) or bottom (8th) of the line-up. He's also not a total liability like Raburn. Case in point, he just errored on a ground ball. f*** Ryan Raburn. At least Delmon Young homered in his first at bat! Welcome to Detroit.

So I like this move, because A) he's a Tiger killer and B) it gives us speed on the base paths and a solid OF bat. My issue now is, why is Will Rhymes the one sent back down? How is Leyland just ignoring Raburn's performance? And to top it off, Raburn is going to bat 2nd tonight?! Give me a break! I sincerely hope that when Boesch comes back the OF is made up of him, Young and Jackson and that they make up the top 3rd of our order.

Change of scenery could do him well. He's having his worst year in the bigs, but he's also been on a terrible team all year. He provides a lot more speed on the OF than we have with Maggs in right, so I like this move. Question is - what happens with the roster to make room for him? Does Maggs go on the DL? Get DFA'ed? Does Dirks get sent back to Toledo? It's really nice to see the Tigers being proactive. I wonder if he plays tonight. Classy move by the Twins to fly him to Detroit and show him to the home locker room. Yeash.

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I know Leyland loves Raburn or whatever, but what's the point of getting any third baseman if we're using players we already had?

Sigh, I know. I love Maggs as much as the next guy. I even have a Magglio jersey hanging in my closet, but he's simply not a number 3 hitter at this point in his career. When he's so slow that opposing pitchers think he's showing off - he's clearly no longer fit to be in a table-setter type role. In other news, Carlos Guillen - everyone's favorite 2B made of glass - is back on the DL. A friend and I were just talking about Will Rhymes last night and how we'd like to see him back with the big club, so that's nice. Hopefully he can continue to hit well like he has been in AAA.

Yeah, I fully expect to see Jackson, Dirks, and Boesch at the top of the order when Brennan returns. Magglio can split DH time with Martinez and should bat below Alex Avila, to be perfectly honest.

JOHN, PLAY THE FIGHT RIFF! Bold, you say? - During our annual February Injury Fest, Cory Emmerton ends up playing goalie in a blowout in Minnesota. He scores on the empty net, garnering his only goal of the season.

Hey, JV throws today. The Tigers have an opportunity to only lose one game to Cleveland in the standings.