I think the pressure is equal for both pitchers and both teams. After all, it’s game 3.

Of course, no one could resist talking about Jose Valverde’s tongue-in-cheek/foot-in-mouth “it’s over” declaration after Game 2. It seems, though, that none of the shows’ hosts or callers bothered to read below the headline. You know, the part where Valverde shouted: “I’m joking, guys.”

I know these shows have to talk about something and running with the juicier (though incomplete) story certainly helps them fill airtimem, it doesn’t make the hosts look very sharp.

As Jim Leyland said this afternoon: “It was in jest, but the Yankees don’t need anythinig to fire them up. This isn’t a high school rivalry.”

• Did you know the Yankees are facing a Central Division opponent in the ALDS for the fifth straight year? They went 22-14 (.611) against the AL Central this season.

• According to the Free Press, Comerica Park is only one of two AL stadiums in which the Yankees have a losing record.

• Elias Sports Bureau reports that tonigh’ts gamemarks the first time a pitcher will start both Game 1 and Game 3 during a post-season series since San Diego’s Kevin Brown did so on Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, 1998 versus Houston. The last American League pitcher to do so was Oakland’s Dave Stewart during the World Series versus San Francisco in 1989.

• ESPN’s Jim Bowden posted his keys to the game for each series. Here’s his advice for Cabrera:

For as well as Cabrera is swinging the bat, he continues to play too far off first base. What ends up happening is that he goes for balls that are routine for the second baseman, and the pitcher is forced to cover first on what should be a routine 4-3 play. Cabrera must start playing closer to the first base bag and let his second baseman, whether it’s Ryan Raburn or Ramon Santiago, make the play.

• Speaking of Miguel Cabrera, Jerry Crasnick wrote a nice profile of the Tigers first baseman:

“Not to take anything away from guys in the past for the Tigers, because I have more respect for them than anyone,” Inge said. “But you can make a case, if he finishes out his contract and keeps hitting like this, that he’s the best Tiger ever. Heck, he might be now.”

That seems like hyperbole, when you consider that the Tigers’ illustrious history includes such icons as Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Greenberg and Gehringer. Then you watch Miguel Cabrera hit, and consider that he’s only 28 years old. And suddenly the notion doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore.

• Happy Birthday to Eric Munson (34), Junior Felix (44), Steve Foucault (62) and Chuck Scrivener (64).

• On this date in 1968, in Game Two of the World Series, Mickey Lolich ties the Series at one game apiece. He pitches a six-hitter and hits his first career home run to defeat the Cardinals, 8-1.

Finally, Happy 62 Birthday to Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.

• It’s always interesting to see how even a small winning streak can stir optimism among Tigers faithful. To wit: this past weekend’s series in Oakland. Buoyed by wins in the first two games, I was completely confident the Tigers could — would! — come back in Saturday night and Sunday games. A week prior (against the Royals at home) I had no such optimism. All in all I’m feeling good about their chances in Seattle, and not just because they’ll miss Felix Hernandez.

• On a tangentially related topic, we’ve taken a few jabs this week at Fungo Intergalactic Headquarters over a perceived sense of doom and gloom expressed by yours truly and my profound lack of wisdom. I don’t pretend to have an always-objective (or even rational) view of the Tigers and my opinions on specific players (Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn, Will Rhymes) seem to irk Fungo readers. If you’ve read this site over the past six years, you know I view this as an outlet to discuss the Tigers and consider it a single point in time — that is, Raburn, for example, might drive me nuts with his iron-gloved D, but I’ll give him his due when he earns it. (As of this writing, Raburn is hitting .231 and 1 for 4 in the game against the Mariners.)

• What to do about Austin Jackson? You have to wonder how long the Tigers will let his numbers and confidence nosedive, especially with Casper Wells sitting on the bench as a capable replacement, before they send him to Toledo. Sure, Wells is hitting just .250 but that’s 90 points higher than Jackson. Don’t the Tigers have to at least consider, even if only for a couple of weeks, providing Jackson with a mind-clearing session or two with Mud Hens’ hitting coach Leon Durham?

• I suppose you have to think that if Jackson heads south on 75 then Rhymes can’t be too far behind, not with Scott Sizemore hitting .375 for the Hens.

• Remember when we assumed — or were told — that Andy Oliver‘s immediate future with the Tigers would hinge on Phil Coke‘s performance in the rotation? I’m beginning to wonder if it will end up being Brad Penny who loses his job to Oliver. After a win against Columbus on Monday night, Oliver is 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA.

• A friend at work has been sending me home with boxes and binders filled with her husband’s baseball card collection. He collected them as a kid but never really had much affinity for the cards or baseball in general. So, they’re leaving it up to me and my friend Len Gutman to sift through the cards — most of them from 1984 through 1993 — and see if there’s anything of value. My reward? In addition to the joy of a trip down memory lane, I’m able to keep any Tigers cards I find in the collection. So far I’m making out like a bandito. My coworker’s hubby isn’t making out too poorly either; so far he’s got two Barry Bonds rookie cards and one Pudge Rodriguez card. More to come on this gold mine.

Finally, in addition to Miguel Cabrera, today’s the birthday of Rick Moranis. He’s 58.

For all intents and purposes, there’s no drama to speak of with most of the coverage focusing on the prospects that are shining in Lakeland.

But here are some of the things that stand out for yours truly:

• If there’s one player that makes me uneasy heading into the regular season, it’s Alex Avila. In reading Lynn Henning’s Sunday’s A-to-Z review of Tigers so far this spring, he says this:
  

  He’ll hit. But it’s OK to wonder when he’ll drive the ball the way he did during his 2009 cameo.

  This is the first time since, when?, 2003 that the Tigers have a question mark — or something close to it — at catcher. Once Pudge Rodriguez left town, the club brought in Gerald Laird and he was, well, not the answer. But we all thought he’d start hitting somewhere close to where he did in Texas (at least against the Tigers, that is.)

  Certainly having Victor Martinez around will make the catching corps dramatically less frightful, but still, aren’t the Tigers placing an awful lot of faith in a guy who isn’t long out of college? What do you think?

• I forgot to mention, or at least I think I did, when I went to watch the Diamondbacks train a couple of weeks ago, I got to see Armando Galarraga get racked in batting practice. Moments before that, I got close enough to talk to him through the fence and told him that we love him in Detroit. He said, “Thanks, man, I appreciate it.” He may not be the most devastating pitcher in the bigs, but a nice guy? That, he is.

• On March 7, 1965, Tigers manager Chuck Dressen suffered a mild coronary occlusion. He was sidelined until May 19. Coach Bob Swift served as acting manager in the meantime, And on this date in 2000, the Tigers acquired cash from the Royals for catcher Gregg Zaun. Opting instead to go with the stud backup catcher that was Javier Cardona. Zaun hit .274 in K.C. — 99 points higher than Cardona.

  Another Randy Smith gem.

• One of the reasons I like Jim Leyland so much is his deep history with the Tigers organization. He was the first manager of many players that were on the 1984 championship team. In this piece in Sunday’s Freep, we learn a bit about his relationship with one of my favorites, Jack Morris:
  

  [Leyland] said Jack Morris was as temperamental as they come.

  “You’ve got to be careful that you don’t take something away that’s a strong suit,” Leyland said. “But you can’t let a pitcher continue like a bull in a china shop.”

  Leyland managed Morris in the minors.

  “I stayed on top of Jack pretty good,” Leyland said. “He handled it well. We have a great relationship even today. I’m proud of that.

• How’s Nate Robertson doing with the Mariners, you ask? Check out this headline to uncover the answer.

Finally, my apologies for the long stretch without a post. I’ve never wanted to post just for the sake of posting — you deserve better than that.

More to come this week.

I’m still betting on the latter, though the Tigers have fewer minor-league chips to parlay into an impact big-leaguer, and the ones they have — Andy Oliver, Jacob Turner — are the premier prospects. But who wants to see them dealt? Not many, I’m guessing.

Meanwhile …

• Ken Rosenthal says that the Tigers could be a dark-horse team on Cliff Lee. He’s clear that he has no information on which to base this hunch, only Mike Ilitch‘s annual mad-money spending. How great would this be? As long as Lee doesn’t end up with the White Sox …

• I received an email from our man Doug Hill this morning saying that a Detroit sports talk conversation centered on the alleged availability of Curtis Granderson — and whether a return to Detroit might be possible. The hosts speculated that Grandy could return, bat fifth and play left field. I’d have no problem with this, depending on the cost. What do you think?

• The Werth deal has been skewered by just about everyone since it was announced, most recently by The News’ Lynn Henning, and justifiably so. Still, I think the Nationals wanted to make a splash much like the Tigers did in 2005 when they went after Magglio Ordonez. Sometimes a club has to make a bold move to get itself back on the map. For Washington, this was that move.

  I tweeted yesterday that most thought the Tigers seven-year deal with Ordonez was nuts. Despite his injury-shortened 2005, he was tremendous for the Tigers. The Common Man replied:
  

  @DailyFungo Correct me if I’m wrong, but #Tigers got, like, one great year out of Magglio while paying, like $82 mil. I’d say that’s nuts.

  Well, in the six seasons he played in Detroit, Ordonez amassed some pretty solid numbers: .318 average, 102 home runs, 501 RBI and OPS of .874. I’d say that’s hardly nuts. Plus, at the time the Tigers had zero punch in the lineup, with apologies to Rondell White, Dmitri Young and Pudge. They needed a slugger and after a decade of losing, they needed to overpay a bit. I think it worked out tremendously.

• In case you’ve been wondering, Victor Martinez will wear number 41, his number in Cleveland and Boston, which means Oliver will have to go with another. Joaquin Benoit will wear number 53.

• Speaking of Magglio, ESPN.com’s Rumor Central whispers that the Red Sox might have him on their radar but his age might drive them away.

• While it’s only the first day of the Winter Meetings, the Tigers might make a splash today. In their history, December 6 has been a busy transaction day:
  

  1939 – The Tigers acquired infielder Dick Bartell from the Cubs for infielder Billy Rogell.

  1954 – The Tigers acquired RHP Leo Cristante and infielders Ferris Fain and Jack Phillips from the White Sox for LHP Ted Gray, infielder Walt Dropo and outfielder Bob Nieman.

  1958 – The Tigers acquired infielders Eddie Yost and Rocky Bridges and outfielder Neil Chrisley from the Senators for infielders Reno Bertoia and Ron Samford and outfielder Jim Delsing.

  1973 – The Tigers acquired LHP Ray Newman from the Brewers for RHP Mike Strahler.

  1975 – The Tigers acquired LHPs Dave Roberts and Jim Crawford and catcher Milt May from the Astros for RHPs Gene Pentz and Mark Lemongello, catcher Terry Humphrey and outfielder Leon Roberts.

  1989 – The Tigers acquired RHP Matt Kinzer and outfielder Jim Lindeman from the Cardinals for RHP Marcos Betances, catcher Bill Henderson and infielder Pat Austin.

Thanks to the record-number of responses — 1,308! — we received to our recent Fungo Flash Poll: What’s next on the Tigers’ offseason to-do list? The comments were terrific too.
Here’s how the voting came out:

1. Sign Jayson Werth (39%, 512 Votes)
2. Make a trade or two at the Winter Meetings (27%, 359 Votes)
3. Sign a starting pitcher (24%, 309 Votes)
4. Sign Adam Dunn (10%, 128 Votes)

With Werth and Dunn off the market, I still believe the Tigers are due for a big trade.

It should be a fun week. On Thursday, Ian and I will recap the Tigers’ activity on the next episode of the podcast.

• Tomorrow the Diamondbacks will announce that Alan Trammell will be Kirk Gibson’s bench coach in 2011 — the same role Gibson served under Trammell from 2003-05. This was a no-brainer once Tram was told he wouldn’t be considered for the Cubs managerial job. The only thing that delayed it was, among other things, the matter of Gibson having the interim tag removed from his title.

• There’s been a lot chatter about Rangers’ catcher Bengie Molina playing for both the Rangers and Giants this season. He’s one of only five players in major-league history to have played on both World Series teams in the same year.

  Did you know that one of the remaining four did so with the Tigers in 1984? Indeed: ye olde Sid Monge. The lefty reliever appeared in 13 games with the Padres (2-1, 4.80 ERA) and 19 for the Tigers (1-0, 4.25 ERA). SI.com has a story on the last player to do so before Molina.

  Oct. 26 Update: As posted on Keith Olbermann‘s baseball blog, Monge doesn’t fall into this category because he wasn’t on the Tigers’ World Series roster. I knew Monge didn’t make the roster, but I didn’t realize the qualifier for this two-team distinction was to appear in the World Series. Live and learn.

  

• It’s not easy to decide who enrages Tigers fans’ more, Jim Leyland or Brandon Inge. I’ve gone on record as being a Leyland supporter and have surrendered on the topic of Inge. I tend to think re-signing him was the best of the meager options (and after reading Jason Beck‘s post, I don’t feel entirely insane — particularly about Adrian Beltre. I remember him blowing off the Tigers the year he signed with the Mariners.)

  Then comes this from Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts and I had to re-evaluate. But then I saw this piece from Joe Pawlikowski at Fan Graphs, came full circle and am again okay with Inge’s return. Thanks for hanging with me on that one.

• Time to commemorate a couple of Tigers birthdays: Wilkin Ramirez turns 25 today, and Al Cowens was born on this date in 1951. He passed away in 2002. Here’s a piece on Cowens from the Fungo archives.

• Rob Neyer and I have a running thing about Jack Morris and what I feel is his rightful place in the Hall of Fame. Well, it’s not really a thing because he doesn’t keep trying to convince me that The Cat doesn’t belong. It’s me trying to sway him.

  Bottom line: It ain’t happening. To illustrate the point, here are another few crystals of salt aimed at my wound, courtesy of Rob.

• For what it’s worth, I expect the Rangers to knock the Giants for a loop in the World Series. San Francisco has shown an incredible ability to win despite, well, those players. They are, in my view, the White Sox of the National League and must be defeated — with Aubrey Huff going hitless, of course. Rangers in six.

Finally, on this date in 1986, the Mets won Game 6 of the World Series in the 10th inning when a routine ground ball went through Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs. And I, ashamedly, watched it happen at a Chuck E. Cheese’s.

In the meantime, here are some odds and ends from the last week:

• If you’re still coming to grips with the notion of Brandon Inge and Jhonny Peralta manning the left side of the Tigers’ infield next season, here’s something I noticed that will either make you feel better or worse – and nowhere in between.

  Based on this year’s stats, it appears that Inge and Peralta are practically twins:
  

  2010 Stats	Inge	Peralta
  Games	144	148
  At bats	514	551
  Hits	127	137
  Home Runs	13	15
  RBI	70	81
  Average	.247	.249
  On-base Percentage	.321	.311
  Slugging Percentage	.397	.392
  OPS	.718	.703

  Of Peralta, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski last Sunday said: “We don’t know what we will do with his ($7.25 million) option, but would like him back next year as our shortstop.”

  I’m like many Tigers fans: skeptical, at best, about Peralta as a full-time shortstop. True, he’ll bring more pop to the position than either Danny Worth or Ramon Santiago. But that’s not saying much, is it? As for his defense, the 2010 edition of Baseball Prospectus described Peralta as “increasingly immobile.”

  Gee, if we wanted an immobile shortstop, why not give the job back to Carlos Guillen?

  Discuss.

• Yahoo! Sports‘ Tim Brown last week gave some major love to former Tigers infielder/current Braves sensation Omar Infante.
  

  Years ago, he was run off positions and out of at-bats in Detroit by Ramon Santiago, Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco and Fernando Vina, so he earned back a few swings by playing six different positions, figuring it out, surviving.

  Now 28, hardened by his positional vagabonding and inspired by the public ridicule that accompanied his surprise All-Star selection in July, Infante no longer plays from the bench. In the leadoff spot and back at third base, he has become part of a new core of Braves, that being what was left from a grueling and injurious season. From the Braves’ opening day eight, only two started game 162, a win that clinched the organization’s first playoff appearance in five years.

  All things considered, who would you rather have at shortstop for the Tigers next season: Infante, Worth or Peralta?

• Getting caught up on some recent Fungo Flash Poll results:
  • Do you like the Tigers’ decision to put Phil Coke in the rotation next season? 52 percent (115 votes) said Yes; 48 percent (107) said No.

  • If the Tigers decide to re-sign only one of these players, who should they choose? Inge: 79 percent (214 votes); Bonderman: 21 percent (56 votes)

  • With the Tigers season winding down, what are you looking forward to the most? Top three vote getters: Michigan Football, 25 percent (41 votes); Spring Training, 24 percent (40); Red Wings, 23 percent (38). I’m disappointed that no one — not a single vote! — cast a vote for my alma mater: Any Western Michigan Team Sport (0 percent, 0 Votes). Ouch.

• Some birthdays today: Patrick Leyland, 19; Jeff Larish, 28; and, Dmitri Young, 37. Today’s also the 81st birthday of George Kell‘s brother, Skeeter.

• On this date in 2006, Alexis Gomez and Curtis Granderson each hit home runs as the Tigers beat the A’s 8-5 in Oakland to take a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

• And on this date in 1944, the Tigers acquired catcher Bob Swift and infielder Don Heffner from the Athletics for outfielder Rip Radcliff.

Finally, on this date in 1975 “Saturday Night Live” debuted on NBC, which makes me feel old — and bummed out that it’s not nearly as funny as it used to be.

• A year ago today Brandon Inge hit a grand slam off the Rays’ Russ Springer to beat the Rays 5-3 and the Tigers extended their lead over the Twins to a season-high seven games. And that’s when the bottom fell out.

• In case you, like I, missed it, the Tigers today announced that they’ll recall Scott Sizemore from Triple A Toledo prior to Tuesday night’s game against the White Sox. Sizemore batted .298 with 23 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 37 RBI in 76 games with the Mud Hens. By the by, in last week’s Fungo Flash Poll, 80 percent of the 149 respondents said that they prefer Will Rhymes over Sizemore.

• The News‘ Tony Paul today continues his terrific series of articles on former Tigers as he catches up with Matt Nokes.

• Planning on going down to Comerica Park before the season ends? You might want to plan around the Tigers’ record on each day of the week. (Hint: Stay away from Tuesdays.):
  • Monday: 7-8
  • Tuesday: 6-14
  • Wednesday: 9-13
  • Thursday: 11-4
  • Friday: 9-11
  • Saturday: 12-11
  • Sunday: 14-9

• According to Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index, the Tigers have 33 comeback wins (their largest comeback being six runs), 29 blown leads (largest: four), five walk-off wins, eight walk-off losses.

• The Tigers inched up two spots in ESPN.com’s MLB Power Rankings from 20 to 18.

Finally, happy 73rd birthday to JoAnne Worley.

Have a great week.

Saturday night’s game was so disappointing that yesterday’s seemed more like a scrimmage … A scrimmage that counts.

But a new week is here and the Tigers are at home, where they excel. Instead of focusing on this homestand’s tough opponents, let’s walk on the sunny side of the street:

• Baseball Prospectus maintains its Playoff Odds Report and over the past two weeks the Tigers have taken the fifth-deepest plunge in terms of percentage: from a 33.9 percent on July 4 to 22.1 percent yesterday. As far as I’m concerned, it feels like 1 percent today. Wait, didn’t I just say something about the sunny side? Well then, let’s savor the Twins’ 17.4-percent drop in that same time period.

• Jayson Stark says…
  

  The Tigers have “inquired” about Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly, according to a source familiar with those discussions. But the clubs haven’t reached the “let’s-get-moving” stage, the source said.

  A second source told ESPN the Magazine’s Buster Olney that the two teams haven’t spoken about Lilly in over a week.

  So what do we make of it? Nothing.

• After watching Ryan Raburn butcher the first ball hit to him yesterday in Cleveland, would you believe he has the second-longest errorless-game streak on the club? True story. His 25-game streak is behind only Alex Avila and Danny Worth who each have 27. Also, Worth hasn’t committed an error since being promoted to the majors.

• We’ve heard about Lilly, we hope for Dan Haren, we expect neither. But would the Tigers be crazy to at least inquire about Edwin Jackson? While he might have thrown his arm out of socket with his gruesome, 149-pitch no-hitter, the Tigers certainly would know what they’re getting in E-Jax. Just sayin’.

• He might never become a Tiger, but I still track Stephen Drew. Nick Piecoro writes today about Drew’s luck — or lack thereof.
  

  [D-backs interim manager Kirk] Gibson believes what several with the club have said for years about Drew – that he is unusually unlucky.

  “Of all the guy’s I’ve been around, (Drew) is probably the most unlucky hitter I’ve ever seen,” Gibson said. “If you look throughout this year, the balls that he’s hit, guys have made great plays or balls for whatever reason have got caught.”

  It might be true, but that’s a tough claim to back up with hard evidence. At least one metric doesn’t support it. Drew’s batting average on balls in play this season is .320. League average typically is around .300. Drew’s career mark is .306.

  Discuss.

Finally, wish a Happy 64th Birthday to tennis legend Ilie Nastase — and throw in a few curse words. You know he would.

• I was looking at my notebook of random Tigers thoughts and here’s one leftover from the fall. The 2007 Padres lost a Game 163 and began a downward spiral that’s still in motion, more or less. Are the ‘09 Tigers following a similar path? What might the Padres look like if they had beaten the Rockies — and has Matt Holliday yet touched home plate? How would the 2010 Tigers look had they beaten the Twins in Game 163?

  My initial thoughts on the subject led me to believe the Tigers’ competitive window was just about shut and locked. Now, I’m not so sure. A month after the Curtis Granderson trade, I’m more confident that the Tigers are on footing that’s much more solid than the Padres of recent years. What do you think?

• Found this on Baseball-Reference.com yesterday:
  

  In a story in the New York Times, Detroit Tigers President Frank Navin blames the length of the games on the coachers (sic) boxes. Navin, reacting to American League President Ban Johnson’s complaint that too many games the previous season had taken two hours to play, says the boxes should be moved back so that the catcher can give the pitcher his signals more quickly. From where they are now, he said, the coaching players can detect the catcher’s signals unless he takes a lot of time to hide them. Navin said this slow signalling (sic) is the reason for the longer games.

  Two hours to play? If only we had that problem today.

• Were you as surprised as I was that the Giants signed Aubrey Huff to be their starting first baseman and cleanup hitter? Here’s what general manager Brian Sabean said of the Huff signing:
  

  “The more we examined what he has done and what we need, we thought this would be a good fit. He’s a fourth hitter who’s been a run producer and quite frankly he’s got the track record we were looking for. Even in a down year he drove in 85 runs which is something we needed.”

  You have to admire the man’s optimism.

• In our recent Fungo Pulse Check we asked: If only one of these Tigers could be elected to the Hall of Fame, who would you choose? Here are the results: Alan Trammell: 85 percent (33 votes); Jack Morris: 15 percent (six votes). I guess I’m in the distinct minority on Morris. Be sure to take our current poll in the sidebar –>.

• Happy Birthday to Jose Macias (38) and the late Vern Ruhle.

Have a great week.

Just can’t.

• In all the blather about Magglio Ordoñez‘s $18-million option trigger, one thing people failed to note has been his remarkable durability over the life of the contract.

  Other than the first year of the deal, 2005, when his knee was still recovering and a sports hernia limited him to 82 games, Ordoñez has played in an average of 153 games — 94 percent. Fact is, the Tigers didn’t expect much of him in ’05.

  This season he’s played in 120 of 149 games (81 percent) and if he plays in the remaining 13 games he’ll play in 82 percent.

  In all, not bad for a guy who the Tigers and their fans feared might not play more than one season — at best — in Detroit.

• Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan sets his sights on Jim Leyland today:
  

  Leyland is a prisoner, and isn’t that the beauty and ugliness of being a manager: While he’s only as good as his players, they get to determine how his 2009 is viewed.

  If the Tigers win the AL Central by one game, he’s a genius, a puppeteer who took a ragamuffin team and brought it into October.

  And if the Tigers lose the Central by one game, he’s no different than those Mets and Phillies and Red Sox and Angels and Indians. A good-for-nothing choker.

• The Tigers are #10 in the ESPN Power Rankings this week. But really, who cares?

• On this date in 1935, the Tigers clinched the pennant with a doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Browns. Tommy Bridges wins the opener while Elden Auker takes the nightcap with a complete-game shutout. The Tigers don’t exactly finish strong: they go 1-6 to end the season.

• In case you were wondering, on this date in 2006 the Tigers were a half-game up on the Twins. Makes today’s lead look better, doesn’t it?

Lastly, Happy Birthday to Cecil Fielder (46), the late Aurelio Lopez, Billy Muffett (79), the late (aforementioned) Elden Auker and the late John McHale, Sr. (88).

Have a great week.

1. In case you were wondering: Another heat warning in the desert.

2. Really, what are Tigers fans to do when they see that the club will be on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball? Bad enough they play like the 2003 Tigers, but they have to play the White Sox? I didn’t think even this team could erase the glee of taking three of four from Chicago. Wrong-o.

3. Did you see that former Tigers up-and-comer Virgil Vasquez pitched for the Pirates yesterday against the Diamondbacks? No? Well, you didn’t miss much: 3 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, all earned. His record for the season: 1-5, 6.21 ERA. The D-Backs won 9-0.

4. Speaking of the Pirates and D-Backs, I attended Friday night’s game and happened to see former Tigers GM Randy Smith sitting in the scouts’ section. He’s an executive with Padres again and I had to wonder why (other than the fact he lives in the Phoenix area) as an exec with an abysmal baseball club, he would be scouting two other bad teams.

5. Looks like former Tigers slugger/problem child Dmitri Young has reached the end of the line. A leg injury during a Double-A rehab appearance appears to be the final blow.

Have a great week.