May proved to be a bizarre month for a bizarre team. The Tigers finished the month four games ahead of their March/April pace — a 16-11 record in May versus 12-15 in April and March.

As I wrote for ESPN.com’s SweetSpot blog yesterday, the Tigers have strung together winning streaks of three, four and seven games, and skids of four, five, six and seven during the first two months of the season. In fact, May began with the club five games into a seven-game slide and then they lost five straight in the middle of the month.

What could June have in store? Here’s a look at the current winning percentage of the teams on the Tigers’ schedule this month, not including the Twins who leave town after tonight:

• @ White Sox: .466
• @ Rangers: .536
• Mariners: .509
• Rays: .527 (This is a one-game makeup.)
• Indians: .615
• @ Rockies: .463
• @ Dodgers: .464
• Diamondbacks: .545
• Blue Jays: .509 (One-game makeup.)
• Mets: .463

As for the Indians, their schedule looks similar to the Tigers; they’ll face the Rangers, Twins, Yankees, Tigers, Pirates, Rockies, Giants and Diamondbacks.

How are you feeling about the month ahead?

They lost two games to the Mariners in Seattle, then came home to lose three of four to the A’s. After a 14-10 record in April, they stumbled to 12-14 in May.

How would they fare in June? Much better, despite losses to division opponents on the both ends of the month.

Detroit finished June with a 15-12 record and gained three games in the standings; on June 1 they were 4-1/2 back of the Twins, just 1-1/2 on June 30. In between, the Tigers surged thanks to that soft spot in the interleague schedule — Pittsburgh, Washington and Arizona — allowing them to gain ground on the Twins, who were playing much tougher National League opponents.

The Tigers’ abysmal 5-10 road record in June included losing two of three at Kansas City, Chicago and Minnesota. This has got to stop if the Tigers hope to stay relevant — much less in the hunt.

While a seven-game winning streak and a 10-2 home record certainly helped buoy the Tigers’ winning ways, we can’t overlook the convergence of wins with Brennan Boesch becoming a fixture in the lineup and the awakening of Brandon Inge, Alex Avila and, to a lesser degree, Gerald Laird.

As frustrating as this team is on some nights, they still have a compelling roster, an aggressive owner and a winnable division.

Issues to watch in July will be:

• Can Jeremy Bonderman get his act together after three consecutive lousy starts?
• Will Inge and Avila maintain their respective offensive resurgence?
• Can Ryan Perry capably fill Joel Zumaya‘s role in the eighth inning?
• Will Johnny Damon finally provide the consistent hitting the Tigers expected when they signed him?

• Can they stop playing porous defense night in and night out?

Watching as these questions get answered should make this month a fascinating one. And, what we learn in July will determine whether the Tigers emerge as buyers or sellers — or neither — when the trade deadline arrives.

There’s plenty of time to correct lineup flaws and overcome a slow start. Just think back to 2008 when the Tigers started 0-7. They still managed to finish the month just a game under .500. Or how about 1987? They finished the opening month at 9-12 but wound up winning 98 games — and the division.

So now that we’re a few of days into the second month of the season, let’s take a look back on how the Tigers fared in April and peek ahead at the remainder of this month:

April Record: 14-10 (Home: 7-3, Road 7-7)

American League Rankings

• Team Batting: 1st, .288 avg.
• Team Pitching: 8th, 4.30 ERA

Top 3 Hitters

1. Austin Jackson: .364 avg., .422 OBP, .917 OPS; 36 hits; 5 stolen bases
2. Miguel Cabrera: .344 avg., .427 OBP, 1.042 OPS; 5 HR, 11 doubles
3. Johnny Damon: .329 avg., .431 OBP, .890 OPS, 15 walks

Top 3 Pitchers

1. Phil Coke: 3-0, 1.93 ERA; 14 IP, 11 K — remarkably effective despite his 1.57 WHIP
2. Joel Zumaya: 2-0, 1.23 ERA; 14.2 IP, 0 BB, 16 K, 0.82 WHIP
3. Max Scherzer: 1-1, 3.23 ERA; 27.2 IP, 7 BB

Tigers Q&A for April

The Tigers faced several questions on Opening Day. Here’s a look at three of them and how the club answered them — or not.

• Q: How would Austin Jackson perform, particularly at the plate?

  A: Talk about a pressure cooker: Jackson enters his rookie season as the replacement for popular Curtis Granderson, faces questions about his ability to patrol the vast centerfield at Comerica Park and his strikeout-prone approach at the plate. Well, we don’t hear much about Grandy anymore, his defense has been dazzling and the 34 strikeouts in April have been overshadowed by his .364 average and .422 on-base percentage.

• Q: How would three-fifths of the rotation, namely newcomer Max Scherzer and questions marks Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman, shape up behind Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello?

  A: Who would’ve guessed that it would be the Tigers’ top-two starters that would produce early-season ulcers? Much like last year, Verlander endured a slow start in April but appears to have put it together with two dominant outings to end the month. Scherzer has shown flashes of why the Tigers and Diamondbacks have been high on him. His enduring challenge is locking in some consistency. Willis and Bonderman? They’ve shown that they might be okay — or, in Bonderman’s case, maybe more than okay. Porcello remains the mystery. The Tigers are confident that he’s just a mechanical tweak away from his 2009 form. Let’s hope so.

• Q: Could the lineup produce enough runs to compete with the Twins and White Sox?

  A: If it weren’t for Ordonez and Cabrera early in the month, the Tigers would’ve been in bad shape offensively. As April moved along the rest of the lineup, for the most part, woke up and finished the month with 120 runs scored — five a game. The Twins scored 118 runs in 23 games (5.1 runs per game) and the White Sox scored 92 runs in 25 games — 3.6 per game. So, if April is any indication, the Tigers can hang — and we’ll have an even better idea after this week’s inaugural trip to the Twins’ Target Field.

Looking Ahead to May: Making the Rounds

In addition to the usual force-feeding of American League Central foes (trips to Minnesota and Cleveland this week), the Tigers will get a heaping helping of the A.L.East this month beginning with back-to-back home series against the Yankees and Red Sox next week. They’ll make a return trip to the West Coast to face the A’s and Mariners. In between they’ll kickoff interleague play at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers.

Three Questions for May

1. Will Rick Porcello have it figured out by Memorial Day?
2. How will the Tigers matchup with the Yankees and Red Sox?
3. How will Carlos Guillen fare upon his return from the disabled list?

Discuss.

Record: 10-17

Hitting

• Tigers team average in May: .260, seventh in American League, 17th in MLB
• Team average in 2008: .263, tied for fifth in A.L., 10th in MLB

Leading Hitters

1. Magglio Ordonez: .350 avg., .544 slg., .396 on-base pct.

2. Placido Polanco: .330/.425/.366
3. Carlos Guillen: .324/.568/.390

Leaders by Category

• Hits: Ordonez, 36; Polanco, 35

• Home Runs: Matt Joyce, 5; Ordonez, 4
• Doubles: Polanco, 10; Ordonez, 8
• Triples: Brandon Inge, 2; Four players tied with one
• RBI: Ordonez, 16; Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames, 12

Pitching

• Tigers team ERA in May: 4.73, 13th in A.L., tied for 26th in MLB
• Team ERA in 2008: 4.77, last in A.L. (0.01 behind Seattle)

Leaders by Category

• Wins (starter): Nate Robertson, 3; Aramando Galarraga and Kenny Rogers, 2
• Wins (reliever): Todd Jones, 1
• ERA (starter): Justin Verlander, 3.92; Galarraga, 4.55
• ERA (reliever): Freddy Dolsi, 1.64; Zach Miner, 2.57
• Strikeouts (starter): Verlander, 24; Jeremy Bonderman, 21
• Strikeouts (reliever): Francisco Cruceta, 11; Aquilino Lopez, 8
• Walks/Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP) (starter): Galarraga, 1.29; Verlander, 1.33
• WHIP (reliever): Miner, 1.07; Dolsi, 1.36

Here’s hoping that disMay doesn’t lead to a June Swoon.

Individual Batting Leaders (minimum 20 games, my totally subjective criteria)

• Average: Carlos Guillen, .321
• Home Runs: Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, 5
• RBI: Cabrera/Ordonez, 19
• OBP: Guillen, .414
• OPS: Guillen, .938
• SLG: Guillen, .524
• SB: Guillen, Pudge Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, 3

Individual Pitching Leaders

• Wins: Five pitchers tied with two each – Jeremy Bonderman, Armando Galarraga, Aquilino Lopez, Clay Rapada, Kenny Rogers
• ERA
  • Starter: Galarraga, 1.50
  • Reliever: Rapada, 0.00
• Saves: Todd Jones, 5
• Strikeouts
  • Starter: Nate Robertson, 24
  • Reliever: Lopez, 14

Team Rankings

• Team Batting: .267, fourth in American League (ninth in majors)
• Team Pitching: 4.88 ERA, 13th in A.L. (28th in majors)
• Team Fielding: .984, seventh in A.L. (tied for 13th in majors)

And now the random stuff: Tigers Day-by-Day Record

• Monday: 2-1
• Tuesday: 3-1
• Wednesday: 4-1
• Thursday: 1-3
• Friday: 2-2
• Saturday: 1-3
• Sunday: 0-4