Justin Verlander or no, I didn’t expect the Tigers to win Game 5. After Wednesday night’s deflating extra-inning loss, my typically optimistic self thought the Tigers had run out of gas and that the Rangers were just too hot to lose.

Texas was making the most of their opportunities — lord knows they (and the Tigers with much less success) have had plenty this series — and how long could Detroit’s worn out pitching staff keep Michael Young and Adrian Beltre, the only Rangers not scorching the ball these days, in check? Not long, at least in the case of the former.

When Young doubled in the first inning, that queasy feeling of doom washed over me. Then I got angry: No way Verlander wilts in this situation. He didn’t.

Despite what some wrote, Verlander was terrific. Untouchable? No. But he had enough stuff, grit and determination to get the outs he needed at just the right time.

These same observers are saying the Tigers were lucky to win this game. Well, yeah — and it’s about time a bounce went Detroit’s way. And an ice-cold hitter hit a home run. And a starter went deep into the game. And someone other than Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde got the final outs. And a packed Comerica Park trembled one more time.

If the Tigers go on to win this series, imagine how we’ll remember a beaten down Alex Avila at last delivering a key hit with an opposite field home run, or how iconic Miguel Cabrera‘s sixth-inning double off the third-base bag will become in Detroit sports lore. Or Victor Martinez‘s triple when the man can hardly walk. Or Delmon Young‘s two rockets to left-center that put him in elite company in the Tigers’ postseason record book.

With Max Scherzer going in Game 6 — the first time the Tigers have been in a postseason Game 6 since 1968 — you have to feel good, don’t you? My guess is that he feels he has some unfinished business after Game 2 and will be on a mission Saturday night.

For now though, I’m going to savor this win and the crow I was forced to eat after not so much doubting the Tigers’ grit, but recognizing the offensive buzz saw that’s the Texas Rangers right now.

And you know what? Jim Leyland seems to be having the time of his life in this series. Perhaps it’s time I stop fretting every pitch and just enjoy the ride too.

Who’s with me?

Unfortunately for Kelly and the Tigers, Granderson recovered and made a leaping grab that definitely saved the game for the Yankees and perhaps the series.

It was the second game in a row the Tigers had loaded the bases in the early innings with a chance to blow the game wide open. At least in Game 3 Miguel Cabrera plated a run when he grounded into a double play.

How many times this season have we seen the Tigers load the bases only to come away empty handed?

For the past six months I asked that question only rhetorically. Thanks to some horrific relief work in the eighth, I had time (and good reason to) visit Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index to get the definitive answer.

Using the parameters of bases loaded with zero or one out and a batter making an out, I found out the Tigers were in this situation 65 times in 48 games in 2011. Thirty-three times they scored – but never more than a single run – 16 times they struck out and 15 times they grounded into a double play.

Thirty-nine times the Tigers came up with bases loaded and two out and failed to score. They fanned 11 times. Tonight’s almost hero Kelly faced that situation just twice in 2011. Brennan Boesch was up six times with the bases loaded and two out. Thirty-eight times they had the bases loaded and didn’t put a ball in play — that includes home runs, and the Tigers had three grand slams this season, and eight walks. Even though they scored 20 runs in these situations, they hit just .100 with a .289 OBP.

I was surprised to discover Miguel Cabrera came to the plate with the bases juiced three times this past season, once with no one out, twice with two out. In all three at bats he singled to left driving in one run twice, and two runs one time.

Thinking back to Tuesday night’s first-inning scenario, I looked at how many times this past season the Tigers had:

• bases loaded, with none or one out,
• in the first or second inning; and,
• put a ball in play.

This occurred 14 times. The results: .091 average, .071 OBP and .182 OPS. The most successful at bat for any Tigers hitter in that scenario came on April 8 when Victor Martinez doubled off Kyle Davies to clear the bases. Detroit scored six runs in the other 13 games, three on sacrifice flies, three on groundouts.

For a moment I thought about digging deeper into this but, like when you’re told there’s no Santa Claus, there’s no reason to ask about the Easter Bunny. Nothing good can come of it.

*Thanks for your patience as I revised this post to clarify and correct the information.

The Gist: Miguel Cabrera got to Freddy Garcia early, crushing any potential mind games the Yankees’ starter could potentially play on the Tigers, lining a two-run homer down the rightfield corner. Cabrera finished with three hits and RBI. Victor Martinez and Don Kelly drove in the other two runs to give a cushion that wasn’t needed until the bottom of the ninth. The bulk of the day belonged to Max Scherzer who was brilliant, no-hitting the Yankees for six innings. I won’t go into Jose Valverde‘s appearance. If you were lucky enough to miss it, just know it was an inning fraught with panic and despair.

The Quote: “It’s going to be electric.” – Justin Verlander on the environment Monday night at Comerica Park for Game 3.

The Stat: 1 – The number of stolen bases by Cabrera, the only one in the game by either team.

Up Next:

Monday: Tigers vs. Yankees @ Comerica Park | 8:37 p.m. ET | On the air: TBS/AM 1270 and 97.1 FM

Justin Verlander (24-5, 2.40 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (19-8 3.00 ERA)

Follow The Daily Fungo on Twitter: @DailyFungo

Leading Off: The Tigers earned a split against the mosquito-ish Orioles by brute force: homers by Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Don Kelly and Jhonny Peralta. Brad Penny was just … decent enough to earn the win and even his season record at 11-11.

ALDS Maneuverings: The Rangers swept the feedble Mariners and have a one-game lead over the Tigers in the race for the second-best record in the American League. Texas heads to Anaheim to face Dan Haren, Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana. Perhaps it’s time to bury the hatchet with Weaver, however temporarily.

On this date in 1926, in his final day in a Tigers uniform, Ty Cobb watched his replacement in centerfield get six hits in a doubleheader against the Red Sox to become the new batting champion as Heinie Manush edging Babe Ruth .378 to .372.

The Diamondbacks Friday-night clincher came before a less-than-capacity crowd at Chase Field, so it will be interesting to see how the club draws in the NLDS. I’m liking my chances to secure a walk-up ticket whenever the D-backs’ series opens. There’s a nice piece on Kirk Gibson in Sunday’s Arizona Republic – but the really interesting story is this one. When he retired, Gibby coached a youth hockey team in Grosse Pointe and got advice from Steve Yzerman.

“My philosophy on it was you want the puck, but I’d always watch them fight for it, get it and then dump it into the zone and fight for it again,” Gibson said. “It didn’t make much sense to me. I’d like to keep the puck.”

With the season ending on Wednesday, the Tigers won’t have an opportunity to even their record on Thursdays and Saturdays. These will end up being the only two days of the week they didn’t at least finish .500 (Thursdays, 9-10; Saturdays. 12-13).

Finally, on this date in 1969 the album “Abbey Road” by the Beatles was released. Have a great week.

He also highlighted Max Scherzer’s terrific performance last night:

Max Scherzer threw seven shutout innings, the 18th time in his 29 starts he’s allowed two earned runs or less. Also from ESPN Stats and Info, how he won:

A) Scherzer’s fastball averaged 94.5 MPH Sunday, his highest average velocity on his fastball since June 20, 2010.

B) Perhaps because of the Tigers’ large lead, Scherzer’s threw a first-pitch strike to 20 of 26 hitters (76.9 percent), his third-highest percentage of the season. With an 8-0 lead after the fourth inning, Scherzer threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of the 13 hitters he faced in the fifth inning and later.

C) Given the large lead, Scherzer came after the White Sox hitters in the strike zone. In the first three innings, 43.5 percent of Scherzer’s pitches were in the strike zone according to the PitchF/X; in his final four innings, 62.7 percent of his pitches were in the strike zone.

D) Scherzer threw 17 sliders with two strikes, five more than in any of his starts in the last three seasons. He got five outs with his slider with two strikes, matching his most in the last three seasons.

Here’s hoping Scherzer can keep it up for another six weeks or so.

Leading Off: The Tigers completed a deliciously emphatic sweep of the White Sox last night, 18-2. Alex Avila collected four hits, Miguel Cabrera teed off big-time with a double, homer and four runs driven in, and Max Scherzer was terrific in his seven innings of work: five hits, six strikeout and no walks. Andy Dirks also drove in four (but who didn’t?) with a homer and a single.

Around the Central: The Indians beat the Royals 9-6 and the Angels beat the Twins, 4-1. Today the Twins and White Sox play a day-night doubleheader, and the Royals visit the A’s.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Lemire looks at what it takes for a big-league pitcher to lose 20 games — a mark which the Orioles’ Jeremy Guthrie is close to reaching; yesterday he lost his 17th. Naturally, the article looks at Brian Kingman and Mike Maroth, the last two pitchers to lose 20.

Losing 20 games is not for the faint of heart. And it’s not for the game’s worst pitchers. For a pitcher to lose 20, there must be a delicate balance of conditions: He can’t be so good that he’s winning games on his own, while he can’t be so bad that he loses the faith of the manager and front office, plus the offense can’t provide meaningful run support. A 20-game loser must be good enough that the team wants to continue giving him the ball. Kingman and Maroth were both in their first full major-league seasons, yet weren’t returned to the minors for more seasoning.

Leftovers from 20: The Postgame’s Eric Adelson wrote about Justin Verlander’s chances for reaching 300 wins, and why JV doesn’t much care for the conventional wisdom:

He doesn’t care for the statistician’s math. And he doesn’t care for history’s math. He knows 20-game winners are rare these days and, therefore, winning 300 in a career is a milestone most people view as unlikely.

(snip)

And still, to those who say it can’t be done, he says, pssshh.

“I disagree with that,” Verlander says, his eyes wide. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Happy 46th Birthday to Rob Richie.

Forty years ago today the Tigers tied a major-league record by using six pinch hitters in an inning (the seventh), but lose 6-5 to the Yankees.

On this date in 1984, Cal Ripken made a first-inning error to let in the game’s lone run as the Tigers beat Orioles, 1-0. Juan Berenguer gets the win and Willie Hernandez picked up his 28th save. Mike Flanagan goes the distance in the loss. Detroit’s magic number is 15.

Finally, Happy 82nd Birthday to Bob Newhart, one of my all-time favorites.

It’s been quite some time (about four months) since anyone thought the White Sox were poised to make a run at taking this division and now that the team is seven and a half games back of the Tigers with just four games left against their rival, the Sox chances have gone from slim to extremely slim to not even the Mets could blow this lead.

Raburn, who entered the game in the 7th to face Jesse Crain because he was 5-for-10 career against him, stepped up to the plate with a runner on third and the Tigers down two runs in the ninth.

White Sox closer Sergio Santos, who Raburn was 0-for-3 in his career against, was two outs away from a save and bringing his team within 5.5 games in the division. It’s an understatement to say that Santos had been dominant on the road this year coming into Saturday’s ninth inning. Santos was yet to allow a single run in 25 appearances on the road and had just allowed six hits.

According to ESPN’s baseball research specialist Mark Simon, Santos hadn’t allowed a single hit on a 2-strike slider to a right-handed hitter all season (43 K, 0 HA) before Raburn wrapped a belt high offering 423 feet around the left field foul pole.

I guess he was due.Raburn, of course, was quickly upstaged WPA-wise (*Win Probability Added) two batters later when Miguel Cabrera sent the first pitch he saw (another slider) into the seats for his 4th go-ahead or game tying home run in the 7th inning or later this season and a .464 WPA boost sealing the win for Detroit 9-8.

This marks the first time the Tigers have won a game all season when allowing at least eight runs (previously were 0-21), and the 12th time the club has won when scoring at least nine runs (12-1 in those games).

Another oddity in this game was David Purcey’s three scoreless frames. This marks the fifth time this year that Pauley has pitched at least three scoreless innings in a game (the previous four all coming with Seattle) and the fourth time this year that he’s pitched at least three scoreless innings while allowing one hit or less. Pauley had allowed eight runs on 18 hits in ten innings in a Tigers uniform prior to Saturday’s game. However, Pauley did not receive the win in this game, that went to Luis Marte, who pitched a scoreless ninth in his second career appearance.

Saturday was also the largest comeback victory for the Tigers since September 27th, 2003 against Minnesota. Why is that date significant? Oh, just because that was when the Tigers came back from an 8-0 deficit in the 5th inning to avoid becoming the first team in the history of the American League to lose 120 games.

Our WPA hero that day was everyone’s favorite soft spoken first basemen Carlos Pena, who singled against J.C. Romero in the 8th to drive in two runs and tie the game at eight. However, the most memorable play from that game was undoubtedly Warren Morris’ walk-off strikeout on a wild pitch from 46-year-old Jesee Orosco with one out in the bottom of the ninth, which scored Alex Sanchez to win the game.

This was the final pitch of Orosco’s 24-year Major League career, though he’ll mostly be remembered for his time with the 80′s New York Mets and ’88 Los Angeles Dodgers. He finished third in the Cy Young award voting when he achieved what would be his career high in innings pitched with 110 and ERA with 1.47.

Also noteworthy, Brandon Inge and Ramon Santiago started this game at catcher and shortstop and batted eighth and ninth respectively.

The Tigers still had to come back and beat the Twins the next day to end the season with just 119 losses, which they did in a game where Mike Maroth threw a quality start and picked up his 9th win that year. The Twins three and four hitters that day were Doug Mientkiewicz and Matt LeCroy, and the lineup also featured featured Luis Rivas, Dustan Mohr and Denny Hocking. 

The Tigers WPA hero that day was Inge, who had an RBI double that tied the game at two in the fifth inning against Brad Thomas (Yes, that Brad Thomas). The Tigers proceeded to break the game open with a seven run 6th inning at the hands of former number-two overall pick in the 2000 draft Adam Johnson, who never pitched in the majors again.

Getting back to Saturday’s game, the Tigers hit four home runs from the fifth inning on—with recent acquisitions Wilson Betemit and Delmon Young getting the Tigers within striking distance with  and unfortunately Cabrera’s 1st inning double was mere feet from leaving the yard—pushing their season total of home runs against Chicago to 15.

I can already see Tigers fans smiling at the fact that the Twins are the only team the Tigers have actually hit more home runs against with 17. The two clutch bombs in the ninth against Santos weren’t the first batch of heroics from Raburn and Cabrera against the White Sox this season as a series in early June at U.S. Celular Field included game deciding blasts from each.

On Saturday, June 4, Cabrera hit a go-ahead two-run shot off Jesse Crain (another slider) helping Justin Verlander win his 6th game and the next day Raburn’s grand slam off Jake Peavy won the Tigers the series.

One can’t help but note that Cabrera had come full circle as he rounded the bases with all of his teammates waiting for him at home plate Saturday night. It was just two years ago that Cabrera played an important September game against the White Sox coming off a brutal and public hangover.

Though teammate Justin Verlander has generated more AL MVP buzz this year, Cabrera is a perennial candidate for the award. He’s had his usual elite offensive season as he ranked third in the AL in wOBA entering play Saturday and he’s stepped up when the game is on the line as he trails only Toronto’s Jose Bautista in total WPA.

To see him put a quick move on the first pitch he saw made his effort look entirely effortless as he calmly trotted around the bases knowing that the White Sox were effectively finished.

Leading Off: Brad Penny proved to be a stopper after all: a momentum stopper. Maybe it was too much to ask for, a sweep of the Twins in the last trip to Target Field this season, but the Tigers lost with a flourish, 11-4. Ramon Santiago collected four hits but other than that, it was a stinker. And what about poor David Pauley? The forgotten man of the bullpen might have showed once and for all why he is the forgotten man of the bullpen: 2 IP, 4 hits, 4 runs (all earned), a walk and homer. Meanwhile, Wilson Betemit is hitting 110 points higher than Brandon Inge … Carlos Guillen is slated to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple A Toledo tonight and soon thereafter will throw second base into disarray.

Around the Central: The Royals did their part to help the Tigers to no avail, beating the Indians 2-1, and the White Sox finished off a sweep of the Mariners, 9-3.

The Tigers moved up two spots in ESPN’s Power Rankings this week to number 7, seven spots ahead of the Indians and nine ahead of the White Sox.

Alex Avila extended his current hitting streak to 12 games yesterday at Minnesota. He compiled a 10-game hitting streak earlier in the month, doing so August 2-13. Avila is the first Tigers player to have two hitting streaks of 10 games-or-better in a single month since Roger Cedeno(!) did so in May of 2001. Cedeno posted two 10-game hitting streaks that month for the Tigers, doing so May 1-11 and May 15-25.

Paul Sporer wrote that Justin Verlander’s20th win was nothing but a symptom of greatness.

Joe Janish looks at waiver wire deals of the pastand finds two Tigers deals worth mentioning, if not remembering.

On this date in 1925, the city of Detroit hosted a dinner for Ty Cobb honoring his 20 years in a Tiger uniform. He was given a trophy by the city and $10,000 by the club.

On Aug. 29, 1959, Hamtramck won the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa.

Finally, Happy 73rd Birthday to actor Elliot Gould who is known for many roles, but my favorite will always be that of Reuben Tishkoff in “Ocean’s 11” and 12 and 13.

KELLY PLACED ON PATERNITY LIST, WORTH RECALLED FROM TOLEDO: The Tigerstoday placed infielder/outfielder Don Kelly on the paternity list and the club has recalled the contract of infielder Danny Worth from Triple A Toledo. Worth hit .247 (69×279) with 17 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 32 RBI in 79 games with Toledo.

CABRERA REINSTATED FROM PATERNITY LIST: The Tigers today reinstated first baseman Miguel Cabrera from the paternity list. Cabrera missed yesterday’s game at Tampa Bay for the birth of his son Christopher Alexander. Following yesterday’s game, the Tigers optioned the contract of catcher Omir Santos to Triple A Toledo.

Who’s next, Gene Lamont?

Leading Off: I’ve watched a lot of Tigers baseball in my time but I can’t recall a more exciting final out sequence as the one we saw on Sunday to preserve a 8-7 Tigers win. Austin Jackson’s flawless throw to Alex Avila. Rick Porcello seemed hell bent to surrender a seven-run cushion but thankfully the bullpen did enough to blow it entirely … The Tigers head to Tampa Bay for a four-game set … They also are looking for their first winning streak of more than three games since June 7 when they had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Around the Central: The White Sox crushed the Rangers 10-0 at U.S. Cellular Field; the Red Sox downed the Royals, 6-1, and the Yankees blanked the Twins, 3-0.

• The Tigers are #10 in ESPN’s Power Rankings, up from nine last week. They trail the D-backs (who have one more win) and this week’s opponent, the Rays (#7).

• Somehow I missed out on Dave Schoenfield’s reminiscing about Chet Lemon last week:
  

  If you’re too young to remember Chet Lemon, he was a superb ballplayer. He could them run down in center field — in fact, his 512 putouts with the White Sox in 1977 remains the American League record, not bad for a guy who had converted from third base as a rookie the year before. He hit .300 three times, had some power, drew some walks, got hit by 10 to 20 pitches a season. He did a lot to help his teams win.

  What Chet Lemon wasn’t very good at was stealing bases.

• This is a topic that deserves more thought than I have time for today but am I the only one who thinks Miguel Cabrera has a profound lack of hustle on the bases, particularly out of the batter’s box?

• SI‘s Joe Sheehan thinks the stars are aligning in the Tigers favor after sweeping the Indians:
  

  Jackson’s base-runner kill helped Jose Valverde escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam and convert his 37th consecutive save this season. The Tigers have fended off a series of challenges by the Indians, and after a trip to Tampa Bay get seven games against the Twins and Royals to stretch their lead before six more against the White Sox and Indians. That week may represent both teams’ last shot to keep the Tigers from making September a coronation.

• Are the Tigers winning with other clubs’ talent?

• Not a game goes by that I don’t wish the Tigers still had Placido Polanco batting second.

• It doesn’t matter if the Twins send Jim Thome to the Indians before Aug. 31. The Tigers are set to face both clubs six more times this season so, they’re hosed either way.

Finally, Happy 47th Birthday to tennis hall of famer Mats Wilander who, in 1988, won the Australian Open, French Open and U.S. Open.

Miguel Cabrera gets most of the accolades in the Detroit Tigers’ historically top-heavy lineup, and not without reason — the first baseman’s .349 True Average (TAv) trails only Jose Bautista’s among American League batters. However, Cabrera hasn’t been the most valuable position player in Detroit this season. That title belongs to Alex Avila, a 24-year-old catcher who came up through the Tigers’ system before making his major league debut late in 2009.

Avila acquitted himself well in his initial exposure to the majors but his bat crashed back to earth last season, when he hit .228/.316/.340 while splitting catching duties with Gerald Laird. This season, however, he’s hit well enough to take over the team lead in Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP), posting a 3.4 figure to Cabrera’s 3.1.

My eyes glaze over on most of the statistical stuff, but the point of the article is interesting.

A big part of the team’s success has been the stellar performance of staff ace and early Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander, who leads the majors in WHIP with a microscopic mark of 0.85.

Since baseball went to the divisional format in 1969, only two pitchers have pitched to a WHIP below 0.90 in at least 15 starts and both of them (Greg Maddux in 1994-95 and Pedro Martinez in 2000) went on to win the Cy Young.

Even with other starters like Jered Weaver, James Shields, and Josh Beckett having great years anyone would have to think that most of the votes would go Verlander’s way at this point.

Verlander’s teammate Miguel Cabrera learned how difficult it is to take regular season awards home without making the playoffs last year as despite a six month assault on American League pitching Josh Hamilton won the AL MVP while missing most of September because his teammates stepped up and clinched the division.

Had the Tigers done the same, its entirely possible that some voters would’ve filled out their ballots differently. It’d be a shame for Verlander to suffer the same fate as Cabrera, but he likely won’t if he continues to pitch like this and his partner at the top of the rotation can get back to the level he was at last year.

The man I’m referring to is Max Scherzer, who enters tonight’s start against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4.32 ERA and 1.41 WHIP, which tops only Brad Penny in the Tigers rotation.

A year ago, Scherzer entered his June 20th start against the A’s with an even worse 6.14 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. We all remember what happened after that. Scherzer retired 14 of the 25 A’s he faced that day on strikes and he never looked back. He was the Tigers best pitcher the rest of the way throwing a 2.15 ERA in 129.2 innings with 125 strikeouts.

Though Scherzer is tied for the team lead with Verlander in wins with nine, it really is about time that the real Scherzer present himself. His win total is a reflection of his run support as he’s received double digit support three times already this year. Only Yankees starter CC Sabathia has had ten or more runs of support more often.

It’s not that Scherzer hasn’t pitched well this year. He certainly has and two starts in particular stick out in my mind: April 24th when he shutout the White Sox for eight innings, and May 4th when he did the same to the Yankees. Having been in attendance for the latter performance, I can tell you that I left the ballpark that night thinking Scherzer was poised to go on tear just like he did last year. But, since that start he’s hanging on to a 5.52 ERA with opponents hitting .295 off of him.

A big part of his struggles this season have been on the road, where he carries a 6.21 ERA in six starts. His peripherals aren’t completely out of whack on the road as his K/9 on the road is 9.7, which is actually higher than his 7.0 at home, and SO/BB is 2.40 yet his WHIP is 1.68 (!). It’s a small sample, but on the road Scherzer has a 5.66 FIP and 3.58 xFIP. Even if you aren’t big on advanced numbers, the fact that he’s given up more earned runs (23) in his six road starts than he has in nine home starts (20) should give you pause. That is something that absolutely can’t continue.

Scherzer has the entire rest of the season to prove that his struggles on the road are just a rough start and that begins tonight against the Dodgers. Los Angeles slugger Matt Kemp has carried that offense, but he’s 0-for-13 with 4 strikeouts against Scherzer in his career.

Last year, Verlander and Scherzer racked up more strikeouts than any other duo in the league (403) while combining for a 3.43 ERA in 420 innings. That is the type of production the Tigers need to get from those guys to have the best rotation in the AL Central, which they probably need to win the division.

Nick Shlain, a Journalism student at Eastern Michigan University, writes for Detroit Baseball Page.com. You can follow him on Twitter @nshlain.

I thought he had it. I really did. Earlier in the year I wrote that Justin Verlander could have another no-hitter this summer and I still believe that (he’ll face the Indians again, right?).

Tuesday night was the tenth time in Verlander’s career that he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. It was also his third complete game of the year and second shutout. And third career two-hitter.

With a league-leading 105 strikeouts and microscopic 0.87 WHIP there is little debate over who should start the All-Star Game for the American League at this point.

Verlander dominated with 40 fastballs that registered above 95+ mph, but also was very consistent with his curveball and changeup. It was probably his best start of the year in that regard.

I remember marveling at Verlander after his no-no in Toronto because he threw it without the command of his curveball. He only had four strikeouts in that start, the last of which came on a slider to Rajai Davis to end the game. He was able to get weak contact by pounding the zone with his fastball the entire night.

Verlander was a different kind of dominant Tuesday night as he was able to baffle the Indians with tremendous breaking stuff as he set down 12 on strikes, including Grady Sizemore four times.

The no-hitter was lost with one out in the 8th inning when Orlando Cabrera lined a 99-mph fastball that was on the outside corner into shallow center.

Most people are saying this was a bad break for Verlander as Cabrera happened to put a nice swing on it, but if there’s anything to complain about on the play its that centerfielder Austin Jackson was simply just playing too deep. In my opinion, he’s playing too deep for Orlando Cabrera at anytime of the game.

It was just Monday that Comerica Park saw how shallow B.J. Upton plays anyone and everyone. It burned Upton and the Rays when Miguel Cabrera and
Ramon Santiago hit balls that he wasn’t able to cutoff, but the true mark of a great centerfielder is how shallow you play. Torii Hunter isn’t the best centerfielder of the generation because he makes highlight catches, its Andruw Jones because he played shallow and still got to basically everything in the same zip code.

If I’m Austin Jackson, I’d have taken a few big steps in and make the not-so-scary
Cabrera hit the ball over my head. Upton was playing in with Joel Peralta on the mound against Miguel (!) Cabrera late in a tight game.

Late in a no-hitter with the Tigers leading by four and Verlander is pumping 99-mph gas there is no excuse for playing Cabrera that deep in that spot. Where he was playing he had no shot, but if he’s playing in with his closing speed he definitely has a shot a catching it with a few steps and a dive.

• 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.

1-2; 4th place, 1.5 GB Royals

Today’s Game

Tigers @ Orioles | 3:05 p.m. ET – Baltimore | On the air: FSD/AM 1270 and 97.1 FM

Pitching Matchup

Rick Porcello (0-0) vs. Jake Arrieta (0-0)

Yesterday’s Results

Tigers 10 – Yankees 7

• W: Max Scherzer (1-0)
• L: Phil Hughes (0-1)
• HR: Miguel Cabrera (2), Brennan Boesch (1)

Tigers History Lesson

Today’s Birthdays

• Cameron Maybin, 24

On this Date in Tigers History

• 2005 – On Opening Day in Detroit, Dmitri Young hit three home runs to lead the Tigers to an 11-2 win over the Royals. Here’s what the starting lineup looked like that day behind starter Jeremy Bonderman:
  1. Omar Infante, 2b
  2. Carlos Guillen, ss
  3. Pudge Rodriguez, c
  4. Magglio Ordonez, rf
  5. Young, dh
  6. Rondell White, lf
  7. Carlos Pena, 1b
  8. Craig Monroe, cf
  9. Brandon Inge, 3b

David Wells claims he was "half-drunk" when he pitched a perfect game in 1998

Admit it … when you read about Miguel Cabrera’s arrest this morning you probably chuckled a little about the whole swigging a bottle of scotch in front of the police part. Of course there’s nothing funny about driving under the influence, and if in fact Cabrera was drunk while he was driving, he should be subject to the full extent of the law. Clearly Cabrera has a drinking problem, but what are the public relations implications for the Tigers?

As a public relations professional (and baseball fan) my advice to the Tigers would be to make a short statement like this: ”All of us in the Tigers community are troubled after hearing of Miguel Cabrera’s arrest this morning. We don’t know all the details at this time, but we’ve been in contact with Miguel and have offered to help in any way we can. Right now our main concern is with Miguel’s health. Obviously we want the best for him and hope he can quickly return to spring training to prepare for the 2011 season.”

End of story from a PR perspective.

Let’s face it, baseball has a storied history when it comes to drunks. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle were all said to be drunks — and all are hall of famers. Tony LaRussa, arguably one of the best major league managers ever, has had his share of alcohol-related run ins with the law. Wade Boggs could party with the best of them.

The truth is, baseball fans have a high threshold for drunks. David Wells claims he was “half-drunk” when he pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in 1998. And what did it do for his reputation? Did the Yankees admonish him? Did his fans abandon him? Nope — it made him a legend.

Cabrera’s image is what it is. A few weeks in rehab would probably do him some good, but either way fans have a short memory as long as nobody gets hurt. There aren’t too many fans in Philadelphia cursing Michael Vick these days. But could you imagine what the atmosphere in Philly would have been for Vick if he didn’t have an MVP season?

Nothing new. Just sharing what’s out there.

• Born: July 6, 1954 in Hollywood, Calif.
• Bats: Left Throws: Left
• Height: 6′ 4″ Weight: 200 lb.
• Acquired: Drafted by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 1975 amateur draft.
• Seasons in Detroit: 5 (1976-80)
• Uniform Number: 30
• Stats: .256 avg., 98 HR, 354 RBI, .779 OPS
• Awards: Three-time All Star (1977, ’78 and ’82)

On May 27, 1980, Tigers GM Jim Campbell traded my favorite player, first baseman Jason Thompson, to the California Angels for outfielder Al Cowens.

The Hollywood native joined the Tigers full time in 1976 and played 123 games that year, hitting .218, with 17 home runs and 54 RBI. Two of the homers cleared the rightfield roof at Tiger Stadium. It was in 1977, though, that he made his mark: .270, 31 homers and 105 RBI — and earned an All Star Game selection.

The 1977 Tigers yearbook noted:

Jason led the Tigers with 31 home runs and 105 RBI — the first Tiger since Norm Cash (32) in 1971 to top 30 homers and the first since Willie Horton (100) in 1966 to attain the century mark in RBI.

At that point, the Tigers had to like their team of the future: Thompson, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish, Steve Kemp, Ron LeFlore, Jack Morris, et al, with a third baseman to be named later.

Thompson had another solid year in ’78, hitting .287 with 26 homers and 96 RBI.

The Beginning of the End in Detroit…Already?!

In 1979 he continued to hit homers and drive in runs — 20 and 79, respectively — but his average dropped 40 points to .246. That was also the year that Sparky Anderson arrived and, so the story goes, Thompson and Sparky didn’t mesh.

In 1980, Thompson got off to a slow start: .214/4/20 in 36 games, and Sparky invoked his My Way or the Highway clause and sent his first baseman to Orange County.

As I’ve said before, Thompson’s replacement, Richie Hebner, was a favorite of mine too. But, who were the Tigers kidding? Hebner over Jason Thompson?

From Anaheim to Pittsburgh to Montreal

Back home in southern California, Thompson thrived. In 102 games he batted .317 with 17 homers and 70 RBI. (Hebner hit .290/12/82.) On the eve of the 1981 season the Angels traded the three-time All Star to the Pirates for Ed Ott and Mickey Mahler.

In his five seasons in Pittsburgh, Thompson hit 93 home runs and averaged 93 RBI (not counting the 42 in the shortened ’81 season).

On April 4, 1986, the Pirates traded him to the Montreal Expos for players to be named later. Thompson played only 30 games for the Expos, hitting .196 with no home runs and just four RBI. On June 30, at the age of 31 and with balky knees, Jason Thompson was out of baseball for good.

The Jason Thompson Curse

If you remove the years that Darrell Evans and Cecil Fielder manned first base, the Tigers have had a revolving door at the position since they traded Jason Thompson. I call it The Curse of Jason Thompson: Hebner, Enos Cabell, Dave Engle, Keith Moreland, Tony Clark, Eric Munson, Carlos Pena, Chris Shelton, Sean Casey and Carlos Guillen. (And now, of course, Miguel Cabrera. Though I’m not convinced he’s long for first base.)

When looking back on the 1984 World Series team, I often think about how that team, or three-quarters of the starting nine, could’ve been homegrown talent — if Thompson were still in Detroit then.

With the exception of Chet Lemon and Larry Herndon, the Tigers could’ve had six of eight starters developed from Lakeland on up. (Or seven of nine if Morris or Dan Petry were on the hill.) Quite a different scenario from the 2008 Tigers when only two full-time, homegrown position players — Curtis Granderson and Matt Joyce — roam the field.

Today Thompson runs “Jason Thompson Baseball” in Auburn Hills, where kids can get hitting and fielding instruction from old #30 himself. He’s also an executive with Wachovia Securities.

If you can’t tell, even 28 years later I’ve still not gotten over the trade involving my favorite childhood player. I quickly hitched my wagon onto Hebner as a way to ease the pain. But that didn’t last long either, come to think of it.

So I threw my allegiance behind Kirk Gibson and five years later, when Gibson signed with the Dodgers, had to deal with the anguish all over again.

• I was bummed out by the passing of Bill Lajoie and began writing a little something … and then realized I’d already written it back in November.

• Peter Gammons put together a roundup of 10 “overlooked baseball success stories” from the past year and placed at number-three Miguel Cabrera:
  

  Cabrera is on the outskirts of history. Whatever mistake he made in September 2009, he addressed, and he has now placed in the top five in the MVP race four of the past six seasons. In his eight seasons playing for the Marlins and Tigers, in ballparks that were not exactly built for hitters, he has averaged just under 31 homers and 110 RBIs. His .388 on-base percentage speaks volumes about his growth, and his OPS+ through age 27 is 145. Pujols’ was 167 at that age, Henry Aaron’s 153, Ken Griffey’s 150, Frank Robinson’s 148. That is the air Miguel Cabrera breathes. In his seven full seasons in the Majors, he’s averaged more than 157 games played. He turns 28 on April 18. The next day, Joe Mauer turns 28.

• So Zach Miner signs with the Royals.

  “There were a few teams that checked in, and the Tigers and the Royals were the most aggressive,” Miner wrote in an e-mail to MLB.com. “But in the end, we just felt like K.C. was going to be a very good opportunity going forward, not only for this year, but for a few years down the road.”

  I can understand the guy wanting a fresh start if he’d had a bad experience in another city, but if the choices are Detroit or Kansas City, how do you choose the latter? I suppose you choose it based on your chances of seeing more action, though I thought Miner had a decent shot at supplanting Armando Galarraga at the backend of the Tigers’ rotation. Maybe not. I thought this quote in Jason Beck‘s story was interesting: “I … loved playing for Jim Leyland.”

  He did? Whenever Leyland came out to the mound when Miner was pitching, it seemed as if Miner wanted to run and hide.

• Mark Simon at ESPN’s Stats and Info Blog has written a couple of interesting posts on the Tigers’ offseason moves — one here on Joaquin Benoit, another here on Victor Martinez. If you listen to ESPN’s Baseball Today podcast, you’ve no doubt heard Simon from time to time. I enjoy his stuff and, if you haven’t already, recommend you add him to your daily rotation.

It’s almost kickoff time for Michigan State and Michigan. Enjoy the bowl games and have a Happy New Year.