Detroit Tigers Links: Who's had a better June than Justin Verlander?

AP PhotoTigers pitcher Justin Verlander has been outstanding in June, going 5-0 with an 0.86 ERA. He can improve on those numbers Thursday against the Mets.

• Justin Verlander has one more start to make in June. And it's been a great month for him. But who's had a better June: Verlander or Cliff Lee? Both are 5-0, both have ERAs under 1.00. Lee has thrown three straight shutouts, but Verlander has more strikeouts (48 vs. 29) and fewer walks (four vs. eight). Thursday's performance versus the Mets could end up being the decider. [ESPN New York]

• Rick Porcello and Phil Coke have been bombed for 14 combined runs the last two nights, which makes starting pitching look more like an area the Tigers will need to address at the trade deadline. Could Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie be a potential target? His record is an ugly 3-9 but his 3.93 ERA is lower than any Tigers starter besides Verlander. [Detroit Baseball Page]

• So why was Porcello so ineffective on Tuesday night? Kid Rick said he felt like he had good stuff. Jim Leyland said Porcello left some pitches up in the strike zone, but the Mets were basically hitting everything. Could both be right? Porcello was throwing hard but missed his location several times. Yet even when he kept the ball down, Mets batters were still hitting it. Just a bad night? [Bless You Boys]

• Such is life with a minor league team. Brayan Villareal was scheduled to start Thursday for Triple-A Toledo, but was called up to Detroit after Wednesday's loss to the Mets. No word as of this writing on who the Mud Hens will start instead. [Coop Scoop]

• Has pitching as a starter taken a mental toll on Phil Coke? That what Michael Rosenberg thinks after watching Coke come out of Wednesday night's game and notice a heckler in the stands while he was in the dugout. Coke's lack of success is obviously getting to him, but is his mentality better suited for pitching in relief anyway? [Detroit Free Press]

• All-Star rosters will be announced on Sunday. The Tigers seem likely to get one or two spots on the AL roster with Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. Will Alex Avila get another? One more Tiger who deserves a spot is Jhonny Peralta. ESPN.com's David Schoenfield lists him among five deserving players who will likely be snubbed. [Sweet Spot]

• Avila says he'd thank all the fans who have been supporting his All-Star cause, if only he knew how. C'mon, Alex, it's not that hard. Ask Casper Wells (@UpstateBaller) to show you how to set up a Twitter account. He was one of the first Tigers to do it. [MLB.com]

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Detroit Tigers Links: Who's had a better June than Justin Verlander?

AP PhotoTigers pitcher Justin Verlander has been outstanding in June, going 5-0 with an 0.86 ERA. He can improve on those numbers Thursday against the Mets.

• Justin Verlander has one more start to make in June. And it's been a great month for him. But who's had a better June: Verlander or Cliff Lee? Both are 5-0, both have ERAs under 1.00. Lee has thrown three straight shutouts, but Verlander has more strikeouts (48 vs. 29) and fewer walks (four vs. eight). Thursday's performance versus the Mets could end up being the decider. [ESPN New York]

• Rick Porcello and Phil Coke have been bombed for 14 combined runs the last two nights, which makes starting pitching look more like an area the Tigers will need to address at the trade deadline. Could Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie be a potential target? His record is an ugly 3-9 but his 3.93 ERA is lower than any Tigers starter besides Verlander. [Detroit Baseball Page]

• So why was Porcello so ineffective on Tuesday night? Kid Rick said he felt like he had good stuff. Jim Leyland said Porcello left some pitches up in the strike zone, but the Mets were basically hitting everything. Could both be right? Porcello was throwing hard but missed his location several times. Yet even when he kept the ball down, Mets batters were still hitting it. Just a bad night? [Bless You Boys]

• Such is life with a minor league team. Brayan Villareal was scheduled to start Thursday for Triple-A Toledo, but was called up to Detroit after Wednesday's loss to the Mets. No word as of this writing on who the Mud Hens will start instead. [Coop Scoop]

• Has pitching as a starter taken a mental toll on Phil Coke? That what Michael Rosenberg thinks after watching Coke come out of Wednesday night's game and notice a heckler in the stands while he was in the dugout. Coke's lack of success is obviously getting to him, but is his mentality better suited for pitching in relief anyway? [Detroit Free Press]

• All-Star rosters will be announced on Sunday. The Tigers seem likely to get one or two spots on the AL roster with Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. Will Alex Avila get another? One more Tiger who deserves a spot is Jhonny Peralta. ESPN.com's David Schoenfield lists him among five deserving players who will likely be snubbed. [Sweet Spot]

• Avila says he'd thank all the fans who have been supporting his All-Star cause, if only he knew how. C'mon, Alex, it's not that hard. Ask Casper Wells (@UpstateBaller) to show you how to set up a Twitter account. He was one of the first Tigers to do it. [MLB.com]

View the original article here

Detroit Tigers hope Justin Verlander is answer to overworked bullpen

Justin Verlander

DETROIT – With a day game after a night game and the New York Mets sending a right-handed pitcher to the mound, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland is using a predominantly left-handed-hitting lineup for today's 1:05 p.m. game.

The Tigers have an overworked bullpen – every reliever except set-up man Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde has pitched at some point in the last two days – but with staff ace Justin Verlander pitching as well as anyone in baseball, there is some hope for rest in the pen today.

Verlander (10-3, 2.38) takes the mound, opposed by the Mets' Mike Pelfrey (4-6, 4.78), with an opportunity to become the first pitcher to 11 wins in the major leagues this season (the Yankees' CC Sabathia, one of four other pitchers with 10 wins, also pitches today).  Verlander will have this  lineup supporting him:

1. Austin Jackson, CF

2. Don Kelly, 3B

3. Brennan Boesch, LF

4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

5. Victor Martinez, DH

6. Andy Dirks, RF

7. Jhonny Peralta, SS

8. Alex Avila, C

9. Ramon Santiago, 2B

View the original article here

Detroit Tigers hope Justin Verlander is answer to overworked bullpen

Justin Verlander

DETROIT – With a day game after a night game and the New York Mets sending a right-handed pitcher to the mound, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland is using a predominantly left-handed-hitting lineup for today's 1:05 p.m. game.

The Tigers have an overworked bullpen – every reliever except set-up man Joaquin Benoit and closer Jose Valverde has pitched at some point in the last two days – but with staff ace Justin Verlander pitching as well as anyone in baseball, there is some hope for rest in the pen today.

Verlander (10-3, 2.38) takes the mound, opposed by the Mets' Mike Pelfrey (4-6, 4.78), with an opportunity to become the first pitcher to 11 wins in the major leagues this season (the Yankees' CC Sabathia, one of four other pitchers with 10 wins, also pitches today).  Verlander will have this  lineup supporting him:

1. Austin Jackson, CF

2. Don Kelly, 3B

3. Brennan Boesch, LF

4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B

5. Victor Martinez, DH

6. Andy Dirks, RF

7. Jhonny Peralta, SS

8. Alex Avila, C

9. Ramon Santiago, 2B

View the original article here

Detroit Tigers' bullpen saved by Justin Verlander in 5-2 win over Mets

AP PhotoDetroit's Justin Verlander picked up his 11th win Thursday.DETROIT -- Justin Verlander paused and pondered.

The question: After a rare subpar day when the Detroit Tigers’ ace struggled with control and command, what pitch ultimately worked best?

"Nothing," baseball’s leader in pitching victories finally surmised.

Verlander’s no-hit bit was gone after one batter. His shutout bid was gone after a leadoff home run in the second. And the New York Mets, who had 38 hits and 30 runs during the previous two days, mounted multiple scoring threats and amassed bountiful two-strike foul balls, all of which kept Verlander on edge and drove up his pitch count.

That’s what made Verlander’s seven-inning outing in a 5-2 victory so impressive Thursday, in a much different way than the rest of his dominant June.

He threw 120 pitches, five fewer than the maximum pitch count in place for him. He managed to allow only one run before handing the final two innings to Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde, the only relievers in the overworked bullpen who didn’t work one of the previous two games.

It wasn’t his typical every-fifth-day masterpiece, yet held a beauty of its own for the 11-game winner who has victories in seven consecutive starts.

"I didn’t pitch well. I battled well. And that’s something I pride myself on," Verlander said. "I’ve been on a pretty good run here, had pretty doggone good stuff for a period of time here, and you’ve got to know that’s not going to last the entire season. But when you don’t have your best stuff, and you don’t have your best control, it’s just a matter of going out there and really grinding through it."

Jim Leyland said for Verlander to hold down the Mets after their two-day offensive barrage, the likes of which the Tigers manager said he never had seen before, "just shows you how good he is."

"That’s even higher praise today, for me, for Justin Verlander," Leyland said. "I would even have higher praise for him today than some other days, because you go out there where you’re not maybe quite as sharp as you’ve been, and hold a team that got that many hits and scored that many runs in the last two nights. It’s pretty unbelievable, really."

Leyland, asked to name his most dominant starting pitchers in a managerial career dating to 1986, had a short list.

"Doug Drabek, Kevin Brown, Justin Verlander -- and those guys were pretty good," Leyland said, the first two being his former staff aces with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida Marlins.

Verlander left runners in scoring position in the first, fourth and fifth innings. He allowed a solo home run to Mets cleanup hitter Daniel Murphy in the second. In the seventh, left fielder Brennan Boesch threw out Josh Thole trying to score on a fly ball.

"I’m a little bit disappointed in myself for not being able to go out there and find my rhythm like I would like to, but, at the same time, pretty pleased with the way that I was able to go out there and give us a chance," Verlander said.

The victory pushed Verlander to 11-3 and he kept pace for the major-league lead with CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees, who also recorded his 11th win.

Catcher Alex Avila said Verlander was "all over the place with his fastball and his curveball wasn’t as sharp."

"He definitely struggled with his command on all his pitches today," Avila said. "He clearly didn’t have his best stuff. It’s funny, because he still pitched a really good ballgame and you’re still, like, ‘He really didn’t have his best stuff.’ But 99 percent of pitchers will take that."

After the third inning, when the Tigers gave Verlander a three-run cushion, the pitcher became more focused on reducing his pitch count and getting Mets hitters to put the ball in play. That worked for him in a 1-2-3 sixth inning, which secured his opportunity to pitch the seventh.

"Obviously, you don’t want to throw it right down the meat of the plate and have them tee off on you," he said. "But, for me, it’s trying to throw 91, 92, 93, hit my spots, and have them hit balls weakly into play."

Verlander was 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA in June, making him the first major-leaguer with a 6-0 record and sub-1.00 ERA since Kenny Rogers, for Texas, in May 2005, and the first Tiger with five-plus starts and a sub-1.00 ERA since Doyle Alexander in September 1987.

The first game of the season’s second half pushed the Tigers (44-38) a half-game ahead of idle Cleveland for the American League Central lead.

Andy Dirks hit a home run for the third consecutive day, giving him six, and he also had a hit in the three-run third inning which gave Verlander some cushion.

"I’ve been working in the cage with Mac, trying to find some stuff that works for me, and get me back locked in," Dirks said, referring to hitting coach Lloyd McClendon. "I kind of lost it there for a little bit. But that’s part of the game. You just keep battling."

View the original article here

Detroit Tigers' bullpen saved by Justin Verlander in 5-2 win over Mets

AP PhotoDetroit's Justin Verlander picked up his 11th win Thursday.DETROIT -- Justin Verlander paused and pondered.

The question: After a rare subpar day when the Detroit Tigers’ ace struggled with control and command, what pitch ultimately worked best?

"Nothing," baseball’s leader in pitching victories finally surmised.

Verlander’s no-hit bit was gone after one batter. His shutout bid was gone after a leadoff home run in the second. And the New York Mets, who had 38 hits and 30 runs during the previous two days, mounted multiple scoring threats and amassed bountiful two-strike foul balls, all of which kept Verlander on edge and drove up his pitch count.

That’s what made Verlander’s seven-inning outing in a 5-2 victory so impressive Thursday, in a much different way than the rest of his dominant June.

He threw 120 pitches, five fewer than the maximum pitch count in place for him. He managed to allow only one run before handing the final two innings to Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde, the only relievers in the overworked bullpen who didn’t work one of the previous two games.

It wasn’t his typical every-fifth-day masterpiece, yet held a beauty of its own for the 11-game winner who has victories in seven consecutive starts.

"I didn’t pitch well. I battled well. And that’s something I pride myself on," Verlander said. "I’ve been on a pretty good run here, had pretty doggone good stuff for a period of time here, and you’ve got to know that’s not going to last the entire season. But when you don’t have your best stuff, and you don’t have your best control, it’s just a matter of going out there and really grinding through it."

Jim Leyland said for Verlander to hold down the Mets after their two-day offensive barrage, the likes of which the Tigers manager said he never had seen before, "just shows you how good he is."

"That’s even higher praise today, for me, for Justin Verlander," Leyland said. "I would even have higher praise for him today than some other days, because you go out there where you’re not maybe quite as sharp as you’ve been, and hold a team that got that many hits and scored that many runs in the last two nights. It’s pretty unbelievable, really."

Leyland, asked to name his most dominant starting pitchers in a managerial career dating to 1986, had a short list.

"Doug Drabek, Kevin Brown, Justin Verlander -- and those guys were pretty good," Leyland said, the first two being his former staff aces with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida Marlins.

Verlander left runners in scoring position in the first, fourth and fifth innings. He allowed a solo home run to Mets cleanup hitter Daniel Murphy in the second. In the seventh, left fielder Brennan Boesch threw out Josh Thole trying to score on a fly ball.

"I’m a little bit disappointed in myself for not being able to go out there and find my rhythm like I would like to, but, at the same time, pretty pleased with the way that I was able to go out there and give us a chance," Verlander said.

The victory pushed Verlander to 11-3 and he kept pace for the major-league lead with CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees, who also recorded his 11th win.

Catcher Alex Avila said Verlander was "all over the place with his fastball and his curveball wasn’t as sharp."

"He definitely struggled with his command on all his pitches today," Avila said. "He clearly didn’t have his best stuff. It’s funny, because he still pitched a really good ballgame and you’re still, like, ‘He really didn’t have his best stuff.’ But 99 percent of pitchers will take that."

After the third inning, when the Tigers gave Verlander a three-run cushion, the pitcher became more focused on reducing his pitch count and getting Mets hitters to put the ball in play. That worked for him in a 1-2-3 sixth inning, which secured his opportunity to pitch the seventh.

"Obviously, you don’t want to throw it right down the meat of the plate and have them tee off on you," he said. "But, for me, it’s trying to throw 91, 92, 93, hit my spots, and have them hit balls weakly into play."

Verlander was 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA in June, making him the first major-leaguer with a 6-0 record and sub-1.00 ERA since Kenny Rogers, for Texas, in May 2005, and the first Tiger with five-plus starts and a sub-1.00 ERA since Doyle Alexander in September 1987.

The first game of the season’s second half pushed the Tigers (44-38) a half-game ahead of idle Cleveland for the American League Central lead.

Andy Dirks hit a home run for the third consecutive day, giving him six, and he also had a hit in the three-run third inning which gave Verlander some cushion.

"I’ve been working in the cage with Mac, trying to find some stuff that works for me, and get me back locked in," Dirks said, referring to hitting coach Lloyd McClendon. "I kind of lost it there for a little bit. But that’s part of the game. You just keep battling."

View the original article here