For the loyals readers looking for a game recap, I promise one by the time the Tigers-Twins game starts!

Suffice it to say, this as a real roller coaster, of blown six-run leads, of pitchers both bad and good, of extra-inning excitement, of repeated letdowns, yet ultimately, of happy endings.

But like manager Jim Leyland says, momentum in baseball is only as good as your next pitcher. While this was a nice win — and deflating loss for the Twins — you never know what will happen when the teams take the field again.

I’ll add to this recap after I have my, er, “morning” coffee.

• There was some discussion among the online fans that this weekend could be Magglio Ordonez’s “last stand.” He always seemed to hit well in Minneapolis in the past — he’s got a .376 avg, .443 OBP, .743 SLG line for 2006-09 there. If he can’t hit in the HHH Dome, does he have any hope?
• So Ian asks in a poll if this is, in fact, Ordonez’s last stand. I voted no. I think the Tigers will think about things over the All-Star Break and maybe release him concurrent with a trade. A good showing shouldn’t save him. A bad showing shouldn’t result in an immediate release.  (Bless You Boys)
• Big JP writes, however, that it’s time for the Tigers to move on, and Detroit may as well rip the bandage off the wound quickly. (Always a Tiger)
• So how big is this weekend? Some might want to paint it as huge. The Tigers have lost four of six. They’ve seen their biggest lead in the division (5 games) drop by half (2-1/2 ahead of Chicago) in a week. And now they’re entering a snake pit. Sounds big, right?
• And it is important they play well. But before the all-star break, unless you’re a team on the brink, I refuse to subscribe to the “this is a huge series” line of thought, because the series just get bigger and bigger in August and September. Billfer agreed with that today. (Detroit Tigers Weblog)
• It’s big. You’re playing a division rival — the chief division rival when it’s all said and done, I suspect. But being swept would not be the end of the world, as much as it would suck. The Tigers play three more games in Minneapolis the rest of the year, and host the Twins seven times at a ballpark where the Tigers have had a sizable home-field advantage this year. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played.
• Still, if Tigers starter Luke French could find a way to win today, I’d feel a lot better overall.
• Beat writer John Lowe has the lowdown on French and a preview of tonight’s game. (Freep)
• La Velle E. Neal III, whose name must need two lines alone on the byline, explores how the Tigers remade themselves, in previewing the weekend series for the Twins’ audience. (StarTribune)
• Just a few notes from things I left out of the recaps of the Oakland series. Sometimes you just move on too quickly. Yes, the Tigers only scored one run in two of the three games at the Oakland Coliseum. But let’s remember they weren’t exactly facing bad pitchers, even if they’re not the biggest names out there. Brett Anderson was a much-coveted pitching prospect that Billy Beane brought to town when he traded Danny Haren to the Diamondbacks. The kid had more than a strikeout per inning in the minors. He’s not starting off as fast as some rookie pitchers, but he’s probably going to turn out fine. And Dallas Braden has been Oakland’s stud all season and has held a lot of good offenses down. So it’s not like the Tigers lost to some scrubs.
• Steve Kornacki of Booth Newspapers explores whether the Tigers can remain in first place. (MLive)
• J. Ellet has a few trade suggestions for Dave Dombrowski. Right now, I’d be happy with any of the four. (Eye of the Tigers)
• Mike R details how Joel Zumaya has relied on his fastball too much and why that might be he isn’t getting results lately. (Fire Jim Leyland)
• The Tigers are still above 50/50 and favorites to win the division, according to Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA-based computations. (Baseball Prospectus)
• The Tigers had five prospects make the Eastern League All-Star roster:  relief pitcher Josh Rainwater, catcher Alex Avila, first baseman Ryan Strieby and outfielders Brennan Boesch and Deik Scram.
• They’re not exactly top-tier prospects, but that honor might grab the attention of some potential trade-partner.
• From the Tigers game notes, I find the July 26 game against the White Sox has been selected by ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball. It’s in Detroit but I fear the curse of ESPN Sunday Night games.
• Also from the game notes, I find Brandon Inge is sixth in the league in AB/HR with 13.91, and that Ryan Raburn is hitting .312 with 17 runs scored, six doubles, five home runs and 18 RBI in his last 32 games.
• Four Tigers All-Stars? Probably not going to happen. (The rosters are announced 1 p.m. Sunday on TBS). But the Detroit News thinks it’s at least possible: Edwin Jackson, Justin Verlander, Inge and possible longshot Rick Porcello (or maybe Miguel Cabrera?) are the name Tom Gage threw out there. (Detroit News)
• Finally, here’s a piece on Clete Thomas from the Toledo Blade. It has some interesting facts, such as how he models his game after his namesake. (Toledo Blade)

I guess that was a lot after all!

Year-to-year, you never know what you’re going to get, which makes the job of general manager pretty hard. The Tigers went from a total lock-down pen in 2006 to — eeeeyuuuch –  a disaster waiting to happen in 2007. The Cleveland Indians thought they put the finishing touches on a pretty good pen this offseason, only to find it is more porous than a sliced net.

Naturally, the Tigers’ pen is no different. It entered 2009 as looking bad at worst, average at best. Yet the record shows if the Tigers lead a ballgame late, they’ve got a really good chance of winning it (33-3 when leading after six innings, 38-3 when leading after seven innings, 39-0 when leading after eight innings). Given the Tigers are not a team going out there and blowing out teams — and they’ve played in 22 one-run games), that’s not too shabby.

So should the Tigers rest on their laurels? No. definitely not.

But do they need a big overhaul? The gut says no, but I think I think there’s some valid reasons people might debate that. You can point to Fernando Rodney’s perfect 17-for-17 save record this year and say, Hey, that’s a pretty good closer there. Who doesn’t want a guy who’s still perfect a week from the all-star break? (Maybe someone afraid of a 6.75 ERA and WHIP of 2 in June?)

Who wouldn’t want Joel Zumaya’s 103 mph heater coming out of the bullpen in the eighth inning? (Maybe someone who fears a setup man with a WHIP of 2.51 and more walks than strikeouts in June?)

So what is the Tigers’ bullpen? A disaster waiting to happen? Experiencing a speedbump? Better today than it was a week ago? Maybe it’s all of those things.

Just impressions here, off the top of my head, nothing too stat-heavy:

• I feel like the bullpen wasn’t as bad as it seemed in June. The season is long. When it’s over, you can grab a month at random and find some great stats, or you can grab one and find some pretty bad ones. There’s certainly some issues that popped up — Nate Robertson’s lack of contribution, Ryan Perry’s wildness, Zumaya’s wildness — and fortunately, a couple of them were dealt with.
• Perry, by the way, has three walks in six innings at Triple-A Toledo so far.
• So I feel like the bullpen probably is better now than it was a month ago. Brandon Lyon entered the month with a 6.43 ERA and came out of it at 3.89. I don’t think he’s nearly as bad as he had exhibited his first few weeks in the Old English D. Maybe he’s not a 0.56 ERA guy that showed up in June, but he seems to be pitching a lot better than he had been and hopefully that carries over. Fu-Te Ni has shown he can strike batters out and fills the lefty-one-out-guy roll pretty well. He’s an upgrade over Robertson. I’m not sure yet about Freddy Dolsi, but so far he’s earned his keep. with a 1.07 WHIP in 4-2/3 innings.
• But what’s up with Zumaya? He left the dugout after facing Oakland on Tuesday with some sort of pitching thumb problem. He’d been playing with it a bit between pitches, drew a crowd when he reached the dugout, then left for the clubhouse. I haven’t read anything about it. Maybe that’s an answer for what’s wrong with him lately. (Maybe it’s not.) We do know he has to be more effective and should possibly be moved down to the seventh inning with Lyon in the eighth, for the time being anyway.
• I don’t feel like it’s in the Tigers’ best interest to make a big splash trade when it comes to closer, considering they have so consistently scored so few runs. (43.5 percent of their 78 games, they’ve scored three runs or fewer, Eye of the Tigers tells us.)
• If there’s a smaller trade to be made, cool. But given all the other issues the Tigers have right now, I think the bullpen really shouldn’t be a high priority.

Justin Verlander gave up two home runs for four runs in six innings. I’d just like to get that bit of key information out of the way right now, because the Athletics’ half of each inning was not all that important to the result of this game.

For the second time in three games (and the third time in five), the Tigers were held to one run. That’s no way to win games, boys. The fact the Tigers went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position (5-f0r-26 for the series) probably contributed to that. They only left five on base today, but a couple of double plays hit into helped keep that total a bit lower.

It is patently obvious this team needs to trade for a bat sooner than later, unless it expects to add to its shutout total by quite a bit.

The blame can be spread pretty much everywhere in the lineup — to everyone but Adam Everett and Gerald Laird, anyway. The top four in the order went 1-for-14 with a walk, four strikeouts and one double play grounded into. Most others were hardly better. Magglio Ordonez continued his slide, going 0-for-4 with a double play ground into and a strikeout. (For the series he was 2-for-12, and one of those hits could have been caught if anyone but Jack Cust was in right field for Oakland). Benching Ordonez again is probably the best decision the Tigers could make. Then again, the same could be said for quite a few of his teammates right now, too.

I’d like to believe there’s a little help at Triple-A Toledo. The leading candidate to return to the Tigers is obviously Clete Thomas, who started off strong when he returned to the Mudhens, but has succombed to too many strikeouts and too few hits in recent games. Still, I’d rather see Thomas and Ryan Raburn as the corner outfielders right now. And other than that, what other options for changes are there? Placido Polanco has a pair of home runs this road trip and his on-base percentage has inched its way back up to .347 for the month of June. The shortstops have performed admirably. Right now, it’s about getting some help at the corner outfield positions, and guys who should be hitting better just have to hit better.

But it’s not the end of the world. These Tigers are a really streaky, roller coaster bunch. They’ve proven that again and again this season. Win 7 in a row, lose four in a row, win seven in a row, lose four of six. It’s unfortunate they are going into the HHH Metrodome with a chance to come out of it in a first-place tie after leading the division by five games only mere days ago. But we’ll see. At any moment, they might turn it around again. Who’s to say if that starts Friday, or later?

Still, the offense needs help, the sooner the better.

The Washington Nationals are “open for business” their GM says. How good would Josh Willingham look right now?

Five outfielders:

• Juan Pierre — He filled in great for the Dodgers while Manny Ramirez was suspended for 40 games. But he is likely returning to the fourth outfielder slot and is owed $23.5M through 2011. He’s tempting as a left-handed leadoff hitter who can steal bases.He is a mistake because he usually only has an on-base percentage in the .325 range before this year.
• Cody Ross — The Marlins want to add to their team to help with the NL East/ wild card chase. But they don’t want their payroll to go up. Ross, a former Tigers farmhand, is a decent outfielder with a slugging about .500 this season. And he costs about $1M for the rest of this season.Honestly, the Marlins would be nuts to trade him. But, well, they are the Marlins …
• Matt Holliday — We’re seeing him with the A’s. He’s not done much this series, and other than a hot spell in May, he’s not done a lot this season for them either. His trade value must be pretty low, and if A’s GM Billy Beane can find a team that will pay his demands, more power to him. If he expects to get back the value of players he gave up in the offseason, well, good luck. But he’s a big name and he’s available.
• Alex Rios — With the Blue Jays are out of playoff contention, more or less, apparently he’s up for grabs. With a .260 avg / .319 OBP / .417 SLG he’s really not a great upgrade over what the Tigers might be able to expect from something in the system. But that is typically the kind of player they trade for, leaving me scratching my head. Huge downside? He’s got the kind of contract no team should want to take on. I sure hope the Tigers aren’t interested.
• Josh Willingham — I wasn’t aware he was seen as available, but he is, and apparently the market for him is seen to be limited. (Buster Olney, via MLB Trade Rumors). He’s hitting .288/.411/.589. I say this one is unlikely because either the Nationals will ask too much or because I’d want the Tigers to do it and they don’t listen to me.

Four pitchers:

• Huston Street — The Rockies probably won’t want to trade their closer when they’re right in the thick of the wild card chase. They’d probably ask for way, way too much. But, you know, if he’s available and he’s up for grabs, well, who wouldn’t want a near-perfect closer with more an a strikeout per inning and a WHIP of 1.12? It would certainly improve the bullpen, unlikely as it is of occurring.
• George Sherrill — Are the Orioles interested in moving him? The Marlins may be interested, I’ve read. It’s not like they have anything to play for in Baltimore. Like Street, he could help the Tigers shore up the back end of the bullpen. Honestly, I think the Tigers need to deal with the corner outfielder problem, but maybe they feel differently.
• Doug Davis — The Diamondbacks stink. Bad. Davis has a 3.28 ERA and WHIP of 1.36 and he’s in the last year of his contract. Detroit could use another starting pitcher, and a lefty in the rotation, given the fact everybody they try at the fourth and fifth starter spots leaves a lot to be desired, and Rick Porcello is a 20-year-old. But, can Davis be effective in the American League?
• Jarrod Washburn — Dayn Perry of Fox Sports suggests the Mariners might want to make him up for grabs. He’s a lefty starter, and unlike Davis, doing well in the AL this year. Though his stats have been mundane in the past, he’s got a 3.22 ERA (3.77 FIP). This is the last year of his deal and he’s got about $5M left on it. But would the Mariners want to trade him when they’re not too far out of first place?

Was this one of Armando Galarraga’s best starts since April? Probably. But it’s hard saying, because it wasn’t pretty. He gave up six free bases in 6-1/3 innings of work and worked out of a couple of jams. But ultimately, the three numbers that mean the most at the end of the day are

• 2 hits
• 1 run
• 2 wins in a row

Galarraga survived bases loaded in the first inning after walking a pair of batters, while shortstop Adam Everett made an error to allow the third runner on. But Oakland’s best hitter, Kurt Suzuki, hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. A two-out triple in the fourth cost Galarraga both his first hit of the game and eventually the only run he allowed.

Galarraga’s inconsistency in recent starts makes him hard to figure out. Allowing just two hits was the fewest since his April 27 start. Yet six walks was the most he’s given up this season. One positive development, to me, was that he went the entire game without allowing a home run. He’d given up a long ball in each of 11 consecutive starts before that.

I guess in the end, we can just conclude he continues to be a work in progress. Manager Jim Leyland is giving him a lot of rope, and he’s certainly making use of the entire roll. Hopefully his is a sign he’s pulling self back up, because Detroit needs more reliable fourth and fifth starters.

Detroit got a bit sloppy, both in the field and at the plate. Two errors gave Galarraga no favors, but he pitched around those. A pair of early early baserunning/coaching errors also resulted in runners being gunned down when they were caught between third and home. Then, of course, Fernando Rodney allowed the tying run to come to the plate in the ninth when he turned a four-run lead into a two-run lead by allowing a Mark Ellis home run.

As for Detroit at the plate: Ryan Raburn had a nice day at the plate, 3-for-3 with two doubles. There was some confusion why he came out of the game for Josh Anderson in the late-innings. (Besides a defensive replacement after Raburn dropped a ball in foul territory for a second-inning error, anyway.) Leyland said on the FS Detroit postgame Raburn’s eyes were bothering him a bit. Placido Polanco was also key, because after a leadoff walk to start the game he flicked a home run into the left field stands to give Galarraga a 2-0 lead before Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez even recorded an out.

Needless to say, the Tigers needed this win after both the Twins and White Sox won earlier in the day. The teams remain tied four games behind Detroit.

Justin Verlander can give the Tigers a series victory when he faces Oakland ace Dallas Braden this afternoon.

Nonetheless, players and managers get some say in the game, too, and there will almost certainly be more than the minimum representation of one coming out of Detroit.

So who, you know, actually deserves to go to the All-Star game, for having seasons above and beyond most of their positional counterparts?

• Pitchers Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson — Some might think the rookie, Rick Porcello, should be included, but I don’t think his season is good enough to push out some of the other pitching stars of the game. Some might think Fernando Rodney should be included, but despite his perfect record, I don’t rank him above the trio of top AL closers. But Verlander is leading in the AL in strikeouts, while Jackson is second in ERA. Both are among the leaders in wins. No doubt, both are all stars. … It would be Verlander’s second and Jackson’s first appearance.

• For positional player, Inge — He doesn’t deserve to start — that’s clearly the Rays’ Evan Longoria. But he’s leading all third baseman in home runs. He’s second in RBIs. He’s second in OPS. An argument can be made he’s the best fielder of all of them. (He’s leading in web gems as well). It would be his first appearance.

Just missed the cut for me:

• Positional players Curtis Granderson and Cabrera — Granderson is a close one. He’s a stellar outfielder, and might have the play of the season in robbing Cleveland’s walkoff home run. He’s second in home runs, sixth in steals and 13th in OPS. If he makes it, he deserves it. But there’s so many good outfielders in the AL, and it’s so hard to decide what you’re looking for in choosing the five-six who make the cut.  … Cabrera’s best argument is he’s Cabrera. But he hasn’t had a season that puts him in the top two/three first baseman in the league.

Not really as close as you’d expect:

• Pitchers Porcello and Rodney – Porcello should probably be leading the rookie of the year race. He’s sixth in the AL in wins. But his ERA is down in 21st and he doesn’t strike out a lot. He’s got some help from run support. Rodney is 17-for-17* in save opportunities, but compared to star relievers, he doesn’t have the strikeouts, and he allows too many base runners.

*Maybe the rules say Rodney didn’t get the blown save for walking the bases loaded against Chicago, a blown save that was credited to Brandon Lyon, but we all know who put the game-tying run on with no outs.

So who do you think makes it or doesn’t make it?

That said, are there reasons to be concerned? You betcha! All 30 clubs have concerns. Right now, here are plenty of reasons for pessimism. Those with a weak heart may not wish to continue reading the potential horror show that follows:

• As documented at Detroit4Lyfe, the top three in the rotation had been doing some pretty heavy lifting at a rate that likely wouldn’t continue all season. They won 14 of the Tigers 17 victories in May. Of 16 starts by the trio in June, the Tigers won nine of them. Of the other 10 starts, the Tigers won five of those games. Those winning rates aren’t bad for the Nos. 4 and 5 starters.
• But in the meantime, the Tigers have to find  a way to nurse 20-year-old Rick Porcello through his first major league season, in a way that will keep him effective as he eclipses the 125-inning mark for the first time in his professional career, while limiting his innings enough not to put his future years in jeopardy. Can they patch together some effective spot starts from the farm system to do that? It won’t be easy.
• (Maybe the Tigers can buy Jeff Suppan on eBay?)
• In the meantime, Edwin Jackson walked more batters per inning in June than he did in the previous two months. Given his past wildness, is he reverting to form or is this a speed bump? (For the record, no walks in seven innings in his latest start.)
• Still on pitchers: they’re walking way too many. 15 runs walked in by the Tigers this season? That’s insane. Detroit is fifth from worst in walks per nine innings in all of baseball. Dontrelle Willis and Ryan Perry may not be with the Tigers right now, but it’s still not pretty. Are these free passes going to start catching up Detroit, even more so? They might.
• The bullpen? Good, but rather inconsistent recently. Is this just a rough period for Joel Zumaya? Will Fernando Rodney’s issuance of too many base runners start to haunt him?
• Next concern: the Tigers just aren’t finding ways to score runs. After the offensive outburst against Milwaukee following a week where Detroit scored three runs or less seven straight times, they have scored 3.6 runs on average for the past eight games.
• Running a bunch of fringe major leaugers with decent gloves but no bats up-and-down from the farmy system, they are getting .701 on-base+slugging for the season from their left fielders, and a putrid .633 OPS from their right fielders. Corner outfielders ought to provide a  bit more pop than that, no?
• Designated hitter? .716 OPS. (Marcus Thames, who figures to get most of the at-bats, has not hit a home run since June 19.)
• Do the Tigers have enough in their farm system to deal with these issues? Would it cost the Tigers some pieces that currently figure into their future to shore up the problem this year — for example, Wilkin Ramirez, Scott Sizemore, Alex Avila? (Or is the trade market depressed enough, judging by the Mark DeRosa and Eric Hinske trades, that it might not cost so much after all?)
• How will the Tigers deal with the increasingly poor outlook on the Magglio Ordonez situation? Can they afford to stash him on their bench? When will they make the decision he is costing the team too many runs? (Or worse, are the 4A outfielders Detroit has been trying to bad that he’s not really costing the Tigers all that much, other than some defense?)
• Will Carlos Guillen be able to come back effectively? When he does try to come back, how much rope can he be given, given the Tigers’ struggles to score runs or play competant defense in the corner outfield spots?)
• I wouldn’t say the Tigers have been healthy this year. They’ve lost quite a bit of injury days. But so far, none of the key contributors — Justin Verlander, Jackson, Porcello, Brandon Inge, Curtis Granderson, Miguel Cabrera, the shortstop dual, Placido Polanco) have sustained any injuries too serious. Are the Tigers one bad roll of the dice away from having their lack of depth at most positions sink the ship?
• Injuries happen to every team and can derail the best laid plans — ask the Mets. But depth helps a club survive and continue to compete. I don’t see a lot of depth here.
• Finally, will the Tigers wilt in the dog days of summer? It’s hard to forget August 2006, when the Tigers started to slide. (Probably due to Polanco’s injury.) Or 2007, when they slid again. (Jeremy Bonderman was hiding an injury.) Or 2008, when the club seemed to lose the will to win after Pudge Rodriguez was traded.
• Each season is a new one. Each roster is a new one. There’s no guarantees of history repeating. But you got to admit, after the past few years, you’re going to be a bit nervous around August, aren’t you?

Like I said, every team has issues. We know about the Tigers’ concerns best because we follow them closest, right? But you could probably do this and find a reason to be pessimistic about most of the other 29 teams.

I think most of the worst-case scenarios will not come true, and the Tigers will be players at the trade deadline. But, by no means can you be a walking ball of optimism.

(Inspired by a topic at Motown Tigers forum started by MAT commentor Scottwood)

I was actually going to go with “Runs, they had a few …” but since the Tigers only had one, well …anyway.

The Tigers apparently left their bats at Comerica Park when they boarded their team plane on Thursday. After a promising four runs in the first two innings in Houston on Friday, the Tigers have scored a total of six runs in the past three games, including a pair of one-run performances.

Tonight, they struck out a total of 14 times. I guess Oakland starter Brett Anderson was what you’d call effectively wild. He struck out seven in 5-1/3 innings, but he tossed just 58 strikes in 108 pitches. Ryan Raburn was particularly egregious, striking out three times in four at-bats. Four others struck out two times.

It started off promising enough, with actual players actually getting on base. But the Tigers squandered the scoring opportunities by going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranding nine. Gerald Laird drove in the only run with a sixth-inning double to score Marcus Thames, who walked.

The Tigers’ pitching story was less impressive. I’ll quickly pass over the fact Rick Porcello lost the rookie duel by allowing 11 runners in 4-1/3 innings, resulting in five runs. He was due a bad start, I guess you could say. Make nothing of it.

More interesting is the major league debut of Taiwanese pitcher Fu-Te Ni. His first throw was to first, his second was a ‘K’ to Oakland left-handed hitter Jason Giambi, and he went on to record the strikeout. Ni struck out three in 1-2/3 innings, but allowed sixth-inning leadoff home run to Ryan Sweeney. (Mike, over at Fire Jim Leyland, has a closer look at Ni’s debut, if you’re curious.)

So the Tigers are now 1-3 to start their nine-game, 10-day road trip. Considering it doesn’t get any easier when they arrive in Minnesota on Friday, picking up a couple wins these next two days in Oakland could be required if they hope to do anything remotely near salvaging the trip.

Batting leaders: Gerald Laird, .429 on-base percentage, .692 slugging average, HR; Brandon Inge, 4 runs, 4 RBIs, .545 SLG, 2 HR; Ramon Santiago, 2 HR in 4 hits in 9 at-bats.

Pitching leaders: (relief pitcher special!) Fernando Rodney, 5 SO, 1 BB, 3 saves, 3 IP; Bobby Seay, 1 H, 0 R, 3 IP; Brandon Lyon, 0 H, 0 R, 2 IP

Gone missing: (hard to find any batter, but…) Marcus Thames, .200 SLG, Donnie Kelly, 0-for-10, 1 walk. (And for pitching, much easier:) Joel Zumaya, 3 walks, 4 runs, 2-2/3 IP; Nate Robertson, 2 games, 2 hits, 0 outs

Weekly plot: The Tigers ran their win stream up to seven for the second time this season after sweeping the White Sox. It looked like the streak would reach eight when they led 4-0 in Houston on Friday, but the Astros fought back and took advantage of a wild Zumaya in the eighth to snap the streak. Houston took the first two of the weekend series before the Tigers finished interleague with a win.

Roster moves and changes aplenty this week. Magglio Ordonez returned from his not-benching, shaved his hair and hit a home run, yet otherwise went 3-for-18 for the week. Alfredo Figaro struggled against the Astros and was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Sunday, while Luke French was called up. Robertson went on the disabled list with an elbow injury, while Fu-Te Ni joined the team.

Upcoming schedule: The Tigers travel to Oakland (31-43, fourth place AL West) for a three-game set, then finish up the nine-game, 10-day road trip in Minnesota (39-38, second place AL Central) over the weekend. Detroit swept Oakland at Comerica Park earlier this season, and were swept by the Twins in Minnesota in early-May during the last meeting between the clubs.

“At this point it is hard to put a timetable on it until the surgery is performed because of the proximity to the ulnar nerve,” said Tigers trainer Kevin Rand. “He had tingling and numbness into his ring and little finger.”

• Every year, seemingly on every club, some pitcher has the bad luck. For whatever reason, when he pitches, his team can’t score runs. Sorry, Edwin Jackson, but you are that guy.
• J Ellet took a look at the support Mr. Jackson has received: 5.15 runs per nine innings he’s on the mound. (Or 3.55 runs per game he starts.) Of the 54 pitchers with similar innings pitched, he gets less support than all but three. Those three are all aces on low-scoring teams, too. Good company, bad luck. (Eye of the Tigers)
• Is Magglio Ordonez a “bum”? As much as I have documented his downfall this season and the repercussions it might have for the the player and team both, I cannot believe a columnist would ever use “bum” in the same sentence as Ordonez. Without him, there is no 2006 October surprise. There is no reason to watch the Tigers in the final weeks of the disappointing 2007 season. Via It’s Just Sports, we find The Oakland Press’ Pat Caputo wondering if fans might remember Maggs as a bum:

How will he be remembered? As a postseason hero? As a player who put together one of the most remarkable seasons in Tigers’ history? Or perceived as an unproductive “bum.”

It’s an aspect of sports that can’t seem to be avoided. The downfall. It’s not often a player goes out on top in a town. Either he plays too long in one place and the memories are of his diminishing skills rather than his triumphs, or he leaves in his prime as a free agent, and fans remember his departure with bitterness.

• All Pat would have to do was read this blog to realize fans will remember Ordonez fondly and are in his corner, even as his skills diminish. He’ll forever have a place in history for his ALCS home run, and rightfully so.
• But I think Caputo is right on one point: this is not going to end well for Maggs. Unless I butchered my math with a wrong key press, Ordonez is 3-for-18 (.167) with .211 OBP, .333 SLG and four strikeouts since returning from the couple of days off manager Jim Leyland gave him in an attempt to help him get started. Ordonez has dropped in the lineup from third to seventh, he’s had time off, he’s taken extra batting practice with the coaches. Nothing is working.
• Lynn Henning still thinks Ordonez will be released around the All-Star break. I don’t think the Tigers want to do that. I think they really, really don’t want to do it.
• But what’s the next step? Short of looking really, really hard to find an injury and place him on the DL, what, exactly is the next step if a week from now he still isn’t showing any improvements? Can they hide him on their bench? And what would good would come of it? This is a bad, bad situation for all parties.
• By the way, why don’t the columnists of main Detroit newspapers write more about the Tigers? This is a baseball town. The fans are coming out in droves. The team is in first. But the leading columnists seem to ignore the team almost totally. That makes no sense to me. In other towns, you get nearly a column a day about baseball teams, in this one, next to nothing.
• Want to take a break from this season? BigJP is writing a series where he looks at the best Tigers by uniform number. He’s up to No. 2, Charlie Gehringer, after starting with No. 1, Lou Whitaker. (Always a Tiger)
• Want more info on Luke French? Mike at Fire Jim Leyland has got you covered. His conclusion, based on an admittedly-limited look? French has mundane stuff but can’t do much worse than anyone else, so may as well give it a shot. (Fire Jim Leyland)
• Some stats to close the day: Detroit’s dropped further in the rankings for defensive efficiency. They are now at .697, 15th in baseball and seventh in the American League. Seeing Marcus Thames and Ordonez as corner outfielders is enough to scare the dickens out of you. I still can’t believe Ordonez let the ball drop in front of him Friday. Any of the young corner outfielders catch that. That kind of stuff frustrates me.
• By the way, the Twins now lead the Tigers in both runs scored and runs allowed.

According to the  East Windup Chronicle, the 26-year-old Ni has been called the “Taiwanese Okajima” although the blog believed that it was overbilling Ni’s ability a bit compared to the Red Sox reliever:

Ni has never faced a major league hitter before, and his split stats are fairly suspect, with left handers hitting over .326 against him. Still, he’s got some dancing breaking pitches and 150,000 will seem like a bargain with the going price of an effective relief specialist over a million per in MLB.

According to the AP, Ni has spent the past two seasons pitching for the China Trust Whales in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He had a  5-12 record and 3.34 ERA in 2009, along with a league-leading 132 strikeouts in 145.1 innings pitched. That team was apparently disbanded and may have had some gambling ties, though nothing tied to Ni.

Whatever caused Ni to have to have such backwards splits in Taiwan did not carry over to the United States.

Pitching for the Triple-A Mud Hens, Fu-Te Ni (FOO’-tay-nee) (Foo-duh nee, we learn in the comments) has 14 strikeouts and no walks in 14-1/3 innigs with a .184 average against versus left handers. He’s not too shabby against right-handers, though he projects to be best-equipped as a lefty-one-out-guy.

Right handers have a .275 average with 18 strikeouts and nine walks in 20-1/3 innings. His ERA in May was 2.03 and he’s had a 1.93 ERA in June, although his batting average against has gone up somewhat.

Earlier post on Ni here, and a video of him pitching (with some pretty good music!) here.

Remember the criticism of Brandon Inge you read or heard on talk radio after he hit all those home runs in 2006?

“Sure, he hit a bunch of home runs, but most of them were junk home runs.”

As if hitting a baseball over the fence is pointless. Or scoring runs for your team at any but the most optimum moment makes your home run purposeless.

About that? Inge laughs.

After a key walk by Marcus Thames with two outs in the ninth inning and the Tigers trailing the Astros by one, Inge, already a bit sore from an earlier injury while running the bases, launched a majestic home run deep into left field to score the game-winning run.

MLB beat Jason Beck gives this stat, via Twitter:

Four of Inge’s 18 HRs this year have come in close/late situations, 11 in either one-run or tie games.

Inge’s timely home run helped the Tigers avoid being swept by an Astros team that has been pretty good lately. That, and it helped the Tigers balance the scale. They gave Houston a free one on Friday, blowing a 4-0 lead with Justin Verlander on the mound. Today, helped apparently by a fan who reached over the fence, the Tigers got that win back in a game they should have lost.

Cosmic karma. Sounds fitting when you’re playing the Astros.

The Tigers rallied from 2-0 to tie the game 2-2 after Gerald Laird drove in Inge in the fifth on a long fly to center, and Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot in the sixth. But Houston re-took the lead when Kaz Matsui hit a long double to center, scoring Geoff Blum, who was hit by a pitch to open the seventh inning.

Before Thames walked in the ninth, ten consecutive Tigers batters were sent back to the dugout unsuccessful.

Tigers starter Edwin Jackson went seven strong innings, allowing the three runs on five hits and no walks. (But he did allow two runners by hitting batters.) He struck out five. Bobby Seay earned his first win of the season in his 34th appearance.

Interleague play is now over. Thank goodness. The Tigers may have been good at it in 2006-08, but it’s been a struggle this year. I guess we should have noticed the warning when the Rockies won 2 of 3 in Comerica Park. Then the Tigers dropped 2 of 3 to Pittsburgh, and 2 of 3 to St. Louis, before sweeping the Brewers and Cubs. In total, Detroit went 3-6 on the road and 7-2 at home for a pedestrian 10-8 interleague record.

I thought Figaro might get another start, but wondered if the Tigers might bring up the southpaw French to face the Minnesota Twins, which was likely a big part of the reason for the decision.

The other part, of course, was Figaro allowing two baserunners per inning, and possibly relying on his secondary pitches too much, according to manager Jim Leyland, Beck wrote. (Or tipping his pitches?)

French, who joined the Tigers briefly as a reliever earlier in the season, has an ERA of 2.98 in Toledo to go with a walks+hits per inning of 1.11. He’s struck out 72 in 81-2/3 innings.

Jackson Broder, an international scout for the Minnesota Twins who writes for the East-Asia baseball blog East Windup Chronicle, as well as the Taipai Times, reports Fu-Te Ni could be called up by the Tigers as early as the Oakland series this week.

Not official yet, but sources indicate that pitcher Ni Fu-te will be called up to the Detroit Tigers from AAA Toledo early this week. Ni put up sharp numbers for the Mud Hens–he was 3-0 with a 2.65 E.R.A. with 32 K’s to 9 walks and a 1.15 WHIP in 34 innings pitched.

Ni, the former Chinatrust Whales staff ace, is set to become the sixth Taiwanese player to reach MLB.

If this is true, I have no clue who would be leaving the 25-man roster to make space. It makes sense the Tigers might want an extra left-hander in the bullpen. Possibly Freddy Dolsi returns to the minors to make room. Maybe, but unlikely in my judgment, Nate Robertson is given his walking papers.

Well, the nice thing about this one was that it was over almost as soon as it started. So there wasn’t a lot of worrying and tension. The not-so-nice thing was that the good guys were on the wrong side of the laffer.

There were two issues at work here.

The first is that Houston starter Felipe Paulino, coming off the disabled list, absolutely overpowered the Tigers batters. I mean, it was not even funny. Nine strikeouts. A career high. Three hits, no walks. He got the first seven Tigers batters out before Ramon Santiago hit a home run, then he and two members of the bullpen shut the Tigers down from the middle of the fourth inning on, getting 17 consecutive batters out.

So what Tigers starter Alfredo Figaro did in his second major league appearance probably wasn’t going to matter all that much.

Good thing.

The kid was not sharp. Not in the least. From the start, he struggled with a Houston lineup intent on working the count, fouling off pitches they didn’t like, and making his life on the mound difficult. Kind of like what they did to Justin Verlander. But Verlander came with the veteran experience needed to deal with it. Figaro obviously isn’t going to have that.

So he had underwhelming stuff and I believe got a bit rattled in the third inning, helping lead to Houston’s five runs.

After that, some combination of Figaro settling in and Houston letting off the gas gave manager Jim Leyland a chance to make sure his bullpen was thoroughly rested. Figaro went six innings in 110 pitches, striking out five and allowing eight runs.

You can say this about him, he threw strikes in nearly two-thirds of his pitches. His fastball got up to 96 and averaged 91. He worked his curveball in. But while he threw strikes, he didn’t command his pitches and paid for it.

Does he start again? I think so. I don’t think the Tigers have him on that short of a leash. This is what young pitchers do: pitch inconsistently. They can be good, but sometimes they’re bad. So I think he didn’t burn his bridges with that start. He earned a bit of leeway from the start against Milwaukee.

Reasons why he won’t? Including Saturday’s game, he’s allowing an average of two baserunners an inning. That’s no way to stick around in the big leagues. Plus he’s going to have to show he belongs against Minnesota in five days. Tough audition, especially with the lefties Mauer and Morneau in their lineup. So I’m not ruling out a Luke French callup to replace him either. In my gut, I just don’t think they’re going to do it after just two starts.

Finally, an issue to keep an eye on: catcher Gerald Laird left in the first inning with back spasms. You know how back issues are. Dusty Ryan may see a bit more playing time. But hopefully this was just a one-day thing.

Otherwise, I guess the game was fast and uneventful. Magglio Ordonez got the day off. Freddy Dolsi got in again. He didn’t look all that different than Figaro did on the mound, to be honest. He, too allowed an average of two baserunners an inning in his two frames of work.

So the Tigers lose again in a National League park. Like against St. Louis a week and change ago, they’ll have to look a lot better to avoid the sweep this afternoon.

First we’re going to need a couple of definitions:

Pitchability — What you exhibit when you know how to be a pitcher, not a thrower, in manager Jim Leyland’s parlance. (Example usage: Joel Zumaya throws 103 mph, but has little pitchability.)

Walkability — The ability to draw walks. (Example usage: Houston’s walkability, coupled with Zumaya’s lack of pitchability, resulted in a game-tying run-walked-in, in the eighth inning.)

You can accept losses. Especially on the road, losses happen. In baseball, you can be a pretty good team and still lose 72. So, you know, I’m fine with that. But I’d much rather see the team lose because the opponents do something other than stand there and watch baseballs miss the strike zone.

After helping the Tigers escape a seventh-inning jam, Zumaya came out in the eighth and got the first out. Then allowed a single. Then a walk. Then another walk. Then yet another walk. Whoops, that last one there was the 15th run walked in by a Tigers pitcher and it tied the game at 4-4.

Freddy Dolsi made his 2009 debut and gave up the eventual game-winner with a fly ball to deep center off Miguel Tejada’s bat. Tigers stir a bit in the ninth, but that’s that. 5-4, Astros. Winning streak over.

Rather bile-stirring loss, wasn’t it? Leyland agrees:

“I’m tired of looking at walks, and that’s everybody. Too many people are walking, too many people.” (Detroit News)

Well that sums up why, exactly, they lost. But did they get there?

The Tigers score four runs in two innings off a pretty good Astros pitcher, Wandy Rodriguez. Miguel Cabrera hits a moon shot, and who knows how far it might have traveled if it hadn’t hit the glass wall of the stadium behind left field, three-quarters of the way up. Then Placido Polanco clears the bases in the second with a 3-run shot to left-center. Suddenly, it’s 4-0, and with the ace on the mound, you’re thinking this game is in the bag. 8-game winning streak. 11 games over .500. Nice.

Houston had other ideas of course. So they chipped away and chipped away and chipped away. Justin Verlander’s pitch count was 76 through three innings and he was never really in control all night. He walked four batters for the third time this season and the first time since June 5.

What the heck went wrong in the middle there? Couple things:

Rodriguez did what good pitchers do: battled through and gave his team a chance to win. As did Verlander.

But the Astros had a nice game plan to get Verlander out of the game early and took advantage of his not being as solid as normal.

Two, the Tigers failed to get runners home, yet again. The chief culprit might have been Magglio Ordonez, though he was certainly not alone. (The Tigers went 2-of-12 with runners in scoring position). A day after his promising home run, Ordonez ground into a double play with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning. He also grounded out to third earlier in the game, and to shortstop later in the game (if it didn’t make the third out, it would have been a tailor made double play). Three of his four outs didn’t make it out of the infield. He went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

Almost a month ago, I tried to make the argument Ordonez was grounding out a lot (somewhere around 60 percent at the time) and needed a few tweaks to his swing to get out of his funk. All this time later, he’s still grounding out 60 percent of the time, and we’re almost halfway through the season. I wish I was right then, and wrong now. But the Tigers really can’t let this go on much longer, can they? I just don’t see how they can.

But like I said, Ordonez wasn’t alone. Curtis Granderson went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, and several players were 0-for-1.

Given that the Tigers are just 2-5 in National League parks this year, I am starting to think a team built like they are benefits from the designated hitter more than some other American League teams do.

“Don’t settle for two games. Let’s bury ‘em.”

• Detroit’s sluggers are duking it out this month. Brandon Inge and Curtis Granderson are tied with 17 and seem to go back and forth, amtching each other. They rank in a tie for seventh in the AL. (Former Tiger Carlos Pena leads with 22.) Miguel Cabrera should be just one behind Inge and Grandy, after replays showed he hit a ball above the home run line yesterday that wa ruled a double. (Leyland says he should have argued that with the umps.) But he’s at 15th place with 15.
• By the way, shouldn’t there be better guidelines to umpires on when to check the replay on an apparent home run? Last Friday, the crew double checked two home run balls in one game in Detroit. The crew for Thursday’s game didn’t bother to double check what was going to be a very close call either way. Why not? Managers cannot request a replay, so it’s a judgment call by the umps whether they need the extra help.
• Umpires do a great job. Replays on TV show they get most close calls right in split-second judgment calls. But if the technology and rules allow for it, hey, why have a system to ensure these close home run judgments get looked at, since they can be game changers. Does each crew have their own general idea on what needs a second glance?
• Spotstarters looks at a couple of bullpen issues: Joel Zumaya’s awkward June, and Brandon Lyon’s recent rebound.
• More fun stuff from the Tigers’ game notes. The 22-11 start at Comerica Park is the team’s best in the stadium’s history and also the best since 1984, where they were 23-10 through the first 33 games at Tiger Stadium.
• The Tigers have hit multiple home runs in eight of the last nine games. Think Arby’s is worried about the free roast beef for each time the Tigers hit three homeruns in a game promotion?
• Wondering about the Tigers newest minor leaguers? Take 75 North has the scoop on both short-season rookie ball Oneonta, and the Gulf Coast League Tigers.
• (added 4:15):  I almost forgot, Mud Hens second baseman Scott Sizemore was the only in the Tigers organization to be named to the Futures Game. (Freep)
• Take a good look, because I think there’s a real chance he’ll be the starting second baseman for the Tigers next year.
• And finally, though it’s not the Tigers, it is tonight’s opponent and I find this funny. Tonight for Houston, Wandy Rodriguez is scheduled as the starting pitcher, and former Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez is catching. How often does the starting battery of a baseball game have the same last night? (Besides, er, every five games for Houston.)

He’s average compared to his right fielder counterparts in the American League. He’s not head-and-shoulders above the Tigers’ other options in the outfield, either. In fact, I would argue the reason the future of Maggs is being debated at all is that he has a lot of goodwill with the fans and the organization, so people are looking for all the positives they can find in the face of a season where he is not exactly earning his playing time. (Honestly, I suspect if Gary Sheffield was putting up the numbers Ordonez is now, people wouldn’t be talking about his track record. They’d be booing him. (Why, exactly, they booed Sheffield rather than pointing out he had 20 consecutive 800+ OPS seasons, maybe it was just a slump,  I don’t know. I don’t remember Sheffield ever doing anything wrong to the fans. And by all accounts, he was popular in the clubhouse. But for some reason, fans made him a scape goat.))

But that’s off topic. Getting back: Ordonez doesn’t have a particular skill to hang his hat on, which makes it even more difficult to gauge whether he should be an every day player. (IE: He’s not getting on base at a .400 clip. He’s not hitting for power. He’s not Juan Pierre and adding speed to the equation. He’s not making gold glove caliber plays in the outfield.)

Speed never slumps, they say. But fielding doesn’t really slump, either. That’s why if you look strictly at the batting stats for some of the “kids” the Tigers have, you might wonder what they’re doing on the team. But when they put the mitt on, they contribute to keeping the pitchers out of trouble.

So when we talk about Maggs as a contributor to the team, I just want to make sure everyone acknowledges there is more than just a .275 (or even .300) batting average when considering the question of who should play in right field.

Maybe Ordonez’s batting average does make him more valuable than the alternatives, most of whom are essentially AAAA players. (Maybe it was just an awful slump because he has something things on his mind, and he’ll get back to 2008 figures. We can hope anyway.) But maybe say, Josh Anderson’s ability to get to a ball and save the pitcher from having allowed a double makes him more valuable. (Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe his base running mental errors make him less valuable.) Maybe Donnie Kelly’s timely walks and web-gem fielding makes him more valuable than Maggs. Or maybe Kelly reverts to to the player who could barely get a cup of coffee in the majors. Maybe Clete Thomas … actually, I have no where to go with that one. Thomas is probably the second best overall outfielder the Tigers have, and no worse than third. They need to find a way to get him back to Detroit.

Going forward, the issues that must be explored by the organization are how much confidence they have in expecting Ordonez to bounce back with more power than he has exhibited, and how much of a bat-vs-glove tradeoff they are willing to risk in the outfield while looking for that answer.

Like I said, thanks to the 2006 ALCS walkoff home run, and the 2007 batting title, Maggs has definitely built up some goodwill with the fans, the organization and I’m sure, the owner. But somewhere among baseball as a pure numbers game, baseball as pure entertainment, and baseball as a business the correct answer lies. If you want to look at track records and the ability to keep fans happy, and hedge your bets by continuing to play Ordonez over Anderson and Kelly, well, I can’t say that I blame you. But this issue is up for debate at all is because finding the answers is far from simple.

In the end, maybe it’s up to Ordonez to point the way forward.