Kyle Davies (5-5, 4.81) vs. Zach Miner (7-4, 3.61)

The now-fourth place Tigers try to pick themselves back up after getting swept out of third place by the suddenly can't-lose Indians.  Detroit's attempt at reclamation starts off against the team that began their four-game winning streak on Sunday with a 7-3 beating at Kauffman Stadium.  And the series begins with a rematch of the starting pitching match-up from last Saturday. 

Kyle Davies allowed just four hits in six innings, but four walks helped contribute to four Tigers runs in his return from the minors after a brief demotion.  Davies has lost both of his starts against Detroit this season, compiling a 5.40 ERA. 

On the other side that night, Zach Miner was the winner, shutting out the Royals on three hits over seven innings in his longest appearance of the season.  As a starter, Miner has won both of his outings against Kansas City this year, giving up just two runs in 13 innings. 

In their last six series at home, the Tigers have lost the first game.  That dates back to early July, people.  Before the All-Star break.  How about getting the holiday weekend off to a decent start and winning a series opener for the home crowd?

Jason Beck mentioned this in one of his reports from Toledo last night, but if Freddy Garcia ends up joining the Tigers next week, he'll make an excellent second member of the Magglio Ordonez Hair Club For Men.

Here's a photo of Señor Garcia from the Toledo Blade:

At least the Tigers might be able to say they lead the league in Venezuelans sporting long, curly, flowing locks from under their caps.  Hey, that's something. 

MLB.com's Jason Beck was down in Toledo tonight (along with Jim Leyland) to check out Freddy Garcia's start for the Mud Hens, and he filed a report on his blog. 

According to Beck, Garcia was either supposed to go for three innings or throw 50 pitches, whichever came first.  In a display of efficiency we haven't seen from too many of the Tigers' major league pitchers recently, Garcia took only 32 pitches to get through three innings, throwing 25 strikes in the process.  He also struck out four batters, while walking none. 

But to the question posed in our headline, Freddy probably isn't ready yet.  His fastball ranged from 86-88 m.p.h., but his curveball was baffling the opposing lineup.  And a 50-pitch limit doesn't demonstrate that he'll be ready to start for the Tigers in the immediate future.  However, with at least one more minor league start possible, maybe Garcia has shown enough to get the call up on September 1 and at least contribute in middle relief until his arm strength is built back up.

With the off-day in the Tigers' schedule, we usually like to go with the Open Thread, but what more is there to rant about?  All that's left to think about is next season, really.  So I figured we could a little bit of humor, something of a mental break.  And with the Tigers set to play the Kansas City Royals again this weekend, I thought we'd look at something that took place last weekend when the Tigers visited Kauffman Stadium. 

If you didn't already see this at Big League Stew, baseball writers Jeff Passan from Yahoo! Sports and Sam Mellinger of the KC Star (who we consider something of a friend here at BYB) took part in the hugely popular Hot Dog Derby last Friday night (I believe), providing more entertainment for the crowd in attendance than the team wearing the home whites.  Fortunately for us, both Passan and Mellinger provided first-hand accounts of their competition, giving us readers the sort of inside (the costume) access that was lacking in all of that Olympic stuff we saw from Beijing.  Passan even toted a camcorder with him during the race, a decision that cost him a chance at glory.

Just remember - these are professional journalists.

Ketchup and relish beating mustard?  On what planet? 

Unfortunately, virtually no competition can take place without some controversy these days and this particular Hot Dog Derby was no exception.  Mellinger "lost" the cumbersome, clownish shoes that come with the hot dog outfits as the runners came down the stretch, which appears to have given him a significant advantage over his rivals.  Or were the shoes, in fact, kicked off at a pivotal moment in the race?  You make the call.

I'm a couple of days late in writing about Carlos Guillen sitting out with back pain that's also developed into numbness down his right leg, along with increasingly sore hamstrings. But with Jeff Larish being called up from Toledo to take his place and Todd Jones very likely calling it a career yesterday, I think the sentiment I originally wanted to express on Tuesday is still timely.

When it comes to the Detroit Tigers these days, three words often come to mind as I see the aches and injuries pile up.  Shut him down.  (I'm sure you could think of a more colorful three words in reference to the overall season, but that's why we have comments and GameThreads here at BYB.)  Obviously, someone has to play these games, and the paying customers deserve to see major league talent on the field.  But for those who are aching and nursing injuries that just won't get better without rest, what's the point of pushing this?  This thing the Tigers have been doing has taken on the feel of a funeral march.  Why add actual career casualties to the proceedings?

Guillen is obviously dealing with something serious here, with symptoms that hinted toward this outcome when he was originally diagnosed with a pinched nerve.  He has three more years on his current contract, with skills that could very well be diminishing.  (10 home runs this year?)  Shutting him down and trying to get him as healthy as possible seems like the best way to try and ensure getting the best from Guillen over these next three seasons.  What good would playing a few more games at third base or hitting fifth in the lineup this year really accomplish now? 

The Tigers have wasted far too much this season in sending injured or recuperating players onto the field, either not realizing how debilitating their pains were or hoping they could play through their physical issues.  Gary Sheffield?  Joel Zumaya?  Todd Jones?  Dontrelle Willis?  Maybe even Nate Robertson?  They did the right thing with Jeremy Bonderman, but his condition really didn't give the team a choice.  And Jonesy acknowledged inevitability, opting to end his season with some dignity rather than delude himself with false hopes.

Next season, I hope the Tigers put feelings or loyalties aside, and act much more aggressively and decisively about putting players on the DL when they're not in any condition to help.  What good does it do to have Sheffield or Guillen on the bench if a healthier player is available to help out, especially one who might have a future with the team?  Shut him down.

You can't spell "sweep" without "weep."

Judging from these three games against their closest AL Central rival, the Detroit Tigers either aren't interested in finishing this season competitively or they're incapable of putting up a fight.  It's almost like this team delights in taking even the slightest expectation for success and crumbling into powder.

They can't let the Indians hop over them for third place, can they?  Yes, they can!  They'll win at least one game in this series, won't they?  No, they won't! 

• Justin Verlander's career record against Cleveland is now 4-9 with a 6.58 ERA.
  

• Might I suggest that the scouting report Detroit has on Kelly Shoppach is completely useless and should be sent through a shredder?  How is it that the guys who consistently beat the Tigers are repeatedly allowed to do so?  In 37 at-bats vs. Detroit, Shoppach is batting .351 with six home runs and 11 RBIs.  He has 17 homers on the season.  1/3 of those have been blasted off Tigers pitching.  Obviously, Shoppach deserves a tip of the cap for how well he's performed.  But do the Tigers have to make it look so easy for him?

• For the second night in a row, a guy who doesn't hit many - if any - home runs hit a decisive blast for the Indians.  Last night, it was Jamey Carroll, who hit his first of the season.  Tonight, it was Shin-Soo Choo, who walloped his seventh of the year.  These aren't Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez beating the Tigers.  (Or Casey Blake, for that matter.)
• And how about the guy who gave up that home run?  How's that Gary Glover call-up working out?  His ERA with the Tigers is over 7.00, with two home runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings. 
• One bright note: Magglio Ordonez appears to have broken his slump, with a 2-for-5 night that included a home run and three RBIs. 

If all that's left to play for this season is pride, then how much of that do the Tigers have at this point?  Getting swept by the Indians at home and falling 1 1/2 games out of third place isn't exactly a stick-your-chest-out sort of effort.

Fausto Carmona (6-5, 4.40) vs. Justin Verlander (10-13, 4.42)

Fourth place?  Yes, indeed.  That's where the Tigers sit in the AL Central coming into tonight's game, now a 1/2 game behind the Indians.  But if they don't like it, they can do something about it right away by salvaging a win in the finale of this series. 

Justin Verlander has won his last two starts, allowing no earned runs over 12 2/3 innings.  However, against the Indians this season, he has a 1-3 record and 5.84 ERA in four starts.  For what it's worth, that one win came at home, where Verlander held the Tribe to two runs and two hits (with seven strikeouts) over seven innings. 

Fausto Carmona has also pitched well in his last two outings, giving up just two earned runs in 12 innings against fearsome Texas and Anaheim lineups.  Carmona has won his two starts versus the Tigers this season, posting a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings.  Both of those games were at Cleveland. 

Jeff Larish is fresh off the I-75 shuttle from Toledo to start tonight at third base for the continually aching Carlos Guillen.  Larish handed the Mud Hens baton to Chris Lambert, who heads back down to the minors - at least until rosters expand next week.

The chances of Chris Lambert's stay in Detroit lasting for at least one more start didn't look very good after last night's 2 2/3 inning, six-run effort.  I thought he might receive some mercy from the Tigers' braintrust, as demoting him would once again create an opening in the starting rotaiton.  Plus, it was the defense (or lack thereof) played behind Lambert that really lit the fuse for the Indians in that third inning. 

But with Carlos Guillen's persistent back spasms, reinforcements are required at third base.  Plus, with major league rosters expanding next week, the Tigers can send Lambert down and bring him right back up.  So the Tigers decided there's no time like the present to give Jeff Larish a shot at that position, which is something they were planning to do in the Arizona Fall League anyway.  He'll get the start at third in tonight's series finale vs. the Indians, whi

Larish has played nine games at third base with the Mud Hens and played there one other time with Detroit just before being sent back to Toledo six weeks ago.  In 55 plate appearances with the Tigers this season, he's batting .245/.327/.408 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Tonight's recap will be told in pictures.  Chris Lambert began his major league debut looking great, getting out the first six batters he faced with just 18 pitches.  He was cruising.

Then the game got to the third inning.  Holy geez, that third inning...

Lambert served up back-to-back home runs to the first two hitters in the inning, one of which was to the pop-gun hitting Jamey Carroll.  That was his first homer of the season.  The other long ball was from Kelly Shoppach, who's blasted a Tiger-killing five home runs against Detroit this year.  Throw in errors from Ryan Raburn and Marcus Thames, along with a misjudged fly ball by Curtis Granderson in center field and 49 pitches from Lambert, and it led to a six-run detonation. 

Game over.  (Lambert's stay in the majors could be, as well.)  And Ben Francisco hadn't even hit his two home runs yet.  Those came when Aquilino "Run Per Inning" Lopez took over for Lambert.  (Why was Francis Beltran designated for assignment instead of him?  Maybe Lopez plays the mop-up/fall guy role better.)

With all that, the Cleveland Indians overtake your Detroit Tigers for third place in the AL Central.  Can the Motor City Kitties salvage some pride (and regain their standing) tomorrow night?