The Cone of Silence can’t drop on Dan Plesac quick enough.

I still like pitcher wins, warts and blemishes and gaping scars and all. Are pitcher wins perfect? Of course not. Should they be the first recourse in evaluating a pitcher’s performance? Of course not. Should they be discarded into the trash bin of ill-advised statistics, like the game-winning RBI? Of course not.

So I think it’s pretty cool that Max Scherzer is now 10-0, the first pitcher to win his first 10 decisions to begin a ...

Make that..of DOOM!

The move has become such a tradition that it has become known as the “Handshake of Doom” on social media and in the Comerica Park press conference.

So, when Verlander approached the dugout after a seven-pitch seventh inning and saw Leyland waiting at the bottom of the steps, he knew what that meant. Instead of accepting his fate meekly, he swerved at the last moment and used a different set of dugout stairs.

“He always stands there right at the bottom of the stairs, so I ...

And a dread of some strange Impemba doom…

For weeks, the Fox Sports Detroit TV announcers kept crowing that the Tigers had the fewest errors in the league, and that proved they must be a great defensive team, as if fielding percentage were a meaningful measure of defensive prowess. It hasn’t been, at least not for the past 30 years, since Bill James arrived on the scene.

It’s really quite simple: in order to be charged with an error, you have to reach a batted ball. And if you have poor ...

The On-Field Diversity Task Force? This sounds like something Chuck Goggin should be heading up.

Bud Selig has made past efforts to analyze and attack baseball’s problem in drawing African-American players.

A new strategy, unveiled last month by the commissioner, was to name Dave Dombrowski, president and general manager of the Tigers, as chairman of a 17-person committee designed to remedy a growing racial gap in the number of athletes playing baseball and evolving as big-leaguers.

...

You can’t spell Verve Lad without Valverde! (and The Legion of Substitute Heroes is freakin’ calling)

Max Scherzer retired the final 16 batters he faced. It was the kind of performance that shows why he hasn’t lost this season.

Scherzer left with a 5-3 lead, but remains 7-0.

Jose Valverde allowed two home runs in the ninth inning, including a three-run walk-off home run to Chris Dickerson. The Tigers lost, 7-5, on Friday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

“We obviously let one get ...

As great as Scherzer has been, I don’t think he’s even the most worthy All-Star starter on his own team (Sanchez is ahead of him in ERA, WAR, FIP and quality starts). But I find his perspective on the “win” stat, which seems to come straight out of his mother’s basement, very refreshing:

“That’s the thing — 7-0’s a nice thing, but I don’t really hang my hat on that. If I was 0-7, and still pitching well, giving my team a chance to win, I’d still be proud of it,” he ...

Pitch Perfect, And It’s Gone

When the Florida Marlins decided to trade [Miguel] Cabrera in 2007, the Angels offered second baseman Howie Kendrick, catcher Jeff Mathis and one of two pitchers, Ervin Santana or the late Nick Adenhart. The Marlins wanted both pitchers; the Angels had second thoughts about including Kendrick; the talks deteriorated to the point where the two teams publicly clashed about whether they ever had agreed on a deal.

The Marlins traded Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis ...

Baseball Fates, please note (please?): I’m just playing around here! None of these things will actually come to pass; it’s just a way of expressing how hot he’s been so far.

Miguel Cabrera finished Thursday’s game #45 with a .391 BA, .701 slugging, 1.168 OPS, 14 HRs, 55 RBI, 39 Runs, 72 hits, 129 total bases, and an OPS+ well north of 200.

The projection multiplier from 45 to 162 is 3.6, so….

  Heads up, Hack? Bourn’s gift to Miggy (plus Thursday’s daily dinger) put him on a ...

Must…let…him…tie…Bob…Purkey…in…career…wins…at…all…cost…...

Wednesday, though, Leyland got a little sentimental. After a 65-minute stoppage in the fifth inning, he let Justin Verlander go back into the game and get the two outs he needed to pick up the victory.

“Since I got here in 2006, that guy has been our horse, and tonight was a reward for that,” Leyland told FOX Sports Detroit’s Shannon Hogan after Detroit’s 11-7 win over the Indians. “I stretched it for five minutes because of what he’s ...

Seems as if The Barry Bonds Family Foundation has welcomed a new member.

“I don’t try to compare me to anybody,’’ Bonds said. “I was the best on the field. I did more things than he did. My game was different than his game. So comparing him, to me, there’s no comparison.

“He doesn’t have my MVPs. He doesn’t have my numbers. Well, not yet, anyways.

“But does he have that ability? Yes, he does.

“Does he have that gift? Yes, he does.’‘

...“Winning a Triple Crown is amazing to me,’’ Bonds ...

If you wondered what Cabrera would do for an encore after winning the Triple Crown, he’s sailing along. His batting average is 83 points higher than it was at this time last season. He also has three home runs and 13 RBIs more than he did after 42 games last season.

...For his part, Cabrera seemed almost embarrassed by the attention. He said he took no joy from doing great things in a loss. He also said that any talk of comparing him to the all-time greats is premature.

“It’s too soon to say ...

Bah! No mention of Em Lindbeck...he was an on-base machine (.000/.500/.000)!

However, and I know this will irk the legion of Kaline fans out there, Cabrera is a better hitter than #6. He has more power, he pulls the ball better, he goes to the opposite field better, and he is a better RBI man than Al was. It’s not a knock on Kaline, because Cabrera is one of the best hitters to ever play the game. He has a career .320 batting average and his slugging marks are among the best of the last 25 ...

7. OK, where does Cabrera rank among all-time right-handed batters?

Right now he’s playing his age-30 season. He has 327 home runs, which ranks 11th—more than Willie Mays had through age 30 but fewer than Andruw Jones or Juan Gonzalez. He’s fifth in RBIs, behind only Jimmie Foxx, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Hank Aaron, and is a good bet to pass Aaron and maybe Pujols (70 behind).

8. Those are old-school stats. What about some of your fancy sabermetric stuff?

OK, let’s look at OPS+ ...

Team Putkonen on!

The blueprint has worked once again. Cabrera and Fielder are putting up another elite season. Hunter is thriving, Austin Jackson is still getting on base at a .350 rate, and the supporting cast of Andy Dirks, Omar Infante, and Jhonny Peralta are performing well. The offense ranks in the top four in every offensive category. They are doing so while Victor Martinez continues to shake the rust after a year layoff.

The Tigers are not without their flaws. Defensively, they rank ...

Overreaching the Kelly criterion…

Kelly is now hitting .192.

What kind of idiot defends a guy hitting .192?

One that acknowledges he is the 25th man on the roster and has accounted for just about 2.7 percent of the team’s plate appearances, that’s who.

What the well-paid stars of the team do — or don’t do — on a day-to-day basis matters far more than what Kelly does.

Here’s what Kelly does, exactly: play first base. And second, and third, and he’s even played shortstop before, though ...

I haven’t seen a Victor mail it in this bad since Victor Mature in “Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood”.

With two outs in the bottom of the third in Detroit, Tigers infielder Jhonny Peralta sent a line drive single to right field, scoring Prince Fielder from third. Victor Martinez—who had previously doubled—attempted to score from second on the play.

The problem here was three-fold:

1. Martinez was already slow.
2. He’s a season removed from having his ACL (knee) repaired.
3. Royals ...

I didn’t mention Rod Allen’s recent riff of “you don’t need range to have a good defense.”...because my Glasgow Coma Scale numbers hadn’t come in yet.

The Tigers’ few overall weaknesses — an unimpressive bench, shaky infield defense on the right side — shouldn’t be fatal over the course of a long season. But in the first month of this season, the bullpen has been a shambles. And that is a major dilemma.

I’ll pass over the glaring lack of infield range (particularly the ...

AL SO/9 is now up to 7.6. Ho-hum…K’s are becoming the HR’s of the 90’s.

The Detroit Tigers needed 14 innings, 19 strikeouts, eight pitchers and ended the game by throwing out a runner at the plate, all in order to beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1. The two teams combined for 40 strikeouts (Mariners 19, Tigers 21), the second-highest single game total of all time.

Neither starting pitcher was eligible for a decision, but Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez deserved better. Scherzer and Hernandez ...

Bengough home!

Baseball has had its share of great lineups. Is the Tigers’ current batting order next?

It may not be far-fetched.

...After a dozen games this season, the Tigers have a long way to go to be mentioned in the same breath with “Murder’s Row” and the “Big Red Machine.”

Yet, it does appear the Tigers have put together one of the most formidable lineups in recent baseball history.

The Tigers’ team batting average is .307 - 30 points better than the next best team ...

“I hopped on Baseball-Reference.com” Obviously, Lowe hopped up on something…

I got on the scent of this question during Wednesday’s game between the Tigers and Blue Jays. Miguel Cabrera singled in the first inning, giving the Tigers two .400 hitters on the young season, Cabrera and Torii Hunter.

I hopped on Baseball-Reference.com and learned that the only team to have more than one .400 hitter was the Philadelphia Phillies of 1894. They had three players bat at least .400: the starting ...

This week [Robinson] received the honor of throwing out the first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game. No problem, right? He’s a quarterback. There job is to throw passes. Piece of cake, right? Right? RIGHT?!

Baseball IS harder than football!

Now sponsored by Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index!

- Joe is a character in the new MLB: The Show video game.  (So is Aaron Gleeman, BTW.)  Since Joe isn’t a video game player, he doesn’t really know the details, but he’s happy.

- Playoff predictions:
Rany: TOR, DET, LAA, TB (wild card), TEX (wild card), WAS, CIN, ARI, ATL (wild card), STL (wild card); play-ins: TB d. TEX, ATL d. STL; World Series: WAS d. TOR
Joe: TB, DET, TEX, TOR (wild card), LAA (wild card), WAS, CIN, SD, SF (wild ...

Depression is serious. Hopefully someone suffering from the illness will be helped by the Scherzers sharing their story.

Reunited and it feels so good….

- Jose Valverde has signed a minor-league contract—with no major-league commitment from the Detroit Tigers—general manager Dave Dombrowski announced late this morning.
Valverde will report to extended spring training in Lakeland and face some hitters before joining Triple-A Toledo.

Tigers scouts watched Valverde pitch Saturday during a workout in the Dominican Republic. Dombrowski said Valverde is in excellent shape and threw his splitter, a pitch he got away ...

Not even the eggheads at Government Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park can figure out what Denny McLain is talking about on Facebook.

One great benefit that we have is that we are a “lock” to win our division; there are no significant teams in our division. KC, Minnesota, Chicago and Cleveland.

Is there one of those teams that could be 500 this year, of course not…..so all we do to do is coast, get ready for playoffs now, we actually could be getting ready already for the playoffs. I’m ...