Foster: Be warned, Tigers fans: Brandon Inge is coming back—and, yes, he’s gonna play

Zero Batting Order Release (side effects minimal)

The question around town is why Betemit can’t consistently get into the starting lineup despite batting .316 since the trade? Here are some haunting numbers. Betemit has been rested the same amount of games by Leyland in 28 games as he rested Inge in 78 games. Once again, Betemit’s batting average is about 140 points higher.

Let me be the first to warn you folks who study the Tigers lineup like the back of your hand. Wear a baseball cap for every Tigers game because there are going to be nights you will want to tear your hair out. Inge is going to start more games at third base than you care to see.

Betemit has played well but he has not closed the door on Inge. Look for Inge to be a defensive replacement late in games — which I am fine with. Betemit is an error machine. He’s made five errors for the Tigers and his .875 fielding percentage is alarming. He also has struck out 40 percent of his at bats. Those are bad numbers, but here is what I like about Betemit. He knocks in runs. How many times did we see Inge pop up with a runner on third base?

Betemit gets the runner in some way. Inge does not.