I’d change the headline, but Detroit’s lead over the Twins hasn’t changed since last Wednesday, when Carl Pavano outpitched Roy Halladay and the Tigers blew a late lead against the Royals.

1) Detroit’s magic number to clinch the AL Central is 15. The Tigers (76-66) lead the Twins (71-72) by six in the loss column. Normally that favors the team in front, but in this division, it seems a team has a better chance of gaining ground when sitting idle, hoping the other team loses.

2) RHP Eddie Bonine will start Wednesday against Kansas City, in place of LHP Nate Robertson, as the Detroit Free Press reports today. Robertson left Friday’s start with pelvic inflammation and will now move to the bullpen. Bonine has posted a 6.11 ERA in seven appearances this year, including one start.

3) Justin Verlander (16-8, 3.24) pitches tonight, as the Tigers finish a four-game series against the Blue Jays. David Purcey (0-2, 7.01 ERA) pitches for Toronto. On paper, that looks like a mismatch, but so did Verlander/Robinson Tejeda last Wednesday, and the Royals won that one. Verlander’s next start, after tonight, will come Saturday against the Twins.

4) The Tigers are lined up to pitch Rick Porcello (13-8), Verlander and Jarrod Washburn (9-8) against the Twins next weekend at the Dome. The Twins plan to skip Jeff Manship’s start on Thursday and counter with Brian Duensing (3-1), Carl Pavano (12-11) and Scott Baker (13-8). While some young pitchers are hitting the wall, Porcello seemed to have a lot left in his tank Sunday, as George Sipple writes.

5) In this piece breaking down Detroit’s remaining schedule, John Lowe notes that Joe Nathan has converted all 28 of his career save chances against the Tigers, and Pavano has won all four of his career starts against Detroit, posting a 1.48 ERA. Remember, after a three-game series against Kansas City that concludes Thursday, the Tigers will play 13 of their final 16 games against the Twins and White Sox.

5 1/2) The Tigers had a six-game winning streak before going on a five-game losing streak, which they finally snapped Sunday. “It was a week ago [Sunday] that, oh, we were the darlings,” Jim Leyland said in this Free Press piece. “We’re on a roll. ‘Oh, the Tigers are great.’ Everybody thought we were great. Then all of a sudden we end up losing three to Kansas City and all of a sudden the Tigers are bad. Obviously we needed to get some wins, there’s no question about that. You learn over the years to roll with the punches.”

Note: Tonight, the Twins open a three-game series with Cleveland. Here’s the series preview. Head to La Velle’s blog for the starting lineups and other assorted pregame jottings.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 9:28 am and is filed under Around MLB, Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.