The Tigers will have a pregame ceremony Saturday afternoon, before the game against the Twins, honoring former manager Jim Leyland. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 12:40 p.m. Gates still open at 11 a.m.

There will be a video board tribute, and Leyland will throw out the first pitch.

DETROIT TIGERS (20-11):
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Torii Hunter, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
Austin Jackson, CF
Don Kelly, LF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Alex Avila, C
Andrew Romine, SS

Pitcher: Max Scherzer, RHP (4-1, 1.72 ERA)

MINNESOTA TWINS (16-18): 
Brian Dozier, 2B
Kurt Suzuki, C
Joe Mauer, DH
Chris Colabello, 1B
Chris Parmelee, RF
Eduardo Nunez, LF
Eduardo Escobar, 3B
Aaron Hicks, CF
Danny Santana, SS

Pitcher: Kyle Gibson (3-2, 3.50 ERA)

There wasn’t a lot of surprise that Tigers manager Jim Leyland began to get a little testy with repeated questions in spring training about his defense, which everyone was patiently waiting to display itself as being as porous as they’d expected.

To borrow Leyland’s parlance, repeated questions about the defense is ‘beating a dead horse.’ Even if you're asking about a good play, there's not a lot of upside in the discussion.

“There’s no sense talking to it because it’s a no-win situation for a manger. We’re not playing Miguel Cabrera at third and Prince Fielder at first for their defense. That’s not why we’ve got them there. We got them there because of those big bats,” the manager said.

“That’s not why they’re on the corners. They’re power guys on the corners that work on both sides of the ball. And, they’re working their (butts) off. I really believe that Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera’s work in spring training have helped them. There’s no question about that. They worked hard. And, it’s paying off. I’ve said all along that I think Miguel Cabrera has great hands and a great arm.”

Nobody in the Tigers organization has ever espoused the theory that three of the four primary infielders — Cabrera, Fielder and Ryan Raburn — are going to win Gold Gloves.

All Leyland asks of them is they make plays on the balls hit to them.

So far, they have.

Coming in to Thursday’s games, the Tigers were the team in MLB with the fewest errors (one).

Jim Leyland was on pins and needles, like a kid before Christmas.

Well, OK, not really, but the veteran manager WAS eagerly anticipating the report from Miguel Cabrera's medical evaluation on Tuesday morning, excited to get the good news that the reigning American League batting champ could return to the field.

Cabrera had been intentionally idled for a week after a grounder took a wicked hop and hit him in the face, opening a gash that required eight stitches, and causing a small fracture in the orbital bone in his right cheek.

"Tomorrow’s a big day. A big day. A huge day," Leyland said after Monday afternoon's game. "I’ll be anxiously awaiting to hear about that, I can tell you that. ... I know he feels good. You know he looks good. By his own admission, he’s not having any trouble seeing. His eyesight is perfect. So, it’s just in the hands of the medical people. What’s there that we don’t know about, the average people? We just don’t know."

The Tigers told reporters that Cabrera would work on conditioning on Tuesday, then likely resume baseball activities on Wednesday. Head trainer Kevin Rand would not give reporters a timetable on Cabrera's return to the field however.

"Still not sure when Cabrera will play but it will be soon — and that makes me feel real good," Leyland was quoted by the Detroit News' Tom Gage.

Regardless, Cabrera thinks he'll be ready for next week's season opener.

"I think so," he said Monday. "I’ll be ready. Don’t worry."

More good news on the recovery of Tigers' No. 1 prospect, Jacob Turner, came on Sunday, when pitching coach Jeff Jones said that the right hander threw a successful, pain-free bullpen session.

Turner was shut down with tendinitis in his pitching shoulder midway through spring training, but has been trying to get back on track, throwing Friday and again Sunday.

"It went really well," Jones said, indicating that Turner would likely throw again in spring training. "He’ll probably take two days off, then pitch in a game."

Jones could not answer, however, whether or not that would be in a major or minor league game.

For his part, manager Jim Leyland thought it was unlikely Turner was still a candidate for the vacant fifth spot in the starting rotation, given his injury blip.

"One more start? I doubt that. I don’t think we have really the time for that, to be honest with you. Another appearance or maybe two? That could be a possibility," Leyland said Saturday. "I would assume that, if he’s not a candidate — and I think it’s a very slight chance that he is now; I’m not ruling it out totally, but I think it’s a very, very slight chance — then I would assume, when healthy, Dave would want to get him over there pitching."

If Turner does not go north with the Tigers, he'll still need to be ready to join what is rapidly becoming a crowded rotation for Triple-A Toledo.

Apparently, Miguel Cabrera is feeling no ill effects of the small fracture in his right cheek suffered earlier this week, thanks to a wicked hop on a grounder by the Phillies’ Hunter Pence.

“I saw a picture of him yesterday on Kevin’s phone. He looks great. Beautiful. Looks great. No pain. Swelling’s going down. A little discolored there yet. But we’re going to take all precautions,” Leyland said of a picture shown to him by trainer Kevin Rand. “But he feels good. He wanted to come (to Bradenton) today. He told Dave (Dombrowski, the GM) he was ready to come play today, but obviously we’re not doing that.”

While it’s good news, it certainly won’t budge the Tigers from their timetable. The initial diagnosis included instructions for Cabrera to be held out of all activities for a week, before being re-evaluated.

Leyland cautioned against reading too much into Cabrera’s enthusiasm.

“It means just what it means: That he’s going to sit quiet for a week, and then be re-evaluated. That’s all that means,” the skipper said.

Apparently the only way to get Miguel Cabrera out of the lineup at third base was to break his face.

The Tigers slugger was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of the orbital floor underneath his right eye, and will be sidelined for a week for the swelling to go down before he can be re-evaluated, according to multiple reports out of Lakeland, Fla., on Tuesday.

His vision is not impaired.

“Thank God it is not worse,” Cabrera told reporters, according to the Detroit Free Press’ John Lowe.

Cabrera was struck in the face by a first-inning grounder off the bat of the Phillies’ Hunter Pence, after it took a bad hop on him. He immediately left the field under his own power, with trainer Kevin Rand helping stanch the bleeding with a towel. He was taken to a local Clearwater, Fla., hospital for testing.

Buster Olney of ESPN reported that Ramon Santiago had been urging Cabrera to wear sunglasses to see the ball better.

That urging may have saved Cabrera’s eye, even though the glasses were what caused the cut, which required eight stitches to close.

“I want to thank God I had glasses on,” Cabrera said, according to Olney, noting that he hopes to play opening day.

“His sunglasses helped him a lot. You could see the imprint of the ball on the glasses,” Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said, according to Lowe. “We will know a lot more in a week.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland joked Monday that Cabrera looked like a boxer who wasn’t doing too well in a fight, but the slugger said he didn’t feel any pain on Tuesday.

“I can take a punch. Or two or three,” he told MLive’s James Schmehl.

There were no shockers when the Tigers announced their first cuts of spring training on Monday, cutting nine players to get down to 48 in the big league camp — not even considering the one familiar name on the list.

Four of the players were spare catchers — Rob Brantly (3rd round/2010), Curt Casali (10th/2011), Patrick Leyland (8th/2010) and James McCann (2nd/2011) — the organization's recently added depth at the position, no longer necessary at this point in camp. Prized third-base prospect Nick Castellanos and infielder/outfielder Justin Henry were also sent down to the minor league camp on Monday, while infielder Hernan Perez and outfielder Avisail Garcia were told that their contracts would be optioned down on Wednesday.

But the only outright cut was reliever David Pauley, who'd never really found any success with the Tigers after coming over from Seattle with Doug Fister in last year's trade deadline deal.

Despite manager Jim Leyland insisting at the start of camp that Pauley was "better than we saw last year" and that the team wouldn't "write him off and forget about him," Pauley did nothing to help convince the Tigers to keep him around. The 28-year-old gave up eight hits and five earned runs in his 2 2/3 innings of work this spring (for a 16.87 ERA), after seeing his ERA more than double (2.15 to 5.95) in the transition from the Mariners to the Tigers.

At the time of the trade, with the Tigers bullpen struggling to bridge the gap between the starters and the back end, the addition of Pauley seemed like it might be nearly as important as grabbing another starter in Fister.

It just never worked out that way.

[NOTE: In a strictly procedural move, the Tigers placed Victor Martinez on the 60-day disabled list on Tuesday. He had the first of two knee surgeries on Jan. 27]

Brad Penny, the Tigers' fifth starter a season ago, has reportedly signed a contract with the Softbank Hawks in Japan's Pacific League for next season.

It's a deal according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal that's worth $4 million in base salary — up a bit from the $3M that the 33-year-old Penny earned in Detroit — but could be worth up to $7.5M if he reaches certain performance bonuses. Rosenthal also reported that it's the largest contract ever given to an American pitcher in his first deal to play in Japan.

Penny said on Twitter that he "had offers here, but offer much better in japan."

Good for Brad, right?

If you ask a lot of Tigers fans, it's more like good riddance.

And my question is — why?

Why the hate for a guy that was 11-11 for a team that won 95 games last season, and advanced to the ALCS. He threw 182 innings. After a couple of injury-plagued seasons, he didn't miss a start in 2010.

As Jim Leyland said near the end of the season, "Pretty good for a fifth starter."

Yes he was slow. Yes he gave up 24 home runs in 31 starts.

But he battled.

Like father, like son, Tigers minor league catcher Patrick Leyland (@pleyland1013) said on Twitter Sunday: "Brad Penny wins 11 games as a fifth on a playoff team and nobody gives him a shot? There are a lot of teams that could use 11 as a fifth. ... People hate on brad but look up how many fifths won 11 and pitched 180 some innings saved the bullpen kept them in most games."

At this point, having made no move to replace Penny's rotation spot with a veteran hurler, the Tigers seem as if they are more than likely willing to let a handful of their pitching prospects — Jacob Turner, Duane Below, Andy Oliver, Adam Wilk, Drew Smyly — battle it out for the No. 5 spot in spring training.

Will the Tigers get a performance like Penny's from whomever wins the job?

Given their collective inexperience, I think they'd be ecstatic if they did.

All the more reason the Tigers went into the offseason looking for a low-cost insurance option they could plug in if those kids aren't ready.

And along the way, they've flirted with the idea of trading for guys like Gio Gonzalez or Matt Garza.

They still may be in the market. But that doesn't guarantee they'll get someone who performs better, even if they get a bigger name, or pay more money.

Put it this way: One of the guys that Tigers fans have been hoping they'd sign for the job, Roy Oswalt (who reportedly turned down a one-year, $10 million offer from the club) cost $16 million to post a 9-10 record with the Phillies last year. And he threw only 139 innings because of a balky back, which may or may not be better this year.

Not exactly bang for the buck.

I'm not insinuating that the Tigers have lost an irreplaceable cog, or that they'll be worse without Penny. May not make a whit of difference.

But fans might want to be careful what they wish for: You CAN do worse than what the Tigers got out of Brad Penny last season.

The worst-kept secret in the world, after the two sides agreed on terms this week, was that the acquisition of Prince Fielder was likely going to mean a change in position for the Tigers' resident first baseman, Miguel Cabrera.
Manager Jim Leyland confirmed in Thursday's introductory press conference that he was indeed planning on moving Cabrera back to what the player called his "natural position," putting him at third base. The trickle-down effect meant that longtime Tiger Brandon Inge would also be impacted by the acquisition.
In this video clip, Leyland talks about how the move will play out for the two players:

Color Tigers manager Jim Leyland shocked, flabbergasted and downright floored that the Tigers ponied up $214 million to sign Prince Fielder this week, after even he said the Tigers had been wondering just a couple weeks ago if they'd had enough wiggle room, financially, to bring in another pitcher.
"This boggles my mind, to be honest with you," Leyland said at Thursday's news conference at Comerica Park.
"I was kidding somebody. I said, about three weeks ago, we were talking about maybe getting an extra pitcher, a bullpen guy or something, and we said well we didn’t know if we had the finances to get that guy. And I said, ‘I don’t know what happened in three weeks, but Little Caesar’s did good, evidently.'"

Here's video of a portion of that interview:

Delmon Young's side is still hurting. So is Victor Martinez's.

Wilson Betemit probably isn't totally right. And Alex Avila is "running" like he has a two-ton elephant on his back.

None of those things are being touted as an excuse for the Tigers' 3-1 deficit in the ALCS.

"Not this team. Everybody’s battled all year. And we’re not going to stop playing hard," utilityman Don Kelly said.

"We’re kind of limping through this series right now, and you’ve just got to find a way to get the job done, regardless," Avila said.

"You know, both teams got some guys hurting. I just don't want to make a big deal about that. I don't think that looks good. Do we have some guys? Yeah, I think truth be known, Alex Avila might be hurting as much as any of them. We don't really talk about that as much," manager Jim Leyland said.

"Both teams have that issue at this point. We have no excuses. We've had — these games have been great games, and so far, they've done enough to win three of them, and we've only done enough to win one of them. That pretty much sums it up."

There's no doubt Avila is exhausted. He was behind the plate for 47 of the team's final 49 games in the regular season, and all nine games so far in the postseason.

But he's banged up, too, dealing with a pair of balky knees.

"To be honest with you, this is probably some of the wear and tear that I played him a little too much turning the season, probably. And we ran into that one stretch (in August) where Victor could not catch," Leyland said. "So we really beat him up a little bit more than I would have like to. But he's as tough as they come. There's nobody tougher on our team than him. ... Believe me, I know what these guys are going through. I've been in the trainer's room. You guys don't have that same availability.

"But I know what these guys are going through. It's unbelievable."

The way Tigers manager Jim Leyland came sprinting out of the dugout at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington during Monday evening's Game 2 of the ALCS, you knew he was figuring the call the umpiring crew had just made was going to cost the Tigers.

He argued vociferously with Tim Welke and his crew for several minutes before heading back off the field.

Here was the situation. With the Tigers already trailing, 2-0, Miguel Cabrera hit a one-out double. One batter later, Victor Martinez appeared to either be hit on the back foot by a wild pitch, or swing at it. He took off jogging for first. Cabrera, seeing the ball skip past Rangers catcher Mike Napoli and nobody moving, took off from second and came all the way home to score.

After an initial discussion, the umpires sent Cabrera back to second, and put VMart on first, saying he'd been hit by the pitch, making it a dead ball, instead of a wild pitch.

Leyland's explanation:
"I'm going to explain the only reason I was upset. I knew the ball hit him, OK? But it wasn't called, OK? He checked the ball for (shoe) polish, and it wasn't called," the manager said. "The reason I was upset is myself — and I believe every manager in the league that goes out on a call like that, and asks an umpire to get help, they tell you they can't get help on that. If somebody would have seen it, they come in right away to say they saw it, and they call it. Nobody moved. Nobody came in.

"So my question to them was, 'Who saw it?' And if somebody saw it, why didn't they come in right away and call it? I wasn't questioning at all whether or not he got hit. I was questioning the process by which I've been told all year ... that's normally one where they say they can't get help on that one.

"If somebody would have seen that, they would've come right in and call it right away. Yes, definitely it hit him. I saw it. And nobody moved. That's the only reason I was upset about it. Nobody moved."

The kicker of the whole thing? Ryan Raburn homered five pitches later, making it all a moot point, anyway.

To say that Brad Penny is "deliberate" in his pace on the mound would be an understatement.

Perhaps the slowest worker among all the Tigers' pitchers, his exaggeratedly slow pace has merely been more noticeable with the addition of Doug "Get Ball, Throw Ball" Fister to the rotation.

It's surely something that every fan has noticed. And it's something that his manager has now spoken to him about.

"I talked to him a little bit in Cleveland about maybe picking up the pace a little bit, just to see if it helps. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be my fault," the manager said before Penny's start against the Twins Friday, noting that he doesn't know if the suggestion will be successful.
"I think sometimes, the longer you take before you throw it again, sometimes you outthink yourself. Get it back, look in for the sign, and throw it. Now, is it going to be that rapid (of) a pace? I can’t swear to that. But hopefully it’ll be a little quicker than it’s been.

"I don’t know that it’s going to help. We need him to pitch good tonight, whether he takes all day to do it. If he pitches good, that’s fine with me."

For Penny, who's in contention for the Tigers' fourth spot in the playoff rotation, a solid outing is a necessity in more ways than one. He's lost four of his last six decisions, dating back to July 23, and has a 6.85 ERA over that stretch.

In fact, according to HardballTalk.com, he has the fifth-worst ERA in the majors (6.49) since the All-Star break.

It's also a necessity for the playoff momentum of the Tigers (81-62), who have won six straight to pare their magic number down to just 12 with 19 games to go.

The theory, of course, is that a starter who works fast keeps the defense on its toes behind him.

"That’s a double-edged sword. Because if you tell somebody to throw it before they’re ready, and it’s not successful, then ..." Leyland trailed off. "I’ve always said it’s like a good or bad movie: If you go to a bad movie, and it’s slow, you leave. If you go to a good movie, and it’s long, you stay."

A week ago, Jim Leyland jiggered with his rotation a bit, skipping Brad Penny for a start to get Justin Verlander on the mound during the three-game series in Cleveland.

[Here's an impressive breakdown by one Tigers fan (@spacemnkymafia on Twitter) of the potential pitching matchups the rest of the way.]

Thanks to the off day tomorrow (Thursday), he could do the same thing this time through the rotation: sit someone else, so Verlander — who'll have his normal rest in by Sunday — could throw in the series finale vs. the Indians.

But he won't. Even though Verlander offered.

"We felt like we could probably pick a couple spots to do that (give extra day), with the amount of innings he has. I don’t really know the answer. There’s all kinds of theories on that. Normally, if it works out all right, you can say it’s the rest, if it doesn’t work so well, maybe you can say the six days got him out of his rhythm. But I don’t believe in any of that. I think what you do is just (use) common sense. He’s pitched a lot, and I think you need to pick your spots, try to help him a little bit," Leyland said before Verlander's start Tuesday night.
"He’ll get six (days) this time, and I think he’ll get six one more time before the season’s over. ... At the start of this, when we figured all this out, we figured out so he could get Cleveland three out of four times, depending on what happens at the end."

Call it stubborn, or call it practical, he's not going to do it, for a couple reasons:

1) Verlander's innings are mounting. After Tuesday's 7.2 IP, he's got an MLB-high 202.2 innings thrown, currently 12 more than anyone else — almost two full starts' worth, despite only one more start in the books. "If you're good, you're going to throw a lot of innings," Leyland said a while back, "and if you're not as good, you don't throw as many. That's just the way it works."

Right now, Verlander is on pace for more than 260 innings, the most in the AL since 2003, and 20 more than his career high of 240 in 2009, which led the majors. The average single-season workload for an MLB starter is currently just slightly less than 205.

2) Don't rob Peter to pay Paul. Don't get me wrong: Like I wrote before, the Tigers have to play their best against their in-division rivals. But the Indians aren't the only AL Central team the Tigers need to be afraid of. The White Sox were a half-game behind the Indians after winning Tuesday night's 14-inning affair.

"I think the other thing you gotta realize is that you’ve gotta win games, you’ve got to beat a lot of teams. It’s not just Cleveland. It’s not just Chicago. It’s Minnesota. It’s Oakland. It’s Tampa. It’s Baltimore. We’ve gotta win games. That’s what it boils down to," Leyland said. "Kansas City, they’re real dangerous right now. They’re playing a bunch of young guys with a whole bunch of talent that are loosey-goosey and having a good (time). We’ve gotta win games, no matter who you play, and who you pitch."

As it is, Verlander is scheduled to throw in both September series vs. the Indians, including the one at Comerica Park that concludes the regular season — unless, of course, the Tigers have it wrapped up before then. According to my (admittedly flawed) calculations, he'll pitch twice more against the Indians and Twins, and once each against the Rays, A's and Orioles.

Don't get me wrong, though. Verlander would like THREE more starts against the Indians, something he lobbied for after Tuesday's win.

"You know, a couple starts in a row, I haven't felt fantastic, but it's coming down to the last few starts here, so I just wanted to go in there and let him know that if he wanted me to go on five days, I'm more than willing, and I think I'm over that little hump that I went through, and I feel really good right now," Verlander said. "So I just gave him that option. He declined."

The 'lame duck' status has been lifted.

With both GM and president Dave Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland entering the final year of their contracts in 2011, this year had a "win-or-else" feel to it all along for the Detroit Tigers' organization.

That threat — real or inferred — was lifted Monday, when the organization announced contract extensions for its two most visible faces, giving Dombrowski a four-year extension, through 2015, and upping Leyland one more year.

“Dave has built a solid foundation for this organization and assembled competitive teams that give us a chance to win year in and year out. We have a lot of confidence in his continued leadership of the Detroit Tigers,” owner Mike Ilitch said in a press release. “I am pleased Dave has agreed to continue to lead our organization.”

The owner also acknowledged the leadership of Leyland, who took the Tigers to a World Series in his first season in Motown, the franchise's first trip to the postseason in 19 years, and the first fall classic appearance in 22. The Tigers haven't been back since, however, despite a payroll amongst the highest in baseball. Most observers figured there would be a housecleaning if they didn't get to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, at bare minimum among the coaching staff.

“I know Jim shares our desire to deliver a winner. We’re pleased to have him continue leading the Detroit Tigers on the field,” Ilitch said.

While extensions were also granted to all of Dombrowski's chief lieutenants — vice presidents Al Avila, David Chadd, Scott Reid and John Westoff — Leyland's crew does not get that same added security. While the Tigers currently have the second-largest divisional lead in Major League Baseball, there still could be an overhaul if the team does not make the playoffs.

The coaching staff already had one change made midseason, when the Tigers let pitching coach Rick Knapp go just before the All-Star break.

Still, Leyland has said he doesn't mind a year-to-year contract basis, to make sure he doesn't get himself in a situation like he did in Colorado, where he lost the desire to manage. So far, that hasn't happened here.

“I want to thank Mr. Ilitch and Dave Dombrowski for the support and confidence they have shown in me and I look forward to managing the Detroit Tigers in 2012," the manager said in a press release of his own. "Also, my many thanks go out to generations of Tigers fans who have supported the Tigers through the good times as well as the tough times. I’m proud to take the responsibility to assure Mr. Ilitch, Dave and our many fans that we will never fall short of doing everything we can to maintain the pride of our organization and our fans.”

(C'mon — I had to. You know I did. Stop rolling your eyes.)

After Sunday's game at Target Field, the Tigers announced they'd be sending Lester Oliveros back to Triple-A Toledo, and giving one of their two No. 1 picks from the 2010 draft — a kid named Chance Ruffin — his first Chance.

(OK, I'm done now. Seriously.)

What does it mean that Oliveros was sent down? Nothing much, really. Most of the writers who cover the Tigers were a tad surprised that he got through the past two weeks — which included a handful of agonizing transactions — unscathed.

Not that he'd pitched poorly. He hadn't. But while he hadn't earned himself a bus ticket out of town (trademark: Bobby Ross), he hadn't exactly made it impossible for him to be optioned out, either. In short, he'd been OK — nothing more, nothing less.

So what makes this transaction noteworthy — other than the symmetry with Chance making the majors just a year after being drafted, as had his father, Bruce, to start his own 12-year MLB career? The younger Ruffin was taken with the compensatory pick the Tigers got when they lost Fernando Rodney to free agency. Bruce Ruffin was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1985.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland certainly didn't sound like he was the architect of the move. "I don't know anything about him," the manager told reporters in Minneapolis after the game. "I know nothing about him except he's tough, he's good and he's from Texas."

Think about it this way, then: If Oliveros hadn't really done anything to force the issue on being sent down, what did Ruffin do to earn the promotion at this point?

Well, he'd done well enough with both Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, going 3-3 with a 2.09 ERA, 17 saves, 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, and a WHIP of 1.209. Solid, but not spectacular.

He'd been accorded a special spot with the Mud Hens since his July 1 promotion, though, holding down the closer spot over guys with MLB experience in Daniel Schlereth and Ryan Perry — both former first-round draft picks — as well as Enrique Gonzalez, who leads the Hens in saves.

"Chance Ruffin is closer makeup and closer stuff," Hens manager Phil Nevin said, when asked by the Toledo Blade's John Wagner recently. "This is what we see him as down the line, and so far he's done nothing to deter anyone from thinking of him that way. He's someone we think very highly of."

Fair enough. But why bring him up to the big leagues on July 24, in the middle of a pennant race, especially when all of the short relief spots in the Tigers' bullpen are ably filled? Jose Valverde has yet to blow a save opportunity as the closer, high-priced free-agent acquisition Joaquin Benoit has settled into the set-up role just fine after a shaky start, and rookie Al Alburquerque, the seventh-inning guy, has arguably been one of the Tigers' four most pivotal pitchers this season.

In this case, think outside the box — or outside the organization.

This move — just like accommodating moves to pitch prospects Andy Oliver and Charlie Furbush in front of scouts from other teams — could very well just be a showcase of Ruffin's skills as a potential trade chip before the July 31 trade deadline.

If the Tigers don't want to move one of their blue-chip prospects, like Oliver, Furbush, Jacob Turner or Nick Castellanos, maybe a guy like Ruffin — a quick riser with a mid-90s fastball and a closer's disposition — would be next on the list of candidates for a swap to land the Tigers another starting pitcher for the stretch drive.

If you happened to see a visibly animated Justin Verlander yapping from the dugout Friday night, rest assured he was not aiming that vitriol at neither his teammates, nor his manager, who'd just pulled him from the game after eight strong innings of two-hit baseball.

"Coming off a nine-inning game, he (Leyland) was probably thinking give me a little bit of rest, I guess. I'd have been more than glad to go back out, but he stuck his hand out, and I shook it, so that pretty much seals the deal," Verlander said with a wry smile after the game.

So who exactly was the Tigers' ace so cheesed off at? The Royals' No. 2 hitter, Melky Cabrera, who'd just popped out to Don Kelly in left field to end the eighth inning. And it wasn't because Cabrera had broken up Verlander's no-hitter two innings earlier, with an RBI triple that was the first hit allowed by Verlander in 51 batters, a span of 15 2/3 innings, dating back to May 2.

Why was he mad? It's best explained in Justin's own words in the video:
(And my apologies for the less-than-stellar videography. The mob gets pushy around an interviewee at times, forcing vantage-point changes quite often.)

DETROIT — Scott Sizemore tried not to think about Detroit much during his exile to Triple-A Toledo this spring.

He knew something was up when he was scratched from the Mud Hens’ lineup just before Monday night’s game, though.

“When I went in the clubhouse to hit in the cage ... I saw Nev (Mud Hens manager Phil Nevin), he kind of gave me the ‘come here.’ And then he walked down to tell Argenis Diaz ... that he was going to play second. I kind of had a good idea at that point, but I wasn’t officially told until after the game,” Sizemore said of his call-up to the Tigers, unexpected to everyone but him, apparently.

The Opening Day second baseman for the Tigers a year ago, Sizemore lasted just 30 games before losing his job, and getting sent to the minors. This spring, he couldn’t figure out a way to reclaim it, losing the competition with Will Rhymes for the job.

But Sizemore didn’t sulk. Rather than concentrate on what could have been, or could someday be, the 26-year-old chose to focus on what was.

And he didn’t sit by the phone, waiting for the call-up.

“To be honest, I didn’t really even think about it. I didn’t let the stuff I couldn’t control affect me, just focus on the stuff on the field, and it seems to have paid off, thus far,” Sizemore said Tuesday, as he wandered around the Tigers locker room, collecting high-fives, fist-bumps and hugs, and trying to find his locker.
“I think anytime you worry about things you can’t control, it takes a little bit of the control away from you. My mindset was just to do everything I could on the field, and whatever happened with the front office up here, is just out of my control. Can’t do anything about it.”

But Sizemore did do something about it: He tore the cover off the ball in Toledo, leading the International League with a .408 average. His extra-base pop — seven doubles, one triple, two homers — was part of the reason the Tigers called him up after Monday’s game, the first step in an attempt to fix the feeble top of their batting order.

“Just knowing what I had to do to get back up here,” Sizemore said of his focus. “You’re not going to get handed the job. You’ve gotta kind of force the issue. That was my mentality, just go down there, work as hard as I could, do everything I could to earn an other shot.”

Last year, that shot quickly slipped away. He was hitting .206 when he was sent down to Toledo on May 15. He didn’t return to the bigs until the September call-ups.

In the interim, Carlos Guillen took over the job until he got injured, then Rhymes shined in his opportunity the rest of the way.

That, as much as anything, was what got Rhymes the job in Spring Training. While Rhymes outhit Sizemore on the Grapefruit League circuit (.328 to .243), much of that difference was in the final few games of the spring, when Rhymes already had the job in hand.

And while Rhymes was hitting just .221 when he was optioned to Toledo after Monday’s game, manager Jim Leyland was insistent that it was more a matter of circumstance than performance.

“It’s not like Will Rhymes did so bad. I certainly don’t want to indicate to anybody that we’re blaming all of our offensive woes on Will Rhymes. That’s not the case. The case in this matter is, we’re looking for a little punch,” Leyland said of Rhymes, who’s never going to be confused for a power hitter. “So he kind of caught the short end of the stick, to be honest with you.”

Rhymes’ advantage over Sizemore — aside from defense — might be in his fit for the No. 2 spot in the order, where you want someone who can move a runner into scoring position for the big RBI guys. Problem was, Rhymes didn’t have that opportunity too often, considering the struggles of leadoff man Austin Jackson in getting on base.

Sizemore may be a step below Rhymes, defensively, but he’s making up ground, thanks to a return to health. He missed time in the 2008 season with a wrist injury, then returned to earn honors as the Tigers’ Minor League Player of the Year in 2009, before a fractured ankle ended his season prematurely.

It’s taken him more than a year to get his mobility and flexibility completely back, and regain the range robbed from him by the injuries.

Now the test will be to continue his torrid hitting, something that was even more unexpected to Sizemore than the call-up.

“To be honest, you’d say yeah (it’s unexpected). You can’t ever expect to hit like that going into the season. Of course, I know I’m capable of doing that, it’s just being mentally focused, and it’s not really necessarily looking at my results, but what I do with the at-bat. It just keeps kind of going well for me,” said Sizemore, struggling to remember a time in his career that he’d hit so well for so long, and settling on a three-week span in Class A.

Even if it doesn’t keep up at quite that same pace, he’s still reasonably sure that Tigers fans haven’t seen the real Scott Sizemore yet.

“I’d like to think so. I think I’ve got a lot more in the tank,” he said. “It’s just putting your best foot forward, and showing everybody else what you’ve got.”

Short hops
• New York starter CC Sabathia has been up-and-down in his career at Comerica Park, starting 6-0 in his first eight starts there, but going 1-4 with a 5.63 ERA since 2006. Entering Tuesday night, he had not beaten the Tigers on the road as a Yankee.

• Alex Avila’s two home runs Monday night marked his second multi-homer game of his short major league career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became just the second Tigers catcher in 15 years (Pudge Rodriguez, Aug. 8, 2004) to hit two home runs in a home game. Avila came into Tuesday night’s game leading all MLB catchers in RBI (21) and total bases (48), ranking second in home runs (5) and triples (1), third in doubles (6) and runs (12). He’s hitting .309 and slugging .593, both totals best among full-time catchers.

• The Tigers continue to pound out doubles, hitting at least one in 27 of 29 games after Ramon Santiago’s two-bagger Monday night.

Rumors were swirling Monday night that Scott Sizemore might have earned the call-up from Triple-A Toledo after last year’s Opening Day starter at second base for the Tigers last season was a healthy scratch for the Mud Hens’ game vs. Pawtucket.

Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski confirmed the move — calling Sizemore up, and optioning Will Rhymes down — after Monday’s game. Sizemore was leading the International League with a .408 average, while Rhymes was hitting just .221 after the weekend.

"As you know, we’ve been scuffling from an offensive perspective, and Sizemore’s been hitting very well ... We figured it was a way to get a little more pop in the lineup, maybe get some extra-base hits and try to get things going at the top of the order for us," Dombrowski said.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland was quick to point out that the struggles of the Tigers' offense — which include leadoff man Austin Jackson hitting just .188, and No. 3 hitter Magglio Ordonez posting an anemic .151 average, a slugging percentage of .164 and just one lone RBI — are not all the fault of Rhymes, normally the No. 2 hitter.

“Sometimes, you’re the victim of a situation of ... you’re not really tearing it up — and we didn’t really expect him to — but sometimes you’re the victim of a situation where a few guys aren’t hitting, and he’s a second baseman, and the guy who’s hitting .400 is a second baseman. So, it’s not like Will Rhymes did so bad,” Leyland said. “I certainly don’t want to indicate to anybody that we’re blaming all of our offensive woes on Will Rhymes. That’s not the case. The case in this matter is, we’re looking for a little punch. ... So he kind of caught the short end of the stick, to be honest with you.”

As highly anticipated as the move has been — there was a populist movement to "free Scott Sizemore" on Twitter — it won't be the cure-all to a team that's struggling in all aspects of the game.

And it might not be the only move coming. Victor Martinez, who will resume his role as the primary DH, is eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday. His return will mean that Ordonez will either have to spend more time in the outfield, or possibly sit for a while. Leyland noted after Monday's game that Ordonez could be moved down in the order at times, or out of it.

Sizemore's promotion to the big club will also mean that Ryan Raburn will spend most of his time in the outfield again, rather than splitting his starts between left and second base. That, too, would indicate that Ordonez might be destined for some time off, since Leyland's more likely to leave Brennan Boesch (.300) in the lineup, as either the right fielder or DH.

Finally, Phil Coke's solid start against the Indians — more reminiscent of his first two starts of the season than his last two horrible outings against Seattle — may have staved off the conversations about moving him back to the bullpen, at least for now.

But if he begins to struggle again, it will be hard for Leyland and Dombrowski — both men in the final year of their current contracts with the Tigers — to ignore the seasons that young lefties Andy Oliver (3-1, 3.64 ERA, 31 K/29.2 IP) and Charlie Furbush (2-1, 1.90 ERA, 32 K/23.2 IP) are putting together in Toledo.

If you thought the Tigers’ team batting average — which has crept up to .255 with a pair of nine-run outbursts in the first two games of the series vs. Chicago — was a localized problem, rest assured, it’s not.

The White Sox (8-13) haven’t hit a lick so far, either, contributing to their slide of 1-9 slide. Chicago came into Sunday’s game having hit .197 in their last 11 games, with just 32 runs scored.

The topic came up when Tigers manager Jim Leyland was talking with White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker, who’d played for Chicago when Leyland was a coach there.

“He said they really haven’t hit yet, and they’re fourth in league in runs scored. But he was making the point that, ‘Well, we saw (Oakland’s Brett) Anderson, (Trevor) Cahill, (Anaheim’s Jered) Weaver, (Justin) Verlander ... I mean, that’s got something to do with some of that stuff. I mean, pitching’s pretty good. That’s got something to do with what happens,” Leyland said, pointing to the Tigers’ recent outburst almost being an anomaly.
“What gets lost in the shuffle sometimes is that we beat two good pitchers. We’re going to face another real good one today (John Danks), and then we’re going to face (Seattle’s Felix) Hernandez, and then we’re going to face that new phenom they got (Michael Pineda). It doesn’t let up. That’s just the way it is. Go to Cleveland, we’ll probably see (Justin) Masterson, who’s really tuned it up, going to come home and play the Yankees ... and so, it’s just a never-ending thing."

It’s not just these two teams, either.

If the American League’s current league batting average of .248 held up, it would be the lowest since 1972. MLB’s also on pace to have its lowest-scoring April since 1992.

“I think there’s a lot of factors. The pitchers are good, the weather’s been horse(bleep). ... I don’t think the offense will be what it was, during the slow-pitch time in the American League,” Leyland said.

The trend isn’t a huge concern to the manager, though.

“I don’t care about anybody else in baseball, I only care about my own team. But it’s encouraging to me, because we have track records. That’s what I’ve said all along, and I’m not going to deviate from that. That’s what we have, that’s what we’re banking on, like everybody else is,” he said.
“So I’m banking on track records. Victor Martinez is going to hit, if the book doesn’t lie — and the book doesn’t lie. Magglio Ordonez is going to hit. I think everybody probably has a feeling right now that they’re looking forward to when it happens, because all teams have guys with track records. I mean, the White Sox are going to hit, the Twins are going to hit. I mean, when you say hit, is it going to be back to four or five years ago? Probably not. But they’ll hit. I mean, it’s in the book, and I’m a big believer in the book.”