Tigers Hope to Prey on Wounded Red Sox

The Red Sox limp home after losing six straight on the road to the Rays and Yankees, falling into a tie for the wild card with the Rangers. Now the Red Sox carry their surprising losing streak into a four-game series with the Tigers at Fenway Park.

Kurt Mensching of Mack Avenue Tigers joined us to answer a few questions about the Tigers as the AL Central's best squad looks to separate itself in the Central and further bury the Red Sox in the East.

NESN.com: Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson are both having big seasons for the Tigers, but which starter would you rather have pitching an important game?

Kurt Mensching: I like Jackson. I really do. Without the Tigers' decision to trade for him in the offseason, Detroit is not sitting in first place right now. He's been an amazing surprise.

That said, he's been a surprise. Verlander is the ace of the Tigers. He's the guy that has been there and helped the team to its first World Series appearance in 22 years in 2006. He's been the best pitcher on the staff ever since. And this year, after a stumble out the block while he worked his way into a new arm slot at the behest of pitching coach Rick Knapp, he's fought to give a low-scoring offense a chance to win every single night.

Last Monday's game against the Orioles says it all. The bullpen was frayed after a long series with the Indians and Jackson's stumble two days prior. He pitched just four innings of a 12-inning game that came a day after a 13-inning game. Verlander took the team on his shoulders and was nearly unhittable from the second inning through the eighth after allowing five first-inning runs. The Tigers rallied to the victory, and the bullpen was allowed a day off.

That's what you look for in your ace. That's the guy I trust most when it matters most.

NESN.com: Magglio Ordonez isn't far removed from being considered one of the toughest outs in baseball, but now Magglio is having a horrible offensive season. What has led to the demise of the once dominant hitter?

Kurt Mensching: If only we knew.

My best bet: He's 35 years old. You can still be a successful baseball player at 35, but each passing year makes it more and more likely that skills will degrade. Maybe the dropoff is greater than it used to be. Maybe his body is just wearing down faster than others. Maybe it's mental, as his wife has been battling health issues.

Who knows. All we can say for certain is he struggled to catch up with fastballs this year, especially from right-handed pitchers. He could still square up pretty well on offspeed pitches and mistakes, depositing them in the seats, but until recently you could look at pretty much every hard-hit ball and find it wasn't a particularly great pitch. Bat speed appears to be the issue there.

The good news for Tigers fans is that he seems to be turning it around. His OPS for July (.735) was better than June (.572), and for August (.821), it's better than July so far. He's worked his way back out of the platoon with Clete Thomas and recently hit a home run on a 92-mph pitch. It will be key for manager Jim Leyland to continue choosing the best matchups to give Ordonez the best chance.

NESN.com: Who has been the MVP of the Tigers to this point in the season?

Kurt Mensching: That's a toughie. I want to say Brandon Inge because his defense at third base has been key, as has his unexpected turnaround at the plate. But with his knee injury, he has really fallen off in the past month. Of course, you can always point to Miguel Cabrera, with his much-improved defense at first base (Serious! He is actually pretty good there, though he's still learning).

Let me completely shock you by giving it to a non-player. First-year pitching coach Knapp has been terrific. He's taken a staff that really struggled and turned it into one of the best in the league. There's been a few new faces, of course, but the work he has done with pitchers has been incredible, and pitching is why the Tigers are in a pennant chase today.

NESN.com: What has been the one weakness for the Tigers in 2009?

Kurt Mensching: That one is easy. Batting, batting, batting. The Tigers just can't score a lot of runs.

That was by plan, of course. Detroit upgraded its left-side defense by substituting guys who could field a lot better but who might not necessarily bring much of a bat. A shortstop platoon of Adam Everett and Ramon Santiago started off the season well before the players reverted to their natural tendencies. Brandon Inge was terrific, but he is now playing with a tear in his knee, which has given him a lot of pain.

Some unexpected downturns, as well as injuries, hindered the Tigers, too. Left field has been a complete black hole. Right field, too, with the backslide of Ordonez. And then injuries to slugger Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen earlier in the season didn't help matters either.

They're all back now, and I think the Tigers are scoring a bit more per game, or at least avoiding the one and two-run games that seemed to be occurring nightly in July. Those were also in concert with untimely hitting (Boston fans can appreciate what happened to Detroit in Yankee Stadium after the All-Star break). The Tigers went 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position and were swept. How is that even possible? You'd think you'd accidentally get at least a second hit. Apparently not.

Detroit has scored 4.67 runs per game so far in August. Not that it's great, but it's better than it has been. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come.

NESN.com: Who has been the most consistent reliever out of the bullpen for the Tigers?

Kurt Mensching: Brandon Lyon seems the best answer to me, though Bobby Seay has had a pretty good season as well. Fernando Rodney is fine in save situations, but don't put him into the game otherwise.

Lyon is another pitcher who stumbled out the gate. Tigers fans immediately disliked him after he blew Jackson's amazing first start in Toronto to lose the game. May saw his ERA balloon to 6.89. So how is he the most consistent? Since then, he's been amazing. 0.56 ERA in June, 1.05 ERA in July, 0.00 ERA in August. He's racked up seven holds, three wins and a save while earning himself the setup spot.

Seay has been effective as well, and the two work in a lefty-righty tandem dubbed by the Tigers' TV announcers "Seay-Lyon." But he just hasn't been as effective.

As for Rodney, we'll hold our breath. We'll have visions of Todd Jones in our heads. But Todd Jones didn't throw a 98-mph fastball and get timely strikeouts. So I'll take him as the closer still.

NESN.com: What are the keys for the Tigers to winning the series against the Red Sox?

Kurt Mensching: They're going to have to play consistent defense. Almost startlingly, the Tigers' aforementioned defensive prowess has taken a turn for the worse. Clete Thomas, who is an incredibly good right fielder, has been a butcher in right since taking over there with the trade of Josh Anderson to the Royals. Everett can make some nice plays, but has been messing up lately. Ordonez in right field frightens me.

And you just can't give a team like Boston any extra outs and expect to win a game. Especially with the inconsistency of the Tigers' offense.

Detroit has a good pitching staff in the series, and I like the match-ups in three of the four games (Actually, I like the matchup in the fourth, because if Detroit's going to lose to Josh Beckett anyway, may as well put the Tigers' worst pitcher on the mound in Armando Galarraga). But the three strongest starters are going to have to live up to their potential.

As both teams know, execution and timely hitting are always key. Detroit has to stop squandering its ample base runners and actually get a few more home.

Finally, the Tigers are going to need backup catcher Alex Avila to keep hitting. Usually you don't make a statement about your backup catcher, but in this case, I have to. Avila, son of Tigers assistant general manager Al Avila, was called up from Double-A Erie last week to help get Gerald Laird.

Thanks again to Kurt Mensching for sharing his insight on the Tigers. Don’t forget to check out his blog, Mack Avenue Tigers.

Stay tuned Friday for a series preview of the Texas Rangers, as the Red Sox head south to face their toughest wild card competition.