Tigers 8, Mariners 2 (box)
Record: 7-5 (3-way tie for first)

Rick Porcello earned his first major league victory with a very solid performance against Seattle today, while his offense backed up him up with 12 hits for eight runs, and his defense got a nice play by Brandon Inge. Detroit took 2 of 3 from the Mariners to open their nine game, 11-day road trip in style.

• Porcello — The kid allowed just five hits and a solo home run, while striking out three and sending 14 consecutive batters back to the dugout. In seven innings, he faced 24 batters, just three over the minimum, which kept his pitch count to a comfortable 86. His reward was a pie in the face from Justin Verlander when he was interviewed on Tigers Live after the game. I thought we might see this Porcello show up. He wasn’t bad in his debut in Toronto. In fact, he was pretty good. But he looked like a 20-year-old kid making his major league debut. Today, he looked a lot better all-around to me. Got those nerves out of the way. I think we’ll see this Porcello often, but I wouldn’t expect this good of results every time he takes the mound.
• Ramon Santiago — Adam Everett is still battling a cold, so Santiago got a chance to start again. And boy is he making the best out of his chances! He had two hits for five RBIs, even dropping down a sacrifice bunt on a squeeze play.  He’s now batting .320 and really looking like a guy who could play every day, though I expect he’ll be relegated to the bench when Everett is healthy. It certainly gives Leyland something to think about, such as, “How do I get this guy in the lineup more often?” Any way you can, Jim!
• Josh Anderson — Not much to really say, but his speed is nice to have. He’s a pretty good ballplayer, and batting .353 in 17 at-bats.
• Jim Leyland – doing some managing! But thanks to the above guys, the Tigers have more options than waiting for the three-run home run. It’s nice to see the Tigers effectively aggressive. Too much aggression and you cost yourself runs. That is a pretty proven fact. But he’s been calling for hit-and-runs and stolen bases well, and now every opponent has to be ready for the squeeze play. It’s good to see.
• Miguel Cabrera — I need a permanent spot for Cabrera’s accomplishments. He went 2-for-4 with three runs today.
• Top of the order — It was good to see Carlos Guillen rap out a pair of hits, but the top five of the batting lineup still leave a bit to be desired. Take away Cabrera, and the other four guys accounted for one run, four hits, two walks and no RBIs.
• Matt Treanor — It’s a good thing he accounts himself well defensively, because he had another 0-for-4 day. That puts him at 0-for-11 with four strikeouts and three double plays grounded into. I find myself relieved when he just strikes out. He looks every bit as bad as his line. You don’t expect much out of your backup catcher at the plate but decreasing the GIDPs would be nice.
• Ryan Perry — He has this way of doing a little bit of bad for every bit of good he does. It must drive Leyland nuts. He threw 13 strikes in 19 pitches, which is a nice improvement. He was still effectively wild, which is fine. He could have gotten out of the inning, but Ichiro beat him to first base on a grounder to Cabrera, and Leyland pulled him. There was really no reason for pulling Perry. But still, I’d like to see him go 1-2-3 like I know he can. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t pitched in a pressure situation recently (though that shouldn’t matter), who knows. So he allowed his first hit and first run of the season. I guess we just have to keep in mind he’s not even reached the 20 inning mark in professional baseball.
• Brandon Lyon — Showed a bit of the Todd Jones today. He got out of the ninth without allowing a run, but it took awhile. It wasn’t real pretty, but no harm done. I thought he had some pretty good stuff on the mound (and strikes 15 of 18 pitches) but mixed results.

Tigers 2, Mariners 0 (box)
Record: 6-5 (second place)

Edwin Jackson — Is he afraid of falling behind in the race to become the new Tigers’ ace, a role unofficially vacated by a stumbling Justin Verlander. Jackson had incredible velocity (the gun said 98 in the 8th inning), a nice slider, and six strikeouts to show for it. For awhile, I thought he would go the complete game, to be honest, but his pitch count got up near 100 in the eighth inning and Jim Leyland made a move to get Bobby Seay the lefty-lefty match-up against Ichiro. So in 7-2/3 innings, he struck out six while allowing five hits and a walk. Fully 71 of 98 pitches were for strikes! It was quite a performance. Still, that only brought his ERA down to 2.14 for the season, so Armando Galarraga still has that lead in his “ace” column.  (update: Tom Gage writes Jackson was “sick as a dog” while spinning this gem.)

Tigers pitching — Don’t look now, but that’s the second shutout in three days! Oh, and by my count the Tigers have gone 28 out of the past 30 innings without allowing a run. (Thanks, Justin, for messing up that one! Just messin’! or am I?) For now, I am starting to feel positive about the pitching. Even Verlander, if he just lets his stuff work for him and doesn’t put a crooked number on the board surrounded by 0’s.

Brandon Inge — Gotta keep giving him props. Eventually, the top of the lineup is going to have to step up and do something. (Except birthday boy Miguel Cabrera, who does something exciting every game.) He drove in the only two runs the Tigers scored with a soft opposite-field shot to right.

Tigers offense — I guess the good news is, Magglio Ordonez did have two hits in three at-bats. Curtis Granderson walked twice and had a hit. So maybe the top of the lineup is starting to get it going, just not all at the same time. At least Carlos Guillen didn’t ground into a double play. He did, however, go 0-for-5 and strand five runners. Other than Cabrera (who stranded six today), the Tigers who played in the World Baseball Classic have started a bit slow at the plate. Hmm. I don’t know if they’re a bit behind because of the WBC or it’s a coincidence. I do expect they’ll come around. Even Guillen. But take nothing away from Seattle’s starter, Erik Bedard. He really baffled the Tigers at the plate, with his sweeping curveball. In at least six of his strikeouts, the Tigers just watched the ball go by.

Tigers defense — Turned a pair of double plays, including a nice one by Granderson to help keep the shutout going. Granderson caught the fly ball in center field and threw out Jose Lopez at home.

Gerald Laird — He nearly threw Endy Chavez out at third. Inge dropped the throw but I think the runner would have been safe anyway. He did throw a runner out at second base. I have quite enjoyed Laird’s defense already. And he keeps hitting, 2-for-4 today.

The news is abuzz! Joel Zumaya pitched much better in his rehab assignment for Triple-A Toledo today than he had been throwing for Lakeland earlier in the month.

Zumaya went two scoreless innings, throwing strikes in 17 of 26 pitches. According to Tigers MLB.com beat writer Jason Beck, who was listening on the radio, Zumaya threw in the mid-upper 90s his first inning, and rared back for a 101 mph fastball in his second inning of action. Whether or not the Columbus radar gun was accurate, that’s up to you to decide. But the important thing is, Zoomer was zooming. Hopefully he feels good tomorrow. He’ll go for back-to-back appearances midweek as his final test before turning to the Tigers.

Some hopefully uplifting news after last night’s loss, plans are taking concrete shape for Joel Zumaya’s and Dontrelle Willis’s possible return to the Tigers.

• Zumaya’s rehab was transferred to Triple-A Toledo and plans are for him to pitch out of the bullpen tonight. The Tigers want to see him pitch back-to-back nights pain free before a promotion to Detroit. That test comes midweek. I’d like to see him pitch more effectively than he did in Lakeland, on top of that. But it is an injury-rehab assignment, not a “can you still throw strikes?” assignment. I used to assume Juan Rincon was the at-risk candidate for demotion or release when Zumaya returned to Detroit, but the way Ryan Perry is missing the strike zone, I’m starting to think it’s him. Eddie Bonine hasn’t greatly impressed either, but the Tigers haven’t used Nate Robertson in that role, and Miner will return to the rotation April 25.
• Willis will start for High-A Lakeland on Tuesday. If all goes well, the Tigers will promote him up the minor league ladder. President/GM/etc Dave Dombrowski was impressed by Willis, but we’ll see. We’ve been down this road before, and it hasn’t led anywhere.
• If you’re looking for a good place to learn about the Mariners, beat writer Geoff Baker’s Mariners blog at the Seattle Times has the information you’re looking for! (And was kind enough to link to Mack Avenue Tigers, so for that I thank him.)
• Justin Verlander may be on to something here. As quoted by Steve Kornacki at MLive:

“I’m going to have a conversation with the baseball gods and see what they have to say about it,” said Verlander, who joked about having a seance in his hotel room “with lots of candles.”

• If you want to know the real reason Verlander’s game went south, check out the Twitter feed for MLB.com Tigers beat writer @beckjason: “This is what Verlander’s stuff looked like the night he pitched his no-no.” He later accepts the blame for the Adrian Beltre double which led off the fifth inning, but swears off blame for the rest of Verlander’s problems.
• Kornacki also reports Robertson has settled into a newfound life in the bullpen. Robertson no longer sounds like he wants out of Detroit, which was probably just said out of frustration at the time.
• Marc Hulet ranked the top prospects in the AL Central at Fangraphs.
• You may have noticed former (thank goodness) Tiger Gary Sheffield hit his 500th home run yesterday. (Update: Ian has more on the wacky words that come out of Sheffield’s mouth).
• And finally, good luck to the Red Wings and the Pistons today. I don’t think the Red Wings need good luck, they’ll be fine on their own. The Pistons could probably use a lot of luck. Remember when the first round was just a technicality the Pistons had to get through before the good games started? Now it still is. Except Detroit is just the road bump for Cleveland to get past instead.  Sigh. Knocking King James off his championship-guaranteeing-throne would really be great though, wouldn’t it? Enjoy the sports triple header, Detroit!

Mariners 6, Tigers 3 (box)
Record: 5-5 (tie for second)

That’s baseball, I guess. What a revolting turn of events that was. From Justin Verlander looking like he was trying for his second career no hitter, to Verlander looking like he had no clue to get the second out in the fifth inning, to Verlander settling back in and pitching into the eighth inning. On the flip side, the Tigers’ offense looked like it had gotten to Felix Hernandez in the second inning, only to find itself shut out the rest of the game. This was a disgusting, crappy way to lose a baseball game.

• Justin Verlander — 12 up, 12 down, and seven strikeouts. That was the first four innings. Adrian Beltre broke up the perfect game with a hard hit to right field for a double, but whatever, right? But no. It all went to hell. The Mariners hit it hard. The Mariners hit it soft. The Mariners pulled off a squeeze. You name it. Verlander let a 3-0 lead slip into a 5-3 deficit and all you could do was sit gnashing your teeth wondering how it got away from him so fast. I didn’t think he’d make it out of the fifth inning, but he did. And he made it through the sixth, and then a 1-2-3 seventh, and he appeared to be cruising when he  came out in the eighth. It was nice to see a starting pitcher go deep and save the bullpen, but that’s trying to squeeze positives out of an otherwise kick-in-the-gut kind of a game. Verlander struck out nine for the game. It’s Verlander in a nutshell. He’s a guy who can look untouchable, and yet be incredibly hittable. He seemed to be every bit as good tonight as he was on the night of his no-hitter. But that one inning, nothing went right and instead of celebrating a win, it’s just another loss.
• The Tigers anemic all-stars – What the hell happened there? I guess Felix Herndandez and a hard-throwing Mariners bullpen happened. But man. The offense was every bit as up-and-down as Verlander was. In the second inning, nine Tigers batters came to the plate. The Tigers showed off a versatile offense, and even scored on a squeeze of their own when the catcher(!), Gerald Laird, took off running for home on Ramon Santiago’s bunt. Hernandez was stuck on the mound for what must have felt like forever, as his pitch count quickly escalated. Alas, the Tigers could score just three and failed to take advantage of the situation. Yet again, while the bottom of the lineup is producing, the top of the lineup — other than Miguel Cabrera — is stinking up the joint. Curtis Granderson, 1-5. Placido Polanco, 0-4. Magglio Ordonez, 1-4 and left the bases loaded. Carlos Guillen, 1-4. Polanco and Guillen both ground into double plays as well. If the Tigers’ stars ever get it together, this could really be a dangerous team. Maybe we should be happy it’s 5-5 right now.
• Inge’s throw to Laird in the fifth — I almost forgot to include this, so hat-tip to Ian. But that could have made the difference. Inge fielded a ground ball and one-hopped it into the glove of Laird, hoping to get the out at home. Unfortunately, Laird, preparing to take the hit at the plate, couldn’t corral the ball. Blame Inge if you want, Laird if you want, whoever. But that was definitely a key play.
• Highlights — Brandon Lyon continues to pitch well outside of Canada. … Cabrera, 3-4. … Brandon Inge, 2 RBI.
• Overall feelng — disgust, disgust, disgust. The Tigers had the Mariners right where they wanted them and gave it away. Disgusting. At least there’s another game Saturday night.

• It’s so unfair to have a second off day in three days. Damn the rain! But I guess by now I’ve gotten used to having no baseball game in the evening. A week of day games? The Tigers think they’re the Cubs now or what?
• After nine games, the Tigers’ ERA sits right in the middle of the American League at 4.35. The starters are eighth at 5.11 and the relievers fifth with 3.68. These numbers occurred in seven against Toronto and Texas, who average 7.35 runs per game, and two against the White Sox (4.25 runs).
• The Tigers are tied for third in the AL at 6.22 runs per game.
• The Tigers also have the third best run differential in the AL at +9. Toronto leads at +22, while the Tigers’ next opponent, Seattle, is +19.
• I guess west-coast night games are almost as bad as east coast afternoon games. Either way, kids and people who work 8 to 5 have to miss a sizable portion.
• I like this Tigers team a lot more than last year’s. But I guess I’m not going out on a limb there. Actually, I like them more than the 2007 version, too. Those Tigers just seemed to get off on the wrong foot, and not win the close and late games right from the start. By the all-star break, that team had the best record in the American League, but it fizzled down the stretch. This season, so far, I like that they seem to play nine innings every game. Sure there was a snafu here or there. But overall, I like what I see. I do not want to make a direct comparison between 2009 and 2006… but this year, I feel more excited to see what happens, rather than a feeling of impending doom.
• Triple Crown watch (what, too early?):  Miguel Cabrera is first in average (.486), second in RBIs (12) and third in home runs (4).
• About that trade for Cabrera? OF Cameron Maybin is batting .214 with three runs, a SB, no HR and no RBI.  SP Andrew Miller has a 6.43 ERA and 1.86 WHIP in two starts. Can we rule this trade a winner already? After seeing the hole in Maybin’s swing and the control problems Miller had, it didn’t seem so much that Detroit was trading away the farm, so much as realizing these top prospects were not nearly as good as their reputations. They’re still too young to write off, but neither will likely approach what Cabrera will do in Detroit.
• I credit Samara for noticing this one: every Tigers pitcher on Wednesday had an ERA of 1.00 or less by the end of the game: Armando Galarraga (0.68), Bobby Seay (0.00), Ryan Perry (0.00) and Fernando Rodney (0.00).
• Early season quirks? certainly. Fun? you betcha!
• Injury updates: Jeremy Bonderman could be back in Detroit by the end of  April, according to Steve Kornacki at MLive, after he threw off the mound without any pain. I think that sounds too early considering everything we’ve heard in the past. If I recall, it wasn’t pain that shut him down, it was a fastball topping off in the mid-80s. Dontrelle Willis is supposed to have pitched off the mound, too, Jason Beck writes.  Joel Zumaya is struggling with control.
• If the Tigers get any of these guys back in good form, they could start to be dangerous in the AL Central, but I suppose that goes without saying. But counting on them coming back, it just seems like a folly. Best to expect little and be surprised, right?

Tigers 9, White Sox 0 (box)
Record: 5-4 (first place tie)

I only saw the first half of this one, so I missed most of the Tigers’ runs, unfortunately. In short, Armando Galarraga spun another gem and continues to be the Tigers’ most consistent pitcher. Brandon Inge made a terrific web-gem of a play behind third base. Ramon Santiago drove in a couple runs — all the scoring Detroit would need — and Placido Polanco knocked in three runs. Miguel Cabrera had a solo home run and two RBIs, too. I’ll blog more about the Tigers’ place in the world Thursday, but for now here are a few quick game-driven thoughts.

• Galarraga — In reality, he’s turning into the ace of the staff. Don’t confuse that with me saying he has ace stuff. Because he doesn’t. But for now, he has ace results. He seems to be a Pitcher with a capital P, rather than a talented thrower. Each start I watch makes me think he can continue some level of success. What level? I’m not sure. But watching him pitch, I just don’t see a massive regression coming.
• Ramon Santiago — Detroit loves a good quarterback controversy. It likes a good goalie controversy. And now, I think we’re starting to hear the rumbles of a shortstop controversy. Adam Everett didn’t get off to a great start in the Tigers uniform. In Toronto, he made some mistakes and failed to do much of anything with the bat in his hands. In Detroit, I think he turned the corner some. He’s batting better. He’s scoring some important runs. He’s playing a part in the victories. And yet he’s still not as good as we were led to believe at defense. But it’s only been nine games, I’m not about to judge him based on that. I think he’s settling in fine. Santiago is the backup infielder. He put up nice numbers at the plate in 2008 (.411 OPB, .460 SLG), leading some to assume he would be the Tigers’ everyday shortstop in 2009. But then they signed Everett. And now Santiago is still putting up good numbers, and driving in some runs. How long before people are calling for Santiago start? Or are they already? I like Santiago best as a guy who can get a lot of games backing up all over the place. He’s a real valuable asset to the team. But I’d prefer Everett continue to start.
• Ryan Perry — I didn’t see him pitch today. So I missed the little run in with Josh Fields. The results are good but the continued wildness still concerns me. He really needs more time to work on his location, but the Tigers can’t afford to give him that time right now. Maybe if Joel Zumaya gets back to Detroit. If he has his control… So Perry might stick around for awhile. But it’s worrysome.

Rick Porcello will have to wait for the second game of his major league career. Rain caused today’s game to be postponed, with no makeup date yet set, per Jason Beck.

Update: No immediate report if Porcello will be pushed back to Wednesday’s start, or whether his appearance will be skipped. It woudln’t hurt my feelings if it was skipped. Not because I don’t think he can beat the Sox. He can’t do any worse than any other Tigers pitcher! But keeping innings off his arm is never a bad thing.

Update2: Per Beck, Porcello is in fact being skipped and the rotation juggled is being juggled due to some off days. Notably, Zach Miner is being skipped.

Wednesday vs White Sox: Armando Galarraga
Friday vs. Mariners: Justin Verlander
Saturday vs. Mariners: Edwin Jackson
Sunday vs. Mariners: Rick Porcello
Tuesday vs. Angels: Armando Galarraga

After that, dunno how it will shake out. But the Tigers have no off days from that point until the end of April, so Zach Miner (or whoever) will have to be slotted back in at that time.

Maybe Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was not an all-time great, but his 1976 year was enough to make him an all-time Tiger. Sadly he was found dead at age 54. R.I.P., Mark.

White Sox 10, Tigers 6 (box)
Record: 4-4 (2nd place)

Wow. That was kind of a disgusting game, wasn’t it? Zach Miner was off, and more than a little off. Whenever it looked like the Tigers were going to keep this a game, Miner went out to the mound and gave it right back. The bullpen really didn’t help much, and the White Sox finished the day with four home runs, 16 hits and six walks. Detroit got as close at trailing 6-4 and later 8-6.

• Zach Miner – The line says it all, really. 3-1/3 innings, eight hits, eight runs, three home runs allowed. He just wasn’t locating all that well. It hurt because every time the Tigers scored, the White Sox got more runs back in the next half inning. He didn’t do his job.
• Misters 300 — Chicago’s Paul Konerko and Jermain Dye each hit the 300th home runs of their careers, and they came back-to-back in the second inning. So that’s admirable, I guess.
• Mr. 3-run homer? — Ramon Santiago showed a little power with a 3-run homer to right field. He went 3-for-5 and is hitting .385 this year in limited appearances.
• DeWayne Wise — It looked like the Tigers might just tie up the game on a Santiago hit to center field that seemed destined to plate a run, maybe two to tie the game, but the Sox center fielder somehow got to it for the catch — a sure web gem — and in the process separated his shoulder. So Chicago did earn this one at least.
• Juan Rincon — The Tigers “this game is a lost cause” reliever looked a bit shaky at times and maybe benefited from an umpire sick of standing in the cold, but in 3 innings, he struck out five and didn’t allow any runs. So that was good to see.
• Matt Treanor — played because catcher Gerald Laird was sick and a late scratch. I h0pe Laird’s feeling better Tuesday. At least Treanor didn’t strike out this time in going 0-3.