Sources tell me the Tigers, understandably worried about the back end of their rotation, are looking to trade for another starting pitcher, preferably one who throws left handed.
     That tells me they don't expect Dontrelle Willis to return any time soon,
     Luke French, who was called up briefly and then sent back down to Toledo, has been recalled and will start Friday night in Minnesota in place of Alfredo Figaro, who has been returned to the minors after two starts, one good and one bad.
     The Tigers need a fifth starter who can eat up innings and keep them in the ballgame, at least giving them a chance to win.
     Meanwhile, the question remains: What are they going to do with Nate Robertson?
     Robertson, who was unsuccessful in his bid to reclaim his place in the starting rotation during spring training, was scheduled to undergo surgery on his left elbow on Tuesday to remove a "mass" that was causing him to lose feeling in his ring and pinkie fingers.
     Robertson underwent Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on that same elbow in 1998.
     Banished to the bullpen this season, Robertson has a 7.71 ERA, having allowed 25 hits and 14 walks in 21 appearances. And things were getting worse. He had retired just two of the nine batters he faced in his last four appearances.
     To replace Robertson, the Tigers have called up lefty Fu-Te Ni, who had been Toledo's most effective relief pitcher this season. Left-handed hitters were batting .184 against Ni when he was called up, which should give you an idea what his role will be.
     But it is not the bullpen that worries Jim Leyland as the Tigers near the halfway point in the season. It is their starting rotation.
      

        How big was that clutch two-out, two-run homer by Brandon Inge in the Tigers’ last at-bat on Sunday?
        Imagine their chagrin if, riding a seven-game winning streak, with both of their ace pitchers, Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, working over the weekend, they had gone into Houston and been swept.
        Emotionally, it could have been very unsettling, to say the least.
        The Tigers, clinging to first place in the American League Central,  have reached the point in the season where every game, every win, and every loss takes on added significance.
        No doubt about it: Sunday’s 4-3 win was one of their biggest yet this year.
        Instead of leaving Houston with their heads hanging, there were hugs and high-fives all around.
        Sunday’s homer left Inge, who was hobbled earlier in the game legging out an infield single, tied with Curtis Granderson, who also connected Sunday, for the team lead with 18.
        And who would have predicted that when this season began?
        Speaking of the unexpected, Fernando Rodney now is 17-for-17 in save situations. His name hasn’t been mentioned much, but, with that record,  doesn’t he deserve some consideration for next month’s All-Star Game?

        Jim Leyland and Pudge Rodriguez didn’t always see eye to eye during their nearly three seasons together in Detroit. They had a major blow-up in 2006, Leyland’s first year here, when Rodriguez typically tried to see how far he could push his new manager and the skipper, also typically, put Pudge in his place. Their second flare-up came last season when Rodriguez let Leyland know he wasn’t at all pleased by his lack of playing time.
        Before long, Rodriguez was gone, traded to the New York Yankees. And the Tigers made it clear Pudge, who is undoubtedly headed for the Hall of Fame, no longer figured in their plans. Many assumed there might be some lingering bitterness, particularly on the part of Rodriguez, who has long been accustomed to getting his way.
        Nevertheless, on Wednesday, when Leyland’s cell phone rang, it was Rodriguez calling, out of the blue, just to say hello and to let his former manager know he was looking forward to seeing him in Houston this weekend where the Tigers play Pudge’s new team, the Astros.
        At his first opportunity, Leyland phoned Pudge back. “I’m looking forward to seeing him, too,”  said Leyland, who planned to congratulate Rodriguez on breaking baseball’s all-time record for games caught last week.
        “I think there’s a mutual respect there,” Leyland said. “I care about Pudge and I think he cares about me.
        “We had a couple of pretty heated disagreements,” Leyland admitted. “But that’s because we both are passionate about what we do. 
        “I’ve never seen anybody work like he did. The guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer, there’s no question about. To do what he has done is amazing.
        “Some people felt he was selfish,” Leyland added. “But I’ll tell you what: I wouldn’t give a nickel for a player who is not a little bit selfish.”
        Which is certainly not to suggest Leyland or the Tigers have ever regretted letting Pudge go.

        Two years ago, Rick Porcello tossed 71 innings, in addition to taking English and trigonometry at New Jersey’s Seton Hall High.
        Last season, his first in professional baseball, Porcello pitched 125 innings at Class A Lakeland.
        So far this year, at the age of 20, he has thrown 78 2/3 innings in the heart of the Tigers’ starting rotation and in the heat of the gathering pennant race.
        But who’s counting? Jim Leyland is.
        Very carefully.
        Since the advent of MRIs and multi-million dollar contracts, teams and managers and coaches have become increasing aware of things like pitch counts and total innings.
        Leyland doesn’t have a particular number in mind as far as how many innings he will allow  young Porcello to pitch this year.
        “I don’t have anything etched in stone,” Leyland said. “I’m just going to play it by ear.
        “But this is the major leagues,” the manager added. “You’re supposed to be able to pitch.”
        Having said that, Leyland has yet to allow Porcello, who is 8-4, to throw as many as 100 pitches in any of his 14 big league starts.
        That is by design.
        Leyland has seen too many promising young pitchers burned out early by managers who got greedy and asked too much of the kids, too soon.
        Although Leyland won’t say so publicly, Mark Fidrych in 1976 is a classic example that comes immediately to mind.
        The Tigers’ manager is not going to let that happen to Porcello. Not on his watch. Not if he can help it. Not when the Tigers are counting on Porcello to be a stalwart on the pitching staff for years to come. “This guy is a gem,” Leyland said.
        “One thing Porcello has going for him is  the fact that he has a very clean delivery,” Leyland pointed out. “He’s not a ‘max-effort’ guy.”
        In other words, although Porcello throws hard, he throws free and easy and doesn’t over-exert himself.

        On Tuesday, Magglio Ordonez returned to the lineup. On Wednesday, he returned to 2005.
        When Ordonez walked into the Tigers’ clubhouse some three hours before Wednesday night’s game, you could hear the hooting and hollering from his teammates halfway down the hall.
        Breaking news: Magglio had gotten a haircut -- his first full-scale clip job in five years.
        “Maybe I’ll hit like the old Magglio,” he laughed as he headed for his locker.
        The haircut was his wife Dagly’s idea. She even arranged for the barber to come to their home.
        The trademark  long, curly locks down the back of Ordonez’s neck that used to bounce when he ran are gone.
        Now his hair is short on top and even shorter on the back and sides. High and tight, the cut is called. Almost a buzz cut, with a few short curls left on top.
        Why now, Ordonez was asked?
        “Change,” he admitted without elaborating.
        You can read between lines.
        The 35-year-old Ordonez would like very much to draw a line in the sand and leave the first 70 games of this season behind him.
        A fresh start.
        “Over-hauling,” he said, laughing again.
        Hopefully, sort of like the tale of Samson and Delilah -- in reverse.
        This much is certain: Ordonez definitely looks years younger.
        “My hair looks like it did when I first came over here in 2005,” he said.
        “I’m 29 now. I have to change my birth certificate.”
        The Tigers will settle for more hits, home runs and RBI.

        His hair is grayer. His glasses are a bit thicker. He now has a new right hip.
        Other than that _ and the fact that he now wears the foreign uniform of the Chicago Cubs _ little has changed with Alan Trammell, who returned to Detroit and to Comerica Park on Tuesday for just the second time since he was abruptly fired at the conclusion of the 2005 season.
        If Trammell harbors any bitterness at being bounced after wearing the Old English D for 24 years --  20 of those as a popular star shortstop -- he hides it well.
        “I’m happy on a baseball field. Tiger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Comerica Park, that’s where I feel most comfortable,” he admitted.
        Although the Cubs got in late from Atlanta on Monday night, Trammell, now 51, was up early Tuesday morning. He wanted to take one last look at Tiger Stadium, his home for two decades, before it is totally demolished.
        “It put a smile on me,”  Trammell said later. “That will never change. So many great memories for so many years.
        “I peeked through the fence. I could see the top of the first base dugout and I could see where the infield was. Basically, it’s all gone. It’s just a matter of taking the steel and the rubbish away.
        “There’s never closure,” he admitted. “Your memories are forever. It’s gone. It’s sad. But we move on.”
        When Trammell arrived at Comerica Park shortly after 1 p.m. on Tuesday, he headed for his old office, outside the Tigers’ clubhouse.
        “It was great to see him,” declared Jim Leyland, the man who took Trammell’s place behind that desk.
        “This is his house as far as I’m concerned. Always will be. He belongs here more than I do. They don’t come any finer than that guy.”
        When I had concluded my conversation with Trammell, I shook his hand.
        “See ya, Rook,” I said, using the nickname I gave him in 1977 when he first joined the Tigers.
        Trammell smiled. “You’re still the only one who is allowed to call me that,” he said.
        Some things never change.  Hopefully, they never will.
        
       

        For weeks, Jim Leyland has been thinking about separating Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson at the top of the Tigers’ starting rotation. The encouraging performance of rookie right hander Alfredo Figaro in his major league debut on Saturday has given the manager the opportunity to do just that.
        As a result, Verlander will make his next start on Friday, with his normal four days’ rest. But Jackson, who pitches against the Cubs on Tuesday, won’t start again until next Sunday in Houston. Figaro will pitch on Saturday.
        Until circumstances force Leyland to change things again, Figaro _ the Tigers’ No. 5 starter _ will occupy the No. 2 spot in the rotation, between Verlander and Jackson.
        Having their workhorse aces, Verlander and Jackson, pitching back-to-back at the front end of the rotation, certainly had its advantages. It gave the Tigers one of the most formidable one-two punches in baseball.
        But it had its unintended consequences. It also put a huge strain on the bullpen the other three days.
        Leyland is committed to protecting Rick Porcello and has yet to let him reach 100 pitches. But that often means as many as four innings of relief. Armando Galarraga, who continues to struggle, Dontrelle Willis, who is back on the disabled list, and even Figaro on Saturday have all needed plenty of help from the bullpen, too.
        And recently Ryan Perry has pitched more like a rookie than a dependable big league reliever.
        By rearranging the rotation, Leyland hopes to spread that work load out a little.
        “I’ve got to protect Porcello, I’ve got to protect Figaro, and I’ve had to protect Perry _ that worries me,” Leyland admitted Sunday.
        “You can protect one starter. But when you have to protect two starters and a reliever, that scares me.”
        So for now, anyway, the startng rotation will be: Verlander, Figaro, Jackson, Porcello, Galarraga.
               

        Where would the Tigers be without Rick Porcello?
        Not in first place atop the pedestrian American League Center, that’s for sure.
        Despite the heroics of the Tigers’ Big Two, Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, Porcello leads the team in victories with eight. Which, by the way, is good enough to tie him for fourth best in the AL -- among all pitchers, not just rookies.
        How rare has his performance been?
        Porcello is the first AL pitcher under the age of 21 to win seven out of nine starts since Baltimore Hall of Famer Jim Palmer in 1966. He is the first pitcher in the major leagues to do so since the Mets’ Dwight Gooden in 1985.
        Destined to start the season at Double-A Erie, the 20-year-old right hander has more than rewarded Jim Leyland’s faith in him.
        With both Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis back on the disabled list, Armando Galarraga winless since April and Nate Robertson continuing to struggle (7.97 ERA) in the bullpen, the Tigers don’t even like to think about where they would be right now without Porcello.

        Dontrelle Willis says he believes his woes are mechanical. The Tigers believe Dontrelle’s control can be improved with medication.
        Willis says he doesn’t feel nervous during games. The Tigers say Dontrelle  is once again suffering from anxiety disorder.
        I am not doctor. But I do wonder what is going on.
        In the clubhouse, Willis is the life of the party, laughing and clowning around with his teammates. On the field, he is as animated and enthusiastic as any Tiger pitcher since the late Mark Fidrych.
        Kevin Rand, the Tigers head athletic trainer, told reporters this week that Willis’ mechanical problems and his anxiety are “intertwined.”
        “It’s a very complex issue,” Rand explained.  “It’s a situation where he has to get out in front of the crowds and put in all together. We feel he’s made some progress. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
        I have come to like Willis over the past two years. I believe he is a good guy who genuinely wants to win.
        “I feel great,” Willis insisted when he met with reporters to discuss his return to the disabled list. “But I had a bad outing and we’re in a race, so you have to get someone who can do the job. We have to win. That’s the bottom line.
        “I have so many moving parts. I feel its mechanical. I’m not a conventional guy, never have been. But I’ll get myself right and hopefully the third time is a charm.”
       
       

     First, it was Alex Rodriguez who was unmasked. Now it's Sammy Sosa who has been outed. Two down, 102 to go. Drip, drip, drip. Who's next?
     To me, the more pertinent question is: Who keeps leaking these names, one by one, of players who tested positive for steroids in that supposedly top-secret 2003 test?
     And why? To what end?
     From what I have been able to find out, the leaks could only be coming from one of two sources: A lawyer who is presently or was previously on the staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office, or someone who works or worked in the baseball players' union -- which, by the way, promised its members anonymity and should have protected that promise by destroying the test results back in 2003.
     When the tests were conducted, strictly to determine the extent of the problem -- not, they said, to identify users --1,438 players were tested. Of those, 1,334 players passed with flying colors. Only 104 players tested positive. It is important to remember that.
     The names of the guilty 104 were supposedly only made available to one representative of the players' union and to one representative of Major League Baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig swears he never saw the list and has no idea whose names are on it. I believe him.
     However, there is no way of knowing how many people in the U.S. Attorney's Office, that went to court to obtain the results as part of its investigation into Victor Conte and his Bay Area Laboratories Co-Operative, have laid hands or eyes on the list since then.
     What is their agenda?
     Baseball, to its credit, has cracked down on the use of performance enhancing drugs. It has cleaned up the sport.
     But those 104 names, now down to 102, keep trickling out, branding the guilty along with all of the unidentified innocent.
   

        Don’t look for Jeremy Bonderman to jump in and bail out the troubled back end of the Tigers’ starting rotation any time soon.
        Bonderman, who was returned to the disabled list on Friday after making his first big league start in more than a year, told MLB.com in Pittsburgh over the weekend that he doesn’t expect to be ready to pitch again until September at the earliest.
        “My goal is before September, but I know it’s going to be a long process,” Bonderman admitted, after returning from a quick trip to Florida where his surgically-repaired shoulder was examined by specialist Dr. James Andrews.
        Initially, Bonderman hoped to be ready by Opening Day. However, after a lengthy rehab in Florida and in the minor leagues, it was obviously last Monday when he made his 2009 debut against the Chicago White Sox, that he is far from ready.
        “It hasn’t been everything I expected,” the right hander admitted. “It’s been tough. It’s been a tough year.”
        Bonderman will now begin another extensive rehab program on his arm and shoulder with a therapist.
        “I just want  to get back,” Bonderman said. “If it’s not this year, then at least get to where I’m feeling comfortable going into next spring training. From what Dr. Andrews said, I still have a long way to go.
        “I plan on being back, but wherever things go this year, I don’t know. I don’t want to put a timetable on it because when I came back this time I wasn’t ready. I’m not going to come back and hurt the team. When I come back next time, it’ll be to stay.”

        How much longer can Jim Leyland keep Armando Galarraga and Dontrelle Willis in the starting rotation?
        The bigger question is, whom does Leyland start in their place?
        In the Tigers’ last two games, both losses, in Pittsburgh on Saturday and Sunday, Galarraga and Willis combined to pitch a total of just 5 2/3 innings, together allowing 10 runs on 14 hits and nine walks.
        That would be a bad outing for any one pitcher. For two it is terrible.
        Clearly, that cannot continue.
        Galarraga breezed through the  first month of the season undefeated at 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA. Since then, he is 0-7 with a 7.54.
        On Saturday, Leyland told reporters Galarraga “seemed confused.
        “His stuff wasn’t very good and his location was terrible -- that’s a bad combination,” the Tigers manager admitted.
        On Sunday, the comical, baggy, turn-of-the-century uniforms the Tigers were wearing only made Willis look worse as he loaded the bases with Pirates before he could get anybody out and fell behind 3-0 in the first inning.
        Jeremy Bonderman is no longer the answer. He isn’t even available at the moment after returning to the 15-day disabled list on Friday. Nate Robertson obviously is not the answer.
        That leaves Zach Miner, unless the Tigers summon someone from Toledo.
        Galarraga is scheduled to make his next start at Comerica Park on Friday. It will be Willis’ turn on Saturday.
        Does Leyland dare send them out there again?

        It is probably sheer fantasy, I admit, but if the Tigers ever give up on Dontrelle Willis, the pitcher, they might want to try him as a hitter.
        Hey, it worked for the St. Louis Cardinals with Rick Ankiel, why not Dontrelle?
        Before joining the Tigers in 2008 and falling victim to the designated hitter, Willis was a career .234 hitter with the National League Florida Marlins. He belted eight home runs and knocked in 35 runs in 351 big league at-bats. Hardly Hall of Fame numbers, but a significant contribution nonetheless.
        In 2007, Willis batted .286  with a .508 slugging percentage, a product of Dontrelle’s two HRs, two doubles, and three triples that season. And in 2003, he went 3-for-3 in a playoff game.
        At 27, it is probably too late for Willis to embark on a whole new career as a power-hitting outfielder the way Ankiel did after he gave up trying to locate the plate with his pitches in St. Louis.
        But the Tigers still owe Willis $18 million through next season. If Dontrelle, who starts again on Sunday in Pittsburgh, doesn’t get himself straightened out on the mound, the Tigers might want to try to at least get some bang for their bucks.

     Looking at the positions of the high school and college players the Tigers picked in the three days of this week's amateur draft, it was easy to see where their prioities lie:
     Of the 50 players the Tigers drafted, 22 are pitchers (16 right handers and six lefties), 13 are infielders, 10 are outfielders and five are catchers.
     Their No. 2 pick, 21-year-old Andy Oliver from Oklahoma State, is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound left hander with a 98 mph fastball. He struck out 97 batters in 88 innings this season, despite a prolonged battle with the NCAA over his eligibility after he allegedly hired an agent.
     In the third round, they took 21-year-old third baseman Wade Gaynor, a 6-4, 213-pounder who batted .371 with a .781 slugging percentage this year. He is the first player in Western Kentucky history to hit 20 or more home runs and steal 20 or more bases.
     Players of local interest drafted by the Tigers included shortstop Dan Fields (sixth round) from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, the son of Bruce Fields, who was a Tigers coach during the Alan Trammell era; right handed pitcher Kevan Hess (14th round) from Western Michigan; catcher Eric Roof (18th round) of Michigan State, the son of Tigers' roving minor league instructor Gene Roof; shortstop James Gulliver (20th round) from Eastern Michigan; right fielder Victor Roache (25th round) from Ypsilanti Lincoln High; and centerfielder Patrick Biondi (35th round) from Divine Child High.

     For now, anyway, the winner in the battle for the fifth spot in the Tigers' starting rotation is Dontrelle Willis. Jeremy Bonderman is headed for the bullpen to try to build up his arm strength and rediscover his velocity.
     But that could change as soon as Monday, after Willis makes his next start.
     Right now, the back end of the Tigers' rotation, namely Willis and Armando Galarraga, is as shaky as the front end, featuring Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, is strong.
     "He deserves to pitch on Sunday," Jim Leyland told reporters in Chicago on Wednesday night when he asked to explain his temporary choice of Willis over Bonderman.
     "But he better pitch good," the Tigers' manager added.
     Willis' status is that tenuous. He is winless in his last four starts with an 8.53 ERA and 16 walks in 19 innings.
     It is possible the Tigers might ask Bonderman to return to the minor leagues for more rehab. But such a move would require Bonderman's permission. "I've thought about it," he admitted  Wednesday, "but I don't know what I'd say."

        Who will remain in the Tigers’ starting rotation, and who will be removed?
        Will it be Dontrelle Willis or Jeremy Bonderman?
        Jim Leyland has the rest of this week to make up his mind.
        I’m not sure Leyland knows yet what he is going to do. I know I don’t.
        There may not be a correct answer.
        And once Leyland decides which pitcher remains in the rotation, the Tigers will have to figure out what they are going to do with the other guy.
        Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Rick Porcello aren’t going anywhere. And Armando Galarraga earned himself a reprieve with his three-run, seven-hit performance on Monday. Galarraga is scheduled to start again on Saturday. After a day off on Monday, Verlander will take his regular turn next Tuesday.
        That leaves Sunday’s starter, against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, up in the air.
        Willis, who was definitely on the bubble after his brief but troublesome outing against Boston last Thursday when he walked five batters and allowed five runs in less than three inning, pitched better although far from brilliantly on Tuesday, again walking five and giving up three runs -- but this time over five innings. That may have been enough to buy him another chance.
        Bonderman’s long-awaited return on Monday was  a major dud. The right hander, sidelined for more than a year by shoulder surgery, struggled with a sub-par fastball, surrendering six runs on eight hits over four innings. “Not good,” admitted Leyland, who expected Bonderman’s drop in velocity but was disappointed by his slider.
        “If you were a scout, not the manager, and had been sitting in the stands, knowing the Jeremy Bonderman of the past, he didn’t look like he was quite ready,” Leyland told reporters in Chicago.
        “He had surgery, he’s coming back, it was time to find out. And his debut was not good, plain and simple.”
        

        Only time will tell if David Chadd, the Tigers’ vice-president in charge of amateur scouting and drafting, did it again Tuesday when he plucked right hander pitcher  Jacob Turner out of high school with the team’s No. 1 pick in the amateur draft.
        Will Turner turn out to be another Justin Verlander? Another Rick Porcello?
        The odds are against that, of course. Things usually don’t work out so well.
        But, given Chadd’s track record, I wouldn’t bet against it.
        Chadd’s record since joining the Tigers in November of 2004 has been remarkable. In fact, it may be the best in the business.
        Since Dave Dombrowski brought Chadd to Detroit, he has selected Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Porcello, Ryan Perry and now Turner, on the first round of the annual June  draft.
        In summer’s past, Tiger fans often looked at other team’s top picks and drooled.
        No more.
        Since the Tigers selected and signed Justin Verlander in 2004, their success in the draft has been the envy of baseball.
        Before joining the Tigers, the 43-year-old Chadd served in a similar capacity with the Boston Red Sox where he was responsible for drafting Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon and 2008 American League MVP Dustin Pedroia.
        Prior to that, while working for the Florida Marlins, which was where he first teamed up with Dombrowski, Chadd was instrumental in the signing of Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez.
       
       

        Although his team is in first place, Jim Leyland has a major decision to make -- and a dilemma to resolve.
        With the return of Jeremy Bonderman on Monday night, the Tigers now have six starting pitchers -- and there is only room for five in the starting rotation.
        Somebody has got to go -- to the bullpen, to Toledo, or wherever.
        It could be Armando Galarraga, who pitched reasonably well in Monday’s opener after a rocky first inning. Galarraga, who has suddenly grown timid and is winless in his last eight starts, got a tongue-lashing on the mound Monday from Leyland, who warned him, “If you’re going to pitch to try to miss the bat, I’ll get somebody else.”
        It could be Dontrelle Willis, who starts against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. Another walk-filled woeful performance like his last one, and Willis could be history.
        It could even be Bonderman, who struggled with a mediocre 88-89 mph fastball on Monday in his  first appearance on a major league mound in more than a year, serving up home runs in each of the first three innings. “He wasn’t very good,” Leyland admitted.
        When will Leyland make that decision? “I’m in no hurry,” he told reporters after the game.
        Meanwhile, Leyland is increasingly disturbed by the Tigers’ anemic offense that settled for just two hits in Monday night’s 6-1 loss to the White Sox.
        Afterwards, Leyland called some of his team’s at-bats “sickening,” and described his hitters’ efforts as “pathetic.” It was, the manager admitted, “maybe the worst of the year.”
        Solving that situation may prove much more difficult than arranging his pitching staff.
       

     Rookie Ryan Perry became the odd man out Monday afternoon when the Tigers moved to make room on their roster for Jeremy Bonderman. But we definitely haven't seen the last of the hard-throwing young right hander. Perry could be back in the  bullpen very soon -- and he figures to be a major factor in the Tigers' pitching plans for many years to come.
     Perry's departure, between games of Monday's doubleheader in Chicago, left Jim Leyland with six starters and just six relievers. That won't work. The Tigers believe they can get by playing a man short in bullpen for day or two because Armando Galarraga gave them another decent effort in Monday's opener, eating up nearly seven innings. But they know that luck won't last forever.
     Depending upon how Jeremy Bonderman performs in Monday's nightcap, and what Dontrelle Willis does on Tuesday, Leyland will soon have another big decision to make. Willis could be dropped from the starting rotation, or one of the starters will have to be moved to the bullpen.
     Had Galarraga been knocked out early, and it certainly looked like that might happen after he threw 33 pitches in the first inning, the Tigers might have had to go in a different direction between games. That had Leyland worried.
     Monday's 5-4 win in the opener was huge for the Tigers after the way the White Sox have been beating up on them, especially in Chicago, in recent years.

        Like most of you, Tigers manager Jim Leyland will be watching closely to see what Jeremy Bonderman does when he makes his first start of the season -- his first since June 1, 2008 -- Monday in the second game of the day-night doubleheader against the White Sox.
        As strange as this may sound, there is no guarantee Bonderman will remain in the starting rotation if he doesn’t perform reasonably well Monday night.
        “He’s got to show us he can get big league hitters out,” Leyland admitted.
        “You want him to be back, but, obviously, we can’t have six starters. And the way (Justin) Verlander, (Edwin Jackson, and (Rick) Porcello have been pitching, you don’t want to mess that up.”
        Assuming Bonderman is able to reclaim his rightful place in the starting rotation, he will join Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello -- leaving Armando Galarraga and Dontrelle Willis to battle over the fifth spot.
        Galarraga will start the first half of Monday’s doubleheader and Willis, who was yanked in the third inning while working on a no-hitter last Thursday, having walked five and given up five runs, pitches again on Tuesday.
        Those three games, by Galarraga, Bonderman and Willis, will determine the make-up of the Tigers starting rotation, at least for the immediate future.
       

        Carlos Guillen has been out of the Tigers’ line-up -- and out of the spotlight -- since May 4.
        Don’t look for him to return until at least the middle of July, after the All-Star break. And that is probably a best-case scenario.
        Although the Tigers haven’t announced anything officially,  Guillen revealed this weekend that he will fly to Florida on Monday to begin aggressive therapy on his injured right shoulder at a physical rehabilitation center. He predicted he will be out of action for at least six more weeks.
        The Tigers, who still have more than $32 million invested in Guillen through 2011, are understandably concerned.
        Guillen quietly flew to California on Thursday to be examined by renowned orthopedic specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum. At Yocum’s recommendation, Guillen and underwent a third MRI at Detroit Medical Center on Friday. It was determined then that he does not need surgery but does require an aggressive rehab.
        After Guillen completes his therapy, which will likely last into July, he will report to Toledo for  a rehab assignment to get his timing and his swing back. That will probably take an additional 10 days to two weeks. It will be like starting all over in spring training.
        The Tigers have definitely missed the switch-hitting Guillen’s bat, particularly because he gives them an extra left handed bat against right handed pitchers.
        Guillen, who is making $10 million this year, with two more years to go on his contract at $13 million a year, had played in 24 games and was batting just  .200 with no home runs and six RBI when he was placed on the disabled list on May 5.

        Speculation on Saturday in one Detroit daily suggested the Tigers might decide to release Magglio Ordonez “at any point” to get out from under the costly options in his contract for 2010 and 2011.
        That story appeared the day after Ordonez went 2-for-4 and drove in the Tigers’ only run against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night -- a hitting performance that had manager Jim Leyland cautiously singing the 2007 batting champion’s praises after the game.
        Sitting in front of his locker in the Comerica Park clubhouse late Saturday afternoon, Ordonez could only smile and shake his head when he heard the news.
        “I’m finished?” he asked incredulously. “I’m released?
        “Maybe, every day, when I come to the ballpark, I should wave my arms and say, ‘Here I am.’ ”
        Granted, Ordonez’s power numbers -- two HRs, 20 RBI _ are down this year.
        But he is hitting .350 with eight doubles and seven RBI in his last 21 games -- during a period  when he worried constantly about the health of his wife who had to undergo major surgery.
        “Now that I know everything is fine, everything is taken care of, I feel more relaxed,” the 35-year-old Ordonez said Saturday.
        Whatsmore, Ordonez is batting .362 with runners in scoring position and he is 8-for-13 with a runner on third and two out.
        “How is he going to drive in runs if there’s nobody on base?” asked Carlos Guillen, in defense of his buddy.
        Going into Saturday night's game, Ordonez was batting .280.

        Miguel Cabrera went to Jim Leyland before Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels and told his manager he was able to play, sore left hamstring and all.
        But Leyland, who was not about to take any chances with his franchise first baseman, kept Cabrera on the bench until the bottom of the ninth when he sent him up to pinch hit with the game on the line.
        Cabrera walked, but it was obvious the tender hamstring was still bothering him and Leyland said after the game that the Tiger slugger may not play Saturday night, either. “Right now, I’d say it’s doubtful,” the manager admitted.
        “We can’t take a chance on losing him for a long period,” Leyland explained.
        Leyland admitted he was very worried about Cabrera when he left the ballpark on Thursday. “We caught a big break,” the manager said. “I was afraid it might be a lot worse.”
        And that is a loss the Tigers simply cannot afford right now. Without Cabrera in the lineup the Tigers are much less formidable.

        The “new” Jeremy Bonderman will make his 2009 debut in Chicago on Monday night -- 53 weeks after he last threw a pitch in the big leagues. Look closely, because you might not recognize him.
        Expect to see slower fastballs and “a lot more change-ups than anybody has ever seen me throw before,” Bonderman said Friday. In years past, the 26-year-old right hander, who has long lacked a dependable change-up in his arsenal of pitches, used to throw at most two or three change-ups per game.
        “I’m going to do a lot of stuff I never did before because that’s what I have to do,” he admitted.
        “I’m not going to blow it by guys,” said Bonderman, who didn’t even know he was going to be pitching on Monday until I told him, minutes after Jim Leyland broke the news to the media.
        When Bonderman was younger, he regularly fired fastballs that reached 95 or 96 mph. In his final rehab start with Toledo, he was clocked at 88 and 89 mph. “That’s all I’ve got,” he said.
        “I’m not saying I’m going to be a ‘guile guy,’ ” Bonderman continued. “But I’m going to have to pitch more smart than anything else.”
        To better learn how to do that, Bonderman has been speaking by telephone once a week to former Tigers veteran Kenny Rogers, who got by on brains rather than brawn for years. “I look at him as a big brother,” Bonderman said. “He could out-think guys. I’ve been picking his brain as much as possible.”
        Bonderman said his arm “is healthier than it was” when he was sidelined with a blood clot that required surgery last June. “But my velocity is not where it was before I got hurt,” he admitted.
        “I don’t know how long it will be before I get back to 100 percent -- if my velocity ever gets back to where it used to be,” Bonderman said.
        Bonderman admitted that frustrated him for a while.
        “But now I realize it’s the way it is,” he said. “If my velocity comes back, great. If not, I’ve got to pitch with what I’ve got.
        “Whether it’s 88 or 91 mph, it’s not going to matter to me anymore. The hitters are going to let me know if it’s enough. It’s all about competing.”
        The decision on which player to drop from the roster to make room for Bonderman probably won’t be made until after the first game of Monday’s day-night doubleheader in Chicago. So far, Leyland isn’t saying whether it will be a starting pitcher or a reliever, or even whether it will be a pitcher or a position player who goes.
        “I don’t want everybody out there getting nervous,” he explained.
        Nevertheless, making a roster move of that magnitude between games of a doubleheader can create an awkward situation.
        “It’s part of the job, I’ve had to do it before, it comes with the territory,” Leyland admitted. “You might as well make up your mind somebody is going to be mad. If you go into it any other way, you’re kidding yourself.
        “I can tell you this: It’s not etched in stone who it will be,” Leyland said Friday. “We’ve tossed around several scenarios.
        “Obviously, you can’t have six starters,” he added, perhaps dropping a hint. “Well, you can, but that’s very unlikely. I don’t foresee that happening right now.”
       

        Most of the credit for the success that the Tigers have so far enjoyed goes to the pitching staff. And rightfully so. The players, after all, are the show. “I think we’ve got some pretty good pitchers who, knock on wood, have a done a pretty good job,” Jim Leyland said.
        However, at least a portion of that credit for the Tigers’ first-place status also has to go to Rick Knapp, the Tigers’ 47-year-old rookie pitching coach who began the season on the spot after the team had scapegoated and fired his predecessor, Chuck Hernandez.
        Night after night, after the players, other coaches, and even the manager have gone home, Knapp remains in the clubhouse, watching that day’s game all over again on video tape, breaking down the performance of the pitcher,  pitch by pitch. The next day, Knapp sits down with that hurler and goes over it again, asking questions like, “What did you think was your best pitch?” and “What did you think was your worst pitch?”
        It is a painstaking process, but one that, so far, is paying dividends.
        “He’s had to do double-duty, he’s had two jobs,” Leyland noted.
        In addition to instructing and advising the Tiger pitchers, Knapp, who spent the last 17 years working as the Minnesota Twins’ minor league pitching coordinator, is still getting acclimated to the major leagues.
        “He’s doing things up here that he didn’t have to do in the minor leagues,” Leyland explained.
        With the Tigers, Knapp, who himself never spent a day in the big leagues as a player, has had to win the confidence of proven big league winners such as Justin Verlander, Fernando Rodney, Dontrelle Willis, and Joel Zumaya.
        “I told him when we hired him, ‘Don’t come in and tell everybody how much you know,’ ” Leyland said. “I told him to ‘Just let it flow.’
        “It’s not that he doesn’t know a lot, because he does. But he didn’t try to push himself on anybody.”
        As a result, going into Thursday’s matinee against the Boston Red Sox, the Tigers, who proved in 2006 that pitching wins pennants, boasted the second-best ERA (4.00) in the American League.
       
       

        If there are no further setbacks, look for Marcus Thames to be back in the middle of the Tigers’ lineup on Sunday.     
        Thames, who hasn’t played since April 18 in Seattle because of a lingering painful muscle strain in his rib cage, is currently on rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo, trying to swing his way back into hitting shape.
        Even though Thames was only batting .222 with no home runs and just two RBI when  he was hurt, with four enemy left handers on the horizon next week the Tigers are hoping Marcus could provide  the influx of right handed power that their struggling offense needs.
        “If Marcus Thames is swinging like Marcus Thames, he can be a big help to us,” Jim Leyland said Wednesday.
        In nine games with Toledo, Thames, a constant home run threat, is batting .263 with a homer and five RBI.
        Beginning Sunday with the Los Angeles Angels’ Joe Saunders, the Tigers expect to see four left-handed starters, including Chicago’s Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Clayton Richard, in five days next week. “Marcus would be a big right handed bat for us,” Leyland said.
        When Thames is activated, Jeff Larish will likely be sent to Toledo.
        Meanwhile, the outlook is not so good for left fielder Carlos Guillen, who has on the disabled list May 5 because of an injured shoulder. Guillen and Leyland are both resigned to the fact that his absence may be more long-term. “It sounds like it will be a while,” the manager said.
        “From what they tell me, he has a pretty worn shoulder,” Leyland explained Wednesday. “He has a pretty used shoulder that’s been roughed up a little bit.”
        For his part, Guillen has grown increasingly frustrated.
        The 33-year-old Guillen, who was hampered last season by sore knees and a bad back, is signed through 2011. He is the fifth highest-paid Tiger, making $10 million this year. Guillen is guaranteed $13 million in both 2010 and 201l.
        The Tigers are already on the hook for the $13.6 million remaining on Gary Sheffield’s contract this year.
        By the way, in 43 games with the New York Mets, Sheffield, who was released by the Tigers at the end of spring training in order to allow Thames and Guillen as well as Magglio Ordonez to serve as the  DH,  is hitting .282 with five HR and 20 RBI.
        Hmmmmmm.
       

        Jim Leyland still remembers the day his aunt took him a baseball game at hallowed Tiger Stadium. It was just the second big league game he had ever witnessed in his life.
        As a young minor league ballplayer, Leyland spent seven years in the Tigers’ farm system, dreaming of someday being invited to set foot on the field at Tiger Stadium. The invitation never came. The closest Leyland ever got was Double-A Montgomery.
        As a minor league manager, he spent 11 years in the Tigers’ organization, working and waiting for his chance to coach or manage in Detroit. But the call never came.
        On those rare occasions when Leyland did come to Detroit for organizational meetings after the end of the minor league season, he wasn’t even allowed in the Tigers’ clubhouse. “That’s just the way it was back then,” Leyland recalled Tuesday, when informed that Detroit’s Economic Development Growth Corporation’s commission had voted, 7-1, to demolish what remains of the venerable structure at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. “I was in the organization for 17 years and I had managed a lot of those players in the minors leagues, but we still had to wait in a waiting room outside the clubhouse.
        “Don’t get me wrong, I love Tiger Stadium,” Leyland said before Tuesday night’s game against the Red Sox. “But I don’t have a soft spot for stadiums. I just don’t. I’m a person who believes in moving on.
        “It’s like a lot of places, there are a lot of wonderful memories,” he continued. “It will always be a special place. But the young kids today know nothing about Tiger Stadium _ and don’t care.”
        Leyland managed at Tiger Stadium in 1997 when he came to town with the Florida Marlins who were en route to the world championship. He remembers the tiny dugouts and the cramped clubhouses at the old ballyard. He doesn’t miss it one bit.