Yesterday, former Tigers pitcher Jack Morris chimed in on why he thought Justin Verlander was struggling with a 1-5 record and 6.28 ERA, while striking out just 4.9 batters per nine innings. 

Via Tom Gage in the Detroit News:

"His shoulder," Morris said before Sunday's 7-6 sweep-clinching victory by the Twins.  "There's something wrong with his shoulder.  I know because I've been there with that bursitis I had.  dYou can see it in the way he's throwing.  He's over-compensating for not being able to extend his arm."

As you might expect, Verlander disagreed with Morris's diagnosis, saying that his shoulder feels fine.  And when you're talking about baseball injuries, you should probably be talking to Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll, and in his "Under the Knife" ($$$) column today, he writes his support for Verlander. 

I guess the mid-90's velocity and solid performance (albeit in a losing effort) against the Twins didn't convince [Morris].  I watched the tape of that game and Verlander's previous two starts, and compared them to a performance from last year (albeit only highlights).  I don't see a significant difference.

All this talk might go away, of course, if Verlander started winning some games and - more importantly - his lineup began to score a decent amount of runs for him.

Some of us, when we're out of town and want to keep up on our teams, we'll head to a bar (often a sports bar) and hope we can convince the bartender or manager to switch one of the TVs to the game we hope to watch.  Others get to ask the staff of a major league ballpark to switch its Jumbotron over to a particular sporting event. 

We knew that Tigers manager Jim Leyland was into horses, owning two that are set to be trained by Richard Dutrow, the trainer for yesterday's Kentucky Derby winner, Big Brown.  And he got to watch the whole thing at the Metrodome during batting practice.

From Phil Miller's Pioneer Press blog:

When the Tigers started gathering on the Metrodome turf for batting practice this afternoon, Detroit manager Jim Leyland walked over to the Twins’ dugout and found a security guard.  He talked to her for a couple of minutes, pointed up to the press box, and walked away while she got on the phone.  I wondered what was going on -- turn off the music?  Eject a fan?  Or (gulp) a sportswriter?  Got my answer about a half-hour later, with the rest of the early arrivers in the Dome.  As the horses were being led into the starting gate, the telecast of the Kentucky Derby suddenly appeared on the video board.

Ah, yes.  So that's why Denny Bautista suddenly couldn't get through an outing without walking a batter.  His shoulder was giving him problems. 

The Detroit Tigers put Bautista on the 15-day disabled list for shoulder tendonitis a day after leaving Friday night's game in the eighth inning, unable to clean up the mess he made.  Before he felt pain in the shoulder and was taken out, Bautista had given up three runs on four hits, with one walk. 

I realize it was unfair of me to say, but in watching the game on TV at a bar without any sound, it almost appeared as if Bautista had enough of the Twins smacking him around and wanted out.  But if his shoulder was barking, maybe that helps explain why he was having so much trouble. 

The tendonitis doesn't appear all that serious, as the Tigers' training staff thinks Bautista will recover with medication and rest (though I'm sure they had similar hopes for Fernando Rodney in the spring), but as was the case with Dontrelle Willis' injury, this might give a struggling pitcher an opportunity to refine his technique and regain his control.  Jim Leyland sounds like a manager who'd grown tired of watching Bautista trying to figure those things out at the major league level.

"I really like Bautista.  I'm not down on Bautista at all, but the fact of the matter is simple.  If you're going to throw a bunch of pitches every time you go out there for an outing and then you can't pitch for two or three days, then you're not worth much."

Somewhere in Colorado, maybe Jason Grilli is smiling at the notion that the Tigers have a bullpen spot to fill so soon after trading him.  Or maybe he's not smiling, since he already seems to be doing what he does best for his new team, having given up two runs on three hits and a walk in just one inning for the Rockies last night.  He's your problem now, Denver. 

With Bautista going to the DL, the Tigers called up Freddy Dolsi from Double-A Erie, who'd been rising fast through the organization, jumping from Lakeland to the Seawolves just last week.  In 12 games (3/4 of those with the Flying Tigers), Dolsi posted a 4.35 ERA with 12 strikeouts (and four walks) in 10 1/3 innings.

Justin Verlander (1-4, 6.50) vs. Scott Baker (2-0, 4.50)

Considering how well the Detroit Tigers have been playing lately, last night's loss might just be a speed bump on their way to overcoming that .500 hurdle and posting the sort of record expected of a playoff contender.  Are these 2008 Tigers the sort of team that's going to freak out every time they have a chance to reach or surpass that .500 mark, only to then tumble for a few games and have to pick themselves back up again?  Most likely not.  And we've seen plenty of that over the years here in Detroit.

In raising his arm slot, Justin Verlander appeared to have better stuff last Sunday against the Angels.  Unfortunately, he had one bad inning that was too much to overcome - especially when the Tigers' lineup couldn't do anything against Jered Weaver - and ended up with a loss.  Verlander has lost his last two starts against the Twins, giving up nine earned runs in eight innings.  However, in his one appearance at the Metrodome (back in 2006), he was dominant, allowing just one run over seven innings.

Verlander will probably have to be that good again, because Scott Baker typically doesn't give up more than three runs against the Tigers.  He's already faced Deroit once this season, allowing three runs over seven innings in a no-decision.  But if the Twins' bullpen is as generous as it was that night (thank you, Jesse Crain), maybe the Tigers just need to make Baker work enough to get him out of the game after six or seven innings.  Baker's start is pushed back from last night, so he could get an extra day of rest for a groin strain that he suffered in his previous start (in which he gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings vs. the Rangers in Texas). 

(My arch-enemy Samela has posted a photo from our sad night of watching that 11-1 loss from Buffalo Wild Wings.  You can see that - and I apologize in advance for the up-close view of my bleary mug - along with some photos from the Michigan-Ohio State baseball game at Roar of the Tigers.)