Detroit Tigers Links: Rainout blues, Ray may be the guy, V-Mart is sorry, starters for Chicago series

Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Tigers, Twins have differing views of rainout – AP

"“I just feel like five days is enough time where every time I go out there it’s boom, boom, boom. It’s like muscle memory, it’s getting in there,” Verlander said. “We’ve had so many off-days, we’ve had a plethora of six-day rests and I absolutely don’t want it.”“The off-days and the rain days has killed our rotation,” Ausmus said. The Tigers have had three postponed games and three off-days in the season’s first month."

Changes have to be made to the early schedule for next year. There is really no need to set a day off after Opening Day. There has never been an Opening Day postponed in Tigers’ history. You especially don’t need a day off when you open against the Royals or another AL Central team because they come back to town twice. The day off–two games–day off scenario also needs to be taken to the woodshed. Detroit faces that scenario for the second time in 2014 this week.

Analysis: Robbie Ray appears to be top candidate to replace Anibal Sanchez in rotation for Detroit Tigers – Chris Iott, MLive

"Who will replace Anibal Sanchez in the rotation while he spends time on the disabled list with a right middle finger laceration? The top candidate appears to be the young pitching prospect the Tigers obtained in the offseason in the trade that sent Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals.Left-hander Robbie Ray is 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in four starts for Triple-A Toledo this season."

It’s as good of a choice as any. Losing a starter to any time was Detroit’s worst case scenario, but if Ray can pitch like he has in Toledo, it won’t be as bad.

Tigers DH Victor Martinez apologizes to Brad Ausmus for lack of hustle – Tom Gage, Detroit News

"“Did you see my first at-bat?” he said to manager Brad Ausmus at the time. “I wasn’t hustling to first base. That won’t happen again.”“That tells you what Victor’s mindset is,” Ausmus said.Ausmus said he’d been watching the ball, not the runner, so he hadn’t mentioned anything about it to Martinez. The self-correction became evident in Friday night’s game, though."

No news here. Victor Martinez is a class act.

Tigers game postponed; Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer set to start in series against White Sox – Iott

"Justin Verlander had been set to start Sunday against the Twins. He will start Tuesday against the White Sox in Chicago. Max Scherzer will start Wednesday in the second game of the two-game series."

Justin has been great against Minnesota, so it was disappointing his start was washed out on Sunday. JV has only allowed one homer this season and that will be put to the test in the ridiculous bandbox in Chicago. I kinda wish, though, that Ausmus could use the rainouts and days off this week to split up Justin and Max. I’m not a fan of seeing the team’s two best pitchers used on consecutive days and used up in the same series.