Justin Verlander News

"Justin Verlander threw 130 pitches two starts back, and came out of his last start after throwing 78 with what Tigers manager Jim Leyland termed a "dead arm." The manager considered moving his next start back one day, but is sticking with having Verlander go today against Baltimore. Instead, Verlander toned down his work load between starts. "I skipped a bullpen session (Wednesday)," Verlander said. "We'll see how it goes, but I should be all right. Hey, I only threw 78 pitches the last time out." Verlander (8-13) shares the league lead in losses with Seattle's Carlos Silva and is sixth in earned runs allowed (84). But he's also tied for fourth with 25 starts and is 10th with 158 1/3 ..."

"With his loss to Toronto on Monday night, Justin Verlander has now lost 13 times this season, which is as often as anyone in the American League. Those losses have come in just about every variety conceivable. Verlander said there's no way to come to grips with that. "In this game, nothing is foretold," he said after Monday night's 7-2 defeat. "Nothing is etched in stone. "Everybody said we were going to score 1,000 runs and be in the World Series. Obviously, we have a long way to go to do that. "That's why this game is so funny. You can never say something is going to happen, because fluke things can happen. Tonight, there weren't that many balls hit hard, but a couple of balls find the ..."

"The vibe from Justin Verlander's soothing performance still echoed throughout the Detroit Tigers' clubhouse Sunday when Jim Leyland started thinking about the second half of the season. His coaching duties at Tuesday's All-Star game, his dinner at the White House on Wednesday -- these were suddenly afterthoughts, as was Detroit's wound-licking 4-2 victory Sunday, mostly compliments of the Tigers' pitching ace. His team at .500 (47-47) entering the three-day recess, Leyland put together his pregame talk for when the Tigers reconvene in Baltimore on Thursday."

"Those baby steps with which the Tigers began to bounce back from their miserable 60-game start no longer are steps at all. It's become a fast crawl. But not a sprint, according to manager Jim Leyland. "We're moving in the right direction," he said, "but you can't call it a sprint because you can't make up eight games in one day. That can only be done over the long haul." With a 5-3 victory on Sunday over the Padres, the Tigers won for the 12th time in their last 15 games. They now are within three games of .500 for the first time since May 3."

"Finally, the Tigers have more quality starts this season than another American League team. For weeks, they've been last in the league in quality starts. By the start of play Wednesday, they'd pulled into a tie with Texas. Each team had 25 quality starts, tied for fewest in the league.On Wednesday night, Justin Verlander gave the Tigers their 26th quality start. Texas didn't get one in their game in Kansas City. So now the Tigers have one more quality start than the Rangers.The Tigers began the season with just eight quality starts in the first 36 games."

"Justin Verlander had it nearly finished by sundown. And thus he finally might have arrived at his 2008 dawn. Verlander on Wednesday night pitched perhaps his best game since his no-hitter a year ago today against the Milwaukee Brewers. He also pitched the Tigers' first complete game since that no-hitter. It was a four-hitter for a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. Marcus Thames delivered the first three runs with a second-inning home run. The game lasted 2 hours, 13 minutes. It ended at 9:20 p.m., 10 minutes after sunset, with plenty of light left in the sky."

"It's not necessarily wise to provoke someone who throws a baseball 98 mph, but try telling that to Carlos Gomez. When Justin Verlander became irritated that Gomez and Alexi Casilla kept squaring around as if to bunt on each of their three plate appearances against him, the pair came to a quick decision. "He stared at them, and I think they were like, 'We're bunting more now,' " manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That's kind of the way they are. They enjoy that stuff." And Gomez is certain it benefits his team. Verlander "is great pitcher," Gomez said, "but his mind is not good.""

""I felt like my mechanics kind of came together for me," Verlander said after the Tigers' 6-1 loss Sunday at Comerica Park. "I've been working hard to get there. My velocity jumped back up and everything was pretty sharp." Verlander's struggles have been well documented this season. Even after allowing only one run with his seven-inning no-decision, his ERA remains a hefty 5.16. But hitting the radar gun consistently in the mid-to-high 90s shows the extra work with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez is paying off."

"As personal triumphs go, the Tigers got at least one victory Sunday: Justin Verlander's performance in a 6-1 loss to the Twins. "That's the Verlander I know," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland after the right-hander went seven innings, allowing five hits and one run. "That's the best he's been (in 2008) by far. He was tremendous." Noteworthy during a game the Twins broke open on Jason Kubel's eighth-inning grand slam off Francisco Cruceta was the return of Verlander's trademark fastball. It hit 99 mph Sunday and often was at 97. His curveball was sharp, as well, and his change-up effective."