Could Brian Giles be playing his last games in a San Diego Padres’ uniform?  According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, Giles’ address could change in the next 48 hours.

According to Rosenthal’s Major League sources, Giles was claimed on waivers and the claiming team has 48 hours to work out a trade with the Padres for the outfielder.  If no deal is worked out for the veteran, the Padres are allowed to pull Giles back off of waivers or let him go to the team that claimed him without compensation.

The Padres have an option in 2009 on Giles that would cost the team $9 million to keep him through next season or can buy him out for $3 million.  By trading Giles, the Padres save at least $3 million in payroll next season. 

The waiver wire is already proving to be active.  The Rockies claimed Livan Hernandez off of waivers from the Twins and the Cardinals signed Felipe Lopez after he was waived by the Washington Nationals.

Currently, Giles is hitting .296 with five home runs and 36 RBI with the Padres.

The New York Yankees have placed pitcher Joba Chamberlain on the 15-day disabled list and recalled right-handed reliever Chris Britton to take his place on the 25-man roster.

The seriousness of Chamberlain’s injury is still unknown.  He underwent an MRI on Tuesday and was sent to see Dr. James Andrews to receive a second opinion.  There is no information on what his visit to Dr. Andrews revealed but a Yankees official confirmed with MLB.com that Chamberlain went on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.

According to the report, there will be no more information provided about Chamberlain’s injury until they hear Dr. Andrews’ report.  This is the first shoulder injury of Chamberlain’s career although he had a history of muscle strains in college and the Minors.

Jeff Karstens retired 23 consecutive batters in Arizona and was just four outs away from a perfect game for the Pirates.  Arizona’s Chris Young doubled with two outs in the eighth and Karstens’ perfect game ended.

Karstens allowed one more hit in the ninth but finished out the game for a complete game two-hit shutout.  Karstens has pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings since joining the Pirates.  It was only the second complete game of the season by a Pirates starter and first shutout.

Karstens also went 2-for-3 at the plate off of Randy Johnson and scored the second run of the game.  The Pirates won 2-0. 

Well, after five straight losses I have again been summoned by WMKT 1270 AM in Michigan to see if I can yet again snap the Tigers’ recent malaise. Ever since I said the Tigers were a rising power in spring 2006 and they went on to win the AL flag I have become their unofficial mascot, a secret weapon of sorts.

They are Mark Grace and I am the biggest, ugliest, snaggle-toothed woman they could find. The designated slump-buster.

This season, they had me on after their 0-7 start and they went 14-8 to get within 1.5 games of the lead. They skidded to 24-36 in early June, and they had me on again, and the Tigers ripped off 18 wins in 22 games. After losing four-in-a-row (including a sweep by Tampa Bay) they now want me to come on again on Thursday morning.

As usual, we’ll discuss what has been going wrong, what can be done to rectify the situation and do I think they still have a chance.

The Detroit Tigers should be doing a lot better than they are–currently sitting at 55-57, seven games out in the AL Central it would seem that they’re not having a good season.

They are … kind of.

Since June 10, the Tigers are 29-20 … since they swept the White Sox from June 10-12, they are 26-20. Even more impressive is that before their current five game losing streak, they were 23-7.

Again, kind of.

Perhaps some clarification is in order: they were 23-7 in games played against teams not directly in front of them in the AL Central standings–Chicago and Minnesota. The full story reads thusly: Since the Tigers swept the White Sox from June 10-12, the Tigers are 26-20 but just 3-8 vs. the White Sox and Twins and 23-12 vs. the rest of the league.

In 2008, the Tabbies are 45-39 against MLB but just 10-18 against the Pale Hose and the Twinkies.

Ugh.

Detroit has the best offense in the division so why do they struggle so against the teams ahead of them?

Well, once they take the field against the teams they need to beat, they leave their “A” games behind–both the hitters and the pitchers.

A few notes: The Tiggers are batting .277/.348/.446 vs. MLB excluding the teams in front of them but .274/.322/.429 vs. Chicago and Minnesota and in seven times of the 28 games played (25%) scored two or fewer runs.

When a key hit is needed, bad things happen. The Tigers are batting .271 this year with runners in scoring position, but just .261 against the White Sox. Now, that may not seem so bad but despite playing just 11.6% of their schedule against the Pale Hose, they have hit into 21.4% of their double plays (21 GIDP in 13 games). In 15 games against Minnesota, they hit into just seven twin-killings and are batting .285 w/RISP–but that is deceptive. On April 14 and May 24 the Tigers were 15/26 w/RISP–in the other 13 games they are hitting just .206 and are batting just .190 w/RISP over their last eight games.

On the other side of the ledger, Tiger pitching simply cannot resist giving up the key hit against their division rivals. For instance, the Twins are batting .325 w/RISP against Detroit and through their first 11 games head-to-head were scorching Tabbie pitching to the tune of .382 (July 2). The White Sox are even hotter hitting .375 w/RISP against the Tigers.

The pitching numbers reflect the hold the White Sox and Twinks hold on the Tiggers. The rotation has a 5.46 ERA against them but are almost a full run lower against the rest of MLB (4.50 ERA). The bullpen reflects a similar futility having been tagged for six losses (and four blown saves) with an ERA of 4.76 against the teams ahead of them but a 4.03 mark against everyone else.

To give you an idea of how this inability to bring their best game against their rivals, how would the standings look if the White Sox were 7-6 (instead of 8-5) and the Twins 8-7 (instead of 10-5) against Detroit:

Team       W  L

Chicago   61 50

Minnesota 60 53

Detroit   58 54

It gives us an idea of how costly those blown leads and the losses by the bullpen have been this year.

Still, I think the Twins torrid hitting with RISP will cool before much longer and the Tigers have eight more games against they and the White Sox and 28 games against clubs like the Royals, Indians, Orioles, A’s and Blue Jays with 30 of their final 50 games to be played at Comerica Park and I am going to stick to my prediction that they’ll be in it right until the bitter end.

Best Regards

John

…After being pulled from his last start due to shoulder stiffness New York Yankee’s starter Joba Chamberlain will be headed to..wait for it….Dr. James Andrews. Of course Dr. Andrews is the noted orthopedic surgeon who has performed more Tommy John Surgeries than I really care to count. Chamberlain had an MRI done on Tuesday and has his results with him as he heads to Alabama to consult with Dr. Andrews. Right now Manager Joe Girardi is hoping that Joba only misses one turn in the rotation.

“I envision him not making his next start,” Girardi said. “Beyond that, I can’t say.”

“You’re always careful with your players,” Girardi said. “You don’t want to jeopardize their long-term health. And we’re talking about a 22-year-old kid here.”

…Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder apologized Tuesday for the shoving match that he and pitcher Manny Parra got into on Monday night.

“It’s not like we hate each other,” Fielder said. “I don’t. It’s just a little disagreement. I apologize for the way it went down, but I don’t apologize for the passion and intensity. I definitely could have handled it a little better, but just at that moment, that’s how it went down. I can’t take it back. The way I handled it probably could have been dealt with better.”

…One of the biggest surprises this season is no doubt the Tampa Bay Rays. SI.com’s Tom Verducci goes into a bit more depth as to why the Ray’s will make this a three way race right down to the wire for the American League East Crown.

…Down in the desert we saw DBacks pitcher Dan Haren net a healthy contract extension, but what about staff ace Brandon Webb? The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro is reporting that after supposedly coming to an agreement for an extension in June the Diamondbacks pulled the deal off the table.

“I just want to let fans know that I’m not the one who pulled it off the table,” Webb said. “We just didn’t see eye to eye on a couple of things, and that was it. I love Arizona, and this is my first choice.

…Not that this is a big surprise by now, but the Colorado Rockies are proud owners of Livan Hernandez. According to Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com one other team claimed Hernandez off waivers, but because of the Rockies horrible record - they were awarded the right handed pitcher who had been designated for assignment by the Twins. The two teams (Rockies and Twins) now have 48 hours to work a deal. Or the Twins could just let him go and not get a player in return.

…Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the Brewers have inked their first round draft pick Brett Lawrie. They wanted to get Brett signed before he headed off to Beijing, as he is part of Canada’s baseball team and would not return before the signing deadline of August 15th. Haudricourt is speculating that Lawrie could get about $1.6 million dollars in a signing bonus.

…After spending about 7 weeks on the disabled list, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Brad Penny is expected to return to the rotation on Friday against division rivals the San Fransisco Giants. He’s been on the DL since June 15th with shoulder soreness.

After Tuesday night’s win over the Dodgers, the Cardinals announced the signing of free agent infielder Felipe Lopez.  Lopez — released hours after the trade deadline by the Nationals — was added to the 25-man roster and Brendan Ryan was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Lopez, 28, is a former All-Star but struggled this year in his third season with the Washington Nationals before his release on July 31.  In 100 games, Lopez hit .234 with two home runs, 25 RBI and 34 runs scored. 

Ryan hit .242 with no homers and 9 RBI in 68 games with the Cardinals before being sent down to Memphis.

• The Cubs rebounded from what might have been a disasterous loss by scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to beat the Astros 11-7. Alfonso Soriano’s home run was the big blow that put Chicago ahead for good.
• The Blue Jays scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to walk-off with a 4-3 win over the A’s.
• Prince apologied for pushing Parra and then proceded to park a 2-run home run to help the Brewers beat the Reds, 8-1. Now try to repeat that sentence 3 times fast!
• In the 3-team NL East race…Josh Johnson pitched 6 scoreless innings and Jeremy Hermida drove in 4 runs to lead the Marlins over the Phillies, 8-2. In the Big Apple, Fernando Tatis hit 2 home runs for the Mets to give New York a 6-5 win over San Diego. Philadelphia now leads Florida by 1 1/2 games and New York by 2.
• Evan Longoria, Cliff Floyd, and Dioner Navarro each hit a home run in the 7th inning for Tampa Bay and the Rays held on to defeat the Indians 8-4. Longoria now has 22 homers and 69 RBI on the season.
• Jason Bay continues to rake for the Red Sox, going 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI in Boston’s 8-2 win over the Royals. Who needs Manny??!!!
• Brandon Webb tossed a complete game to wrap up win #16 on the year for Arizona. Webb allowed just one run while scattering 9 hits in the Diamondbacks 3-1 triumph over the Pirates.
• In the Orioles 3-0 win over the Angels, Baltimore’s 28 year-old Chris Waters pitched one hit ball over 8 innings in his major league debut to completely shut down the Los Angeles offense. The Angels finished the night with 2 measley singles.
• The Dodgers staged a dramatic rally in the 9th inning by scoring 4 runs to tie the Cardinals at 4 and send the game into extra innings. Unfortunately for LA, St. Louis outfielder, and All-Star, Ryan Ludwick hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning as the home town crowd celebrated their team’s 6-4 walk-off victory.
• The White Sox added to the walk-off winners’ circle on Tuesday when Nick Swisher belted a 3-run homer off Joel Zumaya in the bottom of the 14th to re-take first place from the Twins.  Placido Polanco hit 2 home runs and a triple for Detroit. White Sox 10, Tigers 8.
• Mike Hampton allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings of work, and the Braves scored 3 in the 5th inning, 3 in the 7th inning, and 5 more in the 9th inning to give the lefty his first win in 3 years. Atlanta coasted to an 11-4 victory over the Giants.
• Joe Nathan blew just his 3rd save of the season, but it was costly because it allowed Seattle to score twice in the bottom of the 8th inning to knock off the Twins, 8-7. Minnesota dropped back into second place behind Chicago with the loss.

Tuesday’s Scoreboard

Wednesday’s Probable Pitchers

BDD’s daily recaps are provided by founder and managing editor Joe Hamrahi. Joe’s a CPA, a financial executive, a baseball analyst, and a proponent of using all available information (read stats and scouts!) in order to make better baseball decisions! Joe can be reached at jhamrahi@baseballdigestdaily.com.