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On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Before the season started, the Detroit Tigers were the popular pick amongst baseball fans and experts alike as the eventual World Series champion. After adding Miguel Cabrera to a potent lineup that already included hitters like Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Curtis Granderson, and Ivan Rodriguez, there was talk that the Tigers would score 1,000 runs this season.

Who knew they'd need to? Though most people were aware that the Detroit bullpen would be a problem area, I don't think anybody thought they would be as bad as they have been in 2008. So now here we sit on August 7th, and the Tigers find themselves in a tailspin.

After building up some momentum in recent weeks to get back into the AL Central race, the Tigers have now lost six in a row to fall three games under .500. They're also on the verge of being swept by the division leading Chicago White Sox and falling 9.5 games out of first place, which could effectively end any hope they have of playing this October.

So will the Tigers pull the plug on their season tonight, or are they going to rise up and start mauling people again? Find out after the jump.

The question as to whether the San Diego Padres need to make trades is not so much a "yes or no" thing as it is a "why the hell hasn't Kevin Towers gotten started yet?" kind of thing.

San Diego needs a lot of stuff, although mainly offense. Adrian Gonzalez is still somehow underrated, but having to carry the entire team on his back isn't good for anyone. Chase Headley is also a great future prospect, but the Fathers are too loaded with usable veterans not to make a move for some offensive upside.

You have to assume that Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Josh Banks and Cha Seung Baek can form four-fifths of a decent rotation to start 2009. No, seriously. Have you seen the NL West?

The state of the division -- 10.5 back in the NLW = epicFAIL -- is exactly why the Pads should have been peddling sooner, or at the very least trying to drive up the value of some of their pitchers, specifically Randy Wolf and Greg Maddux.

Maddux has a no-trade clause, but you have to think he'd be willing to get moved to a contender that's close to his native San Diego, and Los Angeles has plenty of prospects they want to deal.

Trevor Hoffman may be the all time saves leader and an all time great Padre, but he's also on the downslope, albeit the top, of his career and would be a superb addition to a playoff team.

Really, if they can get back some prospects or a decent offensive player for 2009, anyone on the Padres except Peavy, Gonzo and Headley should be on the market.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

You know, throughout the course of baseball history, there have been plenty of relief pitchers who made the transition to being a starter. Hell, before the specialty roles we've all come to know and love (I heart LOOGYs) started, the bullpen was just a place for managers to park starting pitchers who couldn't cut it.

They didn't want to use them, so they put them somewhere as far away as possible.

Anyway, I'm getting off track, what I was getting at was the fact that the move from bullpen to starter happens all the time nowadays. Just look in Chicago where Ryan Dempster has gone from being the Cubs closer last season to being their #2 starter this season. Boston's Jonathan Papelbon was a starter who became a closer then tried starting again only to return to closing and thrusting his pelvis in any given direction at any given time.

So why is Joba Chamberlain's move from the back of the Yankees bullpen to the rotation such a big deal? I swear to God, you turn to ESPN on any day that Joba is pitching and they're breaking into PTI to let us all know that Joba has reached the fifth inning.

"Not the fifth inning!" you scream from your sofa. "I better tune in to see if he makes it to the sixth, no time to feed the kids now!"

Seriously, the hype surrounding this "big" move is utterly ridiculous, so let's add to it after the jump, shall we?

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

San Diego Padres (32-47) vs. Minnesota Twins (42-36) - 3:35PM Est.

I tried to put an end to it yesterday by mentioning it in the On Deck, but apparently the On Deck Curse is only effective when I lead the post with it. So today, now that the Minnesota Twins have climbed within a half-game of the White Sox and won their last eight games, the Twinkies are getting the star treatment.

As I've already explained in recent days, I have no idea how the Twins are winning so much this season, yet here they are. Earlier this month the Twins were three games under .500 and 6.5 games behind the White Sox, and I thought their record then was a lot more indicative of the type of team they had.

It was only a matter of time before the suddenly resurgent Tigers and maybe even the Indians passed them by, and the Twins became merely a footnote in the 2008 season. All they've done since then is win, win, and win some more.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

New York Yankees (39-33) vs. San Diego Padres (31-42) - 1:05PM Est.

When Hank Steinbrenner came out earlier this season and basically demanded that Joba Chamberlain stopped being used out of the bullpen, and placed into the starting rotation, his general manager and manager kind of just ignored him. Hank was just doing anything in his power to try to be like his dad, and after dealing with George for all those years, Brian Cashman had become pretty adept at tuning his boss out.

Besides, the Yankees starters were just off to a rough start to the 2008 season, and things would turn around soon enough. Only they never did, as Phil Hughes struggled, Ian Kennedy got sent down, and Mike Mussina looked like a shell of a shell of his former self. So eventually Cashman and Joe Girardi had to cave, and move Joba into the starting rotation (and now that Chien-Ming Wang is out they're lucky they did).

His first start didn't go very well, but in the two starts since, Joba has improved each time out. This afternoon he'll be making his fourth start of the season, but will he finally pick up his first victory as a starter?

It's an odd time when the biggest newsmakers of the week are rookies -- generally that happens in the second half, or they at least wait until late June. But not this week. A pair of rooks massacred the media with all of the hype surrounding their major league debuts.

Jay Bruce, OF, CIN -- Cincinnati fans rejoice! You now see why your GM and manager kept him in Triple-A so long. Whatever. The Reds are actually heating up. I'm still sticking by my sell in single leagues just because there's absolutely no chance he keeps up his current pace. (Yes, I do know who Ryan Braun is.) Still though, this guy should be owned and starting right now.

Clayton Kershaw, SP, LAD -- The other "savior" type figure in the bigs right now, Kershaw looked good -- not great -- in his debut and "not so great" in his second and third outings. But hey, he's young, and besides, Cole Hamels gave up four earned runs in his second start too (and didn't really get dialed until later in the summer his first year).

Homer Bailey, SP, CIN -- Good week to be a Red, no? Homer got called early this week and started on Thursday. Is he hyped right now? Um, not particularly, considering his previous struggles. But you should still go snatch him up -- if/when he starts dealing you can sling him for high value. If he doesn't, just leave him on your bench and ride out the rough times. He's still young.