I wasn’t on the series at Baltimore, but Sunday was the first day this season that I remember that Leyland didn’t seem happy with the way his team looked. He used the word "dull" — not in terms of effort, but in how they looked. One could also use the word "blah".

He didn’t have any postgame words for his team like the well-known (and, honestly, now overblown) yelling he had with his players after a bad game in Detroit last year. But it wasn’t what he expected to see, not with his team having a chance to take three out of four in Toronto. He doesn’t know the reason, though he theorized it could be because it’s a getaway day on a long road trip, or because the flu bug seems to be going around (Marcus Thames didn’t play today because he was throwing up this morning).

He also said they were "fortunate" to go 6-4 on this road trip. That one is tough to argue. They didn’t capitalize on a solid start from Nate Robertson today, and they didn’t convert Justin Verlander’s start in Kansas City into a win. They turned a rough start from Chad Durbin into a win Saturday, but now we know closer B.J. Ryan has had elbow problems. With a few turns of fortune, they could’ve been 3-7 on this road trip, not 6-4.

When these guys aren’t winning on pitching, they’re showing why experience winning close games goes a long way. Nine of the 10 games were tied or within a run or two during the late innings. The Tigers won six of them, and of the three they lost, one had Roy Halladay pitching 10 stellar innings, and the other had a fly ball knocked down by the wind in front of Craig Monroe.

I saw the comments here today complaining about the lineup, but I think they’re a little overblown. This offense does strike fear into opposing pitchers, at least for now, but it needs Gary Sheffield swinging well to really take advantage. Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe struggling aren’t exactly out of the ordinary, because they can be streaky hitters. Sean Casey struggling early goes against his track record of good April starts, but Curtis Granderson is arguably hitting well right now, and Magglio Ordonez has had some hard-hit balls for all the outs he has made. The fact that Josh Towers beat them is not a good sign, but Towers did a good job of pitching them inside enough.

The next couple games will be a good test for these guys. Zack Greinke is a good finesse guy, and Jorge De La Rosa made Tigers hitter look silly in Kansas City.

Other thoughts on the train back from Toronto …

• It was a good day for defense in center field, Curtis Granderson’s error aside. Even his throw off the backstop had a bright side, since it demonstrated that he has a stronger arm than a lot of us give him credit for. He took a little bit off of it and still threw out Lyle Overbay coming home with a dart to Pudge. I wrote in the mailbag last week that Granderson’s arm isn’t his strong point, but it’s hard to judge it fairly when Monroe has such a strong arm and Ordonez has such an accurate one. Granderson takes a little while to let loose on a throw because of his delivery, but once it’s out of his hand, it’s pretty good. On the other side, Vernon Wells seemed to run down every fly ball in sight Sunday and a few others on Saturday.
• Since I don’t have a mailbag this week, I’ll say this about Chad Durbin: Look, it’s been two starts. I’m not saying you can’t judge a guy off of that, but in most cases, it’s a stretch. When you watch him pitch, he doesn’t look like someone hitters have already figured out. He looks like a guy who gets hit when his breaking ball flattens out. When that happens, it’s possible to mix pitches too much.
• Every year, it seems like the Tigers and Jays play too few times as close as the two cities are. Considering how much emphasis MLB puts on regional rivalries in interleague play, you almost wish they’d schedule another series between these two each June.

Now we have a little better explanation for B.J. Ryan’s disastrous outing that helped the Tigers steal a win Saturday. B.J. Ryan went on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained left elbow and will visit Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham. Apparently it has been bothering him since opening the season in Detroit. Not what you want to hear.

Thames was scratched with the flu. He has having problems holding down food this morning. Monroe is starting in his place.

Apparently when Marcus Thames had his broken-bat go-ahead double Saturday, the barrel of the bat hit Magglio Ordonez in his right leg, causing a small gash near his ankle. He can play, but Jim Leyland is going to play it cautious and DH him. Gary Sheffield makes another start in right field. Also, Marcus Thames — who is battling a flu bug — is starting in left field. Monroe is off, but could be available for pinch-hitting. Here’s the lineup:

1. Granderson, CF
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, RF
4. Ordonez, DH
5. Guillen, SS
6. Rodriguez, C
7. Casey, 1B
8. Thames, LF
9. Inge, 3B