=== Detroit Tigers Team Report - June 16 ===

(My Sportsbook) - The Detroit Tigers enter play Tuesday not only with the worst home record in the majors at 6-26, but in the cellar of baseball at 17-49. They are 20 1/2 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins in the AL Central.

Alan Trammell's Tigers will next host the Cleveland Indians for a three-game set, starting Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

On Sunday, Detroit wasted a 2-0 lead at home and fell to Colorado 5-4. Dmitri Young had two hits and drove in two runs, and Warren Morris finished with three hits for the Tigers, who have lost nine of their last 10. Young has reached base in 23 straight games and Morris has seven hits in his last two contests.

Gary Knotts (2-5), the Detroit starter, absorbed the loss after yielding five runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Detroit is 0-11 in home series this year. The Tigers are 0-15-2 in their last 17 home series. The Tigers' home series losing streak dates back to August 9-11 of last season when they captured two of three games from the Baltimore Orioles.

Detroit will send Adam Bernero to the mound Tuesday. The righthander will try for his second win as he makes his 14th start of the season.

Bernero ranks last in the majors in run support, with an average of 2.24 runs per nine innings. Incredibly, at 26 years, six months, he is the elder statesman of the current rotation. Knotts is 26, three months old, while Mike Maroth is 25, Nate Cornejo 23, and Jeremy Bonderman 20.

Bernero has dropped his last two starts, but has pitched respectable, allowing nine hits and five runs in 13 2/3 innings. Bernero has won just once in his last 20 starts. That victory came May 31st against the Yankees at Comerica Park.

This will be Bernero's fourth career game (second start) against Cleveland. He has yet to record a decision against the Tribe. He faced the Indians on May 20 at Jacobs Field and threw six innings.