How could Detroit remove right-hander Armando Galarraga from its rotation when his 2-1 record and 3.07 ERA are unmatched by any other starter on the team?

Easy, it's going to happen.

The first tipoff came when manager Jim Leyland announced during the weekend Galarraga was not going to pitch Tuesday night as scheduled. The reason? Leyland ostensibly wanted to keep right-hander Justin Verlander on schedule instead of having his start pushed back a day by Monday's off day.

Then Detroit was rained out of its game Sunday against the New York Yankees. And guess what? Verlander is now pitching Wednesday, with lefty Nate Robertson, Sunday's starter, going Tuesday.

After Verlander, it's left-hander Kenny Rogers and righty Jeremy Bonderman.

That leaves Saturday. Dontrelle Willis is making his second rehab start Monday night for Toledo, and his next time to pitch would be -- that's right -- Saturday.

Saturday, when Detroit is in Arizona and pitchers will have to bat for themselves. It won't hurt that Willis has been one of the better hitting pitchers in baseball during his National League days.

Leyland said Willis will take Galarraga's spot when he's ready to return.

What Detroit has to decide is whether to keep Galarraga around as a reliever, or send him back to Toledo to start so he'll be ready to return at a moment's notice.

"Galarraga has been very good," Leyland said. "I really like him because he's a strike thrower. But now you're asking a guy who hasn't pitched in the bullpen to go to the bullpen."

YANKEES AT TIGERS, PPD: The game was postponed due to rain. No makeup date was announced.

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