The news Thursday was that the Tigers' Andrew Miller -- one day after he got knocked out in the first inning -- was removed from the major league roster until sometime in the September roster expansion. He was replaced by right-hander Virgil Vasquez, who will come up from Triple-A Toledo and start tonight in Oakland. In Miller's past three starts, he has pitched nine innings total and allowed 17 earned runs. But no Detroit starting pitcher has been on the kind of hot streak that a contending club usually needs. The day's larger, season-long news was stated by manager Jim Leyland: "What you're seeing this year is the importance of the presence of a veteran starting pitcher. Everybody wanted to talk last year about how important Kenny's presence was in the clubhouse. It was really not as important as the 17 games he won."