updated 11:43 p.m. ET March 30, 2007

LAKELAND, Fla. - Kenny Rogers is out until at least the All-Star break, leaving the Detroit Tigers to defend their AL pennant without one of their top pitchers.

Two days after saying his arm felt tired, Rogers had surgery Friday to remove a blood clot from his left shoulder and repair arteries.

“We might have been the only club in baseball with five established starters,” Tigers president Dave Dombrowski said. “It’s an edge we have here and all we did was lose a little of the edge. We still have a great club with four established starters and a strong bullpen.”

When the Tigers put Rogers on the disabled list Thursday, Chad Durbin became their fifth starter behind Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Nate Robertson and Mike Maroth. Durbin was 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three relief appearances with Detroit last year.

“I have confidence in Chad Durbin, but can anyone replace Kenny Rogers? No,” manager Jim Leyland said.

Rogers, a 42-year-old left-hander, was flown to Baylor University in Texas, where Dr. Greg Pearl performed the surgery. Rogers is expected to start throwing in six to eight weeks, and Dombrowski said the earliest Rogers would return to the rotation is July.

Rogers reported arm fatigue to trainers late Wednesday and received treatment at a Lakeland hospital. Tigers officials said at first that he would miss only one start, but the pitcher was put on the 15-day disabled list Thursday after doctors found an irregular pulse.

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He is on the DL for the first time since a shoulder injury in July 2001. The blood clot might be related to that injury, Dombrowski said.

Rogers has gone from a hard-throwing pitcher to a crafty one during a career that began in 1989 with the Texas Rangers and included stops with Oakland, Minnesota and both teams in New York.

He went 17-8 with a 3.84 ERA last year during his first season with the Tigers, then gained notoriety during the postseason when he had a brownish smudge on his pitching hand. He won all three of his postseason starts and didn’t allow a run in 23 innings.

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He was 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in five exhibition starts. With Rogers out of the rotation, Bonderman starts Monday’s opener against Toronto, followed by Robertson, Verlander, Maroth and Durbin.

Verlander allowed two hits in five shutout innings and struck out six in Friday’s 6-2 win over the New York Yankees.

New York was managed by bench coach Don Mattingly because Joe Torre stayed back in Tampa. Jason Giambi, one of the few veterans in the lineup, had two hits and an RBI. Miguel Cairo was 2-for-3.

Starting pitcher Chase Wright allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings.

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