Game 13

The Tigers are back at home after a 6-4 road trip, punctuated with cold weather and colder bats. While the offense only made an appearance for two games in the Toronto series, the pitching has been keeping them in games. Hopefully some home cooking can get the bats on track. Whether the windy weather here will play a part in tonight's game we'll have to wait and see. Another thing to look for is can Tiger's pitchers finally shut down David DeJesus and Mark Teahen, who seem to save their best performances for the Tigers. Can Justin Verlander continue his mastery of KC batters? He is undefeated against the royals with a sub 1 ERA. Of course this means he will get shelled tonight because I mentioned it.

Line-ups:
Detroit (7-4)
C Granderson CF
P Polanco 2B
G Sheffield DH
M Ordonez RF
C Guillen SS
I Rodriguez C
S Casey 1B
C Monroe LF
B Inge 3B

Kansas City (3-9)
D DeJesus CF
E German 2B
M Teahen RF
M Sweeney DH
A Gordon 3B
E Brown LF
R Shealy 1B
J Buck C
T Pena SS

Pitchers:
Tigers - Justin Verlander (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Royals - Zach Greinke (1-1, 1.38)

Post-Game:

Tigers 12 Royals 5

Good things come to those who wait. The Tigers were patient at the plate drawing eight walks, leading to 12 runs and a victory. Zach Greinke didn't make it out of the first inning after racking up 49 pitches in 2/3 inning. Kansas City didn't help their pitchers with 2 errors, and a couple more misplayed balls that could have counted for errors, allowing innings to continue. Justin Verlander surrendered his first earned runs of the season, but other than a stint in the 2nd in which he allowed three doubles, he continued his solid pitching. He only gave up 2 additional hits after the 3 in the second, walked none, and struck out 6, including the side in the 3rd inning. Emil Brown was the only Royal that Tiger pitchers were unable to strikeout. The rest of the team combined for 12 K's. The Royals did continue their assault on Jose Mesa, notching two more runs on him with a home run by Ryan Shealy (who is a dead ringer for John C. Reilly ). Pudge did come up a little lame after popping out in the 8th, but he stayed in to catch the 9th, and is scheduled for a day off tomorrow.

Tiger Hero:
Pudge and Carlos Guillen. A combined 4 for 8, with 10 RBIs and two walks.

Tiger Zero:
Jose Mesa. Giving up two runs in 1/3 of inning, allowed to Royals to peek back into this game. It also made Jim Leyland go back to the bullpen. Todd Jones haters might have found a new target for their ire.

Tigers Record:
W - L
8 - 5
T-1st place