Game 21

The Tigers arrive in Chicago for phase two of the mini-trip. Just as the bats have seaming started to warm up, they will face cold and rainy weather tonight. Getting the lead early could be huge, as the rain might shorten the game. Riding the pine tonight for the Tigers are Sean Casey, who looked like he was starting to come around; and Carlos Guillen, who's fielding doesn't mix well with wet conditions. Lucky for Tigers pitching Jim Thome is out as well.

Line-ups:
Detroit (11-9)
I Rodriguez C
P Polanco 2B
G Sheffield DH
M Ordonez RF
M Thames 1B
C Monroe LF
B Inge 3B
O Infante SS
C Granderson CF

Chicago (11-8)
D Erstad CF
T Iguchi 2B
P Konerko 1B
A Pierzynski C
J Crede 3B
R Mackowiak RF
P Ozuna LF
J Uribe SS
B Anderson DH


Pitchers:
Tigers - Chad Durbin RHP (0-1, 10.54 ERA)
White Sox - John Danks LHP (0-2, 5.06 ERA)

Post-game:

Tigers 6 White Sox 2

Chad Durbin pitched a career game, and arguably put up the best performance of a Tiger pitcher so far this season. The top 4 hitters were on fire, with 10 of the Tigers 13 hits coming from them. Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco did most of the damage tonight driving in all of the Tigers runs, with 3 RBIs a piece. Magglio is on fire hitting 9 for 11 in the past three games. Sheffield had two hits, one being a double, and looks back on track hitting wise. Speaking of doubles the Tigers hit 5 tonight, tow from Pudge. But the main story of the game was the incredible performance by Chad Durbin. While he had the luck of not facing Jim Thome or Jermaine Dye, he still was amazing. He retired the first 7 batters he faced. He recorded strikeout to end innings 1-4. He got out of a jam in the 5th with two on and one out. after the 5th he sat down every White Sox hitter he faced. Joel Zumaya came in the replace him in the ninth and spoiled the shutout with two bases loaded walks, which brought in Todd Jones to get the save. Other than the ending it was a solid game for the Tigers. It looks like everything is starting to come together.

Tiger Hero:
Chad Durbin. 8 innings pitched: 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 9 K's

Tiger Zero:
Joel Zumaya. Made the game waaaay closer than it had to be. 2/3 of an inning. 1 Hit batter, 4 straight walks??? C'mon Joel, it doesn't matter how hard you can throw if it's outside the strike zone.

Tigers Record:
W - L
12 - 9