Game 37

The Tigers arrive in Boston to face heralded "rookie" Daisuke Matusaka. The Tigers and Nate Robertson are looking to bounce back after the team's worst loss of the year, and Nate's worst start of the year. Tim Byrdak joins the bullpen in Virgil Vasquez's spot. Byrdak is a lefty which means he'll probably see some action against Boston's lefthanded heavy line-up. Speaking of Matusaka, Jim Leyland may not give a poop, but a great deal of attention has been paid to Dice-K in all his starts so far this year. He has 4 wins so far, (but minus his opening day win vs KC) strangely enough has pitched better in losses. So I guess Tiger fans should hope for a great performance by Dice-K tonight. One batter to watch is Gary Sheffield, who mentioned this spring that he had hoped to play in Boston this year, because he believes he hits the ball well there. Let's hope this reasoning works in the Tigers behalf tonight.

Line-ups:
Detroit (23-13)
C Granderson CF
C Monroe LF
G Sheffield DH
M Ordonez RF
C Guillen SS
I Rodriguez C
S Casey 1B
N Perez 2B
B Inge 3B


Boston (25-11)
J Lugo SS
K Youkilis 1B
D Ortiz DH
M Ramirez LF
J Drew RF
M Lowell 3B
J Varitek C
C Crisp CF
D Pedoria SS

Pitchers:
Tigers - Nate Robertson LHP (3-2, 3.43 ERA)
Red Sox - Daisuke Matusaka (4-2, 4.80 ERA)

Post-game:

Tigers 1 Red Sox 7

In what seems to be a reoccurring theme, the pitcher the Tigers face pitches a career best game. This time it was a heavily hyped pitcher instead of the likes of Jorge De La Rosa. Dice-K allowed only one run on 6 hits, and pitched a complete game. The odd thing is that he only had 5 K's. This is strange because when the Tigers have been on the low end of hits, it's usually because they are swinging and missing. Matsuaka got 16 ground ball outs today. And when your facing a team who's offense is just as potent as yours, you need your pitching to step up. Nate Robertson gave the Tigers six innings and was lucky to only have giving up 3 runs, considering he allowed 11 hits. Tim Byrdak was very good, allowing only one baserunner on a walk in tow innings. Bobby Seay, on the other hand, gave a performance that sadly we've come to expect from the Tiger bullpen this year.

Tiger Hero:
Curtis Granderson. The only Tiger with a multi-hit game. His solo home run was the lone run the Tigers scored. He also had a great diving catch as well tonight .

Tiger Zero:
The Pitching Staff. 23 runs on 37 hits in the past two days. An anomaly, but still it just isn't fun to watch.

Tigers Record:
W - L
23 - 14