Game 38

After dealing with Mr. Sparkle and his being disrespectful to dirt, the Tigers are up against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. The Tigers fared well last year the tow times they faced knuckleballers. Early in the season the went against Texas' R.A. Dickey they hit 6 home runs (a feat they've done before against Tim Wakefield) on the way to a 10-6 victory. They faced Wakefield in June and got the 6-2 win. Wakefield has been unhittable this season, and is one of the leaders of ERA in the AL. He has not allowed more than 4 runs in a start this year, which with the Boston offense clicking, either Justin Verlander will have to out duel Wakefield, or it might be another ugly game. One more note: Placido Polanco will be back in the line-up, the last time he played in Fenway, he had his nearly season-ending shoulder injury.

Line-ups:
Detroit (23-14)
C Granderson CF
P Polanco 2B
G Sheffield DH
M Ordonez RF
C Guillen SS
I Rodriguez C
C Monroe LF
M Thames 1B
B Inge 3B

Boston (26-11)
J Lugo SS
K Youkilis 1B
D Ortiz DH
M Ramirez LF
J Drew RF
M Lowell 3B
C Crisp CF
D Mirabelli C
A Cora 2B

Pitchers:
Tigers - Justin Verlander RHP (3-1, 2.83 ERA)
Red Sox - Tim Wakefield RHP (4-3, 1.79 ERA)

Post-game:

Tigers 7 Red Sox 2

Same game as Monday, but the roles reversed. The Tigers were the ones with the outstanding pitching and timely hitting as they evened up the series with the Sox. Magglio is becoming so consistent with his multi-hit and RBIs that I should just cut and paste his performance form game to game. Good to see Pudge get a couple hits to hopefully break him out of his slump. While it wasn't nice to see Fernando Rodney let a couple guys get on base, it was nice to see him get the final outs of the game without them scoring. Kudos to Grandy and Inge who have been hot at the plate lately, and keep it going tonight.

Tiger Hero:
Justin Verlander. The Tigers needed a great start from him tonight, and he delivered. He gave the bullpen some needed rest, while pitching arguably his best game of the year.

Tiger Zero:
Marcus Thames. Those not waiting to see Sean Casey at 1st base, Marcus Thames isn't really forcing the issue. He was 0 for 3 tonight and only has 10 hits in 50 at-bats this season.

The Eulgoogoolizer Watch:
Eulogio struck out 7, but gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings of work to get the loss for Erie tonight.

Tigers record:
W -L
24 - 14
1st Place AL Central (Cleveland 1 GB)