Edwin Jackson (6-3, 2.24) vs. 
Todd Wellemeyer (5-6, 5.50), 8:15 p.m. EST
So maybe the Detroit Tigers were rusty after Monday's off-day? That's one theory we can take into the second game of this series with the St. Louis Cardinals. You can offer others in tonight's GameThread at your discretion.
Can Edwin Jackson stop the bleeding and stanch the wound that has been this three-game losing streak? He wasn't as dominant in his last start as he'd been in the previous six, struggling with his control (issuing four walks) and racking up a high pitch count. But he still gave the Tigers a chance to win after five innings, by holding the White Sox to just two runs. (By the way, either no one noticed or you were to polite to point out that I had Justin Verlander's won-loss record and ERA posted for Jackson last week. I didn't notice until the next day. Sorry about that.)
Todd Wellemeyer is totally killing one of my fantasy teams winless in his past three outings, allowing 15 runs in 18 innings. A big reason for his problems, according to MLB.com, is that his fastball is averaging around 91 m.p.h., and he was hitting 96 m.p.h. last year. In his last start, Wellemeyer gave up 11 hits to the Marlins, his second-highest total of the season. (Of course, so did Adam Wainwright, and look how he did against the Tigers last night.)
The top of tonight's Tigers lineup is a welcome change, especially at the top of the order, where Jim Leyland has bacially been crossing his fingers for far too long now. Curtis Granderson bats leadoff, with Miguel Cabrera hitting third, and Marcus Thames in the cleanup spot. Enough of serving the lefty-righty mistress. Put the best eight guys on the field.
(I'm also kind of tired of the lineup widgets not being available until 30 minutes before gametime, when they're often available elsewhere much earlier. So we're posting 'em in the comments like we used to. And if I don't get to it, anyone else is welcome to do so. Booyah.)
Finally, I forgot to mention last night that Viva El Birdos (whose former steward, Larry Borowsky, is responsible for bringing me onto BYB) has your SB Nation opposing view for this series.