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Game 37: Red Sox @ Tigers, 7:05 p.m.

By Al Beaton
At last report, Dontrelle Willis is NOT SICK!
At last report, Dontrelle Willis is NOT SICK!

Current Series

Red Sox lead the series 1-0

Fri 05/14 WP: Clay Buchholz (4 - 3)
LP: Max Scherzer (1 - 4)
2 - 7 loss

Boston Red Sox
@ Detroit Tigers

Saturday, May 15, 2010, 7:05 PM EDT
Comerica Park

Jon Lester vs Dontrelle Willis

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 65.

Complete Coverage >

Sun 05/16 1:05 PM EDT

Pitching matchup:

Jon Lester

#31 / Pitcher / Boston Red Sox

6-2

190

L

L

Jan 07, 1984

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Jon Lester 3-2 7 7 0 0 0 0 43.2 35 18 18 4 19 44 3.71 1.24


vs

Dontrelle Willis

#21 / Pitcher / Detroit Tigers

6-4

225

L

L

Jan 12, 1982

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2010 - Dontrelle Willis 1-1 6 5 0 0 0 0 29.1 29 13 13 2 15 21 3.99 1.50

Johnny Damon has the night off, so we finally have a Casper Wells sighting! Wells will make his major league debut.

Here's the Tigers lineup for tonight...

CF Austin Jackson
LF Casper Wells
RF Magglio Ordoñez
1B Miguel Cabrera
DH Brennan Boesch
3B Brandon Inge
C Gerald Laird
2B Scott Sizemore
SS Adam Everett

Notes of interest:

The Tigers haven't lost consecutive games since May 5th, but have only a 6-6 record for the month. Despite their recent spurt of .500 ball, the Tigers remain only 2.5 games back of those damned Twins,

The Tigers have a 3.59 ERA in 17 home games, placing them 6th in the AL.

There's good and bad news in regard to the bullpen. Good news: They lead the AL with 10 wins and a 2.55 ERA. Bad news: They are 2nd in bullpen innings pitched, with 120.

He of the numerous nicknames (Papa Grande, The Big Potato), Jose Valverde, is tied for the AL lead in saves with 10. His .120 BAA and 0.57 ERA also have him high on the league leaderboard.

As solid has the pitching has been (You need to get with the program, Max Scherzer!), the offense has shown next to no power of late. In their previous 4 games, the Tigers have 2 without an extra base hit. Of the Tigers' 5 singles Friday night, 3 were from the bat of noted slap hitter Magglio Ordonez. As much as I rag on Magg's lack of power, he is still getting on base at a .387 clip.

More good news! Austin Jackson has reduced his K rate from 1 every 3 at-bats in April to 1 in every 4.5 at-bats in May. As we all hoped and expected, Jackson is adjusting.

Hack alert! ESPN Page 2 writer DJ Gallo decides to break out the "Detroit is a Hellhole" cliche in his latest article.

Livable: Well, the Tigers are off to a fairly good start. And you and a few friends could always buy an arena and live in it if you wanted to. That's extremely livable.

Unlivable: The Red Wings' run might be over. The Pistons stink. And the Lions remain nothing to get aroused about, regardless of Jim Schwartz's tastes in tailbacks. When things used to be bad in Detroit, you could always escape west to Ann Arbor and the success of University of Michigan athletics. Not anymore. Now it's probably best to go east and just walk into the depths of Lake St. Clair.

Verdict: Unlivable. It's good Jim Leyland can't smoke anymore. If the Tigers caught on fire, Detroit would have nothing left.

As I like to say, cliches are the refuge of a hack. I remember when Page 2 was an every day must read in the early part of the decade. Not anymore...

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