GDT: 7/31/08 - DET (55-52) AT CLEV (46-60) - 12:05 p.m. ET

CLEVELAND -- Maybe, just maybe, this is the day for a Justin Verlander gem at Progressive Field. If he thinks too much about that, it could very well be another long day. But then, considering how late the Tigers and Indians played Wednesday night, it'll be a long day regardless.

Casey Blake, a .346 lifetime hitter against Verlander, is donning a Dodgers uniform these days. Victor Martinez, 9-for-30 with four home runs off Verlander, is on the disabled list, as is Travis Hafner. The only Indians player in the lineup these days with multiple home runs off of Verlander is first baseman Ryan Garko, and he's just 4-for-19. Franklin Gutierrez is 5-for-13 with two doubles and a homer off of the Tigers' ace in his brief career, but has just three RBIs to show for it.

Add in the fact that opponents are hitting just .189 off of Verlander in day games this year, and it's hard to envision a better setup for the righty to take care of his tough breaks by the lake than Thursday's high noon showdown. But he can't afford to think about that.

Only Verlander's struggles against the White Sox have caused more frustration for him than his struggles in Cleveland. It's the place where he made his Major League debut with a loss on July 4, 2005, and it hasn't been much kinder to him since. He's 4-7 with a 6.27 ERA for his career against the Tribe, but just 1-5 with an 8.91 ERA at this ballpark. Nowhere has he given up a higher ERA, and nowhere has he surrendered a higher batting average against in multiple starts than here.

Verlander knows it. And to manager Jim Leyland, that could be a problem.

Verlander's last start came against his other nemesis, the White Sox, last Saturday at Comerica Park. He came in with an eight-game unbeaten streak, wins in his previous four starts, and an eye for revenge. Instead, he struggled with his command from the outset, gave up a four-run third inning and left with nobody out in the fifth and 110 pitches thrown. It was the highest pitch count for a Tigers pitcher without getting past four innings in at least 20 years.

"He just couldn't get anything in sync at all, way out of whack," Leyland said. "I think some of that had to do with the fact that he was pumped up. He's a horse. He probably wants it a little bit too bad at times. That's another lesson you learn as a young pitcher."

Leyland believes the importance of a matchup with the AL Central leaders got to his young ace, and he seemed to have a point. His career splits seem to give him a strong case. Verlander is 43-27 in his big league career with a 3.89 ERA. Against the Indians and White Sox, he's 6-14 with a 6.15 ERA in 24 meetings. The argument against that is Minnesota, whom Verlander has battled to a 4-4 record and 3.63 ERA over nine starts.

A deep, effective outing could do wonders for a Tigers club that played past 12:30 a.m. in order to finish off a 14-12 victory over the Indians on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.


Pitching matchup

DET: RHP Justin Verlander (8-10, 4.29 ERA)
Verlander had one of the shortest outings of his career his last time out. He lasted only four innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits to give him double-digit losses for the first time. It also marked the first time Verlander went just four innings since Aug. 22 against the Indians. The star righty's impressive stretch came to an end. He yielded more than three earned runs in a start for the first time since May 31. He had allowed two earned runs or fewer in his last eight starts. In his last two starts against the Tribe, Verlander has given up a combined five earned runs on seven hits.

CLE: RHP Fausto Carmona (4-3, 4.33 ERA)
The only thing Carmona can take away from his first start back from the disabled list was that he didn't go back on the DL. Carmona was out of control from the start and never got settled in a shellacking at the hands of the Twins on Saturday. Carmona lasted 2 1/3 innings, allowing nine runs on seven hits in an atrocious welcome back to the big leagues. Luckily, Carmona will have two things working in his favor Thursday. It will be daytime and he will be facing the Tigers. Carmona is 11-4 lifetime when the lights are off and is 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA all-time against Detroit.

Tidbits

Thursday's game time will mark the earliest start the Tigers will have for a scheduled game this season. They had a 12:10 p.m. CT at Minnesota earlier this month. ... The Tigers are not expected to take pregame batting practice because of the early start time and Wednesday's extra-inning game. It will mark the third straight day without batting practice on the field for the Tigers as Leyland tries to help his club fight off the fatigue of a difficult travel schedule so far this second half of the season.

On the Internet

MLB.TV
Gameday Audio
• Gameday
• Official game notes

On television
• FSN-HD

On radio
• 97.1FM/1270AM

Up next

• Fri., Aug. 1: Tigers (RHP Zach Miner (5-3, 3.65 ERA)) at Rays (LHP Scott Kazmir (8-5, 2.84 ERA)), 7:10 p.m. ET

• Sat., Aug. 2: Tigers (LHP Kenny Rogers (8-7, 4.62 ERA)) at Rays (RHP Andy Sonnanstine (10-6, 4.65 ERA)), 6:10 p.m. ET

• Sun., Aug 3: Tigers (RHP Armando Galarraga (9-4, 3.36 ERA)) at Rays (RHP James Shields (9-7, 3.66 ERA)), 1:40 p.m. ET

STARTING LINEUPS

Detroit AVG
:curtis: Granderson, CF .307
Santiago, 2B .352
Guillen, 3B .285
Cabrera, 1B .296
:joyce: Joyce, RF .287
:thames: Thames, DH .256
:edgar: Renteria, SS .258
:ryan: Raburn, LF .240
Sardinha, C .167


Cleveland AVG
Sizemore, DH .279
Gutierrez, CF .214
Francisco, LF .277
Peralta, SS .269
Choo, RF .252
Marte, 3B .186
Garko, 1B .241
Fasano, C .273
A. Cabrera, 2B .199

Go Tigers!

1st pitch in about 5 minutes and I have to go to work pretty soon

C'mon :curtis:!

Base hit!

C'mon !

Grandy to 3rd on WP.

bobrob2004 wrote:

Grandy to 3rd on WP.

Move Grandy back to 2nd. What a weird play.

bobrob2004 wrote:

bobrob2004 wrote:

Grandy to 3rd on WP.

Move Grandy back to 2nd. What a weird play.

Here's what happened...

Santiago was bunting and it looked like he fouled it off so the bat boy went to field it. Santiago missed the ball altogether so it's a WP.

Move Grandy back to 3rd.

Caught, 1 out.

sac fly, Tigers take the lead.

1-0 Tigers

sac fly rbi

1-0

I gotta go to work now

gameday.

bobrob2004 wrote:

I gotta go to work now

gameday.

I agree gameday sucks! have a good day at work

grounds out

3 outs

1-0

Sizemore - flies out

Gutierrez -

Francisco - doubles

Peralta - rbi double

Game tied 1-1

Choo -

3 outs

Tied 1-1 at the end of 1

:joyce:

:thames: flies out by great catch by Francisco

:edgar: walk

:ryan: grounds out

Marte - pops out

Garko - pops out

I'm back!

Go Verlander!!!

Fasano -

back

Top of 3rd Tied 1-1

:dane: out