The Sawx are eight games up in their division over the New York Yankees, after coming from five runs down yesterday to beat Baltimore 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. The Tigs meanwhile, look to recover from the shellacking they received yesterday at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, 16-4.
The Tigers send Nate Robertson to the mound, hoping to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since April 27th and 28th against the Twins. Nate had a rough start last time out against Seattle, losing to drop his record to 3-2.
Matsuzaka is 4-2 this season with a 4.80 ERA and has shown flashes of the pitcher the Red Sox are paying him to be. However, he's running into a buzzsaw of a line up that's looking for redemption after yesterday's dismal performance. In the past nine games, Gary Sheffield has led the charge batting .361 with four homers and nine RBIs. At Fenway Park, he's batting .325 for his career and has six homers and 26 RBIs.
Keys to the Game-
- Figure out Dice K and make him work. This is the first time any of these guys will have faced Matsuzaka, so knocking him around a bit would be nice.
- Keep the Sox off the board early. Manny Ramirez has been going insane recently, so it's important to keep him quiet and the rest of the Red Sox so the Fenway faithful don't get behind their boys too quickly.
- My dad makes it out alive. My dad is going to be at the game tonight in all his Tigers gear, so if he makes it out without getting a beer poured on him or anything then things should be all right.
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