The Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers start the week within striking distance of first place in their respective divisions. The Rays, who have won 13 of their last 18 games, begin the night only 3 games behind AL East leading New York. The Tigers, who are hurting in more ways than one, are only 2 behind the White Sox in the AL Central. Detroit is playing without a lot of it's offensive power. Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, and Brandon Inge are all on the disabled list. This will be the first meeting between these two clubs this year. Last year, the Tigers swept the Rays in St. Petersburg. The road has not been as kind to the Tigers this year. They are 16-29 away from Comerica Park.
As in most games, it will come down to the two starting pitchers. Max Scherzer (7-7, 4.43 ERA) toes the hill for Detroit, while Matt Garza (10-5, 4.36)goes for the Rays. It looks like Scherzer is starting to live up to the hype. He's been pretty dominant in his last 6 starts posting an impressive 1.61 ERA while striking out 41 batters in his last 39 innings. His record on the road is not that great however (1-5, 5.61). Garza has been heading in the opposite direction as of late. He has a 6.46 ERA in his last 3 starts and has surrendered 5 homeruns in those games. He should be glad the Tigers are minus the above mentioned players, because in 6 career starts against the Tigers, Garza has a whopping 5.89 ERA.
Despite the obvious lack of offense and terrible road record for the Tigers, I'm going to give them a fighting chance tonight in St. Pete. -165 is too much to lay on this one, so take a shot at the dog here.
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