Verlander scorches sox 2-7

Let's get one thing out of the way right now: Tim Wakefield's name is next to the L in this game, but by no means had a terrible outing. The story of this game has more to do with the W next to Verlander's who threw an excellent game against the sox with only Kevin Youkilis crossing the plate twice tarnishing an otherwise excellent performance. Wakefield also pitched well outside of a very bumpy 3rd inning where a solo shot and Magglio Ordonez hit a 3 run homer to put the game out of reach for the sox. The three run eighth inning had one run charged to Tim Wakefield for the walk to Gary Sheffield which Brendan Donnelly subsequently let through, as well as two additional runs as he was unable to close the door with two outs. The sox looked as though they might rally when Kevin Youkilis hit a solo shot with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to end Verlander's day and a few hits in the ninth, but the order was too tall this time and the sox couldn't deliver. Maybe if Josh Beckett had been on the hook for the loss?

I felt this game was closer than the score indicated with 6 of the Tigers 7 runs coming with two outs in the inning. I'm also not necessarily disappointed with this loss, the Tigers are an excellent team and Verlander is and excellent starter winning last year's Rookie of the Year honors and still looking strong. When looking at the starters and the strength of the Tigers I would be happy with 3-1 in this four game series and content with splitting the series given that they have 3-0 Maroth against 1-4 Julian Tavarez tonight who has had some mediocre performances as of late.