DETROIT -- Thanx to all for some great feedback on my return to Tiger Stadium in this morning's paper. A fun project all the way around. Kudos to a couple alert readers who emailed me the link to this fabulous Yahoo! Sports video that shows great stills of the old yard as well as video of the site now and interviews with the Navin Field Grounds Crew.
As for tonight's game, it's cold and the wind is howling in advance of the fringe of Hurricane Sandy making it to Michigan. There's rain in the forecast from about 6:30 to 8:30 but the chance drops to 20 percent and only light rain thereafter.
We should be good to go for tonight, even if it goes a little later. But as for Monday and Tuesday if the Tigers force Game Five? Yeesh.
---The Tigers are trying to avoid the first sweep since the Rockies got dumped by the Red Sox in 2007. They've scored three runs in three games, are batting .165 and just endured the first back-to-back shutouts in the World Series since 1966.
"I can paint a rosy picture, but the picture is not rosy right now," admitted manager Jim Leyland. "I mean, our pitching is set up terrific, but you've got to win a game."
(If the Tigers survive tonight, they can go back to Justin Verlander and Doug Fister in Games 5-6. I'd say the Giants best make sure they win tonight).
---The Tigers have scratched C Alex Avila tonight with a bruised left forearm and Leyland said it's possible the injury is serious enough to keep him out of the rest of the series. Gerald Laird will take over.
---Ryan Theriot will DH for the Giants tonight, trying to win his second straight Series title. He played for the Cardinals last year.
---Leyland acknowledged he was not happy that slugger Miguel Cabrera blew off the media after last night's game. Most Tigers, notably Avila, Prince Fielder and Austin Jackson, spent several minutes with waves of reporters. A huge crowd was waiting at Cabrera's locker but a Tigers PR official said he had left the building.
"I will deal with the situation and check into it, because you have to be there through the good and the bad," said Leyland (pictured above talking to Cabrera today during batting practice). "You can't be on this podium only when you win. When we're 0‑3, I've got to be up here and I'm not the happiest camper in the world. However, you have a responsibility."
Leyland said he wanted to make sure Cabrera didn't leave early due to some unknown family issue but wasn't aware of any.
"We're all big boys, and you've got to face you guys whether you like it or not. You can't just be here when everything is going well. That's our responsibility. Nobody from the Detroit Tigers ducks that."
So tonight's lineups look like this:
Giants: Pagan, cf; Scutaro, 2b; Sandoval, 3b; Posey, c; Pence, rf; Belt, 1b; Blanco, 2b; Theriot, dh; Crawford, ss
Tigers: Jackson, cf; Berry, lf; Cabrera, 3b; Fielder, 1b; Young, dh; Dirks, rf; Peralta, ss; Avila, c; Infante, 2b
---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington
Photo: Associated Press
