SAN FRANCISCO -- A few notes prior to Game Two (we're working our pregame print stories as well, of course, so time is at a premium)
The Giants are keeping the same lineup while the Tigers are substituting Gerald Laird at catcher for Alex Avila. Jim Leyland was asked if he thought about Andy Dirks in left field for defensive sloth Delmon Young and his answer was a simple but emphatic "no".
So that leaves the lineups looking like this:
Detroit: Jackson, cf; Infante, 2b; Cabrera, 3b; Fielder, 1b; Young, lf; Peralta, ss; Garcia, rf; Laird, c; Fister, p
San Francisco: Pagan, cf; Scutaro, 2b; Sandoval, 3b; Posey, c; Pence, rf; Belt, 1b; Blanco, lf; Crawford, ss; Bumgarner, p
---Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, whose three-homer game Wednesday was just the fifth in Series history, met the media again prior to today's game. He said he had more than 300 text messages on his phone -- and enjoyed being the subject of a tweet from Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.
"When I was hitting the fourth at bat, he was like, 'I'm just going to say congratulations to Pablo, but I'm just going to see the four homers right now,'"" Sandoval said. "So that was funny."
"I still can't believe it. In the morning when I wake up, all the stuff, my friends keep texting me. But you know, you have to realize what's going on right now in your life, so you have to keep your head up and keep focused."
---Leyland said Justin Verlander will pitch in Game Five as scheduled and not come back in Game Four even though he threw just four innings last night. I disagree in some ways but Verlander did throw 98 pitches. Wonder if that changes if the Tigers go down, 2-0.
---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington
