This one is difficult. Either the Giants will complete a four-game sweep of the 2012 World Series, or the Tigers will make it somewhat interesting with a win. It won’t get truly interesting unless the Tigers win the next three games. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that will take a lot of work, and a lot of something they haven’t had in two full games: runs.
In Game 1, the Tigers scored 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth, but lost. In games 2 and 3, the Tigers didn’t score a single run. So far in the series, the Tigers have batted .165 with an on-base percentage of .248. Again, they’ve only scored three runs.
If the Tigers lose tonight, much of the spotlight will be on the Detroit’s big-three: Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Prince Fielder. In the World Series, Fielder and Cabrera have combined to go 3-19, with only 1 RBI. Verlander gave up 5 runs on 6 hits over 4 innings in his Game 1 start.
Tonight’s pitching matchup: The Giants will send out their best arm of the regular season in Matt Cain to face off against Max Scherzer, who was arguably as good as Justin Verlander down the stretch. They will need him to silence the Giants tonight.
For the record, no team in WS history has come back to win after going down 0-3.
Tonight’s lineups:
[column col=”1/2″ last=”no”]
San Francisco
Angel Pagan CF
Hunter Pence RF
Brandon Belt 1B
Ryan Theriot DH
Brandon Crawford SS[/column]
[column col=”1/2″ last=”yes”]
Detroit
Delmon Young DH
Andy Dirks RF
Omar Infante 2B
Gerald Laird C[/column]
