• Friday: Julian Tavarez, RHP (5-6, 4.39) vs Andrew Miller, LHP (3-2, 3.81), 7:05 p.m. ET

Red Sox: Tavarez held his own against the Texas Rangers on Sunday at Fenway Park, but received a single run of support in what has become an all-too familiar trend for the Boston rotation. He allowed two runs, only one of them earned, in 5 2/3 innings, but allowed 10 baserunners. He threw 62 of his 106 pitches for strikes.

Tigers: Miller allowed six runs over five innings in his first start against an American League team in an 8-5 loss to the Twins on Saturday. Miller had experienced few problems in his first four starts, with a 3-1 record and 2.70 ERA, all of which came in Interleague Play. While the stats against the Twins may not have looked good, Miller said he felt good that his curveball and changeup have continued to develop into usable pitches to complement his fastball.

• Saturday: Kason Gabbard, LHP (2-0, 5.79) vs Jeremy Bonderman, RHP (9-1, 3.58), 7:05 p.m. ET

Red Sox: Gabbard couldn't make it out of the sixth on Monday against the Rangers, but he was otherwise effective in a game in which he received seven runs of support. The second-year lefty struck out five, allowing three earned runs over 5 2/3 frames and earned his second win of the season. He has never faced Detroit.

Tigers: Bonderman will know his fate in the All-Star Final Vote a couple days before he takes the mound for his final start before the break. He followed up his first loss of the season by tossing eight scoreless innings last Sunday night in a nationally televised duel with Minnesota's Scott Baker, earning the win in a 1-0 victory. He's 3-4 in his career against the Red Sox, but had two quality starts against them last year while striking out 14 batters over 15 1/3 combined innings.

• Sunday: Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (10-5, 3.53) vs Nate Robertson, LHP (4-6, 4.86), 1:05 p.m. ET

Red Sox: On July 3, there was no stopping Matsuzaka, who has recovered from a late-May poor spell with all the force of a freight train. Matsuzaka's recent hot streak likely began one start too late; otherwise, he'd be pitching in Tuesday's All-Star game after starting on Sunday in Detroit. Matsuzaka's only complete game of the season came against the Tigers on May 14. Against the Devil Rays last Tuesday, he threw eight innings and struck out nine.

Tigers: The good news for Robertson was the season-high eight strikeouts in his last start on Tuesday against the Indians. The bad news was that he had to labor to get those strikeouts, with 108 pitches in just five innings. He allowed three runs on six hits and didn't factor in the decision of a 5-4 Tigers loss. Robertson will start in the final game before the All-Star break for the Tigers against the Red Sox, a team that recorded 11 hits and three runs over five innings against him in a game earlier this season. Robertson is 1-3 with a 6.55 ERA in six career games against the Red Sox.

I'm there on Sat./Sun. I wish one of the days was bondy V diceK instead of the split.

We had better win the first two, because we're gonna get pwned on Sunday.

Sox looked good last night. I think they were up 6-0 or something when I stopped watching. I started watching hoping they'd have to go to their pen or go extra innings. Not so.

We had better win the first two, because we're gonna get pwned on Sunday.

Werd. Co-signed.

Nice play by Grandy and Rabelo.

BTW...It was Vikings 20 Bears 14 in the first of the weekend series.

Here are some of the era's for the pitchers in that game.

5.71
5.35
5.40
and a 4.20 but he only pitched 2/3rds of an inning. Continuing...
3.92
7.21
6.75
4.38

Rod: Rabelo was borderline safe. I have never heard that one befor.

Damn I'm thinking they should drug test Grandy too. He is fired up tonight. Offense and defense.

Shef hit and warning to both benches.

WTF is going on in Michigan tonight? Am I the only one around?

Take that mother fuckers. Walk Casey to get to Thames? Well there goes that fucking theory.

8-1 Tigs!

That grand slam put a smile on Millers face.

TIGERS ARE BACK.

Between this and yesterday (assuming TJ and friends don't blow it, which is a horrible assumption) this is a nice back-to-back offensive attack. Welcome back to the 2007 season, Tigers offense. Nice to see them doing this at home. For a while I was thinking they very much preferred the road.

Even the bat boy is getting in on the action.

went to probably my one and only 2007 tiger game at the copa. the granderson throw was probably the best throw ive ever seen in person. a perfect strike from ~300 feet away.

miller kicked ass tonight. i wouldnt have brought him out in the seventh, but when he looked like he was about to melt down, leyland was able to fire him up. i like him alot. its amazing how much better he looks this year than last. i realize he needs to refine a third pitch, but he's pretty damn good right now when he can get it over the plate.

how many lefties can consistently hit 96 on the gun in the league? i cant imagine too many...

Yowza what a ballgame! Come on Omar!

This has been a good game it will be even better if we win.

Its over cuz Grilli is warming up. We got lucky with Todd making it through a game without blowing it, but it won't happen with both in the same night.

HUGE WIN! Now I can go to the bar finally.

There goes that theory. I think Grilli gets the win.

Shef with a great steal right there and I mean great. Then Pudge comes through.

We win the series at the very least.

The comment was made before the series started that we had to win these two, because we'll get blasted tomorrow.
The Tigers cannot hit Dice-K at all and Nate's the weakest link right now, even though he's better than he was before he hit the DL.
Sox win tomorrow 8-2, if we even score 2.

Other note - Tre was at the game tonight. I'm interested to hear his take on the game. His bachelor party last year included the interleague game against the Reds that ended with a 10th inning walk-off (Granderson, I think) so he's seen his fair share of extra-inning heroics.

I'm trying to think who didn't pitch in our pen tonight. McBride, Miner and Seay should be able to go again. Okajima won't go tomorrow. This is IF we can get to their pen. I'm thinking the Tigs might know there only chance is to get to the pen and might jump early and hopefully often.

I can't find the game on DirecTV guide for tomorrow.

I think Durbin and Capunano(sp?) were the only two that didn't pitch tonight

I think you mean Capellan or some crap...Capunano is a SP for the Brewers.

Not bad so far 6-2 Tigs.

Tigers SWEEP!

Someone needs to slap Monroe. I don't know what he's thinking half the time.

http://wtfdetroit.com/miscpics/tigerssweep.jpg

Coupled with the Indians' loss, that puts us back alone in first!

Good thing everyone had faith in our team vs Matsasuka today.... : ) No Polanco, No Pudge, and No Mags and they still do enough to win...

Unbelievable catch by Granderson

Marcus Thames is country strong. At least, I hope he's not on roids...

Fuck a Dice K

We had better win the first two, because we're gonna get pwned on Sunday.

glad you were wrong

Me too

Me three.

By the way, good to see Todd Jones back to form. His 1-2-3 innings were making me nervous. Now that he's back to allowing 2 hits per outing again I can finally sleep at night.