Programming
note: Tune in to SportsNet
Central's OctoberQuest at 4 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Bay
Area. We'll take you all the way up to first pitch at 5:07
p.m. with all the pregame news, stats, updates and analysis. It's Game 3
of the World Series!
DETROIT -- The Tigers can act calm and say they are happy to be home all they want. The simple fact of the matter is 53 times a team has taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series, 41 of those teams have gone on to win it all. That's a 78.8 percent chance of failure for the Tigers. ?
The last eight teams to take a 2-0 lead have won the Fall Classic. The odds simply aren't in Detroit's favor. The Giants have won five consecutive postseason games for the first time in franchise history. The Tigers have lost their last six World Series games dating back to 2006.
[GAME THREE LINEUPS: As expected, Sanchez to DH]
It's all stacked up against them.
"I try to keep it simple," Tigers' manager Jim Leyland said. "We are two down with five to play, and we are playing the team we've got to catch."
So what do the Tigers have in their favor, if anything? While the Giants are hotter than a piston powering a Detroit-made Ford Mustang, the game time temperate is expected to be frigid enough to seize their motors -- 46 degrees. A temperature that Prince Fielder described as "perfect."
Game Three starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez is 3-1 in five starts with a 1.98 ERA in his career against the Giants. The weather could be a wild card for him too. Sanchez went 5-7 with a 4.52 ERA in 15 home starts after being traded to the Tigers from the Marlins.
"I'm a little concerned because of the layoff, the cold weather," Leyland said of his Game Three starter. "You don't know how either pitcher is going to react to that."
Home field advantage will be the Tigers' last hope. They are 4-0 at Comerica Park in the playoffs, but even if they win all three games here in Detroit, they will have to head to San Francisco to face a Giants team that has won their last six home World Series games dating back to 2010.
A by-product of the trip back to the Motor City is the use of the DH. Delmon Young's defense didn't kill them in left field, although, he made one embarrassing throw in Game One that more closely resembled a frayed piece of twine than a froze rope. He gets to go back to the role that suits him best, and the Tigers' pitchers are no longer an empty spot in the lineup. Having the DH improves the Tigers both offensively and defensively.
Lineup
Austin Jackson, CF
Quintin Berry, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Delmon Young, DH
Andy Dirks, RF
Jonny Peralta, SS
Alex Avla, C
Omar Infante, 2B
hook troy miracle andy whitfield kennedy demi moore roy oswalt
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