Manager Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers has released his lineup for Game 1 of the World Series against the San Francisco Giants. Since Game 1 is in a National League park, the DH will not be used ... so that means one Tiger is odd-man-out. For Game 1, it'll be Andy Dirks, who played left field against lefthanded pitching in the ALCS (* indicates left-handed hitter):
Young in left field for Tigers in Game 1
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Omar Infante, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder*, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Avisail Garcia, RF
8. Alex Avila*, C
9. Justin Verlander, P
This lineup will be facing Giants lefthander Barry Zito. Zito threw six shutout innings against the Tigers in interleague play in Detroit July 2, 2011; overall, members of the Tigers' postseason roster are hitting .186 (16-for-86) against Zito with two home runs (Fielder and Peralta).
Justin Verlander has never had a hit in the major leagues; in the regular season he’s 0-for-24 with 14 strikeouts and nine sacrifice bunts. He was 0-for-4 this year in interleague play; the last time he batted in the postseason was in the 2006 World Series, where he went 0-for-2. If he pitches well enough, the Tigers won’t have to worry about that automatic out in the No. 9 spot.
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