Sorry for the lack of an open thread for this contest tonight...great game going on right now.

Tigers trail by just two in the seventh after going down 8-3 in the middle innings.

Two on, two out for Carlos Guillen as I type...

Fausto Carmona (14-7, 3.16) vs. Jair Jurrjens (0-1, 5.14), 7:05 p.m. EST

Cleveland
K. Lofton LF  
C. Blake 3B
G. Sizemore CF  
V. Martinez C
T. Hafner DH  
R. Garko 1B
T. Nixon RF  
J. Peralta SS
A. Cabrera 2B

Detroit
C. Granderson CF  
P. Polanco 2B  
G. Sheffield DH  
M. Ordonez RF  
C. Guillen SS  
I. Rodriguez C
S. Casey 1B
M. Thames LF  
R. Raburn 3B

Raburn gets the start ahead of Inge at third (which was foreshadowed yesterday), Polanco finally comes back after a bout with the flu and Maybin gets the day off.

The suprising Carmona is 2-0 against the Tigers this year with a 3.86 ERA.  His last start overall came against Detroit -- a 5-2 Indians win -- with him pitching eight innings and only giving up four hits.  In that game he was opposed by Jurrjens, who was making his first major league start.

Former Tiger minor leaguer Jack Hannahan, who was traded just weeks ago, hit his first major league homer tonight.  With the A's leading the Jays 3-1 in the third inning, Hannahan hit a three-run shot off of Toronto's Shaun Marcum to extend the lead to five.

Congratulations to Jack on the achievement, and we're rooting for him to hit a lot more...as long as it isn't against the Tigers.

Not sure if any of you have noticed this today, but BYB main blogger Ian will be participating with ESPN.com's Face of the Franchise feature.  Joining him in this discussion is the Free Press' Jon Morosi and Baseball Tonight's Eric Young.

He is set to participate in this starting Wednesday, so keep an eye out for it.  In the meantime please vote and help aid the discussion over there.

Zoom is back from his hand injury that left him out for about three and a half months.  To make room the Tigers optioned Aquilino Lopez to AAA Toledo.

Will Joel be the bullpen's savior?  We shall see.  Compared to his amazing 2006 run, in which he put up a 1.96 ERA, Zumaya seemed to be "average" to start '07.  Through 17 innings he had given up 13 hits and walked 11.

Anybody that can come in and spark this team is much appreciated.  Joel could be that guy over the course of the next few weeks.  It's good to have him back.

Ryan Raburn is fighting his way into some playing time with the Tigers.  Who better watch out for this guy?  Brandon Inge, who's hitting .200/.237/.291/.528 in the month of August.

Inge had one month where he hit .343 (June) and one month in which he posted a .150 average (April).  Not exactly the model of consistency.  And the worst part is he has one homer since June 12th.

MLBTradeRumors has this little tidbit regarding the Tigers:

Jeremy Bonderman (10-5, 4.65) vs. Chien-Ming Wang (13-6, 4.09), 1:05 p.m. EST

Detroit
C. Granderson, CF
S. Casey, 1B
G. Sheffield, DH
M. Ordonez, RF
C. Guillen, SS
R. Raburn, 2B
M. Rabelo, C
B. Inge, 3B
C. Maybin, LF

New York
J. Damon, LF
M. Cabrera, CF
B. Abreu, RF
A. Rodriguez, 3B
H. Matsui, DH
J. Posada, C
R. Cano, 2B
W. Betemit, SS
A. Phillips, 1B

Chien-Ming Wang has dominated the Tigers in his short MLB career:  In four starts against them he has a 3-0 record with a 2.52 ERA, not giving up a homerun in 25 IP. On the season he has only given up seven longballs, including only two at Yankee Stadium.

Pudge gets the day off and Polanco is still suffering from that flu bug. It will take some contributions from everyone to salvage a split in this series.

Chad Durbin (7-5, 4.68) vs. Roger Clemens (4-5, 4.00), 3:55 p.m. EST

A Tigers game on FOX that I'll actually be able to view down here in Florida. Wow.

The Rocket holds a 22-11 record against the Tigers with a 3.95 ERA over the course of his career. Last year Clemens made one regular season start against Detroit as a member of the Houston Astros, picking up a loss after only giving up one earned run.

Detroit
C. Granderson cf
M. Thames 1b
G. Sheffield dh
M. Ordonez rf
C. Guillen ss
I. Rodriguez c
R. Raburn 2b
B. Inge 3b
C. Maybin lf

New York
M. Cabrera cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
H. Matsui lf
J. Posada c
J. Giambi dh
R. Cano 2b
A. Phillips 1b

Nate Robertson (7-9, 5.01) vs. Andy Pettitte (9-7, 3.93), 7:05 p.m. EST

Detroit
C. Granderson, CF
C. Maybin, LF  
G. Sheffield, DH
M. Ordonez, RF  
C. Guillen, SS  
I. Rodriguez, C
S. Casey, 1B
R. Raburn, 2B
B. Inge, 3B

New York
J. Damon, CF
D. Jeter, SS
B. Abreu, RF
A. Rodriguez, 3B
J. Posada, C
H. Matsui, LF
J. Giambi, DH
R. Cano, 2B
A. Phillips, 1B

Maybin in left, batting second.  Against leftys he wasn't too successful down on the farm; In 76 ABs versus southpaws while with Lakeland he had a .211/.333/.395/.728 line.  At the AA level he only has had one at bat, drawing a walk.

I know he's not the only Tiger out there playing tonight; However I believe this is one of the more anticipated debuts we've seen in a while as Detroit fans.

***

By the way, good luck to Craig Monroe - his time as a Tiger is more than likely over. My perception of him as a player was always positive in terms of his personality, work ethic and as a team player. I've got the utmost respect for him in those departments, but that wasn't going to keep his job on a team that is in the midst of a pennant race. His season long slump at the plate was only harming this team, so this was in no doubt the right move by the organization.

Cameron Maybin will be in New York tonight with the big league club.

Excellent news!

More to come as it unfolds...obviously someone had to be removed from the 25-man. Monroe? Thames?

UPDATE

As mentioned in the comments section, Danny Knobler has given us the details of the day. Craig Monroe has been DFA'd to make room for Maybin, and Infante was optioned to Toledo in favor of Ramon Santiago.

Thank you Carlos Guillen.  Thank you for giving us a nice cushion last night.  What a refreshing feeling not having to watch the Tigers claw back from an early deficit, especially against a team with a lineup as detonative as the Yankees.

JV pitched a fairly decent game last night -- picking up the win --  against a very patient group of Yankee hitters.  Through only 5.1 innings he was forced to leave the game with a pitch count of 119, handing the ball over the bullpen to pull this one out over the course of the final four frames.  Needless to say, the thought of a winning result in this one was high in doubt.

But they pulled through.  Byrdak, Miner, Rodney did their jobs, giving up only two hits and striking out eight over 2.2 innings of work.  Jones gave up a couple of runs, but the cushion was enough where we would let him slide this time.

Definitely a good start to the series.  Great win.  Now, they need to secure at least a split over the next three games at Yankee Stadium.