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Tigers-White Sox Preview

Jun 7, 2010 - 5:38 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Detroit (29-27) at Chicago (24-32), 8:10 p.m. EDT

While the record books will say otherwise, in the minds of everyone from fans to teammates to political leaders, Armando Galarraga is taking the mound after throwing a perfect game in his last outing.

Galarraga will make his first start since a blown call by umpire Jim Joyce robbed him of perfection when he and the Detroit Tigers open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

With two outs in the ninth on Wednesday, it appeared Galarraga had become the third pitcher to throw a perfect game this season after Cleveland's Jason Donald grounded to Miguel Cabrera, who threw to first to the covering Galarraga for the out. Replays showed Galarraga caught the ball a step ahead of Donald, but Joyce called the Indians shortstop safe.

"I feel sad," Galarraga said after the game. "I just watched the replay 20 times and there's no way you can call him safe."

Joyce admitted afterward he blew the call, but commissioner Bud Selig announced the next day that MLB would not reverse the decision.

While that outraged many, the controversy hasn't been all bad for the right-hander. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm proclaimed that Galarraga threw a perfect game and General Motors gave him a Corvette. He also received praise from the U.S. State Department and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for his professionalism.

Manager Jim Leyland told the Tigers' official website that now it's time for Galarraga (2-1, 2.57 ERA) and the team to focus on something else. Detroit (29-27) lost two of three at Kansas City over the weekend.

"You have to move on," Leyland said. "The next day, you learn how to get back in the fight. ... You can't chew yesterday's breakfast."

Galarraga will try to seek some normalcy when he returns to the mound Tuesday. He is 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA in three starts and two relief appearances against the White Sox.

"There's going to be a lot of attention coming after that game," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We are going to approach the same way we approached him in the past, and we had pretty good success against him in the past."

The Tigers are looking to get back on track after they dropped to 12-17 on the road with a 7-2 loss to the Royals on Sunday. This is their first trip to Chicago after going 4-5 there last season.

The White Sox, who beat Detroit 6-2 on May 18 in the only meeting between the AL Central rivals so far, lost two of three to Cleveland at home over the weekend. After scoring one run in each of the first two games, Chicago (24-32) rallied from a 6-2 deficit to win 8-7 on Sunday.

Carlos Quentin hit a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning and Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer, his 17th of the season. Quentin is hitting .209 but finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs on Sunday.

"That's the reason we haven't produced the way we can because we did not have the big hits, but today we did," Guillen said.

The White Sox, looking for back-to-back wins for the second time in the last month, will hand the ball to the struggling Gavin Floyd (2-6, 6.64), who has lost his last two starts.

Floyd gave up six runs and eight hits in 2 2-3 innings of a 9-5 loss to Texas on Wednesday. It was the sixth time in 11 starts that an opponent scored at least five runs against him.

The right-hander has been very successful against the Tigers, though, going 5-0 with a 3.34 ERA. The White Sox are 10-2 in those starts, including 6-0 at U.S. Cellular Field.