JEFF BAILEY

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
The Tigers take a bite out of Julian Tavarez

July 6, 2007 ... The Tigers rolled out the major leagues' most potent offense. The hard-line Sox fans undoubtedly will grouse that the team rolled over for the Tigers last night in a 9-2 loss in which David Ortiz played the role of spectator and Julian Tavarez was cast as whipping boy for a Detroit lineup that pummeled him for eight runs in a two-inning span, three in the fourth and five in the fifth, when Marcus Thames hit a grand slam.

Realists are more apt to concede that Ortiz, especially with a right leg that is likely to hinder him at times the rest of the season, deserves a blow on a midsummer's night. Even with Ortiz in the lineup, the Sox might not have done much more with Tigers rookie Andrew Miller, the 22-year-old lefthander who limited them to three hits and a run over seven innings. There also was the unmistakable feel of a tone-setting play in the third inning, when Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson, after catching the first ball Sox rookie, Jeff Bailey hit in the big leagues, buried Wily Mo Pena at the plate with a terrific throw. Instead of an RBI in his first at-bat while subbing for sore-legged Kevin Youkilis, Bailey's debut went into the books as a double play.

Youkilis's condition, a strained left quadriceps, probably is a temporary setback, which is why the Sox summoned Bailey from Pawtucket for the weekend. Ortiz's health appears more worrisome, although he has, for the most part, downplayed its impact on his performance. On Thursday night, he had three hits, including a double, his first extra-base hit in a dozen games.

Last night was a planned day off, Francona said. Ortiz, who was elected the starting first baseman on the American League All-Star team, plans to go to San Francisco. He is passing on the Home Run Derby, but on Monday morning is scheduled to unveil a new athletic shoe, the Big Papi 2M Mid, marketed by Reebok.

Francona stacked his lineup with right-handed hitters against Miller, the college teammate of 2006 Red Sox first-round draft pick Daniel Bard at North Carolina. It looked promising when Pena tripled past Granderson to open the third with the game scoreless. But when catcher Mike Rabelo, despite being flipped onto his head by Pena's hard slide, held onto the ball to tag out the Boston behemoth, the roar through Comerica Park was that of a sellout throng (43,839) accustomed to seeing winning baseball played by the defending AL champions.

The Sox eventually scored in the inning when Julio Lugo walked, stole second, and came around on Coco Crisp's single. And when Crisp stole second, the Sox seemed determined to maintain their aggressive edge. But Dustin Pedroia struck out to end the inning, Miller whiffed Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew after Manny Ramirez's one-out double in the fourth, and an All-Star play by Mike Lowell, one of 11 All-Stars on these teams, turned to ashes when the third baseman's throw sailed over first baseman Bailey's head on Gary Sheffield's smash to open the Tigers' fourth.

Magglio Ordonez, who leads the majors in batting, followed with a run-scoring hit, the score was tied, and the rest of the night followed in Old English script. Carlos Guillen also singled, and the next two batters, Sean Casey and Thames, sent Crisp on all-expense-paid tours of the wide expanses of Comerica's center field. Casey's drive advanced Ordonez to third, and Crisp was compelled to make another highlight-reel catch to keep Thames in the park, Ordonez scoring the go-ahead run. Tavarez hit Rabelo in the backside with a pitch, and Brandon Inge followed with a double that scored Guillen, the inning mercifully ending when Rabelo was cut down at the plate on a relay throw by Lugo after Pena tracked down the ball in left.

There would be no mercy for Tavarez in the fifth. Granderson hit his first pitch into the right-field seats, his 12th home run, making it 4-1. Placido Polanco singled and Tavarez hit another batter, Sheffield, who flipped his bat contemptuously after taking one in the shoulder. A diving stop by Pedroia at second took a hit away from Guillen, but merely delayed Tavarez's fate. Francona had Javier Lopez up in the bullpen and could have summoned him to pitch to the left-handed-hitting Casey. He decided against it, he said, because if Lopez failed to retire Casey, he'd be faced with blowing out his pen with the game in the fifth.  Instead, Francona elected to have Tavarez walk Casey. But Tavarez left a pitch out over the plate for Thames, who didn't miss, cranking it into the left-field seats to make it 8-1.

The eight runs charged to Tavarez were the most he's allowed this season, eclipsing the six he was charged with in a 10-4 loss to the Blue Jays April 24. He has now taken the loss in his last three decisions to fall to 5-7, on a night Jon Lester threw a seven-inning complete game for Pawtucket against Rochester, allowing just two runs on four hits.

Francona gave David Ortiz the night off, insisting it was scheduled and had nothing to do with Ortiz's sore legs. Mike Lowell, who had the first five-hit game of his career,  Thursday, batted third. Manny Ramirez served as DH, and Pena played left and batted seventh.

Sox owner John W. Henry has arranged for his private jet to take his team's six All-Stars to San Francisco after tomorrow's game.

Francona said a half-dozen pitchers plan to work out Wednesday at Fenway Park, the day after the All-Star Game. He said he might go in Tuesday if Curt Schilling plans to work out. The Sox haven't put a date on Schilling's return, but team officials expect the strengthening work he is doing on his shoulder is such that he probably won't be pitching again until around Aug. 1^st.