Tigers determined to forget Game One nightmare

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Minutes after the San Francisco Giants concluded their 8-3 rout of the Detroit Tigers in the opening game of the World Series, Austin Jackson began thinking about Round Two on Thursday.

'It's been that way the whole season,' the Tigers centerfielder told reporters after Wednesday's clubbing. 'And now it's no different. It's not the time to hang your head on one game.

'We still have to come out and play so you have to have a short memory and forget about it.'

Doug Fister, who grew up near San Francisco and used to be a Giants fan, received the call for the Tigers in Game Two. The right-hander has pitched 13-and-a-third innings this postseason and given up two runs while striking out 13.

The Giants will go with southpaw Madison Bumgarner, who has struggled down the stretch. In Game Four of the National League Championship Series against St. Louis, Bumgarner pitched three-and-two-third innings and gave up six runs.

'We were going through some mechanical issues, just some small things that might have affected my arm and made it more difficult to throw, and that's really all it was,' Bumgarner told reporters.

'I think we've got it fixed. There's no way to tell 100 percent until you get out there and get going game speed. But hopefully that's all it was.

'But regardless, whether the velocity is up tomorrow or down or whatever, I've still got to find a way to make pitches and compete, keep us in the game.'

Bumgarner was yanked from the starting rotation after two poor playoff starts but Giants manager Bruce Bochy said 'we're confident in Madison.'

'These guys are human, sometimes they're going to have their hiccups,' Bochy told reporters. 'He's worked on some things in the bullpen, and he needs to back off a little bit and just not try to do too much out there.

'So the time that he's had to work on some things should help him. We forget how young he is at 23. But he's been working to get back in sync and get his delivery back.'

The Giants used three homers by Pablo Sandoval and battered Tigers starter Justin Verlander, widely considered the game's best pitcher, to take the opening game of the series.

San Francisco won three straight in the National League Division Series to beat Cincinnati, and overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat St. Louis in the NLCS. They now have a rare 1-0 lead.

Despite the opening-night whipping, Detroit's locker room was anything but morgue-like.

'In baseball, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose,' said Tigers slugger Prince Fielder. 'The great thing is that we get to play tomorrow.'

Tigers manager Jim Leyland believes Wednesday's loss will have no bearing on Thursday's outcome.

'I'm a guy that doesn't believe in momentum in baseball,' he said. 'I think momentum is your next day's pitcher.'

(Editing by Patrick Johnston)



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