DETROIT – The American League Championship Series shifts to Comerica Park for Game 3, a matinee, 4pm et/1pm pt start. Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. “Well, I think its pretty simple,” said Leyland. “We let one get away. Theres no secret to that. I think the way you have to look at it in my opinion is we probably should be 1-1 and thats what we are. Theyre probably scratching their head trying to figure out how they didnt win the first game and were scratching our head saying how we let one get away (Sunday) night.” It would be premature to suggest Tuesdays is the pivotal game of the series. One team will go up 2-1 and it will be incumbent upon Tuesdays loser to bounce back on Wednesday evening. Game 3 Preview PITCHING MATCHUP: Red Sox RHP John Lackey (Regular season: 10-13, 3.52, 1.157 WHIP; Playoffs: 1-0, 6.75, 1.875 WHIP in 5.1IP) 2013 vs. Detroit: 0-1, 3.14, 1.116 WHIP, no home runs allowed in 14 1/3 innings pitched. Toughest matchup: DH Victor Martinez and SS Jhonny Peralta hit Lackey well but neither has shown any power against him. Martinez: 11-29, .379/.471/.414, 1 2B, 4 BB. Peralta: 11-31, .355/.364/.387, 1 2B, 4 RBI. Torii Hunter has two career home runs off Lester, Miguel Cabrera and Ramon Santiago has one each. Interesting note: Lackeys last playoff win, prior to his Game 2 victory over Tampa Bay in the ALDS, came as a member of the Angels, against the Red Sox, in the 2009 ALDS. Lackeys Angels swept that series, 3-0. --- Tigers RHP Justin Verlander (Regular season: 13-12, 3.46, 1.315 WHIP; Playoffs: 1-0, 0.0, 0.553 WHIP in 15IP) Did not face Boston in 2013. Toughest matchup: Verlander is typically overpowering but David Ortiz has hit him hard over the years. Ortiz: 10-27, .370/.433/.741, 2 HR, 4 2B, 4 RBI. Mike Napoli: 7-23, .304/.429/.435, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 BB. Verlander wasnt at Fenway Park for his teams late meltdown in Game 2. Hed already flown back to Detroit in anticipation of getting good rest prior to Tuesdays start. It was a good thing he did; the Tigers didnt arrive home until 5am et Monday morning. Verlander on the Game 2 loss: “In my opinion these are the two best teams in the American League. Weve made it to this point. When we play each other during the regular season it was a dogfight. At this point in the season nobody is going to give in. Nobody is going to give an inch, even down 5-1. Those guys battled. It was a heck of a ballgame. Obviously it sucks to let it slip away. This is baseball, youve got to reset and come ready to play the next game.” Red Sox manager John Farrell on momentum, whether it exists in baseball and if it does, whether his team has it following its late win on Sunday night: “You know, I think we certainly gained some confidence in the last couple of innings (Sunday) night, particularly how the first 14 or 15 innings of this series has gone. Much like we talked about coming into yesterdays game and putting Game 1 behind us, in my mind and in our clubhouse, Game 2 is behind us as well. Its been the beauty of this team all year long is to focus on tonights or todays game, and almost be a little bit singular in mind and not be living in the past by any means.” LINEUP CONSIDERATIONS: Andy Dirks will get the start for the Tigers in left field. Jhonny Peralta will play shortstop. Dirks, a left-handed hitter, is 2-5 in his career against Lackey, including a triple. Hes also taken a walk. Dirks is the third starting left fielder for the Tigers in as many games. Peralta (Game 1) and Don Kelly (Game 2) are the others. Mike Napoli will draw back into the starting lineup for the Red Sox, playing first base. GAME THREE PREDICTION: Whats that saying about momentum being the next days starting pitcher? Verlander continues to roll, the Tigers get to Lackey and take a 2-1 lead in the series, winning Tuesdays game 6-2. Lazar Markovic Liverpool Jersey . They have watched it from afar. And now they have seen it for themselves. Pedro Chirivella Jersey .Y. -- Dwane Casey admitted hed been concerned about his young Raptors team who had zero experience playing in close-out games -- what awaited them with the vastly-experienced Brooklyn Nets, and how theyd react. http://www.footballliverpoolstore.com/Wo...verpool-Jersey/. TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Bob McKenzie both reported Thursday that there have been ongoing trade discussions between the Oilers and Los Angeles Kings over forward Sam Gagner. Adam Lallana Jersey .Y. - DeMarre Carroll felt as though he couldnt miss in the second quarter as he outscored the Brooklyn Nets 14-13 all by himself. Daniel Sturridge Liverpool Jersey . New York Red Bulls. TSN primes Vancouver fans for the start of the 2014 season with MLS on TSN: Season Preview Special airing tonight at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt on TSN2 (encore Friday at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt on TSN2).The Colorado Avalanche may have lost one of the premier free agents, centre Paul Stastny, but recovered somewhat by bringing in the top free agent goal-scorer. Numbers Game looks into the deal for Jarome Iginla The Avalanche Get: RW Jarome Iginla. Iginla, 37, scored 30 goals last season, just like he has in every full season since 2000-2001, while playing for the Boston Bruins. The Bruins ran into cap issues that squeezed Iginla out of their plans and opened the door for the Avalanche to improve their forward ranks. Sure, at his age, Iginla has probably lost a step (his 2.68 shots on goal per game last season was his lowest since 1998-1999), but over the past six seasons, he ranks seventh in goals, with 186. He can pull the trigger and thats largely what the Avalanche will need from him. Colorado has lots of young talent up front, guys that the can skate the puck into the offensive zone and it would easy enough to fit Iginla on a line with rising star Nathan MacKinnon and veteran Alex Tanguay, with whom Iginla shared some productive years in Calgary. The issue for the Avalanche is how rapid Iginlas descent might be. Hes been unbelievably durable throughout his career, missing eight games in the past two seasons following five straight seasons without missing a game. But, once more than 1300 NHL games are on the odometer, its difficult to maintain production and its already begun with Iginla, who has averaged under 0.80 points per game in each of the past two years for the first time since 1998-1999. Its evident howw this career arc is playing out.dddddddddddd With 560 career goals, Iginla ranks second among active skaters, behind only Jaromir Jagr now that Teemu Selanne has retired. But, for all the great goal-scorers that have played at age 37 and beyond, its rare to keep scoring 30 goals per season. Since 2000, there have been five forwards, aged 37 or older, to score 30 goals in a season. Theyre Hall of Fame calibre players, like Iginla, so maybe he can get there at least once during the life of this contract, but the odds are that Iginla is going to start falling between 20 and 30 goals because as players get older, even for the great ones, its not as easy to get to the net. Without much room to maneuver under the salary cap, the Bruins may have to look internally to fill the void created by Iginlas departure. Loui Eriksson could move up to join David Krejci and Milan Lucic on the top line and prospects Ryan Spooner and Alexander Khokhlachev are likely to have opportunities to make the team next year. As long as he doesnt drop too precipitously, Iginla can still provide value on the three-year, $16-million contract he received from Colorado, but its likely to be in more of a supporting role because while every career isnt the same, all athletes eventually diminish with age and the Avalanche are looking at those years with Iginla. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '