In Detroit, a Little Football Weather Is in the Forecast

DETROIT, Oct. 12 -- Detroit is not Northern California, and the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics are about to find out Friday how different the locales might be. Game 3 of the American League Championship Series is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on a day when the highs are projected to be only in the mid-40s, with wind gusts reaching 20 mph and a chance of rain.

"We'll see who wears the most clothes," Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson said. "I bet it'll be one of the guys from the South."

Game 3 was originally scheduled for 8:05 p.m., but because the National League Championship Series had a postponement Wednesday, Major League Baseball officials had two games scheduled for Friday at the same time. They said they moved the AL game to the afternoon in part because Friday was to get wetter as the day wore on.

"It's going to be a little rough for both teams," Detroit Manager Jim Leyland said, "but it's not that big a deal."

Counting On Harden

The A's, who have lost the first two games of the series, desperately need a win Friday, and it would seem they have the right man on the mound -- right-hander Rich Harden. Forget, for a moment, that Harden lost three months of the season to a ligament sprain in his elbow, that he has pitched just 11 2/3 major league innings since June and that he gave up five runs in 3 1/3 innings of an instructional league game Monday. The salient point: Harden has nine starts for the A's this year, and the A's have won all of them.

A's Manager Ken Macha said he has a simple goal for Harden: "Five innings, all zeroes. How's that?"

Harden said he has no concerns about his elbow, and that he'd like to pitch longer.

"As a starting pitcher, you'd like to get more than five innings," he said. "That's kind of a minimum."

Harden went 4-0 with a 4.24 ERA in the regular season, allowing opponents just a .191 average.

Zumaya Questionable

Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya had an MRI exam on his right forearm Thursday, and while Leyland said Zumaya has fluid in the arm -- and that he might not be available again in Game 3 -- the prognosis, overall, is good.

"We got the best news you could get," Leyland said. He would not speculate precisely on when Zumaya would be ready.

With Zumaya unavailable in Wednesday's Game 2, the Tigers turned to Fernando Rodney in the eighth, and he responded by striking out the side. At one point, he had A's first baseman Nick Swisher shaking his head after he swung and missed an off-speed pitch.

"I saw that," Rodney said. "I like it."

Duchscherer Ailing

The A's, too, have an injured setup man in Justin Duchscherer, who's battling neck problems. Duchscherer, who saved nine games with a 2.91 ERA in 53 games during the season, underwent an MRI exam on Thursday.

"That guy's sorely missed out of our bullpen," Macha said.

Given the struggles of Oakland's starters in the ALCS, Duchscherer is a key loss because he can pitch two innings at a time -- as he did twice in the division series against Minnesota.