Pavano good, Wood bad

Carl Pavano got off to a rough start last night against the Tigers, but he turned it around with the help of three double plays turned by his defense, one of which was a rare 2-4-5-2 strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out job, and gave up two runs in his eight innings of work. Pavano threw 101 pitches, and he struck out seven and didn't walk anybody, while keeping the ball in the yard, and that's a recipe for success. Pavano left with a 5-2 lead, which should be enough for a major-league closer to handle.

But Kerry Wood came in and walked the leadoff man, Placido Polanco, then gave up a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera to make it a one-run game. He got the next three guys on two fly balls and one ground ball, but man, you hate for your closer to come in and walk the leadoff man with the heart of the order coming up. Wood did record his 12th save of the season, but he threw just seven strikes in 14 pitches, and his ERA now stands at 5.28, which is just plain too high for a closer.

But I don't want to be too negative. Asdrubal Cabrera went 3-for-5 to get his average back up over .300, and fellow former DL denizens Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner each had two hits. Hafner is actually having a pretty decent season (while he's playing, that is), with a .288 average and nine home runs in just 132 at-bats. He's got a .946 OPS, which would be good enough for seventh in the American League if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. If he can stay healthy, maybe he can put together an All-Star-caliber season next year, when he'll turn 32.

Tomo Ohka starts today against Justin Verlander in the last game of the first half. It's been a very, very disappointing first half, obviously, but maybe we can end it on a positive note.