(Best E Casino) - Two American League teams that haven't quite lived up to expectations get together this evening at Detroit's Comerica Park, where the scuffling Tigers entertain a desperate New York Yankees squad.

The clubs will be making up a contest originally scheduled for May 11 that was postponed by rain. The Tigers and Yankees had split the first two games of the abbreviated series.

Both New York and Detroit figured to be entering September as prime playoff contenders in the AL, but neither is in good position to reach the postseason right now. The Yankees, who have played into October every year since 1995, currently stand seven games behind the rival Boston Red Sox for the top spot in the league's wild-card race. The Tigers, considered the preseason favorite to win the AL Central, are 11 games behind first-place Chicago at the moment.

New York didn't help its cause by dropping four of six tests during a recent homestand, including two of three to the Red Sox. The Yankees concluded the residency with a 6-2 loss to Toronto in Sunday's rubber match of a three-game series.

Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay outdueled Andy Pettitte (13-11), who was tagged for six runs on 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings. Halladay yielded just a pair of runs -- which came on solo homers by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi -- over seven frames of work.

Detroit has lost five of its last seven games but is coming off a win over Kansas City on Sunday. Miguel Cabrera delivered a tie-breaking two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Tigers to a 4-2 victory.

Cabrera also knocked in the first two Detroit runs with a sixth-inning homer.

Gary Glover (2-3) was handed the win after pitching a scoreless top of the eighth in relief of Armando Galarraga, who held the Royals to two runs on eight hits over the first seven innings.

Like his team, Tigers ace Justin Verlander has endured a frustrating 2008 campaign. The hard-throwing right-hander will attempt to avoid his 15th loss of the season when he takes the mound tonight.

Verlander was last in action on Wednesday, when he was reached for five runs over six innings in a loss to Cleveland. That left him 10-14 on the year and raised his season earned run average to 4.53.

The 25-year-old had been pitching well prior to that start, allowing no earned runs over a combined 12 2/3 innings in back-to-back wins over Baltimore and Kansas City.

Verlander has faced the Yankees three times in regular-season play and is 2-0 with a 4.67 ERA lifetime against New York.

The Yankees give Sidney Ponson another chance tonight. The journeyman pitcher is 0-3 with a 7.40 ERA over his last four starts and has failed to last five innings in his two most recent outings.

Ponson gave up four runs on seven hits in just 4 2/3 innings during a home loss to Boston on Wednesday, five days after he was rocked for seven runs and eight hits over a mere two frames in a 14-3 defeat at Toronto on August 21.

The right-hander is 4-4 with a 5.92 ERA in eight career starts against Detroit.

The Tigers swept a three-game series from New York in Yankee Stadium from April 29-May 1 and have won six of their last seven encounters with the Bronx Bombers.