Detroit's season was over almost before it started, as the Tigers (71-80) opened 2008 with seven consecutive losses. Although they flirted with .500 in mid-summer, they never seriously challenged in the playoff race and will be home for the second straight October.

However, Ordonez has a chance to be the AL batting champion for the second straight year. The veteran right fielder, who batted a career-best .363 to take home the 2007 crown, has mounted a late charge at a repeat in 2008. He is batting .440 (33-for-75) since Aug. 26, with at least one hit in 18 of the 19 games he's started over that span.

He also has 21 RBIs during his hot streak, including four Wednesday night to help the Tigers snap a six-game losing streak with a 17-4 rout of Texas.

"I'm just trying to do my best to help out the team and finish the season strong," Ordonez told the Tigers' official Web site. "I know I'm in the race for the batting title, but I'm just going to keep doing what I have been doing - working hard and concentrating every at-bat. We will see what happens at the end of the season."

Ordonez went 3-for-5 to increase his average to .326, moving into a virtual tie with Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the league lead.

"What a great story that would be for him and for the Tigers," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of Ordonez, who is bidding to become the first player to win consecutive batting titles in either league since Nomar Garciaparra did it for the Red Sox in 1999 and 2000.

"To have back-to-back batting titles, what a feather in his cap."

While Ordonez is picking up steam down the stretch, Tigers rookie starter Armando Galarraga (12-6, 3.58 ERA) has been fading. Following a 5-0 stretch over six outings in July and August, the right-hander is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA in his last four starts.

He lasted only four innings in his last outing, a 5-2 loss to Oakland on Sept. 10, when he yielded five runs and eight hits. Galarraga has had success against Cleveland, though, going 3-0 with a 3.65 ERA in four starts.

Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona (8-7, 5.16) has had similar success against the Tigers in 2008, winning all three of his starts versus Detroit with a 3.32 ERA. Also like Galarraga, though, he's struggled overall lately.

Carmona has surrendered seven runs in each of his last two starts and lost both, including an 8-3 defeat to Kansas City last Saturday in which he gave up a career-high 11 hits and walked three in 6 1-3 innings. After that outing, he denied the left hip problems that sidelined him for two months earlier this season were bothering him again.

"It has been difficult to start the season, then stop, and start again," Carmona said. "But that has nothing to do with my last two starts. I am healthy."

Ordonez is 5-for-20 lifetime against Carmona.

The Indians (75-77) completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota with a 6-4 victory on Wednesday. It was the first sweep for Cleveland since taking three games at Detroit from Aug. 25-27 - also the final games of a season-best 10-game winning streak.

The Indians, who will miss the postseason and fall far short of their 96 wins from a season ago, hold an 8-7 edge in the season series with the Tigers.