Tigers Fall to Royals 5-4 in Season Opener

Game in a Nutshell


Despite Miguel Cabrera's first home run as a Tiger, Carlos Guillen's monster game, and five one-hit innings by Justin Verlander, Detroit was not able to come through with a run in extra innings and lost 5-4 in 11. Detroit jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind an Edgar Renteria RBI single, Cabrera's solo home run, and a Gary Sheffield walk with the bases loaded. Verlander gave up a two-run homer in the 6th and was pulled with two runners on and no outs in the 7th. Jason Grilli immediately gave up a single that tied the game at 3-3 and was pulled for Bobby Seay after getting one groundout. Seay and Aquilino Lopez pitched well into the 8th, with Lopez giving up two hits that scored another run that Verlander was responsible for. It was 4-3 when Guillen hit a bomb into the right field stands to tie that game at 4 apiece. Todd Jones pitched a scoreless ninth, Denny Bautista pitched a scoreless 10th, but gave up a two-out single in the 11th that gave the Royals a 5-4 lead. Brandon Inge threw out a runner at home for the second out with an amazing throw that looked to kill the Royals rally before the game-winning run with two outs. It was an exciting and hard-fought game, but the Tigers loaded lineup couldn't come through with a run in the last three innings.

Bullpen Watch


Jason Grilli came in for Verlander in the 7th and pitched to two batters, giving up a run-scoring single and getting one groundout. Bobby Seay did a great job coming in to face a lefty and got the out. Aquilino Lopez gave up a couple of hits with a run scoring in the 7th, then pitched a scoreless 8th. Todd Jones had a solid outing pitching a scoreless 9th. Denny Bautista showed his big-league stuff, hitting 100 mph a few times and pitching a scoreless 10th. But in the 11th, Bautista gave up the game-winning RBI single to Tony Pena.

Concern Level: 7 out of 10



Today's Key Play


Guillen's home run in the 8th and Inge's spectacular throw out at home in the 11th highlighted the game for the Tigers, but the most important play of this game was Alex Gordon's two-run home run in the 6th for the Royals. Verlander was dominant until this point and Detroit looked like they would blow this one open, but Gordon's homer changed the momentum and gave K.C. a lot of confidence that they could win the game. And they did.

Tiger of the Game: Carlos Guillen



Carlos was 3-5 with a single, double, and a huge home run that tied the game in the 8th. Without Guillen, the Tiger offense would've looked very average today. Magglio was solid with a 2-5 day and Sheffield showed great patience with four walks, but Guillen was definitely our Tiger of the Game.

It's Game Day!

On one of the most anticipated opening days in Tigers history, I thought that you all would like a few links to warm you up for the big game today at 1:00 EST against the Royals. Justin Verlander will be squaring off with Gil Meche in Comerica Park. This will be Verlander's first opening day of his career that we hope will be the first of many.

Meche is ready for us, and is saying all the right things to give his team some confidence against our loaded lineup.

Good news, the weather should be ok for first pitch today.

The Free Press has a new look Tigers Preview up with their predictions, photos, and articles all together.

Here's another Tigers preview article from the Detroit News.

By the way, Clete Thomas made our opening day roster over Dane Sardinha. He'll wear number 36 and probably won't see the field today.

Some bullpen news: We signed LHP Aaron Fultz to Triple A after a terrible spring with the Indians. Maybe he can get healthy and be our second lefty in the 'pen after Bobby Seay.

Nothing surprising with today's lineups. With Granderson out, Edgar Renteria will leadoff and Brandon Inge will play center and bat ninth. The lineups are:

Tigers
SS Edgar Renteria
2B Placido Polanco
DH Gary Sheffield
RF Magglio Ordonez
3B Miguel Cabrera
1B Carlos Guillen
C Pudge Rodriguez
LF Jacque Jones
CF Brandon Inge

Royals
CF David DeJesus
2B Mark Grudzielanek
3B Alex Gordon
RF Jose Guillen
DH Billy Butler
LF Mark Teahen
1B Ross Gload
C John Buck
SS Tony Pena

I realize that the Royals lineup looks terrible, but believe me, they won't be that bad. And with the temperature in the 50s and some possible rain, I don't expect the Tigers bats to explode just yet. Meche is an All-Star caliber starter as well. We should have a good ball game on our hands today. It would nice to get a great start to the season after a pretty shaky late spring. I'll be on the edge of seat all afternoon. Come on back to Baseball at Comerica after the game to check my postgame thoughts.

Go Tigs!!!

Daily Roar - 3/28/08

It's the last Friday before the regular season starts. The roster spots are all set for opening day except for one last final positional battle between Clete Thomas and Dane Sardinha. If Jim Leyland is comfortable with Brandon Inge as backup catcher, then Thomas will make the squad. If he wants Inge to concentrate on center field only, Sardinha will make the squad as a backup catcher. That's about it.

The Tigers looked good in their final game in Florida, winning 14-5 yesterday. Their final two Spring Training games will be tonight and tomorrow in Houston against the Astros before opening day on Monday against the Royals. I can't wait.

After the Phillie killing yesterday, Skip is feeling a little better about the start of this year. Or maybe he's just being a little sarcastic. This article also has a little more info on rookie Clete Thomas. A very surprising name to be in Big League talks at this point. Here's some more on Thomas from the Detroit News, too.

Sports Illustrated and ESPN both have their Detroit Tigers 2008 Previews up. SI drools all over Detroit and picks our team to win the whole shebang. ESPN's version has all kinds of stuff scattered all over the page. Predictions are at the bottom right. Jayson Stark also picks Miguel Cabrera for MVP.

Video of the Day: With Cabrera being mentioned for MVP this year, Ernie Harwell gives us insight on a former Tiger MVP: Al Kaline

Bullpen Surprise: Byrdak Cut

We have a pretty surprising announcement this morning after a 10-9 win over the Astros last night. Tim Byrdak, who was once considered a lock to be a part of the Tigers bullpen, was released this morning after giving up four walks and a hit to the five batters he faced last night.

This leaves Detroit with only one lefty, Macay McBride, in the bullpen. Aquilino Lopez and Yorman Bazardo are now both likely to be on the opening day roster. But a move by Dave Dombrowski for a lefty seems very obvious.

Danny Knobler lists three possible lefties we could go after including Royce Ring of Atlanta, Steve Kline of San Francisco, and Mike Stanton of Cincinatti. With the youth we already have in our 'pen, I would like to see us go after Stanton. So what if he makes the most money of the three.

Well, on the bright side, at least this brings some added excitement to what was becoming a long, drawn out Spring Training.

Daily Roar - 3/25/08

Justin Verlander takes the mound tonight against the Houston Astros with just five more Spring Training games left before the regular season finally starts. It will be interesting to see if Jim Leyland decides to keep Freddy Guzman as an extra center fielder, and if Aquilino Lopez, Denny Bautista, or Yorman Bazardo wins the remaining bullpen spots. There aren't a lot of question marks remaining on the roster for opening day, but they are very important ones considering the key injuries to Granderson, Rodney, and Zumaya.

Bless You Boys has more on replacing Granderson in center. They give some good reasons why Leyland should keep Freddy Guzman.

More on replacing Curtis, but this article is about Leyland being reluctant to bat Edgar Renteria at leadoff.

The Curveball blog has the answer to an interesting Tigers trivia question.

The Cutoff Man blog says that Leyland wants to make a trade for bullpen help more than Dave Dombrowski. You know I'm on Dave's side with this one.

And finally, the Miguel Cabrera signing is official. Here's the Free Press and Detroit News takes.

Video of the Day: A look at our ace. And Kenny Rogers rear end.

Daily Roar - 3/24/08

With Spring Training winding down, there's only so much you can write about the Tigers until the "real" games start. I can't wait for this season to get going. I'm working on creating some type of original game recap style that I'll use to give my own take on each regular season game and hopefully into the Playoffs. I'm excited to try it out.

The Tigers are taking on the Washington Nationals as I type this. They are up 5-3 in the top of the ninth at this point. Nate Robertson took the mound today, giving up one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Aquilino Lopez, who's battling for a roster spot, pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief. Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera each have an RBI on the day, and Dane Sardinha hit a solo homer in the 8th.

Like I mentioned yesterday, it's likely that Jim Leyland uses Edgar Renteria as the leadoff hitter and Brandon Inge in center field, batting ninth after the Curtis Granderson injury. Well, that's exactly the lineup the Tigers used today. Renteria is 1-4 on the day. Leyland confirmed that this will be the lineup for opening day.

The bullpen competition is starting to formalize, and the Cutoffman thinks Denny Bautista and Yorman Bazardo will get the final two spots during Fernando Rodney's DL stint. I actually like Lopez over Bazardo in relief, with Bazardo as a better option to get some starts if there is an injury in the rotation. We'll see.

CBS Sportsline's Scott Miller blogs about Miguel Cabrera's new deal with Detroit. I think he likes it too. Here's more on the Cabrera deal from Danny Knobler as well.

Peter Gammon's blog on ESPN mentions Miguel Cabrera on his short list of MVP-likely candidates as well as Justin Verlander on his Cy Young watch. Good to hear. He also has a podcast that I can't link to. He agrees with many that the Tigers have the best lineup in baseball.

ESPN also has a different podcast with an interview with Jim Leyland. Click here for the audio link.

Update: The Tigers finished the game today with a 5-3 win. Francis Beltran came in and got the save.

Video of the Day: Newcomer Jacque Jones.

Weekend Roar - 3/22 and 3/23

I have some really good news and some really bad news regarding the Tigers. Let's start with the good news.

It's being reported that Miguel Cabrera has signed an 8-year, $153.3 million deal this weekend. The deal will not be officially announced until a physical is completed. This is some pretty fantastic news. To know that we have one of the elite baseball players in the world locked up for such a long term brings some definite optimism to the future of baseball in Detroit.

Now the bad news. Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch in the hand on Saturday, and is now out for three weeks with a broken right middle finger. He will be placed on the 15-day disabled list. This is not the way we hoped the season would start. Granderson has been the spark plug that gets this lineup going, and without his speed at the top of the lineup Jim Leyland will have some tricky adjustments to make.

My guess is that Brandon Inge will start the season in center field and bat ninth, unless Leyland feels that Jacque Jones can handle the defensive assignment in center and Marcus Thames can play left. I would probably prefer the latter, but it is nice to know that Inge is still around for injuries like this.

As far as the leadoff spot in the lineup goes, I'm thinking that Leyland will move Edgar Renteria into that spot. The Pudge at leadoff experiment didn't work too well last year and no one else really seems to fit the mold of a leadoff guy. One interesting thought that D-Town Baseball had was to try Gary Sheffield at the top of the lineup. His patience at the plate could work and he still has above average speed on the basepaths. I would still prefer Renteria leading off, but wouldn't mind the Sheffield attempt one bit.

In Spring Training games, the Tigers tied the Indians 3-3 today. Sheffield hit his third homer of the game, a two-run shot off of Fausto Carmona that scored Placido Polanco. Yorman Bazardo pitched three perfect innings, who got the start. Friday, the Tigers matchup with the Phillies was rained out.

That's all for today, have a Happy Easter everyone.

Daily Roar - 3/21/08

Well, my bracket is starting to go in the crapper after that amazing Drake game. No worries, I still have some Tigers news to relay to you.

With Spring Training winding down, the Tigers took on the Blue Jays this afternoon and fell 5-3. Dontrelle Willis gave up all five Blue Jay runs in the 4th inning, giving up four walks. Dontrelle is not exactly having a great spring; hopefully his endurance will improve early in the season and his command improves. At the plate, Gary Sheffield blasted a two run homer in the 1st inning and Pudge Rodriguez continued his dominance at the plate, hitting his 7th homer of the spring. Here's the Free Press and Detroit News game coverage as well.

With Edgar Renteria getting a few days off because of back spasms, Jim Leyland has given Brandon Inge a few games at shortstop. Renteria is no spring chicken; just another reason to keep Inge around.

Here's another instance of Jim Leyland just saying exactly how he feels. The Tigers are not ready yet. It wasn't one of his classic blow-ups, but he's definitely not being soft on his players.

This is something I've never heard or ever thought of. The Detroit Tiger Weblog wonders if Jeremy Bonderman's first inning struggles has anything to do with the umpires adjusting to the movement in his pitches. If you like statistics, this is your kind of article.

Another possible Tigers trade, this one with the Cubs for right-hander Michael Wuertz. I'm still in favor of holding off on trading for any reliever until we're deeper into the season and know who's pitching well. Relievers are not starters for a reason, you need to find the hot guys at the right time.

Video of the Day: Rick Porcello's perfect game in high school. 12 strikeouts to boot. He will be an exciting addition to the Tigers some day. Hopefully he's not needed too soon, though.

Daily Roar 3/20/08

A quick Daily Roar today as I'm consumed by March Madness. The Tigers play the Braves tonight and it could be an interesting matchup because the Braves have too many players in their bullpen. Exactly what Detroit is looking for.

Here's more on that idea from Bless You Boys.

An update from Detroit News on Fernando Rodney. And more on Rodney from Roar of the Tigers.

D-Town Baseball lets us know that FSN will be the home of the Tigers for a long time.

The Detroit Tiger Weblog has more on possible Inge and Thames trades.

Sorry for the quick blog, but today is one of my favorite TV watching days of the year. I'm out.

The Tigers, ESPN, and my DVR

Now that I'm home in front of my TV, I can take a look at today's Tigers vs. Nationals game on ESPN that I recorded. This will give me a chance to write my thoughts on how our Tigers look at this point in Spring Training. It's just too bad that Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez aren't on this split squad for the national TV audience.

1st Inning

Jeremy Bonderman takes the mound and the first thing that stands out is how windy it is today in Lakeland. After getting the first two outs, Bonderman gives up back to back hits to Nick Johnson and ex-Tiger Dmitri Young. It's obvious that Bondo is avoiding his fastball and is working on his change up more today. Both hits were on changes. He gets a K to finish the top of the first.

Tim Redding is on the mound for the Nationals and gives up a leadoff double to Curtis Granderson who hooks a soft line drive down the right field line. Placido Polanco has his usual great at bat and gets Granderson to third. But with Pudge up, he flies out to shallow left and Granderson is thrown out at home on a ball that normally would've flew to the backstop. The wind held the ball up and catcher Wil Nieves makes a great grab and tags Curtis out at home.

2nd Inning

Bondo looks more comfortable and has a one-two-three innings with a strike out. The change up is thrown several more times, with a couple of batters looking foolish. Nice to see.

Gary Sheffield and Jacque Jones open with singles, but Marcus Thames follows with a backwards K and Edgar Renteria grounds into a double play. Two runners in scoring position now, zero runs.

3rd Inning

Willie Harris starts the 3rd with a single, but Bonderman makes a Verlander-like move and picks him off at first. Jacque follows the defensive excellence with a diving catch in left. And then...crack! Lastings Milledge blasts one into the left field crowd. 1-0 Nationals. Johnson walks next, but Polanco ends the inning with an amazing turn and spin throw that gets Young. Polanco is the best.

Leyland is getting interviewed while Brandon Inge grounds out to the pitcher. Skip was pretty surprised at how quickly the Cabrera-Willis trade happened. He also mentions how pleased he is with Bonderman's stuff today and that the bullpen is talented but needs to step up and be mentally focused. Leyland makes a great point about how it's hard to measure Todd Jones in Spring Training because closers thrive on adrenaline. There's not a lot of adrenaline going in the 6th inning of an exhibition game. His interviews are always classic. What a straight shooter.

After singles from Timo Perez and Granderson, Polanco hits into a fielder's choice and Pudge flies to right. The RISP count is now up to three with zero runs. Seems to be a trend starting here.

4th Inning

With Bonderman still on the mound, he finishes off a scoreless inning getting two ground outs, giving up a walk, and then getting a fly out to center. It looks like Bondo still doesn't have his stamina up to par. He's clearly getting tired as his pitch count is approaching 70. It'll come. I hope.

Dontrelle Willis gets interviewed as Sheffield smashes a single to left. Willis stands out in the dugout, remaining active on every pitch and doing a lot of cheering his team on. He has very high words for Miguel Cabrera including, "a genius in the box." Like I've said on here before, if Willis pitches well, he will be a HUGE star in Detroit. A very likeable guy. After the Sheffield single, three straight fly outs ends the 4th.

5th Inning

Giving up a leadoff walk, Bonderman is still working on his changeup and has had trouble locating pitches in these past two innings. Pudge looks great throwing out Harris on a steal attempt after the walk. 13 Gold Gloves and counting. Christian Guzman ropes a single to right, Milledge K's, and then Leyland comes in to take Bonderman out with with pitch count limit. Tim Byrdak is in, and if you read the Daily Roar today, you know what's about to happen.

Nick Johnson immediately doubles, Guzman scores, and the Nats are up 2-0. Johnson is starting to look like a great fantasy sleeper. Young strikes out to end the top of the 5th.

A quick 5th for Redding as Detroit goes down on three a ground out and two fly outs. Ugly.

6th Inning

I'm not sure if I even want to write about this. Byrdak is getting annihilated by the Nationals right now. Six earned runs on six hits, giving up two "obviously gone off the bat" home runs. He doesn't even make it through the inning. 8-0 Nats. What else can I say? Hopefully Byrdak gets this crap out of his system this spring, because he is a big key to our bullpen. I liked him last year, too. Maybe he needs the real game adrenaline like Jonesy does. Now I'm reaching. Clay Rapada comes in and continues the mess giving up another run and two hits. Deeeeep breaths.

Joel Hanrahan takes the mound for Washington and holds the Tigers to yet another scoreless inning. I'm starting to think that Spring Training is getting a little long. There's not a lot of excitement in this game right now. Even the crowd is dead quiet. Orel Hershiser mentioned earlier that there's a bunch of golfers in this Florida crowd.

7th Inning

Everyone's favorite reliever Jason Grilli is in. The man with Jim Leyland's longest leash does a nice job, though. He pitches a scoreless inning, giving up only one hit. Grilli did finish off 2007 with a nice string of innings. Maybe he can carry that into a nice 2008. It would be big.

Another useless hitting inning for the Tigers. They're making the Nationals bullpen look like 4 healthy Zumayas. I was hoping to see something special from Renteria today, but it just wasn't his day. He leaves three runners on base in an 0-3 performance. He does seem to have good patience at the plate, I like that a lot.

8th Inning

Bobby Seay comes in for Grilli and pitches a scoreless inning despite a one-out double from some guy named Langerhans. Of the 13 position players that saw the field for the Nats today, I've heard of 6. It's been a very blah game.

Big Ray King (who the Tigers pursued for a bit last year) comes in and pitches the 8th straight scoreless inning for Washington. Ramon Santiago smacks a single, but that's it for the 8th. Still 9-0 Nationals.

9th Inning

I'm excited to see Aquilino Lopez come in to show his stuff. It's down to Lopez and Denny Bautista to stay in the bullpen when Rodney comes back. I'm a bigger fan of Bautista at this point, but Lopez definitely has a live arm. Lopez finishes a 1-2-3 inning with one strike out in impressive fashion on a nasty slider. Should be a good competition between Lopez and Bautista.
Jesus Colome comes in to finish the game off for Washington with a 9-run lead. After two outs, Marcus Thames shows off his power with a blast into the left field fans in what looked like a fly ball. And that's it. A pretty disgusting game for Detroit, but hey, it's just Spring Training right?

There's still a lot to look forward to. Check back tomorrow for more Daily Roar.

Daily Roar - 3/18/08

It's an exciting day for Tigers fans, as their spring training game with the Washington Nationals is on ESPN this afternoon. Of course, I am stuck in my cubicle and am unable to watch.

Well, as it turns out, this may not be a game I would have enjoyed watching too much. Tim Byrdak got abused, giving up six runs in one inning including two home runs in a 9-1 loss. Jeremy Bonderman started the game, giving up 2 runs over 4 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking three. The lone Tigers run came on a Marcus Thames solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. How can this lineup go eight straight innings without a run? Ouch.

The Tigers Big League roster is starting to work itself out, with nine players being optioned today. The biggest names of the nine are Virgil Vasquez and Brent Clevlen. It's starting to look like the last bullpen spot is coming down to Aquilino Lopez and Denny Bautista. Here's more from the Free Press and the Detroit News.

As expected, Fernando Rodney will begin the season on the disabled list along with Vance Wilson, Joel Zumaya, and Jordan Tata. Hopefully it will be a short stint for Rodney and Wilson.

I guess Kenny Rogers' at-bats against the Orioles yesterday were pretty entertaining. In his first time up, he pretty much stood there and almost got a walk. His next at-bat he hit a hard line drive that was a tough play. Let's just say he wasn't too angry that he didn't reach base.

Contract talks have heated up with Miguel Cabrera. Lock him up, Dave. Lock him up.

Finally, Curtis Granderson has a couple new blogs up on ESPN. I'm not sure why I like reading his blog so much, but I do.

Video of the Day: You can never have enough Ernie Harwell or Tiger Stadium. I'm so glad to say that I made it there before it closed:

Daily Roar - 3/17/08

After a busy weekend, I'm back to give you some links to the Tigers happenings over the past few days. Score-wise, it was a rough weekend for Detroit.

This afternoon, Kenny Rogers was solid but the Tigers fell to the Reds 5-3. Miguel Cabrera had two RBIs and two walks, but the rest of the Detroit offense was pretty stagnant today.

Yesterday, Dontrelle Willis was on the hill and had one rough inning, giving up three runs in a 7-2 loss to Tampa Bay. Willis at one point appeared to be injured after shaking his arm, but apparently he was just trying to get loose. Quite the scare for Jim Leyland, though.

In the Tigers other split squad game on Sunday, they fell to the Mets 7-4. Yorman Bazardo got the start and gave up one run in each of the first three innings. Carlos Guillen showed some more spring power with a two run home run in the sixth.

MLB.com covers Curtis Granderson and his role as a leader for the Tigers on and off the field. I need to buy a Granderson jersey soon.

The Tigers home site also has a good interview with Leyland. The Skip seems so consistent in everything he does.

SI.com says that Brandon Inge is now unlikely to get traded. That's fine with me. Injuries happen, and he will be able to fill so many different holes over a long season. And the Free Press wonders if Inge staying is good for Ryan Raburn.

Here's more on Willis' arm scare from the Free Press. A big sigh of relief here.

Roar of the Tigers takes a look at our bullpen and the one spot left open. Which reminds me, my bullpen preview will be coming soon, once things finally get resolved by Leyland.

Rob Parker of the Detroit News covers Todd Jones, or as I like to call him, the roller coaster ride.

Video of the Day: A glance at one of our biggest wildcards to the 2008 season:

Daily Roar - 3/14/08

The Tigers take on the Houston Astros in the first night game of the spring for either team. Nate Robertson will take the mound for Detroit. Nate has had a great spring so far, and looks to continue his dominance into the regular season.

Yesterday I wrote about the Detroit-Atlanta game that was tied in the 8th. Well, the game ended with a 6-6 tie after 10 innings. Here's another rundown of the game that included a struggling Jeremy Bonderman and some pop from the heart of our order.

The Ledger has some more on yesterday's game as well, including how Todd Jones has made some adjustments and pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning.

The associated press writes about former Tiger Chris Shelton and how he doesn't want to be known for only one great month. Sorry, Chris. That's all I'll ever remember.

Another story about a former Tiger, this time the Boston Globe covers their new first baseman Sean Casey. I'm extremely happy about Carlos Guillen playing first for Detroit, but I still loved the Mayor.

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News ironically writes about how sick we are of reading Brandon Inge stories. The Inge situation with me is sort of like the Terrelle Pryor situation with Michigan football. I know neither of you really want to be in the state of Michigan, so I hope you both get to move on. Just let us know already.

Video of the Day: And for some major overkill, more Brandon Inge:

Daily Roar - 3/13/08

The Tigers are currently knotted up at 6 apiece in the 8th with the Braves right now, as I'm able to watch the game on MLB.tv today. Jeremy Bonderman took the mound, giving up three earned runs in four innings pitched. While the numbers for Bondo don't sound too great, the announcers kept mentioning that he was experimenting with his changeup and it looked good. That might be a promising sign. At the plate, Gary Sheffield hit an absolute bomb in the fifth after a Curtis Granderson triple and Placido Polanco single. Magglio Ordonez followed with a single in their three-run fifth and went 3-3 on the day.

Yesterday, the Tigers did hold on for an 11-4 victory over the Houston Astros behind five strong innings from Kenny Rogers and two home runs from Pudge Rodriguez. I had more on this game in yesterday's Daily Roar. Here's the Free Press roundup as well.

The Detroit Tigers Weblog wonders if Pudge can improve from last year in his old age. It seems that patience has to be the biggest key to his spring heat.

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News has a solid article on who is likely to make the final Big League squad. The remaining unsettled positions are backup catcher and, obviously, the bullpen. Doug Mirabelli was released by the Red Sox today, I wonder if he could be our backup catcher? We'll see if Leyland thinks Dane Sardinha is ready to fill that role.

Bless You Boys takes a stronger look at the Mirabelli possibility.

I mentioned this yesterday, but here's the Free Press' take on Fernando Rodney not being ready for the start of the season. And here's the Detroit News version.

Video of the Day: Continuing with Lynn Henning's great Spring Training Tigers series, here's the preview of newcomer Edgar Renteria:

Daily Roar - 3/12/08

I'm currently listening to the Tigers vs. Astros game with Detroit leading 9-3 in the middle of the 7th as of 2:00 p.m. CST. Kenny Rogers took the mound and pitched five solid innings, giving up one run and three hits while striking out two. However, it was the Tigers bats that wrote this story as Placido Polanco hit a solo shot, Pudge Rodriguez hit TWO more home runs, and Edgar Renteria added a three-run blast. Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera also have two hits on the day. It's been fun listening to this offensive attack.

The biggest news of the day is that Detroit sent 12 players to the minors, most notably Rick Porcello to Class-A Lakeland. Another bullpen possibility, Macay McBride, was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. I'm actually glad that Porcello did not stay up, there's no need to put added pressure on the kid at this point. He can work on his skills in Lakeland and build his confidence for a September call-up and a chance at a rotation spot in 2009 if Kenny Rogers starts declining.

MLB.com writes about how Miguel Cabrera has broken out of his spring slump and is now comfortable with the "D" on his hat. He admits to being a bit nervous trying to impress his new teammates. Like they weren't already impressed with his presence.

D-Town Baseball blogs about Denny Bautista and his possible role in our bullpen this summer. His great spring so far has him as a frontrunner to be a right-handed specialist. Bautista is the kind of role player the Tigers need to step up for this to be a great year.

Bless You Boys lets us know how Fernando Rodney is doing. It's looking like he may not be available for opening day, but will be ready early in the year. It's probably smart to rest him a little bit longer than needed. Coming back too early was a problem for Fernando last year.

And just for the heck of it...Curtis Granderson blogs about his favorite comedies. I'm a little less excited for Semi-Pro now.

Video of the Day: Here's three straight minutes of pure optimistic joy from Lynn Henning on Magglio Ordonez and the 2008 Detroit Tigers. Smile, because you're a Tigers fan.

Daily Roar - 3/11/08

Just a few links for you today as it seems to be a slow journalistic day for the Tigers.

Earlier this afternoon, Dontrelle Willis took the mount against the Reds and struggled with his control. The Tigers did defeat the Reds 5-4 in this split squad contest backed by both Carlos Guillen and Pudge Rodriguez's fourth homers of the spring. Willis pitch 2.1 innings, giving up two hits and four walks giving up one run. Jason Grilli pitched Willis out of a jam.

In the second split game this afternoon, the Tigers defeated Cleveland 4-2 in 10 innings. Young guns Denny Bautista and Rick Porcello both pitched two scoreless innings for Detroit. First baseman Jeff Larish knocked in three of the Tigers four runs in the ball game.

Justin Verlander continued his spring dominance, while Miguel Cabrera and Pudge both were hot at the plate in a 4-3 win over the Nationals yesterday.

The Free Press shines a light on Edgar Renteria and how Braves manager Bobby Cox hated trading him away. This article really makes Renteria sound like a class act and helluva ball player.

More on Miggy's ball game yesterday and how his quad injury didn't affect him.

And another link to a Cabrera article from the Detroit News. I can't get enough of 'em.

Danny Knobler gives his insight on Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney.

Video of the Day: I hope we do this to the Yankees every year:

Daily Roar - 3/10/08

We'll start things off today with a pretty interesting article from Jon Heyman at SI.com. Apparently if A-Rod wasn't adamant about staying in New York, our owner Mike Ilitch was on board to really go after him. Of course Rodriguez decided to stay with the Yanks and we traded for Cabrera and Willis instead, but it's a fun "what-if" to think about. More than anything, I would've got a kick out of how many A-Rod haters that suddenly loved him in Detroit. Kenny Rogers knows this is well as anyone. He was booed very harshly when he pitched in the All-Star Game in Detroit. Now he's a beloved veteran that we will back forever ("That was just dirt on his hand!")

I'm a little late on this story, but in Friday's game against the Braves Jordan Tata made a major career mistake. In his third poor outing of the spring, Tata punched a door in the dugout after being pulled by Jim Leyland. He broke a finger on his pitching hand. In what was an important season for Tata's life in baseball, it now looks like he has to be a longshot to make the roster with this injury. He obviously regrets the mistake, but it doesn't help that it'll take a while to heal before he can throw again. It may be too late for him in Detroit.

Baseball Prospectus has an interview with Ryan Raburn about the upcoming season. He definitely sticks with very PC answers, but at the end he does confirm that he has caught in the past and will get some work at the position. With Vance Wilson's injury and a possible Inge trade, we may need to take a look at someone other than inexperienced Dane Sardinha.

Here's a little more information on yesterday's game including Leyland's thoughts on Freddy Guzman and how the Dodgers had two scouts in attendance with Inge having a good day. I don't think it's a coincidence that Inge batted third and played all 10 innings at third base with these scouts in the crowd. Hmmm.

Roar of the Tigers has a pretty funny article about spring training and the various small injuries everyone gets and how we all freak out about them. Check this out at least to see the fantastic PhotoShop work that Samara Pearlstein does each week.

Finally, Justin Verlander takes the mound for the Tigers today against the Nationals. I'll have some game links for you tomorrow. Good luck getting through your Monday.

Video of the Day: Playing baseball for a living and being in Florida right now would both be AWESOME.

Weekend Roar - 3/8/08 and 3/7/08

Nate Robertson took the mount in Lakeland, FL today for the Tigers and pitched four scoreless innings in a 9-7 win in 10 innings over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Carlos Guillen had himself a day with a home run and triple while Miguel Cabrera broke out of his spring slump with a double. But it was Freddy Guzman who became the hero with a walk-off three-run homer in the 10th. The scary news: Todd Jones gave up three earned runs in the 9th inning that blew Detroit's lead. The bullpen is looking shakier and shakier.

On Saturday, the Tigers took on the Blue Jays with Jeremy Bonderman getting the start. Bondo had a rough outing, giving up 3 runs and 5 hits in 4 innings pitched in a 4-3 loss. All three runs were given up in the 2nd inning, unlike his usual first inning blow ups. Denny Bautista and Bobby Seay both pitched scoreless innings and have had great springs so far. At the plate, Placido Polance and Mike Hessman both hit solo home runs.

Here's another article outlining Todd Jones' rough spring. Mostly just another game recap, though.

And this has more information on Bonderman's start yesterday. Bondo likes how he feels out there so far, I guess. Anway, this article has some interesting bullets under the "Around the Horn" heading. That's not a very creative heading guys.

Danny Knober says that Cabrera and Gary Sheffield are both fine and should be ready to go for the start of the regular season. Hopefully this is a continuing trend of health.

The Free Press reminds us that the prospects we traded for Cabrera and Willis are now the Marlin's building blocks. It will be very interesting to see how this trade looks five or six years from now.

Video of the Day: Just wanted to give everyone a reminder what it's like when the Detroit Tigers are in the Playoffs.

Daily Roar - 3/7/08

Dontrelle Willis had his second start of the spring yesterday against the Braves, pitching three scoreless innings in a 5-4 loss. Willis struck out three and gave up two hits in what seemed like three pretty easy innings.

So why did the Tigers lose? Armando Galarraga gave up all five runs in the 5th inning. Not a good sign for his bullpen chances anytime soon. Other than Willis' great start, Todd Jones pitched in a more normal late inning role and pitched a scoreless inning.

At the plate for Detroit, Ramon Santiago improved to 8-11 this spring with a 3-3 day. Tigers hitters had a nice third inning off Tom Glavine, with Curtis Granderson scoring on a Brandon Inge triple. Inge then scored himself after three straight walks by Glavine.

MLB.com has more on Santiago; it's nice to hear that he spent his offseason working on his hitting and trying to learn from Placido Polanco. Ramon's defense is pretty stellar, so a hot bat off the bench would make him really valuable.

I didn't hear about this auction last year, but here's a story about how a guy from Detroit bid $10,000 to manage the Tigers for a day. That's a lot of money, but what a fun day it would be.

This article makes me more than a little nervous, but Jim Leyland has concerns about the health of three of our best hitters. Hopefully he's just being overcautious.

Jamie Samuelson wonders what the big deal is with the Brandon Inge ongoing drama. I like the way he ends his quick article, "What’s next? Let’s break down how Arron Afflalo feels about losing playing time to Juan Dixon. It’s every bit as relevant. Probably more so!" It's so true, yet Inge is still a compelling character in Detroit.

Also, it looks like Inge is trying to say that he was misquoted when he complained about catching. I don't buy it, but I like that he's at least making an attempt to be a team player.

Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal looks at the Mets situation and how they've inquired about Marcus Thames. It doesn't seem like New York has a lot of options in replacing Moises Alou for a while. If you scroll down, there's also a blurb about Rick Porcello with very bright comments from a scout.

Good news about Fernando Rodney. He had a good workout this morning and looks to be on track to come back soon. This Detroit News article also mentions a bullpen candidate who has not been mentioned much this spring: Aquilino Lopez. Leyland seems to think highly of him.

Bob Wojnowski gives his five players that must succeed for the Tigers to do well. Pretty obvious stuff, but he makes some good points.

Wondering who is going to replace Vance Wilson early this year? Here's a nice look at our possible 2008 backup catcher: Dane Sardinha. Sounds like he can't hit worth a lick, but is an impressive defensive catcher. With our lineup, I think we can afford to have one hole on Pudge's off days.

Video of the Day: Yesterday I posted a preview on our biggest hitting addition. Today, a similar video on our new starting pitcher, Dontrelle Willis. My favorite part is the beginning, showing Leyland coaching Willis on fielding grounders. I also like the announcers point that Willis may take over for Sean Casey as the clubhouse guy everyone loves. Here it is:

Daily Roar - 3/6/08

The Tigers had a successful day yesterday. Playing two different split-squad games, they defeated Pittsburgh 4-1 in one game and beat the Phillies 6-2 in the other.

Against the Pirates, Yorman Bazardo got the win pitching two scoreless innings. But Curtis Granderson stole the show going 2-3, showing his speed by beating out an infield single and hitting his first triple of the spring. Marcus Thames hit a two-run bomb, his second in three games. Uber-prospect Rick Porcello had a little rougher outing than his first, giving up three hits and a run in 1 2/3 innings while allowing two walks.

Justin Verlander took the mound against the Phillies, and was an ace like usual. He gave up one hit in three innings and didn't allow a run. Denny Bautista followed Verlander and continued his impressive spring throwing two more scoreless innings. At the plate, Carlos Guillen brought out the lumber and jacked two solo home runs. Magglio Ordonez hit a dinger of his own, going 2-3 on the day.

MLB.com has more on Denny Bautista and his impressive showings in Florida. He may just be the hard-throwing reliever we need to fill Joel Zumaya's role until he gets back.

The Free Press takes a closer look at Marcus Thames and his relationship with his Mom. She was paralyzed in a car accident when Marcus was five, and is having some health problems now.

On a different note with Thames, the Free Press writes that since Moises Alou is having hernia surgery, the Mets may be interested in trading a reliever for Thames. If he is traded, I would rather Dombrowski wait to see what relievers are performing well early. Middle relievers are too much of a toss up to trade a valuable power hitter like Thames right away.

Here's a piece on ex-Tiger Tom Brookens, and how he is moving his way up the ranks as a manager. From the sounds of it, he seems to have a little Jim Leyland toughness in him.

I wrote on Monday that Granderson is getting advice from Lou Whitaker, I just didn't know how or why. It turns out that Sweet Lou is in his fifth year as a spring training instructor for the Tigers. I had no clue.

Here's another glowing article on Miguel Cabrera. If he's anywhere near as good as the hype he's getting, we're in for a real treat.

And finally, a new part of the Daily Roar. I plan on ending every Roar with a Tigers-related video I find. Today, a nice clip about our new superstar: Miggy Cabrera. Enjoy.

Starting Pitching 2008 Preview

This is Part III of my 2008 Positional Preview. Part IV on the bullpen will come next week.
Grade: B- with a B+ ceiling

Starter #1, our ace: Justin Verlander

I can count on one hand how many pitchers I would consider trading Verlander for. The first starter ever to pitch a no-hitter, make an All-Star team, start a World Series game, and win Rookie of the Year in his first two seasons, Verlander is truly one of the brightest young stars in baseball. When his breaking ball is sharp, he can be completely unhittable. The only negative thing I can say about V is that he seems to hit a wall 2/3 of the way through the season. Hopefully that trend will end in his third full season.

Starter #2, the cagey veteran: Kenny Rogers

In a dream world, Kenny Rogers would come out of the gate this year pitching like he did in his 2006 Postseason run. But reality is that the Gambler is 43 years old and is coming off an injury plagued year. When healthy, I think Rogers is very capable of controlling the game and getting us into the 7th in good shape to win the ballgame time and again. It's just that he needs to stay healthy; easier said than done. From 2002-2006, Kenny averaged around 200 innings per year. If we can get that many innings out of him this year, the Tigers will be in great shape.

Starter #3, the talented and the frustrating: Jeremy Bonderman

If you're reading this blog that is strictly about the Tigers, then you probably know by now that Jeremy Bonderman has a terrible relationship with first innings. Last year, Bonderman pitched to 128 batters in the first inning. Those 128 players hit .375 with a .442 on base percentage. That's getting yourself in trouble early. I don't know if he needs an improved changeup, a different mentality starting games, or a sports psychologist, but Bondo has way too good of stuff to have a career high of 14 wins. Maybe this is the year, at 25 years old, that Bonderman breaks through his wall and becomes the All-Star he has the talent to be.

Starter #4, the electric newcomer: Dontrelle Willis

In 2005, there was no pitcher in baseball more fun to watch than Dontrelle Willis. With his high leg kick and big flashy smile, Willis racked up 22 wins and became a MLB star. Last year Willis just wasn't the same guy in Florida. He battled forearm tightness throughout the season and didn't exactly have consistent run support. But Willis won't make excuses about his poor year. He told the Free Press, "I definitely pride myself on going out there and trying to make every start, going out there and pitching every inning. Regardless of how I feel, you're still out there and there's no excuses. I just felt not my best but I feel even if I'm 80%, 70%, I can still win ball games." Now that he's supposedly healthy, we hope to see Willis get his electric stuff back and win a lot of ball games with Detroit.

Starter #5, the veteran bulldog: Nate Robertson

Nate Robertson is not a guy that blows you away with an overpowering fastball or sharp, cutting breaking balls. He just seems to hit his spots and outwork the batters he's facing all game long. I'm a big fan of Robertson, and it's hard for me to believe that many teams have a better fifth starter than Nate. Like Willis, Robertson struggled last year with a tired arm and the Tigers definitely were hurt by his injury. He was able to pitch well and go into the 7th inning in his last four starts last year, so maybe the rest was all he needed. With even better run support this year, I expect Robertson to get back to double-digit wins in 2008.

Daily Roar - 3/5/08

So I left off yesterday letting you know that the Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead and Nate Robertson was looking sharp. The good news is that they extended the lead to 6-0. The bad news is Todd Jones came in to pitch the 4th and gave up six runs to the Astros real quick-like. Macay McBride gave up four more runs, and the Tigers lost 11-10 despite racking up 19 hits. At least Robertson looked sharp.

Speaking of Nate, MLB.com has an article about how Robertson recently becoming a father may help him pitch this season. It's a nice look at his family life, but I think the better pitching part is a stretch.

CBS Sports has their Tigers preview up and it's a glowing one. The title, "In perfect harmony, Tigers set to return to glory days of '84" says it all.

Since the bullpen blew the game for the Tigers yesterday, it's only fitting that there are a few articles about that same group today. Detroit News has this up about the 'pen. It is important to note that Todd Jones pitching in the 4th inning is not his comfort zone. He was just getting his work in.

Another Inge update, he seems to be backtracking on his comments the other day about catching. It must be tough to be in his situation; he has to be careful what he says since he is under the microscope right now.

The Tigers are busy today, with two split-squad games. Yorman Bazardo and Rick Porcello will be hitting the mound against the Pirates, while Justin Verlander will get another spring start against the Phillies. Updates on these games and more tomorrow.

Daily Roar - 3/4/08

It's hard to concentrate on the Tigers this afternoon with all the Favre stories coming out, but I have a few links for you anyway.

Good news from Lakeland yesterday, as Jeremy Bonderman pitched three scoreless innings against Tampa Bay. The Tigers did end up losing 10-9, with not-so-great outings from Virgil Vasquez and Jordan Tata, but the fact that Bonderman made it through the first inning without a problem makes me happy. Granderson (2-3), Cabrera (2-3), and Guillen (2-2) all had nice days at the plate and Marcus Thames hit a three-run jack in the 4th inning.

Leyland believes that the difference between Bonderman being a decent starter or a star is his ability to throw a consistent change-up. He used five or six changes yesterday in his nice showing.

Curtis Granderson is keeping his blog active with another post today about Jim Leyland giving him some extra rest this Spring Training. I like the end of the post about how he plans to get back to all his fans that sent him mail last year. He seems like a genuine nice guy.

MLB.com has an article about two of the brightest young stars in the AL Central: Granderson and Grady Sizemore. Curtis doesn't think he's quite there yet, saying, "He's made All-Star teams, and he's got a Gold Glove," Granderson said of Sizemore. "So to get that comparison, for me, is a good thing, because he's playing at the top right now. I'm trying to catch up." Anthony Castrovince avoids saying anything controversial, leaving the comparison at a push. Weak.

A sad story from the Detroit News, reliever Matt Mantei has decided to call it quits after a promising early spring in his comeback attempt. His rotator cuff is shot, so the Tigers will look elsewhere to fill their bullpen. Too bad, this could've been a real nice story.

On a brighter note, Fernando Rodney threw this morning and felt good. Rodney's rehab is probably the most important roster aspect. We really have no setup man without him, and Todd Jones will be way less effective without a fireballer throwing ahead of him. Keep your fingers crossed that things go smoothly.

I'm currently watching the Tigers-Astros game on MLB.tv and we've jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Nate Robertson looks sharp so far and I've seem Cabrera make a couple nice defensive plays at third as well as scoring in his first at bat. I like what I see. I'll have more details for you tomorrow.

Daily Roar - 3/3/08

Kenny Rogers pitched two scoreless innings yesterday in a 3-1 loss to the Indians. What's more impressive about Rogers' outing is that he was able to get out of innings without using his curveball.

Brandon Inge caught his first game of the spring yesterday and says that it was "kind of a downer feeling." Inge obviously still wants to be traded to a team that will start him at third base. He's been on-fire at the plate so far this spring, but had a rough day yesterday, going hitless and striking out once. If you scroll down to the bottom and check out the reader comments, you'll see a lot of Detroit fans sick of Inge's complaints. I'm not with them on this one.

Curtis Granderson has a new blog post on ESPN.com about the quality of their new lineup and how it puts added pressure on him to get on base. Apparently, Grando is getting advice from Lou Whitaker. Nice.

Dontrell Willis also has a quick blog post about his first start with the Tigers. He just seems like a fun-loving guy who I think will be very, very popular in the D if he pitches well.

The D-Town Baseball blog has some keys for our starting pitching. The statistics shown on percentage of innings pitched by a AL teams starters was pretty interesting to me and I liked their point on how Willis will help them in this area.

Roar of the Tigers spent some time at Spring Training and has a post about a whole slate of Tiger related info. The Inge paragraphs are what to look for here.

Finally, more on Inge from Rob Neyer at ESPN.com. Sending Inge to the Dodgers seemed like Detroit's most reasonable option, but Neyer says that deal makes no sense for L.A. That's fine with me.

Weekend Roar - 3/1/08

Dontrelle Willis had his spring debut with the Tigers this afternoon giving up one run in two innings of work. The game with Cleveland ended in a 3-3 tie. Placido Polanco and Miguel Cabrera both drove in runs in a 2-run opening inning.

Yesterday, Justin Verlander had his stuff working in a 3-1 win over Toronto. Curtis Granderson hit his second home run of the spring to boost our offense. Maybe an even bigger storyline of Friday's exhibition, was the work of our top prospect Rick Porcello. Like Verlander, the 18-year old right hander pitched two shutout innings and even struck out Frank Thomas on a nasty sinker. It's great to hear that we still have one promising young prospect to look forward to.

Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that Miguel Cabrera may be close to signing a 20-million dollar per year contract with the Tigers. This is fantastic news. Being able to lock up one of the league's best young stars is what great franchises consistently do. Detroit and Cabrera are a perfect fit for each other.

This is the type of article I would expect from Drew Sharp, but this time Michael Rosenberg of the Free Press writes about what could go wrong for the Tigers this year. I think that maybe this is just Rosenberg's round about way of saying that Detroit has a damn good ballclub and it would take some big disasters for them to have a bad year.

In what seems like a no-brainer, the Detroit News is reporting that Justin Verlander has been announced as our opening day starter. Leyland also said the Kenny Rogers will pitch the second game and Jeremy Bonderman will go in the third. That leaves Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson as the 4th and 5th starters. It hasn't been announced in which order yet.

The Tigers face Cleveland again tomorrow at 1:05 ET. Enjoy your Saturday night.