Today marks Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, the first time in 12 years they haven't opened the season at home. The Tigs send Chad Durbin to the mound, Kenny Rogers' rotation replacement, for his first big league start since 2004. Meanwhile, the Birds counter with Daniel Cabrera, who the Tigers fucked up in his two starts against them last year.
I don't really know much about Durbin. Actually, I really don't know anything at all. For me, the logical choice to replace Rogers would have been Wilfredo Ledezma, another lefty who has experience starting for this team. However, Jimmy Leyland went with Durbin, and since he's struck gold with pretty much every other player he's called on since he's been here, I'll trust him.
Cabrera, on the other hand, has not had very good showings against the Tigs. He's 2-0 with an ERA at 6.43 in two decisions against them. In the other two career starts against him, though, he has two no decisions with an ERA over 11. The last time he pitched against the Tigers, they racked up something like eight runs against the kid and sent him to the dugout in tears. I was at that game, and I actually felt bad for the guy.
It looks as if Marcus Thames will once again be starting in left-field, as Craig Monroe is still listed as day-to-day on ESPN.com's injury report. I'm not really sure what happened to C-Mo, but Marcus filled in admirably yesterday and in hitter-friendly Camden Yards, he should be okay. A bigger problem is that Joel Zumaya is also listed as day-to-day. Again, I did not hear a thing about Zoom Zoom being hurt, but since he's the only guy I trust coming out of the pen right now, the Tigs really can't afford to have him gone for too long. LAY OFF THE GUITAR HERO ZOOM ZOOM!
Just a week ago, the Tigers had their home opener ruined by the Toronto Blue Jays. Now it's another team from the AL East that Detroit is facing, so maybe they can extract some revenge for last Monday's game. Baltimore is hot right now, after coming off a series win against the Yankees, but the Tigs should be able to stop that momentum.
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Cabrera has absolute nasty stuff- High 90's fastball with a good curve. If he's on he's a bitch to hit. And so far this year he has a sub 4 ERA. He should give the Tigers a good game today.
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