Fresh Start, Kinda

And so this regular season campaign begins much like last season's regular season ended- with the Tigers falling apart in extra innings. Overall, it was a mediocre, but promising, performance by the boys, but the whole game came down to Fernando Rodney's inability to get himself under control and get the ball over for strikes.

First for the positives. Gary Sheffield really hits the hell out of the ball, as evidenced by the shattered bat in his first at bat and the screamer to left he hit in his second. Two RBIs in his first game is definitely a solid showing, let's just hope that he can get a few hits Wednesday. Also mad props to "Sheff's Chefs", the two guys in chef hats some where down the left field line. Great idea, hopefully it catches on. The way Bonderman bounced back after a rough start was also a good sign. Bondo had one of those innings-from-hell to start the game, unable to get anyone out, fly balls dropping in for hits, etc, but he came back and he retired 9 batters in a row which was obviously a big positive. Great jobs done by Brandon Inge and Curtis Granderson simply getting on base and being heads up on the bases that led to the Tigers' three runs and Placido Polanco for doing his usual solid job at the plate.

Now, the negatives. One of the big things about last year's squad was the ability to jump out on teams early. Shoddy defense (chalk it up to Opening Day nerves) led to three runs in the first inning that took a full five innings for the boys to get back. Surprisingly, the Jays also stole two bases off of Pudge, which simply doesn't happen. Pudge's play behind the plate was one of the reasons teams didn't run on the Tigers last year and that kind of thing simply can't happen. What really cost the Tigers the game was Rodney's erratic pitching in the 10th. It's the first game of the year, of course, but more is expected of the number two set up man on this team.

A very mediocre performance on Opening Day in front of a CoPa record 44,000+ fans. But there were definitely some positives to be seen. Wednesday will be a good game with Nate Robertson going up against AJ Burnett, who is vastly over-paid. Against one of the more overrated pitchers in the league, the Tigers line up ought to have a field day.