O-K then... 0 and 3 it is.

Alright, I need to put some perspective on this because it is starting to simply look bad. Of course I am not a professional sports writer. (Hey, it's only the third time I've posted to this blog so I won't even claim amateur status for sports writing.)

I will comfortably claim "Tigers' fan" and "baseball fan" status though and that gives me as much qualification as anyone else for looking at today's situation. Let's look at this hard and close-don't flinch now because it stings a little...

Tigers

Swept

at Home

by

the Royals

The mighty Tigers who (statistically) should score somewhere between 5 and 6 runs per game with all of the incredible hitters they have up there every day. The Tigers who have been picked by many of those professional writers to win the American League Central Division (aka "The toughest division in baseball"). The Tigers who we wish would just start selling 2008 World Series Tickets now so we can get it over with. Uh, yeah, those Tigers. I guess that's why Mr. Leyland reminds us that we have to actually play the games to see who wins. Because this series didn't show us any winning.

The first game was actually the most competitive for the Tigers. They scored runs, hit the ball and overall played well rounded baseball. The Royals simply did the same thing with one more run than Detroit when it was all said and done on Monday. Wednesday the batters (except for Renteria) simply never woke up. Thursday there were more hits, but only one more run. Brandon Inge showed us his power again with a solo home run that amounted to Detroit's only run of the day. Actually it was the only run since the Carlos Guillen solo home run on Monday.

Bonderman pitched a pretty good game until the 4th. He was throwing lots of strikes and getting outs. Then he gave up a 2 run home run to Alex Gordon. Not exactly "The Big Inning" people worry about with Mr. Bonderman (and much later than the 1st) but if Brandon Inge is your plan for run support then those 2 runs can seem like 20. Bonderman seemed to be losing his gas in the 6th and 7th innings and he gave up a run in each. He was certainly not dominating in those innings like he was early in the game (not one but TWO 1,2,3 innings today (the 1st and 3rd)!!

Now for the perspective part-

Flashback 12 months. April 6, 2007. The Tigers (defending American League Champion Tigers) have just completed 3 games. They are in last place because they have lost 2 of those 3 games. In fact the second loss was to the Royals. In fact I remember April of 2007 as being a rather dismal month for the Tigers. They came out of it with a winning record, but the hitters weren't hitting and the bullpen was scaring people (just like this week). So while we certainly don't like to see them lose. And we certainly don't like to see them get swept- At home- By the Royals. All in all these are three games with 159 (plus?) to go.

The White Sox come to Detroit Friday for a 3 game series. Let's see what happens with them.

Royals 4, Tigers 1
0 - 3
5th place

Opening Day- Tigers vs. Royals

Tigers 4, Royals 5 (11 innings)

Opening Day has come and gone and it looked pretty much like people have predicted the season would- good hitting, decent fielding and insufficient pitching.

Justin Verlander gave up 2 runs in 6 official innings and left 2 runners on without getting an out in the 7th. The Bullpen couldn't keep those runners from scoring with Bautista pitching well but giving up the losing run in the 11th.

Brandon Inge did well in Center Field. Carlos Guillen had some good plays at 1st but showed his inexperience there too. Cabrera had a throwing error, putting a ball in the dirt early, for the team's only error.

The batters did just fine, 10 hits and 6 walks were enough to score 4 runs and leave 10 men on base. Cabrera hit his first homerun as a Tiger and Carlos Guillen added one in the 8th for the last Tiger run of the game. Gary Sheffield had only 1 official at bat, but drew 4 walks on the day (one with the bases loaded to drive in a run). I love to watch Sheffield play baseball, he never loses sight of the goal and will do whatever he needs to do to get on base and score runs for his team. He did it again today.

The rain held off long enough to get a long game in. I was able to watch the first 9 innings at Fifth Third Park, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps, where WLAV set up a watch party for people to see the game. It was a great way to see the game with friends and stay out of the rain and cold. (It was 40 and raining here in Grand Rapids).

Hopefully this loss is a minor setback and on Wednesday they get a win.