Jim Leyland named his starters for the Season Opener in New York and the Home Opener against the Kansas City Royals. As expected Justin Verlander will start the season against the Yankees and try to show off some of the off-season changes he made this year. This will be his 4th year in a row opening the Tigers season. He is the ace. The more important information to me is the choice of Max Scherzer getting the Home Opener start. Scherzer got off to a slow start last year. He had many of us wondering if the trade with the Diamondbacks was really a good idea. But after a short stint in the minors Scherzer came back and pitched lights out in the second half. Without a doubt he earned the right to start the Home Opener. But for last season's Home Opener starter, Rick Porcello, it shows just how far he has to come after a sophomore slump that made him the subject of trade rumors before the deadline last year. Sometimes that kind of set back can be a positive for a young pitcher. After his break out rookie season, Porcello looked like the next stud pitcher in a young stable of arms. The Tigers seemed on the way to bringing up a new phenom each year for the next several years. But Porcello struggled in 2010. He lost the drop on his sinker and became more hittable. His ERA jumped almost a full point, as did his hits per 9 innings. Balls that were ground outs in 2009 turned into line drive hits in 2010. That resulted in a short trip down to Toledo to work on his mechanics. Kid Rick now has the opportunity to make a nice little comeback. The pressure will be dialed back a little bit as he drops to the three spot. He will likely be matched up against more 3s and 4s than 1s and 2s. If he can put 2010 behind him, and build off of the success he had in his rookie season we may see a much more potent starting rotation from the Tigers this year. And if history is any indicator, the Tigers will need that. They need some inning eaters to take some strain off a typically taxed bullpen. If the back end of the pen is going to stay healthy this season, the starters need to go deeper. The reins should be off Porcello in his third season. The 5 inning starts on a pitch count should be a thing of the past and 200 innings shouldn't be unexpected.
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