One Down

As a couple of you know (the ones who have read this blog in the past) I prefer to listen to the Tigers on the radio rather than watch on TV.  It takes me back to my childhood of listening to the A's play on the radio when I went to bed.  So it has kind of stuck.  Last season, I had the hardest time listening to the Day games at work because the radio reception stinks in my office.  It was a constant struggle to move my little hand held radio around my desk to find the least crappy signal.  This year I did something brilliant.  I paid a measly pittance and bought MLB At-Bat for my blackberry.  Streams the home and away radio calls right to my phone.  No more static.  Best money I ever spent (except for the TempurPedic).  I highly recommend  it.

On to the game.  The Curtis Granderson trade finally bit us in the ass.  Granderson hit the go-ahead homerun off of Phil Coke, and made several hit robbing catches to keep the Tigers off the basepaths.  And to top it off, Austin Jackson, the final player in the deal, did not have his most stellar game at the dish striking out three times with a single sprinkled in.  That being said, there were some bright spots.  Cabrera was 1-2 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI.  Thats a quality game.  For all the haters, Brandon Inge went 2-4 with an RBI.
Verlander had a couple rough spots but went toe to toe with Sabathia. He made one mistake to Texiera.  It cost him.  Avila struggled.  0-4 with 3 Ks.  Normally, Avila would have sat against a hard throwing lefty like Sabathia, but I think Leyland wanted to run out his "everyday" line-up on opening day.  In the future we will definitely see V Mart behind the dish and Casper Wells in the line-up.  A loss is a loss, but setting the tone at the beginning of the season was probably a smart idea on the part of Leyland.  It also gives a little confidence to Avila.

There was one move that Leyland made today that I disagreed with was his decision to bring Phil Coke in from the Bullpen in the 7th.  This goes against the idea of setting the tone for the season.  I would have gone to Ryan Perry to start the 7th.  That is going to be his role during much of the season.   If Leyland was trying to play the match-up, he could have gone to Schlereth.  Setting up the 8th for Benoit and the 9th for Valverde.  I understand why he did it.  Coke is going to be in the Rotation, but the way the early season schedule works out, a fifth starter won't be needed for a while.  Coke had to get his work in.  And based on his track record last year, he seemed like the perfect call for the 7th today.  The only problem is that Coke has been mentally preparing to be a starter all spring.  His arm is set to starter mode.

The biggest down side to the beginning of the year is the off-days.  We have to wait till Saturday to get revenge on those bastard Yankees.