Morning Prowl: Netherlands, Tryouts, Dinners, and Porcello

  Last night's thrilling victory by the Netherlands over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic had a slight Tigers flavor to it.  Not only was Randall Simon the starting first baseman, but the winning run was scored by Gene Kingsale and he was driven in by Yurendell de Caster, who I didn't know was a Tigers prospect until Detroit Tigers Thoughts pointed it out.

Who knew all these guys were Dutch?

  What is it like to try out for the Detroit Tigers?  For the second year in a row, Kyle (formerly of the Lakeland Flying Tigers blog - which is sorely missed) participated in open tryouts.  You can read about his experience at tryoutforacause.com. 

Ultimately, Kyle did this to help raise money for the homeless in Lakeland.  He's still accepting donations for the next month, so if you have anything to spare, it would help out.

(via Tiger Tales)

  The Spot Starters imagines what could've been with the Tigers' lineup had they been smarter with their money and pursued some cheaper alternatives.

  Here's our first "Jim Leyland and Tony La Russa are great friends" story of 2009.  What makes this one different is that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick joined them for a meal.

I like to imagine that the first question out of Leyland's mouth was "How could you trade Matt Cassel to the Chiefs instead of the Lions?" (Kind of like how Frank Costanza grilled George Steinbrenner about trading Jay Buhner.)  But I don't really know where Leyland's football loyalties lie.

  Take 75 North chimes in on the growing Spring Training phenomenon known as Rick Porcello.

  I'm a week late with this, but Sharapova's Thigh posted a Tigers preview as part of its "Where They Stand" series (complete with Misty May-Treanor photo).