Ask and ye shall receive!  Eric Seidman was able to hook us up with a clip of Jeremy Bonderman's pitch caroming into the lens of the ESPN camera behind home plate last night.  Just a bizarre play, and I love Pudge Rodriguez's sheepish, "uh-oh" walk toward the camera, as if he was going to be the one who had to apologize to old Mrs. Graham for smashing her patio window.  (I just, um, pulled that name out of thin air.)

And it didn't even look like the ball hit the lens that hard.  At first, I thought it was some goofy screen effect by ESPN.  Oops!  Ha ha!  You break it, you buy it, Bondo!  Hey Orel, do a report on that!

Then they show the actual lens, and it's one big spider web - smashed into pieces.  It was as if Bondo threw the ball right into the camera to announce his presence with authority.  Like the announcing crew, I wonder how much one of those lenses goes for?  Good thing Bondo got that new contract...

Just in case you want a video recap of last night's 6-3 loss to the Red Sox, our buddy Eric Seidman passes along a SportsCenter clip.  I suppose walks don't make a highlight package exciting, but how can you not include at least one, given how many Dice-K threw?

Any time you can work in a reference to Oil Can Boyd, however, I'm all for that.  He was the Gary Sheffield of his time, but with a great nickname.

But how do you not show Jeremy Bonderman smashing that ESPN camera lens in the second inning?  Next to Marcus Thames' two-run single in the seventh, that was the most exciting thing the Tigers did all night.

All of the pre-game hullabaloo swirled around the new lineup that Jim Leyland would pencil in tonight.  Maybe it was expecting too much for the re-shuffled batting order to put a bunch of runs on the scoreboard its first time out, and perhaps we'll see different results after certain hitters get accustomed to their new roles.  In its debut, however, the new lineup posted a frustratingly similar result:  11 runners left on base, only three runs scored, and a 6-3 loss to a pitcher that really should've been beaten.

The Tigers let Daisuke Matsuzaka off the hook tonight.  Pitchers who walk eight batters in five innings don't usually end the evening with a win.  But as we've seen too many times already this season, Detroit just couldn't follow up with a big hit and punish Dice-K for his mistakes.  And maybe I'm not giving Matsuzaka enough credit for getting out of the jams he created.  He only allowed two hits, consistently inducing a pop-up when he needed it. 

However, Leyland's message of grinding out at-bats just may have gotten through to his hitters.  Matsuzaka threw 109 pitches, so the Tigers made him work (though he put much of that burden on himself).  They didn't get the key hit against Dice-K when it was needed, but they didn't just flail away at pitches out of the strike zone, either.  He only posted one strikeout tonight, his lowest total this season.  When Tigers batters weren't getting anything to hit, they took the walk, and that's an approach we hadn't seen much of in Detroit's first 32 games.

Now they have to start driving those runners in.  Jeremy Bonderman was hardly great tonight, and it's aggravating to see the Tigers always having to claw back into the game when Bondo gives up 3-4 runs early.  But who knows how his six innings might have developed had he received some run support?  (Gary Sheffield certainly found his legs in left field having to run to the fence, trying to make a play on those balls Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis put over it.)

So I suppose how you feel about this one depends on your outlook.  Was it yet another troubling loss in which the Tigers didn't follow through on their talent and the opportunities presented to them?  Or is there something to build on from here?

Roll Call

We're going to try a new feature in these recaps, thanks to a applet/software thingie that was passed along by Jim McLennan, SB Nation's Arizona Diamondbacks blogger.  It's just a way of thanking those who commented in the GameThread, and welcoming anyone who may have stopped by for the first time. 

Thanks to Zappatista, pfuhrmeister, BobbyHigginson, bradm, Matt in Toledo, Fats Fothergill, rock n rye, ThaWalrus9, BigAl, and MackAveKurt for participating in tonight's commentary and discussion.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-0, 2.52) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (2-2, 3.86)

Usually I try to make these GameThreads all about the pitching match-up, but the big story coming into tonight's opener with the Red Sox is about the new batting order Jim Leyland promised we'd see.  "Drastic," remember?  Here is the starting lineup for your Detroit Tigers this evening:

1.  Curtis Granderson, CF
2.  Placido Polanco, 2B
3.  Carlos Guillen, 3B
4.  Magglio Ordonez, DH
5.  Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6.  Gary Sheffield, LF
7.  Matt Joyce, RF
8.  Edgar Renteria, SS
9.  Pudge Rodriguez, C

"Drastic"?  Well, maybe not so much.  Though I suppose that depends on what you expected.  Releasing Jacque Jones and calling up Matt Joyce weren't entirely insignificant moves.  And playing left field might feel like more of a drastic move to Gary Sheffield (though Mike McClary tells me, via ESPN, that Sheff requested this move) than hitting sixth.  Maybe he can tear more of that scar tissue in his right shoulder playing long toss or throwing the ball to the cut-off man.  (And unlike Jones, maybe Sheff's throws will actually reach the cut-off man.) 

The question becomes whether or not Joyce will stay in the lineup.  I'd guess yes, since the Tigers went to the trouble of calling him up to Detroit.  But playing right field regularly is doubtful.  So if he stays, he'll probably move to left tomorrow, with Sheffield going back to DH (or rotating among two or three guys), and Ordonez taking his usual place in right.

Is this going to be enough to score some runs against Dice-K?  Boston has won Matsuzaka's last eight starts, and Daisuke has given up three runs or more in only two of his six appearances this season.  In his last start, he shut out the Blue Jays (who have been struggling to score runs) over seven innings. 

But if Jeremy Bonderman pitches as well tonight as he did last week at Yankee Stadium, things might work out just fine.