I think it was Wednesday when I threw the idea out to my wife. Hey, we should go to the Tigers game this Friday. Verlander's making his first start since the no-hitter and I still have my gift cards so the tickets won't really cost anything. We could even invite (our friends and most frequent weekend cohorts) Greg and Patricia. They had asked that we let them know if we went to a game this year.

I confess that I threw this idea out there like an idea I could either take or leave (which I could), but it made so much sense I figured the only obstacle was the weather. Sure enough, my wife tried to fend the idea off with more practical uses of our weekend's beginning, but it wasn't long before its brilliance and appeal had bored into her brain. Next thing you know, we're texting our friends to see if they were game.

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It's Friday. It's Labor Day weekend. Everyone is about to head up north to enjoy the cold, wet weather. It's been a tough week. Why not end with something fun?

Authors Dan Gordon's and and Mickey Bradley's new book, Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room and Beyond, features ghost stories from around the major leagues, coming from quite a few recognizable players. These are drawn from more than 1,000 interviews, they say.

I'll share one that Gordon recently passed on to me.

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Hey everybody.  I run the website Baseball-Intellect, a site dedicated to player scouting and mechanical analysis.  Some of you will remember my interview with Kurt just prior to the start of the season.

In any case, I wanted to provide Bless You Boys with a breakdown on one of my favorite hitters from the 2010 draft class: Nick Castellanos.

A shortstop in high school, Castellanos will move to third base as a pro.  He's not a great athlete, but he's a decent one, with soft hands, sound footwork, and a good arm, all of which suggest he'll have no problem sticking at third base even as he fills out his 6-foot-4 frame.

Castellanos is an advanced hitter for his age with good strike zone judgement and plate discipline.  For his age, Castellanos picks up on pitches pretty well, but every once in a while, you'll catch him out in front on something off-speed.  However, that should improve with experience.

Castellanos has the potential to hit 25-30 home runs annually.  His power translates to all fields and as he gains strength and fills out, you should see many of the doubles he hits early in his career turn into home runs.

Castellanos' power comes from strong hands and many quick-twitch muscle fibers in the forearms that enables him to generate excellent bat speed.

In addition, Castellanos has a swing that should be conducive to power.  He's able to generate considerable torque between his torso and hips.  The below clips are synchronized to contact.  If they happen to get off track, try refreshing your browser.

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One of our Bless You Boys familiar faces went to the Tigers' season opener on Monday and was kind enough to write up his thoughts. They follow. As always, drop me an e-mail if you are doing something cool like that and want to do a guest post -- Kurt

By Explenture

Having recently relocated to North Carolina from West Michigan, major league parks are not near to me. So I hatched a plan to fly to KC to see the Tigers open their 110th season. Got a good seat on the third base side made the game just in time and, of course, saw a win. Better yet on the flight home I took a bump and got an airline voucher that might allow another trip to see the Old English D's this time perhaps in Comerica!

Rookies: Austin Jackson and Scott Sizemore both made their major league debuts. Last time a similar dual debut occurred was in 2007 when the Devils Rays had Elijah Dukes and Akinori Iwamura in their first game line up.

Right from the start both were patient hitters. For the game Jackson saw 26 pitches while Sizemore faced 22 from Royals hurlers.

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In response to my post earlier today about the Tigers naming their All-Decade Team for the aughts, specifically the part where I claimed there just as easily could be an "All-Suck" team, BYB commenter "Misopogon" (aka Seth,.the Tiger guy from "The Wright Stache") took it upon himself to e-mail me.  He told me he was having trouble logging into SBNation.

In addition, I received a long, well thought out and funny diatribe about Tigers futility.

I didn't want his All-Suck team to be lost in the wilderness, plus I was thinking of doing my own post anyway. No need, as Seth already did the work!

So with his permission, I'm posting his All-Suck team on the front page, and letting you all have it in the comments.

Here's what "Misopogon" had to say:

The all-suck team. Brilliant.
 
Rules: It had to be starters -- crappy injury call-ups and designated backups don't count. Was Neifi Perez in a Tiger uniform at one point? Christ help us, yes. Was he supposed to be anything other than a backup glove man? No.
 
Non-injury-related Opening Day Starters all count, as do all players who played a plurality of one season at a given position, even if that wasn't planned. I also count established MLB trade acquisitions who quickly washed out, even if their actual time on the Tigers was minimal, since their expected contribution was much greater.
 
For each player, I figured their value as the sum of their contributions while a Tiger from 2000 to 2009. Years before that don't help you (sorry Damion, Deivi and Higgy), and neither does it help if you moved on to become a star for another team (stern look, Carlos Pena).
 
My All-Suck Seventeen:
 
C     Meluskey
1B     Pena
2B     Infante
SS     Renteria
3B     Truby
LF     Jones
CF     Kingsale
RF     Higgy
DH     Palmer? (Note from Al: DH is explained below)
SP     Lima
SP     Washburn
SP     Willis
SP     Holt
SP     Cornejo
MR     Grilli
SU     German
CL     Anderson

 After the jump, the thought process behind the Tigers All-Suck team...

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Editor's note: WatsonStClair was the first to check in with a guest post after visiting Lakeland for a game. He's included some photos as well. Thanks, Watson! And remember everyone else, if you watch the Tigers or visit Lakeland, feel free to drop me an e-mail with a guest post about your experiences!

Today was the first really good weather day, 70 degrees plus, and so naturally the stadium was packed.  I usually arrive really early, but had to take a pet to the vet, so I got a late start, was stuck in traffic,  and barely made the Star Spangled Banner. 

I had two impressions from the game.  First, if  Max Scherzer had had any kind of a decent start, Detroit would have been in it.  Instead, between him and Fu-Te Ni, Atlanta scored 8 runs in the first two innings.  Dontrelle Willis, Joel Zumaya, and Phil Coke all pitched pretty well, and kept the Braves from piling on more runs.

My second impression is that I felt cheated because Cabrera was the only Tiger starter of any consequence.  No Carlos Guillen. No Magglio Ordonez. No Johnny Damon. No Austin Jackson. No Adam Everett. No Gerald Laird.  I would have felt better if some of these guys would have started, even if they only got one at bat.  Casper Wells looked good in center field and got some good swings in.    

I did not like the fact that Atlanta chose to practice running and sprints on the outfield warning track.  The problem was they ran in right field when a right-handed batter was up and in left when a left-handed batter was up, but only when the Tigers were hitting!  These moving runners had to be a distraction to hitters trying to see the pitch.  Funny how they never ran when they were batting!

Some of the best action of the game came from the nesting ospreys in the light towers.  Whenever an Osprey flew too near another Osprey's tower, the second took off and flew at the first one.  The chase ensued over the field at about 50 feet or so.