First off, I wanted to update you on the situation here at Bless You Boys. As of right now the site is under a period of transition, as I will no longer be doing the full-time updates in order to pursue other interests. There will be a new writer here at BYB, someone who has a ton of experience blogging, especially about the state of pro sports in Detroit.
Please be patient as this change goes through. Once it does I hope to see Bless You Boys become one of the top spots on the web to discuss baseball, similar to the status of the other major league sites here on the SB Nation.
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Now that this information is clear, it's time to focus on Spring Training, as a new season of Tigers baseball is upon us down at Tigertown in Lakeland.
A whole lot of questions need to be answered in Lakeland over the next month -- Which lefty reliever will emerge as the number one bullpen option? Will Bonderman find an effective third pitch? How will Gary Sheffield look in the Old English D? How many packs will Leyland smoke? Will Neifi hit it out of the infield? How will Cameron Maybin look?
The Tigers have already been involved in two Spring Training games, as well as an exhibition game against Florida Southern College -- all games in which the good guys were victorious in.
Game One - Tigers 5, Mets 4
Tigers on the mound: Right-hander Chad Durbin, the starter, retired six of his seven batters. And left-hander Andrew Miller, the Tigers' first pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, struck out four in his two innings.
Game Two - Tigers 9, Phillies 7
Tigers on the mound: Mike Maroth rebounded from two well-hit balls early to toss two scoreless innings of one-hit ball, inducing a double play ground ball to end the first inning. Justin Verlander made his spring debut with a scoreless inning.
That should get you caught up for now, at least if you're a Tigers fan who hasn't been paying attention thus far. For some it may be tough to get back into baseball mode -- for others, though, I'm sure you're all over it. This is going to be an exciting year for Tigers fans as they hope to match the success of 2006.
Even though it's only Spring Training, getting two wins right off the bat looks nice. Plus we're seeing guys names in the game recaps that are supposed to be producing, and doing just that -- guys like Sheffield, Granderson, Casey and Polanco -- so it appears that Leyland didn't let any of these guys start out complacent.
Again, stay tuned to BYB. There will be some minor changes to the site, including the full-time blogger, so a fresh start for the site is upon us.