Morning Prowl: Tigers caravan edition

The Tigers hit the roads for the first day of their Caravan, ahead of Saturday's TigerFest. Here's a roundup of some of the key stories Day 1.

• Here's a photo Will Rhymes took of Comerica Park. And the above photo is a picture an AP photographer took of Will Rhymes taking a picture of Comerica Park. Meta.
  
• Here's a few more photos from the Tigers caravan at the Detroit News. And the first one is ... Will Rhymes taking a photo. It should have been of the AP photographer taking a photo of ... well you get the point.
• And remember, you can click the "more photos" button under the picture on this post to get even more pictures.

• Beck's Blog: Caravan notes: Scherzer's pregame rituals
  Beck writes on Scherzer, Rhymes, Daniel Schlereth and more

• Detroit News: 'Papa Grande' Valverde ready for big season for Tigers
  Papa Grande rejects The Big Potato. Too bad. He's still the Big Potato to us!

• Freep: Jose Valverde tops Ramon Santiago at dance contest
  D-A-N-C-E! The important thing is, both teams played hard.

• Detroit News: Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander confident about Tigers' rotation
  Eric Lacy writes that the Tigers pitchers are feeling good about the team's chances, and Max Scherzer really likes roast beef sandwiches.

• Freep: Verlander hopes new approach ends April struggles
  Speaking of Verlander, he knows he has to start pitching better in April in order to truly take the next step in his career.
  
  "When I talked to (pitching coach Rick Knapp and bullpen coach Jeff Jones), I made five or six bullet points of what got me locked in right after my bad starts in April," Verlander said. "There were a few things we really worked on that I feel really clicked. Those are things I'm going to work on in spring training this year."

• Detroit News: Alex Avila will lean on Victor Martinez for help catching, hitting
  Another nice article by Lacy. Looks like the News brought its "A" game.

• Jim Leyland announced the middle of his batting lineup: 3: Magglio Ordonez. 4. Miguel Cabrera. 5. Victor Martinez. Pretty formidable.

• Tom Gage: Everything just right (field) with Magglio Ordonez
  "I know everybody here," Ordonez said. "I want to finish my career here."
  
  Maggs also said he'd like to play for four more years. Four more good years.

• Wojo: Tigers manager Jim Leyland knows his 'tail's on the line'
  The News columnist says the Tigers manager knows there's a lot of pressure on him to win. Leyland still wants to deliver on the promise of a World Series trophy to owner Mike Ilitch.

• Drew Sharp: Tigers centerfielder Austin Jackson could be team's next big star | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
  Sharp predicts Jackson's popularity could skyrocket this year. And he's probably right. I know he quickly became one of my favorites.

• Tigers.com: Porcello, Perry ready to make their mark
  This will be just the third season for the P boys. Porcello was not happy with his sophomore season and wants to prove he's better than that.

• Not a new blog, but one I feel like pointing out to you guys: AL Central In Focus.
• If you keep track of ex-Tigers: Nate Robertson signed with the Mariners, and Marcus Thames with the Dodgers.
• Oh and Johnny Damon looks to be a Ray.