Detroit Tigers Links: Opening Day at Comerica Park

Opening Day is upon us

A very merry Opening Day to one and all. I hope everyone in metro Detroit took the day off for this very important holiday. And if you didn’t, I hope your bosses are all very relaxed with your work schedule, because there are more important things going on.

Highlights downtown include Pudge throwing out the opening pitch, four A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthogs for a flyover (those of BRRRRT fame,) and Mr. I buttons upon entry in remembrance of Mike Ilitch. Uber is also offering a dedicated pick-up and drop-off zone, just in case you throw a few too many back at Nemo’s or any of the other fine establishments.

Stop that Freddy. Stop that right now.

That could have gone better

Yesterday’s game was a fun reminder to fully wipe spring training away from your memory. Matthew Boyd and Anibal Sanchez, who sparkled through spring, got shelled to the tune of 10 runs in six combined innings.

Obviously the greater concern is Sanchez. Boyd is young and will have bumps in the road. Sanchez has shown for two straight seasons that he simply cannot keep the ball in the park, a trend that continued on Thursday.

Let’s check in on Avisail Garcia’s defense

Yup, still bad.

Trip down memory lane

One of my favorite players of the “BJL” era (Before Jim Leyland) was Dmitri Young. The News republished an article from 2005, when Young hit three home runs in an Opening Day win.

That highlight is amazing. From Dmitri rounding the bases faster than anyone over 270 pounds ever has, Rod’s maniacal laughter at the second bomb, Rod’s maniacal laughter after the curtain call and especially the fact that everyone looks reasonably warm. Not sure what that was all about. Hopefully this can wipe the bad taste from Thursday’s game out of our mouths and we get something half as exciting in today’s game.

What the what?

Is that cheating? How does that even happen?

Injury Updates

Good news all around on the injury front. What looked like a scary injury for Justin Upton turned out to be nothing more than a bruise. He was back at it yesterday.

Especially good news comes in the form of J.D. Martinez’s leg. He had is cast removed on Tuesday and was cleared to begin physical therapy. He is still a couple weeks away, but everything looks positive.

For your free time

An early update on the Andrew McCutchen to right field experiment. Not surprisingly it is going well. Water is wet, the sky is blue, and Miguel Cabrera is the most exciting player to watch on the Tigers. Jordan Zimmermann got food poisoning somewhere in Chicago and I would really like to know where so that I can not go there.

Baseball is awesome