Tigers Opening Day!

As most of you know I am a huge Detroit Tiger fan. I’ve been counting down the days until the 2008 baseball season begins and I believe when I added the counter to my page it began at 168 days. I can now say only two more days to that first pitch! I have very high hopes for this season. I think hands down we have the most powerful lineup in baseball but our pitching could give us a little trouble. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dombrowski doesn’t pull an 11th hour deal for a relief pitcher this weekend. Our starters look pretty solid. I am worried about the spring training season that Dontrelle Willis is coming off of. It was a gamble to go after him this off season because of his past injuries but Dombrowski felt confident that the D-Train would bounce back as a Tiger this season. Let’s hope that’s the case. Our starting rotation looks like this: Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis. For the Tiger’s to win their division this year Bonderman and Robertson have to have great seasons. They both have enjoyed a great spring training season this year, let’s hope it continues into regular season play. Our starting lineup this opening day is going to be missing one of our best players: Curtis Granderson. Grandy fractured his finger during this spring and was put on the 15 day disable list. Hopefully he will be back in the middle of April. Here’s the projected starting lineup for opening day. Jim Leyland did say he would have Rodriguez hitting in the number 1 spot from time to time but as far as I can tell he is going with this line-up for opening day:



1. SS Edgar Renteria

2. 2B Placido Polanco

3. DH Gary Sheffield

4. RF Magglio Ordonez

5. 3B Miguel Cabrera

6. 1B Carlos Guillen

7. C Ivan Rodriguez

8. LF Jacque Jones

9. CF Brandon Inge



First pitch will be thrown out by Miss America, Kirsten Haglund, who hails from Farmington Hills, Michigan. Thank goodness the Tigers did not ask Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to do the duties! For all of you who are not familiar with the scandal that has hit our city of Detroit, the Mayor has been arrested and charged with 8 felonies.

The game starts @ 1:00pm so the kids will still be in school. I'll tape it for them and they can watch it as soon as they get home. I'm making a "ballpark" dinner tomorrow to watch with the game. We will be eating: hot dogs, french fries, nachos, popcorn, and roasted peanuts! Here's to a championship season! Go Tigers!!