PREGAME: The Tigers make their first road trip today and the destination is Dunedin. Justin Verlander will start and be followed by new papa Nate Robertson. Rick Porcello is also scheduled to pitch today.
Tigers position players making the trip include Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria, Jacque Jones, Marcus Thames, and Brandon Inge. They’ll have the unenviable task of facing Roy Halladay.
Game Time 1:05 and it will be available through MLB audio.
IN GAME: The Tigers struck first when Jacque Jones singled leading off the second and Ryan Raburn followed with a double. A first pitch ground ball from Inge scored the run. Jeff Larish popped out on a jam shot and Raburn was stranded at third.
Verlander allowed only an infield single to Matt Stairs (chew on that for a moment) in his 2 innings of work.
-Granderson homered on a full count pitch against a southpaw leading off the 3rd inning.
Rick Porcello recorded two 1-2-3 innings, and was facing the starters in his first inning. Nice start for the kid.
Francis Beltran pitches into, and out of trouble in the 7th inning.
1-0 as BI puts a ball in play for a free RBI…nice job.
Blue Jays announcers are poo-pah’ing Verlander a bit (disagreening that his fastball is among “best” in AL), but his only base hit allowed after two is an infield hit to Matt Stairs(!!).
The gameday thing is so slow. Another HR for Grandy? Is it 2-0?
Don’t you just love the part of spring training when the phenoms perform just great and get your expectation level sky high?
It sure beats them getting hammered.
Yeah, we’ve been there, too, haven’t we? Yup, this is better. Billfer, what’s our combined ERA so far? (I know, small sample size, but it’s spring, and there’s a foot of snow out my window, and I need positive stuff right now).
Is it usual for pitchers to be ahead of hitters in the early spring?