Catching up on the Tigers injuries and recoveries of note:
Tigers individual tickets go on sale at 10am today. Last year there was a mad dash for tickets. Opening Day wasn’t even an option and the equivalent of 27,000 tickets had been drained from the capacity of every game. This year is a little different.
Season ticket sales are down. Official numbers haven’t been released but the fact that Opening Day is available to the general public for the first time in awhile should be a clue that the total is south of 15,000.
Also in play is premium game pricing. Interleague and AL East power games typically go quickly. Will that be a factor this year?
Let us know what your ticket buying experience is this year. How long did you have to wait. Did you get what you wanted? Or are you taking a wait and see approach with the team and the economy and you’ll go the game day walk up route?
The final line isn’t at all impressive. Three walks in three innings of work. But the third inning was a clean inning, and against some good hitters in Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera (who fanned), and Magglio Ordonez.
So what do you make of the day? Those 3 walks all came in the second inning, and included walking in a run. So it shows that Willis is still capable of losing the strike zone. The 3rd inning was great showing he’s capable of getting guys out.
Do you chalk it up as progress that he bounced back or just more of the same as Willis still searches for a clean outing?
D-Train gets outing back on track
"I’m looking for pitching," Leyland said. "You can write whatever you want."
That’s the message that Jim Leyland sent to reporters today when he announced that Rick Porcello would get a start on Wednesday. Further solidifying that Porcello might really be a rotation candidate this season.
With Dontrelle Willis still shaky, Zach Miner getting rocked yesterday, and Nate Robertson not blowing people away, the door is a little bit open. Or maybe all the way open, but are there 4 guys trying to fit through it?
The Tigers got as good of news as they could have today on Jeremy Bonderman’s shoulder after an examination in Detroit today. Of course he’s still not throwing, but it doesn’t sound like things are structurally a problem.
Now whether or not Porcello getting a turn is out of curiosity, a message to the incumbents, or further evaluation for a rotation in flux remains to be seen. But this could be a pattern for the next few weeks. With Bonderman day-to-day, Armando Galarraga now pitching for Venezuela, and Justin Verlander first alternate for Team USA, the guys competing for the back end of the bullpen should have a chance to show what they have (or don’t have).