It seems almost inevitable at this time of year that the Tigers aren’t quite living up to expectations at the plate, and that it is almost obligatory to throw out the old cliche, they will start hitting better once the weather warms up. Columns, blogs, comments, you find this everywhere, often accompanied with the old one about how, you know, Latin players can’t be expected to play well until it is 90 degrees or something.

Well it was 29 at game time yesterday, and the Tiger bats seemed just fine, as Nick Castellanos (Florida native) went 4-for-4, Miguel Cabrera (Venezuela) hit his first home run of the season, and Jose Iglesias (Cuba) knocked in a key insurance run. The Yankee bats were ice cold though, as Jordan Zimmerman (Wisconsin), Justin Wilson, and Kyle Ryan (short sleeves!) held the Yankees to 3 hits and no runs.

Today is another chilly one, as the Tigers send out Mike Pelfrey for his Tiger debut, and the Tigers face old nemesis C.C. Sabathia., as flurries begin to fall on Comerica Park.

Today’s Chill Lineup:

• Kinsler, 2B
• Upton, LF
• Cabrera, 1B
• V Martinez, DH
• JD Martinez, LF
• McCann,  C
• Iglesias, SS
• Avails, 3B
• Gose, CF

Pitching: Mike Pelfrey

This was a scheduled day off for Nick Castellanos, and a chance to get Mike Aviles some action. But do you really want to pull a guy who just went 4-for-4? Schedules can always be changed. Brad Ausmus acknowledges that he considered that, but thinks that sticking with the plan is the best thing in the long run.

What could be better for Detroiters than perhaps one last chance to see the legendary Iggy Pop perform at the Fox Theater? Rolling out of bed at noon to Opening Day festivities.

Finally, the Tigers get their home opener, and it’s gonna be a cold one: the temperature at game time looks to be about 29. At least Jordan Zimmerman should be used to a little cold (he is from the Wisconsin farm land) as he makes his Tigers debut.

The weather may not be cold enough to slow down the hot-hitting Victor Martinez, who gets his first start of the season against hard-throwing Luis Severino, the guy who broke Cameron Maybin’s wrist in Spring Training.

There are perks to playing the Yankees: tomorrow afternoon’s game will be broadcast on MLB Network, and the Sunday night game is ESPN’s Sunday Night feature.

Those lucky enough to be in attendance today have a plethora of new food items to sample at Comerica, including fried bologna sandwiches, hot dogs topped with mac and cheese, and deep fried Oreos. I think I’ll stick with my ham sandwich and Stroh’s.

Today’s Undefeated Home Opener Lineup:

• Kinsler, 2B
• Upton, LF
• Cabrera, 1B
• V Martinez, DH
• JD Martinez, LF
• Castellanos, 3B
• McCann,  C
• Iglesias, SS
• Gose, CF

Pitching: Zordan Zimmerman

It’s a brand new season, but is it the Same Old Tigers? It sure looked at first glance like the SOB (Same Old Bullpen), as Francisco Rodriguez, or FRod (pronounced “Fraud,” per PHToy) had absolutely nothing in the 9th inning, and was a highlight Justin Upton catch away from handing the game to the Marlins. It’s easy to put too much importance on just one outing, and the first outing of the year at that, so we need to see a few more before getting too excited about our closer situation. But it’s hard to be rational having seen all this before—the Tigers have had a knack for having a closer who has just then lost his effectiveness, and then sticking with him for way too long after.

Lost in all of that is how good the rest of the bullpen was, which is definitely not something we had too many occasions to say last season. Together they combined to give up only 2 hits and 1 walk in 5 shutout innings, and Shane Greene looked unhittable. Would this be the worst idea in the world: when Daniel Norris returns from the DL, let Shane Greene close out games? Not that it would ever happen, since we have A Closer. (I see Stormin’ Norman beat me to that idea).

The other SOB of the game was the Same Old Baserunning, as JD Martinez may have cost the team a run by sleeping on 2nd instead of advancing, as he easily would have, on a long fly to right, then Iglesias ran into a rundown situation, which found Martinez asleep again (instead of moving toward home with Iglesias in the rundown, he stood on 3rd with his hands in his pockets, making the rundown easy for the Marlins). And then of course the inevitable pickoff (the Tigers lets the league in runners picked off last year), with the usual suspect being the batting hero of the game, Ian Kinsler. At what point does Omar Vizquel start taking heat for this stuff?

Anyway, the Tigers will have a lot less room for error in today’s game, with Jose Fernandez on the mound, who has never lost a game at Marlins Park. Anibal Sanchez is no slouch himself, undefeated at Marlins Park since 2012.

Today’s Undefeated Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Upton, LF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, LF
5. Castellanos, 3B
6. Saltalamacchia, C
7. Iglesias, SS
8. Gose, CF
9. Sanchez, P

Happy Opening Day Everybody!

Miguel Cabrera carefully selects the bat the will bring to the plate, while across Marlins Park Dee Gordon does the same, in the much-anticipated, historic Opening Day meeting between league batting champions, for the first time in Major League Baseball history.

Thanks to ESPN for that one, I never would have guessed it on my own. Not that Opening Day should need any extra hooks to pull you in, but I must admit it’s a bit odd to start the season out with an interleague game, and on Tuesday at that. So much for every team starting the season in first place: the Tigers are already in third. Never mind though, the 2016 Tiger season is here. Play ball!

Of course, being an interleague game in a National League park, there is no designated hitter, so the Tigers will start the season with a not-everyday lineup. Originally, Brad Ausmus had planned to go with Cabrera at 3rd base and Victor Martinez at first, but a tweaked Martinez hamstring changed his mind on that.

After losing the honors to David Price last season, Justin Verlander will take the mound again in his 8th Opening Day start, as he edges into Jack Morris territory (Jack Morris has the franchise record with 11 Opening Day starts). If I weren’t afraid of heights I’d go out on a limb here, but I’ll settle for throwing out a hunch that this season Verlander will show that he’s not quite done yet. New manager Don Mattingly gives Wei-Yin Chen the honors for the Marlins, and will start off with a challenge—Ian Kinsler has a career 1.045 OPS against Chen.

Tonight’s 2016 Opening Day lineup:

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Justin Upton, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B
6. James McCann, C
7. Jose Iglesias, SS
8. Anthony Gose, CF
9. Justin Verlander, P

I’m mildly surprised to see Kinsler in the leadoff spot in the lineup, I would have predicted Gose. Is Ausmus taking advantage of the Kinsler-Chen history?