Opening game of a series. Tigers win big. No surprise there. Detroit pounded out 17 runs, while Jeremy Bonderman allowed just a pair of solo home runs to Baltimore. It’s not that he pitched real great. He gave up a lot of hits, probably make Tigers fans a bit nervous. But in the end, all that matters are the runs and the win. Bonderman picked his first one up since July 20.

Who got on the board? Who didn’t get on the board might be a better question. Every starter scored. Every starter got a hit. All but one starter got an RBI. And the six pinch hitters went a combined 4-for-9 with two runs and two RBIs. Starters Craig Monroe, Magglio Ordonez, Brandon Inge and Curtis Granderson homered. Inge’s was a grand slam.

My first thought: I hope they didn’t use up all their runs for the series — or month! — in one night. But we’ve been seeing hints of this lineup showing improvement and facing a weaker schedule of pitchers down the stretch, maybe the Tigers can build on this.

Chicago and Minnesota both lost last night.

One of the more exciting aspects of Wednesday’s game for any Tigers fan was almost certainly seeing the two vaunted rookie pitchers, Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya, combine for 8 strong innings. The only snag came in the seventh when Verlander loaded the bases with 1 out, and Zumaya allowed two of the runs to score. But the inning quickly ended, and the Tigers held on for a 6-3 victory. The most exciting part? It was the first time V&Z pitched in the same game. It probably won’t be the last for a long, long time.

“I think it’s good to see for Detroit fans,” Verlander said in the Free Press article. “I hope that’s something the fans at home can see for a long time to come.”

In today’s Washington Post, Baltimore’s Jay Gibbons complimented Verlander’s control.

“For a guy that throws that hard, he had really good control,” Gibbons said. “He made it seem like you were down 0-2 every time.”

Closer Todd Jones picked up his seventh save after a double-play kept the inning from becoming too exciting. And despite the 3-game losing streak, the Tigers still have the second best record in the American League, behind the White Sox.

And in the Balitmore Sun, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo talks about the turnaround in Detroit.

“They suffered through some years with some good young kids,” Perlozzo said. “We talked about it last year. I felt like they were on the verge of turning things around if they could add a couple of quality players.”

There’s also some talk about Tigers manager Jim Leyland turning things around. I expect this will be a regular theme whenever the Tigers make a first visit to a town. Interestingly, the Sun pointed out three Tigers are in the Top 11  (actually 10: Maroth, Robertson and Rogers) in the AL in ERA. I hadn’t realized that. Credit is given to Kenny Rogers for helping the younger pitchers improve.

But there is a warning from the Tigers. Don’t worry about them so much. They’re fine. Danny Knobler of Booth newspapers reports on that story. Leyland warns everyone in Knobler’s article: The Tigers can’t win every game. Look at the 162-game pitcher, not a smaller mark. Not bad advice for a fanset so used to losing, they are all waiting for the wheels to come off.

First, Leyland said any losing culture that existed with the Tigers doesn’t exist anymore. Then, he suggested that people have overreacted to the Tigers’ quick start.”God, we’re not the ‘61 Yankees all of a sudden,” he said. “This team was 20 games under .500 last season. You win four or five games, and everyone’s got us the ‘61 Yankees.

I don’t think the wheels are going to come off this team all at once. But it became pretty easy to expect a win every game. But that feeling is needed. That’s the feeling that draws fans to games. Fans don’t want to go to the ballpark expecting a loss.

Knobler also addressed Guillen’s error problem in another article.

Colon up, Tata down, Detroit Tigers Weblog has the info.

Sphere It

Carlos Guillen drove in three runs against the Orioles in Monday’s 7-6 loss at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. He also made two errors that allowed 3 unearned runs. Does that cancel out?

Neither Guillen nor manager Jim Leyland seemed too concerned. From the MLB.com story:

“I don’t know what happened,” a dejected Guillen said afterward. “The ball came out of my glove wrong and it was an error. It’s going to happen when you play every day. You make errors in baseball.”

Leyland seemed inclined to forgive a physical error, rather than a mental misplay, perhaps because the oft-injured Guillen has been healthy this year and because Guillen’s bases-loaded double in the fifth off Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera gave Detroit a 5-2 lead.

“It’s part of the game,” the manager said. “When the ball’s in the hole, sometimes you rush it. Sometimes you try to be too quick with it.”

Sill I’m disappointed in Guillen’s defense this year. Acknowledging the iffy science of defensive statistics, it’s clear to see Guillen doesn’t fully look like himself out there. His errors have led to quite a few unearned runs. He has nine errors this year, not even one-quarter of the way through the season. His career high is 18. His current error pace jumped from 37 to 44. But he’s also on pace to see more balls hit to him this year than possibly any year during his career, and he has turned 22 double plays, which puts him on pace for 114 108. That’s 34 28 more than his career high. Maybe he’s forcing things. Maybe his injury is nagging him in the field moreso than at the plate, where Guillen has has a great year so far. Maybe it’s nothing but a bad stretch.

With a pace that puts him at 93 runs and 108 RBIs, it’s possible to forgive him. Of course, he probably can’t keep that up exactly, though I expect a nice year all-the-same. And I have to think the chances of seeing Ramon Santiago at SS and Guillen at DH are pretty slim. So he’ll have to improve his defense.

Maybe a better versed sabermetrician can break down Guillen’s defense this year. I’d love to see that.

Fortunately — strangely — Kansas City beat Cleveland for a second straight game, so the Tigers lost no ground to the Indians. Meanwhile, the White Sox look like they’re going to run away with the division again.

Another interesting note, Pudge Rodriguez had a chance to play 1st base for the Tigers and looked pretty good out there. It’s a position he had played in winter ball many years ago, Jason Beck of MLB.com wrote, but it’s a position he has never logged in an MLB game.

Also, Beck answered his mailbag, about the closer situation and Justin Verlander. I’m a big fan of Beck’s reporting, you can probably tell.

On the Fernando Rodey/Todd Jones closer debate:
Once you decide on a closer going into a season, you stick with him. It’s the logical thing to do, for one, and it promotes stability to the young guys behind him. If a closer goes into June blowing save chances and getting rocked when it counts, that’s when you debate change, not when a guy blows one chance in early May.

While I didn’t find much to link to in the Baltimore Sun, there was a story on the Tigers’ rebound in the Baltimore Examiner. Nothing real exciting.

CBS Sportsline updated its power rankings. Detroit fell to eighth but Sportsline remained a believer.

They’ve lost 3-of-4 after a six-game winning streak. This should be a temporary setback with the way they’re pitching and able to swing the bats.

A side note

My boy, Dan Haren, finally picked up another win. His blog isn’t updated more than once a week or so, but it’s a good read if you haven’t looked.

Scott Warheit (The Cutoff Man) beat me to the USA Today and Washington Post articles. Makes my link roundup a lot easier. (hat tip!) He also has a short piece on the success of minor leaguer Cameron Maybin.

In USA Today, Bob Nightengale has a long article in which he notices all the usual things: exciting young pitching staff, the home runs and, of course, manager Jim Leyland. But, Nightengale also noticed the fans are yet to support the Tigers with their money.

“I think that can change in a hurry,” says prized rookie starter Justin Verlander, 23. “I remember my taxi ride going to the stadium to sign. The cabbie told me, ‘This is one great sports town. There’s going to be a time again when the Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers are all sold out.’

“I keep hearing what it was like in the old days. And if we’re in the hunt in August and September, we’ve got a chance to get that feeling back.”

But the fans have to believe the team is going to compete before they plunk down their $20 bucks. (For a beer and hotdog!) Can they compete? Nightengale asks.

“Oh, my God, they’re definitely going to be around all year,” Twins center fielder Torii Hunter says.

“They have no holes. That pitching staff is unreal. That bullpen is sick. They got guys like (Joel Zumaya) throwing 102 mph. You blink and you miss it. And that lineup is ridiculous. People forget they have a healthy Magglio Ordonez now. He’s an MVP. And now they got Jim Leyland as a manager?

“You hear people saying that they remind them of us when we got good” in 2002. “Uh-uh. They’re better. We never had talent like that.”

Former Tiger Rondell White also has some nice things to say. Go check it out (opens in new window).

WaPo: Dombowski rebuilding works; Leyland rants

The Washington Post leads with Leyland’s rant early in the season (Login required. I’ve gathered quite a few lately)

One might begin to suspect the Tigers could be this year’s version of the Chicago White Sox, who rode a similarly hot start all the way to the 2005 World Series championship — except that the better pick as this year’s White Sox may be the White Sox themselves… (WaPo)

Totally agree. The White Sox impress me. I believe some of their pitching stats are worse this year, but their lineup has improved to the point it doesn’t really make much difference.

O’s catcher Ramon Herandez was not always known for his bat. But he started off the new season on a tear rivaled only by Tigers first baseman Chris Shelton (minus the slugging), and the former Oakland A and San Diego Padre seems quite happy in his new ballpark. But despite Baltimore’s poor start, it’s his ability to call a game that won praise in today’s Baltimore Sun.

“I think he’s outstanding behind the plate,” pitching coach Leo Mazzone said. “I think he takes pride in pitchers doing well. He enjoys that aspect of it. He’s the same whether he goes 3-for-4 or 0-for-4. He still doesn’t forget that part of his game.”

It’s a pretty long feature, but well worth the read.

Also in today’s Sun, a columnist writes the World Baseball Classic has taken a toll on O’s players.

Finally, since I have to leave for work in about 10 minutes, here’s the AP preview of tonight’s game, rather than my own.

After Monday off, the Tigers will face the Baltimore Orioles for a 3-game series at Camden Yards. The Orangebirds can’t be looking forward to the first pitching match-up, when southpaw Nate Robertson takes the mound Tuesday. Baltimore has struggled against lefties, the Sun reported today. They are just 1-9 against lefties, the lone win coming against Tampa Bay. On Opening Day.

[T]hird baseman Melvin Mora wants one thing to be clear. It’s not one of those baseball anomalies chalked up to the relative newness of the season.

“It’s not a coincidence,” Mora said after the Orioles were beaten, 10-3, yesterday by Boston Red Sox left-hander Lenny DiNardo. “There’s not any excuses. We need to find a way to beat a lefty. I was talking to [Miguel Tejada ]. Maybe [we need to] try to get another lefty to throw batting practice, I don’t know. We need to figure it out. If you look at our numbers, all the lefties have thrown good [against us].”

They get a day off, so to speak, against right-handed ROY candidate  Justin Verlander before another southpaw, Kenny Rogers, takes the mound Thursday.

Things haven’t looked good in Baltimore lately. Or outside it, for that matter. The Orioles got spanked 25-9 by the Red Sox over the weekend, which dropped Baltimore’s record to 14-19 for the year. The O’s are just a half game above last place in the AL East.  Panic seems to be setting in.

The Orioles will enter the three-game series with the surprising Detroit Tigers with a scuffling lineup that was controlled yesterday by lightly regarded left-hander Lenny DiNardo and scored no more than three runs in all five games on the trip.

Since leadoff hitter Brian Roberts went on the disabled list with a strained groin, the Orioles are 1-8, and Roberts’ replacements in the leadoff role are 4-for-35 with one run.

Detroit is set to face the Nos. 4, 5 and 1 pitchers. A more detailed preview will follow Tuesday.