Jays 6, Tigers 2
BOX
Record: 1-3

With all the eyes of Tigers fandom on him, 20-year-old Rick Porcello didn’t look too bad in his major league debut. Unfortunately, the managable deficit he left was soon turned into a much tougher one to surmount by the bullpen, and the Tigers fell. It felt like a rather lackluster performance by the team.

• Rick Porcello — The kid didn’t do too bad for a debut. I’m not going to make it sound like he pitched some phenomenal game. At times, you could see what makes him a special prospect. At others, you could see an argument for a little more seasoning in the minors. When he left, it was 3-2 as the result of a pair of solo home runs and a two-out RBI single. Following the first home run (making the game 2-2), Porcello struck out the next two batters with some incredibly nasty stuff. But for the day, he finished with 57 strikes for 89 pitches (64 percent) in 5-innings. So he’s going to have to work on getting outs a bit quicker still. He had four strikeouts in a walk but allowed eight hits. Now that he’s got his initial start and of its assorted nerves out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see how he responds in the second game. Gut reaction: Liked what I saw, but still a candidate for returning to the minors when Jeremy Bonderman is healthy.
• The bats were a bit sluggish — Going against another pitcher making his major league debut in Ricky Romero, the Tigers eschewed the patience they had shown the past couple of days. And when Brandon Inge isn’t hitting home runs and Adam Everett, Ramon Santiago and Matt Treanor are all in the lineup at once, the 6-9 batters are not going to do too much to put runs on the board. So I guess the two runs scored sounds about right. Porcello was going to have to debut near-perfect to get a win with that lineup behind him. Not that I disagree with resting guys, especially playing on the turf in the Rogers Centre. But it’s just not going to be a lineup that produces a lot.
• The bullpen, again – I don’t know what happened to the Juan Rincon of spring training. He sure didn’t make the trip to Canada. He gave up a two-run homer, letting in one of Nate Robertson’s runners, to make the game 6-2. After that, I guess he settled in and made it through 2-1/3 innings without taxing anyone else’s arm, and struck out two, so that’s a positive. I hope he shows us something better soon. I’m not convinced the Tigers can’t find someone better in the minors to call up if Rincon continues looking so average — Casey Fien, maybe. Earlier, Nate Robertson didn’t do too bad in his appearance anyway.
• At least that’s over — The Tigers could have been 2-2 when they returned home for the opener had it not been for the bullpen meltdown on Tuesday. That would have been nice. But I know Jim Leyland is just putting his team through the first-week paces, getting guys into the game. I’m not real pleased with how the season has started, but at least the Tigers have a win under their belt. I think we’ll get a bit better indication of the team once it gets outside on the grass.

Tigers 5, Blue Jays 1
BOX
Record: 1-2

Hallelujah! It’s not 2008 all over again! We won’t have to wait for the eighth game of the season to feel the relief of winning a game. Any number of storylines could be pointed at today. The two with the most immediate impact were the pitching of Zach Miner and the batting of Miguel Cabrera. Not to be forgotten were the perfection of the bullpen (10 straight Toronto batters sent back to the dugout), the major league debut of Ryan Perry and the new look of Fernando Rodney. And of course, we have Paul Bunyon Brandon Inge carrying a big piece of lumber. Don’t look now, but the Tigers have had a lead at the end of 16 of the past 18 innings. Unfortunately, they’re 1-2, rather than 2-1. But if they come out of Toronto with a split Thursday, then all is forgiven.

• Zach Miner — Not gonna lie to you, it looked ugly. The first four batters he faced reach base. It was looking like a short start for a guy who was 99.9% going to be a reliever only two or so weeks ago. But he settled in and did fine. After the Jays scored a run on a double by their second batter of the night, they didn’t get on the board again for the night. Miner escaped his bases loaded/no out situation without allowing a run with a little help from his defense. Inge wisely turned a grounder to third into a force at home for the first out. Then a fly to Josh Anderson in right field resulted in a double play when Anderson got the ball to home plate pretty fast with a nice throw for the third out. The Jays really didn’t get a runner to second again until the sixth inning. Miner finished his day with six hits and four strikeouts.
• Jim Leyland — I’ll note right up high he let Bobby Seay be more than a LOOGY, stretching him from the final out of the sixth inning right through a 1-2-3 seventh.
• Miguel Cabrera — Not only did he get his first home run of the season — a relieving 3-run shot in the first inning, helping the Tigers bounce back from Tuesday night –  he got his second too. He’s started off the season hitting above .500. Not bad at all. Finished the night with four RBIs.
• Ryan Perry — He didn’t throw the greatest, but for a guy in his first major league game, you don’t expect him to look like Bobby Jenks or something. The important thing is, his fast ball was moving, and he got out of the game 1-2-3. Leyland said before the game Perry and Rodney would make their season debuts, so it’s nice that the pressure was off for both of them. By the time Perry came in, it was a 5-1 game.
• Fernando Rodney — As FS Detroit color analyst Rod Allen quickly pointed out, Rodney was not the same pitcher we saw last season. He was much more controlled in his delivery, which helped him throw seven strikes in seven pitches in a 1-2-3 ninth inning. He looked much more like closer material than last we saw him. Of course, it was a low pressure situation. We won’t really know too much until we see him in a one-run game. But for now, it’s night-and-day. Rodney’s the closer. Brandon Lyon shouldn’t even be spoken in the same sentence as the job.
• Brandon Inge –  John Keeting reported on FS Detroit that Brandon Inge was the first Tiger since as far back as 1954 to hit three home runs in three days. I don’t know how long Inge’s power streak will last — I mean, we know he can hit the long ball, this isn’t a new part of his game — but we’ll just have to enjoy it while he’s got it. Plus he stole a base!

Rick Porcello makes his MLB debut at noon Thursday in the series closer.

Jays 12, Tigers 5
BOX

What do you say about this one? Geez. It started off so promising for Justin Verlander, then it just crumbled. He got the first two Blue Jays out — one by strikes — then issued a two-out walk. Then gave up four runs before the inning was over. With a little assistance from Eddie Bonine, Verlander left the game after 3-2/3 outs and eight earned runs.  There really weren’t many positives to take away from the defensive half of the Tigers’ innings. Juan Rincon ended his spring training scoreless streak in spectacular fashion by loading the bases in the first game he played in that counts. Three runners scored. New shortstop Adam Everett — he of the defensive wizardry — even committed an error in the midst of the mess. One small highlight for the night: Nate Robertson worked three scoreless outs to strand an inherited runner.

Remarkably, the Tigers did not bow to Roy Halladay’s greatness. Actually, if you look at the box score, you’ll think there’s some sort of mistake. But no, there isn’t. Halladay really did give up five runs. Uncharacteristic, but maybe in line with the fact many of the game’s recognizble aces had absolutely hideous lines today. (Ask an Indians fan about Cliff Lee… no wait, better not.) Four of the Tigers’ runs came after it was already a 9-1 game, but they made it interesting, and you better believe Halladay doesn’t give away free gifts. Curtis Granderson dinged a solo shot. Brandon Inge had a two-run homer. Gerald Laird even drove in a run, and Magglio Ordonez got off the spring training schnide with a pair of hits. The Tigers started a bit slow, as expected, but all in all, not a bad hitting day.

And, of course I have to mention: Somewhere in the middle of Rincon’s mess, Tigers left fielder Josh Anderson almost had a great memory of his first major league baseball game when a fan threw a baseball at his head. Well, near him anyway. So that was, uhm, an interesting way for the Canucks to celebrate.

Anyway, if you’re the type to be negative, I guess you have plenty of ammunition today. If you’re the type to be positive, well, more power to you. I’ll just be a realist here and state it’s just one game. I know, that sounds more like an apologist. But it’s a 162 game season. So, you know, whatever. Half the teams lose on opening day. Two of our division rivals did. (The other two lost their game to snow.) Yeah, Verlander stunk. After last season, it’s a theme to watch. But it’s a new season. So I’m not going to worry. You want a list of guys who sucked today? Reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee (7 runs, 10 hits). CC Sabathia (6 runs, 4-1/3 innings). Brandon Webb (6 runs, four innings). Halladay, obviously, gave up five runs. Francisco Liriano didn’t suck, but he gave up a pedestrian four runs in 7 innings.  So, you know, it’s not like Verlander was alone.

Basically, what I’m saying, or reminding anyway, is that the season just opened. So don’t look for trends anytime soon.

Look on the bright side, at least Fernando Rodney didn’t blow a save!

Jays 6
Tigers 4

Recap:

• Maybe it wasn’t “Miner good, Tigers bad” so much as “Miner good, Tigers bullpen smells like a bag of weekold doggie doo left in the steamy hot sun.”
• Miner allowed 1 run on 1 walk and 5 hits in 6 innings while striking out 5. He took 103 pitches to get there and Leyland pulled him after the sixth. The only run was on a home run.
• Then it all went to hell.
• Bobby Seay, who rarely stumbles, did. Joel Zumaya, who rarely bails out a pitcher, failed to help.
• I guess Farnsworth didn’t do anything wrong. And Dolsi allowed in another run in the ninth, walked two and allowed two hits.
• On the offensive side, well, Gary Sheffield hit a pair of solo home runs. Mad Sheff = Hitting Sheff!
• Magglio also homered.
• The Tigers fell back to 3 under .500.

Analysis:

• Same storyline, different day.
• The emergence of Zach Miner as a viable starter is great news for next year. I think it’s really too early to begin to analyse or predict any of that stuff. But he’s definitely proving he deserves the opportuntiy next year. It could save the Tigers some money, which is good, while giving them a nice change of pace pitcher.
• Did Sheff drive up his value any? I doubt it. But as I suspect he’ll be a Tiger this year and likely next, it’s nice to see him proving he can still hit. Just needs to do it a lot more often.

Tigers 5,
Blue Jays1

Recap:

• The day belonged to the Tigers pitchers.
• Armando Galarraga picked up his second win in as many tries with the tigers. He accounts for 28.5% of the Tigers wins.
• He struck out four and allowed four hits in 5-1/3 innings.
• The Tigers bullpen allowed just one run: Todd Jones gave up a home run, keeping the Detroit from a 5-0 shutout.
• Ryan Raburn made up for making the final out Saturday by driving in the first two runs today.
• Pudge Rodriguez, batting second, went 4-for-5.
• Edgar Renteria went 2-for-4 with a home run.
• Miguel Cabrera’s hitting streak ended at 8 games. But he was named AL co-Player of the Week.
• The Tigers finally won a day game after starting the season 0-10 in the afternoon.
• The Tigers went 3-3 on the road trip with Toronto and Cleveland and have won 5 of the last 8.

Analysis:

• Normally I’m not one to get excited over the W-L record of guys, but considering Galarraga’s allowed just two run, I’m more than happy to give him credit for the Tigers’ wins.
• Word of caution: It’s important to note he loads the bases too often. He did it in back-to-back innings today and pitched out of both. But eventually someone’s going to single or double if he can’t cut down the walks some.
• The question is, when Dontrelle Willis is ready, which I’m guessing follows two more Galarraga starts, what happens to the kid? Especially if he’s still throwing the ball this well. It’s good to tuck him away in Toledo but you hate to send away the only one getting the job done.
• But we also must credit the much-aligned bullpen. They allowed 1 run in the series with Toronto. And that one run came in the ninth inning today.
• Before that, the pen had thrown 12-1/3 scoreless innings.
• I truly do believe the pen isn’t all that bad. I know I’m taking a risk in believing it. But right now, it’s hard not to feel a lot better about the pen than the rotation.
• I don’t like Pudge batting second because his OBP just isn’t that good and I think Edgar Renteria would be perfect in the spot. But it was great to see Pudge have four hits and prove me wrong for the day.
• I don’t get why the Tigers couldn’t win any afternoon games before today, either. I think it’s mostly due to playing so many afternoon games and playing so poorly the first week of the season rather than any glaring weakness. I think the Tigers’ day-game record will be a lot closer to .500 by the end of the year than it is now.
• I’ll take a split and winning 5 of the last 8. The Tigers need better starting pitching we can all agree. But the rest of the club is settling in and when the rotation comes along the Tigers should start to climb back up the standings.

Tigers 5, Blue Jays 4

You’d just like to capture the celebration afterwards, save it and enjoy it for awhile. Detroit rallied from three runs down with two outs and no baserunners to win the game in walkoff fashion, and Jim Leyland was the second man up the steps of the dugout.  He was jumping up and down in the celebration huddle; he was giddy like a little kid. And weren’t we all?

This game was left for dead. It was over. Roy Halladay owned the Tigers, and Kenny Rogers’ two allowed runs were going to be the only ones the Blue Jays needed, even if they did add two more.  Joel Zumaya left the game holding his hand — giving instant fear and relief that it was “only” a finger nail. Pudge left the game with dizzyness. Jeremy Bonderman learned he probably wouldn’t be back this year. The season was left for dead, just as the game. But the Tigers didn’t see it that way.

Two outs. A hit and a double play. That’s how it started. Four straight hits. A walk. And a walkoff single by Magglio Ordonez between first and second base that made me leap from dread the second baseman would glove it to celebration for the victory. And I was happy, but I was no Jim Leyland.

There was a lot of postgame talk and maybe some people think the same. If the Tigers make the post season, you can look back at the ninth inning of this game and point to that.

And I suppose that’s fine. Maybe even true.  And yet, a line we have heard so many times before, I’m kinda tired of it.

I’m just going to enjoy this improbably comeback for what it is. And that’s an incredibly fun moment after all the dread we’ve experienced.  Even if the Tigers may be out of the playoff hunt — in all likelyhood — you can’t let that get you down. It’s still a fun game that grabs you and makes you a little kid for a few minutes, despite everything.

Inning 9

Box

Game 13: Kansas City at Detroit, 7 p.m.
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Zach Greinke (1-1, 1.38, stats vs. current Tigers) vs. Justin Verlander (0-0, 0.00, stats vs. current Royals)

Pregame thoughts — The Tigers finally return home after 10 days on the road and just two games at home in 2007. Right now, Justin Verlander is just asking for some run support. The Tigers have scored just one run during innings he’s pitched. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get any easier when he faces Zach Greinke. As far as the Royals bats go, the annoying David DeJesus has pummeled Justin Verlander in eight at-bats.

Young Greinke’s story may be familiar, but I’ll recite it. The 23-year-old had a great 2005 season at the young age of 21, but before the 2006 season some non-physical issues forced him to miss most of the major league season, though he eventually pitched for AAA-Wichita. But he’s back and he seems to have picked up where he left off. He’s hittable, having given up 14 hits in 13 innings. But he doesn’t walk many and he strikes out a lot (12 so far), so Detroit should be an interesting test for the youngster. Craig Monroe and Placido Polanco both have an OPS over 1.000 against him.

Postgame thoughts (Tigers, 12-5) – About time Verlander got some run support. Oh my did the Detroiters ever get on base and plate the runs for him. Three of the first four batters got on base, and Pudge Rodriguez cleared the bases with a grand slam shot to center-right. It really didn’t get any better from there for Greinke, who threw 49 pitches to just eight batters, retiring just two of them. This was a Tigers team that looked comfortable being patient on the plate, fouling off pitches and waiting for the pitcher to make a mistake. In all, they drew eight walks. Gary Sheffield got on base four times, three by walk, once with a hit. So it was nice to see that eye of his come through — though some “balls” may have been iffy. Four Tigers batters have multiple hits. In all, it was a fun day to be a Tigers fan.

Justin Verlander allowed three runs but stuck around for six innings for the quality start. Naturally, DeJesus took advantage, driving in a run. Verlander allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six. 63 of 98 pitches were thrown for strikes. Not a bad day at all. Jose Mesa, on the other hand, gave up two runs while getting just one out. Not the performance you want from a guy in the pen to eat some innings. Too bad, too. Joel Zumaya had to come in to close the door. Mesa will improve. He can’t get worse, can he? But he’ll draw the ire of a fan base that didn’t want him and doesn’t know why Jim Leyland wanted him. So I expect that to be a theme in the coming days.

In all, just a nice win. No other A.L. Central team played today, so the Tigers are tied for first with the Indians.

Game 12: Detroit at Toronto, 1:07
Pitchers: LHP Nate Robertson (2-0, 1.38) vs. RHP Josh Towers (0-1, 4.76)
TV: FSN

Pregame thoughts: Major League Baseball will celebrate Jackie Robinson today with many African American players — and several teams — wearing his No. 42. Gary Sheffield was the first Tiger asked to wear the number, but coach Lloyd McClendon will be joined by Marcus Thames, Craig Monroe, Curtis Granderson and Pudge Rodriguez.

The Blue Jays Nate Robertson faces today are not the same Blue Jays from his first start of the year. They’re already being touch by injury troubles. Third baseman Troy Glaus and outfielder Reed Johnson are out. Johnson went on the DL. And even more breaking news, B.J. Ryan was placed on the DL with elbow problems after losing his command against Detroit Saturday.

Adam Lind gets the start at left field, John McDonald at third. Neither have enough experience against the Tigers to infer from. Jason Frasor will closer. He earned a win against the Tigers in the season opener and

Pudge has found success off Towers, going 4-for-6. Magglio Ordonez is 5-for-10.

Postgame thoughts (2-1, Jays): You can’t have that Tiger magic every day. Towers handcuffed Detroit’s bats and got the best of Robertson in yet another pitching duel.

You always hate to see a pitcher take a tough-luck loss — when they pitch for a quality start and still get tagged with the L. It’s becoming far-too-frequent with Robertson. I sometimes wonder if there’s a reason he, in particular, has such poor run support when he pitches. In the good and the bad, Detroit has eight quality starts out of 12 games — tops in the American League. But the starts have only picked up victories on half of them.

Towers, of course, wouldn’t have deserved to lose either. He allowed just three hits and one unearned run in 7-2/3 innings. The run came when Curtis Granderson was hit on a pickoff attempt at second base and managed to score when the ball caromed into the outfield.

With the end of the game, the Tigers finished a long 10-game roadtrip with a 6-4 record. Anytime you’re better than .500 on the road, it’s a good trip in my book. And they still haven’t managed to find their bats in the middle of the order. That can’t go on forever. Can it? Detroit takes on Kansas City Monday.

BOX

Around the Central:

Internet went down so, just a quick recap:

TB 6, Minnesota 4 — Rays split the series
Cleveland 2 Chicago 1 — Cleveland won despite having one hit — that in the first inning.
KC-Baltimore PPD

Cleveland is in first place.

Game 11: Detroit at Toronto, 1:07 p.m.
TV: FSN
Pitchers: Chad Durbin (0-1, 11.57) vs. A.J. Burnett (1-1, 7.27)

Pregame thoughts: My stomach recoiled a bit when I looked at the Tigers lineup. It’s not really the lineup that caused the recoil. The lineup is almost identical to Leyland’s regular starting nine. No. I didn’t even notice the names. I just noticed the batting averages listed. The .263 of Carlos Guillen was the highest average. These guys are slumping, and they’re slumping kind of hard early on. Omar Infante is getting the start in place of Placido Polanco, which explains why it looks so ugly. Omar hasn’t even got an at-bat yet.

The good news is, they hit A.J. Burnett around pretty well in his first start. He gave up six runs in two innings. The bad news is, he’s probably not going to be that bad again.

The other interesting thing to note is Chad Durbin’s second start. He lost his first one, having a bit of a meltdown for an inning but pitching fine otherwise. Can he stop the bleeding quick when the Jays inevitably game some runners on base? We’ll see.

Postgame thoughts (10-7, Tigers): Hardly saw any of this game. Certainly there are better recaps around the blogosphere tonight than I could hope to provide.

“Nine full innings” — the Tigers slogan — stood tall as Detroit rallied from a bad pitching performance by Chad Durbin to pull out the victory. Already in this young season, the Tigers have two ninth inning come-from-behind victories. In Jon Paul Morosi’s article, Todd Jones (six saves already this year) said the Tigers have stolen three games. That’s what winning teams do more often than they have games stolen.

Marcus Thames again proved useful coming off the bench. He fought off a pitch by B.J. Ryan in the ninth inning for a game-winning two-run double. Maybe he’ll continue to play himself into the playing time he already deserves. Another standout was reliever Jason Grilli, whom Leyland credited for the win.

Now, about the other matter: Chad Durbin. He got tagged for six runs in four innings. The first three runs came before he even got an out in the first inning. His ERA has ballooned to 12.46 and he’s allowed three homers in 8 2/3 innings.

As I figured, Jim Leyland is going to give him another start, Danny Knobler reports. I have to figure that’s going to be Durbin’s last chance — he’ll face the White Sox — unless he turns things around. I saw his first two or three innings and have to say, he didn’t look any better than his first game. I’m not sure if Leyland sees any potential for Durbin to turn things around or not. Probably. You don’t carry a pitcher you don’t think can turn things around. I’m not sure I do. I wish I saw something. You want Durbin to have a success story. You should, anyway. He’s a Tiger.

I know it seems like I point this out daily — it’s only because the Tigers have been on the road nine out of 11 games this season — Detroit has six wins in nine away games. That’s a great way to start a long trip.

Around the Central:

Minnesota 12, Tampa Bay 5: Sidney Ponson gave up two runs in 5-1/3 innings for the victory. Torii Hunter had two doubles for Minnesota (7-4) Carlos Pena had a pinch hit 3-run homer for the Rays.

Cleveland 4, Chicago 0: The Indians (5-3) finally picked up their first home victory of the season. How strange. Two homers backed Paul Byrd’s six innings of shutout ball. Young Chicago (5-5) pitcher John Danks allowed just two runs but fell to 0-2.

Baltimore 6, K.C. 4: The Royals (3-9) blew a 4-1 lead. Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera followed his ownership of the Tigers by allowing four runs in five innings. Former Tiger Chris Gomez homered to help the O’s.

Game 10: Detroit at Toronto, 7:07, FSN+
Jeremy Bonderman (0-0, 3.75) vs. Roy Halladay (1-0, 3.46)

Pregame thoughts: Cut short because I didn’t leave much time before work, I’ll point out the obvious on this one. This should be a great pitcher’s duel between two guys who should be favorites to finish second in the Cy Young race. They met in the season opener in Detroit, both giving up three runs. Bonderman gave his three up early, Halladay at bit later, and the bullpens settled that game.

Pudge has some luck off Halladay, so he’ll be batting third, Beck pointed out.

Postgame thoughts (Jays, 2-1, 10 innings): I had no idea it would be that much of a pitcher’s duel. We really are flashing back to an earlier era. Jeremy Bonderman pitched nine innings and gave up one run. Roy Halladay pitched 10(!) innings and gave up one run. That is absolutely incredible to have two pitchers dealing like that and two managers who allow them to go the whole way in the same game.

Bonderman’s pitch count was up there, but with only 96 pitches he could have gone a 10th inning probably. That would have been a really classic matchup. But without seeing the game, I have no clue if Bondo was tiring or not. Leyland knows he has a good bullpen so he probably felt comfortable calling on it. Little did he know Fernando Rodney would allow three infield hits — two on bunts — without getting an out.

Oh God. I just realized. Bunt Singles.

Update: I just saw the replay of the 10th inning on FSN. Rodney made a bad decision the first bunt, which was well placed but may have resulted in one out and the runner on second. The next bunt was perfect. Nothing anybody could have done. Runners would have been on first and third with one out. He’d have needed a strikeout to survive. It would have been slightly easier to get out of the inning unscathed if he allowed Sean Casey to make the play on the first bunt. But Toronto executed so perfectly I’m pretty certain there was absolutely nothing the Tigers could have done differently except strike ‘em out. Just tip your caps to the Jays for the victory.

But getting back to Bonderman, it’s early in the season, so I can’t fault Leyland for pulling him. In either case, he’s one heck of a pitcher, dueling Halladay evenly twice already this season. Bondo had four strikeouts in this game and no walks. Somewhat surprisingly, Halladay only racked up two strikeouts.

Too bad his team didn’t get him the win. I guess it would have been too much to ask for a second victory in a pitcher’s duel after Wednesday’s 11 scoreless innings. Too bad Detroit’s offense keeps getting itself into this. The batters faced Halladay, an excellent pitcher. But they made some lesser pitchers look excellent, too

It can be a bit frustrating. Verlander and Bonderman have 0 wins and 0 losses between them while each having a WHIP of 1.0. Bonderman has an ERA in the mid-2s. Verlander has an ERA in the low 0.00s. In the five games they started, the Tigers are 2-3.

(Just because I’m listening to the A’s in the 11th, I’ll point out Dan Haren was 0-2 with an ERA of .69 going into today’s game. So things could be worse. He’ll remain 0-2 with an ERA of 2.00 after today but easily could have been 0-3 without some late heroics by the A’s Eric Chavez… and A’s won).

The good news is the Tigers still have the best record in the A.L., a 3-way tie at 6-4 that means little in itself but shows some positives. Detroit has five wins on the road already, still the most in baseball, which is definitely a good sign. And you know the offense can’t stay this cold. It just can’t. So, I just look to a few positives right now. It stinks to lose, but the overall picture is fine.

Around the Central:

Chicago 6, Cleveland 4: Juan Uribe is on fire. He hit his third homer of the season and added four RBIs for nine, helping the White Sox (5-4) beat the Indians (4-3) in Cleveland’s…uhm… home opener? Javy Vazquez got the victory.

Tampa Bay 4, Minnesota 2: Johan Santana’s home-winning streak ended at 17 games — the Twins won all 24 starts — when the unlikely Devil Rays derailed him behind ace Scott Kazmir. Carl Crawford had an in-the-park homer for the Rays. Minnesota remains tied for first with a 6-4 record. (AP story)

Baltimore 8, K.C. 1: Brandon Duckworth got payback for owning the Tigers last game. Unfortunately the O’s were the ones to collect it. Nick Markakis homered for the O’s. Reggie Sanders went 3-for-4 for the Royals (3-8).