What a Monday in Detroit. The Tigers season opener (in Toronto). A National Championship in your city with a Spartans team that looked destined to finish a storybook tourney run. And then, that day actually happened. The Tigers and Spartans both not only lost, but both were beaten very early on.
OH JUSTIN VERLANDER, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? Remember a couple years back, when the Tigers were "set for years to come." We had a young stud in Verlander, a strong #2 in Jeremy Bonderman, and a closer of the future in Joel Zumaya. Now Verlander is coming off a season with an ERA of almost 5.00 and a record of 11-17. Bonderman appears to have an injury that may never go away, and Zumaya appears to have not cared enough about his career to take care of himself.
On Monday Night, versus the Toronto Blue Jays, Justin Verlander showed Tigers' fans that it may just be another long Tigers season. Verlander couldn't make it 4 innings. He gave up 8 Earned Runs, and put the Tigers in a hole that they had almost zero chance of getting out of. His velocity was there (hitting upper 90's consistently), but the location was off, and the movement was non-existent.
The Tigers offense also did not show up until it was far too late. The first time through the lineup the only person to reach base was Curtis Granderson, and he was quickly erased when Polanco hit into a double play. There were far too few good signs in this game, but both Granderson and Brandon Inge did go deep. Nate Robertson also pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
The best part of the game was not the game itself, but the fact that it was only 1 of 162. Furthermore, in baseball "momentum is only as good as the next days starting pitcher". OK Edwin Jackson, lets see how good YOU are.
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