Game 1 Recap

In a repeat of last year's opener, the Tigers drop one in extra innings. It looked good early on with the way Verlander was pitching and the way the Tigers were hitting, but the Royals just wouldn't go away and took one from the home team in 11 innings.

Tigers 4 Royals 5
W: Leo Nunez (1-0)
L: Denny Bautista (0-1)

My Game Notes:

• Justin Verlander had around 85 pitches of Cy Young candidate stuff. Then the home run to Alex Gordon, and the top of the 7th happened. Still good to see him effective this early in the season
• Here's how the new guys did: Miguel "El Palo Grande" Cabrera 1-5 with that 1 being a solo HR, Edgar Renteria 1-5 with an RBI, Jacque Jones 0-4 and replaced by Clete Thomas who notched his first MLB hit in his first MLB at-bat, but was stranded at 3rd in the 11th. All in all, too much swinging not enough contact by the new guys as they were responsible for 7 of the 11 K's for the Tigers. I'm hoping it was just Opening Day jitters in the new park for these guys
• 4 walks by Gary Sheffield, with the first 2 coming after being down 0-2. I think he'll have a better April this year
• to paraphrase Rod Allen, I think the new riser seats on the porch in right and under the scoreboard in leftfield should be dubbed "The Seats Cabrera Built"
• Rod's first "Durrty" of the season, top of the 5th after Verlander struck out John Buck
• that 7th inning was just Grilli being Grilli.
• I was surprised to see Aquafina Aquilino Lopez come out instead of Zach Miner after Bobby Seay
• I'm sure the bullpen will be the focus of every story, column, and post about the game today. I'll give them a 20 game cushion to prove themselves before I hit the panic button.
• Denny Bautista was up and down, striking out three, but allowing 5 baserunners in 2 innings of work
• Brandon Inge has some very goos at-bats and a great play to show off his laser-rocket arm to keep the game tied (at the time) in the 11th
• I don't know if Placido Polanco has ever gone 0-6 in a game in his career
• On the plus side, there is a day off tomorrow to rest the bullpen

Tigers Record
W - L
0 - 1