Was he safe? According to Dan & Jim, the tag was there ahead of Castellanos. According to the White Sox dugout coaches, they weren’t sure. Not before the time to appeal the play had expired and the call was finalized, anyway. But the White Sox internal replay system not moving quick enough is not the real issue, it’s that Ventura should have challenged the play no matter what, considering the circumstances. Let’s hope that Ausmus learned something.

Well, the Tigers are now off to the same 9-1 start as the ’11, ’68, and ’84 Tigers. In case you’re not thinking clearly this morning, the ’68 and ’84 seasons ended with a World Series championship.

So things are going as well as the could, let’s just enjoy the ride. There was a little chatter on yesterday’s thread expressing displeasure with situational hitting. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Tigers are first in the Majors in OPS with RISP at .975, 8th in RISP with two outs (.849), and 6th in R3L2o (1.016). TL;DR: The Tigers are mashing the ball right now.

Sale v. Sanchez today, don’t expect too many runs on the board. Perez gets his first start of the season. Baseball Reference Game Preview here.

1. Davis, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, V DH
5. Marinez, J.D. RF
6. Cespedes, LF
7. McCann, C
8. Perez, 3B
9. Iglesias, SS

Not a lot of time this morning, but I’ll just say that so far so good. Hard to find fault with any part of the Tigers club so far, everything is going our way. Even the calls seem to be. But good teams will have streaks like this, just don’t get too down when we lose a few in a row. It’s a long season.

No update on Verlander…I don’t think he’s coming off of the DL anytime soon.

Here are the weekend probables.

(all times Eastern)

Friday 1:08 PM: Samardzija v. Price

Saturday 1:08 PM: Sale v. Sanchez

Sunday 1:08 PM: TBD v. Greene

It certainly didn’t make much of a splash when the Tigers shipped Robbie Ray off to the Diamondbacks, and in return got Shane Greene from the Yankees (who got Didi Gregorius from Arizona). But if his first two starts are any indication, Shane Greene may turn out to be an absolute steal, not to mention the fact that he is not free agent eligible until 2021 and pulling in all of $515,000.

It would be hard to exaggerate how thoroughly Greene dominated the Pirates last night. There were only three base runners in eight innings, all on singles (no walks), and none of them reached 2nd base. Greene breezed through eight with only 81 pitches only 25 of which were balls (that’s 3 balls per inning)–and this after pitching eight his first start with only 85 pitches. If it were not an Interleague game (did I mention…yes, I did), Greene looked all set for a complete game shutout.

Ausmus said that he considered letting Greene bat in the 8th, until Iglesias made it to 2nd with a double, which was more like a single plus inadvertent defensive indifference. Ausmus’ logic was that scoring a 2nd run in that situation increased the probability of winning more than keeping a dominant pitcher in with a one-run lead. What do you think?

At any rate, the extra base taken by Iglesias may turn out to be one of those hidden pivotal plays, since it brought Soria into the game, which he closed like…a closer, which could possibly turn into something good.

Of course Greene didn’t do it all himself: there were a whole lot of good defensive plays: Kinsler robbed a single with a diving stop; Cespedes, Davis, and Martinez all made good running catches in the outfield, and Iglesias was a one game highlight reel–even the play he didn’t make was worth several replays, as he somehow managed to fling a cross-body throw to first while on his back. With an improved Castellanos at 3rd, dare I say the Tigers may actually have a good team defensively now?

Castellanos did provide one of the lowlights of the game, stranding another two on base, as did Alex “Shift Bait” Avila hitting ’em where they are. The real lowlight though had to be the weak pinch-hit at bat by Victor Martinez, who (shhhhh) does not look very good at all so far this season.

In other news, Justin Verlander pitched a simulation game today (I’m pretty sure he’s pitched a bunch of those the last two seasons), although it was cut short at three innings instead of the schedule four.

Today’s Undefeated at Night Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. Alfredo Simon, P

Francisco Liriano goes for the guys with the yellow P on their hats, and he has bedeviled both Cespedes (1-for-10) and Kinsler (3-for-17, yikes). The Pirates should be familiar with Simon from his time on the Reds, but none of them have hit him particularly well.

Oh, and everybody is #42 today, to honor Jackie Robinson.

5-0! What do you know!

Though that’s only good enough for tied in the AL Central as the Royals also won yesterday to stay unbeaten.

The offense was relentless last night, coming back once from behind, and then putting up 4 huge runs in the top of the 9th. We could definitely empathize with the Indians fans in the top of the 9th. Allen may not have another inning like that all season. But give credit to the Tigers’ hitters as they worked counts, went the opposite way, and rescued the staff. Price was probably good enough to win, though the runs did come after his error.

Kyle Lobstein takes the ball today for the Tigers. He was called up on April 8th when JV was placed on the DL. Speaking of JV, he felt “fine” after a throwing session yesterday, so hopefully he’ll be ready to go when his spot comes up on the 22nd at home against the Yankees.

In other news:

– VMart said that the knee wasn’t really an issue and he’s not concerned.He’s still in today’s lineup. Remember that he won’t be starting over the next three in Pittsburgh.

– Derek Holland was placed on the 60 day DL down here in Texas. After what happened last year, and then losing Darvish for the season in Spring Training, I guess nothing is unexpected.

– Braves are the only 5-0 team in the NL.

– Adrian Gonzalez is on pace for 162 HR and 227 RBIs.

Today’s Lineup against lefty TJ House:

1) Davis, CF
2) Kinsler, 2B
3) Cabrera, 1B
4) Martinez, V DH
5) Martinez, J RF
6) Cespedes LF
7) Castellanos, 3B
8) McCann, C
9) Iglesias, SS

Baseball Reference Game Preview here.:

The Tigers doubled up the Indians last night to move to 4-0, which is becoming custom around here. This marks the third time in four years that the Tigers have started off 4-0. Can’t really complain about that.

Now, again, it is early, but there is a lot to like about this history-making 4-0 start. The pitching has been tremendous, the hitting has been awesome, and yesterday afternoon, the Tigers faced staved off the club’s first bit of adversity. After buidling a 5-0 lead, the Indians rattled off 5 straight hits with one out in the 6th to get as close as 5-3. Al Al came in with runners on 1st and 2nd, and after starting the count 1-2, saw Gomes work the count to 3-2. Walking Gomes would have put the go ahead run on 1st and sent the home crowd into an opening day frenzy. But Gomes bounced into a not so routine double play on the next pitch, and then the Tigers took advantage of Indians’ miscues in the top of the 7th to get to 8-3. The Indians got another in the 8th to get to the final of 8-4.

Every game has a critical moment or two which serves as a pivot point for the outcome. I believe that the Alburquerque pitch on 3-2 to induce a double play was the one yesterday.

The Indians moved up Kluber, so we get a matchup of Price v. Kluber this afternoon. Should be great.

Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday.

For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

–Song of Solomon 2:14, preferably read in the voice of Ernie Harwell.

Well, here we are, it’s Monday, and one of the great days in sports, Opening Day in Major League Baseball (we won’t count that thing in Chicago last night), topped off by a nitecap of NCAA basketball finals.

I was actually out walking around a local lake yesterday, and saw hundreds of turtles out sunning. Didn’t hear any singing though; perhaps I didn’t listen closely enough, or perhaps they wait until the first pitch.

The Tigers will look familiar enough; despite a few changes in the starting lineup, they are still a team of strong bats, a strong arm on the mound, not much on the bench, and a prayer for the bullpen.

For the first time in 8 years, that arm on the mound will not be in a jersey with Verlander on the back, although Justin Verlander has not actually been put on the DL as was previously announced. He threw 40 pitches off the mound yesterday; Ausmus said he “felt good” (yay!) until the last couple pitches (ohhh). Stay tuned.

And speaking of familiar faces, that guy with a big grin in the Twins jersey is Mr. Torii Hunter, making his 17th consecutive Opening Day start. He is also batting 4th, which says a thing or two about the Twins lineup.

* * * * * * * * * *

For those interested in Opening Day festivities, the Tigers front office has their own blog which I will be checking regularly this season, because how else to know who is throwing out the ceremonial first pitches?

Today that honor belongs to Oscar Winner and and Tiger fan J.K. Simmons, who will spend the remainder of the game in the bullpen yelling “encouragement” to the relievers. (That last part has yet to be verified).

There are also important notices there about new food at Comerica, such as “bacon on a stick topped with deviled eggs and fried jalapeños.” Oh dear.

OK, I’m back. I just spend an hour trying to get bacon on a stick. I was going to try to put eggs on top too, but I don’t want to miss the game.

The Four Tops will be singing the National Anthem. The Tigers are 0-0 in games opened by the Four Tops.

* * * * * * * * * *

Today’s Opening Day Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Pitching: David Price vs. Phil Hughes

The only real surprise in the lineup is the right-handed Davis batting against the right-handed Hughes, but Ausmus is playing past history here: Gose is 1-for-11 lifetime against Hughes. Speaking of history, Cabrera is hitting a fat 16-for-34 with 5 HRs off of Hughes, so he is the unsurprising pick for Opening Day Player of the Game.

The key hitter for the season though will be Cespedes. Assuming everyone stays healthy (I’m looking at you, Victor), the Cabrera-Martinez-Martinez triad should be as good as last season. Cespedes keeps knocking on the door of greatness, only to nap on the doorstep when nobody answers. It’s time for him to force his way in.