Not a lot of great pitching matchups today. Eh, that happens…

White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over …read more

So, what are we watching today? I’ll be out at the Padres/Astros game this afternoon, but here are Thursday’s top matchups:

Royals at Tigers, 10:05 a.m. PT — First off, Kansas City has taken the first two games of this series, which I’m sure nobody expect. Second, two talented yet enigmatic pitchers square off in this one. Zack Greinke appeared to get his career back on track in 2007 and looks to continue progressing this year, while Jeremy Bonderman tries to solve his first-inning woes and become the front-line pitcher folks have been anticipating.
Blue Jays at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — …read more

We’ve got our staff predictions up at Hardball Times. I go into greater detail about Padres-specific items over at Ducksnorts.
At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).
I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…
How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

Fourteen games are on tap for Opening Day 2008. Sure, the Red Sox and A’s played some games in Japan, but nobody on this side of the pond watched, and the Nationals opened their new ballpark in the made-for-ESPN Sunday night game, but today is when the season really begins.
Ordinarily in this space I would tell you which games are most worth watching, but on Opening Day, they’re all worth watching. The first games (Blue Jays at Yankees, Royals at Tigers) start at 10:05 a.m. PT, while the last (Astros at Padres; of course, I’ll be there!) gets going at …read more

   Photo by TomGazpacho   some rights reserved
Today’s entrant comes from the modern era. Right-hander John Kiely pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1991 to 1993. Although his career consisted of just 54 big-league appearances, Kiely managed to accomplish something pretty impressive: He posted a career ERA+ of 96 despite walking more than twice as many batters as he struck out.
Kiely’s lone full season came in ‘92, when he went 4-2 with a 2.13 ERA in 39 games. Consistent with the rest of his career, he walked 28 and fanned 18 over 55 innings.
Kiely was born on October 4, 1964. Other notable baseball …read more

I’ve been holding off on this one because it isn’t finalized, but everyone and their mother is reporting the deal, so I suppose it’s safe to comment. The Florida Marlins reportedly are sending Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rabelo, Eulogio De La Cruz, Dallas Trahern, and Burke Badenhop.
This is going to take a while, so you may want to pull up a chair. Heck, go ahead and order a pizza.
Headed to Detroit
Cabrera is a stud. There’s no other way to put it. In any given year, he’s a legitimate MVP …read more

He’s 40 years old,
Doesn’t strike anyone out –
7 million, please.
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Yesterday we looked at my preseason picks for the AL West. Today we move to the AL Central:

Tigers – They enjoyed a solid season and stayed in the wild card race for a long time, but no repeat in Detroit. Despite some tremendous individual offensive performances, there just wasn’t enough pitching to carry them back to the playoffs.
White Sox – Geez, I picked them to win the wild card? They might not finish ahead of Kansas City.
Twins – Hey, look, I got one right. Minnesota should get extra credit for remaining somewhat competitive despite the continued presence of Nick Punto …read more

There are a lot of fun stories this year in baseball: Josh Hamilton, Jack Cust, Rick Ankiel. How about YALHH (yet another left-handed hitter), Carlos Pena?
Pena, in case you missed it, ranks second in the American League with 33 homers through September 1. This is a guy who hit 23 home runs all last year at Triple-A (plus one with the Red Sox). Hot prospect? Well, yeah, like in 2000 and 2001. Pena had his shot with the Tigers, did okay before fading away, and now has come back with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Somewhere along the line, Pena turned …read more

I hope you had an excellent baseball weekend. I’ve got no complaints. Well, that’s not entirely true, but you didn’t come here for those.
Some great games on Monday’s schedule, including four big playoff contender showdowns:
American League

Yankees at Tigers, 4:05 p.m. PT — Mike Mussina and Justin Verlander hook up at Comerica Park. Mussina has given up seven runs in each of his last two starts and now sports a 5.22 ERA on the season. It might not be time to stick a fork in him just yet, but maybe someone should poke around a little. Yikes, and now …read more