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A great start to the Jim Leyland era in Detroit. Positive signs abound for the Tigers on this sunny day in Kansas City. The Royals always seem to give the Detroit team fits and it was nice to see the Tigers win a game they should against a lesser opponent. The game was well played and hopefully foreshadowing of things to come. Kenny Rogers was terrific. He threw a very high percentage of first pitch strikes and kept the KC hitters off balance with his off-speed pitches. Rogers work the corners well without giving into the Royals hitters. He went 6 strong for the win without giving up a walk and only allowing a lone two out run on an RBI single by Reggie Sanders. The best sign for the Tigers came in the debut of 21 year old Joel Zumaya who pitched two shut-out innings. Zumaya looked anything like a youngster making his major league debut. He walked Sweeney to lead off the 7th and calmly struck out the next two hitters. Joel consistently threw in the high 90s (96-98) reaching 99 on a number of occasions. He mixed that with a nasty curve about 20 mph slower. This is the first time I have been able to watch Zumaya pitch and I see what the excitement is all about. He is going to dominate in the Olde English D well into the future. Fernando Rodney pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Rodney is filling the closers role while Todd Jones is on the 15 day DL. He also was sharp mixing a mid-90s fastball with off-speed pitches. KC was never able to get a threat going against Rodney. Offensively, there were some good signs and some not so good showings. Chris (Red Pop) Shelton dominated with 2 HRs, 2 RBIs while going 3 for 4. Shelton singled his first AB then pulled an inside curveball down the left field line for his first home run. In his next AB Red Pop took an outside fastball the opposite way about 333 ft just inside the right field foul pole. Watch out as this guy could be a star in the making. The Tigers other run came on a deep drive over the center field wall off the bat of Carlos Guillen. He had a solid game going 2 for 3. Brandon Inge also had two hits with Monroe and Polanco getting the others. Pudge Rodriguez miraculously walked in the game and only needs 10 more BBs to surpass last season’s total. Curtis Granderson struggled at the plate going 0-5 with 3 Ks. However, he did manage to steal a base after reaching on a fielder’s choice. Other notable struggles were Magglio Ordonez and Dmiti Young who both had 0-fers. I don’t worry much about those two veterans, but hopefully Granderson can get going on Wednesday. *** OEs 3 Stars of the Game *** #3 Joel Zumaya – 2 scoreless innings, 3 Ks and looked dominant
#2 Kenny Rogers – 6 complete innings only one run allowed in getting the win
#1 Chris Shelton – 3-4 with 2 HRs and 2 RBIs  April 3, 2006 Detroit 3, Kansas City 1 at Kauffman Stadium
Detroit Record: (1-0) Winning pitcher - Kenny Rogers (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Scott Elarton (0-1)
SV - Fernando Rodney (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 9 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 DET HR - C. Guillen (1) C. Shelton (2)
KC HR - On Tap – Game 2 @ KC Wednesday, April 5th 2:10 ET
Jeremy Bonderman v. Joe Mays
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Go Tigers!!!
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