Tigers face Mets in real spring opener

After pounding Florida Southern yesterday, the Tigers will face a major league team today - the Mets. Danny Knobler has the Tigers starting line-up:

Curtis Granderson CF
Placido Polanco 2B
Timo Perez DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Miguel Cabrera 3B
Carlos Guillen 1B
Edgar Renteria SS
Pudge Rodriguez C
Jacque Jones LF

With the exception of Gary Sheffield in place of Perez, that is the line-up I expect to see on opening day of the regular season as well (Jim Leyland confirmed later that this is indeed going to be the starting line-up). I would rather see Cabrera bat third but it doesn't make a big difference. Jeremy Bonderman is starting.

Final: Tigers 4 Mets 2

Bonderman pitched 2 innings and allowed 2 runs but he was not throwing his slider in his first outing. The best news is that he threw pain free.

The Tigers scored 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh on hits by Marcus Thames, Wilkin Ramirez, Mike Hessman and Brandon Inge (who played some center field today).

The Tigers bullpen pitched 7 scoreless innings including two perfect innings apiece for Jason Grilli and Zach Miner and one for Tim Byrdak.

Fernando Rodney has tendinitis and is still not throwing. It's not believed to be anything serious but, given his past arm problems, I think there is cause for a little concern.