Wrestlemania! (oh, and Opening Day, too)
So I hopped in my car and started heading to Detroit, completely oblivious of the mayhem I was about to encounter: a traffic jam for Wrestlemania. I had to zig-zag my way through downtown Motown to avoid the wall of cars making their way to Ford Field. Finally, though, I reached Comerica Park in time for Toronto’s workout.
Alas, there was more talk of Wrestlemania at the stadium than of actual baseball. Toronto manager John Gibbons was reminiscing of the time way back when, when he went and saw Wahoo McDaniel wrestle. Roy Halladay simply laughed when a reporter asked him if he was a wrestling fan.
No news is good news, though. The hour-long workout went just fine with players taking BP, playing catch, and doing the always important shagging of fly balls in the outfield. Everyone’s healthy and looking forward to Opening Day.
PROJECTED OPENING DAY LINEUPS:
TORONTO
Reed Johnson, LF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Vernon Wells, CF
Frank Thomas, DH
Troy Glaus, 3B
Alex Rios, RF
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Royce Clayton, SS
PITCHING: RHP Roy Halladay
DETROIT
Curtis Granderson, CF
Placido Polanco, 2B
Gary Sheffield, DH
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Carlos Guillen, SS
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Sean Casey, 1B
Craig Monroe, LF
Brandon Inge, 3B
PITCHING: RHP Jeremy Bonderman
DOC vs. Tigers: Halladay has faced Detroit 12 times in his career, going 10-2 with a 1.85 ERA, but hasn’t faced them since 2004. Of Detroit’s projected starting nine, only Granderson and Polanco have never faced the pitcher. The other seven batters have combined to hit .233 (21-for-90) against Halladay. Pudge Rodriguez leads the way, posting a .556 (10-for-18) average against Doc.
BONDERMAN vs. Jays: Detroit’s starter has gone 2-1 with a 3.27 ERA in six career games against Toronto. In 2006, he went 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two starts versus the Jays. Toronto’s starting nine have combined to hit just .188 (12-for-64) against Bonderman. Overbay and Zaun are each 0-for-6 against the righty. Wells leads the way with a .417 (5-for-12) average against Bonderman.
That’s all for now. I’m getting together with a friend of mine tonight to take in the Cardinals-Mets opener. I, for one, am glad Spring Training is in the rearview mirror and the regular season has arrived. Let the games begin…
Major League Bastian 
I just wanted to point out though it doesn’t seem right. Pudge Rodriguez is 10-18 against the jays but that means that he accounts for all the his anybody has ever hit against halladay so that means the rest are a combined 0-80 which is pretty good by my books.
CORRECTION: I switched it in the post, it should’ve read that the 7 Tigers who have faced Halladay are 21-for-90. So, 10 of those hits belong to Pudge and the other 6 guys with experience against Doc have gone 11-for-72 — a .153 average.
Great win yesterday. I was at work and couldn’t get any radio reception to listen to the game so I was following it using MLB’s Gameday application. Even with that I was on the edge of my seat. I must say I was very impressed with Casey Janssen holding the Tigers’ in check while they were countering with Joel Zumaya on the mound.