Watching the opening moments of the baseball season I can’t help but get into the way that Jim Leyland the manager of the Detroit Tigers tried to lose their afternoon affair with the Toronto Blue Jays. He did not make any defensive switches or substitutions for some mediocre fielders already struggling throughout the contest, consistently fighting their surroundings all game. The game was 9-0 nothing folks and he left Nate Robertson in to give up two than put in Jason Grilli which was okay until he gave up another 5. So then unbeknownst to me he decides to put in Fernando Rodney who was beaten up by the Jays in the previous game which he went on to lose and cost his team a chance of breaking the tie themselves.

Just a few bonehead moves to allow his team to almost go 0-2 to start the season. This game became truly a lot closer than it should have been. Toronto surely will be pitching themselves out of games and continually trying to hit their way back into games this year. It is early but your manager should not try to just keep warm and forget he has a game to win, not to just act lackadaisical like it wouldn’t matter.

Another sunny day in Kansas City for tonight’s game, with first pitch commencing at 810pm-ET. Boston is slightly favored by a small margin in the game tonight. People are still unsure of what type of Beckett they will see and after Schillings performance on opening day all bets are off.

After using six pitchers in the 7-1 loss on Monday, Boston needs a longer outing from Beckett. The day between games will hopefully be enough to rest a few arms from the pen.

In contrast Josh Beckett has faired a little better than his counterpart for the Royals Odalis Perez. Beckett has posted a 1-0 record in 22 IP and a 2.45 earned run average. Perez’s era is almost three and a half with a 0-1 record in 19+ IP.

Look for a few good match ups for hitters today as Ortiz has owned Perez going 4-6 with one homer. Mark Grudzielanek has seen a lot of Beckett and is posting a .364 batting average. The same can’t be said for David DeJesus as he is batting .182 at the leadoff spot.

Written by Contributing Editor Scott Penny