Jones backs up Tigers bullpen

By JEFF PEEK
Record-Eagle staff writer

April 02, 2008 04:00 am

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DETROIT -- Critics of the Detroit Tigers certainly haven't minced words about the Detroit Tigers' bullpen.

Some of the national baseball experts who were riding the Tigers' bandwagon this winter have now jumped off for that very reason. And that doesn't sit well with Detroit closer Todd Jones.

"I take it personally when guys take shots at us," Jones said following the Tigers' 11-inning 5-4 loss to Kansas City in Monday's season opener at Comerica Park. "We're down there doing what we do, and most of the time we're getting guys out.

"We just have to try and weather these storms, pitch well and prove people wrong," he said. "The best way to deal with it is to put up zeros."

Tigers utility man Brandon Inge, who started in center field Monday, defended his teammates.

"You've got to have somebody to pick on and they're it," Inge said. "They're big league pitchers. They're here because they can do the job.

"Everybody in this clubhouse has confidence in them."

It looked like manager Jim Leyland was hoping to prove that right away, considering he trotted out practically every relief pitcher in his arsenal Monday. Starter Justin Verlander allowed four runs in six-plus innings, then was followed by five relievers -- Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay, Aquilino Lopez, Jones and Denny Bautista -- who gave up one run over the next five frames.

"I thought they did a good job," Leyland said. "Our bullpen will be fine. Everybody's making a big deal out of it, but I'm not going to make that an issue on day one.

"We left 10 guys on base. That's why we lost."

DANDY DEBUTS: Miguel Cabrera slugged a home run in his first game in a Detroit uniform, a 377-foot shot that he said he didn't hit very well.

And rookie outfielder Clete Thomas had a memorable major league debut, catching a tricky line drive in left field and doubling off the wall in his only at-bat to give Detroit a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Thomas' double narrowly missed clearing the fence for a home run, and he hit it in the same vacinity as Cabrera's homer.

"The ball that Clete hit and Cabrera's home run, those were impressive," Inge said. "The wind was howling in from center. You had to hit it good to get it out there."

Thomas, a 24-year-old former Auburn standout who played AA ball last summer, said his hit was "obviously a dream come true."

It came on an 0-2 pitch from right-hander Joakim Soria.

"Down 0-2, I was just trying to battle and make contact," Thomas said. "Then I was standing on second and I thought, 'Wow, this is awesome. My first A.B.'"

Jones said Thomas has been a good fit in the Tigers' veteran-dominated clubhouse.

"He's a good ol' country boy. He keeps his mouth shut and does whatever we've asked of him," Jones said, then joked, "You could tell him to go find the key to the batter's box and he'd go looking for it."

Getting serious, Jones added: "He's a great guy, and I think if you asked Jim Leyland, he'd say he's one heck of a ball player."

Jones was exactly right.

"(Thomas) is a good player," Leyland said. "He stayed on a breaking ball and gave us a chance to win."

Cabrera, who has been in the spotlight since his arrival from the Florida Marlins, said he enjoyed his first opener in Detroit, although he was charged with a first-inning error on a low throw and was also disappointed in the final score.

"We had a lot of men on base with two outs, but we didn't get the job done," he said.

Asked if he was nervous before the game, Cabrera laughed.

"It's baseball," he said. "No problem."

DRAWING COMPARISONS: Former Tigers outfielder Willie Horton, now a special assistant to team president Dave Dombrowski, said he was so excited about Opening Day that he had trouble sleeping.

"I was up at 4 this morning, and yesterday I was up at 4:30," he said prior to the game. "This is a special day. I just want it to go well for everybody." Horton said the attitude of the 2008 club is similar to Detroit's 1968 World Championship squad.

"After we came close and lost in '67, we came back in '68 and just expected to win," Horton said. "This team reminds me a lot of that team. We weren't being cocky, we just had confidence in each other."

MUST BE AN OPTICAL ILLUSION: Here's a line you don't see every day.

Second baseman Placido Polanco, who batted .341 with 200 hits last season, went 0-for-6 and left four runners in scoring position. He stranded the game-tying run at third base in the bottom in the 11th inning when Kansas City third baseman Alex Gordon made a diving stop and threw him out to end the game.

"I thought it was going through when I first hit it," Polanco said. "He made a good play."

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