Tigers report!

This was fun. I recommend it. The drive was painless and less than an hour. Parking was $5, and then I was there. [cue "let there be light" music]



Joker Marchant Stadium is a good place to watch a ballgame (Joker Marchant, incidentally, was the director of parks in Lakeland back in the late 40s and was instrumental in setting up "Tigertown"). I don't think there's a bad seat in the house. I had a "nosebleed" seat, and this was the view.



Do note the sea of white hair. This is Lakeland, Florida in March, folks. The crowd was pretty "mature." But a fabulous baseball crowd. I saw people meeting up who apparently do this every year as part of their snowbird routine. Most of the stadium staff was from the same demographic, which meant that service was available and cheerful, although a bit hard of hearing.

The Tigers looked good. Mike Maroth started out pitching, and looked like he might be able to make it work this year. Justin Verlander, not surprisingly, threw the ball really hard. The infield looked good, with the exception of a dropped popup by Sean Casey. After last year's World Series performance, my guess is that there've been plenty of infield drills.



Sean Casey at second base. I love this guy because he can hit, and he can play his position, but he can't run. He was standing on second because he'd hit a hard bouncer into the right field corner. It rattled around for a while. And it was still close at second. Gotta love him.

After about the fifth inning, both teams started playing the guys who won't be make the team this year. Mostly that was pretty dull, but some of the non-roster invitees were interesting.

Timo Perez brought back some Lou Whittaker memories, both from the way he handled himself in the batter's box and the way he hit the ball. Brandon Watson did some very nice hitting, and was smart and quick on the base path. That was fun to see.

As for the food, I recommend the pulled pork sandwich ($6 with potato salad). I left fat and happy, but unlike some fans, I did not get to nap on the way home.