Grapefruit League Action Begins Today

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

The Tigers travel to Dunedin this afternoon for a 1 pm tilt with the Blue Jays to open the Grapefruit League schedule. As is the case with most road games, many of the big boys were left off the travel squad. Unless you’re in Dunedin this afternoon, you won’t be able to see the action, but MLB Gameday Audio has the Blue Jays feed. For twenty bucks for the whole year and no blackouts, Gameday Audio is a great value. I re-upped for this year this morning.

As DetroitChick pointed out today on twitter, 40 is the number of the day. The Tigers home opener is April 8, 40 days from today. Phil Coke wears number 40 for the Tigers and guess who is starting the game this afternoon? Why Coke is, of course. Isn’t it fun how that all ties together?

The rest of the Tigers lineup and pitchers after the jump.

• CF- Austin Jackson
• 2B- Scott Sizemore
• LF- Ryan Raburn
• DH- Brennan Boesch
• 3B- Brandon Inge
• 1B- Ryan Strieby
• RF- Casper Wells
• SS- Danny Worth
• C-  Alex Avila

Given that the travel squad is significantly smaller than the full complement of players in camp, we can expect the starters to each get at least a couple of at bats today. Expect Coke to work the first couple of innings. He’ll be followed by Brad Thomas and Robbie Weinhardt. Al Aburquerque and Duane Below are also scheduled to work in this game.

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