Tigers Today: March 31, 2010

Tigers’ Spring Training Record: 15-10-1

Today’s Game:

Tigers vs. Pirates | 1:05 p.m. ET – Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland | On the air: MLB Gameday Audio (Pirates’ broadcast)

Pitching Matchup: Justin Verlander (1-3, 5.63 ERA) vs. Zach Duke, (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

Also scheduled to pitch: Phil Coke and Brad Thomas

Yesterday’s Results

Tigers 10 – Orioles 9 | Box Score

Mere moments after the Nate Robertson trade was announced — which secured Dontrelle Willis‘ rotation spot — D-Train celebrated by surrendering five earned runs in 4.1 innings — his worst outing of the spring.

Offensively, Miguel Cabrera hit about 1,000 feet worth of homers with one in the first and another in the fifth. Scott Sizemore and Don Kelly also went yard.

Tigers History Lesson

Birthdays

• Tracy Jones, 49. Sparky Anderson once said that Jones had intensity on the field that reminded him of Kirk Gibson. Jones hit .246 for the Tigers in 96 games for the Tigers in 1989-90.

On this Date in Tigers History

• 1994 – Acquired C Alan Zinter from the Mets for 1B Rico Brogna

• 1998 – The Tigers defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their first-ever game 11-6 at Tropicana Field. Justin Thompson got the win.

• 2003 – The Tigers opened their worst season ever with a 3-1 loss to the Twins at Comerica Park. Get a load of this star-studded lineup:
  

  Gene Kingsale, CF
  Omar Infante, SS
  Dmitri Young, LF
  Bobby Higginson, RF
  Dean Palmer, DH
  Carlos Pena, 1B
  Eric Munson, 3B
  Brandon Inge, C
  Ramon Santiago, 2B
  Mike Maroth, P

• 2009 – The Tigers stunned just about everyone when they released DH Gary Sheffield — who was one homer shy of 500 — and ate his $14 million contract.