Nice Start

The Tigers won 17-4 today against Florida Southern. Pictures of this game and the rest of Spring Training can be found at LFT Blog. While it was an exhibition against a Division 2 college school, there was a lot to be excited about in this game.

• Miguel Cabrera homered in his first at bat.
• Jeff Larish went 2/2 with two walks. Unfortunately, he also committed an error.
• Michael Hollimon, a man more deserving of a major league bench spot than Ramon Santiago, went 2/4 with a three-run homer. He too committed an error.
• Freddy Guzman went 3/4 with a triple. I'm not too excited about this, though. I worry when inferior players do well in Spring Training. Despite his speed and defense, Freddy Guzman would be a detriment to this team if he makes it over Ryan Raburn. I know it's probably not right to root against players, but in Spring Training, when things don't count and decisions are often made over too little information, I'd prefer it if players don't give the wrong impression.
• The same can go for Jordan Tata, who is a long shot for the team anyways. He got rocked in his inning and two-thirds of work.

With Spring Training starting up, I get to rant about a pet peeve of mine: the generous use of assigning "firsts" and "debuts" to exhibition games. Ultimately, people are going to call this game "Miguel Cabrera's Tiger Debut," or "Miguel Cabrera's first Tiger Homerun." It's not. It is an exhibition and practice just like everything else. This is no more a homerun than the several Cabrera has probably hit in batting practice this spring. It just annoys me to hear exhibition games called debuts when I make the mistake of flipping to Sportscenter. Miguel Cabrera's Tigers debut will likely come on opening day, and his first Tigers homerun will likely come soon thereafter. They did not occur today.