Young, talented, and beautiful Kirsten Haglund, a.k.a. "Miss America" from Farmington Hills, Michigan did double duty at the Tigers' home opener yesterday. Make that triple duty.

Act I. She sung the national anthem before the game. Beautifully done.

Then she reared back and fired the "first pitch" to Pudge Rodriguez. High hard one! Strike at the letters. She was so excited that she was jumping up and down waving her arms wildly.

Act II signed, sealed and delivered.

Incredibly, the tiara didn't budge? Super glue? Gorilla glue? Hell, she was so smoking...it probably didn't have any glue holding it up there at all! She could have probably stepped on the conveyor at a car wash and put herself through and the tiara would still be sitting there when she got through. Only it would be a little bit shinier with the hot wax...

Act III. Seventh inning stretch. Royals leading 4-3. She strolls out to the front iof the plate and sings "God Bl;ess America".

The gray, yet surprisingly mild day was wildly celebrated here in grimy, pothole filled Motown, even though the local nine lost in eleven to the Royals. The new guy (Miguel Cabrera) belted one out in left to make it 3-0 in the fifth. Former third baseman, now super sub Brandon Inge made a perfect throw from center in the eleventh inning to nail a Royal trying to score the go-ahead run.

Unfortunately that was followed by a Texas leaguer off the bat of Tony Pena Jr. that dropped in front of Brandon. This time he tried to barehand it and in his haste to hurry the relay, it slipped off his hand and the game slipped away from the Tigers.

But it will go down in my attendance sitting comfortably in the third row of the right field upper deck as a great memory.

The day Miss America arrived and none of the greaseball politicians were anywhere in sight. Now, as long as Kwame doesn't have Kirsten's cell number.

You can never be sure that he will not get that trigger finger engaged...

STOP HIM before he texts again!!!

Musings from the public library on a day off...

I signed up in an autodraft league with a couple colleagues from CBS (ksudodgers and brony). You set draft priorities by position and hers's what I came up with. Ksudodgers and I just swung a major trade. I swapped Vernon Wells, Chase Utley and Jon Garland for Justin Verlander, Grady Sizemore and Ian Kinsler. It's nice to actually find a realistic trading partner, we swapped proposals and I feel we each got solid value.

I think my team could be a powerhouse (don't we all think that in March?)

Here is my current roster:

Starters

C Brian McCann

1B Ryan Howard

2B Ian Kinsler

SS Hanley Ramirez

3B Garrett Atkins

CF Grady Sizemore

RF Ichiro Suzuki

LF Josh Willingham

Utility Kevin Youkilis

Reserves

2B Jeff Kent

C Ryan Doumit

OF Jermaine Dye

DH Gary Sheffield (must make 5 non DH starts before ineup eligible, that's why I got him off waivers)

Starting Pitchers 

Justin Verlander

Cole Hamels

Roy Halladay

Joe Blanton

Relievers

Francisco Cordero

Jason Isinghausen

Brad Lidge

Reserve Pitchers

Gil Meche

Jamie Walker

What do you think guys?

Faces in new places all around the American League

Bedard Hunter Rolen Garland O. Cabrera M. Cabrera Swisher Hunter Eckstein Renteria Willis

Pictured above are most of the major players that either came over to the American League this off season from the National League or are new to their teams for this season. Just so that I am not leaving anybody out, not pictured are Josh Hamilton of Texas (from Cincinnati), Jose Guillen of Kansas City (via Seattle), Matt Garza of Tampa Bay (from Minnesota for Delmon Young pictured above), Emil Brown of Oakland (via Kansas City) and, of potential significance Bartolo Colon of Boston (via Los Angeles Angels). Colon was let go because the Angels have a deep rotation and he has struggled to regain velocity on his fastball following last season's injuries. Word is that he is up to near 88MPH and he represents a can't lose opportunity for Boston to literally get "something for nothing" if he can remain healthy and recover a little more velocity on his heater.

So how are things going to shake out? The first impulse is to go with the defending champion. Boston certainly has an imposing team and has to figure in the first breath of discussion. The last time a team repeated in the American League is New York in 2000-2001. It is indeed a tall order. There are a number of very good teams in the running every season.

Recently, teams that have advanced to the World Series in the AL have returned with a bunch of fatigued arms on the pitching staff. This seems to be the current flavor. It happened to some degree to New York in 2004 after losing to the Marlins in 2003, as well as to Boston in 2005 after finally breaking the curse against the Cardinals the previous year.

It definitely plagued the two most recent winners of the AL flag. Chicago's pitching crumbled like a house with a water logged foundation in 2006 and Detroit experienced similar results last year with a much younger staff.
So, I think that there is something worth monitoring in this trend. Also, it is so competitive and so difficult just to simply qualify for the playoffs but then to win two rounds to get in the World Series...well, you see where I am going. The odds are definitely stacked against you no matter how good a club you show up to spring training with.

So, who emerges into the World Series this year? I like Cleveland's chances better than anyone. Number one, they came painfully close last season. Number two, they will have a better offense than they had in 2007. Why? Nobody had even close to a career best season. Grady Sizemore had a solid season, yet fell to .277. Travis Hafner (above) had good power numbers but they paled compared to 2006. He too, fell from over .300 all the way to .266. It looked like he was back in business with a hot September after a very difficult summer at the dish, yet turned cold as ice in the postseason.

Finally, the biggest concern they had (have?) is closer. Joe Borowski competed all season with Detroit's Todd Jones as the least valuable closer with the highest number of saves. They both had more ups and downs than one experiences on the Gemini (the famous roller coaster at Cedar Point, slightly over halfway to Cleveland from Detroit). The biggest acquisition in a relatively uneventful off season for the Tribe was Japanese import Masahide Kobayashi (no relation to the hot dog eating champion). He's a little long in the tooth (33 years) and was only 2-7, 3.61 with Chiba Lotte in Japan. But he did post 27 saves and has over 200 saves in his career in Japan. So he provides an alternative should Borowski continue to wobble and eventually fall down.

C.C. Sabathia (above right) is in his "walk year". Will he succumb to pressure of having to excel for potential suitors at season's end? Or will he rise to the occasion with a career year? Keep him running in the outfield Eric Wedge...

Tigers fans...I know you are lining up to give me a whipping. Just because I don't pick my favorite team to win it does not mean I have any less love for them. And I also feel that any of the first six teams I list could win it, possibly seven.

The List:

1. Indians

Their lineup is close to as explosive as any except for possibly Detroit. The starting pitching is healthier and better overall and have two aces to Detroit's one. Fausto Carmona may not fare quite as well now that he is better known to A.L. hitters, but he'll do fine. Very solid middle relief and an additional possibility at closer. Key player: P C.C. Sabathia.

2. Red Sox

Gotta like the fact that they are replenishing with young, homegrown talent. Jacoby Ellsbury was great down the stretch and post season. Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz (no hitter) offer pitching hope. Rotation may suffer fatigue, in fact Tim Wakefield is a bigger question every year and Curt Schilling is already down. Daisuke Matsuzaka must at least equal his audition year. Hideki Okajima overall was very impressive but wore down in second half. See a pattern here? Is Manny Ramirez wearing down too? He's in great shape and seems content but had his worst season offensively in over a decade. Key player: LF Manny Ramirez.

3. Angels

Why sign Torii Hunter when your outfield is full? Well, the plan in LA is to rest an outfielder in every game as the DH. I see Hunter and Gary Matthews playing most in the field, with Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson getting the most rest. Jon Garland's acquisition looks better every day with Kelvin Escobar battling a sore shoulder. The guy will eat innings and fare much better than he did in the launching pad known as "Cape U.S. Cellular Field". If Erick Aybar is ready as advertised, it will make up for the loss of SS Orlando Cabrera. Good team speed and defense, good setup men in the bullpen and a solid albeit very disgruntled closer makes for a very good team. They are short only in home run power. Key player: SS Erick Aybar.

4. Yankees

Most regulars, the closer and the members of the rotation are another year closer to their inevitable end as major leaguers, but a change at manager will shake things up. Still lots of hitting, but defense is not strong overall, there is some team speed but it is slowing with the exception of Melky Cabrera. The Bombers are able to squeeze one more year of decent production out of Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina and may yet get a few out of Mariano Rivera.Chien Mien-Wang consistent if underwhelming at the top of the rotation. Leave Joba at set up as Kyle Farnsworth has been awful and LaTroy Hawkins may not flourish in the Big Apple.There's a lot of young pitching with Joba Chamberlain and Philip Hughes already in the show and more to follow. Their development will be the recipe for them to edge Detroit for the wild card. Key player: P Philip Hughes.

5. Tigers

The team with the majors best ERA in 2006 has turned into "Team Offense" in only a single year. In fact the everyday lineup may be the best in the game today. Unfortunately, after young stud Justin Verlander, how the pitching has turned into a weave of cheesecloth in such a short time. Joel Zumaya is out until mid summer, Kenny Rogers appeared in only 11 games in '07 and he turned 43, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson broke down physically following the pennant win. Dontrelle Willis will help but not if he is last year's model. Todd Jones returns as "The Great Wallenda" at closer. Most unsettling right now is that