Brandon Lyon Is Now Edwin Jackson's BFF

Brandon Lyon is in the process of continuing his further decline into mediocrity and seems determined to drag the Detroit pitching staff down with him after blowing Edwin Jackson's outstanding 7.1 IP 1 ER 4 K 2 H 1 BB gem in the second game of the season... twice. Seriously. In the bottom of the 8th Lyon served up a 3 run tater tot to Aaron Hill and then when Binge tied the game with a solo blast (does Binge only hit solo HRs? I honestly don't think I have ever seen him hit a non-solo HR) in the 9th, Lyon promptly returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning and gave the game away. What the hell happened to his pre-All Star break 2007 with the Dbacks? This guy's career has been buckling under pressure harder than Rihanna's face.

Edwin looks happy that his win was blown.

The optimist in me wants to focus on the excellent game Jackson pitched, but it's hard to have a whole lot of faith in a guy who last year had an ERA of 4.42, a downright frightening WHIP of 1.505 and was so highly thought of in Tampa Bay that they dropped him from the postseason roster. Now he's our second guy in the rotation. *smacks forehead*

At least Miggy has been looking good. He was 2/2 with 2 walks and a run scored yesterday. Umm... yay? Binge has knocked in two homers in two games (HOLY SHIT HE'S ON PACE FOR 162 HRs) but had a throwing error - and he's supposed to be there for his defense so we'll call it a wash.

Between Verlander getting hammered in the opener, Zumaya's injury maybe being even more serious that we thought, Bonderman starting the season on the DL, shady things going on with the D-Train, etc. there isn't much that seems to be going right early this season.

Maybe it's a little presumptuous of me to question a guy with 17 years of managerial experience, 3 Manager of the Year awards and a World Series championship, but I'll do it anyway (obviously). Don't get me wrong, I am not a Fernando Rodney supporter by any means (in fact, he sucks) but I just don't "get" why you bring a guy who has already blown a game once in the 8th back in the 9th to close it out. Trying to show confidence/belief/whatever in your players and trying to win games are sometimes the same thing and sometimes they aren't. This is a case where they weren't. Lyon and Rodney are both right-handers too so it's not as though there were some match up concerns with the Toronto lineup, unless something is escaping my notice. The Tigers get a shot at Jesse Litsch tonight however. Wait a second, Miner is pitching? FML.

In summation, even with the retirement of Todd Jones the Tigers' bullpen will... how should I say this... make things "exciting" throughout the year. In the meantime while Lyon tries to get his shit together, this is what Piper Palin thinks of you:

Suck it Lyon.