Opening Day

That's right -- today was Opening Day.

Well, sort of. It was Opening Day in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues...and that's good enough for me.

There were four games played earlier today -- and two of them were televised. Here are some of the highlights...straight from my Tivo to your eyes:

* Nine minutes -- that's how long it took for "pitcher's fielding practice" to be mentioned during the first broadcast of a Tigers game this spring. Before Detroit's game against the Mets had even begun, Mets' play-by-play man Gary Cohen made a joke about the Detroit staff's post-season fielding woes on the SportsNet New York broadcast. So much for the American League champs getting any respect...

* Mets starter Oliver Perez didn't look good at all against a less-than-stellar Detroit lineup. Perez had trouble locating his pitches and left too many balls in the middle of the plate. The result? Five hits, one walk and four runs -- all earned -- in two innings of work.

* Detroit's top pitching prospect, 6'6" left-hander Andrew Miller showed off a good, high fastball in his two innings of work. Miller didn't have great control, but he posted two scoreless innings with four strikeouts, including a great 0-2 slider to get Paul LoDuca looking in the fourth.

* Another top Detroit prospect -- outfielder Cameron Maybin -- seemed overmatched by Aaron Heilman in the eighth innings; he took a 2-2 fastball right down the middle of the plate for strike three.

* In Fort Myers tonight, the Twins and Red Sox opened their exhibition seasons. And check out the six-and-seven hitters in the Twins' lineup: Designated hitter Matthey LeCroy and first baseman Ken Harvey. (Yep, that Ken Harvey.) What's going on with the Twins these days? Were Sam Horn and Bob Hamelin not available?

* Twins pitcher Matt Garza -- the team's number one prospect, according to Baseball America, had his fastball registering at 94-95 mph on the NESN on-screen radar gun. Garza shattered Kevin Youkilis's bat on a well-placed 95 mph fastabll in the first to retire "The Greek God of Walks" on a bouncer to short. In the second, Garza made one mistake -- he hung a curveball to Jason Varitek to lead off the inning, but Varitek failed to take advantage, lining out to right. During the regular season, Garza likely wouldn't have been so fortunate. All in all, though, Garza pitched two very strong innings without allowing a baserunner.

* Red Sox starter Curt Schilling certainly looks heavier than ever, but his weight does not appear to be out of control. He'll likely be back to -- or very near -- his normal playing weight by the time the regular season rolls around.

* Potential closer Joel Piniero pitched the third inning, allowing two hits and an unearned run. He appears to be throwing more from the side than he has in the past. Brendan Donnelly pitched the fourth for Boston, and he appeared to be in mid-season form. His herky-jerky delivery had the Twins' hitters off-balance, and Donnelly turned in a very easy inning of work.

* That unearned run allowed by Piniero was the result of a Julio Lugo throwing error, by the way. Here we go again...

* Not that we should be surprised by this, but Joe Mauer is pretty good. He hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4 (and, oddly, the game would end in a 4-4 tie after 10 innings.) Anyway, Mauer waited on a slider from Julian Tavarez and sent it the opposite way over the left-field wall for a home run.

There's a full slate of spring training games tomorrow -- and three of them (Cards-Mets, Twins-Yankees and White Sox-Rockies) are scheduled to be televised. I'll post again tomorrow to let you know what happened in those games.