Forget the money.
Gil Meche looks to justify the 7,238 columns, notes, blog posts and asides written about him on Tuesday morning when he takes the mound today. The Tiger lineup can have issues at times, and its cold, so Meche should have every opportunity to continue his season opening statement.
Its clear that, at least for awhile, we're caught in this endless story cycle about Meche, endlessly orbiting around the contract and whether or not he pitched well five minutes ago.
Its made for an exhausting opening to the season. In five days we'll have had Meche-Media-Day (rounds 1&2) with the Dice-K/Grein-ke battle mixed in. It makes the relatively non-descript starts by Odalis and JDLR seem like the idylls of childhood.
So yea, today its Meche (1-0, 1.23) versus Maroth (0-0, 0.00) at the K.
-----
Since I've been rather critical of him, it would be dishonorable to finish this post without a tip of the cap to Jorge de la Rosa who went 7 strong last night, allowing just a double and three singles, while striking out 5. Of course, the game was played in Arctic temperatures, but we'll all take it. Keep the train moving Jorge! For all things JDLR, Gload and Sweeney, see PhattStairs' diary which pretty much sums up how I feel. Shockingly however, DeJesus earned the Boyfriend of the Day award. Looking for something to read on a Saturday? If you haven't read the RR dialogue with Rany from BP and Rob & Rany, I recommend it.