Tigers 3, Royals 1

Ah, last place. I hope the stay is as temporary as possible. The Royals got a decent start out of Scott Elarton Monday on opening day but scraped together only 1 run on 4 hits to take the loss. The Tigers got 9 hits but only 3 counted -- 2 HRs by Chris Shelton off Elarton and a Carlos Guillen homer off Sisco. Meanwhile, Grudzielanek celebrated his first official Royals game with the triple sombrero -- 3 Ks and Teahen, Buck and Sweeney went a combined 0-9 with a walk. The Royals just didn't give themselves many chances today. Four hits and one run isn't gonna win you games unless this is 1968 and you've got Koufax and Drysdale. Elarton and Mays don't much resemble Koufax and Drysdale. Elarton threw 92 pitches thru 5 2/3 IP, which isn't good, but only gave up the 2 ER on Shelton's homers. He kept the team in the game -- they just couldn't get the job done at the plate. So after a spring in which the Royals offense looked good and the pitching staff was shaky (at least the starters), the two juxtapose on opening day. Today's game was there for the taking, but at least the defense held strong -- no errors. Rogers pitched a good game for Detroit and refrained from assaulting any cameramen. Rookie Joel Zumaya had 3 Ks over 2 IP in relief and Fernando Rodney shut the door. This is a good game to brush off and forget about. They need to generate some offense off Bonderman Wednesday.