photo courtesy ESPN.com
 
 
 

Well, it's official. Tiger's manager Phil Garner let us all know last week that young pitcher Jeff Weaver will indeed start opening day. Weaver, entering his 3rd season in the majors, has looked awesome this spring, but Garner doesn't want to hit him with the "Ace" tag just yet. "A No. 1 pitcher is the guy who is going to give you the most innings and stop all your losing streaks. I don't want to throw all that on him just yet," Garner said. "Actually, I expect our top four guys to be aces. Weaver doesn't need to be Pedro Martinez and go 24-6. Can you really expect that from a kid? No. All four have to pitch well." The decision to start Weaver in the opener, April 3rd against the Minnesota Twins, had as much to do with matchups in the first month of the season, as his tremendous spring and potential to be "The Man". "I decided I liked the matchups for the whole month and that was a big part of it," Garner said. The Tigers play the Twins five times in the first eight games of the season and, the way the schedule was made, the No. 1 pitcher will only face the Twins once, while the No. 2 pitcher will face them twice. In five career games against the Twins, Weaver has given up 19 earned runs for a 6.93 ERA and a 2-3 record.

Weaver has all the tools to be that Ace of the staff. He is only 24 years old, and he just needs to get in there and pitch and get the experience to get better. "Weaver just needs to pitch.",  Manager Phil Garner said, "He'll learn when not to throw changeups, he'll learn when to keep the ball off the plate and when not to." "He's going to win 15-20 games if he stays healthy," Fellow hurler Brian Moehler said. "In the playoffs down the road, he's going to be the first guy out there."

The question remains...........just when is down the road? Is it going to be this season? Next? Weaver has shown the flashes of greatness in the past. Now, he needs them to be more than just flashes. He needs to produce on a consitant basis, and I. for one, think that this season, he'll do just that. I fully expect him to win 15-20 games this season, and if the run support is there, that number should be closer to 20. He's faced the top hitters in baseball, and he's shut them down. Now he needs to work on shutting down those damn Twins, and hopefully the Tigers can score some runs for him when he takes the hill!!!