A Good Start Is A Good Start

There's some good news out of Detroit, and I don't mean that people are buying Fords again. At the risk of over-analyzing one week of play, two key Tigers have brought smiles to the Comerica faithful.

Miguel Cabrera hit .323 with 33 homers in his first campaign with Detroit last year, but was seen as lackadaisical about his play and his conditioning, brought to a head when he was arrested for extremely drunk driving at 5 a.m. late in the season when every game was critical. Detroit lost a one-game playoff for the division title.

Cabrera was also picked up for a domestic incident, though charges were never filed. Tiger management -- most notably task-master manager Jim Leyland -- reportedly delivered to him a verbal spanking in private and challenged him to demonstrate in 2010 that he is worth his $153 million contract.

Cabrera reportedly arrived in camp in better shape, and so far -- sure, it's just four games -- is hitting .471/.526./834 with a couple of homers. Cabrera can hit in his sleep, even when his sleep ends with a hangover, so that's not necessarily a sign that he's unusually fit. But the arrow is pointing in the right direction, and adding his talent with some new focus is scary.

Similarly, Dontrelle Willis has made but one start. Nonetheless, he looked better than he has anytime in the last two years, when he combined for a 1-6, 8.22 mark in just 53 innings, with 35 strikeouts and a miserable 63 walks. At 28, this is it for the amiable lefty, and he has responded with a resurgent spring training and six innings of two-run ball in his opener, punctuated by four strikeouts and just two walks. "His WHIP with Detroit is over 2. His confidence had fallen to zero," wrote Sports Illustrated columnist Jon Heyman.

Indeed, D-Train suffered Social Anxiety Disorder after his trade from Florida --along with Cabrera -- for whom he earned Rookie of the Year status in 2003. Reports from camp in Lakeland indicated that his spirits and velocity had returned to high levels. His first start was a good start, which is a good start and nothing more, but it's still better than a bad start.

If Cabrera can play like an MVP and Willis can deliver even .500 quality in the #5 slot of the rotation, Detroit's title hopes take a giant step forward. In a division that might be had with 86 wins, that's really good news for a city that hasn't had much lately.

Plus, the Ford Fiesta hatchback is pretty cool.
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