Colin Kaline - Third Base - West Michigan Whitecaps - Grandson of Hall of Famer Al Kaline

I’m from Michigan and this is fairly accurate.

Yesterday was the home opener for the West Michigan Whitecaps.  It was a pretty, but very windy day at Fifth Third Ballpark.  The Whitecaps won 4-0 over the Bowling Green Hot Rods.  The new Whitecaps played well.  Hopefully that will continue all season.

I didn’t get a ton of photos.  A good portion of the ballpark is under a shadow as the game starts.  Getting action shots in the shadows can be tricky.  Hopefully I’ll get some better shots in the days ahead.

I’ve started my 2012 Whitecaps set on Flickr.  Feel free to check it out periodically throughout the season. 

doublescribble:

We’ve posted some amazing work from Dustin Watson and his Dark Wing Illustration, but I think this one might be my favorite thus far.

Make sure to follow Dust on Twitter @dpwatson, as well as his tumblr

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**This is so freakin’ awesome!  I totally dig this.**

Oh grand and glorious day!  Today is Major League Baseball’s opening day.  Today the Detroit Tigers will begin their defense of the American League Central Championship.  2011 Cy Young and MVP Award winner Justin Verlander will take the mound for Tigers.  The Tigers will face a formidable opponent, the Boston Red Sox.  Game time is 1:05pm eastern at Comerica Park in Detroit.

But that’s not all the baseball for me today.  My West Michigan Whitecaps (class A affiliate of the Tigers) begin their season today on the road against the Dayton Dragons.  Some of the Whitecaps got to play yesterday wearing a Tigers uniform against the Toledo Mud Hens.  I’ll have to listen on radio for the ‘Caps game tonight.

But that’s not it either.  The Crosstown Showdown takes place in Lansing as well tonight.  The Lansing Lugnuts (class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, also arch-rival and nemesis of the Whitecaps) will play an exhibition game against the Michigan State Spartans baseball team.  The game will be play at Cooley Law School Stadium and shown nationally on the Big Ten Network.  Go Green and Go White!

There’s so much baseball going on today.  I don’t know how I’ll keep up, but I’ll try.  What a great day!

Yesterday I visited my summer home, Fifth Third Ballpark.  There was an open workout featuring the 2012 West Michigan Whitecaps.  The day started out wet and dreary, but ended up being sunny and nice.  There’s some players returning from the 2011 team, as well as some new ones.  The news media was there and their coverage was of the players with famous relatives.  Names like Kaline, Avila, Leyland, and Lemon are associated with this team.  This also means that I’ll have to explain this crap multiple times to casual fans whom I may encounter this season.

There’s also some new things at the ballpark as well.  There’s new siding in the press/suite area.  The Fifth Third logo has changed and that’s reflected throughout the ballpark. The sign by the big highway has been updated. Most importantly there’s a two new scoreboards.  There’s a nifty new manual scoreboard.  They also installed a massive new videoboard out in left center field.  It’s big and pretty cool.  Opening day is the ninth and it’s supposed to be cold.  That doesn’t matter though, it’s just great to be there.