Lineup for opening day

Tigers starting lineup is as follows:-

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Mench (Right)
7. Kanoh (Catcher)
8. Hirano (Second)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

No real surprises here - it is nice to see that Hirano will start and that Kanoh will get his chance at long last. As previously mentioned Mench is under threat and needs to put in a good performance over the next few games to retain his place and play more than one year in Japan. It will also be interesting to see how Arai fairs at third base and whether he has improved.

I've really been rooting for Mench tonight, but so far 3 awful-looking pop outs. There's a lot of pressure on him already, so hope he can succeed here.

Is Lin's health still a question mark? Or do they just don't think he's good enough to be an everyday player? I'm getting sick of them spending big bucks on MLB players to fill the right field position with the hopes that they will provide a lot of power. In the one year he was given a chance, Lin hit almost .300 and showed decent power. The injury was really unfortunate.

Lin hasn't really recovered his form after his injury. With Sakurai back on form he has real competition. Still if Mench doesn't work out Lin will probably get the nod as starting right field.