The Detroit Tigers are not where everyone expected them or wanted them to be to open up the season. While this may be the case, the Tigers will benefit greatly in the long run from their recent struggles.

Although the Motor City Kitties are 14-14 on the young season, fans should remain positive in the upcoming games. Yes the bullpen (Octavio Dotel) fell apart in last night’s 3-2 lost to the Seattle Mariners. Here is what Dotel said about his outing afterwards, according to mlb.com

“I was throwing all my pitches well in the bullpen,” Dotel said. “Everything was good. Everything just wasn’t where I want to be. I came into the game, and I can’t find the strike zone.”

Needless to say, not even Dotel had an excuse for his performance. Here is what Jim Leyland said.

“When you put it all together, here’s a guy who was a big league closer, very effective at one time and obviously pitched in a World Series last year in big pressure situations,” Leyland said. “For whatever reason tonight, he didn’t throw strikes. That’s part of the game. That happens. He wasn’t trying to throw balls. He just had a hard time throwing the ball over the plate.”

   It was, to say the least, not a great start to the road trip. However, with every negative, there is positive. Doug Fister pitched extremely well, going seven innings, giving up just four hits, and striking out three. After 10.2 innings, Fister has still not allowed a run so far. He needs to keep up the great pitching if the Tigers are going to win the A.L. Central, which I believe they still win. The offense has been in a little bit of a slump but the big boys (Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder) have been hitting well.

The biggest keys moving forward will be the starting pitching and the hitting from guys like Delmon Young and Jhonny Peralta.   They need to start heating up and driving in big runs for this team. The starters will hopefully string together some quality outings from Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, and Smyly. But all of this will take time so you have to be patient, for I believe it will make them better in the long run. Here is a little advice from good old FSD analyst Rod Allen.

Man I love the passion on Twitter regarding that horrible loss. I understand ur frustrationbut I signed up for 162. I’m not jumping ship!!

— Rod Allen (@RodAllen12) May 8, 2012