There are few things in my life I love more than Detroit Tigers baseball - my job, my dog, Long Islands from the Peanut Barrel, uhmm … I'd say that's it. That being said, I'd give up all three (okay, maybe not the last one) for one Tigers' pennant season before I die.

So, you can just imagine how I felt after the Tigers' 7-0 shutout of Toronto in their season opener. On Tuesday, I cut the MLB standings from each of six newspapers and hung them on my desk - undefeated and unscored upon, if only for a day, and I milked it for all it was worth. The way Detroit jacked Cy Young winner Roy Halladay as if he belonged on the Bad News Bears might have been a fluke - a Blue Jays off-day, if you will - but it leaves me with an optimistic thought.

Is 2004 the Year of the Tiger?

No, this isn't me being delusional. I went to Opening Day - for the 18th consecutive season - at Comerica Park on Thursday, and I witnessed something remarkable with my own eyes. Down 3-0 going into the sixth inning, the Tigers rallied with a Bobby Higginson shot to deep center to take the lead, 4-3. Higgy had gone only 1-for-10 at this point, and many fans had booed his first three at-bats. When Minnesota center fielder Jacque Jones had a leadoff homer in the top of the seventh to tie the game, Detroit played not as the roll-over-and-die Tigers of old, but as a young, inspired and rejuvenated team.

Detroit scored five runs in the seventh to take the lead for good, capped off by third baseman Eric Munson's going yard. The Tigers' explosive offense collected 14 hits on the day to take the commanding lead and, eventually, the 10-6 victory.

Four games, and Detroit still is undefeated at the top of the AL Central division. Sound like a fairy tale to anyone else? The message sure got across to the 42,121 fans in attendance, many of whom, for once, stuck around to see the game's finale.

Words cannot explain how I felt, sitting on the first-base side and looking into the stands in the bottom of the eighth and noticing that nearly everyone remained in their seats, giving a standing 'O' to the first Detroit team to go 4-0 since I've been alive.

And here's the inarguable proof - if you'd ever need any.

First of all, Ivan Rodriguez. Arguably the third-best catcher in baseball behind Javy Lopez and Jorge Posada, Pudge vaulted from the best team to the worst after earning his World Series ring last season with Florida. In extremely un-Juan Gonzalez fashion, Pudge actually has lived up to his expectations so far, going 4-for-10 in his first two while wearing the "D," while collecting three RBI, two doubles and a round-tripper. Pudge also has been quite effective on the defensive end, as was proved during Detroit's home opener, when he not only threw out Corey Koskie in an attempt to steal but picked off Michael Cuddyer at first, after the right fielder took too cocky a leadoff.

Then there's Jason Johnson, who spent five seasons with the Orioles in relative anonymity before jumping to Detroit and stepping up to toss six innings of shutout ball against a team that rocks Tigers' pitching on a regular basis.

I can tell a lot about a team's upcoming season by its pitching on Opening Day, let me tell ya. I was not yet to my seat on Opening Day 2001 when I heard a crack - and nearly was beheaded by a Minnesota home run that crashed mercilessly into the beer of the woman in front of me. Any time a pitcher's ERA is infinity after the first batter, it is a bad sign for the season to come. It surely was an omen for the game, as Steve Sparks threw Detroit to a 10-4 defeat.

This season's squad has a chance not only to exceed everyone's expectations (nearly 20 years of losing seasons have driven away most of you, I'm sure), but to suprise the AL Central with a hard-hitting, K-tossing, nothing-to-lose-so-let's-show-the-world-what-we've-got ball club.

A friend once told me that sometimes you need to bottom out in order to rise above the ashes. If this is true, the Detroit Tigers are the phoenix of 2004.

Dawn Klemish is the State News sports editor, and she's sick of going to Tigers games alone. If you're a Tigers fan, e-mail her at klemishd@msu.edu