Verlander celebrates birthday in Lakeland, ignores Tigers' critics

LAKELAND, Fla. -- When Justin Verlander arrived at Joker Marchant Stadium Friday morning, there was a Happy Birthday balloon waiting for him.

Verlander, who turned 32, didn't mind that the first official day of workouts for pitchers and catchers was on his birthday.

"What a great birthday present," Verlander said. "I'm excited. I woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep. It's like the first day of school."

Although Verlander wasn't scheduled to throw a bullpen, he arrived early.

"I've been kicked out of the house all day today so I don't know what I'm going to get," Verlander said.

That is also the case for the Tigers with Verlander this season -- not knowing exactly what they're going to get.

Nobody is expecting a repeat of 2011 when Verlander went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with 250 strikeouts in 251 innings and went on to win the AL MVP and Cy Young award.

But nobody is expecting a repeat of last season when Verlander went 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA and 1.40 WHIP either.

Verlander was coming off of extensive core muscle surgery that took place on Jan. 9. 2014, a little more than a month before spring training.

Verlander got himself ready to pitch but was not able to do his normal offseason training to set himself up for the long season and postseason.

He said before Friday's workout that he didn't regret taking more time, perhaps in an extended spring training, to get ready.

"My job is to pitch," Verlander said. "It wasn't the way I'd like to pitch but I did it. Who knows if it would have been any better if I'd taken a couple more weeks or another, however long. There's no way I can say I wish I did because I don't know if it would have helped. I know I take pride in getting out there on the mound. That's what I wanted to do and I did it."

Verlander said although he wasn't in pain last year, it was a completely different feeling than the one he has this year.

"It feels night and day. It feels great," Verlander said. "A lot of hard work. I worked my butt off, hopefully it translates. So far, so good."

After the Kansas City Royals reached the World Series, Verlander said people finally caught on that the AL Central Division is pretty good.

"Nobody really talked about it because there weren't sexy names besides the Tigers, who had won however many straight and been to a couple World Series and had a lot of star power," Verlander said. "The Indians had a lot of great talent, but no huge names. The Royals won the pennant last year so obviously what I was saying wasn't just hogwash. We see all the teams in the AL quite enough and I know that these teams are good enough to make our division one of the best in baseball. Now with the White Sox doing what they did, I think there's no doubt."

Verlander doesn't mind that there is plenty of doubt among critics out there who believe the Tigers' window of opportunity is closing or already closed.

"Go play," Verlander said. "You don't respond to those people. You just prove them wrong."

Verlander said the "experts" (quotation marks his) are often proved wrong at the end of the season.

"That's why this game is so great in particular," Verlander said. "You never know what's going to happen. You never know who's going to blossom, what's going to blossom."

Verlander said he's been on both sides of the equation, when nobody expected anything of the Tigers and when they were the anointed ones.

"I've been a part of 2006 when we're at the halfway point, best record in baseball, and people are still saying, 'They're going to fall off, they're not that good,'" Verlander said. "Then you fast-forward to 2008 when we trade for Miguel Cabrera and the whole world writes that we're going to walk away with the World Series. And we were horrible.

"So I've been around long enough and been on both sides of it to realize, let's play between the two white lines, it doesn't matter what you say or what people say, play on the field."