The reason for the Tigers' season-opening struggles is hard to define, even for their manager. The solution, on the other hand, appears to be relatively simple.
"Win," Jeremy Bonderman said. "There isn't a whole lot to say. We have to go out and play and win ballgames, let our play do the talking. There's a lot of people saying a lot of things about us, but until you go out and win ballgames and do it within those white lines, nothing matters."

There probably won't be a whole lot of talking from the Tigers clubhouse on Friday. Manager Jim Leyland had no plans for a team meeting as of Thursday. It's too early for that. But it wasn't too early for him to air out what he feels his team needs to do.

"I think the key to it is, you'll be all right if you prepare, you look at film, you maybe hit extra, you figure out what you're doing and you work at it," Leyland said after Thursday's loss dropped Detroit to 0-3. "If you just think you'll be all right because you say you'll be all right, that won't happen. We won't be all right if we're not prepared, trying to fix what the problem is. I think a lot of it is mental, and you have to fix that yourself."

It'll have to be a quick fix. After three losses to the Royals, the Tigers now get into a difficult early stretch. They host the revamped White Sox for three games, then hit the road to face the World Series champion Red Sox in their return to Boston for their home opener and ring ceremony. From there, the Tigers have three more games against the White Sox in Chicago, a quick two-game homestand against the Twins, a two-game showdown at Cleveland and a potential trap series with four games at Toronto.

None of them will be taking Detroit lightly, despite the Tigers' recent struggles.

"We have a target on us," Leyland said. "We'll find out how good we are. We'll find out if we're tough enough, because I haven't seen enough toughness in the last couple days. I'm very disappointed in that. I don't mind getting beaten in three games, but I'm very disappointed in the toughness and the grinding-out that this club's supposed to have. So we'll find out."

Few pitchers can present more of a grind than White Sox split-finger artist Jose Contreras. When he spots his splitter for strikes, he has given Tigers hitters fits. When he can't, opponents tend to wait him out and wear him down. His stats from last season reflect much more of the latter, and his Spring Training stats weren't much better.

On the flip side, however, the Tigers could be without two of their key sluggers. Miguel Cabrera hopes to play Friday after missing Thursday's game with a sore left quadriceps, but he isn't sure. Gary Sheffield, meanwhile, is day-to-day after jamming his left ring finger on a slide into second base Thursday. He, too, hopes to play, but he also thought he tore a tendon in the finger. His status will depend in part on how much the swelling is contained.

It isn't a great time in Detroit. In some ways, they could use a new series as a new start.

"You can't keep your head down," Placido Polanco said. "You have to pick your head up, bounce back and come out here tomorrow, turn the page. It's a different day."

But even he realizes it'll be much the same if they don't get a different result.

"Win games, get the key hits and play better," he said. "I don't know. Whatever we have to do, we need to do it."

Pitching matchup
DET: LHP Nate Robertson (9-13, 4.76 ERA)
For someone who had his share of hard-luck losses last year, starting his season with a struggling offense behind him might seem like deja vu. However, he is coming into the season off of a strong spring in which he rounded out his repertoire to accompany his slider.

CWS: RHP Jose Contreras (10-17, 5.57 ERA)
The Tigers pounded Contreras last year, batting .347 against him with a .982 OPS, good for 19 runs on 26 hits over 18 innings. He was much tougher against them two years ago, but recapturing that form is a big challenge.

Tidbits
Carlos Guillen is 7-for-12 lifetime against Contreras. ... Jermaine Dye is 11-for-29 with five home runs and eight RBIs for his career off of Robertson. ... Jacque Jones will be back in the lineup in left field after Marcus Thames started there on Thursday.