LAKELAND, Fla. -- This time in the spring should be called "take everything with a grain of salt" time.
That's because you can't look too deeply into spring performances -- good or bad -- and use it to predict much of anything.
There were examples of both in Thursday's 6-5 home loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
First there was Justin Verlander on the good side.
Everyone from Verlander himself to manager Brad Ausmus to the catchers have said the ball looks good coming out of Verlander's hand, his pitches look good and he appears to be more like his old self.
Verlander had three rather easy innings against the Phillies, allowing one hit and striking out one.
"I was pretty pleased again," Verlander said. "I didn't throw quite as many curveballs. I know the ones I did throw had pretty good success out of, I got three outs on it. Threw a couple good change-ups again, slider was horrible. Threw two of those and they both backed up. So I've got some work to do."
Verlander needed only 29 pitches to get through the three innings.
"Very efficient," pitching coach Jeff Jones said. "His curve was sharp, his change-up was good. He located his fastball well. I am happy for him, too, because he's worked so hard to get to where he's at right now. I thought he was better today than the last time out."
In his first outing, Verlander threw two scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves, giving up one hit and two walks while striking out two.
Some of the bad came courtesy of Joe Nathan.
Nathan gave up six runs (four earned) on five hits while walking one in 2/3 of an inning.
"I thought early, the first couple of batters, he was jumping out a little bit and that's what I told him when I went out there," Jones said. "I thought he made a good adjustment and starting getting balls down in the zone and his breaking ball starting getting better. It's spring training, you can't expect a guy to be perfect every time."
Nathan came into the game with three scoreless innings in his previous three outings.
"Fell into some trouble early and that one inning, it just seemed like they got a little comfortable," Nathan said. "Could have came inside a little bit more, moved some feet. That's what this process is about, getting back and when you do get in these funks, learn from what you can do next time to kind of get yourself out of them and get some uncomfort in the hitters."
Bruce Rondon returned the good feeling to the day with his first appearance in a game this spring.
Rondon, who is about 11 months removed from Tommy John surgery, has been eased along as he recovered.
Rondon started the sixth and immediately threw a 97 mile-per-hour fastball to Philadephia's Freddy Galvis.
He followed that with a 98-mile-per-hour fastball and finished by getting Galvis to fly out on a pitch that registered 100 on the radar gun.
"I thought he threw the ball great," Jones said. "His velocity was good, he threw a couple of good change-ups. His slider was just OK. Usually the breaking ball is the last one to come. I was very happy with him."
Even Nathan stayed outside to watch Rondon.
"Looked free and easy. 98 to 100, I think he was," Nathan said. "Really good sign. Mentally, to go out and throw like that just gives him so much confidence moving forward."
You just can't conclude from all the above that Verlander is back, Nathan is done and Rondon will win be the team's closer.
It's just way too soon.
With Verlander, you could say that at this point in the spring, while he's still working on things, that he's trending in the right direction, that he's likely to be a better pitcher than he was last year as long as he remains healthy.
With Nathan, Tigers fans are ready to freak out at any sign of trouble. Some fans were even booing when Nathan came off the field -- for a spring game!
But Jones wasn't freaking out.
"He's thrown well this spring until today," Jones said. "And it's not that he was terrible today by any means. He just got some pitches up and that happens to everybody."
It happened to David Price in Viera on Wednesday.
Veterans in particular are working on things and often will pitch differently in spring games than they would in the regular season.
With Rondon, all you can really conclude is that his arm appears to be healed and he could be a valuable member of the bullpen if he can stay healthy.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has said repeatedly that he doesn't put a lot of stock in spring performances and it might help if Tigers fans relaxed and did the same thing.
Save the anxiety for the regular season.
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