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Houston Astros thrower Justin Verlander talks about the process of rebuilding the Detroit Tigers and what they miss most in Detroit.
Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press

Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander looks out of the dugout before a game against the Tigers at Minute Maid Park in Houston. (Photo: Troy Taormina, USA TODAY'S HUI Sports)

HOUSTON – It's going to be different, Justin Verlander knows it. But how much he will not know until he takes the mound at Minute Maid Park for the 406th start of his major league career on Sunday afternoon.

There, he will watch the batters wearing one of two uniforms Last season, the Detroit Tigers had drastically changed course by swapping their national franchise title.

"I think once I get there, it'll go on as usual," he said Friday afternoon. "But right now, I can say that I feel a little different about it – I know these guys so well – a lot of them – and I still have some text with a lot of guys, so it's not something I normally do with the teams I'm going to go to.

"But we'll see. I probably have a little more nerves on Sunday morning than maybe for a typical regular season start, but as I said, once you get on the mound, the match is over. "

This is not good news for the Tigers or their fans, many of whom have not yet understood Verlander's show for the Houston Astros.

Much has changed since the last exchange that sent Verlander on the last day of August last season.He went to the Astros, dominated, won a World Series Championship and then jumped into a private jet in Italy, where he married the model Kate Upton

"It's crazy how things can happen quickly," he says.It's happened so much since the trade and everything happened so fast that I am a married man with a World Series ring and an alliance. "

Other changes will happen: Upton She announced on her Instagram account Saturday morning that she was pregnant with the first child of the couple

But the more things change, the more they stay the same: Verlander does with the Astr what he did for the majority of his decade – plus tenure with the Tigers: posted quality numbers Cy Young of the American League This season he is 9-4 with a 2-MPM , 05 and a score of 0.83 in 20 starts and was named to his seventh team of stars. play in the game of Tuesday.)

For as much publicity As the badytic impact of the Astros of his instant success last season, Verlander was long ago back to form. He made only one significant change of pitch selection – throwing most of the time fast four-stitch balls as opposed to two-stitching. He said that he thought that the visibility of the throws in the playoffs was the main reason for this publicity.

"It was a lot easier to notice when I got here because we had a championship playoff team." "There have been a few things that I've changed, but I know it's been a lot of publicity because of the badysis here and that's what made me go back to Cy Young, but I was already there. I understood it in Detroit. "

Verlander will always be synonymous with Detroit and it's the link shared with the fans out there that he credits as the hardest part of giving up his non-exchange clause to accept the # "Really, I'm worried about the reaction of the fans," he said. "I think for a pure baseball decision, I think it was a pretty clear cut , "Yes," if you just thought about baseball. "But when you think what I started in Detroit and the relationship I had created with the fans out there, all that matters to me And you've seen horror stories about the fact that some athletes who were well known in the cities bowed badly and that was not well seen by their fans and I did not want to do that to the Detroit fans, I wanted to leave on a good note and not leave a bitter taste in their mouth and I think everyone understood that the organ I was going in a different direction and I was desperate to win a World Series and the opportunity would not be Detroit at that time. "

Verlander said that he still follows the way the Tigers are doing." Thursday evening, he shared a dinner with former teammates

"I'm always careful," he said. "I did not disconnect them on social networks, so I get updates. I mean, look, Detroit is always going to have a place in my heart and I'm still taking root for this organization, so I keep following them to see what's going on. "

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech @ freepress.com Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech

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