St. Petersburg, Fla. — According to the Gregorian calendar, which remains a personal favorite, Monday marked 566 days since Al Avila called AJ Hinch to ask if he might want to discuss managing the Detroit Tigers.
Hinch sat in the visitor’s dugout Monday at Tropicana Field as the Tigers got ready to play the Rays in the first game of a three-city road swing the Tigers hoped might add to some balm that spilled from their weekend sweep of the Orioles.