Congratulations, Mr. Avila!

Who would have thought Carl Rove could be topped as the best campaign guy in the world? Just last week, Russell Martin was already planning his speech when he would be officially announced as the AL starting catcher in the mid summer classic. Then came the new campaign sensation Justin Verlander.

A simple concept of #VoteAvila sparked a flurry of tweeting. Verlander gave away autographed memorabilia in return for some help on twitter getting his friend and teammate elected to the allstar team. A few days later, and it was announced that Alex Avila would start.

I must admit, I was completely shocked. I know the power of social networking can spread a good cause far and wide, but I never imagined it could erase a 400,000 vote deficit in a 3 day period. Still, I retweeted and told others about the campaign, and managed to drum up a handful of votes. Apparently there were thousands of others doing the same thing.

Tough Loss, Good Win.

It was miserable night in every regards. Hot, humid, sticky, unpleasant. Then came the thunderstorms that left a few thousand people without power for several hours and more. Max Scherzer had been pitching good this season, but he had one of those nights where even a good pitcher looks back and asks "What happened?!".

Two pieces of ball game with a rain delay wedged in the middle ended in a 15-3 loss for the Tigers. It was the 3rd time in a week that they had given up 14 runs or more in a game. Clearly interleague play needed to end.

Today was a much better day. Porcello bounced back from a bad outings with a quality start. Boesch hit another HR. Ordonez had a key hit. Raburn bailed out Benoit with a diving catch that almost ended with him being impaled by his sunglasses. It was a good win for the Tigers. A must win.

Charlie's First Dance

Charlie Furbush kicks off his MLB starting pitching career in Anaheim on Independence day. I'm personally excited to see how he does. One could say that if he pitches as well as he did the last couple of weeks, he'll be successful. However, we've also learned recently from Phil Coke that guys coming out of the pen don't always make it as a starter.

Furbush has a couple things going for him. He was a starter recently in AAA Toledo, and he's use to pitching more than 2-4 innings. Coke had been a pen guy for a long time. He was good there. Personally, I'm glad he's back there.

Goodbye, Knapp

None of us will ever truly know the reason for the firing of Rick Knapp. We'll read and hear how he had the 3rd highest ERA in the AL under his guidance. But let's face it, he also had a lot of guys who weren't good, weren't ready, and aren't there anymore.

I have to question the wisdom of making such a move in the middle of the season. Its not necessarily the fact that Knapp was fired, but the fact that he was replaced by a long time bullpen coach. If you're putting yourself into a penant race, wouldn't it make more sense to hire a top notch guy outside the organization?

I have a conspiracy theory. It may be completely off the wall, but its worth telling.

Dave Dombrowski has pressure on him to win this season. He picked up some good relief throughout the offseason and the season, but he's not been able to put together a winning rotation. Instead of admitting defeat, he's put pressure on Leyland to make changes, and put the blame for his bad decisions on Knapp.

Again, its probably completely off the wall. Its up there with Inge makes so much, he ordered Kelly benched in his favor. And Raburn has pictures of him committing a large felony, so he gets to play too. Yah. Its all true...

Let's face it. The Tigers need a shake up. Moreso than a pitching coach change. They need a face lift in the rotation, and a bit of an overhaul of the bottom of the line up. Once a rally starts, they end up in the Raburn/Inge black hole, and walk off the field with their heads hung. Its also starting to become an anxious stretch of counting down the days until Verlander pitches again.

So maybe Furbush can plug one hole. Its possible Scherzer will fix his mechanics and get back to wining. Porcello looked great today, but can he keep it up? Then there is the every other game Penny. I guess having a .500 pitcher is fine. Perhaps Kelly will play more at 3B than Inge. I wonder if Rhymes will make another appearance, and Raburn will go down to Toledo to figure out what's going on.

Commodore and White

I was a little surprised when I saw the headlines that Mike Commodore had signed with the Red Wings. I wasn't sure if I should happy, or disappointed. Still, at only $1 million, he'll plug in nicely into the Red Wings system.

Ian White was another surprise, but for completely different reasons. He was a good defenseman in San Jose. He's not a huge goal scorer, but he's a good defender. He's tough, and really, that's what the Red Wings were lacking in the playoffs.

Happy 4th!