Mid-season Awards Poll!

Imagine its November, and the World Series is over. MLB is wrapping up the awards voting, and they've just announced that Justin Verlander has won the 2011 AL Cy Young Award. If a mid-season poll has any indication of what's to come, your dream will come true.

Early voting hows Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander heading home with the Cy Young awards. Jim Leyland also faired well with 3rd place in the AL Manager of the year award. For the NL, former Tigers outfielder Kirk Gibson would take hom the top Manager prize.

Its fun sometimes to see these polls. So much baseball is left to play, but often times the story is already written. What's left is the conclusion to verify what we already knew. Our winners came out of the gate holding the trophy, and never looked back.

Justin Verlander's nick name quickly turned in 'Cy Young' in the dug out at the Allstar Game. Even Josh Beckett, a contender for the award, acknowledged him him as the best pitcher. Verlander just smiled. He was enjoying the moment, and preparing to get his teammates back to Detroit. An ace turned Concierge took care of the flight plans for his Allstar teammates.

A class act if you ask me.

So enjoy the rest of the story. Dombrowski has some work to do, and the Ace will be back on the mound Friday. The MLB awards will be something to see.

NFL vs Players Almost Over?

Its true. The NFL lockout is over thanks to a judge. The players are tired of having no deal. The owners are getting a lot of things they wanted. Brees, Brady, and Manning all say its time to seal the deal. As far as the reports say, we could see a ratified deal in less than 10 days. I'll keep you posted.

Taxing Greatness

The United States needs money. Congress can't spend it if they don't have it. So why not turn to Christian Lopez, the 23 year old cell phone salesman who handed over Jeter's 3,000th hit ball, and was rewarded with four awesome seats to all the games at Yankee Stadium this year, and a bunch of signed memorabilia. The IRS is guessing he owes something like $5,000 to $15,000. My guess is they will lean near the higher end. Why not, right?

One of the classiest moves I've seen from a fan was the selfless act of giving the ball back to Derek Jeter. He didn't ask for the ball, but Mr Lopez decided he should have it. Most people call him stupid. I applaud him. Now in another classy move, he's said he'll pay his taxes.

I sat there thinking "Someone is going to help this guy out. They're just going to wait until he gets the bill."

Apparently I was wrong....about when they'd agree to help him.

Miller High Life has vowed to pay the tax bill. "Miller High Life believes you should be rewarded for doing the right thing, not penalized," Miller High Life brand manager Brendan Noonan said in a statement. "We want to recognize Christian Lopez, and in turn everyone like him, for doing the common sense thing and help him continue to live the High Life."

A lot of class out there. It never ceases to amaze me. It never gets old.

C'mon, Dave, Let's Trade!

But please don't trade stupid. Rumors are swirling that Carlos Beltran could be on the Tigers' radar. Why? Who knows. He's an outfielder. He hits great. He's a great player. Why not? The Tigers have enough good and great Outfielders.

The real problem is the starting rotation. You have a Cy Young contender, a good pitcher, and two guys who are starting to pitch well. What about the fifth? There isn't one. Furbush is currently down in Toledo, and Coke can't start.

Aside from a huge hole in the rotation, there's Inge and Raburn. Carlos Guillen is due back this week or next, and will get a shot at 2B. Inge, tho, has turned into a fixture of bad baseball that won't go away at 3B. Why not Kelly? Who knows. Maybe they think he'll be Inge 2. Its a hole in the lineup that's killing rallies, and basic run production.

So my advice to Dave Dombrowski is not to trade for Carlos Beltran, but to instead find a replace for Inge in the infield, with someone who can hit, and a nice starter for the rotation. Do that, and you win the AL Central.