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.

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!

Tigers/Giants 7/2 Preview

Barry Zito comes to town to challenge Max Scherzer. This sounds like a bit of a mis-balanced matchup to me.

Zito is 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA.

Scherzer is 9-2 with a 4.47 ERA.

A few years ago, the Tigers would be shaking in their boots at the thought of Barry Zito coming to Comerica Park. That Barry Zito is long gone. In comes the struggling pitcher who has even spent stints in the bullpen, despite his huge contracts.

Max Scherzer started off red hot, and then hit a little road bump. He's since figured out the problem, and is poised to win number 10 against a struggling world champion Giants team.

Run support is key tonight. The Tigers can't wait until the 9th inning to start a rally. Wilson will not have another bad closing.

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_07_02_sfnmlb_detmlb_1&mode=preview&c_id=det

Pitching and Padlocks

Its kind of unbelievable to think that an entire population of people making millions of dollars could be so unsatisfied. Its also unbelievable to me that a business owner would put their franchise millions of dollars in the red in the name of player satisfaction.

I'll never understand the mind of an NBA player or Owner. I don't think if I was either of them I'd understand. The thought of making $3 million per year instead of $5 million per year doesn't really sound that bad. I guess its the thought of taking a pay cut in general that isn't sitting well with most people.

Joe Torre once said that a pay cut is a pay cut, it doesn't matter how much you make. In his case, he was right. He was working within a healthy economic system, and managing the richest baseball franchise in the world. His pay cut wasn't about saving a league, or getting fiscally lean. It was about a new ownership sending a message that they're changing the landscaping of their business.

Its sad to see so many good players show their ugly side in this type of situation. Comments have already started that players have the same financial burdens and challenges that the rest of the common public have. I guess that's a matter of perspective. Maybe in some cases, its true, because while we might spend $150,000 on a house, they spend $1,500,000 on theirs.

I truly don't feel bad for either side of the controversy. No one made the owners sign large contracts to bad players. They simple took a gamble that if they threw money at their situation, they'd end up profiting tons of money. Its true, the NBA was in good shape as far as popularity, but let's face it, if a team doesn't even approach winning, they won't sell tickets.

But what about the class of 2011? Should we feel bad for them? Sure, some of them. There were seniors that had no choice but to leave college and enter the NBA draft. Then there were others, such as Michigan's Darius Morris, who had one good season, and decided to leave for the NBA. Morris ended up a mid second round pick. He's one of many that left college early in search of a professional basketball career. He's now locked out, and cannot continue a true pursuit of evolving his skills even further. One more year in college, and he could have cracked the top half of the first round. Do I feel bad for him? Sure, but not much.

They're saying it might be April until we see a new deal signed. Some people are saying that another 50 game season could be on the horizon. In either situation, its bad news for the NBA. Their image is already tarnished, and this will just add to it.

The Tigers need Pitching and Hitting

I totally get the concept of "Pitching Wins Games". We've just recently watched the Tigers give up 30 runs in 2 games. Last night's loss to San Francisco also showed that some nights you need another guy in the bullpen that can help out your closer. You don't always want to have to turn to a kid for his MLB debut.

But let's face it. There are two flaws in the Tigers' game play. The first being one or two more starting pitchers, and the second being the bottom of the lineup.

Raburn and Inge are rally killers.

When Inge went up to bat with the bases loaded in the 9th, I posted on facebook that I'd be surving burgers at my house if he hit a HR. I almost took it a step further and said if he got a hit at all. He did get a hit, but let's face it, it was a rare moment.

Ryan Raburn started the season out hitting pretty good. Since then he's been terrible. I have a theory that part of it has to do with the fact that he's also playing a position that he is simply not suited for. I think he knows it, and is trying to mold himself into a 2nd baseman, but ultimately all his energy is going into that, and detouring him from working on his hitting. To me he looks tired, and he's always hanging the bat on his shoulders.

Most people are saying that they need to go out and get pitching. Forget the bottom of the line up, they score runs. The problem with that theory is they don't always, and often times they need to rely on those guys, and get let down. Its gotten to the point where people have started asking where Will Rhymes is again.

Another problem is who do you trade away? The minor league system has a few prospects, but its not completely loaded up. You could potentially put together a package for a solid starting pitcher, but where does that leave you to fill the 3rd base or 2nd base gap? You don't necessarily need to replace offense, since its average at best, but you need to add at least 80 points of average to the line up. That's going to cost some assets.

So whatever Dombrowski does before July 31, he needs to think it through clearly, and not give in to the Detroit media pressure. Furbush is starting on Monday. What if he turned out to be a solid starter? Then you have 3, with Porcello and Penny able to have some quality starts. That might be reason enough to trade for an infield bat instead.

It will be a fun ride watching the Tigers and Indian swap spots at the top of the AL Central. Enjoy it, and don't get caught up in the drama.

First Place

I was at Zender's in Frankenmuth back in 2006 when a group of people huddled around their waiting area TV realized the Tigers were in first place. I told them about their 8 game lead in the division. That seemed to be the moment I realized the Tigers had turned the page from their era of losing.

4 years later, here we are again. The Tigers locked into a first place tie with Cleveland, and face them in a 3 game series starting Tuesday. Cleveland is skidding, and the Tigers are surging.

None of that will matter.

Expect a tough fought division battle. Plenty of good pitching, lots of long balls, and maybe even a bean ball or two. My prediction for the series is Tigers 2, Cleveland 1, pending a 3-0 Tigers sweep if Penny can step up in his turn.

Furthermore here is my division alignment come the end of the season:

1. Tigers
2. White Sox
3. Indians
4. Twins
5. Royals

Congratulations #6!

Not too long ago, the Wolverines were blown out of their bowl game. An storied franchise that was embarrassed had to make a change. The problem was...

THE CHANGE WAS TOO LATE!

What was Brandon to do? Rich Rod had a much improved season. His team lead by phenom Denard Robinson had landed a decent bowl game, and was on their way back to glory. Or Not.

Rodriguez was fired, and in came Brady Hoke. All we knew about him was he coached under Carr, and was their 3rd choice in the grand scheme of things. Some were happy, some were appalled.

At this point we need to lay down the congratulations, and thank yous. Brady Hoke was scored to have brought in the #6 recruiting class in the nation. He had little time to save the year, and he used his time well. Thank you, Mr. Hoke.

LeBron James

He's a piece of trash. As is Wade, and everyone else on that team. They were assembled by a clown, in the fashion of a clown. Even if they win the title, they will always be known as a group of losers.