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CHICAGO -- Rattling off 12 straight wins has not only allowed the Tigers to run away with the American League Central, but now it's giving manager Jim Leyland a chance to keep his players fresh for their postseason run.After winning the first two games against the White Sox, Leyland gave a few of his regulars the day off. Missing from the Tigers' starting nine were catcher Alex Avila, shortstop J d3 football honny Peralta and center fielder Austin Jackson, while Carlos Guillen, Ramon Santiago and Don Kelly all found their names on the lineup card.For Guillen, Wednesday marked just his second start in the last month with the only other one coming Sept. 3 also against the White Sox. Guillen wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity, hitting his first home run since July 31 in his first at-bat o d3 football f the game and then knocking in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the top of the 10th to give the Tigers a 6-5 victory."It's fun when you win," Guillen said. "If you lose, it feels different, so that's the most important thing right now. It's great because everybody feels confident and they're giving that confidence off to everybody else." With October looming and the Tigers in a comforta d3 football ble spot atop the division, Leyland figured Wednesday was the perfect time to take care of those things, especially considering who was toeing the rubber for the White Sox. Detroit was facing 26-year-old Dylan Axelrod, a right-hander making his first-career Major League start. "These are nightmare games because you don't know the pitcher, you don't know what he does," Leyland said. "You've got tap d3 football es to watch him and you've got scouting reports, but that's the best you can do. So I just put a lineup in there that at one point there's three switch hitters back-to-back and another one in the two-hole." Leyland: Verlander should be MVP candidate CHICAGO -- In recent weeks, Tiger manager Jim Leyland has said publicly that he doesn't believe a pitcher should win the MVP Award.On Wednesday, h d3 football e clarified those comments, saying those are just his personal feelings on the matter. Given the wording of what qualifies a player to be voted for MVP, however, Leyland said Tigers ace Justin Verlander has to be considered one of the most worthy candidates."I have to be careful with this one," Leyland said. "I personally do not think pitchers should be MVP. But the way the system is, he should be d3 football a top-notch candidate for MVP. There's no question about it. And I'll just leave it at that."While a pitcher being named MVP is rare -- the last was Dennis Eckersley in 1992 -- Verlander's numbers this season aren't exactly typical. The right-hander has worked at least six innings and thrown 100-plus pitches in each of his 32 starts this season, allowing more than three earned runs just five time d3 football s. He also has 0.915 WHIP, which puts him on pace to become just the second American League pitcher since the introduction of the designated hitter in 1973 to post a sub-0.920 mark. The other came in 2000 when Pedro Martinez recorded a 0.737 WHIP and won his second Cy Young, but finished fifth in MVP voting. And then there's the simple stat of victories. More important than Verlander's 23 victorie d3 football s perhaps is the fact that 14 of them have come against his own division. With his seven shutout innings on Tuesday night, Verlander improved to 14-1 against the AL Central, becoming just the second pitcher since the introduction of the unbalanced schedule in 2001 to win 14 games against one division (Roy Halladay, 14-1 vs. National League East in 2010)."This is about winning games," Leyland said. d3 football "And when you start talking about that stuff and putting too much emphasis on it, as a manager, you're preaching against everything you believe and everything you stand for. "But I want Justin Verlander to win the MVP. Why wouldn't I? I hope he wins it." Progress made to televise Saturday's game CHICAGO -- The Tigers are making progress toward getting their Saturday afternoon game at Oakland d3 football on television, according to a source. But instead of working around the FOX blackout rules, it now appears the game would end up on FOX itself, at least in Michigan and Toledo.The Detroit Free Press first reported the shift, saying the game will be on FOX 2 in Detroit beginning at 4 p.m. ET. While progress is being made, talks are believed to be ongoing with FOX and Major League Baseball. Some det d3 football ails still need to be addressed before anything is finalized, enough that neither the Tigers nor the network was ready to announce anything on Wednesday afternoon.Another challenge that eventually has to be worked out is finding a sufficient crew. Though Fox Sports Detroit has some crew members on the trip, that doesn't include such behind-the-scenes cogs as cameramen and some folks in the truck. d3 football With college football in full swing, Saturday is a busy day for television crews, which book games well in advance.Saturday was the lone Tigers game not scheduled to be televised when the Tigers released their broadcast schedule in February. The 4:05 p.m. ET start time chosen by the A's falls into the FOX blackout window, and FOX had decided not to select it for one of its regional Game of the Wee d3 football k broadcasts. V-Mart foils White Sox strategy CHICAGO -- Victor Martinez didn't take any offense to the White Sox intentionally walking Miguel Cabrera to pitch to him in the sixth inning of a one-run game on Tuesday night.After all, the one-out walk put runners on the corners, setting up a potential double play, and avoided the White Sox having to pitch to the dangerous Cabrera. Instead of an d3 football inning-ending ground ball, though, Martinez hit a game-changing three-run homer to right field."If I was a manager, I'd walk [Cabrera] to pitch to myself," said Martinez, who frequently hit behind Travis Hafner during the 2007-08 seasons in Cleveland when Hafner was intentionally walked 33 times. "You can't play around with Miggy. He's a guy that can hurt you. I don't take it as an insult. If I'm d3 football the manager, I'd do the same thing. I wouldn't take a chance with him. I'd pitch to myself. That demonstrates how great of a hitter he is."As for White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, he said if he was faced with a similar scenario, he'd handle it the same way. Not because he doesn't think Martinez is a capable hitter, but because he said he thinks Cabrera is the best hitter in the American League and d3 football has been for the last three years."As a manager you know the next hitter is going to be pumped up," Guillen said."Those two hitters, they are too good. You have to gamble and see. Right now, there's no doubt in my mind Cabrera is swinging the bat better than anybody. That's why I picked Victor." Avila catches a break after rough night CHICAGO -- Alex Avila has taken countless foul balls off hi d3 football s mask, chest protector and just about everywhere else this season, but the catcher has never seen anything like what happened to him on Tuesday night.When A.J. Pierzynski fouled off a 96-mph Joaquin Benoit fastball in the eighth inning, the impact of the ball striking Avila's mask actually sent sparks flying. Avila, who was unaware of the sparks until seeing video footage, stayed in the game with d3 football out any sort of delay."I had no idea how that happened. I've gotten hit right in the mask a lot," Avila said. "When I got back to the hotel, it was on the Internet. That was ridiculous. That was like a firecracker coming off my mask."Considering the most recent blow to his catcher came the night before a day game, it was an easy decision for manager Jim Leyland to give Avila a rare day off Wednesd d3 football ay. "I told somebody -- this sounds carried away, but I'm not getting carried away -- I was a little worried about Alex getting smoked in the face all the time," Leyland said. "You can get concussions that way. I told him today, I said, 'Look, I don't normally do this, but I want you to be treated like a king today, don't do anything. Just relax and take it easy.'"That time off wouldn't even last d3 football through Wednesday's game, though, as Leyland called on Avila to pinch-hit with a runner on and the Tigers trailing, 5-3, in the top of the ninth. The eight innings of rest seemed to work for Avila, as he quickly connected on a two-run homer to tie the game and send it to extra innings, where the Tigers pulled out a 6-5, 10-inning victory."I told him to be ready about two innings before [the ninth] d3 football ," Leyland said. "It turns out he made me feel like the king today." d3 football
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