Part 2 of Billfer's night with Fox Sports Detroit has now been posted at The Detroit Tigers Weblog. If you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes during a Tigers broadcast, Bill sat in the FSD truck last Friday night and got to see and hear it all. It's pretty impressive to consider everything that goes into the decision to show a certain graphic or switch to a particular camera view.
(Part 1 covered what goes on before the game.)
Kurt hands out his mid-season awards at Mack Avenue Tigers, including MVP, Cy Young Award, best offseason addition, and best moment.
Buster Olney ranks the Tigers, who he thought "had virtually no shot at winning the division" in the spring, at the top of his 10 first-half surprises.
Jason Beck looks at the first half that was and the second half that shall be for the Tigers, while also naming the team's biggest strength and greatest weakness, and predicting their final record.
The Spot Starters write out their mid-season report card for the Tigers, grading each individual player on the roster, naming Detroit's first-half MVP, and predict who could heat up or cool off in the second half.
Trey Hillman might manage the Kansas City Royals, but during Monday's Home Run Derby, he made quite an impression on Brandon Inge after he went 0-for-10.
Both Kansas City's Dayton Moore (who doesn't have much use for defensive statistics) and Cleveland's Mark Shapiro are listed among Jon Heyman's 12 general managers facing a lot of pressure in the second half of the season.
This is a few days old, but if you're curious how Fu-Te Ni is acclimating to life not only in the major leagues but in America, you might enjoy this piece from Jim Hawkins.
Can you put together a list of AL MVP candidates and not include any Detroit Tigers? At Circling the Bases, Matthew Pouliot ranks his top 10 most valuable AL players.
Peter Abraham thinks the Yankees need to get Roy Halladay and lists what he would give up in such a deal if he were the team's GM. Could the Tigers put together a similar package of players?
The next NHL Winter Classic will take place at Fenway Park, with the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers skating on the outdoor rink. (via ShysterBall)
Finally, you can listen to the podcast of my appearance on SportsTalkSoup late last night, either via stream or download, in which we talk about the Tigers at the season's mid-point and what sorts of moves the team might make before the trade deadline.
I'm also scheduled to call into SNY.tv's NY Baseball Today this afternoon to talk about this weekend's Tigers-Yankees series. We'll post the clip of that once it becomes available.