Ryan Raburn home run gives Tigers 7-4 victory over Nationals

Seriously, you guys do not know what a refreshing change it is not writing recaps.

But I do need to note the prodigious use of Ryan Raburn by manager Jim Leyland. The doubters were out there when a guy looking up at Mendoza was leading off. And why was he leading off? Solely because Austin Jackson needed the night off to rest his back.

Well, whatever. Raburn went 2-for-4 with the game-winning 3-run home run in the third inning. He even walked with the bases loaded to get in a run.

Magglio Ordonez returned to the lineup after about a week of resting his oblique, and he had a four-hit night to show for it.

Meanwhile it was Johnny Damon who got the 0-for-5 that seems to pop up with too much regularity in the Tigers' box scores.

Max Scherzer struck out nine and allowed three earned runs (four overall) in six innings to get the win.

The Tigers have now won four straight. Interleague? Sure I hate it, but I really love it right now!

Site news:

We've had a bit of reshuffling in our front-page authors. Mike Rogers will be contributing a bit less overall but plans to stay on as an author. So we are now welcoming Joe Galea as a front-page author as well! Joe is a longtime Mack Avenue Tigers reader and commenter and has been making more forays into the discussion here. He hopes to write a few time a week to start off his time at BYB. He is a great addition to the site, so please welcome him aboard!

Links:

• Detroit News writer Tom Gage wrote about Brandon Inge, more specifically, the fans' reaction to him.
• Fellow Newsie Lynn Henning wrote about the prospects.
• MLB.com's Jason Beck has a story about Al Avila, father of Jesus Alex Avila. As well, Brennan Boesch has a Father's Day wish.
  
• Speaking of Avila, in the Freep Alex gives some credit to Pudge Rodriguez, who is in town with the Nationals. (Note to self: try not to keep hoping he gets a hit.)
• Also at the Freep, Jamie Samuelsen makes a case for Boesch being the rookie of the year, rather than Jackson. I'll be honest with you. It's June. I won't even begin thinking about which players are in the running until about the start of September.
• James Schmehl could have just replied in our comment section.