Afternoon Prowl: Cabrera, Tram and Gibby, and more

For Tigers, Cabrera Is Complete Package, Handled With Care: NY Times
Tyler Kepner profiles Miguel Cabrera and how the Tigers have dealt with some of his off-field issues from the past two years.

Arizona Diamondbacks' coaching staff filled with big names: ESPN.com
The Diamondbacks coaching staff has some good credentials. It also has some great former Tigers.

Game-Ending DPs That Went 8-2: Baseball-Reference Blog " Blog Archive
How often do you get a game-ending double play from center fielder to catcher? Not often, and usually someone related to the Tigers is involved.

The predicament with Porcello: Beck's Blog
Jim Leyland talks about what went wrong for Rick Porcello in the third inning and why he decided to pull him from the game.

Brennan Boesch Begins His Regression Versus Lefties: Detroit Jock City
Matt Snyder notes that Brennan Boesch's strange reverse-split aganist left-handed pitchers has taken a turn back to the normal in recent weeks.

Indians manager Manny Acta upset over lack of ejection, umpire's missed call: MLive
Rick Porcello threw the ball behind Asdrubal Cabrera's back after the Indians slugger stood near the batters box willing his hit to stay fair. (Separating this from the Jered Weaver incident, at least no heads were involved.) Indians manager Manny Acta wanted Porcello ejected. In retrospect, Tigers fans might have liked that, too.

Tigers' Jim Leyland: Bunting practice helps Austin Jackson cut down on strikeouts: MLive
Austin Jackson has always been known for his strikeouts, making his eight-game streak of avoiding strikeouts quite remarkable. To what do we credit this change? Jim Leyland had Jackson work on bunting to help him learn how to track the ball better.

GM Candidate Al Avila: MLB Rumors: MLBTradeRumors.com
When the Tigers signed Dave Dombrowski to an extension a few weeks ago, they essentially closed the door on Al Avila taking over the GM reins in Detroit. He should be a good candidate to take on other jobs, but can Detroit find a way to keep him?

Not so fast, Justin: Prince Hal still is Tigers' greatest pitcher: The Detroit News
Jerry Green always sounds curmudgeonly. However, I agree with his main point. Is Justin Verlander the greatest pitcher in Tigers history? "No, not yet," Green writes. He has all the opportunity in the world to make that leap over the next few years, but five years into his career is a bit too early to make such proclamation.

Guillermo Hernandez pleased to pass Tigers' saves record to Jose Valverde: The Detroit News
Tom Gage spoke to "Willie" Hernandez about handing over his consecutive saves record to Jose Valverde. Hernandez was gracious.

"As soon as someone told me he might break the record, I said, 'God bless him,' and I prayed for him. He's a good kid who wants, as I did, to be there for his teammates. I'm just happy for him."

Run of close games creates electric atmosphere at Comerica Park: theoaklandpress.com
Matthew B Mowery writes about the electricity in the air at Comerica Park this weekend and the Tigers' reaction to it.

Best Infields Ever: Tiger Tales
Lee Panas looks at the best infields in MLB history by WAR. A Detroit Tigers team from the past few decades made the top five. Can you guess which before you check out the link?

Feels Like You Never Left: Tigers Amateur Analysis
SabreRoseTiger notes the return of Brandon Inge.

Tigers Need Valverde, Strong Bullpen, in 2012 " Motor City Bengals | A Detroit Tigers blog
Sam Genson believes the Tigers should exercise the option on Jose Valverde. Some interesting comments about whether or not that is a good idea follow the story.