Ok, the bad news first: the Tigers have signed Gerald Laird to be their backup catcher. The good news? This D4L-original photoshop is now relevant again.

In all honesty, the Tigers could have done A LOT worse than Laird as a backup catcher going into next season. Laird is a good defensive catcher and already knows most of the Tigers' pitching staff. If this signing prevents another playoff pukefest from Alex Avila, then it's well worth the $1-2 million he will be paid next season.

[Bless You Boys]

Or, in other words, the sky is still blue. Justin Verlander won a unanimous vote to become the 2011 American League Cy Young award winner. If there were any surprises in the vote, it was probably Tom Gage of the Free Press being a total homer and putting closer Jose Valverde 2nd on his ballot. Verlander is the only player to win both the A.L. Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards.

Party on, Justin.

[Bless You Boys]

While Justin Verlander might just stare them down, Brandon Inge isn't scared to tell the Texas Rangers what he really thinks of them.

With the series going back to Texas for tonight's Game 6, the Tigers have to like their chances. Max Scherzer and Doug Fister have gotten even better in the postseason and a 7-run outburst in Game 5 might have woken up the sleeping offense. If the Tigers win tonight, I don't know if Texas will be able to rebound in time to beat Mr. Fister in Game 7.

[Mock Session]

Those sneaky, sneaky Tigers. Instead of winning Game 4 of the ALCS like everyone had planned, they dropped an exciting 7-3 extra innings affair to go down 3-1 in the series. Little do the Texas Rangers know, however, that the Tigers are just writing their own movie script. With Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Doug Fister set to pitch in the next three games, the Tigers are set up perfectly for an epic comeback before they sweep the World Series against the Cardinals.

"Yeah, we've got a good script on the way," said George Clooney, who will play Dave Dombrowski in the movie. "It's a real page turner."

All this script needs now is a motivational speech...

Yup, that will do it. Prepare for the spectacular, Tigers fans. It starts tomorrow.

Justin Verlander will have at least one more start in the 2011 season. Hopefully that start will be in Game 5 of a 2-2 series, but that depends on what Rick Porcello and the Tigers can do in tomorrow's ass early game that nobody will be able to watch because there's this thing called "life" that we have to do. Anyway, there's one reason why we're even looking this far ahead in the series.

Fister turned in 7+ innings of 2-run baseball (the second of which scored after Joaquin Benoit came into the game), giving the Tigers offense a chance to finally wake up. Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta all homered, and Jose Valverde picked up his 52nd save of 2011.

Call me crazy, but Fister is the Tigers' best starting pitcher right now. With Verlander struggling (by his standards, at least) in the postseason, Fister has been rock solid in all three of his starts. If this series gets to a 7th game (and that is a real possibility given how everything has turned out so far), I like the Tigers' chances of moving on.

[Box Score]

OK, so there were some actual bright spots from last night's 3-2 loss against the Texas Rangers, but they were few and far between. Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry turned in encouraging efforts out of the bullpen. Other than Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn getting on base 3 times apiece, the offense struggled to do anything against the Rangers' pitching staff. Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta are all hitting in the .200s during the postseason, and don't even get me started on Alex Avila. If the Tigers are going to win this series, they're going to need much, much more production out of the middle of the order.

However, instead of crying over spilt milk, let's just enjoy the fine work of one of FOX's cameramen. Hope it was a big one.

And just because it seems appropriate given the circumstances...

[@World of Isaac]

ZOMGGGGGGG fdjsak;fjkdjfksa;ljfksdl;aj

TOTAL DELIRIUM

Texas, don't mess with Justin Verlander, for he will destroy anything in his path.

[Mock Session]

So maybe AJ Burnett wasn't suspended for abusing beaver tranquilizers like I predicted yesterday, and maybe he pitched a hell of a game en route to a 10-1 Yankees victory. Yeah, it was painful.

Game 5 is Thursday and Doug Fister is starting. I'm not sure when Game 1 of the AL Championship Series is, but Justin Verlander will be rested and ready to go.

[Box Score]

Two Tigers posts within 5 minutes of each other? Who cares? Jose Valverde sure as hell doesn't.

I'm just going to ignore the fact that it looks like he's mouthing the word "applesauce" though.

[@jose3030]

M.

V.

P.

The official votes have already been tallied, but Justin Verlander laid claim to the throne with a dominant performance in the Tigers' 5-4 win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS. Verlander struggled out of the gate, giving up 2 runs in the top of the 1st, but proceeded to shut the Yankees down afterward, save for a minor hiccup in the 7th inning.

Delmon Young's solo homer in the bottom of the 7th (which the TBS announcer called, sort of) turned out to be the winning run after Jose Valverde closed the door in the 9th inning.

With Game 4 set for tomorrow night, the Yankees will rest their hopes on the shoulders of AJ Burnett. Burnett has the capability to shut a team down, but I have a feeling that we'll be hearing a different tone from the Yankees clubhouse in about 24 hours.

[Box Score]