61-45, 1st place, 2 games up on Cle.

What a week of baseball this has been.

1. Our Tigers have been red hot as of late, winning 9/10 and 5 in a row, and have lost ground on the 2nd place White Sox and 3rd place KC Royals. I’d say that the AL Central is En Fuego but the Indians and Royals have been beating up on the White Sox and Twins.

2. Then we have the quietest trade deadline of all time. What, Bud Norris didn’t do it for you? What we haven’t really discussed much on here is that Dave Dombrowski has established himself as a trade deadline wizard. Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez, Omar Infante, Jose Veras and Jose Iglesias. The Doug Fister trade is a verified W. (That’s 2 links). Jacob Turner still has a lot of upside (he’s been great this yea – 2.4 WAR), but Sanchez and Infante are posting a combined 5.8 WAR this year. And Keith Law calls Iglesisas one of the best two fielding shortstops in baseball…”The Tigers should just bat him ninth — not second, please, Jim, for the love of all things holy — and let him be Death To Ground Balls for the next five years.” I’m going to let that sink in for a minute.

For as much grief as we give DD regarding 4th OFers, backup IFers and bullpen depth, let’s give him the praise he deserves for his mid-season deals. The Tigers have been as active and as successful as a franchise can be over the last 2.5 years. It’s going to pay off. Soon.

3. Now that my royal baby watch is over, all of my attention has been turned to the latest ridiculous gossip covering spoiled royalty – the Biogenesis suspensions. I still believe that this will be Peralta’s last regular season weekend as a Tiger, but the ARod stuff is fascinating. First of all, the guy’s own GM seems to be pretty close to Tonya Harding’ing him just to keep him on IR, and now ARod is planning on fighting any suspension. I pretty distinctly remember Pete Rose’s last days (I’ll never forget that SI cover), and I feel that even he left with more dignity than ARod is/will. It was also curious to see Jon Daniels make a move for Garza, but not one for an OFer.

A few notes:

– Ryan Raburn.

– Bob Tewksbury is walking Fangraphs readers through his personal notes from the 1992 season. It’s fascinating.

– You know, I don’t subscribe to SI anymore, but every time I pick one up, I read it cover to cover. Such a great magazine.

– Cabby sitting again, presumably to get Iglesias more ABs. Nothing new on Infante.

Tonight’s Eat ‘Em Up Tigers Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Tuiasosopo, LF
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Iglesias, 3B
8. Pena, C
9. Santiago, 2B