DETROIT — Several of the positional leaders — including Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera — merely extended their leads in the third All-Star Game balloting update, released Sunday evening.

Cabrera led White Sox rookie Jose Abreu by 359,510 votes a week ago, but extended that lead to 632,361 by picking up nearly 500,000 votes in a week. Cabrera now has 1,477,420 votes, ranking third overall in the American League behind only Jose Bautista (2,135,223), who leapfrogged over Mike Trout (1,945,170) for the AL lead.

Ian Kinsler (887,544) is still second behind Robinson Cano (1,111,880) among second basemen, but lost ground, falling nearly 150,000 votes behind in the span of a week.

Victor Martinez (843,215) is third among designated hitters, behind Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz (1,404,275) and Boston’s David Ortiz (1,036,055)

Torii Hunter (666,116) is 10th among outfielders. No other Tigers are top-five at their positions.

The first balloting update in the fan voting for the 2014 All-Star Game is out, and it's no surprise that Miguel Cabrera is leading the fan voting at first base (440,407), although he's well behind the overall voting leaders Mike Trout (764K), Jose Bautista (675K) and Derek Jeter (602K). Cabrera has a healthy lead over second-place Albert Pujols (371,193) in the voting for first basemen.

Ian Kinsler (356,244) holds a narrow lead over Robinson Cano (350,293) in the voting at second base.

Victor Martinez (340,827) is third in the voting for designated hitters, behind David Ortiz (501,808) and Nelson Cruz (484,186).

Rookie Nick Castellanos is fifth in the race at third base with 157,768 votes, more than 300,000 fewer than position leader Josh Donaldson of the A's (464,367)

Torii Hunter is sixth among outfielders with 322,736 votes, while Rajai Davis (186,913) and Austin Jackson (175,165) clock in at Nos. 13 and 14, respectively.

I wrote yesterday that "Ian Kinsler should be judged for who he is, not who he isn't."

And I stand by that.

Especially considering Prince Fielder's out for the season, it's unfair for Kinsler — who had contributed far more, even when both were on the field for their respective teams — to be constantly compared to Fielder. (I'm adult enough to know it's going to happen. So is Kinsler.)

And it's obvious that many Tigers fans are still holding harsh feelings for their former first baseman.

One fan at Saturday's game, however, found a good way to continue to make use of an old Fielder shirsey, converting it to a Kinsler model, with the judicious use of what appears to be masking tape.

Below is the tweet from an elementary school principal, Michele Corbat, that brought the remodeling job to public attention.

Most creative #Tigers shirt! @tigers pic.twitter.com/58zgYXqPMs
— Michele Corbat (@MicheleCorbat) May 24, 2014

(Also, if anyone knows who the fan might be, let me know, so he can get credit for his work.)

While the Tigers are looking to wipe a bitter taste out of their mouths after being swept in Cleveland to end what had been a successful road trip, the Texas Rangers are wishing they could wipe the taste of this whole season out of their mouths, considering all the injuries.

Everyone expected this would be the day that Prince Fielder — traded to the Rangers in the offseason, in exchange for Ian Kinsler — would make his return to Detroit, but instead he stayed in Dallas to have his sore neck examined.

DETROIT TIGERS (27-15):
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Torii Hunter, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
Don Kelly, LF
Austin Jackson, CF
Alex Avila, C
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Andrew Romine, SS

Pitcher: Robbie Ray, LHP

TEXAS RANGERS (22-24):
Daniel Robertson, CF
Elvis Andrus, SS
Shin-Soo Choo, LF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Alex Rios, RF
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Chris Giminez, C
Michael Choice, DH
Luis Sardinas, 2B

Pitcher: Yu Darvish, RHP

There’s been a ton made of the Detroit Tigers’ off-the-field silliness, with their Zubaz tiger-print gear, dancing in the dugout, general goofing around.

That’s all good.

But other teams are noticing that the Tigers — who came into Tuesday with the best record in baseball — are not goofing around on the field.

Take it from Boston Red Sox catcher David Ross (pictured above), who explained in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, with hosts Jim Memolo and Todd Hollandsworth. [The full interview clip is below]

“The other day, I caught the first game of the Detroit series, and those guys are usually real chatty coming to the box, and talking, and saying hello. And they were business,” Ross said. “They were coming there to kick our tail, and maybe send a message that last year they remember, and maybe they felt like they should’ve won, or whatever. But I know that they came in with a mindset of, I think they wanted to kick our tail, and they did.”

The three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Fenway Park was the first for the Tigers since 1983. The last time the Tigers finished their first 40 games with a better record than they currently have was 1984.

But are they the best team in baseball right now?

Ross thinks they’re in the discussion.

“They’re really solid. It’s hard to say. I like to judge from a perspective of who we’ve played, and they’re definitely the best team that we’ve played so far, in my opinion,” Ross said. “I think the top of their lineup is as good as any, in my opinion. ... When you’re talking about Ian Kinsler, then you’re going Torii Hunter, then you’re going Miguel Cabrera, then you’re going Victor, I mean, that’s some of the best. There’s nobody to pitch around. Ian Kinsler was on fire when he was in here. ... Right now, to me, Victor Martinez is one of the best hitters in baseball. He’s really a quality at-bat, he doesn’t strike out.”

And the Red Sox catcher acknowledged that the Tigers’ offseason transformation is paying off.

“I feel like they added the things they lacked last year, the things we exploited, I thought, in the playoffs, where they were more of a station-to-station team. I didn’t think they ran the bases as well as they do now,” Ross said. “They’re doing a really good job of taking the extra base — they got some speedsters, they got some baseball players. And their defense is a lot better, I feel like, than last year.”