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.

Despite winning just four of their last 14 games, and dropping three of four series, leaving them 17-12 in May, the Detroit Tigers are still favorites to win the American League Central, the American League, and the World Series, according to oddsmaker Bovada.

In fact, Bovada gives the Tigers better odds (6-to-1) to win it all than it did on May 1, when the Tigers were listed at 13-to-2.

The San Francisco Giants (7-to-1), Oakland A’s (9-to-1), St. Louis Cardinals (9-to-1) and Toronto Blue Jays (10-to-1) all improved their odds over the last month, while the preseason favorite Los Angeles Dodgers (8-to-1) slid another spot.

Bovada gives the Tigers 1-to-10 odds (4-to-11 last month) to win the AL Central, and 3-to-1 odds (13-to-4 last month) to win the pennant.

Miguel Cabrera (7-to-2) remains behind Mike Trout (8-to-5) in the odds for the AL Most Valuable Player award, while teammate Victor Martinez is sixth at 12-to-1 odds.

After ranking only behind Felix Hernandez in the odds for the AL Cy Young, Max Scherzer (15-to-2) and Justin Verlander (12-to-1) slipped to fifth and eighth, respectively.

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.

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.”

According to the Tigers, Dr. Richard Steadman determined that Victor Martinez did not require reconstructive surgery on his torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, rather opting for a procedure last Wednesday to help the ligament's healing process.

The team announced that, in Dr. Steadman's opinion, Martinez was progressing well in his recovery from the Jan. 27 microfracture surgeries to repair the medial and lateral menisci. Since the normal expected recovery time from that surgery is seven months, there's now a remote chance that Martinez could return this year, a possibility that would be determined by a follow-up MRI in July.

For the updated story, CLICK HERE.

The last thing any manager or executive wants is to have someone injure themselves in the last week of camp. No one wants injuries at any time, but if they come early, there's at least time to deal with them.

So that's why the Tigers' brain trust of manager Jim Leyland and GM Dave Dombrowski had to be swallowing hard when they saw back-up catcher Gerald Laird go down in a heap in the second inning of Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Baltimore Orioles. Laird had been tracking a foul fly off the bat of Jai Miller when third baseman Don Kelly ran into his left knee. By all reports, Laird went down in pain, clutching the knee, and had to be helped off the field by head trainer Kevin Rand and minor league infielder Brandon Douglas.

There was a sigh of relief when it turned out to be less serious that it could have been.

The Tigers announced that it was a left knee sprain, that Laird's status was day-to-day, and that he'd be re-evaluated on Saturday.

Laird told the Detroit News' Tom Gage that he'll miss "only a couple of days. Glad I didn't blow it out."

Why all the angst over a journeyman catcher, a career .241 hitter?

Well, having seen the cost of not having a reliable back-up catcher on the roster — especially when the injury to Victor Martinez’s knee forced starter Alex Avila to be in the lineup for 18 straight games at one point last season — the Tigers brought Laird back on a one-year deal to take up the slack. Initially, it was to keep Martinez from having to do double duty. The signing became doubly important when Martinez tore up his knee in January, shelving him for the season.

Laird certainly won’t make anyone forget V-Mart’s offensive contributions when he’s in the lineup, but he’ll certainly help keep Avila fresh for the playoffs, which may be just as important. Avila was worn to a nub by playoff time, suffering from tendinitis in both knees, and hitting .073 in the postseason as a result.

Laird's absence on a short-term basis is probably not all that problematic. Last year's third-string catcher, Omir Santos, who split time between the big league team and Triple-A Toledo, and was sent to the minor league camp Friday morning, could be called back. He'd have to be added to the 40-man roster to do so, but the Tigers could easily open a slot by placing Al Alburquerque (elbow surgery) on the 60-day disabled list, among a handful of possible moves.

The problem is that Santos would not be a long-term solution, should Laird have to miss significant time. As it stands now, the Tigers have at least two 'emergency' catchers on the roster — Kelly and Brandon Inge — but neither would be considered anything more than a band-aid for a game, or at the extreme outside, two. Inge has had multiple knee surgeries since his own days behind the plate, eliminating him from realistic consideration for the role.

Having said that, you have to wonder where the Tigers might turn, if Laird were to get hurt (or if Friday's injury turned out to be serious)? Santos, who was re-signed as an insurance policy? One of the minor-league catchers, like recent draft picks Bryan Holaday, Curt Casali Rob Brantly or James McCann? Someone outside the organization?

That's a more interesting question.

You could make an argument for several players as the most valuable player for the Detroit Tigers during the regular season.

In the postseason, there’s no doubt of who’s been the most valuable employee of the organization: trainer Kevin Rand.

With starters for the Tigers dropping like flies, it’s fallen to Rand to keep the squad wired together with duct tape, ace bandages and tongue depressors.

The latest two to get dinged up are Delmon Young and Victor Martinez, both of whom have strained muscles in their sides. Young strained an oblique muscle in Game 5 of the ALDS last Thursday, and has played just once.

Martinez strained an intercostal muscle in his side after his home-run swing in Tuesday’s Game 3 win. He joked after the game, “The only way I don’t play tomorrow is if I wake up, and I’m dead.”

Sure enough, both were back in the lineup for Wednesday’s Game 4, hitting fourth (Martinez) and fifth (Young).

“Victor Martinez is one of the toughest guys I’ve ever been around. I’m talking about tough. I take my hat off – and Delmon Young the same. I don’t mean to downplay that,” Leyland said. “And Adrian Beltre, the same way. Players on both teams are tough, and I think they’re showing that. And I think they’re showing why they’re who they are. Big-time players expect to be in a lineup. They know the fans want to see them in the lineup. They know it helps their team.

“Actually, for a manager, it’s a little bit different, because you really hae to sit down and think about if the guy wants to play. I appreciate that, but if his effectiveness is not good because of this, just to put him in there, maybe you’re not always doing the right thing.”

While the major injuries are easily quantified — add the season-ending injuries to Magglio Ordonez and Brennan Boesch to those, along with the off-and-on injury status of Carlos Guillen — there are always nicks and bumps and bruises for those who’ve toughed out a full season.
Count catcher Alex Avila among those. Aside from the constant wear and tear of foul tips and blocking balls in the dirt, Avila’s also dealing with a strained knee.

“Pretty well banged up. You know, we’ve had our share of all that stuff, obviously with Magglio and Boesch and you can go on and on. And Alex is banged up pretty good,” Leyland said.
“You talk about tough, what you’re seeing earlier is what these guys are all about. It’s hard for the average person to understand what these guys are going through. His knee was swelling up pretty good not to long ago. The trainers are doing the best they can to take care of that.

“Everybody is banged up.”

But nobody is going to use it as an excuse.

“Not this team. Everybody’s battled all year,” utility man Don Kelly said. “And we’re not going to stop playing hard.”

As Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of his designated hitter, Victor Martinez, on Sunday, “Victor has put on a show recently.”

It didn’t go unnoticed, as Major League Baseball named Martinez the American League Player of the Week, edging out teammate Justin Verlander.

Martinez has hit safely in every game since returning from the disabled list on May 4, extending the streak to 13 games, raising his average from .254 to .330 in the process. In five games last week, Martinez hit an AL-best .579 (11-for-19) with six extra-base hits (four doubles, two homers) and 11 RBI.

It’s the first time Martinez has been honored since 2005, when he was with the Cleveland Indians, and the fourth time overall.

Other hot performances that merited consideration for the honor were from the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista (.429, six HRs) and former Tiger Matt Joyce (.450, four HRs). The two men came into Monday tied for the AL hitting lead with matching .368 batting averages.