With a couple of days to go in the month it’s safe to say that Ryan Raburn had a monster month. He is 32 of 99 (.323 avg, 1.010 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 8 homers and 21 RBIs in August. His overall numbers have spiked as a result of his huge month but he didn’t play too well the first four months of the year. Raburn has now played in 83 games this season and he is 66 of 260 (.254 avg, .766 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 10 homers, 44 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Tigers continue to fall in the standings but you can’t blame Ryan Raburn for that as he is on fire.

27-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera and 32-year old righty reliever Jose Valverde have made the A.L. All-Star Game. Cabrera will be making his fifth All-Star Game appearance of his young career. Cabrera has played in 77 games for the Tigers so far this season and he is 98 of 289 (.339 avg, 1.048 OPS) with 59 runs scored, 20 homers and 69 RBIs. Look for Cabrera to be a finalist for the A.L. MVP Award at the end of this season. Jose Valverde has been unhittable this season. He has pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the Tigers this year and he is 1-1 with 18 saves, a 0.51 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP. Valverde has only given up 11 hits in 35 innings so far this season as he has been a true lockdown closer. This will be Valverde’s second All-Star appearance.

27-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera has really been awesome this season for the Tigers. Cabrera has played in 73 games for the Tigers this year and he is 93 of 278 (.335 avg, 1.041 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 20 homers and 66 RBIs. He has now played in 393 games in his three years with the Tigers so far and he is 471 of 1,505 (.313 avg, .938 OPS) with 237 runs scored, 91 homers and 296 RBIs. The trade the Tigers made with the Marlins was a absolute steal even with Dontrelle Willis stinking it up. I see no reason to think that Cabrera won’t win a A.L. MVP soon.

36-year old righty swinging RF Magglio Ordonez finished last season strongly but he seemed to lose his power swing. He played in 131 games in 2009 for the Tigers and he was 144 of 465 (.310 avg, .804 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 9 homers and 50 RBIs. This season though it seems as if Ordonez has got his power back. He has played in 63 games for the Tigers and he is 79 of 245 (.322 avg, .906 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 10 homers and 49 RBIs. Ordonez is also showing a very keen eye at the plate as he has walked 31 times while whiffing 26 times this year. Ordonez’ play this season is a big reason why the Tigers are right on the Twins’ tail in the A.L. Central.

27-year old righty swinging 1B Miguel Cabrera was back in action last night after missing a couple of games to witness the birth of his child. He responded by going 3 for 4 with 3 homers, 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Amazingly the Tigers still lost the game 5-4 to the A’s as Cabrera didn’t get much help from the rest of the Tigers. Cabrera continues to amaze as he has cleaned up his act off the field and he is destroying the ball this year. He has played in 45 games for the Tigers this year and he is 59 of 173 (.341 avg, 1.074 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 13 homers and 44 RBIs. Cabrera has only whiffed 25 times this season so it’s quite possible that he can keep his average up all year long. This could be the year that he finally wins a MVP Award.