About 18 months ago I started a Red Wings blog called Hockeytown, USA in the hopes that someone would actually find an interest in what I had to say. Four months later I moved on to SB Nation’s very own Red Wings blog, Winging It In Motown. Shortly after that, I landed here at SB Nation Detroit. It was a quick journey through the blogosphere that I hadn’t planned or expected.

Now, the journey continues.

I’m always on the lookout for the next opportunity and that opportunity has arrived. This will be my last post here at SB Nation Detroit as I move on to start my career as a sports reporter for the Owosso Argus-Press, right here in the good old state of Michigan. Who says we don’t have any jobs?

For me this is a dream come true. I’m not one of those people who say, “I’m going to get out of this place as soon as I can.” Rather, I get to do what I love while also not having to leave the state which I am proud to call my home.

Though I hate to leave the fine staff and readers of SB Nation Detroit as the Tigers embark on a (hopefully) long postseason run and football shifts into fifth gear, I leave you with the comfort that the site is still in the excellent hands of our editor, Sean Yuille, and contributors, Brian Packey and Ian Casselberry. They’re the best in the business and it has been a privilege to work with them over the past year.

With that, I’ll wrap this thing up. Thank you to the fans in Detroit and around Michigan; you’re truly the best.

Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) – Victor Martinez drove in three runs as the Detroit Tigers took a 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals to cap a two-game set.

Don Kelly hit a two-run home run and finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Austin Jackson also scored twice for the Tigers, who finished the road portion of their 2011 schedule with a mark of 45-36.

Max Scherzer lasted five innings in the start and gave up two runs on five hits. Doug Fister (10-13), working out of the bullpen, got the win as he yielded just one unearned run on two hits in three innings.

Billy Butler and Jeff Francoeur each drove in a run for the Royals, who went 40-41 at home this season. Felipe Paulino lasted five innings and surrendered two runs on six hits while Kelvin Herrera (0-1) got the loss in his first big league appearance as he gave up three runs in the eighth inning.

Pistons' forward Austin Daye isn't planning on the NBA lockout being resolved anytime soon. That's why he's headed to Mother Russia after signing with a team there:

Daye's deal is for two months, ending in December, Daye can opt-out in case the NBA's collective bargaining situation is resolved quickly. Training camp would start the first week of October.

Daye will leave this weekend to join his new Russian comrades as the NBA lockout inches ever closer to cutting into the league schedule. The Pistons are supposed to open the preseason Oct. 9 and are scheduled to open the regular season against Indiana on Nov. 2.

Of the three impending lockouts that were looming over North America's sports leagues (the NFL's ended just in time to start the 2011 season, and NHL's collective bargaining agreement expires after this season) the NBA is widely believed to be the biggest danger of cutting into actual games missed. The owners and players are still far apart on the salary cap.

In the "we all saw this one coming" news category, Red Wings forward Mike Modano officially retired from the NHL after spending 22 seasons in the league, including this last one with Detroit.

Modano leaves the game as the all-time scoring leader among American-born players, having played 21 of his seasons with the Dallas Stars franchise. Modano was the first overall pick in 1988 by the Minnesota North Stars, who moved to Texas in 1993. Modano made the announcement from Dallas, where he won his lone Stanley Cup in 1999:

"I took a long time this summer to make sure, and I'm sure," he said from Dallas, where he starred for 21 of those 22 seasons. "I can't believe how fast it all went. Just a blur. But you want to exhaust everything mentally and physically, and I think I have. It's the right time."

Modano, a Michigan native, signed with his hometown Red Wings last year after Dallas decided not to offer their all-time leading scorer a contract. His career in Motown never got going really, suffering a severed tendon last November that forced him to miss much of the season.

Modano finishes his NHL career with 561 goals and 813 assists. He retires nearly 500 points better than the next nearest player in Stars scoring history.

Justin Verlander has had a remarkable season so far for the Detroit Tigers, a fact that no one within baseball circles has denied. He leads the AL in ERA, strikeouts, innings, WHIP, and most of all, wins. He's a virtual lock for the Cy Young award.

However, it's when you bring up the letters "MVP" that people get touchy. But not Verlander.

Verlander said that he would vote for himself if he could for MVP, but not in a "I'm so much more awesome than you" egotistical way. Well, here's how he explains it:

"If I get a vote, me," the Tigers ace told Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan on Tuesday. "Who wouldn't (spent it on himself)? It's not like I would just vote for anybody. But, yeah, if pitchers are eligible, and they clearly are, I would say I'm worthy of it. I wouldn't say I should win it over others. I haven't really delved into those numbers. So if I had a vote, I'd have to do my homework, but I wouldn't discount my season."

It's kind of like a presidential candidate voting for himself. If you're a nominee, why would you waste your ballot on the other guy?

Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Eric Hosmer finished 5-for-5 with a three- run homer, powering the Kansas City Royals to a 10-2 win over the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers in the opener of a two-game set at Kauffman Stadium.

Hosmer's 18th home run of the season capped a six-run fourth inning for the Royals, who had won seven straight games before a loss on Sunday.

Salvador Perez and Melky Cabrera both collected three hits, with Perez matching Hosmer's three RBI.

Luis Mendoza (1-0), making his season debut for the Royals after earning Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year honors, gave up two runs -- one earned -- on six hits and walked three in seven innings.

Detroit starter Brad Penny (10-11) surrendered seven runs and 10 hits over four frames.

Alex Gordon led off the home first with his 23rd home run, a drive to center field.

Kansas City took control of the game in the fourth. Perez, Alcides Escobar and Cabrera each plated a run with a single. Hosmer followed Cabrera's base hit with an opposite-field smash to left.

An RBI double by Austin Jackson put Detroit on the board in the fifth, but Perez clubbed a two-out, two-run homer off Duane Below in bottom of the inning to make it 9-1.

Delmon Young lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh for Detroit before Jeff Francoeur capped the scoring in the eighth by plating Cabrera with a single.

Hosmer became the 26th player -- and sixth rookie -- in franchise history with at least five hits in a game...Detroit finished 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Oakland, CA (Sports Network) – Justin Verlander padded his potential Cy Young Award-winning season — and MVP candidacy — with another sublime outing, tossing eight scoreless innings in the Tigers’ 3-0 victory over the Athletics.

Verlander (24-5) won his club-record 12th consecutive start by yielding just three hits and three walks, while also becoming the first American League pitcher to notch 24 wins since Oakland’s Bob Welch won 27 in 1990.

Austin Jackson went 2-for-5 with a solo homer for the AL Central champion Tigers, who split this four-game series.

Guillermo Moscoso (8-9) lost despite giving up only one hit — Jackson’s homer to straightaway center leading off the sixth.

It wound up being Moscoso’s last frame, having walked two while fanning eight.

Craig Breslow gave up a run in the eighth when Brandon Inge hit a pinch-hit double to left to plate Jackson, who reached on a one-out single.

Alex Avila scored on Ramon Santiago’s suicide squeeze an inning later, and Jose Valverde hurled a 1-2-3 ninth to secure his franchise-record 46th save in as many chances.

Verlander lowered his earned run average from 2.36 to 2.29. He also became the first Tiger to win 10 consecutive road starts since Denny McClain won 16 in a row from April 21-August 16, 1968…The A’s have been shut out 15 times.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t do themselves any favors by turning the ball over six times against Detroit. The Lions were pretty good on their end, too.

Matthew Stafford chucked four touchdown passes as the Lions rolled over the Chiefs in a dominating 48-3 win that pushed Detroit to 2-0 on the season.

The Lions won their sixth straight game since the end of last season and never had much competition from the Chiefs after the second quarter. Kansas City quarterback Matt Cassel was harassed all day, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble as well in a horrific day for the Chiefs offense.

Kansas City also lost star running back Jamal Charles when he was run out of bounds early in the game. Charles didn’t return.

Stafford had both a touchdown pass and an interception on the Lions’ first drive, as Jon McGraw fumbled after picking off the Lions’ quarterback and the loose ball was recovered by Detroit’s Tony Scheffler. Three plays later, Stafford hit Calvin Johnson for a 15-yard touchdown for a 7-0 lead that Detroit never relinquished.

Kansas City got a field goal on their first possession, but never got any closer after that.

Despite the ineffective offense the Chiefs hung around into the second quarter. Stafford finally got the Lions offense rolling again, hitting Scheffler with a perfect pass on a 36-yard score to make it 14-3. Detroit increased the lead to 20-3 on two Jason Hanson field goals before halftime.

Detroit was just getting started.

Stafford engineered an 84-yard drive on the Lions’ second possession of the second half, converting a fourth-and-goal at the one with a touchdown toss to Johnson.

Detroit opened the fourth quarter with a 9-yard touchdown reception by Jahvid Best to increase the lead to 34-3. After Detroit recovered a fumble by Kansas City’s Dexter McCluster, Best ran in another touchdown from a yard out to make it 41-3.

The Lions’ first team offense was finally done, but Detroit still was able to tack on another score — after another interception by Cassel — to add even more insult to injury.

Week 3 had a couple marquee games for Big Ten squads, as ranked members Michigan State and Ohio State took perfect 2-0 records on the road. Unfortunately, neither came back perfect.

Notre Dame 31, No. 15 Michigan State 13: MSU's Kirk Cousins threw a costly interception at the goal line in the fourth quarter and Cierre Wood ran in two touchdowns for Notre Dame as the previously winless Irish topped the No. 15 Spartans. For more on this game, check out our StoryStream.

Michigan 31, Eastern Michigan 3: The Wolverines shook off a sluggish start and used 198 rushing yards by quarterback Denard Robinson to overpower the Eagles in a 31-3 rout. For more on this game, check out our StoryStream.

Miami 24, No. 16 Ohio State 6: The Buckeyes were off again for the second straight week as the Hurricanes rolled to a 24-6 win in the "IneligiBowl." Lamar Miller ran for 188 yards and Jacory Harris threw two touchdowns for Miami, who won for the first time under new coach Al Golden. Last week, OSU needed a last second stop against mid-major Toledo to hold on for the win.

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Notre Dame had another rough day with turnovers. Fortunately for them, Michigan State returned the favor.

The Irish turned the ball over three times, but the Spartans had two of their own to even things out as Notre Dame looked much better in picking up a 31-13 win.

No. 15 MSU (2-1) had a chance with four minutes left to cut the game to a one-score affair, but quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a costly interception at the goal line to effectively seal the win.

Cierre Wood punched in two rushing scores for Notre Dame and Tommy Rees threw for another despite throwing an interception and fumbling once. Notre Dame also muffed a punt late in the fourth quarter that was recovered by MSU, but got timely stops on defense to overcome their turnover woes.

MSU also shot itself in the foot with penalties, committing 12 infractions for 86 yards. The running game never got going either, as MSU compiled just 29 total yards on the ground.

Wood opened things off on the game’s opening possession by scampering for a 22-yard touchdown, and Notre Dame would have had more if not for turnover woes. The teams went back and forth in the turnover department in the first quarter, with Rees squeezing a fumble and pick around a Cousins fumble.

Cousins got MSU back within 14-10 on a 6-yard strike to Dion Sims in the second, but Wood restored the 11-point advantage with his second score near the end of the half.

MSU then tried to get cute, faking a field goal just before halftime inside the Notre Dame 5-yard line, much like they did in last year’s thrilling overtime win. However, this time the Irish sniffed it out and took a 21-10 lead into the locker room.

Things didn’t get better after the break. Rees hit T.J. Jones on a 26-yard score to increase the lead to 28-10 as Michigan State’s offense never got going after halftime.

Notre Dame tacked on another touchdown in the third quarter to drive Michigan State into a deeper hole after three quarters, 28-10.

Tommy Rees found T.J. Jones for a 26-yard score in the frame to increase the Irish lead, as Michigan State’s offense continued to stall.

The fourth quarter was not kind to Notre Dame last week in Ann Arbor however, so the game is by no means over yet. Michigan scored four fourth quarter touchdowns to erase a 24-7 lead and pull out a 35-31 win last Saturday.

Stats After Third Quarter

Passing
Kirk Cousins, MSU: 16/25, 184 yards, TD
Rees, ND: 15/23, 157 yards, TD, INT, FUM

Rushing
Cierre Wood, ND: 12 rush, 62 yards, 2 TD
Edwin Baker, MSU: 10 rush, 26 yards

Receiving
Michael Floyd, ND: 5 rec, 79 yards
T.J. Jones, ND: 3 rec, 40 yards, TD
B.J. Cunningham, MSU: 5 rec, 77 yards
Dion Sims, MSU: 3 rec, 38 yards, TD

Notre Dame has turned the ball over twice already against Michigan State, but they have not imploded like the past two games yet and lead 21-10 at halftime.

Cierre Wood has rushed for two touchdowns and George Atkinson returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown for Notre Dame, but they could have been up more if not for an interception and a fumble by quarterback Tommy Rees.

MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins struggled somewhat in the first half, turning the ball over on a fumble, but did throw a touchdown to Dion Sims that cut the lead to 14-10.

Michigan State tried to get tricky again with the Irish, faking a short field goal near the end of the half with the ball inside the Notre Dame 5-yard line. MSU faked a field goal that resulted in the game-winning touchdown during last year’s overtime win, but this time Notre Dame snuffed out the play and maintained their 21-10 lead.

Halftime Stats

Passing
Cousins, MSU: 12/18, 141 yards, TD
Rees, ND: 7/11, 83 yards, INT, FUM

Rushing
Wood, ND: 9 carries, 64 yards, 2 TD
Edwin Baker, MSU: 7 carries, 13 yards

Receiving
B.J. Cunningham, MSU: 4 rec, 64 yards
Michael Floyd, ND: 3 rec, 45 yards.

Notre Dame might be a good football team if they could hold onto the ball.

The Fighting Irish lead 14-3 after one quarter of play, but two turnovers have limited even further success on offense.

Notre Dame turned the ball over five times in each of their first two games against Michigan and South Florida, but have been able to work through a fumble and an interception after one quarter. Sparking the Irish attack was an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by George Atkinson moments after Dan Conroy’s 40-yard field goal cut the Irish lead to 7-3.

Notre Dame drove 76 yards in eight plays on the game’s opening drive, capped by a 22-yard dash by Cierre Wood for the game’s first score.

Notre Dame forced a punt and was looking for more, but the Irish caught the turnover bug again when quarterback Tommy Rees fumbled as his own 46-yard line.

MSU returned the favor when quarterback Kirk Cousins was sacked and fumbled at midfield, giving the Irish the ball right back. However, Notre Dame ran into trouble again when Rees’ pass on the ensuing drive was intercepted by Kurtis Drummond.

Watch the highlights of Michigan's dominant 31-3 win over Eastern Michigan below:

Denard Robinson didn’t have his best stuff through the air against Eastern Michigan. Luckily he still had his legs.

Robinson ran for 198 yards and a score and threw for two more as the Wolverines amassed 376 rushing yards in a 31-3 win over EMU.

Vincent Smith added 118 yards on just nine carries for Michigan, who ran their record to 3-0. Brady Hoke, coaching his 100th career game, got back to .500 for his career at 50-50.

EMU controlled the early part of the game, but turnovers prevented the Eagles from capitalizing on their success. Running back Javonti Greene fumbled in Michigan territory on their first possession, and backup quarterback Tyler Benz was picked off in the end zone on a trick play.

Michigan didn’t score in the first quarter for the third straight game and trailed 3-0 after an early second quarter field goal, but Robinson finally got things going on offense. After Thomas Gordon made the interception of Benz, Robinson orchestrated a 97-yard drive that ended with a short touchdown toss to tight end Kevin Koger. Michigan never trailed again.

They took a 14-3 lead into the break on a six-play drive at the end of the half that featured all runs, in what would become the theme of the day for Michigan. Michigan ran 69 plays on the afternoon, 50 of them runs.

The Wolverines picked up right where they left off after halftime with Fitzgerald Toussaint punching in a 1-yard score to push the lead to 21-3. Robinson threw his second touchdown pass of the game to Drew Dileo with a little over a minute left in the third.

Brendan Gibbons made Michigan’s first field goal of the year in the fourth, a 21-yard chip shot, to make it 31-3

Michigan’s rushing game has pounded Eastern Michigan into submission by rushing for over 300 yards and tacking on two third quarter touchdowns for a 28-3 lead.

Fitzgerald Toussaint and Denard Robinson both ran for scores in the third quarter for Michigan, who have amassed over 300 yards on the ground early in the fourth quarter.

Robinson has not been so hot through the air, completing just 6-of-15 passes for 72 yards, though he did throw a second quarter touchdown to tight end Kevin Koger.

While the passing game has stumbled a bit, the defense has been outstanding since allowing some lengthy early EMU drives. Eastern has turned the ball over twice in the game and picked up zero first downs in the third quarter.

Robinson himself has rushed for 190 yards and has two scores, one on the ground and two in the air, for Michigan while Vincent Smith has 118 yards on just nine carries. Fitgerald Toussaint has 40 yards and a touchdown on ten carries.

Denard Robinson and Michigan’s offense have finally woken up in the second quarter and given Michigan a 14-3 halftime lead.

Eastern Michigan took a 3-0 lead on an early second quarter field goal, but Robinson has rushed for 131 yards and engineered a pair of touchdown drives to take control of the game. However, it didn’t come easily.

Eastern was looking for more after forcing Michigan to a three-and-out, but Thomas Gordon made an incredible one-handed interception near the end zone on a trick double-pass play by EMU backup quarterback Tyler Benz. Gordon also recovered a fumble on EMU’s first possession of the game in Michigan territory.

Robinson then took over and marched the Wolverines 97 yards in nine plays, highlighted by a 52-yard scramble on first down that got Michigan in business. Robinson capped the drive by hitting tight end Kevin Koger for a 9-yard touchdown — his second completion of the day.

The teams went back and forth with a few three-and-out drives before Michigan got the ball back near the end of the half. Michigan pounded EMU with six straight runs that was capped by an 11-yard scamper for Robinson to make it 14-3.

First half stats

Passing
Robinson, U-M: 2/8, 21 yards, TD, INT
Gillett, EMU: 3/4, 29 yards

Rushing
Robinson, U-M: 14 carries, 131 yards, TD
Javonti Greene, EMU: 20 carries, 75 yards

Receiving
Koger, U-M: 2 rec, 21 yards, TD
Julius Shelby, EMU: 1 rec, 18 yards.

Michigan’s bend-but-don’t break defense did its job in the first quarter, but Eastern Michigan has tacked on a field goal early in the second quarter for a 3-0 lead.

The defense stopped a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line and forced a fumble, but Michigan’s offense has looked like a shell of the one that scored four fourth quarter touchdowns last week against Notre Dame. Michigan has just 31 yards of total offense to Eastern’s 140.

EMU took the opening drive into Michigan territory on the game’s first possession, but Javonti Greene fumbled and Thomas Gordon fell on it for Michigan for yet another turnover for the Wolverine defense.

Michigan was unable to do anything with the ball on the ensuing possession, as Denard Robinson was intercepted after going went for it on fourth down from the EMU 34. Robinson has yet to complete a pass, missing on his first five attempts, and has rushed for 19 yards on four carries.

The Tigers clinched their first division title since 1987 on Friday night, and as you can imagine it was quite a scene.

Closer Jose Valverde allowed a lead off double to begin the ninth inning after starter Doug Fister had pitched a masterful 8-innings, but he was able to work around it to get the save. MLB.com has the video of Valverde inducing Josh Willingham's game-ending groundout, complete with FSD announcer Mario Impemba's play-by-play call.

(NOTE: I tried to embed this earlier but it didn't seem to want to cooperate, so here's the link to the video instead. Should MLB.com get their act together we'll try and have it up. Apologies all around).

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No collapses, no post-All-Star break trauma. This Detroit Tigers team was all business.

Doug Fister pitched another masterful game as the Tigers won their first divisional championship since 1987 with a 3-1 win over Oakland.

Detroit last won a division title as members of the American League East before Major League Baseball realigned its divisions. This was the Tigers’ first crown as members of the Central Division.

Fister did his part yet again, giving up just three hits in eight innings, allowing only Josh Willingham’s solo homer in the second to reach the scoreboard. Fister, who came over at the trade deadline from last-place Seattle, is now a division champion after compiling a 6-1 record with Detroit.

Don Kelly hit an RBI single in the third to tie the game at one and then homered in the seventh to stretch the lead to 3-1. Wilson Betemit tripled in the winning run in the sixth to give the Tigers a 2-1 advantage.

Jose Valverde relieved Fister despite having thrown just 91 pitches, and worked around a lead off double to earn his 45th straight save.

It was quite a turn from years past in which Detroit held division leads for large portions of time but could not hold on to them when it mattered the most. The Tigers were one of the hottest teams in baseball during the first half of 2006, but were bumped from the top of the standings in the final days of the season and had to hold on for a wild card berth.

Then in 2009 the team infamously blew a three game lead with four to play, losing a tie-breaker contest with Minnesota. No more.

There would be no doubts this time after Detroit ripped off 12 straight wins — all against divisional opponents — before losing last night to the Athletics that increased their division lead to 13 1/2 games coming into tonight’s contest.

Keep the champagne on ice for one more night.

Tigers starter Max Scherzer played long ball with the Athletics all night, giving up three home runs in a 6-1 loss that ended a 12-game Detroit winning streak.

The Tigers’ magic number for clinching the American League Central still dropped to one, however, after both Chicago and Cleveland lost on Thursday. Chicago’s loss eliminated them altogether; Cleveland can only lose one more time all season and would need the Tigers to lose their remaining games as well to stay alive.

Scherzer managed to get through five innings, but gave up a three-run homer to David DeJesus with two out in the first inning to stake Oakland to a 3-0 lead. Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington both hit solo shots off Scherzer in the third and fifth innings, respectively.

Delmon Young’s solo homer in the third accounted for the lone Detroit run.

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Originally the Tigers and Athletics looked like they might be blacked out on Saturday due to national TV obligations, but it appears Major League Baseball is going to let the game air.

The Detroit News reports that Fox and MLB have agreed to air the Tiger-Athletics contest set for 4:07 p.m. Saturday. The reason? The Tigers could possibly clinch the American League Central that day. From the News:

The game between the Tigers and A's begins at 4:07 p.m. and was to bump against Fox's national telecast of the Rays-Red Sox game at Boston. National telecasts on Fox and on ESPN must, according to the networks' contracts, avoid conflict with local telecasts of other big-league games.That would have wiped out Fox's telecast, but things changed - the Tigers kept winning.

A Red Sox game on national TV? Yeah, like they're never on. Moving on.

However, the division may be a moot point by Saturday anyway. With Wednesday's comeback win over Chicago, the Tigers pushed their magic number down to two over Cleveland and one over Chicago; if Detroit wins the first two games in Oakland, they could have the division won by Friday. Any combination of Tigers wins and losses by Cleveland equaling two clinches for Detroit.

If an entire division could give up, the American League Central in 2011 would be the closest thing to it.

Justin Verlander won his major league-leading 23rd game and the Detroit Tigers ripped off their 11th straight win in a 5-0 victory over Chicago. All 11 victories have come against Central Division squads.

Verlander (23-5) went seven innings, giving up no runs on six hits and pushed his season earned run average down to 2.36. He won his 11th straight start, maching Hal Newhouser’s 1946 feat; Detroit as a team last won 11 in a row back in September of 1968.

Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer in the sixth to tack onto a 1-0 lead, and Miguel Cabrera went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI, also walking twice for Detroit.

Cabrera’s second walk of the game was a costly one for White Sox starter Gavin Floyd (12-11), who intentionally put the slugger on to get to Martinez. With Will Rhymes at second base on a lead off double, Martinez worked Floyd for a nine-pitch at-bat and belted a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall to give Detroit a 4-0 lead.

Texas beat Cleveland on Tuesday as well, pushing the Tigers’ magic number for clinching the division down to four. Any combination of Tigers wins and losses by the second place team equaling four will win the division for Detroit.

The win leaves Detroit 1 1/2 games behind Boston for second place overall in the American League and temporarily four back of New York (who is playing in Seattle Tuesday night) for the top record in the league.

Second halves have been unkind to the Detroit Tigers in years past.

No more.

The Tigers creamed the Chicago White Sox 14-4 on Monday and pushed their winning streak to 10 games — all of which have been over Central Division opponents.

Rick Porcello (14-8) gave up three runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings of work for Detroit, working around a rocky first inning. Porcello walked two batters and gave up a run in the inning, but got out the jam without further damage.

His team did the rest of the work for him.

Ryan Raburn went 4-for-5 and finished a triple short of the cycle, hitting back-to-back homers in the second with Jhonny Peralta that gave Detroit the lead for good.

Detroit chased White Sox starter Jon Danks (6-12) after five innings, allowing eight runs — seven earned — on 11 hits. It was the second time in a row the Tigers hung eight runs on Danks after beating him 8-1 on Sept. 2.

The Tigers started the winning streak against the White Sox in that very start by Danks, a series where Detroit outscored Chicago 35-11, including an 18-2 beating in front of a national TV audience Sept. 4. Detroit then swept Cleveland and Minnesota in back-to-back series and have pushed their AL Central lead to 11 1/2 games.

And tomorrow, the White Sox face Tigers ace Justin Verlander (22-5).

The lopsided score allowed Jim Leyland to get his key players out of the game to keep them fresh for the stretch run. Detroit pulled every starter except Raburn, who moved from second base to right field, and third baseman Brandon Inge.

Detroit blew an already lopsided game wide open with a five-run sixth inning, highlighted by Ramon Santiago’s two-run double that made it 14-2. Detroit scored at least one run from the second to sixth innings.

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Now that I have my random 1940s movie reference out of the way, on to the pressing issue.

The NCAA has ruled that if you play 2.9 quarters of football, the score will count but the stats won't. No, really.

College football's governing body says it will not recognize any stats from Michigan's rain-shortened 34-10 victory over Western Michigan in Week 1. Michigan gets a win and WMU gets a loss, but as far as the NCAA is concerned nothing else matters from that game. 

Brandon Herron's 94-yard interception return? Gone. His fumble return for a touchdown later in the game? Never happened.

In a weird move however, the NCAA is going to let the two universities keep the stats for their school records. So, Herron's interception still stands as a Michigan record, but it can't be friends with all of the NCAA's record interception returns.

This is pretty stupid, honestly. If it counts for one, it should count for the other.