Brandon Inge has been vindicated -- by 11.8 million votes.
        First, the Tigers tried unsuccessfully to trade him in the spring of 2008 after they acquired Miguel Cabrera to take Brandon’s place at third base.
        Then Inge’s peers, the other players in the American League, snubbed him this season when they voted for the reserves for next week’s All-Star Game.
        But the public has spoken.
        The popular, persevering Inge is an All-Star after all -- thanks to his fans, some of whom, admittedly, voted 1,000 times or more in a special last-chance Internet election which ended Thursday.
        “The All-Star Game is the ultimate pat on the back,” said Inge, who will now join Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson at baseball’s annual mid-season gala in St. Louis on Tuesday night. “It says you’re one of the best in all of baseball, and all the world. It is one of the highest honors. Personally, it is the highest honor.
        “It’s been a dream since I was a little kid,” Inge added. “It’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me in baseball.”
        Not bad for a guy, just 16 months ago, was without an everyday position and wondering which team he would be playing for next.
        “One year, it’s terrible for you -- the next year, you turn it around and make the All-Star team,” Inge said, acknowledging the irony.
        Only the Boston Red Sox, with six, will have more players on the AL All-Star team  than the Tigers’ four.

        Brandon Inge was so certain he wouldn’t be picked for the American League All-Star team that he rented a cottage on Lake Michigan and made plans to spend three days on vacation with his wife and their two sons next week. Now it appears Inge may have to eat his deposit and fly to St. Louis instead.
        Entering the final 24 hours of fans’ Internet balloting for the 33rd and last spot on the AL squad, Inge has moved into first place, ahead of Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers, with more than 34 million votes cast.
        Initially, Inge, who was overlooked in the original voting by the fans and his fellow players, thought the last-chance vote was no big deal. “I figured, either I would make it or I wouldn’t,” he said.
        However, the election has taken on a life of its own.
        “The last few days have been kind of a whirlwind,” Inge admitted Wednesday. “I had no idea it would be like this.”
        In the on-deck circle during the games, waiting for his next turn at bat, Inge can hear the fans.
        “They holler stuff, like ‘Hey, we voted for you!’ or ‘If you don’t get a hit, I’m not voting for you,’ ” Inge said.
        From the Tigers’ dugout on Tuesday night, Jim Leyland spotted a woman holding up a sign that read: “I Voted For Brandon 500 Times Today.”
        There is no limit to how many times a person can vote.
        The Tigers public relations department has joined forces with the Philadelphia Phillies in a joint effort to get both Inge and the Phillies’ Shane Victorino elected. The two teams are urging businesses in Michigan and Pennsylvania to allow their employees time to log on and vote for Inge and Victorino. Their campaign slogan is “Vote Bran-Torino.”
        In addition, the Tigers say fans who vote for Inge at least 100 times on www.tigers.com will be eligible to win a fantasy package including two box seats, free parking, dinner for two in the Champions Club, a batting practice jersey, and the chance to deliver the game ball to the pitcher’s mound prior to the Aug. 4 game at Comerica Park against Baltimore.  
        Balloting will end at 4 p.m. on Thursday and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

        Three weeks ago, Armando Galarraga was on the bubble. His job was in jeopardy. His days in the Tigers’ starting rotation appeared numbered. There were those who suggested his 13 wins last season had been a fluke.
        Now Galarraga is arguably the Tigers’ third most dependable starter, behind All-Stars Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson.
        Winless since April, Galarraga has enjoyed three good outings in a row. He won two of them and should have won all three.
        “It appears he is over the hump,” Jim Leyland said Tuesday.
        As was the case with Verlander last year, Galarraga first had to learn how to deal with adversity before he could take the next step forward toward becoming a bona fide big league winner.
        “There are lessons to be learned, and you can study for the test, but you can’t take the test before you get it,” Leyland philosophized. “You can’t rush that.”
        In other words, you never know how a person is going to handle adversity until they have to deal with it.
        “It’s important to learn how to do well, but it’s also important to learn how to handle a slump,” Leyland said.
        “Because you’re going to have ‘em up here, I don’t care how good you are. This is a tough game to play.”
        Galarraga gave the Tigers seven strong innings against the Royals on Monday night. With the pitch counts of Verlander and Jackson creeping back up lately and rookie Rick Porcello struggling, Galarraga could be a critical factor down the stretch.
        “If we get innings out of any of our starters, it’s a plus for our bullpen,” Leyland said

        It won’t show up in the box scores, but the Tigers will have a lot on the line in the next few weeks.
        A year ago, Carlos Guillen was preparing to be the Tigers’ lone representative at baseball’s  All-Star Game. On Monday, Guillen took batting practice for the first time in two months and predicted he will be back in action by the end of July.
        The Tigers hope that is true. If possible, they would like to know Guillen’s status, specifically whether or not they need to look for a replacement, before the July 31 trade deadline.
        Guillen, who turns 34 at the end of September, is signed through 2011. His contract guarantees him a salary of $13 million in each of the next two seasons.
        “I know they need me, but they need me healthy,” Guillen said Monday on his first day back from an extended stint with a physical therapist in South Florida. “The only way I’m going to help this team is if I’m healthy.”
        So far,  so good. Guillen, who took his normal number of swings from both sides of the plate on Monday and has already been throwing from 100 to 140 feet in the outfield, said he might be ready to begin his rehab assignment in the minor leagues by the end of the week.
        “I feel better, no pain,” he said.
        But Jim Leyland admitted “I have no idea” how soon Guillen might be ready to return.
        “When he gets to the point where he can go out and play, it’s not going to be a two or three-day thing,” the manager said. “It’s going to be like he’s starting over in spring training. It’s going to take a while.”
        The switch-hitting Guillen hasn’t played since May 4. He was hitting just .200, having appeared in 24 games, when his shoulder gave out.

        I must admit I certainly am surprised that Edwin Jackson is an All-Star for the first time in his career -- not because he doesn’t deserve it, but because he only has six wins to go with his stellar 2.59 ERA. Hopefully, if he gets into the game, Hopefully, Jackson’s AL All-Star teammates will give him more support than the Tigers have.
        I’m also surprised that Curtis Granderson made the team with his .255 batting average while Miguel Cabrera, who is third-best in the AL at .324 did not. Granderson is tied for the Tigers’ team  lead with 18 home runs, which is also second-best among AL outfielders. But Granderson has been in a slump for several weeks.
        I’m a bit shocked that Brandon Inge didn’t make it as Evan Longoria’s back-up. Inge, with his 18 home runs and 52 RBI and his defense deserved better than to be a gimmick on-line candidate, along with four other guys, for the final seat on the AL bench.
        Inge may still make it, provided he outpolls Chone Figgins, Ian Kinsler, Adam Lind and ex-Tiger Carlos Pena in the sympathy vote. But I find that whole last-chance process cheesy.
        As expected, Justin Verlander made the team. His league-leading 130 strikeouts made him an automatic. He has arguably been the most dominant pitcher in the league since late April.
        However, assuming Verlander starts against Cleveland, as scheduled, next Sunday, he will only have one day’s rest before the All-Star Game -- making it unlikely he will pitch more than one inning in St. Louis, if he pitches at all.
        By the way, the three Tiger All-Stars are the most the team has had since 2007 when they put five guys on the honor squad.
        I guess first place has its perks.
       

        If baseball’s annual All-Star Game is, indeed, meant to honor those players who are having great years, how can the American League leave Brandon Inge off the team?
        “I’m partial,” Jim Leyland admitted on the Tigers’ last homestand, “but I think he’s the best. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve never in my life seen anybody go down the line for pop-ups like he does. It’s unbelievable.”
        And Leyland was just talking about Inge’s fielding.
        Inge is currently a distant fifth in balloting for third base, behind Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria, the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, Boston’s Mike Lowell and the Rangers’ Michael Young. But, in addition to his superior defense, Inge has hit more home runs (18) than any of those guys and has knocked in more runs (52) than all but Longoria.
        Leyland believes Inge has earned the right to be Longoria’s back-up. If Inge makes the team, it will be his first appearance as an All-Star.
        Simply put, the Tigers would not be where they are today, in first place, without Inge.
        And isn’t that what the All-Star exhibition is supposed to be all about?
        Justin Verlander will probably make the team on the strength of his league-leading 130 strikeouts. However, his 8-4 record now makes it highly unlikely that he will be named the starting pitcher.
        Although Edwin Jackson ranks second in the league in ERA (2.49), his 6-4 record, due in large part to his lack of run support, leaves him with little chance of being included on the AL staff. Fernando Rodney remains a longshot among closer candidates.
        Miguel Cabrera is fourth among first basemen, behind Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira and Minnesota’s Justin Morneau. I think Cabrera is a longshot, too.   
        The All-Star teams will be announced on Sunday afternoon.

     With their lead in the American League Central now reduced to three games over the Twins after dropping four out of six to the Astros and Athletics on this so far alarming road trip, the last place the offensively-challenged Tigers want to be this weekend is in Minneapolis and the lame duck Metrodome.
     Since 2001, the Tigers are 58-96 against the Twins -- and 25-53 in the Metrodome, including an 0-3 mark there so far this year.   
     Suffice to say, the Metrodome is not the Tigers' favorite place to play.
     It has been the scene of too many nightmares.
     Only in 2007, when the Tigers went a surprising 8-1 in the Metrodome, have they enjoyed their trips to Minneapolis.
     As first base coach Andy Van Slyke noted in the book we wrote together last summer, Tigers Confidential: "Aesthetically, it's certainly the ugliest (place to play). The ballpark just has a murkiness to it. There is no cleaness, no crispness to the Metrodome.
     "It smells -- believe me, it smells terrible in the visitors' dugout. That may be from all of the teams that have gotten their brains beaten in there over the years and all of the carnage that has been left in the visitors' dugout."
     The Tigers know that better than anybody.
     Despite their decided homefield advantage, the Twins will abandon the Metrodome at the end of this season and move into a new open air stadium about a mile away.