It took two attempts and far too much time, but Bless You Boys Podcast 16 is in the books. I screwed up on the first recording, and rather than skip a week or try later in the week, we immediately fired up and tried again. All for you listeners! So if we sound a little tired toward the end...blame me.

The podcast runs 53:12 and features editors Al Beaton, Allison Hagen, Rob Rogacki, the long missing David Tokarz, and our special guest, Scott Rogowski, aka Rogo of Designate Robertson!

Again, I apologize for my screw up, as I lost a damn good conversation. Thanks to Rogo and the other editors, I hope we managed to pick up the pieces!

Topics for this week include:

• Tigers win 6 of 7, sweep the Tribe, take 3 of 4 from the Rays.
• Twins trade Jim Thome to the Indians. Too little, too late?
• Did Brandon Inge make the right decision on the walk off fielder's choice, and was his arrogance about it off-putting?
• Does Inge really serve a role on the Tigers?
• Brad Penny bitches about Sean Rodriguez's hustle, called out by the Rays' Joe Maddon..
• Scherzer, Porcello, Fister, oh my.
• Encouraged by the performances of Ryan Perry and Daniel Schlereth against the Rays?
• If Brennan Boesch is going to miss time with the thumb injury, who is the best internal replacement?
• Does a pitcher named David Pauley pitch for the Tigers, or am I only imagining it?
• Should Jose Valverde return as the closer in 2012, or are there internal options?
• We pick the Tigers' MVP.
• Only one listener question. What happened people?

Final thoughts: Exhaustion, picking on the missing Kurt, run differential, and bunting.

Some of the Bless You Boys editors don't have a life, so we got together to do a podcast!

This week the Bless You Boys Podcast runs 1:16 and features editors Al Beaton, Kurt Mensching, and the newly promoted from bullet point master to deputy editor, Rob Rogacki!

Topics for this week include:

• Tigers acquire Delmon Young for a song, Twins fans celebrate.
• The Tigers take Kurt's advice, bench Magglio Ordonez.
• As hindsight is always 20/20, Detroit columnists have selective amnesia over the signing of Ordonez.
• Justin Verlander won't pitch against the Indians, is Jim Leyland making the right decision?
• Carlos Guiillen back on the DL, no one is surprised.
• Who feels bad for Will Rhymes?
• Brandon Inge will return in September, might get some playing time, sports talk radio hosts throw a fit.
• Should we worry about the recent performances of Rick Porcello and Doug Fister?
• Chance Ruffin named the PTBNL in the the Mariners trade, some think it was a risky thing to do.
• Rogo likes us...and we're still trying to get him on the podcast!
• Listener questions cover the gamut, from mythbusting, to Delmon Young, to blogging and the operations of Bless You Boys.

Final thoughts: Tigers fandom when living out of Michigan, the Brewers and giving up on sports talk radio.

I'm back from Florida, which means the Bless You Boys Podcast has higher production qualities...though the low brow content remains the same!

This week the podcast runs 1:24 and features editors Al Beaton, Kurt Mensching, and Allison Hagen. Joining us is very special guest Grey of Fire Gerald Laird. Grey is better known on Twitter as @spacemnkymafia and as NefiPerezHilton in the BYB comments.

Topics covered this week included:

• Al Alburquerque struck in the head by a line drive during batting practice.
• Contract extensions for everyone!
• Dave Dombrowski gets four years, Jim Leyland one year, by request.  Were the extensions deserved?
• Tigers lose 2 of 3 against the douchebag Indians, still lead the Central by three games.
• The time to bench Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen is nigh.
• Casper Wells, anyone?
• Milestone 1 - Jose Valverde sets club record of 33 consecutive saves.
• Milestone 2 – Justin Verlander wins 100th career game.
• Why isn't Wilson Betemit playing more?
• Will Brandon Inge return before September in order to make him playoff eligible?
• With Victor Martinez injured, should a backup catcher be called up?
• Where's the power?
• Can you seriously say a team or player "lacks heart?"
• The return of listener questions!

We LOVE to hear from you.If you would like to have your question on next week's podcast, please email us at BYBPodcast at Gmail.com.

Final thoughts: Mostly about drinking, panicking and John Smoltz.

This is a quick and dirty (57 minutes) Bless You Boys Podcast featuring editors Al Beaton, Kurt Mensching, Matt Wallace and Rob Rogacki, recorded with ad hoc equipment on the road.

I'm on vacation in Florida, and had to wing it using less than optimal equipment. So I'm warning you all now, the audio quality is not near to our usual standards. We'll be back to out usual high...well, higher, standards next week.

Topics covered this week included:

• July ends, August begins, Tigers in 1st with biggest lead of the season.
• Tigers make a trade deadline deal for pitching.
• Meet Doug Fister and David Pauley!
• Grading the Tigers deadline moves.
• Tribe counter the Tigers, sell the farm to get the Rockies’ ace, Ubaldo Jimenez.
• Jacob Turner debut.
• Everyone's favorite Tiger, David Purcey, is DFA'ed.
• Rick Porcello's excellent July.
• The rotation is under contract thru 2014
• Blog war? What blog war?
• Justin Verlander, almost another no-no.
• Jered Weaver is a loon (just like his big brother), nailed with a six game suspension for throwing at Alex Avila.
• All kinds of "unwritten" baseball rules broken last Sunday, are they ridiculous?

No listener questions this week. Why? I'm on vacation, I didn't want to work that hard! We'll be back to our normal format next week.

Again, we apologize for the audio quality. But Hell or high water (or the host going out of town), we wanted to get out a podcast due to all of the hijinks and shenanigans over the past week.