The founders and owners of Detroit Tigers Talk 24/7 now present, The 24/7 awards! Enjoy.

24/7 Most improved player:

• Finalists: Alex Avila, Jhonny Peralta, Brennan Boesch.

• 24/7s’ pick: Our first award goes to….Drumroll….Drumrolll……Drumroll… You guessed it, Alex Avila! Pretty obvious, ehh? The guy was an embarrassment last year, hitting .228 with 7 HR’s, and 31 RBI in only 104 games. This year, he completely turned it around. In the process he hit, .295, with 19 dingers, and 82 runs driven in. He also picked up a Silver Slugger award for AL catchers. Not only did he provide solid Offense, he provided the Tigers with magnificent Defense. This guy did it all this year, just like Hugh Heffner.

• Fans pick: Alex Avila (76%)

24/7 Rookie of the year:

• Finalists: Andy Dirks, Al Alberquerque, Jacob Turner.

• 24/7′s pick: Andy Dirks played his heart out, just what the Tigers needed. We fell in love with Dirks’ hustle and effort. Every play, Dirks was hustling. Every pitch, Dirks was ready. He is the definition of a ball player, which is exactly what teams want. In addition to his effort, Dirks put up some solid numbers: .251 average, 7 HR’s, 28 RBI’s in 78 games.

• Fans pick: Al Alberqurque (64%)

24/7 Relief man of the year:

• Finalists: Joaquin Benoit, Jose Valverde, Al Alberqurque, Phil Coke.

• 24/7′s pick: This was a fairly easy decision. We decided to go with the closer, Jose Valverde. Papa Grande notched 49 consecutive clean saves for the Tigers in 2011, pretty hard to deny him of this award. Valverde maintained a pretty dominant ERA as well, 2.24 in 75 games, 0.52 in save situations. Benoit pitched in 66 games and had a slightly higher ERA, 2.95. If Benoit would have pitched like he did in the 2nd half (1.33 era, 2-0, 16 holds), all year long, this would be a very difficult choice.

• Fans pick: Jose Valverde (81%)

24/7 Defender of the year: 

• Finalists: Austin Jackson, Jhonny Peralta, Doug Fister (His D was outstanding, better then Buerhle’s).

• 24/7′s pick: This may sound weird, but were going with Doug Fister. Doug provided athleticism on the mound that Tiger fans have never seen before. In his first year with Detroit, he made some plays I’ve never seen pitchers make. He should have won the Gold Glove for the pitching position, but the voters are too scared to pick anyone other than Mark Buerhle.

• Fans pick: Austin Jackson (39%)

24/7 Dud of the Year:

• Finalists: Austin JacKson, Brandon Inge, Will Rhymes, Ryan Perry, Brad Penny

• 24/7′s pick: There were a few Tigers who busted this year, one of which was a veteran, a popular one that goes by the name of Brandon Inge. Yeah that’s right Inge fans, he sucked this year. No better way to describe it. Hitting under the Mendoza Line (.197), hitting only 3 homers (2 walk-offs, we will give him credit for that), and striking out 74 times in 102 games. Not to mention he was even DFA. #FAIL

• Fans pick: Brandon Inge (31%)

24/7 Surprise of the Year:

• Finalists: Jhonny Peralta, Brennan Boesch, Alex Avila

• 24/7′s pick: Avila. What more is there to say? .228 to .295? 7 hr’s to 19 hr’s? In just a year? Sounds like we were playing season mode on MLB 2011 The Show.

• Fans pick: Alex Avila (49%)

24/7 Most Frustrating player:

• Finalists: Brad Penny, Rick Porcello, Brandon Inge, Austin Jackson.

• 24/7′s pick: Rick Porcello over Brad Penny may sound like a stretch, but it may be true. You seriously never knew what you were gonna get from this kid. One month he shows flashes of brilliance, the next month he looks like Nate Robertson. You just never knew. It seems like every other month he was good. April: 1-2, 4.25 era. May: 3-1, 3.55 era. June: 2-3, 6.97 era. July: 5-0, 3.06 era. August: 1-2, 6.82 era. September: 2-1, 3.55 era.

• Fans Pick: Austin Jackson (39%)

 24/7 Play of the year:

• Finalists: Jacksons throw to home vs. CLE, Verlander striking out Davis for 2nd career no-no, Boesch homerun through the rain vs. TEX, Cabrera’s walk-off homerun vs. CWS , Papa Grande striking out A-Rod to end, ALDS, Last out to clinch Central vs. OAK.

• 24/7′s pick: There really is no right or wrong on this one, more of a personal choice. For us, there were so many to choose from, it was almost impossible. But we have decided to go with the “Boesch homerun through the rain vs. Texas”. On August 2nd, the Tigers were tied with Texas 5-5, then Boesch stepped up and Drove it out of the park through the rain drops. We can’t even explain how exciting it was. Steven Spielberg could not have came up with a better plot. It was like the scene in The Shawshank Redemption, when Red found Andy on the beach at the end, it just makes you smile everytime you see it.

• Fans pick: The Last out of Verlander’s no-hitter (38%)

Thank you fans for voting! We will have another set of awards right before the 2012 season! Stay tuned!

Last night, technically this morning, the Detroit Tigers eliminated the New York Yankees by a score of 3-2. The Yankees have now been knocked out by the Tigers, twice in the ALDS in the last 5 years!

Tigers starter, Doug Fister rose to the occasion of all the hype, delivering 5 innings of 1 run ball. He also walked 2, allowed 5 hits and K’d 4 Yankees, all on 92 pitches. Doug be handed his very first playoff win in his 2nd career postseason appearance.

The young rookie phenom, Ivan Nova would only last 2 inning’s. Young and Kelly launched back-to-back solo shots off of the young righty, in the first inning. But there was a good excuse for Nova’s early exit. The 24 year old was diagnosed with right forearm tightness, according to the Yankee’s training staff.

The Yanks would use 7 pitchers, 3 of which were starters during the regular season. Nova’s early vanishing forced Yankee manager, Joe Girard, to turn to Phil Hughes. Hughes would pitch an excellent, 2 scoreless innings.

Delmon Young and Don Kelly’s solo shots in the 1st justified the Tigers scoring tonight. Young was Detroit’s key offensive cog in the series, as he hit .316 along with 3 dingers.

Detroit will now head to Texas to take on the Rangers, in a best of 7 game series. This will mark the 2nd straight year the Rangers have reached the ALCS.

Let the Champagne showers begin! The Tigers have officially clinched the Central! For the first time in the history of the franchise, the Tigers have won the A.L Central division. The last time Detroit won any division title, in general, was October 4th, 1987.

Doug Fister, aka Doyle Alexander, was dealing tonight. Fister (9-13) went 8 sound inning’s, where we only allowed a solo-shot to muscle-man, Josh Willingham. Now in 9 starts with MoTown, Doug is 6-1 with an era of 2.12. I think everyone can officially label Doug Fister as the #2 starter behind MVP candidate, Justin Verlander.

Trevor “baby face” Cahill was mediocre at best tonight. Cahill gave Oakland 6 2/3 reasonable innings, while conceding 3 runs. The 23 year old struggled with control (as most young starters do), of his 107 pitches, only 57 were strikes. The high ball-to-strike ratio resulted in 4 walks, his 28th start with at least one walk. Cahill’s final line was; 6.2 innings, 3 earned runs, 4 walks and 4 strikeout’s on 107 pitches.

Detroit’s offense was directed by the weak hitting, right fielder, Don Kelly. Kelly was the Detroit’s “one headed monster” this evening, with two clutch hits, one of which was a long ball in the 7th (5). Don’s first RBI came in inning number 3, when Ramon Santiago scored a two out hit from DK. Other then Kelly, the O for Detroit was pretty quiet.

Josh Willingham and former Royal David DeJesus, were the only productive parts of Oaklands terrible offense. The starting nine Athletic’s, combined for 4 hits, as they continue to struggle on 2011 campaign.

Jose Valverde was insanely amped up tonight, but why?

Was he full of energy drinks? No. Was he drunk? No. Or was he just plain crazy? Ding, Ding, Ding! Papa Grande was at it again tonight, picking up his 45th save in as many chances. He now is only two shy of his career high.

From the 119 losses in 2003, to the World Series appearance in 2006, and everything in between, Dave Dombrowski has seen it all. Finally, he gets a second crack at the playoff’s, looking to take care of unfinished business from 2006. This 2011 certainty has the chance to do just that.

The 22 year old R. Porcello (14-8, 4.83) and the lefty G. Gonzalez (13-12, 3.41) will square off tomorrow afternoon for their teams. Both pitchers will be looking to get their respective squads into the W column. First pitch is currently slated for 4:05 ET on FOX. GO TIGERS!