1. Stan Van Gundy has made his first major administrative move.  Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that Detroit is close to making Jeff Bower the next general manager of the Pistons.

Bower coached at Marist Univeristy last season, and has spent different parts of 15 seasons with the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets.  He was the GM of the Hornets for seven years, and finished third in executive of the year voting in 2008.  He has been praised for drafting Chris Paul and trading for Tyson Chandler amongst other moves.

Bower's first big decision will be to decide what to do with Greg Monroe.  Monroe is a restricted free agent that will likely field a large offer from another team.  The Pistons will have to decide whether to match the deal or not, then decide his role moving forward if they keep him around.

2. The Tigers got an off day at a good time yesterday.  They looked worn down after being shut out by the Mariners on Sunday.  That game finished a stretch where they played 16 of 20 games on the road, and it was noticeable.

The good news is that they play their next seven games at home. The bad news is that the games are against very quality opponents.  They start off with three games against the Toronto Blue Jays, who have won 11 of their past 13 games.  Edwin Encarnacion is the hottest hitter on the planet, hitting 17 home runs in his past 27 games.  Anibal Sanchez will be faced with task of keeping Encarnacion and the rest of the Blue Jays hitters in the park.  First pitch is at 7:08.

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3. In Tigers minor league news, promising starting pitcher prospect Robbie Ray will miss Friday's start with a "significant blister" on his hand.  This was reported by John Wagner of the Toledo Blade.  Ray is the Tigers' top pitching prospect.

4. Derek Fisher has had a long, productive NBA career.  He is thinking about calling it quits and joining the coaching ranks.  Fisher is set to talk with former coach Phil Jackson about the New York Knicks opening.  Fisher played a number of years with the Los Angeles Lakers, and that coaching job is also open.  He is still mulling his future, but it appears he has two opportunities to potentially join the coaching ranks.

5. In baseball, Clayton Kershaw worked around a Jose Abreu home run to pitch eight innings and only let up two runs.  The Dodgers won 5-2.

The Red Sox ended their seven-game winning streak with a loss to the Indians.  Justin Masterson pitched very well for the Indians.

Danny Duffy pitched well once again, as the Royals shut out the Cardinals.

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Steve Miller is on-air from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. producing ‘Mad Dog in the Morning’ on The Game 730 AM.  Follow him on Twitter @SteveMilllerWVFN.

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