Larry Brown Sports

Miguel Cabrera continued his reign of dominance over MLB pitching with a 3-home-run game in an 11-8 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday night.

Cabrera went 4-for-4 with 3 runs scored and 5 RBIs in the game. He started off with a line-drive single in the top of the first for Detroit’s lone hit of the inning. Two innings later, he followed hits from Omar Infante and Torii Hunter with a prodigious 3-run home run to right-center off Derek Holland:

Clear your eyes for a second and comprehend what you just saw. Miggy took an 83-mph change-up from lefty Derek Holland and sent it 441 feet to the opposite field. A 441-foot opposite field home run off a change-up from a lefty. Seriously. Do you realize how insane that is? Not only is a pitch like that intended to keep a hitter off balance or induce them to ground out weakly to the right side, but it requires a lot of power from the batter to deposit an 83-mph pitch 441 feet.

After getting burned with a change-up to Cabrera, Holland figured he’d bring the heat in the next at-bat to see how it would go. He brought in a 94-mph fastball, and Cabrera sent out a line drive to straight away center that left the park in about half a second:

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Does anyone have a more wicked pitching arsenal than Yu Darvish? The Texas Rangers stud pitcher matched up with Justin Verlander on Thursday in a game that surprisingly turned into a slugfest. While Verlander was rocked and couldn’t make it through three innings, Darvish got through eight to pick up his seventh win of the season.

But there was one moment in particular that must be recognized: the time when Darvish made Miguel Cabrera look foolish.

Darvish was facing Cabrera in the top of the fifth with the Rangers up 8-4 and the count 0-1. Darvish threw Cabrera a 62 mph curveball, and Miggy took a vicious hack at it. He was so off balance after missing on the swing that he stumbled across the plate and was left to give a smile. Why? Because nobody makes him look foolish like that.

Cabrera is the reigning AL MVP and last year’s triple crown winner. He’s the best hitter in baseball. That doesn’t happen very often. But with Darvish pitching, anything is possible.

Also see: Amazing GIF shows all of Darvish’s pitches

GIF via Drew Sheppard

There are some players who don’t need a month of practice games to get prepared for the season. Miguel Cabrera is one of those guys.

The Detroit Tigers stud turned on a 1-2 fastball from Jonathan Papelbon during the top of the 5th inning Monday against the Phillies for a 3-run home run. Papelbon left the fastball up and it ran in on Cabrera, who didn’t even take a stride and just mashed it with his fast hands.

The ball cleared the bullpens beyond left field at Bright House Field in Clearwater and went over one of the food huts. Miggy already has two home runs this spring and continues to show why he’s the best hitter in baseball. This was Papelbon’s first work of the spring, so he has plenty of time to get himself ready.

Four months ago, Detroit Tigers reliever Octavio Dotel called out teammate Miguel Cabrera for not speaking to the media after a loss in the playoffs. In Dotel’s opinion, Cabrera should be one of Detroit’s leaders since he is the team’s best player. On Tuesday, the topic was revisited.

In a story written by Eric Aldeson of Yahoo! Sports, Dotel was quoted as basically calling Cabrera selfish.

“You have to step up and say something,” Dotel told Yahoo! Sports. “Miggy’s more about his game. I don’t see him as a leader.”

The 39-year-old Dotel went on to explain how he feels the slugger should take on more of a leadership role seeing as how everyone “has their eyes on Miggy Cabrera.” Cabrera apparently did not appreciate the criticism, and Dotel felt the need to apologize for his comments on Wednesday.

“I don’t mean to make people think that he’s not the guy,” Dotel said, via MLive.com’s Chris Iott. “He’s our guy. He’s our horse. He’s our man. If we don’t have Miggy, hello, where are we going to be? I don’t know where we’re going to be.”

Cabrera had very little to say about the situation, but he made it clear that it did indeed bother him.

“If he’s saying that — wow — what do you want (me) to say,” the Triple Crown winner said. “That’s his opinion.”

Cabrera later told reporters that he is “good” with Dotel and has nothing to say, and Dotel gave the following response when asked if he was upset about the situation.

“Yes, big time,” he said. “Because that’s not what I was trying to mean. And I’m sorry that Miggy thinks the way he thinks. I feel bad. I apologized to him and everyone here about that leader comment.”

It’s certainly possible that Dotel’s comments didn’t come out the way he wanted them to, but the fact that he said something similar during the playoffs last year makes it a reoccurring theme. The best player on the team is not always a leader — just ask someone like Manny Ramirez. Dotel is certainly entitled to his opinion, but it’s probably time for him to accept that speaking to members of the media about it only creates drama.

Photo credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

Detroit Tigers third baseman/DH Miguel Cabrera received an awesome crown trophy from MLB for winning the Triple Crown in the American League during the 2012 season. The trophy is an actual crown, and it features a Detroit Tigers “D” on the front, golden baseball on the top, and is lined with purple cloth.

The front of Cabrera’s trophy says: “2012 American League Triple Crown presented by Major League Baseball to Miguel Cabrera.”

Cabrera was presented with the trophy prior to Game 3 of the World Series in Detroit. Commissioner Bud Selig and former Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson presented him with the award. He also won the Hank Aaron Award for Most Outstanding Player in the American League, while Giants catcher Buster Posey received the honor for the National League.

“I want to congratulate Miguel on his magnificent year and winning the Triple Crown,” Selig said, via MLB.com. “Hard to believe it was 45 years since Carl Yastrzemski won it, and the year before our friend Frank Robinson. So it’s a really momentous year.”

The back is further customized to reflect Cabrera’s statistics:

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Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Phil Coke has emerged as a key figure during the team’s playoff run this season, and one of the byproducts has been the public getting to know his cool personality. Take for instance the video above.

Deadspin shared this brilliant clip with us on Friday, and it’s from an interview Coke did with MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk” with Kevin Millar and Chris Rose last week. In the clip, Coke talks about the time slugger Miguel Cabrera asked him if they had ever faced each other as opponents.

Coke spent two seasons with the Yankees (2008-2009), and he has been with the Tigers since then. The two faced each other once, and it came in 2008 during Coke’s rookie season and Cabrera’s first year with the Tigers following his trade from Florida.

Coke told the story while imitating Cabrera perfectly, nailing the All-Star’s confidence and accent. He also delivered the ultimate punchline.

“I don’t remember horsecrap pitchers.”

So awesome. And if you’re wondering why Coke remembers the at-bat so well, it’s because that was his first career appearance. Coke faced four Tigers batters and gave up a hit while striking out two in a scoreless inning, punching out Miggy to end his first career inning. Cabrera went 1-for-5 with a home run off Edwar Ramirez that game. Here’s the boxscore in case you were curious.

The Tigers had a great opportunity to close out the A’s on Wednesday and become the first team to punch their ticket to the ALCS, but they couldn’t get the job done late in the game. Detroit took a 3-1 lead into the ninth before outfielders Seth Smith and Coco Crisp combined for three RBI to lead Oakland to a thrilling walk-off win.

It was the type of loss that makes a team dread having to talk to the media, but as professionals they have a responsibility. Miguel Cabrera apparently decided he wasn’t going to fulfill his, which irritated pitcher Octavio Dotel since the Triple Crown winner is supposed to be a clubhouse leader. From Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com:

Third baseman Miguel Cabrera entered the scene, he playfully slapped a pair of male reporters on their rear ends and smirked. It appeared the Triple Crown winner was already over the loss and ready for Thursday’s finale. But the mood in the clubhouse took a serious turn and tension surfaced when veteran Octavio Dotel told Cabrera to address the media because it was his job as the leader of the team

Cabrera turned down all interview requests and sat at one of the tables in his dress clothes with his arms crossed. Dotel, still in uniform, sat at the other table and shook his head.

Players have different ways of dealing with losses, but Dotel has a point. If Jose Valverde has to speak to the media after blowing his biggest save opportunity of the year and having pitchers from other teams mock him on Twitter, Cabrera should be able to say a few words. In any event, it’s safe to expect exactly zero carry-over from the situation when the Tigers take the field for the series finale on Thursday night.

Photo credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE