At the moment, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is the only person standing between Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera and back-to-back American League Triple Crowns. Cabrera’s .357 batting average is a whopping 25 points higher than the next-best in the AL, which is Mike Trout’s .332. Miggy also has 130 RBI, which is 10 more than Davis. However, Davis currently holds the AL lead for home runs with 47. Cabrera has 43.
The Orioles are 4.5 games behind in the AL Wild Card and would love for Davis’ home run pace to continue, but the 27-year-old recently admitted he is pulling for Cabrera to win the Triple Crown again.
“As far as me being the obstruction for him doing it again, I hope he does do it again,” Davis said, via ESPN.com. “That would be awesome. He’s a great hitter. He deserves everything that he gets.
“My goal is not to go out there and keep Miguel Cabrera from winning the Triple Crown. It’s to do everything I can to put us in position to win, whether that means I hit 10 more home runs or two more home runs. I’ve had a productive year so far, but if we don’t make the playoffs, it doesn’t really mean a lot.”
If Cabrera does win another Triple Crown, he would become just the third player in baseball history to accomplish the feat twice and the first ever to do it in back-to-back seasons. But his team is also gearing up for another playoff run, so ideally Cabrera is more focused on winning than making history. Although, he has to be thinking about getting another sweet trophy like this to add to his collection.
And if Cabrera does somehow pull off another Triple Crown, the discussion of him as one of the greatest hitters the game has ever seen will heat up even more.
For the first time in his career, Mariano Rivera blew three saves in a row. The New York Yankees closer also experienced another first: he allowed consecutive home runs to the same better — Miguel Cabrera.
Rivera’s semi-struggles began on Wednesday when he surrendered an RBI single to Adam Dunn to tie the Yankees-Chicago White Sox game at four. Rivera got the first two outs of the inning before surrendering a double and RBI single. He struck out the next batters to end the inning, and then he pitched a 1-2-3 10th.
On Friday, Rivera allowed a hit to Austin Jackson and 2-run home run to Cabrera to tie the Yanks-Detroit Tigers game at three. He also gave up a double to Prince Fielder and intentionally walked Victor Martinez before getting Andy Dirks out to end the inning. The Yankees won 4-3 in 10.
The first home run allowed to Cabrera was a long at-bat that featured several foul balls. Cabrera even fouled two balls off his leg and could barely move around the bases, yet he managed to jack a fastball deep to center. Rivera was supposed to throw the pitch inside, but he missed too far out over the plate:
Miguel Cabrera certainly has the flare of an entertainer, even when he’s not hitting home runs.
The Detroit Tigers third baseman took his eye off the bag as he was heading to third base on a fielder’s choice by Don Kelly in the fourth inning of the Tigers’ 10-3 win over the Cleveland Indians, and he tripped on the base. Cabrera went down the ground and, after realizing his blunder garnered some embarrassing attention, he tipped his helmet to the Cleveland crowd.
Cabrera’s teammates were watching from the dugout when it happened, and they instantly began razzing him. Torii Hunter and Prince Fielder had great reactions:
There are some things at LBS that we will never get tired of posting about. Athletes doing stupid things to get arrested. Topless fans jiggling their breasts at games. Johnny Football’s partying ways. Something else that will always have a place here is highlights of Miguel Cabrera being an absolute bada– at the plate.
This guy is the best hitter in baseball and has been for the past several years. He is a total wizard with the bat. Just look at that pitch from Kansas City Royals starter James Shields that he took out down the left field line in the top of the first on Sunday. The pitch was nearly a foot inside and almost exactly where catcher Salvador Perez wanted it. Cabrera let it get deep enough so he could hit it fair, but he still managed to get around on it and drive it out of the park with power. If you watch the replay, you’ll see that he didn’t even extend his arms into a powerful position. 90 percent of hitters would either take the pitch; get jammed and make an out had they swung; or yank it foul. Not Cabrera. This guy somehow manages to knock it out of the park.
The angle from the TV camera doesn’t truly show how far inside the pitch was, but this FOX Trax image does:
You might have to wipe your eyes to actually believe what you see. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, two of the most imposing hitters in baseball, actually pulled off a double steal during the Detroit Tigers’ 9-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Sure, they got some help when catcher Carlos Santana dropped the ball on his exchange, but that was definitely unexpected. It was Prince’s first stolen base of the season and Miggy’s third. Cabrera probably would have been thrown out at third had Santana fielded the ball cleanly, but Prince probably would have had second stolen. Did you see the huge lead he got at first? Cabrera also went 4-for-4 with a home run in the loss. He leads all MLB hitters with a .368 average and 90 RBIs. And as you can see from the screenshot, he got a big kick out of the double steal.
Things got heated between the Detroit Tigers and Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, and slugger Miguel Cabrera was at the center of the drama. It all started on Saturday, when Rays closer Fernando Rodney was struggling with his control in the tenth inning and threw a pitch up and in to Cabrera. That’s right, the tenth inning.
For whatever reason, Cabrera thought Rodney was trying to hit him intentionally in a tie game in extra inning with no outs. Cabrera barked at Rodney a bit, but nothing happened. On Sunday, Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello came up and in on Ben Zobrist in the first inning and hit him on the shoulder. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon was not pleased.
“I thought it was absolutely uncalled for and hopefully the league will take a look at that,” Maddon said, via MLB.com’s Sam Strong. “That’s totally premeditated. There’s no question about that.
“We didn’t hit anybody. I want that to be duly noted. When this is all processed, I would hope that people process it properly.”
Zobrist agreed that Porcello hit him intentionally, noting how Cabrera is awfully “sensitive” for someone who is considered the best hitter in baseball.
“I think it was pretty clear in everyone’s minds that it was intentional after the things that were said last night,” he said. “It was at my face. I was fortunate to get out of the way enough to only get hit in the wrist. I would expect a little bit better after the words that were said.”
Cabrera got his revenge — even though none was needed — on Sunday when he smashed a towering home run into the rays tank in center field. Maddon joked about that feat after the game and praised Cabrera’s ability, but he also criticized him for complaining.
“The rays were in danger,” Maddon said. “He could have gotten a phone call or a letter from some activist group, I’m sure. It was a helium ball. I don’t debate this guy is outstanding. He’s wonderful. I just wish he wouldn’t cry so much.”
I second that. Zobrist is mostly likely right about Cabrera being frustrated that he struck out on Saturday in a crucial situation. He may be the best hitter in MLB, but he’s not good enough that someone would hit him to lead off the tenth inning of a tie game.
Miguel Cabrera on Sunday became just the second player to hit a home run into the Rays Touch Tank at Tropicana Field.
The Detroit Tigers slugger took a breaking ball from Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson to deep right-center field in the fourth inning Sunday, and the ball made a splash landing in the middle of the 10,000-gallon tank. The only other player to make a splash hit into the rays tank was Luis Gonzalez in 2007.
The home run by Cabrera — his 25th of the season — accounted for the only Tigers run in a 3-1 loss. Cabrera continues to lead the AL in two of the three triple crown categories, and remains six home runs behind Chris Davis, who also homered on Sunday.
The Tigers also settled a score with the Rays by hitting Ben Zobrist in the first inning. They felt that was payback for Rays reliever Fernando Rodney throwing at Cabrera’s head the previous night. The Rays did not retaliate.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Jose Alvarez did not allow a hit until the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, at which point Ryan Raburn spoiled the party. Raburn’s solo home run was the first hit of the day for Cleveland, and one of his former teammates was not pleased about it.
As Raburn was rounding third during his home run trot, Miguel Cabrera chucked his gum at the outfielder. In any other situation, the runner may have charged at the gum-thrower. Since Miggy and Raburn played together in Detroit from 2008-2012, Raburn simply smirked and kept on going.
Miguel Cabrera and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Roberto Hernandez had a bit of fun with each other during the Detroit Tigers’ 5-2 win on Thursday.
Hernandez (FKA Fausto Carmona) allowed Cabrera to go 2-for-3 when they faced each other, but it was the one time he got Miggy out that led to the fun.
To set the scene, you have to understand the pitch sequence for Cabrera’s first at-bat.
Cabrera singled in his first at-bat against Hernandez after going to the opposite field on a two-strike changeup away. Hernandez started off Cabrera with two hard sinkers inside and then went to junk after that, which proved to be a bad decision. In the next at-bat, Hernandez wisely went right back to the sinker and struck out Cabrera.
Hernandez threw Miggy four straight 90+ mph inside sinkers. Then, on the 2-2 pitch, he fooled Cabrera by throwing an 84 mph changeup. Miggy could be seen smiling as he walked away from the dish, probably because it’s not often that he gets fooled. Hernandez was also smiling knowing that he got over on Miggy in that at-bat:
Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball. You already knew that. He has no weakness in his swing, he doesn’t slump, and he can hit almost any kind of pitch. And he can hit those pitches with power.
You may remember last month when an awesome Yu Darvish GIF made its way onto the Internet. The GIF showed Darvish throwing six pitches and where those pitches traveled in the strike zone. The GIF was mesmerizing.
The creator of the GIF, Drew Sheppard, is back at it again.
Writing for Fangraphs, Sheppard put together a GIF and images that show Cabrera homering on pitches in all different parts of the strike zone. Here’s his explanation of the GIF:
The footage has been synchronized to the time of contact and stabilized at home plate to represent the end location of each pitch as accurately as possible. The pitches are taken from the last year, with the furthest off the plate over nine inches inside.
At the moment, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is the only person standing between Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera and back-to-back American League Triple Crowns. Cabrera’s .357 batting average is a whopping 25 points higher than the next-best in the AL, which is Mike Trout’s .332. Miggy also has 130 RBI, which is 10 more than Davis. However, Davis currently holds the AL lead for home runs with 47. Cabrera has 43.
