The Tigers Miguel Cabrera comes to Citi Field tonight to face the Mets hitting .354.
That’s because he has struggled a bit lately.
Yeah, struggling at .354. Cabrera, fighting an assortment of ailments, went 0-for-4 with a walk yesterday, leaving him at 2-for-13 in the Tigers’ three-game set with Minnesota and 10-for-42 (.238) over his last 10 games.
Still, his .354 leads the majors. As does his 123 RBIs. And his 40 home runs are surpassed only by Baltimore’s Chris Davis’ 46. He is actually having a better season than last year’s Triple Crown campaign. Everyone should have such struggles.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Seattle’s former Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez. “He adjusts to everything. Give him a good pitch, he fights it off. Make a mistake, he hits a homer.”
That’s part of what the Mets, who will start newly signed Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight, will be facing this weekend.
“It’s not that he’s able to hit one pitch,” said Dillon Gee, Sunday’s scheduled Mets starter. “He’s hitting balls that aren’t even strikes out of the ballpark.”
Or lining them in the gaps.
Cabrera is chasing a third straight American League batting title. No right-handed hitter has won three straight batting titles since Rogers Hornsby won six in a row for the Cardinals from 1920 to 1925. The last American League right-handed hitter to win three straight was Napoleon Lajoie, who captured four consecutive crowns from 1901 to 1904 with the Philadelphia A’s and Cleveland.
Since Hornsby’s six straight titles, only seven righty hitters have won back-to-back batting crowns: Cabrera, Nomar Garciaparra, Bill Madlock, Roberto Clemente, Tommy Davis, Joe DiMaggio and Al Simmons.
“He hits everything,” Mets closer LaTroy Hawkins said. “Every pitch, if it’s anywhere around the plate. He hits to all fields. With power. I don’t know if we will figure him out. Nobody else has. Go to the corners. Don’t go down the middle. Let him get himself out.”
Cabrera was in New York two weekends ago. The reigning MVP became the first player ever to homer on consecutive at bats against Hall-of-Fame bound Mariano Rivera. And now his try for another Triple Crown continues, amid an ailing hip, leg, back and abdomen.
“Last year I didn’t think about winning a Triple Crown. I’ve got to think only of helping my team win games,” Cabrera said. “If we win, the numbers will be there.”
While he might not think of a Triple Crown, he admitted he dreams of the Hall of Fame. A second Triple Crown virtually assures a ticket to Cooperstown.
“You think about it. [So] a second would be awesome. But at the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on myself,” Cabrera said.
Carlos Torres, who Mets manager Terry Collins originally had tabbed to start tonight but will remain in the bullpen with Matsuzaka getting the start, offered his assessment of what distinguishes Cabrera.
“The fact he hits everything?” Torres said. “Cabrera is the guy you don’t want to beat you in a game. Besides that, you’ve got to approach everyone the same way.”
Gee warned of the dangers that lurk around Cabrera.
“There are so many other guys who can hurt you,” Gee said, “[Prince] Fielder and Torii Hunter. They’re pretty stacked. I’ve just got to attack everybody. If people get on base obviously you don’t want to be that guy who gave up the three-run home run. But at the same time you can’t pitch scared.
“My game is to get people off balance and it seems like Cabrera is never off balance,” Gee added. “He’s hitting what, .340, .360? Still, that’s failing six out of 10 times. Hope we get him on those days.”