Tigers’ Cabrera in pursuit of triple crown

KANSAS CITY, Missouri: Miguel Cabrera sat in front of his locker in the corner of the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, bantering in Spanish at a table full of teammates.
There were no television cameras hovering over him. No microphones stuck in his face. None of the commotion that could be reasonably expected as the soft-spoken Detroit Tigers slugger from Venezuela closes in on Major League Baseball’s first triple crown in 45 years — the season leader in batting average, home runs and runs batted in.
“The entire baseball world should be here right now,” said Justin Verlander, the reigning American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner.
“We’ve got, sorry to say, the regular guys. I think he’s been relatively under the radar for what he’s done, for what he’s doing. It hasn’t happened in 40-some years,” Verlander continued, his voice rising. “It kind of annoys me. I don’t know about anybody else. I don’t know about him. It probably doesn’t annoy him.”
It certainly doesn’t annoy Cabrera, who will politely answer just about any question posed to him, but would just as soon spend his time hanging out with his compadres.
The perfect example came on Monday, shortly after Cabrera had four hits and a home run in a 6-3 victory over Kansas City that clinched the AL Central division. He was asked about contributing so much to it, and Cabrera deflected the attention back on his teammates.
“We got it done with the first one (division title),” he said quietly. “That was our goal.”
Now, though, the spotlight shifts squarely to the broad shoulders of Cabrera, who started at third base in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss at Kansas City. He had a pair of singles and drove in two runs in his first two at-bats before flying out to right and leaving the game in the fifth inning.
Cabrera leads the American League in batting average (.331), homers (44) and RBIs (139) — the triple crown, last achieved by Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
Los Angeles Angels rookie Mike Trout and Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer are giving chase for the batting title, which Cabrera won last year, while Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton trails him by a single home run.
With Wednesday being the last day of the regular season, Cabrera is on the footstep of history, poised to join a club that counts just 13 members, among them Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb.
“It’s just extremely difficult to do, to be the complete hitter, to be a run-producer in terms of RBIs, to be a power hitter in terms of home runs, and then lead the league in average,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “I don’t know when the next time is we’ll see it happen.”
Tigers manager Jim Leyland is content to sit on the bench and take in Cabrera’s quiet pursuit of MLB history, right beside Verlander and the rest of the team.
“They all want him to win it. They want it bad, and you can tell that, and certainly he’s no exception,” Leyland said. “They’re pulling so hard for him, you know? Hopefully we’ll have some fun with it the next couple days and hopefully he’ll get it done.”