Posted on 10/04/2012 5:34:32 AM PDT by Lakeshark
Cabrera became just the 15th player to win baseball's Triple Crown, joining an elite list that includes Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. Cabrera topped the American League with a .330 batting average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in the major leagues since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
**snip**
While the Triple Crown has been decided, the MVP has not. Selected members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America vote for that award, with the winner announced in November.
On one hand, Cabrera has dominated the statistical categories favored by traditionalists, the ones that count toward the Triple Crown. On the other hand, Trout is being championed by new-school baseball thought, number crunchers who rely on obscure stats such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement), derived from several other measures designed to judge a player's overall contribution to a team.
''He's the best hitter in the game,'' Trout said of Cabrera. ''I think his approach, the way he battles with two strikes - you leave one pitch over the plate that at-bat and he's going to hit it. He had an unbelievable year.''
Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline said it would be ''a shame'' if Cabrera didn't win the league's most coveted award. Royals manager Ned Yost offered a similar sentiment.
''I think they're both fantastic players, tremendous players, both of them,'' Yost said, ''but if Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he has to be the MVP, absolutely.''
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
LOL! :)
My favourite line I remember from Ernie for the same thing was that the batter was guilty of excessive window shopping.
No question that helped Cabrera. In the season that Roger Maris set the single-season HR record, how many times was he intentionally walked? Zero. Why? Because Mickey Mantle was hitting right behind him. Who would you rather pitch to: Roger Maris or Mickey Mantle with a man on base?
The Tigers have a pretty spectacular arsenal despite a less than stellar season. The bats are an obvious danger, Verlander (239 K) and Scherzer (231 K) lead in strike outs, Quintin Berry hasn’t been caught stealing yet, guys like Peralta, Laird, and Avila are proven producers.
Trout will win the Rookie Award...and just miss out on the MVP. Fair enough...I guess. Hard to argue against a 3 Crowner!!!
I'm an Angel fan....grew up down the street from the stadium. Trout is a great, great young player.
Definitely ping worthy, thanks.
I’d like to remind everyone that Verlander won the TC for pitchers last year! I have to wonder if any team has had 2 TC winners in back to back years...google is not helping me satisfy that curiosity.
The shorter series should help the Tigers, with their top-heavy rotation, plus having the first two games at home.
Verlander has already been named starting pitcher in game 1. I wish it wasn’t going to be so cold with highs in the low 50s at game time.
“I lob to heet!” “I like to field, but I lob to heet!” ....”did I say I lob to heet”?
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