Major League Baseball

Tigers' Cabrera is making up for last season

Published Jul. 12, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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You know, the pitch-dark rollercoaster at Disneyland.

OK. Enough hyperbole. Let’s get to the numbers.

• He is batting .346. That leads the American League.

• He has 77 RBIs. That also leads the American League.

• He has hit 22 home runs. That is two off the pace set by Toronto’s Jose Bautista.

Cabrera is a genuine Triple Crown candidate, despite playing half of his games in a ballpark no one would describe as homer friendly. The last Tiger to win the Triple Crown did so 101 years ago. His name was Ty Cobb.

If Cabrera can maintain this pace, there is little question that his 2010 season will rank among the finest in the history of a franchise that has seen its share of slugging. Cobb. Gehringer. Greenberg. Kaline. Trammell. Cabrera is close to certifying his place among the Detroit greats.

Close. That’s an important word with Cabrera. And it explains why he is one of the most compelling figures associated with this year’s All-Star Game.

The Tigers were close to clinching a postseason berth on the final weekend of last season, when his all-night drinking binge had an immeasurable impact on their historic collapse.

Cabrera had been close to reaching his immense potential for years. Apparently, the alcohol addiction was one reason why he couldn’t.

Many around the game viewed Cabrera as close to the caliber of Albert Pujols. Now, at long last, the 27-year-old is proving that he can be more than a mere prototype of someone else.

“He’s put himself in that Pujols category,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said of Cabrera. “It looks like he’s going to get a hit every time up. ... We tell our guys, ‘Don’t give into him. Don’t give him anything.’ They’ll come up and say, ‘That ball was a foot outside, and he still hit a bullet.’

“Well, throw it two feet outside.”

Has Cabrera already made up for last year’s transgressions? No. But is he in the process of doing so? Absolutely. He can, in time, reshape his reputation and legacy. No small feat.

Cabrera is quite possibly the first-half MVP of both leagues. He will compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby, because people really enjoy watching him hit baseballs. But amid the deserved praise, keep in mind that the 2010 season is only half over.

He might play better over the remaining months. He might play worse. And if the Tigers remain engaged in a three-team American League Central race, the comparisons to 2009 will be difficult to avoid — and the need to prove himself all the more acute.

Over the final eight scheduled games of the 2009 season, Cabrera batted .172.

“Last year,” Cabrera countered, “is the past.”

Cabrera really messed up last fall — coming home drunk at 6 a.m., getting in a physical altercation with his wife, disappointing fans across a recession-weary state. But the roars following his 10 dingers at Comerica Park this year serve as the addendum to a study authored by Professor A-Rod last fall: It’s more fun to cheer home runs than boo personal foibles.

Fans respect the fact that Cabrera was willing to begin a treatment program for his alcohol addiction during the offseason. He’s flawed, not infallible. People can relate to him — until he steps into the batter’s box.

Once there, Cabrera’s on-field exploits have been so impressive, and so routine, that Tigers manager Jim Leyland is in dire need of a thesaurus. In how many different ways can he say that his first baseman is special?

“Well, he’s a superstar,” Leyland sighed the other night. “That’s just the way it is. There’s not many of those guys. He’s one of them. It’s a treat to be his manager.”

Even though the signs are so encouraging, we can’t say that Cabrera’s comeback is complete, either in public relations or on the field. The season isn’t over. The most important at-bats are still to come.

Cabrera acknowledged earlier this year that he drank as a way to handle pressure and stress. Well, pressure and stress will build during the last weeks of the season.

So, how can we define what constitutes a successful second half for Cabrera?

Does he need to win the Triple Crown? No, that would be an absurd expectation. There’s a reason why Carl Yastrzemski was the last to do so in the majors — 43 years ago.

For Cabrera, then, the criteria should be simpler: Keep hitting and stick to the lifestyle changes that enabled him to become the majors’ best player during the first half.

So far, his reward is Tuesday’s starting assignment at first base. By season’s end, we may know how great, and how lasting, the man’s recovery truly is.

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