By DANA WAKIJI
FOX Sports Detroit
Feb. 28, 2011
LAKELAND, Fla. -- It was a good day for Miguel Cabrera, even if he didn't get a hit in his first spring game.
After missing a week of workouts because of his Feb. 16 arrest for driving under the influence and resisting arrest without violence, Cabrera was back in the lineup Monday, facing the New York Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello, who each threw two scoreless innings, were there to greet the big man with a fist bump or high five when he left the game after three at-bats.
"He's integral to this ballclub's success," Verlander said. "It's funny, I was sitting out here for BP the other day, it might have been his first day back for batting practice, in the outfield, I was kind of behind the screen so I couldn't see who was hitting. The ball's jumping off the bat and all of a sudden in right centerfield, just bam! I said, 'That's Miguel.' I peeked around the screen, sure enough."
Cabrera grounded out to third against New York starter CC Sabathia in the first inning and again against lefty Pedro Feliciano in the third inning. In his final at-bat, he worked a walk against Daniel Turpen.
"I focus on get a good at-bat, I focus on get ready, I focus on what I'm going to do in that at-bat," Cabrera said. "I don't focus on anything else. I focus on what is going to be my adjustment on every pitch and that's it."
With the large number of Yankees fans in the crowd, there weren't all cheers when Cabrera first went to the plate. But it was mostly a friendly crowd.
"I hear the cheers," Cabrera said. "Make you feel happy the fans support you. When you see that, you gotta go out there and play hard for them."
Cabrera, who was the designated hitter, said he felt a little slow and his timing was a bit off in his first appearance.
But he was glad to face a guy like Sabathia right out of the gate. Sabathia was 21-7 with a 3.18 ERA last season.
"Awesome," he said. "It's great you face one of the best pitchers in the game right now. It makes sure to get you ready, so it's good to face good pitchers in spring training. When you go in the season you feel better."
Cabrera said he'll feel better the next time he sees Sabathia, which will most likely happen March 31 in the first game of the season in New York.
"I can do better with those pitches," Cabrera said. "Pulling the ball is not my game. Like hit to the middle. That's the game. When you don't have timing, it happens like that, get you out like that, ground ball to third base. That's part of the game."
Manager Jim Leyland was pleased with Cabrera's first game. His second will be Tuesday against the Blue Jays in Lakeland.
"He was fine," Leyland said. "I'm going to DH him one more day and then play him at first. I'll watch him the first four or five days but after that, he'll be playing first unless he just doesn't make the trip."
Cabrera doesn't think it'll take too much more time to get his timing back.
"Hopefully one more (to get ready)," he said, laughing. "You don't want to look bad in the games, you want to prove what you can do. Hopefully I can get ready, get more at-bats and see what happens."
