Detroit -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland always mentions players' track records -- the best players in the game usually finish with the same solid numbers year in and year out.
For the Tigers (50-40), the big three of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez have established themselves as some of the best offensive players in the game and now all three seem to be going at the same time.
Of course, one of those is the best offensive player in the game.
That would be Cabrera, who added an RBI single in the Tigers' 8-5 victory over the White Sox Wednesday to give him 93 RBIs with four games to go before the All-Star break.
"Can I imagine that? I can't imagine that," said Torii Hunter, whose career best is 107 RBIs in 2007 with Minnesota (160 games). "Miggy is in his own world. He's the Barry Bonds, the Juan Gonzalezes, at one point I think he had 100 RBIs at the All-Star break.
"All these guys are elite players, players you can't be like even if you tried. So Miggy's a very special player, man. For me, I'm honored to play with him and go on to win with him, too."
Victor Martinez, whose career high is 114 RBIs in 2007 with Cleveland (147 games), was nearly rendered speechless when contemplating what Cabrera's done so far.
"What I think about that? What do you think? It's not normal," Martinez said. "Not many people … it's just not normal. You don't see that. I just don't know what to say."
To put it in some perspective, only 27 players had 93 or more RBIs in the entire 2012 season, including Cabrera, who led the league with 139.
"It's really unbelievable," Wednesday's starter Rick Porcello said. "That's a career season for the majority of guys in baseball. That's only his first half and he's still got some games to go. He's incredible. I'm just honored to be able to watch him play every night."
The White Sox's No. 3 hitter, Alex Rios, has 40 RBIs in 86 games. Cleanup hitter Adam Dunn has 60 in 83 games.
"Nobody really talks about this guy but they're starting to talk about him more since the Triple Crown last year and what he's doing now, they're starting to talk more about him," Leyland said. "This guy, it almost appears at times that he's a hidden treasure."
Because Cabrera has been so ridiculously productive offensively, Fielder and Martinez have been the hidden ones.
Fielder did the heavy lifting Wednesday, driving in three runs with a home run among his three hits.
"He's been swinging the bat great," Martinez said. "A lot of times he's been hitting the ball right at people but finally (Wednesday) he was able to find some holes. He's a great hitter, there's no doubt about it. I don't think any pitcher wants to face him or Miggy."
Lately, you can add Martinez to the list of Tigers that pitchers would rather not face.
Martinez had three hits of his own and an RBI Wednesday, extending his season-high hitting streak to 12 games.
He's batting .413 in the streak and finally looking more like the Martinez of 2011, who hit .330 with 12 home runs and 103 RBIs.
"You're starting to see the Victor Martinez that we know and love, hitting the ball all over the ballpark," Leyland said. "Base hits to right, base hits to left. He's starting to get back to the Victor that we know. I'll take that, I like that a lot. His approach right now is terrific. It's getting back to where it was a couple years ago."
After hitting just .221 in April, .235 in May and .240 in June, Martinez is hitting .378 so far in July.
"He was swinging the bat well all year, he was just hitting it right at guys," Porcello said. "Now he's getting stuff to drop and coming up with big hits with runners on base. You can obviously see how our offense is going right now.
"We're putting up 8, 9, 10 runs a game now with just that one guy that's turning things around. It really makes everything fall into place."
Hunter's eyes lit up when he talked about what a hot Martinez could mean to the Tigers' lineup.
"Victor's starting to get those hits," Hunter said. "He looks alive, he looks stronger. His legs might be getting under him now and he's starting to get his rhythm. When you miss a year of baseball, it takes a while to get a rhythm and I can see that rhythm coming and he's consistent with it the last 10-15 days.
"I definitely think if he gets hot, we're going to have a lot of fun."
