Triple Twice is Nice

John Samuel Vander Meer once created the platinum standard of pitching by tossing two consecutive no-hitters in 1937. In 2013, Miguel Cabrera is in great position to set the same standard for hitting by winning consecutive triple crowns.

Let’s pause for a second and just consider the ridiculousness of that last statement. Miguel Cabrera can win the Triple Crown for two years in a row, and this idea is not crazy.

In terms of batting average Cabrera is Eminem and other hitters are eight mile road; Cabrera is so far ahead of everyone else they look like a blur in his rear view mirror. Cabrera is hitting .387 and the closest average to him in the AL is .348.

When it comes to runs batted in there is nobody threatening miggy smalls. Cabrera’s 47 runs batted in are six ahead of the next closest player in the American league.

The only category that Cabrera is not dominating in is home runs. His eleven homers on the year have him in fourth in the American League. Yet Cabrera is just two homers off of the lead, and as the best hitter in the bigs could get there easily.

While the season is coming to the quarter poll Cabrera’s dominance at the plate has been one thing that has stayed consistent in a season full of surprises.

As the Yankees maintain their lead in the AL East with a starting lineup held together by productive kids, and duct tape, Cabrera continues to hit .349 in one run games.

Cabrera is proving once again that even with the surprising Cleveland Indians, the Tigers number three hitter is still the scariest thing in the AL Central.

The Tigers franchise player has dwarfed the rest of his fellow hitters in terms of greatness in his pursuit of hitting’s ‘Vander Meer.’

Last season Cabrera did something that no horse has been able to do for 35 years; win the Triple Crown.

Cabrera’s greatness at the plate was considered the rebirth of historically great hitting in a major leagues dominated by young flamethrowers.

Suppose for a moment that Cabrera is able to pull off the hitting equivalent of ‘the Vander Meer’ it would be regarded as the most unbreakable record in major league history.

‘The Cabrera’ would exceed DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak in terms of longevity over the course of a season and would surpass the ‘Vander Meer’ in terms of ‘number of things that have to go right for you to pull off this ridiculous accomplishment’.

There have been 279 no hitters in the history of major league baseball and just 16 Triple Crown winners. Cabrera would join Roger Hornsby and Ted Williams as the only players to win the Triple Crown twice .

So the best hitter in the game has to be just that for another three quarters of the season to print his name in baseball’s record books in permanent ink.

It could happen and nobody thinks the idea is crazy. 

Playing Examiner Catchup

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http://www.examiner.com/article/wiedman-promises-to-squash-the-spider-1


http://www.examiner.com/list/ranking-the-fights-ufc-162-part-1-1

http://www.examiner.com/list/ranking-the-fights-ufc-162-part-2

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Every Rose has its Thorns

Derrick Rose is the best player on the Chicago Bulls when he’s healthy. Still reacclimatizing Rose to the team would be the worst thing for Chicago in this series.

Much has been made in regards to the star of Chicago’s injury and whether or not he can pull off a 360 dunk from his left foot as of now.

Rose was cleared by his doctors for the better part of two months yet he continues to mull over weather or not he should return for the playoffs.

Chicago should make the answer simple for him: tell him to wait until next year.

Adding Rose to these bucking bulls would cause imbalance to a team entirely dependent on team chemistry. For better or worse these Bulls have figured out how to play without Derrick Rose, and there is no way Rose can covalently bond with his teammates in this series.

For example while Nate Robinson and Marco Belinelli have tendencies to be defensive liabilities at times, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson know how to anticipate their mistakes better. With Rose back in the lineup, it would not be as clear to the Bulls paint monsters what mistakes the star guard would make on the defensive end.

And against the Miami Heat no team can afford constant defensive lapses.

Although the Miami Heat is undoubtedly capable of running with the Chicago Bulls, the ‘baby bulls’ have grown into defensive monsters capable of playing with the NBA’s best.

Chemical reactions take time to stabilize. Adding a player who plays as explosively as Rose would disrupt the potency of the Bulls chemistry.

One sign of this imbalance between Rose and the new look Bulls is his interaction with new impact rookie Jimmy Butler. According to an article written by SI.com, Rose and Butler have only shared the floor for a total of 75 minutes.

Also factoring Rose back in means less minutes for Robinson to be the impact player he has been throughout the series. Robinson ripped off 27 points and had nine assists in game one of the series.

Although Robinson does have a track record of being an inconsistent shooter, he well aware of his role and is on the NBA’s short list of players who are heated up after making one shot.

Every Rose has its thorns and Derrick coming back in this series would lead directly to the Bulls being pricked.