Tigers' Cabrera closing in on Triple Crown

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

  Miguel Cabrera sat in front of his locker in the corner of the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, slinging some Spanish banter at a table full of teammates.

  There were no television cameras hovering over him. No microphones stuck in his face. None of the commotion that could be reasonably expected as the soft-spoken Detroit Tigers slugger closes in on baseball’s first Triple Crown in 45 years.

  “The entire baseball world should be here right now,” said Justin Verlander, the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner. “We’ve got, sorry to say, the regular guys.

  “I think he’s been relatively under the radar for what he’s done, for what he’s doing. It hasn’t happened in 40-some years,” Verlander continued, his voice rising. “It kind of annoys me.”

Going into Tuesday’s game, Cabrera led the American League in batting average (.331), homers (44) and RBIs (139) — the Triple Crown, last achieved by Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.