MLB '13 The Show Needs a Coverboy

Every sport has a signature video game. For baseball, SCE San Diego Studio's MLB The Show Series gives you everything you want in a game of simulation hardball, and each year it seems to deliver more of the things baseball fans want to see.

This year, the player who will don the cover of the game seems like a can't miss no matter how voting ends up. Matt Kemp, CC Sabathia, Andrew McCutchen, Bryce Harper, Buster Posey, Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera and Johnny Giavotella are the candidates. Fans can cast their ballot by heading over to MLB.com/covervote and joining in via twitter or Facebook.

Baseball is doing a great job of promoting this as the marquee game of their sport. All hands are on deck with the aforementioned Twitter, Facebook, and MLB.com outlets. Each candidate made a campaign video (here's McCutchen's) and I even heard Colin Cowherd talking about the game with CC Sabathia today on ESPN Radio during my lunch break. 

I can tell you from experience, this game is worthy of all the hype. It's one of the few things in my life that year after year continues to deliver without diminishing returns. Even a new car is only great for the first year you have it. After that, you've got trash on the floor and your friends will smoke cigarettes in it without asking.

This game delivers a feel so real, you'll smell peanuts and pine tar from the minute you throw it in your Playstation. Sorry XBOX owners, you're left out in the cold like George Jung for now. 

If you have the time on your hands, I challenge you to pick the game up and try to play a full 162-game season. It might sound like it gets boring or tedious to some, but you'll never see the same thing twice in this game. And over the course of playing a season with that many game you'll see some rare special things at about the same rate you would see them over the course of the real-life season. You'll get blown out, win an 18-inning game in which you have to insert a pitcher to play left field, make a game saving catch, hit grand slams, have a shot at records, endure slumps, rain delays; it's all in this game if you allow play it out and allow it to come to you. 

Now, head over to twitter and send a simple tweet '#MLB13HARPER' to vote for the guy I want to see on the cover. 

Follow @mlbtheshow for more details of The Show '13 cover vote race. At press time, Andrew McCutchen holds a surprising decisive lead.

At Least Tigers Fans Are Faithful

If there is one thing that you can't say about Tigers fans, it's that they support their players. Even when details like defensive ability and baserunning are presented in front of them.

It's rather endearing that they show up to the game with crowns on carrying banners with sayings on them like the one in the picture above. It's also, well, slightly annoying to be honest. And that's even if I leave WAR out of the equation.

Miggy Cabrera Has A Drinking Problem, Man

Miguel Cabrera drank his way into the news again after getting arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence. The news is especially disconcerting considering Cabrera admitted to having a drinking problem just last season and had been undergoing counseling. It didn't seem to take though as Cabrera was taken into custody in spectacular fashion...

According to police report, a deputy spotted a car Cabrera was driving, smoking on the side of Okeechobee Road in Ft. Pierce, about 100 miles southeast of spring training in Lakeland. Cabrera had an odor of alcohol coming from his breath and his eyes were bloodshot and watery and his speech heavily slurred, according to the report.

In an arrest affidavit, deputies said Cabrera repeated “Do you know who I am, you don’t know anything about my problems.” Cabrera then picked up a bottle of James Buchanan’s Scotch whiskey and started drinking, according to the report.

That was followed by some resisting arrest and several police kicks to the thigh. Jeez man, pulling the "do you know who I am?" line and swigging scotch out of a bottle seems like it's straight out of a Will Farrell movie. And what exactly are his problems (aside from booze)? Is it still too cold to go swimming in that pool of cash? That's why you should always build your cash pool indoors.

Athletes getting DUIs is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I understand the desire to go out and have some (blindingly too many) drinks. But damn, these guys are making a good living and can afford to call an effing cab. I'm even willing to go get hammered with you and be your personal cab caller. You just have to pay for my drinks (I assume it's bottle service anyway) and let me live in your guest house.

I'm not making light of Cabrera's drinking problem because it does sound serious. At just 27-years-old, Cabrera already has 247 home runs, a .313/.388/.552 line and 37.3 WAR. He's on the path to derail a Hall of Fame career. Admittedly, I'm a big fan of the hooch. But it only hurts my performance if I write a dick joke that doesn't make any sense the next morning. I hope Cabrera gets the help he needs for his own sake, the Tigers sake and potentially the sake of my fantasy baseball team.

His mug shot is a better picture than every one I've ever had on a drivers license.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

Last night's shot of the night was a Tiger Jack: 1/2 shot grenadine syrup, 2 shots Jack Daniel's® Tennessee whiskey, 1 shot triple sec, orange juice. Apparently, SotN's posting time is directly related to where I find my keys in the morning. Yesterday I posted this segment at 5-ish and my keys were in the bathroom. Today, we're up and at 'em before noon and my keys were merely on my bedroom floor by the door. If I ever miss a SotN, feel free to assume my keys were on the roof and I was in the hospital. Where were we? Oh yeah, the shot of the night was in honor of Miguel Cabrera.

Miggy went 3-6 with 2 homers and 3 RBI while the Tigers took an 8-6 loss to the Rangers in 14 innings. If I was a betting man (and I am, I think I bet on a Saved By The Bell movie being made last night, original cast), Miguel Cabrera would be my choice for 40+ home runs this season. In fact, Miggy might have a real shot at the Triple Crown which Derwood pointed out earlier. Cabrera now has 24 home runs and 82 RBI to go along with a .340/.418/.645 slash line. The scary part is that Cabrera is just 27-years-old and probably just reaching his peak years.

Honorable Mention: Albert Pujols
For a point of reference, let's take a look at Albert Pujols. Widely believed to be the best hitter in baseball, Pujols went 2-4 with a homer and 3 RBI last night. Pujols has 22 home runs and 67 RBI to go with a .310/.413/.578 slash line. Miguel Cabrera (3.8 WAR) is basically a younger Pujols (3.6 WAR) right now.

Could This Be a Triple Crown Year?

John Schlegel at mlb.com wrote a story about three players-Miguel Cabrera, Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto-who he feels are candidates to win the triple crown. It'd be the first TC winner since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, and despite the fact that it's only July 15, we'll take a look at the trio and their chances of winning.

Votto
First-half stats: Tied with Adam Dunn for lead in HR (22), tied for seventh with 60 RBIs and is seventh in average (.314).

We'll start with the long shot on Schlegel's list. Votto is having a tremendous season, leading the NL in OBP and OPS at the break, but I'm going to be completely honest: if Joey Votto wins the 2010 triple crown, I'll watch five minutes of a NASCAR race. That's how confident I am in Votto not winning. Still, the argument can be made for the Reds' first baseman: he gets on base, hits for power and drives in runs. Or as Joe Morgan would say, he's very consistent.


Hamilton
First-half stats: Tied with Cabrera for league-leading average (.346) and second-most HR (22). Fourth in RBIs (64).

Hamilton had a slash line of .281/.335/.500 at the end of May, but you know what they say: anyone who gets worked up over May numbers is probably John Kruk. Since June 1, the Texas center fielder has been outstanding, pushing his slash up to .346/.390/.625. The triple crown is in reach for Hamilton for several reasons, not the least of which is the ballpark he plays in and the offense he mashes in the middle of. The HR and RBI totals should stay within the league leaders all summer, but I'm not sure he can sustain that .340+ average (career high is .304 in 2008), and hold off guys like Cabrera, Justin Morneau and Robinson Cano.


Cabrera
First-half stats: No. 1 in average (.346) RBIs (77), while trailing Toronto's Jose Bautista in home runs, 24-22.

Cabrera's current slash numbers (.346/.423/.651) and an OPS+ of 182 would shatter his career totals if kept up. There's good reason to think he'll sustain the HR and RBI numbers-top 6 in HR each of the last three seasons including the '08 title and 112 or more RBIs in five of the last six seasons-it's just a question of whether, like Hamilton, he can hold off Morneau, Cano and others for the batting title. At the break, eight AL players were hitting at least .326.


Obligatory mention of Albert Pujols

Let's not forget Albert. He's second in HR (21), one back of Votto and Adam Dunn, and one RBI behind leaders Corey Hart, Ryan Howard and David Wright (65 to 64). And though he's hitting just .308, 10th-best in the NL, you want to bet against him passing these guys for the batting title? I don't.

AL Also Favored in HR Derby

Derwood is headed to Anaheim with his Jorge Posada batting practice shirt and 17 pens. Stay with Offbase over the next three days for All-Star coverage from a career .180 hitter.


* UPDATE - 8:57 p.m., EST *
Bud Selig just announced the winning league at the hr derby secures home field advantage at next year's All Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game.


"Next time, for Matthew Modine, it counts"


I haven't done any research, but I'm assuming Chris Berman will once again be involved in the home run derby. Normally this would be the spot where I apologize to the Offbase readers because you'll have to hear Berman on your television, where as I get to be there live and avoid that jerk. But I'm pretty sir his voice is amplified on the PA system during the derby, so everybody loses.

Anyway, in preparation for our live coverage of the all star festivities, I took a quick glance at the home run derby rosters.

AL: Nick Swisher, David Ortiz, Vernon Wells, Miguel Cabrera

Favorite: Cabrera. Have you seen this youngster lately? Over the last few years he's added a Juan Pierre of muscle and this is a perfect event for a hulking man with a head that seems to grow by the second (see: Sosa, Sammy).

Sleepers: Wells. I know, the smart bananas would be on Ortiz because no one has a bigger head than Big Poopy, but I like Wells. For a right-handed hitter, those giant Flinstones rocks in left-center are quite inviting/dumb.

Sentimental favorite: Swisher. Quite a run for Swish the last two years. He went from playing smart ball for an idiot and having to see Ken Harrelson's face 162 times a year to being the starting right fielder for the Yankees, her, and now he's in his first all-star game and participating in the HR derby.

NL: Hanley Ramirez, Corey Hart, Matt Holliday, Chris Young

Favorite: Hart. Probably the best pure power hitter of the quartet, but if anyone in my section at Angels Stadium knows who this guy is, I'll eat my Mark Langston bobblehead doll.

Sleeper: Holliday. He did well in the '07 derby in San Fransisco and you know what they say about guys participating in two home run derbys on the same coast, three years apart: each time, the winner of the next day's all star game SECURES HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE FOR THEIR LEAGUE IN THE WORLD SERIES. That may not be the last time I mention home field advantage over the next three days.


PICK: Cabrera over Hart in final