Miguel Cabrera gave this strikeout pitch from Jeremy Hellickson one thumb way up
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Miguel Cabrera has been around long enough that he knows two things: 1) striking out, while not fun, isn't the end of the world, and 2) a good pitch when he sees one. So, when he struck out in the third inning of the Tigers' 3-1 win over the Phillies, he had to admit that Jeremy Hellickson got him with a real good pitch.
There was some frustration, of course. It was the first time Cabrera had struck out in over a week -- after striking out against the Orioles on May 13, he went nine straight games without getting punched out -- and no one wants to see a streak like that come to an end, hence the helmet spike.
But he'd already hit an RBI double in the first inning, so there was really no reason not to respect the pitch that got him.
Congratulations, Jeremy. A thumbs-up from Miguel Cabrera is the baseball equivalent of a Roger Ebert rave review.