Cabrera still hurting, but getting better

DETROIT -- While it has been easy to tell that Miguel Cabrera isn't 100 percent healthy by the way he runs around the bases, he has been feeling better lately.

"What a trooper. The legs look better," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I do check on him in the trainer's room and I go in there when they are working on him, and the bruise is starting to shrink a little bit. It was a nasty one. Overall, I think he's getting a little better."

Cabrera is battling a strained abdomen that's plagued him for the past month as well as also being hobbled by a bruise on his shin and a sore knee that he hurt in an at-bat last week against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

Despite the injuries, Cabrera is batting .352 with six home runs and 16 RBIs in 14 games this month.

"I'm totally amazed what I'm seeing, because I can't believe what I'm seeing, to be honest with you," Leyland said. "You just want to make sure when you see it every day that you just don't take it for granted."