Kate Upton and Justin Verlander learn to swing (PHOTOS)

Yup. That was Kate Upton and boyfriend Justin Verlander flying through air with the greatest of ease Saturday afternoon.

The supermodel and Tigers pitcher took a class at the New York Trapeze School in Queens and posted photos of themselves on Instagram flying through the air as they learned to swing, reports Page Six of the N.Y. Post.

Kate later posted, “I learned @justinverlander is amazing at trapeze!”

Today I learned @justinverlander is amazing at trapeze! Thanks for the surprise 😘 thanks @TSNYNewYork

A photo posted by Kate Upton (@kateupton) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:05pm PST

And it's good to see their relationship isn't walking a tightrope.

Justin Verlander and Kate Upton take in Knicks game (PHOTOS)

The Knicks lost their sixth game in a row on Wednesday night — a 97-95 defeat by the Orlando Magic and are now 1-4 at Madison Square Garden.

But that doesn't seem to stop the team from drawing a stream of famous people to Celebrity Row.

That's right ... a Magic game.

For instance, Kate Upton and Justin Verlander made the scene:

And yes, that's New York's Global Welcome Ambassador and the Knicks' latest "biggest fan," Taylor Swift, in the front row too.

Great to have you on @douglaselliman Celebrity Row, @kateupton and @taylorswift!

A photo posted by New York Knicks 🏀 (@nyknicks) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:40pm PST

Too bad all those beautiful people can't make up for that ugly, last-second, 3-point attempt by J.R. Smith at the buzzer.

Kate Upton was at Tigers-Orioles game doing this (GIF)

Kate Upton was at Camden Yards Friday afternoon, supporting boyfriend and Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the ALDS. When cameras panned to her, she did this:

Is it a dance? A voodoo curse? Or just Kate being Kate?

Whatever it was, she did have some shiny new bling on her finger.

Kate Upton cheering on Justin Verlander. I'm chalking it up as style, but there is a ring on her ring finger. pic.twitter.com/MN3FA4yRXn
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) October 3, 2014

Adorable moment Kate Upton gets souvenir baseball from Justin Verlander (VIDEO)

What's a girl gotta do to get a free souvenir baseball at Yankee Stadium? In Kate Upton's case ... usually nothing. But it doesn't hurt that her boyfriend Justin Verlander was in the house.

The supermodel was sitting behind the visitor's dugout to watch the Tigers take on the Yankees when Verlander pitched a little woo to his gal.

That sound you just heard was the entire Bronx exhaling in one collective swoon.

Verlander offers imaginary oxygen mask to Holaday after first MLB triple (VIDEO)

When Tigers backup catcher Bryan Holaday hit his first MLB triple, Justin Verlander had a little fun mocking his teammate while he caught his breath standing at third Friday night.

After Holaday chugged his way around to third base, Verlander offered the winded catcher a little support via a pantomimed oxygen mask as the rest of the dugout cracked up laughing.

It's amusing because backup catchers are not known for their speed and Holaday is big and slow and well ... you get it.

But it was the Red Sox who could have used a little huff from Verlander's fake oxygen tank after they ran out of gas and lost to the Tigers 6-2.

Justin Verlander spotted with ex-flame Kate Upton at Flyers game (PHOTO)

Kate Upton has apparently bounced back from her break up with “Dancing with the Stars” pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy with her rumored ex-flame, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander.

The 21-year old model and the Detroit Tigers pitcher were photographed at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia Saturday night watching the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team battle the Tampa Bay Lightning, reported E! News.

A Flyers fan with the Twitter handle @charlton_dylan posted a photo of the model and the righthander sitting together in a VIP box Saturday night.

“Kate Upton and Justin Verlander at the flyers game in the box seats next to ours” he posted on his Twitter feed.

Kate Upton and Justin Verlander at the flyers game in the box seats next to ours pic.twitter.com/icKk27K0py
— dyl (@charlton_dylan) January 11, 2014

Before the game, it was reported that Upton and Verlander were spotted at a local Del Frisco’s. The paper reported that the couple sat with friends at a table in the mezzanine.

“[Upton] kept it low key, opting for not-much make up. Many people dining near her didn’t even recognize her. 

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and Verlander were rumored to be dating last year. He recently underwent successful surgery to repair his core muscle and is undergoing physical rehabilitation for the next six weeks. Insert Upton joke here.

Chmerkovskiy and Upton broke up around the holidays after six months of dating.

Justin Verlander owns the A's; so says their Wikipedia page

The Oakland Athletics Wikipedia page had a few modifications Thursday night during Game 5 of the ALDS. And one says the owner is Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

After eight dominant innings in his Game 5 win, Verlander now owns the following line for his career in Oakland, including both regular season and postseason: 0.30 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 37 strikeouts, six walks, 30 innings pitched. So, judging from this pile of stats, it's easy to believe the not-always-so-factual Wikipedia — at least figuratively.

Here's a photo of the page from CBS Sports with the literal proof:

That's 30 innings of domination against the A's in the Coliseum and — even after the error is corrected — you can still call Verlander the A's boss.

Jed Lowrie swings and somehow manages to hit a Justin Verlander one-hopper (VIDEO)

Justin Verlander was nearly perfect in the Tigers series-clinching ALDS Game 5 against the A's. He was so good, Jed Lowrie was fooled into swinging at a curveball that hit the dirt about a foot before the plate. Amazingly, Lowrie made contact with the ball and looked more like a cricket batsman than a major leaguer hitter in doing so.

Lowrie's wicked googly was foul — but still still sort of impressive considering the foreign-looking stuff Verlander was tossing at everyone Thursday night.

Kate Upton has dumped the Tigers and is officially a Yankees fan

It looks like Kate Upton was caught two-timing the Detroit Tigers Friday night.  The Sports Illustrated swimsuit model showed up at sweltering Yankee Stadium to help cheer on the Bronx Bombers to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.

These photos from The New York Post show the Michigan native wasn't shy about flaunting her Yankees cap for the cameras

Even after the Subway Series debacle against their crosstown rivals this week, it looks like the good times are happening again in the Bronx.

Justin Verlander — eat your heart out.

Valdespin takes nasty pie to face after walk-off grand slam

Jordany Valdespin, most recently best known for taking a 94 mph Justin Verlander fastball to the nether regions, took a another hard one in the face Wednesday night — and this time was all smiles after the hit.

The brash New York Mets centerfielder jacked a 10th-inning, walk-off grand slam to give his team a dramatic 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and save starter Matt Harvey from suffering his first loss of the season.

After Valdespin's Citi Field heroics, Mets slugger John Buck smashed his teammate in the face with a celebratory pie during the post game interview. It looked like the powerful Buck could have busted Valdespin's nose with the ungentle pie slam — even after he caught Buck sneaking up on him.




Next time, Valdespin might want to wear some protection down there and up top.

Sorry Spike, Diddy already has dibs on Kate Upton

Spike Albrecht put all his hopes of wooing model Kate Upton in the hands of his runner-up appearance in the Final Four and a cute tweet that said he noticed Michigan's most beautiful fan watching the game from the stands. The naivety of youth.

The Michigan freshman better wait until he has an NBA career or gets his hands on a half-billion dollar entertainment empire before he tries to bring his game to Upton.

Even Detroit Tigers pitching ace Justin Verlander struck out with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.

One person that does have the fortune (and I mean that two ways — good and amassed) to date the 20-year-old Upton is Sean (Diddy) Combs.

The media mogul was spotted getting hot and heavy with Upton last month sucking face with Diddy, 43, at the club LIV in Miami beach, according to Confidenti@l in The New York Daily News.

Now, following their hot hookup in South Beach, the duo met up again in New York, sharing an intimate dinner together at Gemma in the Bowery Hotel on Thursday.

“They were having dinner together,” a source told the gossip page.

Upton, silent on Twitter that day, the next morning tweeted: “Cuddling with my favorite tiger :)” an obvious diss to Verlander, because she linked to a picture of her holding an actual tiger cub in a Bazaar magazine shoot. 

Cuddling with my favorite tiger :) twitter.com/KateUpton/stat…
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) April 5, 2013

@kateupton hey saw you at the game last night, thanks for coming out! Hope to see you again 😉
— spike albrecht (@SpikeAlbrecht) April 9, 2013

Albrecht hoped to cash in after the game of his life Monday night. The freshman backup, who electrified the crowd at the Georgia Dome in the NCAA title game, tweeted afterwards:

“@KateUpton hey saw you at the game last night, thanks for coming out!” Hope to see you again :)

In the game, Albrecht clearly had his eyes on Upton, who was clad in a V-neck T-shirt there. His innocent schoolboy attempt at love took the Internet by storm.

A rep for Upton says, “They met once a year ago and there’s no further relationship at this point.”

Losing the national championship game and getting blocked by Diddy.  It's been a tough week for Spike.

Justin Verlander rubs trainer's head for good luck

After manager Jim Leyland pulled Justin Verlander in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the ALCS against the New York Yankees, the Detroit Tigers starter could only watch as the Yankees started a last inning rally with closer Phil Coke on the mound.

How did the righthanded ace handle the tense moments in the dugout while he watched Coke give up a couple of hits before recording the final two outs — Verlander rubbed trainer Doug Teter's bald head for good luck.

It was pretty funny to see Verlander using the same arm that just threw 131 pitches trying to bring some positive mojo to the Tigers while giving Teter a wax job.

TBS announcer Ernie Johnson joked that "he actually had hair before Verlander started doing that."

If it seemed like Verlander's vigorous hand lingered a little too long — his girlfriend Kate Upton need not be jealous —  the superstitious ritual worked.

The Tigers went on to defeat the Yankees, 2-1, sending the Bronx Bombers to the brink of elimination.  Detroit leads the best-of-seven series 3-0.

Yankees bench A-Rod and Swisher for Game 3

With the New York Yankees offense continuing to sputter, manager Joe Girardi will attempt to jump start his flatlining team by bringing in the bench.  Does he really have a choice?

The Yankees manager made a few radical changes to the lineup — for tonight's Game 3 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander — and announced that he will bench Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher for Eric Chavez and Brett Gardner, respectively.

Throw in Eduardo Nunez — who will play shortstop for the injured Derek Jeter — and ALDS hero Raul Ibanez in the designated hitter spot, and you have to wonder if old George Steinbrenner is rolling in his grave.

The $29 million A-Rod is batting an anemic .130 in the playoffs and has looked hopeless at the plate.  He already rode the pine during Game 5 of the ALDS.

Swisher isn't much better with a .154 average under his playoff belt and a costly error in right field in Game 2.

Gardner will bat leadoff despite only three plate appearances since April 17 — before he underwent elbow surgery.

Here's what tonight's Yankees lineup will look like with Phil Hughes on the mound.

Brett Gardner, LF
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Raul Ibanez, DH
Russell Martin, C
Eric Chavez, 3B
Curtis Granderson, CF
Eduardo Nunez, SS

Hopefully, for Yankees fans, Jeter will there in spirit.

Tigers Jose Valverde on ALDS: "It's Over"

Right after Detroit Tigers Jose Valverde barely shut down a ninth-inning rally by the New York Yankees, the closer couldn't keep his mouth shut and declared the AL division series-- now tied at 1-1-- was "over." Win one game and talk gets cheap... fast.

"It's over already," Valverde told reporters after escaping a Yankees comeback in the pouring rain yesterday.  "[Justin] Verlander has it tomorrow.  The next day we have a celebration in Detroit.  They have a good team, but I think that's it for them."

When told his comments were being recorded by television cameras, Valverde laughed.

"No, no, I am just kidding," he recanted.

Besides producing some prime bulletin board material for the Yankees, Valverde forgot to mention that even if Verlander gets a victory, there is still another game to win in the best-of five series.

Valverde has good reason to be confident.  The Tigers return home and put their 24-game winner Verlander on the mound.

The Yankees will counter with their own big man CC Sabathia but, after that, will go after the Tigers with a fragile and inconsistent A.J. Burnett on Tuesday.

Valverde sure picked a weird time to start bragging.  He almost single-handedly blew Sunday's 5-3 victory by giving up two runs, putting the tying runs on base  and had the dangerous Robinson Cano at the plate as the winning run.

Valverde did everything possible to keep his throwing hand dry in the pouring rain, then got Cano to tap a routine grounder to second in the driving rain for the final out.

Valverde, who was 49-for-49 in save opportunities this season, said he would be ready to pitch Monday night even after using 34 pitches to get the save yesterday.  That was one pitch less than his season high.

After the game, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said that with then tying run at first base, he considered walking Cano to take a shot at struggling Alex Rodriguez, but Valverde wanted to go after Cano.

"No, right there, I wanted to end it," Valverde boasted.  "I said, I'll win it."